NCAA field has a welcome fresh feel as March Madness returns
It is 1974 in America. Richard Nixon resigned. Ali and Foreman fought in the “Rumble in the Jungle.”
The Towering Inferno and Blazing Saddles tore up the box office.
Greg Cote went through a brief but unfortunate sartorial phase that included bell bottoms and four-inch platform heels.
And North Carolina and Duke both missed the men’s NCAA Tournament in college basketball.
Forty-seven years later, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils once again are sitting out March Madness for the first time since ‘74.
Ain’t it grand!
Wait. This column should come with a disclaimer, like you see on packs of cigarettes.
WARNING: Hoops fans in the state of North Carolina who continue reading this may experience discomfort and anger.
They’re weeping along Tobacco Road.
Duke finished a mediocre 1311 as the celebrated Mike Krzyzewski was demoted to Coach Just-OK — his team derailed by COVID-19 in the ACC Tournament.
UNC was a bit better but not good enough for their own legendary coach, Roy Williams.
These giants in the sport were not alone in their uncharacteristic disappointment this season.
Kentucky and Louisville are out of the Big Dance, too.
John Calipari suffered the ignominy of a 9-16 record , the Wildcats’ worst season since 1927.
“My teams historically played like if they lost, they were going to the electric chair,” he said. “This team did not.” There is a word for all of this. Refreshing!
Not only is March Madness back, after being swallowed up whole and canceled entirely by the coronavirus pandemic last spring, but it is back with a feel of fresh blood and possibility.
I mean, Duke and Coach K aren’t here but Rutgers is !? Is that even legal?
The very fact we have an NCAA Tournament again feels like celebration.
Last year’s sudden cancellation was the first thing in sports that slapped our collective face with the utter seriousness of this global pandemic rushing at us like an invisible, silent freight train.
From March Sadness, one year later, the return of March Madness stands as a symbol of progress, of recovery. Of beginning to heal.
We aren’t there yet. March Madness isn’t back to being a coast-to-coast festival yet. The whole tournament — starting Thursday with four play-in games — is being held in and around Indianapolis for bubble-like safeguards.
Crowds will be very limited.
Facemasks and social distancing will be evident.
Still, college basketball made it through a season to dance again, no small thing.
There was a Selection Sunday, and Monday’s main page on ESPN.com made me smile because it felt bigger than sports. It felt like a small victory for the country, like a reminder that “we’re getting there.”
FILL OUT YOUR BRACKET! read the headline for ESPN’s Tournament Challenge contest.
The simple pleasures, right? Even as vaccinations against COVID became more and more available we can’t ditch the masks yet. We can’t enjoy large gatherings without guilt or risk.
We can fill out a bracket, though! We can enter an office pool again — even if our office is still a virtual Zoom room at least for now.
We immerse ourselves for the next three weeks in Cinderellas and upsets, in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight then the magical Final Four. From 68 teams, one will stand — on a ladder, cutting nets — on April 5.
Will it be Gonzaga? The overall No. 1 seed, the Bulldogs from Spokane, at 24-0, aim to become the sport’s first wire-to-wire, perfect-season champion since Indiana in Bobby Knight’s 1976. But even the Zags have a bit of a Cinderella aura. They have nev
er won a national championship, reaching the title game only once (in 2017).
With so many traditional established powers not at this Big Dance, the odds of a first-time national champion are high.
Baylor, Illinois and Michigan are the other regional top seeds. Baylor and Illinois have not won a national title; Michigan has won once in seven championship-game tries. Miami Heat fans: The Wolverines’ lone title, in 1989, was led by future Heat star Glen Rice. Michigan is currently coached by former Heat player and assistant coach Juwan Howard.
There is such no way to engage Miami Hurricanes fans in March Madness. While Florida and Florida State are in the NCAA Tournament as usual, Jim Larranaga’s injurywracked Canes finished 10-17, UM’s worst season in 27 years.
(They’ll be watching the next three weeks on TV, unlike many of their fellow South Floridians. Greater Miami typically is at the tail end of March Madness ratings for major markets, and that’s even when The Hurricanes are in it).
Whether Miami is tuned in or not, the Top 10ranked teams in The AP Top 25 are combined only three for 21 in NCAA Tournament championship-game appearances.
Besides Michigan, only No. 8 Arkansas (in 1994) and No. 9 Ohio State (1960) have won it all.
Odds are good, then, that a first-time Cinderella will be up on that ladder at the end of the Big Dance. Some may bemoan the absence of traditional powerhouses, but for me it’s fresh breeze running through the the dance hall.
After last year — and what we’ve all been through — it just feels good to be dancing again.