When the NCAA basketball tournament selections came out this year every “expert” seemed to be in an uproar. Every year there seems to be some team that people think doesn’t deserve the chance to play for the national championship or some team that was unfairly denied the chance, but this year the ire over these snubs and selections was hotter then normal. Maybe it was because the tournament field was expanded this year and this gave those “experts” the feeling that their favorite bubble team would be rewarded when in past years they wouldn’t have. Maybe the selection committee was more egregious in their selections then normal. Whatever the reason, ESPN spent the first half hour of their selection special complaining and ranting and fuming over the fact UAB and VCU were put in the tournament. These two teams didn’t earn a trip to the tournament, they argued. They didn’t beat any of the top teams and their records were far from impressive. They didn’t do any of the things we have come to expect from tournament worth teams, things that teams like Colorado and Virginia Tech had accomplished. You would have thought putting UAB and VCU in the NCAA tournament was the most appalling atrocity in the history of basketball.
Three weeks later, VCU is in the Final Four and one win away from playing for the National Championship. Obviously, the “experts” were wrong. Or were they? It’s easy to say that just because a derided team starts to win that they didn’t deserve the derision, but to argue that is missing the point. The “experts” weren’t arguing that VCU couldn’t win a game or two; they were arguing that they didn’t deserve the chance.
Sports, as we know them today, do a poor job of crowning champions. Remember, sports are big business and they care very little about who is champ as long as a ton of money is being made. There is nothing fair or decisive about how they figure out who the “best” team is. In this day and age, as the football axiom goes, any team can win on any given Sunday. Any team can get hot and win four or six or eleven or twelve games. In sports like football and college basketball, you only have to beat a team once to move on. If VCU plays Kansas ten times, I’m sure Kansas wins at least seven of those games. In the old days of baseball, the champ was the team with the best record after playing 150 or so games. That’s it. Best record after the last game of the season is the best team. Then a new league popped up and they decided they would hold a series to determine who the real “world” champ was and everyone realized that there was a ton of money to be made in these series. Ever since sports have been adding more and more playoffs teams and rounds in an attempt to make the most money possible and in the process have changed and deluded what it means to be champ. It is no longer the best team that wins each year, but the team that is hottest, the team that finds the biggest momentum, the team with the most inspiration to over come their foe in one game or a short series.
Since the regular season no longer determines who the best team is, for it to have any meaning at all it has to determine who is worthy to play for the championship. And this is where VCU and the anger about their selection figures in. In pro sports it’s clear cut who makes the playoffs, best so many records in a division or conference, but with so many college teams and such a difference in conference talent levels it isn’t so easy. Certain conference champs are in the tournament automatically and the rest of the field is selected by a committee. Essentially, what the “experts” were arguing wasn’t that VCU was never going to win a tournament game but that they didn’t deserve the chance in the first place. It would be like someone saying the Pittsburg Pirates got to play in the playoffs even though they finished 10 games behind every other team in baseball.
Granted, I doubt anybody actually thought VCU would make it this far. Of all the brackets filled out on ESPN.com, only two had them in the Final Four and I find it hard to believe that those two people actually thought it would happen. We all fill out a fun bracket when it’s free. And I don’t want to take anything away from what VCU has accomplished. They beat quality teams so far and by large margins at that. But the Pirates could run off three or seven wins in five or twelve games if given the chance as well. VCU’s Cinderella run doesn’t change the fact that they shouldn’t have been in the tournament in the first place, it just means they found the inspiration to play really well, or they were given the best possible match-ups for their success. You should have to pay your dues before being crowned champion and according to the “experts” VCU didn’t.
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