San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
It’s toughest NCAA Tournament to predict
Sez Me …
We are marching into the trials of these March v. Madness court cases without enough admissible evidence.
And we have no choice but to proceed in ignorance, and present some kind of cockeyedhappy bewilderment to the jury with no closing argument.
There is so much what-wedon’t-know to this, so much unknown, so many red herrings, its murk makes it more fun than usual. And it always is fun — when it takes place.
But enough with the royal “we.”
There are things I can’t figure out.
The Riddle of the Sphinx. The trigger that began the tobogganing of the American IQ. The 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
When it comes to the (hopefully) upcoming Tournament, I’m going full-out Sgt. Schultz. “I know nothing.”
Not that I ever knew much, for starters. But if a human can predict how this case — if it actually is completed (what happened to Duke, Kansas and Virginia can happen to any team) — is going to play out, it’s Perry Mason, and he’s fictional.
As teams warily low crawl under the COVID barbed wire through this Selection Sunday toward a great event now lousy with land mines, there never has been a harder call.
The virus canceled the 2020 Tournament and, even if this one is a total go — entirely in Indianapolis/indiana — it has blurred how 2021’s can be viewed going in.
So many game cancellations and postponements, kids forced to play unreasonable, scrambled schedules. Coaches doing sleight of hand. No fans, who matter more in college basketball than any other sport.
Unlike baking, Bracketology never has been an exact science, but the recipe for this one is missing ingredients, with too many cooks, leading us into a nether region beyond guesswork.
“Because of the pandemic, we didn’t have nonconference games where the little guy could show up and show how good they are,” Jay Bilas, perhaps the brightest analyst, told Dan Patrick. “So we’re going to have seeds where the little guy is better than we think.
“We don’t have the data of these games vs. the big shots … where the little guy got to take a swing at the big guy. And so it seems like they’re not as good, and I’m not convinced that’s true.”
Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher, whose Aztecs will be seeded today, says: “It will be interesting to see who gets put where. It’s tougher to make decisions now than any year before.” Love a good mystery. … If Dutcher, who is such a good guy, coach, patient and loyal coaching soldier, wants to return to his Minnesota roots, it’s his right, and I say good for him. …
What he hasn’t done is say he’s staying, going or considering. I will bet on the latter . ...
But Aztecs coaches don’t have great success after getting their “dream jobs.” …
Say hey, didn’t Brady Hoke
once interview with Minnesota while his Aztecs’ season still was in session? A no-no breach of collegiate ethics (when there used to be a little). …
Another year, and again Steve Fisher isn’t nominated for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Just a damn shame . ...
UCLA’S Marques Johnson,
one of the truly magnificent players in NCAA history (197677 player of the year), again a finalist-in-waiting? …
Remember when the ACC Tournament used to be somebody? …
If CBS darling Duke were winless it would be on the bubble . ...
COVID hasn’t managed to cancel what should be permanently canceled — conference tournaments. …
Note to Trevor “One Eye Closed” Bauer: Jim Abbott
pitched and played baseball with one hand. …
Bauer doesn’t have the chops to become what he wants to be — baseball’s shock jock. …
Do low-mph home runs still count? ...
See ESPN and Fox didn’t succeed asking the Cowboys to hold off on the Dak Prescott
signing. With this topic now under the table, what will talking heads head for every single damn morning? ...
Don’t even talk about money. The NFL’S new TV deal may double the last one . ...
The last time the Judases were over the cap, Fredo Spanos accidentally sat on his. …
We concern ourselves with the money athletes make. The video game Grand Theft Auto II has made $6 billion. …
If the Rams win the Super Bowl, future drafts should start with the second round . ...
Golf ball lands in a divot, it should be played from the divot. Tired of rules that have been around forever being changed because they make a Tv/internet splash. …
If we eliminate the filibuster, how will future generations know what the hell Jimmy Stewart was doing in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?” …
Don’t be sad over Phil Mickelson’s record 1,425 straight weeks in golf ’s top 100 coming to an end. The sport’s Great Entertainer II (Walter Hagen being I) had a remarkable run, to be celebrated. …
Stink O’ The Week Sezment: Texas and Florida. The states are going to spike like a fraternity punch. There are woods everywhere. We are not out of them. …
Double Stink O’ The Week:
Pepe Le Pew is a stinking racist perv. …
At last, the NBA All-star game resembles normal NBA play . ...
Kansas AD Jeff Long, who “vetted” Les Miles as Caesar did Brutus, has joined the football coach in “parting ways” with the Jayhawks. …
Twitter not only is a hot mic, but the Elephant in the World. Never forgets . ...
Report: CBS paid around $8 million for the rights to Oprah’s “When Harry Met Meghan.” Why did we bother with The Revolution? …
Next: Oprah to interview Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, maybe at the Hotel Del . ...
Meanwhile, CNN launches “Royal News” to keep us up on what’s happening inside and outside Buckingham Palace. First episode: “Charles mows the lawn by hand.” …
“Eli’s Places” is coming to a small screen near you. The
Mannings are the other Royals I don’t care about — especially the one with a .500 career record. …
All the money thrown around and the Pentagon can’t save Miramar’s Flying Leatherneck Museum? It cost $200,000 an hour to fly Air Force One. How about one fewer trip? ...
Will Smith (c. 2016): “Racism isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed.” …
If The Stooges were to come into being today, they’d be “The Three Intellects.” …
If I refused a ride on the Hindenburg, why would I get in a hydrogen-powered car? … Bye, bye Serra High. City Schools should just take the New York numbered route, such as PS 1, etc. Unless PS once did something wrong. …
Nothing like high school football. But players’ families should be allowed to watch. Reasonably . ...
Just thinking that, when I went to SDSU, I had classes with real Aztecs. …
JLO and A-rod are “working things through.” Suggestion: Steroids . ...
Neil degrasse Tyson on states pulling off mask mandates: “That’s like designating a peeing section of a swimming pool.” …
If only Madison Square Garden security had been on duty at the Capitol . ...
Now that we can go out at least a little bit, the NCAA Tournament keeps us inside. …
My grandkids are a year older. But I can hug them again.