Student Life Archives

There are some things in life that everybody just accepts. Everybody accepts that the best Philly cheesesteaks comes from Philly. Everybody accepts that you can only see the best musicals on Broadway. Everybody accepts that Wash U has one of the best medical schools in the country. I recently learned that everybody also accepts that the best team-in any sport-is the team that wins the national championship. Well, needless to say, I beg to differ-at least in college basketball.

Each year, 64 teams compete in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The winners move on, and the losers just played their last game of the season. But one bad game does not make a team bad. And the best team in the league can have a bad game just as readily as the worst. The tournament is not like the World Series, where you can play three bad games and still have the chance to take it home. That’s why it’s so much more exhilarating.

Think about it this way: Let’s say Michigan State wins it all. I’m assuming you wouldn’t all be jumping up and down at the opportunity to start calling the Spartans the best college basketball team of this season. I’m not just being a Duke fan when I say that Duke is a much better team than Michigan State. I know you can say this about every game in the tournament, but they were lucky that Duke was having a bad night.

Of course it is possible that the best team in the league is one of the Final Four teams. Sometimes the best team ends up winning the National Championship, but a National Championship title doesn’t give them the “best” title.

This takes a lot for me to say, but North Carolina is hands down the best team in the Final Four and arguably in the league right now. Be warned that if Illinois wins this tournament, I am refusing to accept or respond to any comments, written or spoken, along the lines of “I told you so.”

I know I do a lot of Illini and Big Ten bashing, but it’s not without merit. Aside from facing Wake Forest before the Big Ten season and Michigan State and Wisconsin during it, Illinois was hardly challenged until last week’s game against Arizona. And they looked awful. Had Arizona not choked-dare I say it-like the Yankees in the ALCS last year, the Illini would have finally been put in their place. They are undeniably a great team, but they are undeniably not the best in the league.

The assumption that the NCAA Tournament Champion team is the best college basketball team in the country also brings about a bunch of “who beat who” banter. If Michigan State wins, I can say that Duke could have done it just as well. Duke beat Michigan State early in the season and beat North Carolina in one of two meetings this year. And all of the Illinois fans would throw temper tantrums because the Illini beat the Spartans twice during regular season and Michigan State definitely doesn’t deserve the “best” title over the beloved Fighting Illini.

If the best team always won, it wouldn’t be the NCAA tournament. The best part of March Madness is the Madness. Upsets are the backbone of the tournament. That’s what we all love about it. We love all of the overtimes and one-point victories, whether or not the higher seed or “better” team is the team that pulls through.

The truth is that no single game, calculator or other contraption can sufficiently determine the “best” college basketball team. Of course the champions deserve the utmost respect and congratulations-as do the overall one-seeds as well as the teams with the best records, field goal percentages, amount of points per game and other statistical “bests.” But you have to take into account how much fun they are to watch, how much fun they have playing and the character of the team. It really just comes down to personal opinion. Why do the National Champions need the “best” title anyway…they have the title that really matters and no one can do a thing about it.

American League

East: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox win Wild Card (for a change)

Our apologies to “Red Sox Nation,” but we have no reason to believe that the Bronx Bombers are going to be dethroned in their quest for yet another AL East title. Despite the young Blue Jays being a year older, the Orioles’ acquisition of Slammin’ Sammy Sosa and manager Lou Pinella’s dyed blonde hair, these three clubs will again play second fiddle to baseball’s greatest rivalry. This year will be no exception to the rule that paying over $150 million for a team will almost guarantee a playoff spot. And on a side note: for all of you students who aren’t from Boston yet chose to support the Red Sox instead of the Cardinals in last year’s World Series, you can all go to hell.

Central: Cleveland Indians (The Tribe’s alive in 2005!)

Young guns C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee join forces with savvy veteran pitcher Kevin Millwood and a more stable bullpen to provide pitching depth to an already potent offensive roster, which features the likes of Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Coco Crisp and a healthy Aaron Boone. Apologies to starting pitcher Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins, but it does not seem likely that their shallow starting rotation and light-hitting lineup will stand up this year. The Detroit Tigers should show another marked improvement over past years, and they certainly remain a darkhorse candidate in this historically weak division. Look for the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox to make up the last two spots in the AL Central, barring abnormal seasons from White Sox “aces” Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez and Jose Contreras, former Yankees rejects. All in all, expect the Twins, Sox, Royals and Tigers to be playing the role of Colonel Custer at Little Big Horn this year while the Indians play, well…you know.

West: LA Angels? Anaheim Angels? Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim… that’s it.

The addition of Steve Finley to a perennially powerful lineup should secure the Halos a repeat performance atop the West. A vastly improved Seattle Mariners squad, an offensive juggernaut in the Texas Rangers and Billy Beane’s statistics project in Oakland make predictions in this highly competitive division speculative at best. Expect a dogfight all year long with the thunderous bat of reigning MVP Vladimir Guerrero and the thunderous appetite of Bartolo Colon giving the Angels a very small edge.

AL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero repeats.
AL Cy Young: Randy Johnson, good for making birds explode and winning Cy Youngs.

National League

East: Atlanta Braves (And you were expecting the Mets, right?)

Did the Braves offseason acquisitions match up to those of the Mets or Marlins? No. Can any of us remember a year when the Braves didn’t win? Even Alex’s grandmother can’t remember a year when the Braves didn’t end up on top. Then again, Alex’s grandmother can’t remember Alex’s name. While the Mets and Marlins did make significant splashes in the free-agent market (Beltran and Martinez to Queens and Delgado to Miami), we can’t deem it feasible for the Braves to relinquish their stranglehold on their division.

Central: St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs win Wild Card (The two darlings of the Midwest get another chance to choke in the playoffs)

Though our Redbirds replaced all-star shortstop Edgar Renteria with dwarfish David Eckstein, they added the one thing that prevented them from winning it all last year: a bona fide staff ace in Mark Mulder. The middle of the Cardinals’ batting order is to opposing pitchers what Mike Tyson is to earlobes. The pitching staff in Chicago is still very dominant and should keep them in contention for at least the Wild Card, if not the whole division. Expect a significant drop-off from the Astros as Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell are getting ready to collect Social Security. The Brewers, Reds and Pirates continue to show improvement but are a few years away from being legitimate contenders.

West: San Francisco Giants (Hearing Barry Bonds’ squeaky voice during playoff press conferences never gets old.)

‘Roids aside, a healthy Barry Bonds is the most dominant player in baseball, period. Assuming he comes back in May, as speculation suggests, the Giants will be in the cat-bird seat this year. With strong pitching and a weak offense, the Los Angeles Dodgers should cause some sleepless nights in San Francisco, but the switch-hitting fan base in San Francisco (not that there’s anything wrong with that) should expect their squad to hold off the Dodgers and the up-and-coming Padres. As in years past, assume that the Rockies will smash the cover off the ball in Coors, where the beer flows like wine. Hey, didn’t the Diamondbacks win a World Series in 2001? Yes. Now the club is drafting homegrown talent from the University of Phoenix Online.

NL MVP: Albert Poo-holes
NL Cy Young: Mark Prior

The city of St. Louis has been preparing for months for the Final Four to come. Hotel accommodations, taxis and restaurants will all be booked to capacity as media and fans pour into town to watch the big dance come to a close. A lot of pressure is riding on St. Louis this week to be an accommodating and welcoming host city to the Final Four. Now St. Louis also has to try and top the excitement of this past weekend’s Elite Eight games.

Four games, four overtimes. That pretty much sums up the Elite Eight action on Saturday and Sunday. For the first time in NCAA history, three of the four regional final match-ups went into overtime, with Michigan State and Kentucky providing a double overtime thriller to close out the weekend.

Saturday was the day of incredible comebacks with Louisville and West Virginia starting things off. Louisville fought back from a 20-point deficit to force overtime, and survived with a 93-85 overtime victory. The next game provided even more excitement when Illinois erased a 15-point deficit, finishing the game on a 20-5 run in the final four minutes to force overtime. Overtime ended in dramatic fashion as well as Hassan Adams could only manage an off-balance three-point attempt and Illinois escaped with a 90-89 thrilling victory.

Sunday’s action started off with a competitive game between North Carolina and Wisconsin. Wisconsin played the Tar Heels tough down the stretch cutting the lead to one with just under nine minutes remaining, but UNC’s superior talent proved to be enough in an 88-82 victory. However, any excitement lacking in Sunday’s first game was compensated for in the later duel between Michigan State and Kentucky. After another competitive game, Kentucky trailed by three with under 20 seconds to go. After two three-point attempts failed, the ball bounced right into the arms of Kentucky’s Patrick Sparks, who jumped into the air, double-clutched and released the ball just beyond the three-point line. The ball bounced several times on the rim before rolling in, sending the Kentucky faithful into a frenzy and the game into overtime. After a low scoring first overtime, Michigan State got the better of the Wildcats in the second, earning their bid as the fourth team to the Final Four.

As the weekend approaches, it is difficult to imagine that this next set of games can top the events of this past weekend. In fact, even in professional sports, it often seems that the semifinal rounds are far more exciting than the final game itself. Many times in football the AFC and NFC Championship games are more exciting than the Super Bowl, partly because the teams are more familiar with each other. In recent years in baseball, the American and National League Championship Series have been exponentially more exciting than the World Series. Over the past two years, both the NLCS and ALCS have gone to seven games both years. The World Series went six games in 2003 and 2004 was a Red Sox sweep. The excitement of the League Championship Series, headlined by the results produced by the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, greatly overshadowed that of the World Series.

Is a trend developing? If so, this means bad news for St. Louis. The city has been promoting the Final Four as if it were the only great thing ever to happen in this town. Hopefully, the games will be just as exciting, if not more, than this weekend’s games, but do not be surprised if all three games are blowouts. Anyway, here are some fast predictions for this weekend’s games.

Illinois vs. Louisville

The Cardinals come into this game still riding their anger from being a No. 4 seed. For a team ranked No. 4 overall in the nation by both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, the No. 4 seed placement was taken personally by Louisville and head coach, Rick Pitino. Louisville is no fluke: they can run the floor as well as anyone in the country, and have some sensational guards in Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia, who can both shoot and penetrate. Illinois is represented well as the top overall seed in the tournament, led by a deadly backcourt trio of Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Luther Head. Illinois runs the floor just as well as Louisville, if not better, and presents superior frontcourt play with James Augustine and Roger Powell Jr. Both teams can score, but this game will come down to which team plays better defense. I believe Bruce Weber has the Illini playing good enough defense to carry them through one more round. Expect a high scoring game, with an exciting ending.

Illinois 86, Louisville 84

North Carolina vs. Michigan State

Michigan State has made a tremendous run. After receiving a break when Syracuse was upset, they upset top-seeded Duke and second-seeded Kentucky. However, neither Duke nor Kentucky possess the level of talent the Tar Heels do. What was once a young, talented, but inexperienced team has developed into a powerhouse of experienced, talented veterans. Raymond Felton, Jawad Williams, Marvin Williams, Sean May and Rashad McCants are all upperclassmen now, and are playing at the top of their game at the right time. When a team has five future pros playing smart and experienced basketball, it is going to take a heck of a lot more than a hot run and an experienced coach to beat them. Congratulations to Michigan State for making the Final Four, but have a safe trip home on Saturday Night.

North Carolina 78, Michigan State 70

March Madness has officially arrived in St. Louis and the city is psyched for this weekend’s Final Four. But the tournament will not be your only chance to get in on the action. If you’ve missed out on the brackets or have bet away all of your savings, there are plenty of free events and activities in the St. Louis area that are sure to entertain. Even if you choose to experience the Madness from the comfort of your couch, the showdown is set. This Saturday Illinois will face Louisville and UNC will duel it out with Michigan State in downtown St. Louis.

This year’s Final Four will be the fourth hosted by the city of St. Louis. The city has previously welcomed three men’s Final Fours and one women’s. However, this year’s tournament is the first to be held in the Edward Jones Dome, which was completed in 1995. St. Louis, which has been called an ideal location for this kind of event because of its size and compact downtown area, was selected to host the tournament back in 1998 and has spend the past seven years preparing for this weekend.

Although tickets may be nearly impossible to obtain and all of the hotel rooms in the city are booked, there is really a lot more going on this weekend than just the tournament itself. In fact, there is so much going on in the next few days that the games seem like an afterthought… well, almost.

“There are so many things for everyone,” said Frank Viverito, the president of the St. Louis Sports Commission and one of the forces behind bringing this weekend’s events to St. Louis. “Practices are all open and free to the public, so anyone can come down and watch the teams practice.”

For Viverito and the rest of the St. Louis Sports Commission, this weekend has been a long time in the making and one that they are eager to see become reality.

“Our bid [for the Final Four] was prepared in 1997. The event was awarded to St. Louis in June of 1998. It’s wonderful that this building [the Edward Jones Dome] can produce so well for the region,” said Viverito.

Along with the honor of receiving the bid, St. Louis will profit from the immense economic benefits of the weekend.

“The economic impact… ranges from $50-62 million in that one weekend and that almost pales in comparison to the visibility [and] the excitement [and] the understanding that St. Louis is on a national stage and that we are capable of producing an event of this magnitude, its just really exciting,” said Viverito.

Doug Elgin, commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), the conference sponsoring the tournament, pointed out that this weekend will be a great financial opportunity for local businesses.

“[There will be] a lot more emphasis on staying open late if you’re bars or restaurants […] It’s a great opportunity to make money for the restaurateurs and bar owners.”

Furthermore, with two of the Final Four teams based within 300 miles of St. Louis, the number of visitors could be even larger than expected, as the city swells with Illinois and Louisville fans.

Elgin is anticipating larger numbers than were initially predicted.

“Conservatively [we predicted] 50,000, but I think that with Illinois and Louisville coming we’re going to see more like 75 to 100 [thousand],” said Elgin. “The influx of visitors here is going to be like nothing we’ve seen before.”

Viverito also noted that the Edward Jones Dome is one of the few stadiums in the region with the capacity to house an event like the Final Four.

“[Receiving the bid for the tournament] is not as complicated a situation as some might expect because there are only ten or so buildings across the country that can host the Final Four. It’s a rigorous procedure because it’s very specific… a lot of pieces have to come together,” said Viverito.

While the venue is ideal for the event, the seating capacity has been cut down significantly from its oval football-field shape to accommodate the smaller basketball court.

Mary Hendron, director of Public Relations for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC), which owns and operates the Edward Jones Dome, said that the total capacity for the Dome is 70,000 people. However, the transformation for the tournament has downsized the number to around 46,700.

“The planning is mostly done, and now it’s just executing those plans,” said Elgin.

As this weekend nears, the local organizing committee for the tournament (comprised of the MVC, the St. Louis Sports Commission, Saint Louis University and the CVC) is adding the final touches and preparing for any foreseeable problems.

“The dome itself is pretty much set up, other than the technical aspects,” said Elgin, who has planned for “scoreboard problems, power outages, or major things that can go wrong.”

“The one thing that we can’t do anything about [is the weather],” joked Carole Moody, president of the CVC. “But everything else that we can control I think is well in hand.”

When asked about other opportunities and events that the ticketless fan can take advantage of, Viverito said there is a “whole series of special events, from Hoop City, which is an interactive event in the Convention Center, to Dasani Fest, which is a musical event that runs most of the day Sunday. They have artists like Kelly Clarkson and Gavin DeGraw and Joss Stone that will be performing.”

Other events include Taste of St. Louis, which includes 25 area restaurants in the city and will take place all weekend in Kiener Plaza. The March to the Arch, an event where an estimated 3,000 children will be dribbling basketballs down Market Street to the Arch, is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. According to Viverito, there is also a Nelly concert scheduled for Sunday night.

Freshman Troy Ruths, a forward on the Washington University basketball team, is excited about the Final Four being in St. Louis this year.

“I would say that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in the same city as the Final Four,” said Ruths. “The Final Four is more than just three games. You can see the whole city come alive.”

In a stroke of luck, Ruths got a ticket to the game from an old basketball coach.

“[The seat’s] not bad-about halfway up,” said Ruths. “Usually the good seats go to the coaches and the players’ families.”

Sophomore Sally Preminger, a diehard UNC fan from Chapel Hill, found another means of getting tickets to the Final Four.

“[My brother and I] got tickets this summer through the NCAA lottery,” said Preminger. “I knew this summer that we were going [to the tournament], and I just prayed that UNC would get there.”

Preminger also said that she is planning on checking out Hoops Village and that she has tickets to the Slam Dunk Contest at the Fieldhouse on Thursday.

The weekend wouldn’t be complete without the after-hours parties. The marketing group Synergy is throwing several parties, some of which will feature the St. Lunatics and Chingy while another will be hosted by a Playboy Bunny.

“It made sense, having one of the largest sporting events in the country in St. Louis, to put together a series of events that would successfully reflect the diversity of St. Louis nightlife,” said Andrew Mullins, one of the managing partners of Synergy. “This town has no idea what it’s about to be hit with.”

Overall, this is not a weekend to be missed, and Viverito summed it up by saying, “it’s a little bit of Mardi Gras, and it’s a little bit of basketball and it’s a whole lot of fun. There are so many people in town and there are so many special events that occur that there’s something going on all weekend long.”