This is the week. The week when the sporting world turns its’ attention to..............THE IDITAROD! No, that’s not a 7’2” center for North Carolina State! It’s the name of one of the most grueling sporting events in the world. A 1,000 mile race behind a sled being pulled by a bunch of dogs. Now I realize that there might be similarities between this and how you feel the way your favorite basketball team has been playing but, seriously folks, this dog-sled race has been going on in Alaska this past week and the conditions have been brutal.
Along the Yukon River it was 45 below and frostbite of the fingers is as common as missed free throws and, yes I know, your team shoots free throws like they had frostbitten fingers! 72 mushers have moved into the final stretch and they want to get home so they can fill out their brackets and take part in the hoops fun!
It was minus 20 in Shaktoolik with a windchill of minus 50 on Sunday. Yes, the Shockers looked that cold in their loss to Illinois State last week but at least they got to go home where it was warm and practice. These dogs can’t do that. They have to keep pulling that sled over the ice and saying, “Woof, Woof”!
Speaking of Woofing, the NCAA Basketball Selection Committee “woofed” on a few Sunday with some of their selections. Once again they told the Missouri Valley Conference that they don’t matter. Wichita State a seventh seed? Really? What a slap in the face to a team that has made strong runs in the last two NCAA tournaments! How do you make Northern Iowa a five seed and relegate Wichita State to two slots lower?
Are we to really think that the committee didn’t look at that Midwest bracket and say, “let’s have a little fun and match up Wichita and Kansas real early and get rid of one of them.” Also, why put three of the seven Big 12 teams in the same bracket? Texas, Kansas and West Virginia. Throw in Wichita State and that allows the “smarties” to say “see, those teams just aren’t that good” as they knock each other off.
The Committee has tried to justify the inclusion of a poor UCLA team in the bracket but have yet to give a solid reason. The fact is they SHOULD NOT be in this tournament. The Bruins are an NIT team! Did this committee sit and take lessons from the Playoff Committee on football as a way to mess things up? Goodness, this isn’t that difficult!
There are those in the national media who cry and say that college basketball needs change. That it has become boring, that the defenses have strangled the offenses. They want the game made more like the professional game. More scoring, a 24-second second shot clock and rules changes to benefit the offenses. That’s malarkey! Bull feathers, if you prefer. Either way, there is not a lot wrong with the college game. It is more popular than ever and would be even more popular if the officiating called the game the way the rules are written!
There is a change that would benefit this tournament. Stop awarding  conference tournament winners with the automatic bid to the tournament. That honor should go to the team that wins the REGULAR SEASON conference championship. It is a truer test of which team is the best and it would eliminate teams that get hot and win their tournament. It allows too many of the smaller conferences to squeeze in a team that got fortunate for a game or two in a tournament. Make the regular season important!
Oh yes, one other thing. This just in from the winning dog sled team in Alaska: Villanova over Kentucky in the championship game!