There is nothing more thrilling, more gut-wrenching or more excruciating that tournament college basketball. Whether it’s a conference final, the play-in game for the Madness of March or the NCAA championship game itself, it’s about as exciting a sporting experience as it ever gets.
And if you’re in an office pool, it’s even more fun.
The college game is so much different that the pro game. For one thing, there is no money involved in the outcome. There is, potentially, money involved in an individual performance, but it always seems that by the time these young players reach these monster tournaments (call ‘em reality TV shows if you like), you get the sense they aren’t thinking about the money so much as they are the prestige.
And unlike the pro game, the college game has actual rules that make sense. Travelling, as a for-instance. The college game looks a lot less like some bastardized version of European team handball than the pro game does with all its carry-balls and six steps to the hoop.
And that’s why it really chafes my ass when the officiating sucks. And believe me, with all the TV technology these days, it’s apparent it sucks a lot more than it’s good. In fact, there were times this past weekend when it just sucked out loud.
As an example – and there were many – in the recent Illinois-Ohio State Big Ten Tournament semi-final game, statutory rape was committed at one end of the floor and no foul was called while at the other, a soft tap on the shoulder would draw a two-shot foul and a warning. It’s a strange game this college basketball. It is played with all the heart and emotion that one could possibly muster with no sense of consistency or even thought – unless that thought is how much money I have placed on this game in Vegas.
If the refereeing were decent, just decent, tournament college basketball would be the perfect game. As it is it’s often very difficult to watch and even more difficult to understand – at least, without screaming at the TV.