NCAA Basketball

BOSTON – As Michael Jordan might say, excuse the paraphrasing, there’s no “i” in March Madness, but there is an “i” in upset win!

That’s the case in the just concluded First Round of the 2023 Men’s Basketball Championship, held in gyms all over the country this past Thursday and Friday, two of the best sports days of the year.

First let’s review the Maddest of the Madness:

• No. 13 Furman upset No. 4 Virginia, 68-67, in the South Region
• No. 15 Princeton upset No. 2 Arizona, 59-55, in the South Region
• No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson upset No. 1 Purdue, 63-58, in the East Region

Most of the top seeds made it through the First Round of play unscathed, including Midwest Regional No. 1 Houston and West Regional top seed Kansas, who was joined in victory by No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Gonzaga, and No. 4 UConn in the college basketball version of the bracket of death.

Meanwhile, Houston “only” has to contend with No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Xavierand No. 4 Indiana making most pundits “pencil-in” the Cougars for a home court date at the Final Four (April 1 &3).

In the South, previously mentioned No. 2 Arizona is out, along with No. 4 Virginia, who was upset by Furman, leaving No. 1 seeded Alabama an easier path to join Houston in the Space City.

With Purdue packing its bags, the East is set up nicely for No. 2 Marquetteor No. 3 Kansas State – two tough teams to beat – but the real winner amongst the losers (Purdue and Memphis) could’ve been Duke, the No. 5 seed, who entered the tournament as one of the hottest team in the land with nine straight wins, including an impressive performance to take the ACC Tournament.

Duke was this columnists pick to take it all. That looked good until they ran into a more physical Tennessee Volunteer team on Saturday. The Vols forced Duke turnovers and outplayed the Blue Devils, instilling their will and instilling some facial stitches while they were at it. Duke left the building needing to place cold steaks and cucumbers on their bloody eyes and puffed-up cheeks.

Sparing you the Sweet 16 picks by this columnist, the “Elite Eight” of the bracket always attempting to be “better than most,” included the following picks:

South

• Alabama vs Creighton

East

• Duke (wrong) vs Marquette

On the other side of the world, err, bracket:

Midwest

• Houston vs Xavier

West

• Kansas vs Gonzaga

Advancing to the Final Four?

• South – Alabama
• East – Duke (wrong)

vs.

• Midwest – Houston
• West – Gonzaga

No great shakes there, as picking No. 1s Alabama and Houston is the chalk of all chalk in this tournament, but those two schools had the clearest paths evident to all as the brackets were revealed last (Selection) Sunday.

The more difficult predictions will come right now.

Final Four

• Duke (wrong) to defeat Alabama
• Houston to defeat Gonzaga

And, the winner of the National Championship on April 3, 2023

• The Duke Blue Devils – (very wrong)

Why did I like Duke to possibly take it all?

One January 7, your faithful reporter and bonafide Boston College observer saw the Blue Devils squeak by the Eagles, 65-64, here in Boston at Conte Forum. While that score might be construed as a weakness of the Blue Devils, the indication was Duke won on the road in the ACC and defeated a Boston College team playing at its best. BC played hard and competed, but Duke won.

Much credit belonged to “new” head coach Jon Scheyer, who took over for coach Mike Krzyzewski and has risen to the challenge much the same way Jake Clemons filled the void of the great Clarence “Big Man” Clemons of the E Street Band back in 2012. Scheyer is not K, Jake was not the “Big Man” but the band carried on while Duke finds itself running much of the same X and O’s utilized by Coach K.

Duke knocked-off Oral Roberts 74-51 in the First Round on Thursday and is primed for a Saturday afternoon match-up vs. SEC power (24-10) Tennessee. For the Blue Devils, center Kyle Filipowski leads a well-balanced team with (15.1 ppg; 9.0 rpg).

Saturday, Duke ran into a brick wall of Volunteers. Tennessee defeated the Dukies, 65-52, manhandling the younger team and leading on the scoreboard and intimidation meter all the way from the 3:48 mark of the first half (22-21).

With Duke out, the door is now wide open for both No. 4 Tennessee, No. 3 Kansas State or No. 2 Marquette, winner of the BIG EAST regular season and tournament crown. Much like Duke’s Scheyer, Marquette’s Shaka Smartmanages his team well and orchestrates the team “W” rather than impress the scouts, media and regular season polls/rankings.

While writing on deadline as the Vols eliminated Duke and paved their way to Madison Square Garden and the East regional final, the other team that might crack the Final Four field is Gonzaga.

The ‘Zags won the West Coast Conference, are very well coached and prepared for March by coach Mark Few and are among the teams peaking at the right time of year.

You can see what that did for the Duke Blue Devils.

MARCH SADNESS: Sincere best wishes and a “Get Well Soon” for Kansas head coach Bill Self, who is recovering from a serious heart procedure performed last weekend. While the school attempted to play it down while honoring Self’s rights as a patient, the news came out, and it was reported Self had two stents placed in his arteries and is still being monitored while sidelined. Former St. John’s coach Norm Roberts is at the helm in Self’s absence.

The educated guess is that Iona head coach Rick Pitino will become St. John’s head coach this week now that his Iona Gaels were eliminated from the NCAAs. The speculation ran rampant at Madison Square Garden for a couple days after St. John’s unceremoniously dumped coach Mike Anderson after his dismal Big East season but close call loss to Marquette in the tournament quarterfinals. Putting 1+1 together, St. John’s had two coaches working the tournament in Roberts and Pitino. They were just working for other schools.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: Major League Baseball’s attempt at a World Cup style tournament has seen its ups and downs since first pitch on Monday, March 7 in Tokyo and Taichung. The crowds supporting Japan at Tokyo Dome have been magnificent. Similarly, the fans of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba Panama and Venezuela have shown their support at WBC games based in Arizona and Miami.

SADDEST DAY ON THE DIAMOND: The worst possible crisis for the WBC surfaced on Wednesday, March 15, when Puerto Rico celebrated its 5-2 quarterfinal win over the Dominican Republic – a huge Caribbean baseball-centric rivalry. After the game, with fans and family members enjoying the Puerto Rico victory, ace reliever Edwin Diaz was jumping around with a group of teammates when he destroyed his patella tendon and collapsed to the turf in extreme pain as his teammates looked on, helpless and in a panic. Diaz’ brother, Alexis and 36,000 fans sobbed at the sight. A day later, the injury was confirmed and the WBC, Puerto Rico, and the New York Mets 2023 season fell apart.

Mets Twitter lit up, cursing the WBC and calling it a meaningless preseason moneymaker that Major League Baseball team owners should boycott in fear of injuries to its major league players, all scattered throughout the WBC rosters and all proudly representing their countries in the tourney.

The backlash is understandable, but many of the MLB players would not have made the majors were it not for the formative years playing for their respective national teams on homeland turf. Also, as some fans pointed out, LA Dodgers’ infielder Gavin Lux blew out his knee and will miss significant time with the Dodgers. Diaz is expected to miss the entire 2023 season.

Looking across sports, the careers of Steve Nash (Canada), Dirk Nowitzki(Germany), Tony Parker (France) and a number of his French countrymen – just to name a few – took major steps forward by gaining experience and confidence from leading their national teams in the Olympic Games, Worlds, and their qualifiers.

The feeling here is to let the players play, especially if they REALLY want to represent their homelands in a tournament that – like the Worlds – just doesn’t resonate in the USA the way it does elsewhere. There are far too many Americans who claim USA Patriotism but fail to put their fandom where their mouth is when it comes time to support Team USA. They waive the USA flag at rallies, shout Constitutional Law from the highest mountain, but never show their red, white and blue at a World sporting tournament in just about every sport. I guess patriotism has different meanings to different people and that’s okay, maybe?

TIDBITS: As a grizzled veteran of St. Patrick’s Day, mostly observing New York’s grand St. Patrick’s Day parade from 15 floors above Fifth Avenue with the namesake Cathedral just yards away, it was always challenging but enjoyable.

Challenging was the ‘80s when a morning commute to the Fifth Avenue subway stop (E and F trains) would stand witness to teenagers already wasted and nauseous before they even made it up the long escalator ride to street level.

Enjoyable was to see the police, fire fighters, bands and all sorts of the Irish society march up Fifth Avenue, all following a green line painted in the center of one of the world’s most famous streets. The drums, the bagpipes, a “Danny Boy” or two brought smiles to the onlookers, decked out in green. Everyone was Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

In Boston? St. Patrick’s Day lasts for four days! Let us count the ways and days:

1. St. Patrick’s Day eve
2. St. Patrick’s Day itself (this year on a Friday, no less)
3. St. Patrick’s Day Saturday (celebrated with Bar Crawls and live music, the Hockey East Tournament Finals, the NCAA’s March Madness, live music at night, the Boston Celtics playing on TV (always on the road because of previously mentioned college hockey tournament).
4. St. Patrick’s Day Sunday – complete with a morning breakfast when the local and state politicians take time to “roast” each other in good faith and spirit, followed by the Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade, staged at 1pm in South Boston. The event originated in 1737.