NYPOST.com debates the quality of this year’s NCAA tournament: THE GOOD by Justin Terranova
East Tennessee State trailed by seven points against top-seeded Pittsburgh with five minutes left.
ETSU’s Isiah Brown made a layup and got fouled. Brown missed the free throw, ETSU grabbed the rebound and kicked it out for Courtney Pigram. Pittsburgh then turned it over before passing half court. Just like that, the No. 16 seed had a chance to do what no other No. 16 seed has done before — knock off a No. 1 seed.
It didn’t happen — Pitt ended the game on a 13-5 run to advance. Cinderella’s chances dashed, but not without providing us with 36 minutes of excitement.
The same can be said for CS-Northridge, the 15th-seeded Gauchos led second-seeded Memphis 62-56 with 10 minutes left before reality caught up with them.
Siena needed two clutch Ronald Moore 3-pointers to first force a second overtime then to win the game against Ohio State on Friday night. The Saints weren’t done. Against Louisville, they used a stunning 12-0 run in the second half to take a four-point lead with seven minutes left. The Cardinals took the lead and held off Siena, but not before Albany’s Cinderella gave us 80 minutes of thrilling hoops.
No one loves the upsets more than I do. When watching the games at home, I’m the guy that wants CBS to show the 1-16 matchup in hopes of witnessing history.
Would it be a great story if Cleveland State had followed up their upset over Wake Forest with a win over Arizona? Of course (especially because I picked that in my bracket), but if the worst-case scenario is watching potentially eight terrific games over the next two nights then it’s not the end of the world (Purdue-UConn may be the exception).
Especially when Cinderella kept me consistently interested over the first weekend.
THE BAD by Mike Battaglino
Yes, the value of the NCAA tournament is in its Cinderella stories, at least in the first two rounds. It’s exciting — and good media — to have an unheralded team join the big-boy party for the second weekend.
But let’s face it: Cinderella is a cartoon, not a basketball team.
The 16th seed is 0-100 against the No. 1 seed. The 15th seed is 4-96.
You can’t have it both ways: Either Cinderella is the selling point of this tournament, or the highest quality basketball is the point.
Because of the 31 automatic bids, the tournament does not include the best 65 teams in the country. Is it right to keep letting clearly inferior teams in when they have a 2 percent chance of winning, for 36 minutes of so-called excitement (did anyone really think ETSU would beat Pitt, or Siena would beat Louisville, and did anyone who filled out an office-pool bracket want them to?).
And is it right to sell the idea that a team like that can win the whole thing, Hoosiers style, when that is so far from reality?
Smaller schools aren’t closing the gap on the power conferences, the gap is getting larger, and the really good teams are getting better, proven by all four No. 1 seeds reaching the Final Four last year for the first time.
That will happen again before a No. 16 seed wins a game, or a double-digit seed (or mid-major) even reaches the final, to say nothing of winning the championship.
And before we have a majority of close games in the first two rounds. This year, of the 48 games already played, 8 had a final score within one possesion (3 points). 30 had a final margin of more than 10 points.
If this were a regular four-day stretch of games in January, how many would you actually watch, and how many would even warrant a “SportsCenter” highlight (to say nothing of a live postgame press conference)?
The favorite almost always wins, and the games usually aren’t close. What’s so entertaining about that?
Yes, the best teams should play for the championship of their sport. But what are the most memorable NCAA tournament finals.
I say:
* Indiana State-Michigan State, not only for the Magic-Bird matchup, but because Bird played for unheard-of-before-or-since Indiana State.
* N.C. State-Houston, because a (big conference) Cinderella won on a buzzer-beater.
* and Villanova-Georgetown, because a (big conference) Cinderella played a perfect game against one of the most disliked teams of all time.
That tournament just doesn’t exist anymore, the real fairy tale, no matter what George Mason might say.