10 Apr6 - Hooray For Goliath (POSTSEASON)

Volume XIV, No. 22 - 10 Apr 6: POSTSEASON

Hurray For Goliath

As tightly contest as the national championship game was, it felt dissatisfying from various perspectives. Rarely have I ever felt sorry for Duke that their opponent was getting away with physical play without being called for fouls, but the referees' decision to "let them play" didn't have impartial consequences. Butler could not have afforded to lose Matt Howard(11p4r) and Avery Jukes(10p4r) inside whereas the Blue Devils could have survived without cBrian Zoubek(8p10r). Then, my feeling was if Duke should win, then let it be a blowout; but if it's going to be a close game, then it'd be a great story for Butler to pull off the upset. But that didn't happen, either. So it was hard to be thrilled at a Blue Devil squeak 61-@59 victory.
    Not that they didn't deserve to be national champions -- there were four elite squads over the course of this year, and they were one of them (along with Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse); and certainly tKyle Singler(19p9r)'s all-around effort [including hounding tGordon Hayward(12p8r) into 2-for-11 shooting] was worthy of being named Most Outstanding Player. -- but a more decisive final result would have made for a cleaner storyline. As is, Goliath beats David! . . . Hurray!(?)

So Duke's Mike Krzyzewski has his fourth national championship -- (tied with Kentucky's Adolph Rupp; second only to UCLA's John Wooden) -- and he'll likely pass Bob Knight as the winningest coach of all time before he's done as well. In my book, Wooden and Rupp are separate entities who coached in eras where one team (theirs) was a true national dynasty, enjoying a talent and prestige advantage over every other school in the country that was unmatched. To create and sustain that kind of dominance was a different achievement to me. The more modern great coaches -- and for me, Krzyzewski, Knight and North Carolina's Dean Smith stand apart -- achieved greatness from a much more equal playing field among their peers. As "greatest all-time coach ever", I'd rank Wooden ahead of Rupp because of his accomplishment of 10 national championships (in a span of only 12 years).
    As "greatest modern-era coach ever", it's more subjective to me as to which quality you value more. Bob Knight achieved more (11 Big 10 titles, 1 NIT crown, 5 Final Fours, 3 National Championships) with a lesser grade of talent than either Krzyzewski or Smith. Knight's greatness (his abrasive personal style aside) was his brutal honesty with players about the fact that rarely does anyone deliver a 100% effort (and the more talented, generally, the less-than-maximum effort do you get). Individual man-to-man defense is all will and Bob Knight got his players to understand that better than anyone. (How does Dan Dakich stop Michael Jordan [himself no slouch on effort or talent]?) Dean Smith stressed process more than results and he may have even underachieved (17 ACC titles, 13 ACC tournament crowns, 1 NIT crown, 11 Final Fours, 2 National Championships) by not instillling a greater passion for ultimate victory in his teams; but his innovations to the game (the Four Corners -- which ushered a change in the rules with the introduction of the shot clock; allowing players to substitute themselves out when tired and re-enter on their own say-so; acknowledging the assist man) were adapted by others. Michael Jordan doesn't become the all-time NBA great without passing through both Dean Smith (UNC) and Bob Knight ('84 Olympics). Mike Krzyzewski's legacy (besides 11 ACC titles, 11 ACC tournament crowns, 11 Final Fours, 4 National Championships) has more to do with the type of player he recruited and molded. Like Smith, he had a lion's share of high school All-Americas at his disposal, but his best players used the three-point shot as well as anyone whether it was guards (Jason Williams, J.J. Redick, Jon Scheyer), centers (Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Shane Battier) or the "Universal Replacement" position-less 'tweeners (Grant Hill, Mike Dunleavy, Kyle Singler). "Let's be men out there." is a recurring admonishment he made to his players.

Butler-Michigan State wasn't the most aesthetically entertaining game to watch -- stifling halfcourt defense from both teams. The Bulldogs were able to force enough turnovers from the Spartans to gain control down the stretch and hung on for the @52-50 win with one last defensive stop.

West Virginia could do little to stop Duke's offensive efficiency -- the Blue Devils shot 53% from the floor (including 13-for-25 on three-pointers) and only had 5 turnovers -- as The Big Three all got theirs: pJon Scheyer(23p6a;5/9 3s), tKyle Singler(21p9r5a) and pNolan Smith(19p6a). The Mountaineers were already down 15 with 9 minutes left at the time on the way to a 78-57 DU win, but it was terrible to see bDa'Sean Butler's knee injury at such a crucial point. It says loads about the character of bButler as a person to see grizzly bear Bob Huggins out on the floor in that excruciating moment of tenderness. [bButler later explained that, even in pain, he was apologizing to his coach for having a bad game and not delivering him the national championship he deserved while Huggins was reassuring him that he loved him and that bButler had done nothing to let him down. A powerful image that will last a long time.]

The lesson from this season (and, especially, this year's postseason) is that The Golden Age has been a double-edged sword for the BCS schools. Yes, you can stack your roster with one-and-done Golden Child players and become an instant force. Kentucky dominated the SEC (winning the regular season and conference tournament) and flirted with an undefeated season; but there's still an extra quality to this team game that transcends the sum of individual talent. (The Wildcats couldn't handle West Virginia's 1-3-1 zone and never were great at shooting or defending the three-point line.) When your talented stars leave early for the NBA, veteran Mid-Major squads are still good enough to send you packing. (Northern Iowa held its own inside with Kansas while gAli Farokhmanesh broke their back with killer 3s. Butler defended Syracuse as well as anyone all year. St. Mary's dominated Villanova in the paint behind cOmar Samhan.)
    Even the 1BC schools made quite an impact on this year's NCAAs. Cornell broke through in the tournament to give the Ivy League its first Sweet 16 team in 30 years. Murray State proved that waterbug guards can still run past BCS stiffs, handing Vanderbilt yet another shocking first-round loss. And Ohio University showed that anyone can beat anyone if things go right and the favorite (Georgetown) doesn't show up ready to compete.

It was more good news for the Mid-Majors as Dayton claimed the NIT crown over North Carolina 79-68 (with Rhode Island just missing the final in a 68-67(OT) loss to UNC in the semis).
    VCU swept St. Louis, @68-56 and 71-@65, to take the CBI series final 2-0.
    Missouri State won its fourth straight home game, @78-65, over Pacific (which couldn't quite pull off winning four straight road games) to win the second CIT crown.

The season long debate as to which was the strongest conference, Big East or Big 12, was usurped in the postseason by the ACC. On the strength of its two flagship programs -- Duke and North Carolina won 10 postseason games between them -- it's the ACC who played the most games (24) and had the most wins (16) from 9 teams. While the Big East did place one team (West Virginia) in the Final Four, only one other team (Syracuse) won two games, and its overall record was 10-13. The Big 10's performance [one Final Four (Michigan State) and two Sweet 16 teams, 11-7 overall] was better; and arguably so was the SEC's [two Elite Eight teams and an NIT semifinalist; 10-6 overall] compared to the Big 12's disappointing result [two teams in the Elite Eight; 11-8 overall].

Unfortunately, several key injuries were factors this year moreso than in recent memory. Syracuse's postseason might have been much different with a healthy cArinze Onuaku. The entire Big 10 season may have been different without injuries for Michigan State (pKalin Lucas twice), Ohio State (tEvan Turner) and Purdue (tRobbie Hummel). West Virginia may well have had one last run in them had bDa'Sean Butler not gone down in the second half.
    On the other hand, both Tennessee's and Notre Dame's years probably ended better than otherwise would have been the case without some shakeup in their lineups caused by off-the-court incidents (fTyler Smith, UTn) and injuires (cLuke Harangody, ND).
    All in all, however, the college game is in a very healthy place. (So why ruin a good thing by expanding the NCAA tournament to 96 teams!!!??? It will certainly mean the end of the NIT as we know it, which is quite a loss, frankly.)

Thanks for reading the HLS columns this year. I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

See y'all next year!

-- Ron