Maybe the problem I have with the NCAA men’s tournament is that it has reached its ultimate goal. It has become the NFL — an (occasionally) entertaining game producing great moments and played with no discernible rules.
Without question, the first weekend was rich with upsets and thrilling finishes. Who knows how long St. Peter’s can continue its magical run as a 15 seed? At the other end of the spectrum, the powerful Big 12 showed its muscle with all six teams escaping the first round and three advancing to the Sweet 16.
I’m not knocking the overall product. But if you watch any number of games at all, you have to be appalled at the physical play, the things that are allowed to happen (particularly inside the paint but not limited to that area). That’s how I find it to be like the NFL where there is no real definition of pass interference from one game to the next, where flags are thrown or kept in the pocket for inexplicable reasons.
One of the results can be an atrocious lack of scoring. Remember when Villanova pulled the great upset of Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA championship by holding the ball for long stretches? One day later, the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee approved the college game’s first shot clock — 45 seconds — to speed up play and enhance scoring.
Oh, by the way, the score of that Villanova game was 66-64. On this tournament’s first weekend, there were 14 games where fewer points were scored. Two more matched that 130 total. Iowa State reached the Sweet 16 without scoring 60 points. Arkansas beat New Mexico State 53-48. Ohio State beat Loyola (Chicago) 54-41.
In an era where the pros routinely score 110 points — the games are eight minutes longer, I understand — how do we have college games concluding with NBA halftime scores? When I saw Notre Dame had scored 108 points the other night, I was briefly inspired. Then I realized the 108-64 win over Oklahoma was in the women’s bracket.
The biggest part of this story is the physical element that has reached an all-time high. The “let ‘em play” forces have won. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas has railed against this many times, and wise people listen to Bilas, but no one is doing anything about it.
For example, the TCU-Arizona game simply could not go to overtime the way it did. With the score tied in the final seconds of regulation, the Wildcats tried to trap TCU guard Mike Miles just across midcourt. Now either he was shoved into the backcourt or he committed a violation by dribbling across the line before losing the ball as he fell to the floor. It’s one or the other. The referees chose “Door No. 3.”
Nothing. Let ‘em play. And had the Arizona player reached the basket two-tenths of a second faster, the Wildcats would have won in regulation, not overtime.
This is not a lament about poor TCU. I thought it was a foul, but I know it was something.
On the other hand, Baylor players took full advantage of the lack of whistles in Fort Worth to employ what I think we could call a “very physical” full court press on the Tar Heels. They attacked with impunity and whistles were swallowed. Carolina fans were incensed, but this was not a conspiracy on the part of the officials. There is no universe — here, parallel or elsewhere — in which CBS wants a private school from Waco to advance over North Carolina. But I thought Jeremy Sochan and Matthew Mayer each picked up a fifth foul two or three times without leaving the game.
These are just two examples. Anybody catch part of the Wisconsin-Iowa State game? Credit to the Cyclones for the upset, but their 54-49 victory was more wrestling match than basketball.
I don’t know how we reached this point. While it’s no fun to make every game a battle of attrition through foul trouble — many of them become that, anyway — the idea of refs swallowing whistles to allow players to decide games whether in basketball, in hockey or in football has never made any sense to me.
As Bilas tweeted Saturday, “North Carolina and Baylor are playing a physical, tough, competitive game. But it’s not basketball. It’s hockey and rugby. This has been happening all season, and needs to change.
“Nobody is asking for touch fouls. The officials are ignoring clear fouls.’’
It happened in Fort Worth, and it happened all over the country. Don’t be surprised Thursday night when you see a minor car crash in the lane in San Francisco or San Antonio and it receives no whistles.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when college basketball became a collision sport. There’s still a place for the marvelously skilled players to shine, but it’s getting harder. And rougher.
And it leaves the fans of every eliminated team asking, “How did they miss all of those foul calls?”
