March Madness gone truly mad

As someone who normally considers this period of March the 2nd best time of year (with Jesus' birthday occupying the top spot) it gives me great pain to say this but alas, it is becoming painfully clear--March Madness is a shell of its former self. And no, I'm not just saying this because of UConn's bi-polar performance this year, which now leaves them--a team that went to the Final Four last year and has 3 wins against the Top 10 this year--relegated to the dreaded N.I.T. Although that certainly hasn't helped my mood.

I'm saying this because, combined with the three point line, the flight of great to even crappy college players with huge "upside" to the NBA has narrowed the gap between great and pretty good teams to just about...nothing. Thus eliminating whatever semblance of "strategy" there was to picking a bracket, enabling the Jessica Simpson's of the world to reign supreme and kill the soul of true sports fans everywhere. To be fair, this has been a long time coming. The fact is basketball is a unique sport in that 18 year olds (or even younger probably in some cases) can make the transition from high school to pro pretty seamlessly as we have seen with the likes of Kobe, Lebron, Garnett and many others. Whether or not it is good for their "development as human beings" is a whole other issue, but also completely ridiculous since I would challenge anyone to seriously ask themselves what they would do if at the ripe age of 18 you were given a choice between:

A. Going to college, pretending to go to class, and hoping you didn't get hurt/your draft stock doesn't slip

OR

B. Taking the money and setting up you and your family for life

It's also funny that high school basketball players get this moral scolding--mainly from overweight, middle aged white male sportswriters who undoubtedly never even got close to much less above the rim--while similarly talented baseball, tennis, hockey, and soccer players of the same age get a free ride. Could it be the demographics of the average male college basketball player playing a part? Obviously not.

The truth is college basketball as we know it, or used to know it more accurately, is dying. Hell it might already even be dead; I'm not a doctor. Regardless, never again will we see 3 future Hall of Famers squaring off against each other as we did when Michael Jordan and James Worthy at Carolina matched up against Patrick Ewing and Georgetown in the 1982 national championship game. Instead what we are for more likely to see since the NBA implemented it's "one and done rule"--where kids have to wait at least a year after they graduate high school to enter the draft--are people like Brandon Jennings, a top-flight high school player who skipped college altogether and instead opted to play for a year in Italy, where he received $1.65 million before entering the draft this year's past and getting selected by the Milwaukee Bucks, where he is now enjoying a pretty stellar rookie season.

Contrast that with Derrick Rose, another highly touted high school player, who played one terrific year for famed scumbag John Calipari at Memphis and was able to lead them to the national championship game. The only problem? Derrick, it seems, may not know how to read or write very well, as evidenced by the fact that someone else had to take the SAT exam for him since he apparently couldn't get a qualifying score. Not that this has affected him at all mind you, he was selected No. 1 overall by the Chicago Bulls and is now well on his way to a future filled with tens of millions of dollars. His coach, meanwhile, in spite of now having BOTH of his career trips to the Final Four be "vacated" (NCAA-speak for saying "You CHEATED! Your wins don't count anymore.") at not one but two schools (UMass and Memphis), has since moved on to maybe the plushest college basketball job in the country at the Univ. of Kentucky, where he will earn $31.65 million over 8 years.

So really then, what is the difference between the two? To me it's pretty simple--one got paid for his year of waiting, the other was nice enough to donate his earnings to John Calipari, Memphis University, and the NCAA. This helps underlie an important but seldom mentioned point : the system as it exists now is completely corrupt, designed not in the least to promote the ideal of true "student athletes" but instead to line the pockets of the coaches, satisfy the whims of wealthy boosters, and in the enrich the schools themselves. By how much? The last contract the NCAA signed with CBS for the broadcast rights to the tournament was for 11 years and $6 billion.

Which can only lead me to one very difficult conclusion: the bracket is dead. With players of the caliber of Rose and Jennings playing one year if at all the college level, there will be no rhyme or reason to the goings on of the NCAA tournament every year.

Is there a bright side? Of course, as long as you hate dunking and love fundamentals. The UConn women's team is more dominant than ever having not lost in 72 games and with their LOWEST margin of victory this season at 12 points. I look forward to Pat Summit's tears when Geno and the girls thrash the Lady Vols.