Through four days of the NCAA Tournament, one thing is for sure: I am really good at picking teams to win. I'm in first-place in many of my pools and have a substantial lead. Please don't take this is bragging, it's not. It's more like gloating.
The NCAA Tournament did not ruin my bracket, however I did not escape the weekend without harm. I was all set to rip into the MAC for blowing the end of its Championship game against Akron and Miami (Ohio), then the NCAA Tournament happened.
In the MAC finals, Akron lost its game, though there was a "human error" by the clock operator, who did not start the clock at the proper time, in the waning seconds of the game. This extra time (.6 seconds) enabled the RedHawks to make a game winning three-pointer with what appeared to be no time remaining.
However, after a delay that seemed longer then it takes for Bowling Green to put on their underwear and make it to a basketball court, the refs decided to add .6 of a second to the clock, and allow Akron one final chance. Most non-Akron fans disagree with me here, but I believe that if the clock started at the right time, Akron would have won the game. Either the time would have run out, or instead the RedHawk guard shooting the ball with one second left, he would have been shooting with .4 of a second, rushing his shot even more then he was and lowering his chances of making an already extremely difficult shot.
Yet, as I was preparing to write my column, I was watching the Maryland-Butler second round game, and the clock struck again, this time in the NCAA Tournament. There went my argument that the MAC is the only conference that could spoil an ending with time problems.
Strike one.
I was going to dabble into how pathetic it was that on the women's side, Bowling Green was the No.17 team in the nation, yet only received a seven seed in the tournament, then continued lose to Oklahoma State. But then Bowling Green forward Liz Honegger saved the Falcons from embarrassment, and Bowling Green won it's first round game down the stretch.
Strike two...
But screw it, the MAC is a joke of a conference and here is why, the teams get no respect, don't do anything to help themselves and then complain about how respect is not given to them on a silver platter. Take Akron for example, yes they were the best team in the MAC, but they blew the Championship game, and more importantly they blew their at-large opportunity earlier in the year.
Akron's head coach complained after the game how his team is getting no attention, and that they didn't play good teams in the out-of-conference schedule because he didn't want his seniors to play too many games on the road. To make matters worst, the Zips didn't even perform well against these weaker opponents. The Zips lost to Arkansas-Little Rock of the Sun Belt Conference, as well as Illinois-Chicago of the Horizon League. These two teams had a combined record of 27-35 on the season, in conferences that nobody would confuse with the BCS. The Zips' final strike came when they lost to the one ranked team they played this season, falling to Nevada by two.
In basketball, the MAC may be competitive, but please don't confuse the competitiveness with anything except mediocre. There is parody with no team being really better then the other, yet none of the teams are that good, as evidenced by the fact that the MAC has not won a game in the NCAA Tournament since 2003.
No matter how many gripes I may have with the MAC, and no matter how many times I just point and laugh at the horrid officiating in basketball, nothing tops my joy in watching Niagara get spanked like a 99 cent hooker by Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This has nothing to do with me being a UB homer and hating the Purple Eagles, or hating the fact that John Murphy still contends that the Eagles are better though the Bulls have beaten his alma mater four years in a row. No, this has more to do with the fact that the Eagles thought that they were snubbed by being forced to play in the play-in game. That they were better then so many of the other conference champs, yet when they got their chance to prove their worth to the Tournament by at least being competitive with Kansas, they lost by 40 after dancing around the court giddy with jubilation after winning the play-in game which they were so embarrassed to be a part of to begin with.
Dancing around the court after winning the NCAA play-in game would be the equivalent of rushing the football field after beating Temple opening week. Who does that?
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
