Unprecedented

The Final Four is all #1 seeds. This has never happened, which seems odd to me. Why did it take 40+ years for the four best teams to all make it to the final rounds? All this does it prove to me that there is no perfect system for determining the best sports team when you do a one-and-done style tournament.

The NBA and MLB have it right...best of 5 or 7 game series' almost always has the best team moving forward. One game head-to-head matchups do not. When structured like the men's college basketball tournament, the hottest and luckiest teams advance...not always the best. If things fall the right way, just about any college team can beat another college team on any given night (Davidson vs. Georgetown in basketball or App. St. vs Michigan in football).

All this does is convince me that, though flawed, the BCS bowl system in college football is no more egregious than March Madness. They give us an idea of who peaked / got hot / rode a lucky streak at the right time...which is not to be confused with determining who is the BEST.

"They're All Good Teams"

March 31 marks the end of my first year in sports-fan purgatory. 3/31/07 was the date the Ulle family decided to disable the cable and dust off the rabbit ears. That's right, I've lasted one year on six (6) network stations. It hasn't been easy, but I am living proof that you can still follow sports without ten (or more) 24-hour sports stations. Thank God for the Internet!

One of the ways I stay connected with sports is on-line radio streaming. While at "work" I can tap in to just about any major market's sports talk radio stations and see what's going on. Consider it my own private "Around the Horn"...only without Woody Paige's incoherent ramblings and bad dentures.

The most common exchange I've heard this week between NCAA men's basketball coaches and an interviewer goes something like this:

Interviewer - Coach, who do you think is the best team in the Sweet 16?

Coach - Well, you know, they're all good at this point. If you make it this far, you've got just as good of a chance as any.

To which I say, "MULARKEY!!!"

Here is the margin of victory from the eight Sweet 16 games...

Texas d. Stanford - 20
Davidson d. Wisconsin - 17
Kansas d. Villanova - 15
North Carolina d. Washington St. - 21
Louisville d. Tennessee - 19
Xavier d. West Virginia - 4
UCLA d. Western Kentucky - 10
Memphis d. Michigan St. - 18

Seven of eight games were blowouts. Clearly not all of the teams in the Sweet 16 were good...half of them were absolutely AWFUL! Hopefully the Saturday / Sunday games are better. Oh wait...nevermind...I have to miss all 4 weekend games.

Coaching Styles

I really thought Tennessee vs. Louisville was going to be a good game. Looks like I'm wrong again. Louisville got out to an early double-digit lead and didn't really look back. Tennessee made a few runs to get it close, but there wasn't much doubt that Louisville was going to win the game handily...and they did.

Here's the thing:
There was no doubt that Tennessee was significantly more talented than Louisville. UL's starting 5 was weaker at every position than UT's...by a long shot. And yet UT lost by 20. The reason for the defeat can be summed up in one word -- COACHING.

Everyone (except for University of Illinois boosters) loves Bruce Pearl. He's a personable guy...he's a great motivator...he occasionally shows up at women's games sans shirt...and he's single-handedly built UT into a basketball force to be reckoned with by his aggressive recruiting powerful motivational techniques.

But he can't coach.

Tennessee wins their games by being faster, stronger, higher jumpers, and better shooters. Their offense (if you can call it that) consists of 4 guys standing around while 1 guy does a little shake-n-bake. The guy with the ball either shoots or kicks it to one of the other guys standing around who repeats the shake-n-bake. They get a bunch of second-chance points off of offensive rebound tip-ins (aka "garbage points") and difficult shots (see: Smith, Tyler).

Their defense is relatively unimpressive as well. They don't switch on screens. They don't rotate or play team defense. It's just man-to-man or a simple 2-3 zone. Their defensive philosophy seems to be "let them score less than we do".

Pearl doesn't make in-game adjustments. He doesn't call many (any?) plays during time outs. He functions as a middle-aged cheerleader / father-his-players-never-had. Not that this is a bad thing - as I said, Tennessee has one of the more successful basketball programs in the country thanks in large part to Bruce Pearl. He will, no doubt, be a hot commodity this off-season when schools are looking to hire a new coach. In most cases, Pearl is an upgrade as a head basketball coach. Just don't expect him to win any games against Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Coach K, or Keno Davis.

(That's right...I went there.)

Opening Day?

I'm told the 2008 Major League Baseball season opened today in Tokyo, Japan. I think this is dumb. The rest of the league, who are still playing exhibition games, doesn't start playing real games for another 10 days. Dumb. Our national pastime was played while most of the US was sleeping (opening pitch at 5:00 AM CST). Really dumb. What ever happened to Opening Day starting on a Saturday / Sunday afternoon so the whole country can tune in?

I have no problem with MLB regular season games being played in other countries. But the first game of the season? Dumb.

Since the other half of the not-so-great-debate seems to be on indefinite leave, I'll open it up to you, our vast reading audience. What do you think of MLB starting the season in Japan?

Cloning Gone Awry

I thought this page from ESPN1000 Chicago Sports Radio was hilarious.


And the awards go to:

Julius Peppers
It Sucks to Be You Award

Lee Corso & Mel Brooks
Separated At Birth Award
(Runner up - Stan Van Gundy & Ron Jeremy)

Count Chocula & Joey Buttafuco
Least Likely Couple

Bruce Pearl --> Wayne Fontes & Lou Ferrigno
Most Haunting Resemblance

Matthew McConaughey
Person Most Resembling a 1970s Cartoon Character

Gary Bettman
He Should Be So Lucky Award

Jim Thome --> Mr. Incredible & Jonathan Banks
Most Creative Lovechild

Dennis Green
Damned For All Eternity

Day 2 - Providence

Be careful what you wish for...you might get it.

Yesterday I complained that the first day of the NCAA tourney was boring. I expressed a desire for more entertaining (read: close) games. I certainly got them. Two 12-seeds and two 13-seeds won. There were 3 games that went to overtime. More underdogs won than favorites. It was exactly what you hope for on March Madness weekend.

Normally, I'd be excited about all these upsets, nail-biters, and OT games...but my day was ruined early on by Drake's OT loss to Western Kentucky in the first game of the day. Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome game to watch. Contrasting basketball styles, lots of points scored, one team overcoming a 16-point 2nd half deficit, incredible shots, bad officiating - what more could you want?

I'll tell ya what I wanted - I wanted Drake to win, dammit.

P-sus & I enjoyed the game at a local establishment (read: bar on Court Ave.). Our lunch hour turned into three hours. One beer turned into more-than-one. We ate so much food we thought our bellies would burst. It was a guy's paradise, except for the crazy finish.

As I was driving back to "work" I wondered if it would be better to have Drake lose by 15+ points, or to have them come all the way back only to lose on a last-second heave in OT. Normally, as an overly-invested fan, I would prefer to not expend the emotional energy of seeing my team claw it's way back and lose. This was certainly the case in watching the Alford-era Hawks, the Eustachy & Morgan-era Cyclones, and even (to an extent) the McDermott-era Panthers (who always seemed a little too cocky for their own good).

However, for this year and this team, I have to say I was happy to see them go down fighting. Quality student-athletes, excellent coaching, against-all-odds story...it's a group of young men anyone could be proud of.

Even if my lunch buddy could have cared less who won the game...

Day 1 - Ho Hum

In between my honey-do list and high-maintenance children, I was able to catch a few games on Day 1 of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Two words for ya...bo ring. No upsets - both KSU and USC had 20 wins playing in tough conferences. Only one dramatic game - Duke v. Belmont - and even that game had a sense of inevitability to it. Duke led for most of the game and were clearly the most athletic, best coached, and most cohesive team on the floor. Most of the afternoon games were blow-outs, which made me reluctant to bother staying up for the night games. Hopefully Day 2 will have more excitement, close games, upsets, and maybe even an OT or 2OT for good measure...as long as Drake wins.

Keno, Unplugged

We got hosed.

Sour grapes? Perhaps. Small Man Syndrome? Maybe.

The fact remains that we won our conference by 2 games, dominated our conference tournament with an average margin of victory of 20 points, and only lost four games all season. As a reward for our efforts, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee gifted us with a #5 seed in the toughest bracket in the tournament. Consider:

• Western Kentucky, our first opponent, is one of the hottest teams in the country. They've gone 17-1 down the stretch and finished with one fewer win (27) than we did. Two of their losses came at Gonzaga (by 3 points) and at Tennessee (by 6 points). Sounds like the best 12-seed in the tourney.

• If we get past WKU, we have to play UConn, a college basketball factory. They played in the toughest (or second-toughest) conference in the country, and finished 14-2 down the stretch. They got a 4-seed, despite finishing below us in both polls.

• The #1 and #2 seeds in our bracket are the toughest of any bracket. UCLA is the sexy pick to win it all, and Duke is Duke.

It would have been nice to be a little closer to home for one of our games; something the committee only takes into consideration for the top-4 seeds in each region. Instead, our first two games are in Florida and the next two are in California. I'm not sure you can get any farther away from Des Moines than either of those two sites. Considering we have fewer than 3,000 undergrads at our university, you'd think the Selection Committee would throw us a bone and let us play in Omaha, Denver, or Little Rock. Somewhere closer than the 1,400 miles away.

I know what you're going to say. "Keno, you were picked to finish second-to-last in a weak conference. Just be grateful and enjoy the ride." To which I say - you're probably right. So many things have gone our way this year, I shouldn't complain about our seeding. We've got it made right now. Our walk-on guard is the talk of the country. ESPN.com keeps slurping us. I'm in the running for national coach of the year. Emmenecker is the national Academic All-American player of the year.

In the meantime, I'll keep telling people that I have no idea how we were so successful. I'll preach the values of intelligent players, non-scholarship athletes, and hard-nosed defense. I won't complain that our dream season could come to a screeching halt because the selection committee isn't interested in accommodating the comparatively small checkbooks of mid-majors. I'll enjoy the ride and take the high road along the way...just know that deep down inside, I'll always feel we got hosed.

Keno Davis

Identity & Hiatus

Several of our loyal fans have expressed a couple of concerns about our blog:

1. Apparently people haven't realized that there are two (2) people exchanging blog posts back and forth. (Hence the "debate".) This was further complicated by the fact that we occasionally engage in some role-play. So, Ulle & P-Sus will sign off at the end of each blog to eliminate confusion.

2. It has come to our attention that we have not written a post in nearly one (1) week. Reason - we have jobs / families / workouts / vasectomies that sometimes require an inordinate amount of attention. Thanks for your patience. We'll try to be better about more regular posts in the days and weeks to come.

If you're reading our posts, feel free to comment once in a while so we know who's reading...and let us know what topics you want us to tackle. We'll send our talented team of correspondents out into the field ASAP.

In the meantime, Happy Holy Week!

P-Sus & Ulle

Shaq, You Meanie!

As an avid reader of the Not-So-Great-Debate, I was troubled to read Shaq's unflattering remarks towards me. His accusations were baseless and without merit; and Coach Pop told me it's okay for me to be sad that he hurt my feelings.

To help me process my emotions, I'm writing an open letter to Shaquille in the interest of full disclosure and honest repartee...


Dearest Shaq,

What do you have to be so mean? Making fun of my nickname - how immature. After all, wasn't it YOU who started calling me "The Big Fundamental" a few years ago, when we knocked your Lakers out of the playoffs? I didn't ask for a nickname, and I certainly didn't ask for you to resort to name calling. I cried for a solid hour after you publicly humiliated me. I haven't been this hurt since David Stern told me I had to start wearing a tie to press conferences.

Secondly, I'm from the United States Virgin Islands, which has very little in common with the Bahamas or Puerto Rico. I am a United States citizen. There's no reason for your geographical and historical ignorance to compel you to offend my people in the USVI.

Thirdly, your attack on my tattoo is borderline sexual harassment. Be expecting a call from my lawyers at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. In case you care, I have a picture of Merlin the Magician on my chest and a skeleton jester on my shoulder. Yeah, I'm a fan of Dungeons & Dragons...so what? I like the Grateful Dead (hence the jester tat)...what's it to you? Last I checked, the Dead sold a few more albums than "Shaq Fu". Jealous?

Finally, you seem to have an objection to my reactions to foul calls. I'm sorry that my eyes bug out from my head. It's a birth defect (at least that's what my mommy told me). I can't help it. When referees are unfair to me, I have to react in the most effective, non-violent way possible. Besides, who are you to criticize me for complaining about officiating? You have over 4 times as many technical fouls in your career as me. I think someone should look in the mirror before throwing stones at others.

I'm disappointed, Shaq. I thought you respected me...I know how much I respect you. I hope some day we can be friends, once I'm done healing from all the mean things you said. At least I have Manu, Tony, and Fabricio to take care of my emotional needs.

See you on April 9.

Love,
Timmy

Re: The Big Cactus is Angry

Mr. O'Neal,

Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. I'm a big fan of yours. In fact, the first two posters in my room as a kid were Jordan's "Wings" poster and one of you (playing for the Magic) dunking on some hapless white dude...possibly Uwe Blab. Nobody wants you to succeed in Phoenix more than me.

The problem is, your team is WORSE since they "upgraded" to you. I hope, as you say, that everything will be fine in a month. The problem is, in the loaded Western conference, you may not get in to the playoffs at this rate. At least one 50-win team will be left out of the playoffs in the West...and potentially one 50-loss team will make the playoffs in the East.

All is to say, best of luck on the rest of the season. At this point, it's going to take an insane amount of luck for Grant Hill (ankle), Steve Nash (back), and you (fat) to make it through the next 3 months unscathed. If you do, I'll be rooting for you to win every time you're not playing the Spurs, Hornets, or Celtics.

Ulle

The Big Cactus is angry...

Mr. Ulle (whatever that means...I hope to Bill Russell that "Ulle" isn't your real name)

I don't care what you mortals think....I can fly.

Sincerely,

the guy who will (editors note - potentially by default) finally bring a championship to Phoenix.

OH, and another thing, while you're ranting about how my blocks only come against 2' 3'' point guards, did you see your boy the Big "Goof-da-mental" and his pitiful play against me the other night? I swear if he makes that "WHAT, NO CALL???" bugged eyed face one more time when I stomp him or box him out I'm gonna slap the virgin islands, or bahamas, or puerto rico, or whatever islan he comes from RIGHT OUT OF HIM.

I'll hit him so hard, his pathetic little "jester" tattoo will actually jump off of his back and start making fun of him. (BTW, who gets their only tattoo in a place typically reserved for little butterflys/pixies/or any other girly FOO-FOO bar chick nonsense??)

Okay, this time, SINCERELY,

The BIG "CACTUS"

Re: Shaq & The Suns

Dear Shaq,

Congrats on your superhuman feats of strength. Indeed, it's not since Dumbo and his magic feather that we've seen an elephant fly...even if it's only for a fleeting second or two. Perhaps you could employ your new talent into diving for an occasional loose ball or blocking a shot by someone not named Tony Parker or Jason Kidd.

Did you know that they're calling you "The Big Cactus" in Phoenix? FYI, this is not a term of endearment. Cactuses (or cacti, if you will) are large and immobile. They get in the way of fancy cars trying to drive quickly through the desert (aka "Steve Nash"). They take up space and contribute very little.

As one of the 17 people who initially supported this trade, I had hoped that you would improve Phoenix's team defense, give match-up problems to the likes of Duncan/Gasol/Garnett, and let the other four Suns on the floor (aka "the athletes") do their thing. I'm still holding out hope that you will turn into 1994-Shaq...but I think the only way for that to happen is for Grant Hill and his 73 year-old ankles to convince you that your wife will give you back the millions she stole from you in the divorce if you lose 50 pounds and start shattering backboards.

In the meantime, the Big Aristotle needs to get his head out of the clouds and on a treadmill.

Sincerely,
Ulle

My name is Shaq...you mortals wouldn't understand...

Listen up common people of earth....Fear the Phoenix Suns.

Sure, we're like 3-250 since my arrival in Phoenix, but did you see my superhuman feat last night? I can fly...I flew over 1 whole row of mortals into the second row of the arena!! Fear me "LOS SPURS" fear me.

I know when I run, it looks like a rabbid hippo just got loose in the produce aisle, but I'll be relevant until I retire....even if I have to keep jumping "unnecessarily" into the stands to make the news...

Unfortunately, my "flying" act and COMPLETELY INTENTIONAL disregard for the "Big-Fundamental's" gesture of good faith (trying to help a super-human stand up....HA) completely overshadowed the best game I've had since the Championship years in Miami....16/14, 14/16, however you look at it, I also had 2 blocks!!!

I know, those are the same numbers the backup for the timberwolves puts up on a nightly basis, but WHATEVER!!!

Have I mentioned I'm single?

Getting Started

The Good Book is filled with new beginnings. John's gospel starts with, "In the beginning was the Word." So, too, the Not-So-Great Debate begins with the word (not to be confused with the Word). We are about to embark on a funny/serious/irreverent/thoughtful/ridiculous war of words between two men who call themselves friends for 8 months out of the year.

The focus of our rant will typically involve the world of sports, though we will likely dabble into other areas that matter to us - including, but not limited to - money, religion, family, music, running, and post-Renaissance polyphonic chord progressions. We hope you comment often...read even more often...and enjoy the conversation!