ELItorial: Making sense of the Madness

By Albert Chen

This year's NCAA men's basketball tournament, which has already seen more twists than Wild Things, provided more Spring Break thrills than a vacation anywhere could have. Although I did foresee premature exits by Kansas, Duke, Clemson, and Michigan, I'm still in shock about how easily Utah embarrassed Arizona--and also about Kim Basinger's Oscar.

March Madness has never been better. Six games have been decided by one point (the tournament record is seven). Seventeen games have been decided by three points or fewer. Maybe, just maybe, with three contests still left, this isn't as good as it gets. CBS, fresh off its Nagano performance, hasn't seriously screwed up, despite the often laughable coverage. Because I reside in a state next to Delaware, CBS seems to think that I'm a Blue Hen--a fan of the University of Delaware, and would therefore be annoyed if coverage switched to a different first-round matchup during the game (there were plenty of good ones to choose from), despite the fact that those Hens were down by 30 in the first half. I also had to sit through nearly the entire North Carolina-Navy matchup (I live near the Naval Academy), a game that was all but decided when Greg Gumbel announced the pairings on Selection Sunday. Even if I were a Blue Hen or a Midshipman fan, I don't think I would have wanted to watch my team get mangled by 50 points by the ugly end.

Back in the studio, Dean Smith may be the greatest coach since John Wooden, but he may soon go down as the worst in-studio analyst since Chris Collinsworth if he doesn't make better use of the generous three seconds that Gumbel usually gives him. Following the Carolina-Connecticut game on Saturday, Smith made three points:

1) Carolina played great.

2) But so did Connecticut.

3) The Tar Heels must win two more games to win
the national title.

But the action has still been solid, even if the coverage hasn't. Cinderella has made appearances in the past two weeks in many forms, and both the Tar Heels and Wildcats hope that she's not dancing come Monday. Unfortunately, she won't be.

In the matchup between Kentucky and Stanford, don't be fooled if either team looks like it's dead in the second-half. In each regional final win the eventual victors had to overcome significant second half deficits. Kentucky trailed Duke 71-54 with 9:30 to play, while Stanford fell six behind Rhode Island with under a minute to play before pulling out the miraculous win. The Cardinal matches up better with Kentucky than most people think. The Wildcats have yet to face such a physical team this season. But even if Stanford is able to slow down the sizzling Wayne Turner and Jeff Sheppard, Kentucky will still be too much to handle; the Wildcats have too many weapons and too much experience (this is their third-straight Final Four appearance). While the Cardinal is accustomed to wearing opponents out, it will be the Wildcats' speed that will leave Stanford undone. Look for a huge Kentucky run to open the second half and seal a title game invitation.

The second game won't be as close. Utah's win over Arizona was the most impressive triumph of the tournament, but unlike the defending champs, North Carolina will show up for this game. Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, and Shammond Williams are big-time players. Big-time. Even if one key player has a bad game, the Tar Heels can still blow out the Utes. Andre Miller and Michael Doleac are tremendous players, but will find Carolina's quickness too tough to keep up with. Jamison has been relatively quiet during the Heels' first four contests, and he's due for a huge game. Williams is crucial. If he hits his outside shots like he has towards the latter part of the season, Utah has no chance.

Then again, we all saw how Utah dealt with being a big underdog; they clearly outplayed two All-Americans in Mike Bibby and Miles Simon. And remember, this is March Madness. Still, something tells me that this tournament has used up all of its magic. Yet we'll still see a heck of a game on Monday, pitting two of the richest traditions in college basketball against each other.

North Carolina 81, Kentucky 78. End of story. End of the Madness.

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