Ordinarily, this week would be one of the most exciting times on the sports calendar. This year though, men’s college basketball is in the midst of a crisis.
Last year’s tournament was certainty steak-heavy, while also possessing all the sizzle you could handle. However this season’s tournament has about as much sizzle as a doorknob. It’s not just me who thinks this— college hoops ratings are down across the board, suggesting the country at large isn’t keen on lukewarm sirloin either.
There’s several reasons for this. In addition to the nightly exploits of Steph Curry underscoring the chasm between the skill level of college and pro ball, the one & done kids have made college basketball disproportionately reliant on each year’s incoming freshman class. Many websites have floated theories on how to rectify this trend, which is slowly crippling the sport. But beyond that, the traditional powers just aren’t all that powerful. Kentucky, North Carolina and Arizona all have at least six losses— defending champion Duke has taken 10 L’s! Louisville gave itself the boot from postseason play altogether thanks to a recruiting scandal that made us question whether or not Rick Pitino was running a hoops program or a brothel. Consequently, a new team was named number one seemingly every week. A school like Ohio State, who was in the Final Four twice in the last nine years, failed to even make the field of 68. And the consensus top prospect in college basketball, Ben Simmons, won’t even partake in the tournament in his one and only season as a college basketball player.
We tend to use parody as reason to fall in love with sports, in spite of the fact that the parody argument is a bit short-sighted. People love to root against the Patriots, the Lakers and the Yankees. Fans were on the edge of their seat waiting to see if Kentucky could run the table a year ago, but parody overload has robbed us of any chance at witnessing a seemingly unbeatable team attempt to navigate its way to a 6-0 record in March and April.
The majestic aura of the NCAA Tournament was built on Cinderella willing that pumpkin back into a horse and carriage just before the clock hit zero, despite facing seemingly insurmountable odds. But you can’t have “David vs. Goliath” without Goliath.
Goliath is adversity. Goliath is opportunity. Goliath is history. The opportunity to slay Goliath represents everything that makes the tournament special. What does too much parody get you? A UNC Wilmington/Stony Brook matchup in the Final Four. Surely the ratings for this contest would skyrocket.
Two years ago, we wrote about the tournament landscape being so difficult to decipher, attempting to predict it was an exercise in futility— #7 seed UConn ended up cutting down the nets. It sounds okay on the surface, as UConn has had a top notch program for years. But how lit would the tourney really be if one of this year’s #7 seeds won it all? (Oregon State? Iowa? Dayton??) Five years ago, we watched a #3 seed versus an #8 seed for the title— how did that work out?
Buzzer beaters could easily bail out this year’s tournament, and a star or two will likely be born between now and April 4. But chances are, the lack of individual star power (Buddy Hield notwithstanding) AND dominance from traditional powerhouse programs will make the next two weeks a snoozefest. The reality is unless the high school class of 2016 is the truth, the 2017 tournament will look and feel the same.
For the record (with zero confidence), I have Maryland, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Michigan State in the Final Four, with the Spartans knocking off the Sooners in the title game.
I’ll be watching though. After all, a room temperature steak is still a steak.