Time to Dance

The NCAA basketball tournament is upon us. The first round of the men's is half over. The uber-hyped Big East is 0-3. As happy as it makes me to see them lose, primarily so that crybaby Packer looks like the tool he is, I don't think the conference was "overvalued." Seton Hall was the only somewhat questionable team from the Big East in, and they probably did deserve their bid. The reason for the 0-3 mark, and the reason that the first couple rounds of the tourney are often spotted with wacky results, is the difference between "any given day" and "every single day." In general, conference champions are winners. They always come to play, and they win as a result. The lower you go in a conference, the less consistent the play. By the Elite 8 the top teams have generally shaken out. These are typically very talented, and consistent teams. These are big conference winners. There are exceptions. Extremely talented teams often go to sleep on the court and become vulnerable to (somewhat) less talented teams that show up (see Kansas-Arizona '97, Michigan-UNC '93, others...). Younger teams may need half a season before they really learn to play with each other and within their system. Talented young teams, in particular, can also be quite streaky (Syracuse '03, lost 4 straight before running the tourney). The tournament is magic. Almost every game is fun to watch and there are more exciting finishes than we are entitled to. Heart stopping, fist pumping moments. Come on, day 2.