How do you get your mind around the NCAA Tournament? You start emailing to get caught up with friends. Take a spin inside the minds of Good Men Project Sports, as they riff from the NCAA Tournament to Wildcats and from the death of Caesar to Flight of the Conchords.
___
Sports Editors Wai Sallas and Michael Kasdan let you peer into the random workings of their collective minds as they wind their way through a stream of consciousness discussion of NCAA basketball and the upcoming Tournament, while touching on various and other sundry matters of great import.
This is our second in the Sports Exchange series, where we compose a sports piece on a topic of interest through a series of email exchanges. (And we give a shout-out to Bill Simmons here for his ‘Curious Guy’ series of email exchanges between he and “successful” and “interesting” people like Malcolm Gladwell. That, in part, served as the inspiration for what you see here. Except instead of emailing someone successful or interesting, Wai Sallas just emailed Mike Kasdan.)
And…away we go!
Wai Sallas:
Just in case you got caught overly up in the NFL Free agency dealings (Shady McCoy to the Bills??!! DeMarco from Dallas to Philly!?!) to notice, the NCAA Conference Tournaments are in full swing. Which means we are on the eve of The Tournament.
On Friday, we saw a coast-to-coast bucket to win the game at the buzzer (Kent State). On Saturday, Kentucky finished the season undefeated. Then on Sunday, a day after upsetting Wichita State, Illinois State was up 18 on Northern Iowa only to get blown out in the second half.
Somebody warm up Luther Vandross because One Shining Moment is less than 4 weeks away. The Madness is here!!!
Michael Kasdan:
Um, you completely forgot about Belmont – Hey, isn’t that a horsey racing track! – shocking Murray State at the buzzer on a heave fromwaydowntownBANG.
And isn’t it great that Murray State is a sort of basketball super-power? They had won TWENTY FIVE GAMES in a row.
Incredibly, Belmont had also knocked off Kentucky!! Oh wait, that was Eastern Kentucky.
At any rate, Belmont is dancing!
Oh, and side note:
I love this crop of former Cinderellas that – like the Murray State Racers – have built themselves into consistent killer basketball programs – Gonzaga, Wichita State, Butler.
Is this is year that one of them finally goes all the way? See what I did there? You Vandross’d and I Meatloafed.
♦◊♦
Sallas:
If you’re going to segue from Luther, the only logical transition is Teddy Pendergrass, since they both own renditions of One Shining Moment. You do not pass go! You do not collect $100.
Mea Culpa on forgetting Belmont, I was too busy celebrating another Arizona Pac-12 Championship (GMP Sports Editor’s Note: Wai Sallas attended the University of Arizona and his biased is palpable. We apologize for his overt homerism, as he cannot help himself.).
Speaking of championships, this is definitely not the year for a mid-major to “shock the world.” The whole universe has to align for that to happen:
1) The mid-major team must be filled with upper classmen. Experience can sometimes trump talent.
2) You have to have at least one or two NBA level talent players at your disposal.
3) They must have confidence
4) Be battle tested
5) And be coached well
. . . Basically what I’m trying to say is Butler was our last and best shot from 2010 and 2011. They had all the criteria, except the bank wasn’t open on a fateful Monday Night in April.
When will this happen? I don’t know, the one thing I know for certain, it won’t be this year.
Kasdan:
Um…it’s $200. What?
Did you play some sort of Depression Era version of Monopoly growing up or something? Or have older brothers that have been squirreling away your extra $100 for passing Go for all these years?
At any rate, so no Mid Major Cinderella run, says Sallas, going into the Tournament.
Right. Because this thing always works out just the way we thought…
How about the Ivy League baybee! (GMP Sports Editor’s Note: Michael Kasdan attended The University of Pennsylvania during the golden years of basketball when Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen ruled the Palestra and Penn made the tournament every year. Sure we lost to Michigan’s Fab Five and Alabama, once Antonio McDyess work up, but at least we beat the Eric ‘Pistol’ Piatkowski led Nebraska Cornhuskers! He would be displaying overt homeroom but unfortunately they made Jerome Allen a coach and he was terrible at it and now Penn Hoops is in shambles and some team like Yale (YALE!!) is going to the tourney!)
Anyway, remember when Yale beat U Conn this year and they turned it into a math problem? Sigh.
I think Shabazz Napier threw up in his mouth a little that day.
♦◊♦
Sallas:
Did you ever feel like your whole life was all a lie, like your were The Truman Show? Your Monopoly truth just blew my little bubble apart. I have to rethink every thing I’ve ever known. So thanks for that.
Hey Mike,
We colleges with so-so academics have only a few things to hold our head high about. The Ivy League has Jeremy Lin, isn’t that enough? Every time around St. Patrick’s Day, we, of average education, get to revel in three weeks of wearing our colors, touting our school at work instead of hiding our diploma. We come out of 347 days of hibernation as if we’ve been there all along. Those of better education look at us at envy for those 19 glorious days. Ahhh…
But I digress; in past years when a mid-major team would get on a magical run, it was usually a year when there was parity in NCAA. No such luck this year, the top 6 schools are really strong. UK is in a class by themselves, but have yet to be challenged. We have not seen them square off against talent close to them, making a comeback not difficult. Duke, Arizona, and Wisconsin combine senior leadership with NBA talent and great coaching. Virginia has some question marks but its deliberate style of play makes them a very difficult out. Finally, you could say Villanova is playing its best basketball of the year and as we all know after watching UConn last year, those peaking at the right time are scary.
But in the words of Cat Stevens, oh baby, baby it’s a wild world . . . . Wait are we done with the music theme?
Kasdan:
No. We’re never done with music themes. But for now, we can transition – for just a few moments – to historical references, like this one:
“Beware the Ides of March!”
As you may recall from class at University of Arizona, the Ides of March is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to the infamous date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. It was a turning point in Roman history. And it was March 15th.
The above painting is called ‘The Death of Caesar‘ (1798) by Vincenzo Camuccini. Do you see what is in the hand of the figure on the left? That’s right. It’s a basketball.
March 15th, 2015 is the date of Selection Sunday, when the Field of 64 Will Be Chosen.
Coincidence? I think not!
Anyway…let’s get back to business. (Wait. What’s that you say? You know what that means? It’s…Business Time. Sorry – musical theme thing reared its ugly head…)
So anyway, give me your favorite underdog teams that you think can make some noise, your favorite players and personalities in college basketball, and 1 prediction that you can guarantee to a certainty will come true.
And to get the juices flowing, check out THIS compilation of greatest Vines in college basketball this season.
♦◊♦
Sallas:
First of all, thank you for reintroducing our handful of followers to the Flight of the Conchords, the best thing to come out of New Zealand since kiwi and the All Blacks.
If the rest of my words seem a bit muddled it’s probably because my brain is mush after the art history lesson I just received. Did I not tell you what school I went to? Don’t get me wrong the University of Arizona is a fine university; we tout a hefty group of alumni, but The Ides of March sound like a cover band I saw at a local watering hole during my studies there.
Underdogs can’t be household names, nor can they be teams people expect to go far. So no Gonzaga, Wichita State or Northern Iowa.
I’ll give you two teams to watch out for, the obvious disclaimer being in the NCAA tournament it comes down to match ups more than anything else, and who’s peaking at the right time. That being said, watch out for Boise State out of the Mountain West. They’ve won 14 of their last 15, including a 10 point win at San Diego State which boasts one of the top home court advantages in all of college basketball. Senior Derrick Marks is an absolute stud and combined with Sophomore James Webb III provide an inside outside combo that will be tough to beat. They also have a couple of Aussies starting who provide experience and well-rounded games.
My other team is SMU; No freshman on their team, making them an experienced team with the sense of urgency knowing this might be their one and only shot. This season, they have met a ton of adversity with player eligibility and still managed to win 14 of their last 16. Last year they were snubbed from the tournament and will have something to prove.
As for my number one prediction…a 13, 12, 11 and 10 seed will win its first game. We all know a 12 seed usually takes a 5 out, but this year is so wide open outside of the top 6, anyone can make a few heads turn.
Kasdan:
I like those “teams to watch.” Strong work.
My pick is Davidson, only because I have fond memories of 2008 when No. 10 seed Davidson – led by Steph Curry’s 25+ PPG – made their improbable run to The Elite Eight. Turned out that Dell’s son – I do have THAT one right, yes? – is quite the player. One of my friends made up the in-retrospect inane chant-and-response cheer: “Who’s Son?!” DAVIDSON.” It was great fun. It could have been that we were also drinking a lot.
At any rate, this year’ squad, the regular season A10 champs, is streaking – Look honey! We’re streaking the quad! – and looks dangerous again – making over 11 three’s a game and putting up high volume points.
Who’s Son? DAVIDSON! Indeed.
My prediction: I will win the GMP Sports Editor’s NCAA Bracket going away.
Woot woot!!
♦◊♦
Sallas:
That chant makes me wish Curry went to a school called Dellson. How amazing would that have been? This year’s version have a couple of things going, they can stroke the three and they score a lot of points on a lot of assists. Plus, Davidson’s mascot is the Wildcats. Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova and Davidson –all Wildcats!
Forget the year of the Goat, it’s the year of the Wildcats!
Kasdan:
Inner Monologue: Please let that YouTube link be Goldie Hawn, please let it be Goldie Hawn.
IT WAS! IT WAS!
So, I’m thinking there has to be a Vegas prop bet that is Wildcats (any of them) vs. The Field? No??
Sallas:
There’s actually a prop bet, Kentucky vs. the Field…With Kentucky having the better odds. If betting were legal, of course.
Kasdan:
That sounds about right actually. Those bookies have psychic powers.
Or it could be that they are using that sports almanac that Future Biff gave to Past Biff in Back to The Future.
At any rate, smart money is on The Wildcats. On paper, they look unbeatable.
But (dramatic pause…Clint Eastwood gravelly voice) as we all know, they don’t play these games on paper….
Sallas:
Unless it’s one of the 23 brackets I’ll be filling out next week.
Ah Kasdan, yes. It’s here. Let’s go Wildcats!
_________
This piece was co-written by Wai Sallas and Mike Kasdan in a series of back-and-forth emails over the course of a couple days.
Photo Credit: Associated Press/FILE