By Mark BucketsLooking around the national landscape of college basketball, there is one thing that pops foremost into my head: Who actually deserves an at-large NCAA Tournament bid at this point?
Stay with me here.
31 conferences + 34 at-large bids = 65 teams
Easy, right?
Not so fast. This is a year in which the potential supply of quality at-large teams is far outweighed by the demand of deserving teams. Some will use the dreaded parity card as a ploy to mask a deeper problem: from top to bottom, this is a down year in college hoops.
There are a multitude of explanations reinforcing the above statement. The list of reasons are endless. The lack of senior leadership - or leadership of any kind, to be frank - is a leading cause for the dearth of aesthetically pleasing basketball.
Since the inception of various offseason skills camps - introduced by Nike - notable people within the game are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Legendary basketball figures such as Pete Newell and Dick "Hoops" Weiss truly sense a turnaround in the fortune and quality of American basketball on all levels. Call me shallow - I know I've been deemed that before - but until we strike Gold in Beijing, I'll withhold judgement.
We'll delve deeper into that issue at a later time.
To be completely honest with you, the teams that are bantered about (And talked about more so than those firmly into the NCAA field) should be little more than a footnote to the teams that compete for a national title. This coming from a guy - Mark Buckets - that gets excited about South Carolina-Upstate's home clash with a sleeping giant in Florida Gulf Coast University. I'm all about the little guy - to an extent.
The at-large teams that come from major conferences that vacuum up all of the tournament revenue should consider themselves extremely lucky to even be associated with the NCAA Tournament. This is all just fodder for the media heads of society - which I went into detail yesterday - to garner ratings and interest. So while the big boys enjoy their spacious training rooms and sparkling practice facilities - and I'm not even talking about upper-tier BCS programs- the pawns of the college basketball chessboard battle for attention and maybe a chance to show the nation what they are capable of doing.
What a world we live in.
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10 comments:
Mark Buckets, my friend, what about this Notre Dame team? What's your honest opinion of where Mike Brey's group finishes in the Big East standings? What do you see this gutty squad doing in the "Big Dance," "March Madness?"
Don't tell me you agree with the East Coast basketball establishment writers who think the Irish are soft.
And what's with all the spacing between your paragraphs?
It hurts my aging eyes to read the screen when you've got all those fat white spaces in between paragraphs.
The last time I saw that many fat white parallel lines, I was waiting for a urinal in the men's room at the Hunt Club (circa 1998), and Chris Farley, John Cusack and Mancow Muller were .... well, you know.
Anyway, all those spaces are making me feel disoriented and queasy. I feel like I might upchuck the magnificent Prime Rib (courtesy of my good friend Chef Hans from Smith and Wollensky) that I had for dinner tonight.
That, and all the vodka tonics that I drank at Jilly's.
Aahhh, that's better my friend. You edited out all those gaps that were between your paragraphs.
There was just too much blank space in between the paragraphs for my taste. The last time I saw that much blank space bas back in 1985, when I was doing the sports on the Channel 5 10 o'clock news with Ron Magers and the beautiful and talented Deborah Norville. Let me tell you my friend, Deboran was a stone fox, but there was a hell of a lot of empty space between her ears.
I'm not trying to be rude, but I've had too many vodka tonics to be trying to read a computer with so much white screen staring back at me.
I'd read a couple sentences and then I'd be stuck staring at a big fat white space.
As I was saying earlier, the last time I saw that many fat white parallel lines, I was waiting for a urinal in the men's room at the Hunt Club back in '97 or '98, and the late Chris Farley, John Cusack, Jeremy Piven and Mancow were ... well, hoovering up the fat white parallel lines.
Thanks for fixing your post. It looks pretty good now.
But not quite as good as the Tristan Island lobster tail that my good friend, Chef Hans, serves up at Smith and Wollensky (on State St. -- right on the river).
Notre Dame, greeny leprechaun poopey golden domey
Hey, where's the love for Chicago State? I'm tryin' to get some shine for my boyz from 9501 South King Drive.
I'm talkin' bout: where's the luv for my Cougars?
Oh, I see how it is.
Ain't no love for the South Side on Drive and Dish.
And what's Chet Coppock's double-sized old ass doing on here? I know Chet loves to get the free food from Smith and Wollensky (just like Dan Jiggets), but somebody needs to tell Chet to put the fork down. Besides, doesn't Chet have somewhere on Rush Street to be right about now?
Now if somebody wants to throw some comps my way .... maybe I'll start talking up Smith and Wollensky too.
Help a brotha out.
I'm Southside, tho. So I'll be swinging by Harold's Chicken later on.
Still wouldn't mind seeing the stray comp get thrown my way, though. Harold, hook a brotha up, aiight?
My owner just bought a new French Poodle, and it is hard being the old dog around the house. Everybody says, aww cute little puppy, but nobody wants to play with me. Everybody wants to hold that dumb little un-toilet trained puppy. Don't they realize that they are going to get peed on?!?!?
I have no problem with people who buy French Poodles or with people who pay more attention to "cute little puppies" than to their older dogs.
They're great people ... FOR ME TO POOP ON!
Mr. Buckets, "What a world we live in," indeed. You're seww riight own.
Your piece points out just how the fat cats have all the benefits and the other half has to do everything in their power just stay alive another day.
As I always say, there are Two Americas (TM). The rich bankers, corporations, oil companies, drug manufacturers, Wall Street firms, hedge fund managers, investment bankers, and predatory lenders are living like kings while 37 million American children die of starvation every day.
Right now there's a little girl who is minutes from freezing to her death because the bank foreclosed on her momma's home and her momma's so broke and in debt that she can't afford a winter coat for her little girl.
And there's a little black child who's already dead because her momma couldn't afford to feed her because her welfare check got eliminated so that George Bush could keep killing innocent Iraqi children in order to appease his Big Oil cronies back in Texas.
That little girl is speaking to me from beyond the grave. I can hear her little ghost crying riiight no'aou.
And there's a crisis because there are 500 million innocent American children who's families don't have health insurance. Those children will die soon if we don't stop the rich corporations, hedge funds and predatory lenders from killing off all the poor American children.
Mr. Buckets, I can see from your blog post that you clearly understand the plight that so many innocent Americans are facing at this critical juncture in history.
Which is why I'm asking for a donation of $2000 to help me keep my campaign alive, beat that Chicago mob connected, slumlord loving, Muslim, Louis Farakhaan loving black separatist Barak Obama and help me keep fighting the evil rich corporations, health care industry, pharmaceutical industry, banks and predatory lenders on behalf of the "other" America.
If you don't, I'll have to go crawling back to my previous job, where I worked for a hedge fund that has a substantial position in the sub prime lending industry. After all I've said about "evil" hedge funds and "predatory lenders" on the campaign trail, that would be an uncomfortable position to be in.
Help me save the children, Mark.
You can make a difference.
Thank you.
Edwards08.
As I said after the '04 election, John Edwards is the biggest phony I've ever seen.
And to think, that asshat was my freaking running mate in '04.
What a mistake I made, I mean, what a mistake my stupid campaign manager (Bob Shrum) made.
Screw that phony Edwards. I hope his blow dryer breaks down some day, and he has to do his campaign rallies without being able to fluff up his precious 'do.
Hey, don't forget about me. I need a cash infusion a hell of a lot more than that phony, pretty boy Edwards does. My campaign is flat BROKE! My staffers are working pro bono. It's getting ugly.
Besides, Edwards has that full head of shiny, pretty, flowing puffy hair. I'm freaking bald. And broke.
WTF!?!
Edwards raked in more than 200 million in the days when he was an ambulance chasing shyster lawyer.
On the other hand, I was a District Attorney. I helped keep law and order for the people of the Southern District of New York. When Edwards was chasing ambulances, I took back the labor unions and legitimate businesses from the New York mob.
But ambulance chasers pull in more dinero than D.A.'s.
So I'm not filthy rich like Edwards, or that billionaire from Boston -- the illegal immigrant loving, job cutting venture capitalist Mitt Romney.
But I am America's Mayor. And when I was the Mayor of New York, I:
1. cleaned up New York City
2. instituted the "broken window policy" (as detailed by Malcolm Gladwell in the best selling "Tipping Point")
3. acted decisively and heroically on 9 - 11
4. single handedly fought Osama bin Laden, Al-Queda, Islamic Jihaddis, South American drug cartels, Colombian Narco-terrorists, stew bums on the Lower East Side, etc.
5. brought down the Gambino and Genovese crime families
6. once told Yasser Arafat to go fuck himself
7. had the cojones to tell Mets fans to go fuck themselves (especially during the 2000 World Series)
8. partied with Derek Jeter and Darryl Strawberry
9. banged several hot .... uh, never mind
So screw Edwards! I need your help a lot more than that phony pretty boy does.
Dennis Green for President!
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