March sadness

How’d your NCAA bracket do? Mine has become ill. Well, actually it was worse than that. The doctors didn’t even bother to get the defibrillators out–they just tied the toe tag and slammed the cold door shut. And that was back in the second round.

What does it mean? Well, for one it means that I wont be cashing in on the office pool. But more than that, it’s an indicator of a fairly snooze-inducing basketball tournament.

The big schools came out and won the games they were supposed to. And I ask you, where’s the fun in that?

Some columnists have suggested that high-seeded teams matching up against one another make for better basketball games, but I just don’t see it. Watching good teams win will never be as exciting as watching an underdog team play out of their minds to achieve what seemed altogether impossible.

And to be sure, the big-time games like Georgetown vs. Ohio State and Florida vs. UCLA in the Final Four turned out to be real duds.

Fouls limited the marquee match-ups between the two big men Greg Oden and Roy Hibbert, and when it came down to it, the end of the game wasn’t really close. I had to remind myself that it was even on.

And as tough as Ohio State-Georgetown was, the Florida-UCLA game was even worse. What happened there? Shouldn’t a rematch of last year’s final be about pride and retribution? Apparently not.

Oregon’s run was one of the tournament’s few bright spots. They were a fun team to watch, and of course there’s a little home-state pride involved in watching their games. But we all knew they weren’t going to win it all. It’s just too bad they had to be bounced by Florida. Anyone, dear god, but Florida.

Which brings us to Joakim Noah. Noah has monopolized the media spotlight again this year, even though he could be the most obnoxious, neanderthallic narcissist player college hoops has seen in some time. Indeed it might’ve been fun to cheer Florida on toward a championship repeat if it weren’t for Noah (Ok, and because they’re from Florida).

After every rebound or kicked ball Noah pounded his chest and screamed like he’d just made the game-winner. He seems a little crazy, not fun crazy like Kobe Bryant scoring 50 or more points in five games this month, but Gilbert Arenas-type crazy–like talking way too loud all the time and breathing through the mouth crazy.

What I had hoped to see, was a lot less Jo Noah and a lot more Kevin Durant. I had hoped to see the wispy phenom take his Texas team all the way in Carmello Anthony fashion.

But that wasn’t to be either–Durant and company got bounced in the second round. There went my bracket, and a whole lot of potentially exciting basketball.

Despite all this there has been one semi-interesting story in the Ohio State-Florida match-up, which mirrors college football’s national championship.

It’s all well and good in many parts of the country, but here in the Northwest it lacks some luster. I’m sure many basketball fans here have a hard time identifying with either school.

Perhaps the most telling of this year’s lackluster tournament has been the ever-frequent mentions of last year’s Cinderella team: George Mason. The little school’s run to the Final Four was as stunning as it was inspiring. As a Washington Post story after the run said, the school has been changed forever.

In part, we reminisce because George Mason’s 2006 tournament shot truly was one for the ages, but also because so few engaging stories or compelling stars have emerged this time around.