"Who’s No. 1?” It’s a question whose answer has changed almost as many times as Doug Thibault’s famously — and admittedly awesome — colorful suits this college basketball season. According to the final regular standings, Gonzaga was No. 1. Well, we all know how that turned out. Has the season gotten that far out of hand? Yes, it has!
As the NCAA tournament rolled around, it should not have been that shocking to have this sort of chaos come March. This tournament saw, for the first time, a 15th-seed team make it to the Sweet 16 in Florida Gulf Coast, a school that has only been in existence since 1991. Not to mention, it was their second year of tournament eligibility. The NCAA and its fans usually prefer tradition and pageantry, with the likes UCLA, Duke and Kansas taking the crown, but “Dunk City” was a breath of fresh of air for the tournament, a tourney that has seen an uncharacteristically low number of close, nail-biting finishes.
The Eagles went against everything we expect from basketball, so they were perfect for March and added to the tournament’s parity. With all the talk of Florida Gulf Coast, people overlooked the No. 9 seed Wichita State making their way to the Final Four. Residents of the Commonwealth should be familiar with mid-majors going to the Final Four.
Remember VCU? George Mason? Wichita State has made it to the ATL the old fashioned-way, with toughness, discipline and fundamental basketball — a compilation unheard of in modern basketball. Wichita State is that old-school, tough-as-nails Cinderella team that may remind some of 1983’s NC State, or 1985’s Villanova squads. Those teams shot well and guarded better. How else, anyway, do you take down Phi Slamma Jamma or the great Patrick Ewing?
Three of the most inconsistent teams in the country have made it to the Final Four. Syracuse is a team that can, in one game, dominate the matchup and win by 30 with a stout 2-3 zone, but then in two nights play passively and poor offensively and defensively, losing by 15. Having said that, the Orange have proved their worth, knocking out pre-season favorite Indiana on Thursday and making Marquette look silly on Saturday in the regional semifinal and final, respectively.
Even top overall seed Louisville went on a sketchy three-game losing streak in conference play where their offense was nonexistent. In one fell swoop, the Cardinals went from being the number-one team in the land to an afterthought — that is, until they went on a tear, winning the final real Big East championship to Syracuse. Now, after sophomore guard Kevin Ware’s horrific injury this Sunday — Ware will travel with the team to Atlanta and may even play again — the nation has rallied around a shaken Cardinal squad that took down a strong Duke team in the national quarterfinal.
Michigan, is also a team who lost to a terrible Penn State team by 10, a team that could be identified as the most consistently bad team in college basketball from season to season. Even with all of that, likely Naismith Award winner Trey Burke has the Wolverines on the verge of their second national title ever, and first since 1989.
The first semifinal matchup on Saturday is between Louisville and Wichita State. The sides are a little different; the battle-tested Cardinals were here last year, but Wichita State hasn’t even been to the Final Four since the days of John Wooden. After that, Michigan and Syracuse will do battle, as the aging Jim Boeheim looks to win his second title in his fourth appearance in 35 seasons as the Orange coach.
The parity is not exclusive to the men’s game, but the women’s game has seen more than it usually does. The women’s game is known to stick mainly to the chalk (meaning that the top-seeded teams generally advance). But this year, the seemingly unbeatable Baylor Bears and Brittney Griner were beaten by the fifth-seed Louisville Cardinals, and mighty Stanford fell to Georgia.
The Big South was the conference that officially tipped off the madness that occurs for over a month every early spring. Winthrop beat Radford in overtime, and it was on from there. Longwood won, then lost, and the proverbial house of cards that represented sanity in college basketball collapsed when Liberty and Florida Gulf Coast of all teams went dancing. It only took a day for brackets to start busting across the nation. In less than a week, that ever-lingering question will be answered in Atlanta and New Orleans.
Who’s No. 1?
*** This editorial is an opinion stated by the writer and does not represent the views of The Rotunda or Longwood University.