By Nick Bond and Mark Walters
Nick Bond: Here’s my question, Mark. As a normal, not particularly intelligent person, can you explain to me what the big deal with this whole March Madness thing is?
Nick Bond: Obviously, I understand the significance of crowning an actual national champion in a big-time college sport, but the cultural phenomenon that is the NCAA tournament is something that absolutely boggles my mind. What’s the big deal?
Mark Walters: What’s the big deal? Are you kidding me? It’s the biggest sports phenomenon in America. On a worldwide scale, I’d put it up against Wimbledon, the World Cup, et al. It’s a 65-team field that lives totally and completely up to its namesake, “March Madness.” Think of all the money that goes into office pools and Vegas stakes. It probably circulates more money than the Super Bowl.
Nick Bond: After the upsets of the first week, the whole thing kind of dies for me. It just seems like its the same 5 teams every year competing to be the last team on camera before they play “one shining moment”.
Mark Walters: Man, there is certainly excitement past the first round of upsets. Remember George Mason? How about Davidson? Stephen Curry is a household name solely because of March Madness, and he’s playing in the NIT this year, so it’s not just the same teams every year. Kentucky snapped its streak of 17 consecutive tournament appearances. Ever hear of North Dakota State? The Bison are making their first appearance in their first year of Division I eligibility. Stephen F. Austin is also on the list of teams losing their Big Dance virginity.
Nick Bond: Wow, great point, Mark. 2 teams out of, what, 260 teams in the last four years. Take a look at the teams that actually make it to the Final Four, or even the Elite 8. It’s THE SAME TEAMS EVERY TIME. If I have to see UNC play in one more Final Four, I’m going to fight Roy Williams.
Nick Bond: Of the 35 teams that have won a championship, only 6 teams from non-major conferences have won, and it hasn’t happened since 1966 when UTEP, or as they were known then, Texas Western — you know, the team from Glory Road. Almost any other non-BCS conference winner can be directly correlated to the performance of one exceptional player (see: USF and Bill Russell in 1955 and ’56).
Mark Walters: OK so maybe the teams is a bad argument, but what about players? I understand that you play to win the game, but there is much more to the tournament than winning it. How about Larry Bird from Indiana State, a team from the Ohio Valley Conference. Back in 1979 he went up against Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team, which was a preface to their rivalry in the NBA.
Mark Walters: And you can’t forget about players like Gerry McNamara from Syracuse, Corliss Williamson from Arkansas, and Ed O’Bannon from UCLA. Christian Laettner was made famous because of his unforgettable buzzer-beater against Kentucky in 1992. And you can’t forget about Michael Jordan hitting the title-winning shot against Georgetown (starring Patrick Ewing) in 1982. He was a freshman then. A freshman, Nick!
Nick Bond: Brother, McNamara and O’Bannon were AWFUL pros. Awful. Laettner and Williamson weren’t much better.
Nick Bond: And congratulations on making the same argument everyone makes about Bird-Magic and Jordan. You still haven’t convinced me that the NCAA tournament is anything more than overhyped cash cow that exploits college athletes to turn a profit.
Mark Walters: Woah buddy, you might wanna back up a step there. As a former Division I student athlete here at Hofstra, I can tell you, there is an unimaginable amount of pride that goes into putting on a uniform for a program. Cliche as it may be, the name on the front is way more important than the one on the back.
Mark Walters: And did you know that the NCAA student athlete has a higher graduation rate than the general student body? That has a lot to do with the Coach K’s, Coach Knight’s, and Coach Pitino’s who are dedicated to putting their kids through fine estaablishments of higher learning. Say what you want about the tournament and its quirks, but it will always be THE college basketball tournament. That will always be sacred. Sure, there are Kelvin Sampsons who desecrate the beauty of it, but it has its beauty, and that will always be sacred. These are STUDENT athletes. Ask any current pro athlete, no matter where he went to school, he will always be damn proud of it.
Mark Walters: What do you have to say about that?
Nick Bond: Alright, alright, you’ve got me. Pulling on the old heart strings to make a valid point — well played, Walters, well played.
Mark Walters: Yeah Bond boy, that’s what I thought. Do you even know what you’re talking about in the realm of college basketball? Did you even fill out a bracket? I’ll bet you didn’t pick a single upset. Last year was the only time in history that the Final Four featured all four No. 1 seeds. I’ll bet you went traditional with your picks: Duke, UConn, Kansas and North Carolina for the Final Four.
Nick Bond: Well, you’re half right. I have Duke and North Carolina, but on the other half, I have Louisville and Missouri, because unlike you, I don’t have a man crush on Jim Calhoun. The only times that UConn wins anything is when they are unequivocally the best team. As for Kansas, I have them losing in the first round.
Mark Walters: You’re certainly right about UConn, they’re good this year, but nothing more. Pitt has beaten them twice when they were ranked No. 1. Speaking of No. 1, it seems this season that no one wants to be at the top of the rankings. No. 1 teams never seemed to last more than a week or so, save for North Carolina at the beginning of the season. The Tar Heels are definitely a Final Four team assuming they can get past Oklahoma or Syracuse. ‘Cuse is hot, something they traditionally are this time of year, and Blake Griffin is unbelievable, but the Sooners aren’t very deep. If UNC can get Lawson back, they’re lethal. Other than that, Duke isn’t great, but Pittsburgh has never been to the round of eight, so you gotta like Duke out of the East. Other than that I like Louisville and Memphis. Michigan State is overrated and should not stifle Louisville in the Midwest, and like you said about UConn, good not great, which is why Memphis is going to show the nation how good they truly are.
Mark Walters: And speaking of Blake Griffin, he’s merely one of a slew of stars to keep an eye on this March. Ben Woodside from North Dakota State is averaging 22.8 points a game. His coach’s game plan is to get him the ball and get everyone else out of the way. Tyler Hansbrough is last year’s Player of the Year, and has been waiting his whole life for his senior season as a Tar Heel. DeJuan Blair is solid for Pittsburgh, and he’s only a sophomore, which by today’s standards makes him a 5th-year senior. Freshman phenom for Memphis, Tyreke Evans is nasty, and he’s probably sick and tired of Memphis getting swept under the rug all season. Watch for him and the Tigers to explode on the national stage. And that’s that, I’m taking Memphis to win it all the year after finishing second, taking down UNC in the finals.
Nick Bond: Well, I mean, I know for a fact you are wrong about Memphis, but the rest of your analysis seems to check out, so I suppose all that’s left is the crying, net cutting and draft declaring. God Bless.