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It’s nice to be back after a week of spring break vacation. My lovely wife (Mrs. SwampSwami) and I visited the Mobile, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida area for a few days. Alas, so did thousands of other spring break vacationers!
For those of you who prefer a peaceful walk instead a dip in the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf State Park in Alabama has miles of paved paths and wooden bridges over the swampy areas. We also toured Bellingrath Gardens one morning. My patience was rewarded by having the chance to play 18 holes of golf at the Par-3 short course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail location in Mobile. If you’ve never played one of the RTJ Trail courses, do it! This unique 18-hole short course was a pleasant two hours of golf and a very challenging layout.
On the return trip, we made a half-day visit to downtown Laurel, Mississippi. No, we didn’t see the “Home Town” folks from cable TV, but the city’s renewed downtown district is really special. Free plug alert! We had a terrific lunch at Wilson’s Commissary. Their plate lunches (about $9 apiece) were generous, tasty, and quite filling!
We arrived home in time for yours truly to begin his annual television marathon of observing NCAA March Madness college basketball games. From Thursday at 11AM through Sunday night at 11PM, there were 48 men’s basketball games played on four different television channels. Yes, I probably watched parts of about 40 of them!
Nearly everyone’s men’s bracket was kablooeyed by #16 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson of New Jersey. Their thrilling first round win came over the most overrated basketball team in March Madness history, #1 seed Purdue (now 29-6 and sitting at home). Purdue has now lost to double digit underdogs in their last three NCAA appearances. P.U. to Purdue!
On CBS Sports.com, you can check out that SwampSwamiSports’s men’s bracket is now ranked #940,469 overall. Actually, I moved up during the day on Sunday from 1.4 million to “only” 940,000th place!
My men’s bracket (where I selected the University of Houston to win) has just Houston and Gonzaga with a chance for the Final Four. My other two selections (Duke and Virginia) were sent packing this weekend.
As for the women’s NCAA basketball tournament, I am faring much better! CBS Sports.com showed SwampSwamiSports at #335,402. There’s good news, though. I still have all four of my Final Four teams (LSU vs. UConn and South Carolina vs. Texas) alive after the first two rounds.
As mentioned in my previous pre-tournament post, the NCAA women’s tourney generally has fewer upsets than the men’s side. That was true again in the opening rounds this year except for #1 seeds Stanford and Indiana getting bounced.
I picked LSU to win it all in the women’s Final Four with a huge upset over South Carolina in the finale.
It’s hard to pick against LSU coach Kim Mulkey. She won two national tournament championships as a player at Louisiana Tech. As a coach, she took Baylor to three NCAA titles in 21 seasons.
This week begins the Sweet 16 portion for both the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
Men’s games for Thursday (winners play on Saturday):
East Region – New York City
#4 Tennessee vs. #9 Florida Atlantic – The Vols took out Duke last weekend, while FAU sports a gaudy 33-4 record. This game will feature the defense of Tennessee vs. the run and gun three point shooting of the FAU Owls. If 75 or more points are scored here, I like the Owls’ chances to fly into the Elite Eight.
#3 Kansas State vs. #7 Michigan State
K-State beat Kentucky and Michigan State downed #2 seed Marquette to get here. Though my bracket predicted Kansas State will win this game, Michigan State’s experienced coach Tom Izzo could spell the difference in a close game.
West Region – Las Vegas
#4 Connecticut vs. #8 Arkansas – The Hogs took out #1 seed Kansas over the weekend. UConn hardly worked-up a sweat in its two wins. Arky’s frenetic style of play will cause trouble for UConn. The better shooting team generally wins, so don’t bet against UConn here.
#2 UCLA vs. #3 Gonzaga – After watching both play this weekend, UCLA should be favored. However, Gonzaga’s coach Mark Few is still seeking his first NCAA title and All-American forward Drew Timme wants it badly, too. My bracket picked Gonzo here.
Friday’s men’s games (winners play on Sunday):
Midwest Region – Kansas City
#1 University of Houston vs. #5 Miami (FL) – The ACC’s lone remaining entry, Miami overly depends on ACC Player of the Year, guard Isaiah Wong. Houston’s forte is defense, so expect Miami’s leading scorer to be closely guarded and double teamed much of this game. Houston (my pick) should win this game with a little breathing room here.
#2 Texas vs. #3 Xavier – The Musketeers of Xavier struggled in their wins over #15 seed Kennesaw State and #11 seed Pitt. My bracket picked Texas here, and I see the Horns advancing to play against Houston in the regional final.
South Region – Louisville
#1 Alabama vs. #5 San Diego State – If you like defense, you’ll love San Diego State. Holding both of their first two opponents to 52 and 57 points, the Aztecs must hope that Alabama will become frustrated with a slowdown game. My bracket had Bama losing to Virginia, and SDSU losing in the first round (oops). I’d love to see the Aztecs pull the upset, but I’ll pick Alabama here.
#6 Creighton vs. #15 Princeton – Raise your hand if you predicted this match-up. Princeton upset #2 seed Arizona in the first round and then beat #7 Missouri by 15 points in Round 2. The Blue Jays from Omaha took down #11 NC State and then outscored #3 seed Baylor 82-73 in the second round. The Princeton Tigers are a tough defensive team and depend on their exceptional three-point shooting. Creighton has five starters scoring in double figures plus a 7-foot center to protect the rim. Though I’ll be pulling for Princeton, the balanced attack of #6 Creighton should lead them to victory in this contest.
WOMEN’S MARCH MADNESS UPDATE
The opening weekend of first and second round action was conducted on the home courts of the #1 through #4 seeded teams (16 in total). That gave a huge advantage to the home teams – although two #1 seeds (Stanford and Indiana) lost in the opening rounds for the first time since 1998.
As for the women’s Sweet 16 basketball games coming up in a few days, all eight contests will be played at only two venues (unlike four arenas being utilized by the men). This week’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games will be held in Greenville, South Carolina and Seattle, Washington.
The NCAA women’s tournament committee wanted the first two weekends of play to feature large crowds in order to pad their wallet and ESPN’s national TV audiences. That why the top four seeded teams all played at home in the first two rounds.
This same logic probably explains why the women’s Round of 16 and Elite 8 games this weekend will be contested in just two cities (instead of four like the men).
The NCAA women’s tournament committee also permitted the overall #1 seed South Carolina to have another week of home cooking. The unbeaten (34-0) Gamecocks will be playing on Friday and (perhaps) Sunday in Greenville – just 100 miles northwest of Columbia.
Why?
If South Carolina wins both of the games played in Greenville this weekend, they will have played four straight games within their home state before traveling to Dallas for the women’s Final Four in early April.
No other team (men or women) was afforded that opportunity this year. In fact, the men’s tournament committee piled the University of Houston, Texas, and Texas A&M into the same Midwest Region bracket to avoid having more than one Texas team in the Final Four this year in Houston.
This is a bad look for the NCAA women’s basketball committee.
I’m not faulting Greenville or Seattle for winning the women’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 tournament site locations. The NCAA holds competitive bidding for these site locations.
The NCAA (a tax-exempt 501c3 organization) makes a lot of money by holding competitive bidding for cities wanting to pay up for the right to host the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments. The NCAA also sets the ticket prices for the events, too.
To win the rights to hold one of these basketball events, your city must ante-up an incredible amount of cash and comply with a myriad of assorted minutia.
Note to the NCAA – It’s 2023! It’s past time for the organization and its women’s tournament committee to make some long overdue changes to put the women’s event on equal footing with the men.
The format of both tournaments should be the same. That would involve taking more financial risks. In the short term, the NCAA might pocket less revenue by moving the early rounds of the women’s tournament to regional sites like the men do.
These two basketball tournaments generate a massive amount of revenue for the NCAA.
That’s why I doubt that we will see a change in the women’s basketball tournament format anytime soon. If today’s model generates the most net profit for the NCAA, they will continue to keep using it.
Sadly, today’s “Home Cooking” women’s basketball tournament will continue to lag behind the men until both events are conducted on the same footing.