March Whatever

I titled this post March Whatever due to the sense of inevitability and lack of excited that frames this year's NCAA tournament.

The big story is Kentucky's quest for an undefeated season and John Calipari's second national championship, which coincidentally will match the number of final four appearances his teams have had to forfeit (UMass, Memphis). Is there any excitement watching this mix of one-and-done and McDonald's All American players, led by one of America's smarmiest coaches? No, there isn't. It's no fun.

The other stories aren't much better. Every year it seems the tournament gets more and more hyped, more and more corporate, and less and less entertaining. The charm of the tournament is the underdogs, but this year the NCAA selection committee picked underachieving name brands like UCLA and Indiana instead of more interesting teams such as Dayton, Richmond or even Miami. It's a corporate, brand-name tournament played by student-athletes who put far more into the NCAA than they get out.

Finally, there's Carolina. Last year, I had our team winning the national championship as I usually do. That team defeated Kentucky, Duke, Louisville, and Michigan State, the top four teams in the preseason polls, so were a legit threat.  Carolina, Dean-style basketball resurfaced in Greensboro last week for 3.75 games to produce some hope for the NCAA tournament, but one reason for a whatever is this team is probably a year away from a legit pick to go 6-0 and winning another national championship.

So for all those reasons, it's March Whatever for me. Despite that - GO HEELS! 

Here are a few more hoop notes for now, with my picks for the tournament coming tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Three must-read articles have come out in the last week: my classmate Scott Price's piece in Sports Illustrated about UNC, John Feinstein's column on Syracuse and the ACC, and Barry Jacobs' column on the ACC tournament. 

Scott's piece is worth reading even though it's a little too cynical and broad. I still have faith that UNC will restore the Carolina way and that the University of the People will get it right. Scott quotes my former professor John Shelton Reed quite a bit, too. The SI piece posits that Carolina started losing it's way when Jordan and the Dean Dome turned a plucky and liberal program into a national brand, a process augmented by the world wide leader in sports hyping the UNC-Duke rivalry. 

The common thread through all three articles is the ACC now represents all that is wrong in college athletics. There are no more student athletes, just unpaid workers building a successful brand of entertainment and sports programing (the ESP of ESPN). It used to have a down-home tournament for fans of a geographically-compact conference; now its tournament is an east-coast roadshow in fairness to teams - not schools - that range from south Florida to New England to Indiana.

Worst of all, Feinstein points out that not only has its football-fueled expansion and money-loving ruined the quaintness of the basketball tournament, it has tainted the ACC's highest and mightiest. Who would have thought that Dean Smith's school could host an academic scandal, Duke would ignore two instances of sexual assault, and Syracuse would have to forfeit more than 100 wins due to academic schemes to keep players eligible?

Worst of all, to me at least, these problems are not that hard to fix: make freshmen ineligible, or follow baseball's example of holding a high school draft and if you don't sign with a team you can not be drafted again until you complete your junior year; play fewer regular-season games - 8 in football, 20 in basketball; 25 in baseball.  Those reforms would restore the quaintness of college athletics, keep the athletes in class more, and make sure that academia not corporate, name-brand, money-loving broadcasters set the agenda.

This year's NCAA tournament may make me shrug 'whatever' but these scandals make me embarrassed and ashamed for caring so much about college basketball. 

On to Presbyterian

I never like to blog after a loss, especially a loss to a team like Kentucky and a coach like Calipari. Say what you will about Krzyzewski, but Calipari makes him look like John Wooden.  As obnoxious as Duke's students and players are at least they run a clean program and have some integrity - something you can't equate with a school that has featured coaches that range from racist - Adolph Rupp - to corrupt - Eddie Sutton - to scumbags - Rick Pitino and now John Calipari. I'm glad in the depths of the post-Dean wanderings Carolina never got that desperate. 


Give me 8-20 over Calipari or Pitino any day.


Anyway, back to the game. The Heels' 66-68 loss did have some silver linings.  For me, the best part of the game was Larry Drew. He didn't play a perfect game but he continues to improve, and looks more and more comfortable running this team.  His decision making and shooting continue to improve, so much so that at one point in the second half I asked Evan 'why does Roy still have Drew on the bench?"


The second-half defense was also a highlight.  Amazing that a Carolina squad that only scored 66 points almost won a road game, so kudos to the second-half effort especially on the defensive end.


As it was against Syracuse, the Heels looked young during parts of the game - and Kentucky and John Wall took advantage. Questionable shot selection, and a failure to get back on defense - more to the point, a failure to stop Wall - killed the Heels.


Shot selection especially hurt us during their run. Kentucky's defense of our second unit - plus their transition baskets - made us look unathletic. And for a while in the first half, Kentucky out-Heeled the Tar Heels as the Wildcats rebounded and fast-breaked to a 19-point lead.


As I blogged after losing to Syracuse, that kind of stuff happens to a young team. 


The loss means the Heels are 2-2 against quality opponents (Ohio State, Syracuse, Michigan State, Kentucky), with a December 19th game at Texas (in Cowboys Stadium) wrapping up the meat of their non-conference schedule.  Has anyone played a tougher non-conference schedule than the Tar Heels?  Carolina fans should appreciate what this young team has done so far, especially if the Heels go on the road and down number 2 Texas in two weeks.

• Not many freshmen are as good as the hype, but John Wall is.  He was pretty impressive in the first half.
• Carolina  hosts Presbyterian on December 12th.  They really stand out on the schedule: Ohio State, Syracuse, Nevada, Michigan State, Kentucky, Presbyterian, Texas.  Only one of those teams did not play in the NCAA tournament last year.
• After a great game versus Michigan State, the freshmen really looked the part against Kentucky.  John Henson had two dunks blocked against the Wildcats, though Dexter Strickland had a nice dunk and overall good game.

Soccer Dynasty Continues


Carolina's womens soccer team won their 20th NCAA national championship (and 21st overall) on Sunday, 1-0 over Stanford. The Heels scored early,in the first 10 minutes, then clamped down on defense. Besides being their 21st overall, it is Carolina's third championship in the last four years, and the second year in a row they defeated an undefeated and untied team for the title.


As Dean once said, Carolina "is a women's soccer school."


World CUpdate


The U.S. got a great draw and should advance out of the group stage at next year's World Cup.  The U.S. is in the same group as England, Algeria, and Slovenia.  The U.S. and England should advance, and I'm going to predict a mild upset, picking the U.S. to tie England in their first game.


Greece got a tougher group but should still advance - a major accomplishment if they do.  Ellas is with Argentina but also with manageable foes South Korea and Nigeria (FIFA says Greece is ranked higher than both of those squads).  Look for Greece to lose to Argentina, tie Nigeria and defeat South Korea, and more importantly advance to the sweet 16 next summer.



More Good Nats News


Finally, I like the Pudge Rodriguez signing by the Nats.  A perfect mentor for Jesus Flores and our young pitching, and a more than adequate stop gap in case Flores is not ready for spring training.  It's not saying much when talking about a team that lost 103 games, but the Nats' off-season is going much better than their regular season did.