It is appropriate that this week's Connection is being released on St. Patrick's Day, because for some programs in NCAA Division I men's basketball, luck may have run out on them.
We'll start with a program most of the pundits thought would surely make the Field of 68: SMU. Yes, those Mustangs have finally dug themselves up from years of being under the 1984 'death penalty' slapped on them by the NCAA, only to be the last one on the outside even with a late Top 25 ranking. Larry Brown's latest post-season entrant is now the overall #1 seed of the "other" big tourney, the NIT. A shot at Madison Square Garden isn't a bad consolation prize, either. If history serves like it normally does, programs who do well in the NIT could set themselves up for major NCAA success the following year. Fear not SMU fans, your day is yet coming.
Perhaps the unluckiest in the Big Dance may be the one nobody has beaten yet. Wichita State, owners of a school and pre-tournament best 34-0 record, has the second-best number-one seed. The road to Dallas and the Final Four, however, will have three major speed bumps. Kentucky and Louisville are potential opponents of the second-ranked Shockers and own the last two Division I championships. Should WSU survive those matchups, Pac-12 tourney runner-up Arizona would be at the doorstep to try to block a potential back-to-back Final Four run in the Elite 8. Coach Gregg Marshall may need to muster up more than courage juice to get past that gauntlet.
Of course, someone has to hang on to their four-leaf clover to get this far. The recipient this year, Big West tourney champ
Cal Poly, is firmly grasping theirs. The 8-seed in their own conference tournament, the Mustangs (sorry SMU) enter the NCAA Tourney with just 13 wins, an overall record six games under .500 and an equally laughable conference ledger four victories under the Mendoza line. But try telling coach Joe Callero his team doesn't belong. Along the way, the 'Stangs outlasted league regular-season titlist UC-Irvine, which has the tallest freshman in recent memory in 7-6 Senegalese sensation Mamadou Ndjaiye, who is a lot more athletic than the late Manute Bol. You get past a team like that, you can open a lot of eyes and ears on the selection committee. Also, Nebraska has a piece of lucky green in their stash as well. Yes, I said Nebraska, the football-crazy school that hasn't seen the Big Dance since Nolan Richardson and Arkansas gave the 'Huskers 40 minutes of hell in 1998. Nebraska was picked t be dead last in the always-tough Big 10. A late surge in conference play and stronger showing at the tournament in Indianapolis not only has the folks in Lincoln thinking about a trip to Dallas, but has raised the profile of coach Tim Miles, whose last major project was seeing North Dakota State move to Division I.
Which ever of these programs is going to get to their respective championship game will need the same chemistry that got them in the field... and a lot of luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment