The Starting Five

Is it the 1999 Tennessee Titans Motor City Miracle or Villanova’s April Fool’s Miracle in 1985? How about the 2007 New England Patriots attempt to join the 1972 Dolphins as undefeated champions or UNLV’s quest in 1991 for an undefeated National Championship season?

What does it for you, the NFL Playoffs in January & February or the Madness in March?

The NCAA basketball tournament is a four week gauntlet (Conference tournaments included) of 65 teams embarking on a four-week quest for college basketball supremacy. It all begins with Selection Sunday, where the field is chosen from among 32 conference tournament winners and 33 at-large teams. Teams are seeded 1-16 in four regions (East, South, Midwest and West) in the following format; 1 vs. 16, 8 vs. 9, 2 vs. 15, 7 vs.10, 3 vs. 14, 6 vs. 11,4 vs. 13, 5 vs.12. There is a play-in game the following Monday for the 64th team entered and Thursday the Madness begins.

Leading up to Thursday’s noon tip-off, office pools are filled out and turned in like Powerball tickets. Most for monetary gain, some just for bragging rights - all in the name of fun. I can imagine the use of PTO at some places of employment being off the charts. While those at work are checking for score updates throughout the day.

Methods for selecting the eventual winner of the tournament can vary from the seemingly obvious; like selecting the team with the best overall record to the simplest of criteria; a person’s alma mater or team colors, teams are even selected according to mascots. The Madness is great water cooler talk amongst friends and co-workers, but rest assured when the number of teams begins to dwindle, competitive juices begin to flow.

Personally, the best games of the tournament come on the first two weekends. Based on the seeding there is room for upsets as unfamiliarity with the opponent, neutral sites and the David vs. Goliath effect come into play. A #16 seeded team has yet to defeat a #1 seed, but four #15 seeds have defeated a #2 seed (most recently Hampton defeated Iowa State in 2001).

The race for the Vince Lombardi Trophy begins in the July heat of training camp and ends in a confetti shower in the middle of winter. The NFL may have the most grueling of seasons thanks to it’s physicality and the urgency to get an early jump in the standings.

You constantly hear the cliche’ that the NFL’s 16 week schedule isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Sixteen weeks isn’t that long considering that if you lose half of your games the postseason is virtually out of reach. The biggest factor in NFL games is injuries, not only to star players but those vital on the depth chart. The playoff push begins around Thanksgiving (approx. week 12), and at this point you can tell who the contenders and pretenders are as division races heat up and teams seriously begin to tighten up their game plans.

At the end of Week 16 the playoffs are set to begin – four division winners and two wild card teams from each conference do battle until a Super Bowl champion is crowned. Of the division winners the teams with the two best records receive byes while the remaining two play on Wild Card Weekend, the winners then face the two conference leaders in the Divisional Round (the best games of the playoffs). Those winners then face off in the Conference Championship aka Championship Sunday and then on to the Super Bowl.

I guess the determining factor for me would hinge on hometown participation, I’m a lot less interested in the NFL playoffs if the Eagles aren’t involved than if there are no local teams in the NCAA’s. The NCAA tournament has us pulling for the small school with big dreams, some are just happy to be invited to the party while others have come to spike the punch.

In some places, college basketball is the only ticket in town and the hopes of that particular area are on the shoulders of kids - many of whom aren’t old enough to drink. NFL fans live for the playoffs and are just as–if not more–rabid. Like the NCAA’s, there are surprises but more often than not the two best teams are there at the end.  Both events are great and have become must see T.V.

Which must you see?

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 1:58 pm and is filed under 1990 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, blog roll, Blogroll, College Basketball, College Basketball's Greatest Teams, March Madness, NCAA, NCAA Basketball, NCAA Basketball Champions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.