Even more so this year, Madness not limited to March
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By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
March Madness is upon us once again.
And as usual, buzzers aren’t the only things being beat.
It happens every season as college basketball’s big tournament approaches. Topics other than fantastic finishes are talked about at length and run into the ground.
The NCAA’s billions. The players’ non-existent cut. The freshmen-to-NBA pipeline. The academic progress rates.
Keeping the focus on court is more challenging this year as the sport endures an FBI probe that already has led to several firings. More than 20 schools reportedly are implicated and could be impacted by potential rules violations. Revelations of under-the-table economics have increased calls for players to be paid.
Meanwhile, the NCAA talks about sweeping changes as it awaits a report from the Commission on College Basketball. The NBA reportedly is working on a new plan for high school grads to become pros right away and skip the one-year pit stop in college. And folks such as Lebron James, Barack Obama and Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy are criticizing the current set-up.
Van Gundy called the NCAA “maybe the worst organization in sports” and said much of the preps-to-NBA backlash was “racist. I’ve never heard anybody up in arms about [minor league baseball or hockey players],” Van Gundy told reporters recently. “They are not making big money and they’re white kids primarily and nobody has a problem.
“But all of a sudden you’ve got a black kid that wants to come out of high school and make millions. THAT’s a bad decision? But bypassing college to go play for $800 a month in minor league baseball, that’s a fine decision? What the hell is going on?”
It’s the same old same old.
The NCAA, athletic directors and college coaches are on one side. The players and their families are on the other side. Everyone else is in the middle – agents, runners, sneaker reps, and AAU officials.
Forgetting the state of affairs is easy when the ball is tipped and players seek their shining moment.
From then on, we’re enthralled by scrappy underdogs trying to punch above their weight. We’re mesmerized by well-established mid-majors continuing to prove their worth. We’re captivated by smooth-running bluebloods managing to pose serious threats for the umpteenth consecutive year.
Sneakers squeak on the hardwood, balls swish through the nets, and bands pep up the arena, creating the sounds of March.
Even if every player’s pockets aren’t empty, the competition is pure. It’s not like impermissible benefits are performance-enhancing substances. The playing fields are relatively level, each according to its level.
Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State and other Power 5 heavyweights are in the top class; Major-conference also-rans and high mid-major challengers battle on the rungs below. Further down, low mid-majors fight in their own classification and divvy the players who fall to them.
To borrow the Wizards’ motto since they’ve been without John Wall, “everybody eats.”
That means every school, from No. 1 Virginia to No. 351 Alabama A&M, has a chance to sign players, win conference championships and advance to the NCAA tournament. As coach Norman Dale noted in “Hoosiers,” foul lines are 15 feet from the backboard and rims are 10 feet from the floor.
Only schools’ individual talent levels differ, reinforced each year by No. 16-seeds, usually in painful fashion.
But according to deniers like NCAA president Mark Emmert, the system itself is fine. He’s convinced that only problem is a few bad actors directing or receiving unauthorized funds.
Other defenders of the status quo, like Memphis coach Tubby Smith, are so blind to injustice they don’t see the hypocrisy floating overhead as it pours from their mouths.
“We had over 800 Division I players transfer last year,” Smith complained to reporters on Sunday. “Over 800. We’re teaching them how to quit. That’s what we’re doing. Things not going well, let’s quit.”
I guess that’s different from, say, Smith leaving Georgia with four years left on his contract. Or the times when he bolted from two other schools for better opportunities elsewhere.
I guess Smith believes that coaches’ reasons for “quitting” – money, prestige, facilities, conference affiliation, recruiting ground – are better than players’ measly reasons.
Who cares if they’re not getting playing time, or the coach who signed them is gone?
Transfers are the least of sport’s problems right now. The entire industry appears to be under siege and a sea change might be at hand.
There’s time enough to discuss the myriad threats over the next three weeks.
Here’s hoping we’ll have a chance to enjoy some basketball, too.
— Brooklyn-born and Howard-educated, Deron Snyder writes his award-winning column for The Washington Times on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Follow him on Twitter @DeronSnyder.
