Jack’s Blog

The questions have been asked: How can a mid-major make it to the National Championship game two years in a row and is there anything for the “big boys” to be worried about after two mids make it to the Final Four?  Parity might be the short answer.  Dig a little deeper and we uncover another reason.

The reason the, for lack of a better term, BCS teams, are so well represented is that they get the best talent.  Duh!  They have the greater resources, whether they be in the area of recruiting budgets, travel, gear or facilities.  Consider this: While Butler and VCU certainly have very good players, there isn’t one player on either team who was seriously recruited by either UConn or Kentucky.  Conversely, there isn’t one player on the Huskies’ or the Wildcats’ roster that the Bulldogs or Rams could even get a home visit with.

So how can the so-called mid-majors compete with the BCSers head-to-head, especially at NCAA tourney time?  The theory is simply this: The two most important ingredients in post-season play are talent (which the big guys have) and experience, e.g. juniors and seniors (which are usually what the mid-majors squads consist of).

On the biggest stage, the smart money goes with talent.  But let’s not forget that, had Gordon Hayward’s shot been about three inches over, UConn would have just defeated the defending national champions.  Last night, it was clearly about the more skilled squad rising.  Alex Oriakhi scored inside where Andrew Smith (and even the usually relaible Matt Howard) couldn’t.  Kemba Walker has greater ability to make a twisting drive to the hoop than any of Butler’s guards.

So, on a night when neither club could hit the bull in the butt with a bass fiddle, the more talented team came out on top.  Will this trend continue?  Due to the one-and-done rule, probably.  However, if the Jared Sullingers of the basketball world start returning to campus and the Shelvin Macks leave early, the run may come to a screeching halt.

Than again, when schools like Butler and VCU pony up the cash (it’s being reported that VCU raised Shaka Smart’s base salary from $325K to $1.2 mil) to keep their coaches (who obviously love their players and their employers), the coaching edge no longer automatically belongs to the BCS leaders.

Rest assured that, at the very least, the NCAA won’t lock their players out.  Or make them play best of seven.  These NCAA tournament games have been exciting, if not works of beauty.  As Jerry Tarkanian summed up this year’s tournament:

“The games have been close, but not very well-played.”

It’s what you get when pitting less talented upperclassmen against very skilled youngsters.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas has quite the resume - bachelor’s from Duke, player and assistant for Coach K, law degree.  When Jay talks, people listen.  He’s extremely articulate and knowledgeable.  It’s just that sometimes, he’s wrong.  Hey, who isn’t?

When VCU was included, more than one person was incensed - and, based on their “body of work,” it did look like they must have had pictures of the committee members in compromising positions.  No one was more vocal than Bilas.  He made his point - again and again.

Now that the Rams are headed to the Final Four, many doubters have admitted that, at the very least, VCU certainly belonged in the tourney.  Not Bilas.  Even after they pummeled the final #1 seed, he grudgingly said they played well, but, prefaced the remark with the fact that KU didn’t play their normal game.  There was no mention that, possibly, VCU had something to do with the Jayhawks’ poor performance.

Jay even did research (although he probably instructed an intern to do the actual work), informing the viewing public that VCU made 12 three-pointers and never, not once, during the season had they connected on as many.  As if that stat was one of the reasons for his rant on Selection Sunday.  Bilas’ main statement following the Rams-Jayhawks?  “Let’s face it, Kansas played badly.”

Not once did he admit he might have been wrong when he so vehemently condemned the committee for including both VCU and UAB.  He mentioned that it wasn’t about winning a game in the tourney, “everyone in the field is capable of that,” it was about their undeserving inclusion.  Since ESPN’s show was devoted to both the committee’s decisions and predicting winners of the games, he concluded with the condescending remark that it wasn’t like the bubble teams that were being discussed were going to win the National Championship anyway.  They still might not but I tend to think his comment was about reaching the Final Four as well.  Wonder if he hopes Butler wins on Saturday.

John Savage, my late, brilliant friend and mentor, used a powerful line in many of his speeches.  In fact, it had such an impact on my other mentor, George Raveling, that he often uses it.  It’s something the ego of Jay Bilas refuses him to admit: 

“Sometimes it’s good to be wrong so that others may be right.”

The first time I met Jerry Tarkanian was the summer of 1974 when he brought his two sons, Danny & George, to our summer basketball camp at Washington State.  He was just starting to make UNLV a power, after turning Long Beach State into an NCAA tourney team, so when any of us coaches got a chance to talk hoops with him, we took advantage of it.

Throughout the years, I’d bump into Jerry, e.g. in 1976 when I was a grad assistant at Oregon and he brought his Runnin’ Rebels team to Eugene for the first and second rounds of the tournament (we were practicing for the NIT), during my stay at Tennessee in the 80s when we played them in the Las Vegas Classic and when I’d scout SEC teams playing in their Xmas tourneys and in the 90s when he was color commentator for our televised USC games.  Then, in 1995, I joined his staff at Fresno State as Director of Basketball Operations.

As I’ve mentioned in this blogspace on numerous occasions, his approach to the game was basic, but definitely his own.  Here are some of his ideas and how they compare to today’s game.

1) He didn’t believe kids got tired, especially during March Madness because of the extra length of the times out - which is why he’s not at all shocked that UConn was able to win five games in five days, and continue their stellar play.

2) He did not want his players to be “loose” before a game.  “I want their veins popping, their muscles bulging, I want them sweating, . . .”  That’s why, if he were coaching today, it would be doubtful his players would be dancing before a game.  After a win, turn up the volume and boogey.

3) I asked him earlier this season on his radio show what he thought about the three-point shot when it was introduced.  “I always liked it.  I thought it was a fairly easy shot - as long as the right guys were shooting it.”  As far as shooters going through slumps, “I’d always tell my ‘2 guard’ to keep shooting - even if he missed five in a row.  I’d say, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll make the next five.’ ”

4) Dealing with foul trouble: “I’d usually keep the guy in the game.  My philosophy was, ‘He’s not doing me any good sitting next to me.’ “  Naturally, if his team had a big lead, he might pull him, but he felt players usually understand how to play with fouls.

5) Although he employed different defenses throughout his career, his defensive philosophy was, “It’s better to play one defense great, than a lot of them average.”  Shaka Smart might want to debate that thought.

6) He used to equate the term “poise” with “cool guys,” so saying his team was poised was no compliment to Tark.

As can be seen, some of his beliefs are shared by today’s coaches, while others aren’t, meaning the old adage is still true:

“There are a lot of ways to skin a cat.”

About two-thirds of the way into the regular season, one of the many talking heads on ESPN (which one I can’t recall), made a statement that seemed, at the time, to make perfect sense.  In response to a remark about parity in college basketball, he said that while the talent might be spread out more than ever, there were only five teams that could be considered serious contenders for the national championship.  The teams were Ohio State, Pitt, Kansas, Texas and Duke.

I remember nodding my head in agreement because that quintet was so much more dominant than the remainder of the teams that made up Division I.  Each week, one of them took its place at the top of the rankings.  It was difficult to maintain the top spot, but there’s was little doubt that they were the class of college hoops.

Now, four of them have been eliminated and if upstart VCU plays today like they did in their first four upset victories, Kansas will have fallen too, meaning none of them will have even made it to the Final Four, much less win it all.  The point is that the way a national champ is crowned in college basketball, a team had better not let the game come down to the final possession because anything can happen (Pitt, Texas and Ohio State) and they’d better be ready to make adjustments if their opponent turns in their best performance of the season (Duke).

One-and-done is exciting but can be heartbreaking for teams and their fans.  For all those so staunchly opposed to the BCS plan:

“Be careful what you wish for, . . .”

On Selection Sunday, all most people knew about Shaka Smart was that he was the head coach of perhaps the most undeserving team to be given an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.  Now, he’s being hailed as the “#1 guy on the list of every AD who has a coaching opening.”

How did his stock rise so high, so quickly?  His conference’s fourth-seeded team had to beat Drexel in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament on a buzzer-beater, then upset George Mason in the semis before losing to ODU in the finals just so they could pray to have an outside chance to gain entry into the Big Dance.  Then they did so, possibly because the committee didn’t want 32 of the 37 at-large bids to go to BCS schools.

However, they’ve made the most of the opportunity they were afforded.  Coming off a College Basketball Invitational Championship last year (Smart’s first at the school), they made prophets out of this year’s committee members by not only beating USC, Georgetown and Purdue in their three tourney tilts, but dominating each of them.

For his part, Smart has shown to be the leader of a very disciplined, highly effective offense and defense with a group of guys who compete hard and play very well together.  Why his star has shown so brightly is, just as his team has, he’s taken advantage of the opportunity he earned.  Guys who were criticizing his club’s choice as a tourney entrant, are now singing his praises - to the tune of “the next coach at NC State” or “the next coach at Tennessee.”  Shaka Smart has done what Orison Swett Marden exclaimed:

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities.  Seize common occasions and make them great.  Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.”