NCAA Tournament

[andymuenz]

I have to disagree with the opinion expressed in today's daily column claiming that the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is the greatest American sporting event. Although he has some great examples of fantastic upsets, they all have one thing in common. They took place over 15 years ago. Now that so many top players go pro after a year or two, we don't see David beat Goliath, we see David beat a slightly bigger David. Unless the top players start sticking around for four years again, we won't see the likes of Johnson, Augmon, Hunt, Anthony and teammates. You had 4 seniors and 1 junior starting including 3 of the top 12 draft picks in the draft. Now, it is likely that none of the 3 would have stayed after they won the championship the previous year.

We just saw a tournament where all 4 number seeds went to the final four. On the other hand, of the current champions in the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL, only the Red Sox had the best record in their league/conference. The upsets are now happening in the pros rather than college. I'm a hockey fan, so I'll take the Stanley Cup playoffs as the Great (North) American sporting event, but I think that you could make an argument for any of the pro sports (including NASCAR, the Masters, and the US Opens) as better than the NCAA tournament nowadays.
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-Andy

[bask3tballjon3z]

What bothers me about the tourney is the automatic berths. I mean really why does Alabama St deserve to get in over a Notre Dame or Michigan. 9 times out of 10 who is going to win? A Big East or ACC team with a lower conference record or a Mid Major that had a run against mediocrity in their conference tourney. It would take about an extra weak to just let everyone in the tourney, and the cream will rise to the top.

The conference tournaments can still be used for pride and seeding. Because god forbid the schools lose any of the money generated from sponsorships and ticket sales at these. It just really upsets me seeing so many tourney spots that strong bubble teams deserve go to schools that get crushed in the first round.

[BroadStreetParade]

At the same time the teams know what they are up against. The rules are set before the tournament begins, so teams see how many spots are open from the get go.

This is the same argument they had in the NFL this year, when the Cardinals went 9-7 but won their division by virtue of the terrible state of the rest of the divison, and they got a home game and went to the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the Patriots went 11-5 and didn't make the playoffs, while the Chargers went 8-8, made the playoffs, and got a home game to boot.