The NCAA basketball tournament has finally entered its glory. The fantasy of every basketballer has come to spectacular fruition, at least for the ballers from Butler, West Virginia, Duke and Michigan State.
A collection of less than 100 people make up the players and coaches for all those teams, combined, yet the whole nation is enthralled in a basketball tournament that was more drenched in drama than an entire season of The Hills. There were more dooming injuries at this tournament, note Kalin Lucas' Achilles heel – no joke, he blew out his Achilles tendon – or "Truck" Bryant's broken foot that he will try to play on in the Final Four.
The Big Dance is a self-correcting system that bolsters the little man, allows stars to twinkle before their fall and submerges the entire month of March into a madness that turns water-cooler conversationalists into clones of Dick Vitale. The super, scintillating, sensational part of it all is the success of the fundamentalist.
Of course Cinderella shocks the world every year – Northern Iowa strutted their glass slippers until Tom Izzo's Spartans killed the miracle – but the tournament always corrects itself by only allowing the best team to win. Not the cliché best team, but the actual best team; the one that controls the tempo, plays in rhythm and finds the open man for the smart opportunity.
The most significant differential between The Association's basketball game and the amateur game is that the college kids are allowed to be just that, kids. Coaches reign supreme in the NCAA and NAIA, while the superstars sparkle in the NBA.
College basketball is famous for its unique game plans – the 'Cuse's 2-3 zone or Coach K's unselfish team play by the Dukies. Uconn's men's coach Calhoun rode headlines for more than half of the 2009-10 season as his health – and team – faltered, while the Lady Huskies coach Geno Auriemma charged through another undefeated season. Auriemma looks to dethrone a basketball deity in John Wooden by shattering his 88 consecutive-game win streak.
That's my point. The NCAA remains to be all about the C, the college part. These student athletes are not professionals, their coaches are, and as much as I hate the "one-and-done" rule, it has simultaneously allowed the college game to own superstar talent. The one-and-doners are a catch 22 though; they can change the entire identity of a squad, but they also leave that squad in shambles when they jet for the draft – see John Wall.
Even the casual sports fan loves to get hoop fever and take part in the Dance's March Madness, seemingly more than at any point in the NBA's eternal season. That's because the game is played as it should be, as a team game.
Yeah, alley-oops are dope, slam dunks are the jam – literally – and the the superstar is the man in the NBA. Superstar players haven't been an NCAA spectacle since Magic and Larry Bird's duel in 1979. They are a part of a team in college, and once they hit the hardwood of NBA they become the D-Wades, LeBrons, Kobes and KGs.
The National Basketball Association is the smoking hot, bottle-blonde, big-boobed, tiny bikini-ed supermodel that's full of luster. While the NCAA is the metaphorical girl-next-door that features the fundamental qualities in a more even dispersion. College showcases teamwork, pass-first mentality and selfless play, without sacrificing any of the instinctual attraction. The magnanimous part of the NCAA is the "get your cake and eat it too" environment it influences.
Get it. Got it. Good.
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