2008 Woodie Awards
Bank Shots: Sorting a smaller field
With all four top seeds still in it, how will the 2008 semis be remembered?
Pete Lorenz
Bank Shots | 4/2/08
As much as I love upstart mid-majors going deep into the NCAA tournaments, the unprecedented occurrence of four No. 1 seeds in the national semifinals is exciting.
The Final Four clearly consists of the nation's four best teams, and whichever team wins two more games will be crowned as not only the 2008 NCAA basketball champion, but as one of the greatest teams of all time. Any of these four - North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and UCLA - could fall into that category.
This tournament will be remembered as one of the all time great playoffs in March Madness history. Two No. 12 seeds and two No. 13 seeds won in the first round - all in Tampa, Fla. No. 10 Davidson, a tiny private school from North Carolina, took down No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 2 Georgetown and No. 3 Wisconsin before being narrowly edged by Big- 12 champion Kansas; had Davidson beaten the Jayhawks and sent its entire student body to the Final Four in San Antonio, it would barely fill one-fortieth of the Alamodome's seating capacity. Duke failed to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year under Coach K, and Georgia competed in the first round after coming from nowhere to win the SEC.
That was in March. In March, underdogs went wild. In March, fortunate coaches tried to compose themselves after a player hit a game-winning shot, acting like they knew all along that they were going to beat some Big East team. In March, there was madness. Then, at the end of the month, fate paved the way from madness to rationality.
Which is where we stand now.
One team is going to be remembered as the school that survived the clash of the titans. Each of them won its conference regular season title and conference tournament. They each finished with more than 30 wins, and fewer than four losses. All four finished in the top-five in the RPI, AP poll and ESPN/USA Today poll. They were the only four to receive first place votes in either poll.
If North Carolina wins, they are once again the mighty Tarheels. The two losses in the ACC will pale in comparison to wins over Duke, Kansas and either UCLA or Memphis. Their five starters and star sixth man Danny Green will never be forgotten.
The Final Four clearly consists of the nation's four best teams, and whichever team wins two more games will be crowned as not only the 2008 NCAA basketball champion, but as one of the greatest teams of all time. Any of these four - North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and UCLA - could fall into that category.
This tournament will be remembered as one of the all time great playoffs in March Madness history. Two No. 12 seeds and two No. 13 seeds won in the first round - all in Tampa, Fla. No. 10 Davidson, a tiny private school from North Carolina, took down No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 2 Georgetown and No. 3 Wisconsin before being narrowly edged by Big- 12 champion Kansas; had Davidson beaten the Jayhawks and sent its entire student body to the Final Four in San Antonio, it would barely fill one-fortieth of the Alamodome's seating capacity. Duke failed to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year under Coach K, and Georgia competed in the first round after coming from nowhere to win the SEC.
That was in March. In March, underdogs went wild. In March, fortunate coaches tried to compose themselves after a player hit a game-winning shot, acting like they knew all along that they were going to beat some Big East team. In March, there was madness. Then, at the end of the month, fate paved the way from madness to rationality.
Which is where we stand now.
One team is going to be remembered as the school that survived the clash of the titans. Each of them won its conference regular season title and conference tournament. They each finished with more than 30 wins, and fewer than four losses. All four finished in the top-five in the RPI, AP poll and ESPN/USA Today poll. They were the only four to receive first place votes in either poll.
If North Carolina wins, they are once again the mighty Tarheels. The two losses in the ACC will pale in comparison to wins over Duke, Kansas and either UCLA or Memphis. Their five starters and star sixth man Danny Green will never be forgotten.
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