Heavyweight Final Four makes tourney a special one
The buzzword is "chalk."
It's been around for a while, we've heard it fairly regularly, but it really seems to have ingrained itself in the vernacular this year.
And that was even before the way this NCAA Tournament unfolded.
Favorites winning has only elevated the word.
Now, there are some who would lament the absence of a Cinderella in this tournament. There is no George Mason to get behind. There is no "little guy" to root for.
Teams such as Mason make for a cute story.
But even without that unheralded school making a deep run, this tournament still has had compelling games, games that have gone down to the wire.
Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there never has been a tournament in which all four No. 1 seeds reached the
Final Four.
But this one came pretty close, with two No. 1s (Florida and Ohio State) and two No. 2s (UCLA and Georgetown). In 1993, three No. 1 seeds (Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina) and a No. 2 (Kansas) made it to the Final Four.
In short, there's nothing wrong with this tournament either, even with heavyweights galore.
What's wrong with seeing elite teams compete, the best of the best going head-to-head?
What's wrong with watching premier talent perform on the sport's marquee stage?
You only have a slew of All-Americans still playing. Ohio State freshman Greg Oden, a once-in-a-generation player who should be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft if he opts to declare, and UCLA's Arron Afflalo made the first team. Florida's Joakim Noah made the second team; and Georgetown's Jeff Green, a fantastic inside-outside threat, and Florida's Al Horford, who has been a beast in big moments, the third.
And that's to say nothing of players such as Ohio State freshman and Oden's former Lawrence North teammate Mike Conley Jr., who has a wonderful feel for the game and is going to be an NBA star in his own right; and Georgetown's 7-foot-2 intimidator Roy Hibbert. For sure, there are numerous future NBA players on these four teams who, of course, are gifted college players currently.
And there are no worthwhile storylines among this group.
Yeah, right.
Florida is only the defending national champion, seeking to become the first team to repeat since the 1991 and '92 Duke squads -- and the first to do it with the same starting five. In a rematch of last season's title game, the Gators meet UCLA, only the most storied program in college basketball history.
Ohio State swept the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, and Georgetown did likewise in the Big East. The Buckeyes are looking to become the fifth team since full seeding in the tournament began in 1979 and the first since Duke in 2001 to win the national championship after ending the season ranked No. 1 in the country. The Hoyas are reliving their glory days, returning to the Final Four for the first time since 1985 -- and with familiar names such as Thompson and Ewing, as well as Rivers. And the type of matchup between Oden and Hibbert isn't one that happens routinely.
So enjoy this tournament and Final Four, embrace it, for what it is, and not what it isn't.
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