The Early Lead: The craziness of March pulls us all in

But can it be even better? Let's look at a few pet peeves

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor 

sports@beeherald.com

@BrandonJHurley

 

The madness has returned. 

The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is some of the most exciting sports action you’ll see all year. With its unpredictability, buzzer beaters, upsets, 68 colleges duking it out culminating with the purest sport in action (can you tell I love basketball?), it doesn’t really get much better than March Madness. 

The talk of the town is about the seeding, the possible match ups and their brackets. It’s a joyful tournament and is a nice way to ramp up into spring and out of the dark, cold days of winter. 

But lately, I’ve found myself becoming more and more of a March Madness curmudgeon. It’s something that slowly crept up over the years and has finally come to a head in 2017.

I used to be the ultimate flag-bearer/advocate/supporter, whatever you want to call it, for the NCAA Tournament. I remember diving in and joining as many pools as possible, watching 72 hours of games during the tail end of Spring Break, rooting for upset after upset, buzzer beaters and legendary play-by-play calls. I even gave up two days of snowboarding in Colorado one Spring Break to watch the opening rounds. I was a feen in the worst way. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a big fan of all that today, but I’ve just become a bit more bitter over the years and focused on what I really want.  

I’ve developed several March Madness pet peeves, and I don’t know if that just makes me a fun hater or a snotty hipster. 

So let’s get to them, shall we? 

1. The bracket overachiever 

My biggest gripe is the multiple bracket guy (or girl). Nothing irritates me more than someone who I hear brag “Yeah, I had so-and-so with the upset in my my brother’s fiancé’s cousin’s daughter’s pool.” No kidding, Sherlock, anyone can get an upset right if you take 35 different cracks at the bracket. Filling out multiple brackets proves nothing of your knowledge, it’s just annoying. I’m totally fine with entering multiple pools, but make sure you have a uniform bracket for each pool, the same picks across the board. It levels the playing field and the cream of the crop rises to the top. So let’s be ethical, and fair, and only fill out one bracket. Which leads me to my next gripe. 

2. Do away with the bracket buster

I’m a fan of quality, the finer things in life. 

The best teams in the country are meant to square off in the Elite Eight and the Final Four. Spare me your Cinderella stories (which can be entertaining, I’ll admit) – but I want to see high-quality, toe-to-toe battles between the elite teams. I don’t mind a few upsets here and there, but when too many get involved, the most talented and exciting squads begin to fall to the wayside. I’m not really a fan of teams working the shot clock down to five seconds and then heaving up a three, or playing keep away. I crave entertainment, and seeing No. 1 seeds square off is the purest form of basketball at it’s highest level. But, I don’t want to see all four of the No. 1 seeds advance to the Final Four, I am OK with one falling off, but let’s not replace it with a 10-seed, OK? Upsets are fun, but not when multiple directional schools are robbing us of an all-time classic matchup between the Blue Bloods. Just because upsets are possible, doesn’t mean it should be the only thing we root for. 

I used to be that guy, rooting for Duke to lose in the first round every year. But if they have the most exciting players in the tournament, why wouldn’t you want to see them try to put it together? Either I’ve matured in my old age or I’ve just become a snob. 

3. Tourney bball isn’t always the prettiest

Choppy game-flow, slow offenses, fouls and low-scoring games are not my cup of tea. More often than not, teams become conservative and try to turn the tourney into a constant game of chess. They run through their offensive sets over and over, slowing the game down and setting it back several decades. 

And yes, the three-point line is a wonderful aspect of the game, but it often allows some of the lesser teams to not only hang around, but pull off upsets they have no business doing. Which some argue makes it more exciting, but it waters down the product. 

Basketball has become too three-reliant, and it often is a detriment to the game as a whole. What happened to the mid-range game? It’s all drive-and-kick now. At least the shooters are better. 

Whew, that’s several different points in one, that I could continue on for hours, but I digress. 

I also just touched briefly on my biggest pet peeve…. 

4. The fouls, my god the fouls

My annoyance with the NCAA Tournament and the college game as a whole is the irritating, boredom inducing late game fouling. Intentional fouling to crawl back into a game drives me bananas. Not only does it grind the pace of the game to a halt, it also lengthens it. Yes, it’s worked before (Ahem, UNI in 2016), but a majority of the time, it’s a chore to sit through as a fan. Free throws are not entertaining, whether you knock down 10 in a row or clank them off the backboard. 

We as fans deserve to see more game action and less time watching athletes stand at the charity stripe.  

Something needs to be done, because it’s not getting any better. Let’s clean it up, please. 

And just to poke the bear, is a single-elimination tournament truly the best way to determine a champion? I’ll let that marinate. 

In reality, I may have my March Madness pet peeves, but I love the tournament as a whole. You could say I’m a fan of mostly chalk, but I do get excited for a potential earth-shattering, bracket busting upset, an insane buzzer beater or a miraculous comeback. 

The various uniforms are awesome, the nicknames are interesting and the commentary is top notch (Defcon Gus Johnson, or Onions Bill Raftery, anyone?).

It’s a wonderful time of year, so settle in these next few weeks and buckle up for the world’s most thrilling roller coaster ride – March Madness.

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