The possibility of the thing

There is a rumination on ‘the possibility of the thing’ in the movie Love Jones. When someone brand new is met, there is the crazy possibility of where the thing mite go. I have sort of the same relationship with the NCAA tournament. Those breathtaking first two days, when everything is all happening at once and at furious fast pace of speed, are always a blur. Friday nite @ 2300h, with both the last game and the crowd petering out, is always a sad goodbye to that initial stage of the tournament. The second round is different. No matter what, each year a few interesting teams escape into the second round. Something miraculous mite happen. However, a lot of the compelling stories have vanished by the end of the second round. For the most part, there is no more ‘possibility’; just a collection of superior teams and ‘make vanish’ for the lower teams. The fairy tale is over, and the grind out portion of the tournament begi.....

.....unless you have a team to root for. This tournament, like all before it, had many teams with as many different reasoning’s for me to root for. Remember my system posted last week about who I root for in the NCAA’s - former, local, catholic, and lower ranked schools are my favourites). First round sucked in many cases. There were very few upsets. One of two of the big upsets sucked: Notre Dame lost to Winthrop. However, using my logic, the #11 Winthrop team suddenly became a favourite. The biggest shock was Duke’s loss to #11 Virginia Commonwealth. Both teams were to lose in the second round- Virginia Commonwealth in 2 OT’s. Too bad.

Creighton was out in the first round. Marquette, another local and Catholic school, looked horrible in their loss. #9 Xavier, (low seed, local, Catholic) had #1 Ohio State beaten in the second round, but lost in OT by two. Local school disappointed as well; #12 Illinois was the single heartbreak after having a huge lead against #5 Virginia Tech and losing by two. Indiana lost in the second round. Ditto Wisconsin.

But there are some teams that have given me a rooting interest. Top of the Pops is Southern Illinois. They looked solid in their first two games, and I think they have a fair shot @ beating Kansas. Indiana’s Butler looks like cannon fodder v. reigning champs Florida. I bet Butler averages six inches smaller than Florida. Georgetown (Catholic) looks like they have a chance to win the East. And I think the Big Ten’s Ohio state can win the South. There: that’s my dream Final four @ this point.

But one can see. That possibility thing is over. There will be no magic @ 12.20 on a Thursday afternoon or as the sweeper wait to move in @ the end of the night session. Despite the rare Laetner shot in the quarterfinals, miracles have ceased. But what has developed in me is something different. It’s, well, a more mature appreciation of the teams that are left. I’ve watched a lot of the sixteen teams remaining. I can appreciate these teams better now than I could last week, and judge them on their strengths and weaknesses during the game. This mature outlook has me very excited about the big matches ahead. Interesting basketball remains to be played starting on Thursday, even though the possibility of the thing is over. Unless Southern can somehow beat Kansas. And Butler can……….