McCallion
Quest

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

A Much Better show than the Pros can give you

                                         If you’re a true fan…check it out

                                                     By Jacob Younan

Over the years, college basketball has become one of the most exciting sporting events. In fact, it normally amasses a larger audience than most professional sports do throughout its spring duration. This is probably due to the emotion and passion that goes into each and every tournament. The thrills are never ending in the NCAA and the sheer variety and skill of every collegiate team is consistently displayed. The most fun of it all has to the buzzer beaters. Throughout this year’s NCAA television coverage, many channels displayed the past emotional moments that had occurred in NCAA tournament history. There were well over 20 or so that stuck in our memories. Unfortunately, people my age weren’t alive to experience it, but this year presented many new ones for me.

Honestly, I had never watched NCAA basketball before this year, and I’m glad that I started. The tournament started like it always does. A special NCAA committee gathers before each tournament to determine the seeding (or the matchups for each team). Every year, the selection committee picks 64 of the best college teams to playoff in 4 separate regions consisting of 16 teams. Based on the results of each team’s season, the teams are given a seeding per region from 1 to 16, 1 being the top seed and 16 being the team that the committee feels has very little chance of advancing. When the teams have been selected 1 plays 16 , 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14 and so on.

Even though 16 teams seems like a lot, there are teams left out of the final 64 for one reason or another. Perhaps their conference schedule wasn’t tough enough (meaning they had too many easy opponents) or perhaps the school itself wouldn’t draw as many fans to a particular region. It’s a very controversial event, and this year was no exception. However, this selection process adds to the drama of the event.

Many analysts, and fans agreed that this year’s committee had stacked up on one conference in the tournament, leaving some teams who had participated well in that conference to be left out. This made it appear unfair to those teams, simply because if they had been playing in another conference they may have been able to record a better win-loss percentage. The tournament was also missing some of its regulars such as UCLA and North Carolina. Although this was irregular, it wasn’t unexpected. Both teams had endured dismal seasons, and probably didn’t deserve to be entered. Once the seeding had finished, the tournament was ready to commence.

As the tournament started, it was apparent that there would be several chances for unknown and low seeded teams to advance, and those opportunities created massive upsets all over the tournament. Teams that were originally thought to have no chance (a 13, 14 or 15 seed) were advancing past favoured teams. Such upsets included Tulsa over Dayton, Butler over Mississippi St., and Auburn over St. Josephs. As expected, in the first round, all the top seeded teams (the Number 1 seeds) advanced easily to move onto the second round, called the Sweet Sixteen.

However, as the Tournament progressed, and the competition increased, top seeded teams began to drop, and exciting matchups began to develop in each region. By the time the following round had been achieved, called the Elite 8, the tournament selection committee were looking like geniuses as all the #1 seeded teams remained. This was no surprise, but the events to come would shock the audience and the basketball gurus. It turned out that, in the Elite 8 round, 3 of the four teams eliminated were #1 seeds! Only one #1 seed progressed through to the Final Four.

Based on the results of the Elite 8, the tournament had suddenly been turned upside down. The only #1 seed remaining was Texas and they met a hungry Syracuse team in one of the Final Four matchups. On the other side of the bracket featured a #5 seed, Marquette University, and a tournament regular,  #2 seeded Kansas. It was anything but expected that the two higher seeded teams would advance. Some expected Syracuse to win, even though they appeared to be the lesser of the 2 teams in term of skills. It was an extremely heated game that contained countless lead changes. But when the game was on the line Syracuse’s star player, Carmelo Anthony, stepped up to the challenge and lead his team past Texas to the Championship game.

 Unfortunately the Kansas game was the complete opposite. Kansas completely destroyed Marquette and at one point of the game led by 30! It was clear that these two teams were not evenly matched. Kansas’ 2 top seniors played a large part in leading their team, scoring almost a third of their teams points.

After these two exciting games, the stage was set for the final game of the tournament that would determine the collegiate champion of the NCAA. Syracuse and Kansas met on the Monday ready for battle, and it certainly appeared so early in the game. Syracuse had come out firing on all cylinders and made everything look easy. Their plays were being executed to perfection and their patented 2-3-zone defence strategy was working in their favour. By half time the Syracuse Orangeman had built their lead to 18 points over the struggling Kansas Jayhawks. Everyone knew there was no way head coach Roy Williams of Kansas would let his team lie down to a lower-seeded team. Not only did this game determine the NCAA champion of 2003, but it also determined which of the excellent head coaches, each with their own decorated histories, would win their first ever NCAA Championship. 

The second half of the game was all about the Kansas comeback. Although the Orangemen weren’t faltering anywhere, the Jayhawks just suddenly became the team everybody knew they could be. They began executing their offence with precision and they began hitting shots. In fact, the Jayhawks managed at one point late in the game to pull within 2 of the Orangemen. Kansas had all the momentum, but when they were fouled and they were in a position to shoot at the foul line, they could not hit a free throw if their life depended on it. Their lack of free throw shooting would eventually cost them the game. Syracuse’s stellar defence, including a last second block by Hakim Warrick, a Syracuse sophomore, sealed the deal for the Orangemen. Coach Jim Boeheim and his players emerged victorious in this final game, and won the 2003 NCAA Championship. Syracuse’s Carmelo Anthony won the MOP (Most Outstanding Player) as he ended up scoring 20 points, and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Once again, this years NCAA Tournament was filled with exciting moments and maintained its tradition as being a gritty, yet passionate experience for all, whether you were a coach, player, or even a fan.  This year was the first time that I had watched and followed the tournament from start to finish. By watching as many games as I could, I have begun to build my own memories of the tournament. 20 years from now, when I’m watching, I’ll be able to recall the assortment of flashback highlights from years gone by, the ones I watched this year. For those of you that shrug your shoulders at the suggestion of watching this tournament, don’t. It’s a must see and, as any good basketball coach will tell you, it’s the best basketball that you will see in terms of skill, intensity, passion and strategy. The pro teams like the Lakers, Raptors and Kings can’t offer the same game as they are professionals and don’t have as much to play for. They have already made it to the show. The college kids are looking for that chance and they compete all out to get it. That’s why college basketball is the best show available to young players looking to improve their game.