March Madness spoils and treats

BY CHRIS ENSING

Follow Chris Ensing on Twitter at @ChrisEnsing

The first round of the NCAA tournament is a beautiful, but occasionally boring event. It’s some of the best games and some of the biggest blowouts in one week. This is where fans that haven’t been able to see some of the quieter giants like Baylor or Vanderbilt get to check them out and the great players you don’t know have their chance to shine.

Don’t worry, I’m almost tired of hearing about John Wall, too.

So here at the Sports Caddy we’re putting together a viewing guide of the best games each round. We’re not going to do predications, because that’s like betting on when the next TTC Streetcar will show up. We’ll just take our chances.

For the first rounds, here are the ones you’ll want to spend some time on:

MIDWEST

The Best: Oklahoma State versus Georgia Tech.

A match-up of two high upset-potential teams. GT shows off the very NBA-calibre Frosh Derrick Favors and tries to take over the paint, while OK State will hope to hit from deep. OK State’s been beating up on big leaguers all season though, with wins over Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor. Count on them to hit early and slow down late, just in time for Favors to give up on his guards and bring the ball up by himself.

The Worst: Kansas and Lehigh.

Every year a 16-seed puts the heat on early, but usually not with such a short name. It’s important when picking your bracket to pay attention to these things. Also, pay attention to experience. In the NBA, old teams get lazy. In the NCAA they get patient. Look for the score table to spot Lehigh a couple threes early.

The Worthwhile: Not Evan Turner.

His skills will be on display, and they’ll be a great show. But why watch a dragon slay bunnies when you can watch turtles take on cougars? No, it’s not a bad episode of Entourage. It’s Maryland – Houston. Houston comes in riding a hot streak, while Maryland enters on the back of Greivis Vasquez. Think Stephan Curry with an accent. This will be a close game, and don’t-call-me-Fran Vasquez will have his swagger on full shine (or something like that) all game.

SOUTH

The Best: This is tough.

The experts say Utah State against Texas A&M, but, frankly, I don’t know enough about Utah State to give them the go ahead just because they’re playing close to home. Keep an eye on this one.

But keep the other eyes you may have and ears attached to Old Dominion – Notre Dame. Notre Dame has experience on their side, as Ben Hansbrough watched his brother dominate all those years at UNC. Okay, seriously, they have Luke Harangody, another Dick Vitale favourite.

A recent injury makes him a 6th man though, and it’s recent enough to cause panic amongst the front line. PG Tory Jackson is going to try and take over the game, but Old Dominion has a great zone defence that ranks with the top 20 in the nation. Look for their D and their big bodies to keep the game closer than a sixth grader’s back to the wall at the year-end dance.

The Worst: Purdue and Siena.

Purdue lost their best player, and Siena is a 13th seed filled with seniors. But Purdue has played without Robbie Hummel for three games, and Keaton Grant is going to put up numbers in his place. The tournament motto is “One Shinning Moment” for a reason.

This will be a boring, defensively minded game, and Siena will only keep it close enough for the announcers to trick us into thinking there’s a close game waiting. There isn’t. The selection committee picks these match-ups and seeds the teams in a lengthy process. They knew Hummel was down, they knew Siena had to perform in the clutch to get an Auto-bid. Trust the seeding here.

The Worthwhile: Baylor versus Sam Houston State.

If you, like me, haven’t seen much Baylor this year, this is the time. This will be their breakout party for a program itching to improve a troubling reputation. Sit back and enjoy the show. It’s far better than watching Duke and hoping they lose.

EAST REGION

The Best: Wake Forest and Texas have two coaches going against each other who love to lose games.

Visually, this may be underachieving, but count on a close final five minutes of the game. Texas was ranked 1st overall during the regular season at times, and they’ve been at the bottom too.

Wake Forest has age on its side, and eventually you’d get tired of playing down to other teams, no? Their big men will dominate low, but Texas will let it fire from deep. Whoever scores faster wins this one.

The Worst: Kentucky versus ETSU.

Although this has the potential of a close game (East Tennessee State University has a very long name, an important fact), Calipari has had young teams in the one seed before, and he’ll have them calmed down. This game will be about the same as the All-Star weekend’s competition. Take that for what you will.

The Worthwhile: If anyone watched the tournament last year, they’d of seen Marquette’s fast-paced play.

It keeps up this year, with it’s very small team driving, kicking and hitting threes all season. Washington plays the same way. This will be a high scoring game that should have some great plays, some long threes, and some scrappy defense. This is the game the “One Shinning Moment” montage will get the majority of its player sliding on the floor content. You don’t see that in the NBA often.

WEST

The Best: Minnesota, Gonzaga and Syracuse featuring dominating Canadians.

Please watch all three equally and support Canada. It’s your duty. If you don’t support Canadian basketball, we’ll be forced to steal people like Matt Bonner to play for us. For the love of God, watch these players.

The announcers will point them out often, noting that they aren’t wearing lumber jackets in the lay-up lines. (For a close game, UTEP versus Butler will pit a team that lost to a hot team versus a team that only knows hot streaks. Butler is also a team that plays to the competition, whether it’s up or down.)

The Worst: Kansas State versus North Texas.

This will be a blowout because K-States coach will scream his team to a win. But really, it’s because North Texas is happy to be here, well KS has its mind on the next round. It’s full of workhorse players who play fast and run on endless blasts of nitrous.

The Worthwhile: Please, please, please watch the Canadians play.

Devoe Joseph of Minnesota is one of the best high school players to play in Canada, Robert Sacre is a BC Big Boy playing for Gonzaga along with what seems like enough countrymen to fill PEI. Andy Rautins out in Syracuse is going for a draft pick, and his dad won’t be announcing his games. It’s enough for me and I hope it’s enough for you.

Enjoy the games. This could shape into one of the most competitive second rounds in history, if the brackets play out right. But then they wouldn’t call it Madness, would they?

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Duking it out in March Madness

BY CHRIS ENSING

Follow Chris Ensing on Twitter at @ChrisEnsing

COLLEGE BASKETBALL IS huge. Ever year, millions in North America watch as American student-athletes lay all they have on the line to benefit themselves and the program they play for.

It’s as popular as MLB, the NFL or NBA, and March Madness is as important to sports fans as the Super Bowl or World Series. But college basketball is also more than that.

It’s 94 feet of hardwood surrounded by the world. It’s a game dripping with lessons, a display of young men and their coming-of-age stories. But it’s mostly about taking risks, and reaping the rewards.

Everyone hates Duke. Everyone but the one guy who picks them to win every year in the office pool, or the kid who sports the sweater to every class during March just to invoke that reaction. You hate Duke, even I hate Duke, and I don’t hate much.

But Duke wins ball games. Coach Mike Krzyzewski has a formula for success: recruit talented kids who handle themselves well and don’t perform with flash.

A Duke highlight reel from his first season in 1980 to the present would be filled with mid-range jump shots and handshakes. Light-up kid’s shoes have more flash than Duke. It’s just not in their veins.

But since the NBA ruled players must be one year removed from high school before being drafted, Duke has fallen off. They haven’t made it past the Sweet Sixteen since.

The results go like this: Sweet Sixteen exit in ‘06 with the No. 1 ranking; a first-round exit in ‘07 with the sixth seed; a second-round exit in ‘08 as the second seed; and a Sweet Sixteen knockout in ‘09 at No. 2.

Before the new draft rule? From 1998 to 2005, their lowest ranking was a third seed. The rest were all number one seeds. Their worst finish in those seven years? The Sweet Sixteen – their best finish within their last four seasons. These are very astounding and telling stats.

They show how important it is – no matter the ranking – to win the big games at the end of the year. Developmental institutions like Duke, pre-2006, didn’t have to worry about facing game-changing players: the Derrick Rose, Greg Oden, John Wall or Kevin Durant types because they would immediately declare for the NBA.

But now, more 18-year-olds are playing for colleges – not necessarily to shine, but to season. They aren’t the players that systematic schools like UNC, Duke or UCLA want.

So where do they go? More recently, wherever they want.

John Wall had offers from schools across the country, but followed coach John Calipari to Kentucky. Derrick Rose went to Memphis for the same reason. OJ Mayo went to USC for the paycheque … er, Tim Floyd’s NBA connections.

These players are going where they can be successful for a year and move on, hurting the domination of teams like Duke all the while.

The game has changed, and Duke is feeling it. But all hope is not lost for these development-focused schools. Although they’ll occasionally fall to a Michael Beasley-led team, they pull out in the long run.

The last four champions all hail from schools which believe in lasting recruiting pedigrees, not one-off training sessions. The same can be said for the runner-ups.

The two exceptions are Ohio State and Memphis – although that’s been vacated and facing an appeal. They had great boosts from players who would have gone pro if they had the choice.

Ultimately, these teams are still winning – and winning big. This year, Syracuse has a team that’s been building for the last two seasons. Kansas has players from the 2008 championship team still kicking around. And Ohio State doesn’t even have a freshman.

But the team most fans will pick to win, and the same team analysts don’t want to discount?

Kentucky.

Three of their freshmen are in the top four for minutes per game. DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall would both be playing similar minutes on NBA teams if the draft rules were lifted. This is a hot team with hot players, similar to Caliparis’ Memphis team in 2008, trying to stay hot through the tournament.

You spend years recruiting these players, you have to deal with attitudes for some of them, and you have to do it all knowing they won’t be back a year later. It’s all a game of risk-and-reward. Some teams go for it. Some don’t.

Duke does it, UNC does it. Hollywood movies do it. The guys that spend their time picking up women on the weekends follow systems. Nickelback albums follow systems.

They stick to what works, and it pays off. It’s why this year the man in the Duke sweater gets the last laugh.

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Gold medal redemption for Team Canada

BY ANTHONY LOPOPOLO

Follow Anthony Lopopolo on Twitter at @SportsCaddy

SIDNEY CROSBY DIDN'T need to see the puck go in. All he had to do was hear Canada Hockey Place erupt.

Team Canada’s journey to the gold-medal game was tiring, trying and testing. And that made it all the more rewarding.

It didn’t parallel the grueling sequences of a Stanley Cup run, but four wins in six days conjured such a mirage. The daunting spectre of elimination hung around 23 Canadian players, though apparently didn’t haunt them enough to derail gold-medal glory.

Of course, the game would be settled in overtime. Through a fortuitous pass. And a blind shot. The game was, indeed, choppy. Canada had been compelled to play a raw game, a reflection of their never-say-die attitude.

The team’s stars failed to illuminate at points throughout the tournament, while the soft-spoken workmen simply picked up the slack and did all the talking.

That’s why Jonathan Toews finished with a tournament-best plus-9 rating, why Corey Perry did much more than add the odd empty-netter and kill a penalty, why Drew Doughty looked like he skated in more games than Chris Pronger.

It’s why Martin Brodeur surrendered the starting goaltender position to the much-deserving Roberto Luongo, Canada’s next great.

Luongo was leaky at times, a moveable wall for most. If such an unceremonious – and some would say undignified – transition in goaltending occurred in 2002 from Curtis Joseph to Brodeur, a similar revolution would most certainly have to take place in 2010.

Both sets of teams, for the record, now have real Olympic gold in their homes.

Over Canada’s extended play, one could see the team gel like follicles of hair, slowly hardening and solidifying. Mike Babcock threw players together faster than a breakout game of shinny during the first games of the tournament, visibly unconfident and unable to strike a harmonic chord with his coaching staff.

Against Slovakia and then against the USA, however, Babcock didn’t have to tap anyone to switch lines. Rick Nash found Mike Richards and tagged along with Toews. Jarome Iginla discovered Crosby and teamed up to score past an immediately-dejected Ryan Miller.

Miller had been the best goaltender of these Olympics, too. He had led a team of underdogs within the reach of gold. He went undefeated until Sunday. He single-handedly sent Canada into a panicky frenzy in a 5-3 round-robin win over the Canadians.

But, most significantly, he also made the host nation vulnerable, made them contemplate losing when losing had initially been taboo.

By the time the USA and Team Canada climbed to the summit of Olympic play, the Americans had a vested interest in gold and had all the confidence of their previous success merely days earlier against the same Canadian team. An American win would have been crushing to Canadians, and, as realized, vice-versa.

For Canada, their gold-medal achievement is nothing short of bold, and not simply a met standard as was hoped two weeks ago.

They brushed off the Germans, treated the Russians as a taxi squad, thwarted an uprising by Slovakia, and pulled themselves out of the American’s vice-grip. Through that, Canada had more adversity to downplay and hurdle than any other team in these Games.

Playing with an underdog mentality, not that of a favourite, in the irony of it all.

All Crosby’s goal did was end the voyage. He, like Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin and Finland’s Miikka Kiprusoff, played as shadows of their NHL selves for most of the tournament. Crosby’s goal wasn’t elegant, it was needed.

The fact that the goal was his first point in three games doesn’t detract from it, nor does his lacklustre play leading up to that pivotal second. Anyone could have scored, but Crosby made sure the country wouldn’t have to second-guess another blown chance.

This game wasn’t as politically charged as the Summit Series in 1972. Paul Henderson performed under the weight of a broken political scale between Russia and Canada.

But Crosby carried this responsibility in his dreams, to score in dire straits. He's lifted the Stanley Cup not even a year ago. The talking head of the country’s collective hockey conscience had to produce when the spotlight called for him.

Sometimes, it’s best when stars wait to shine. Crosby certainly did.

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