This just in from the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee: DePaul has made the NCAA tournament. Northwestern has not.
This highly classified information is part of a secret videotape released by the committee. . . . But wait a minute. . . . Is that Chicago State as the 13th seed in the Midwest Regional?
Oh, this is only a demo?
Sorry if we caused DePaul coach Pat Kennedy to grab a bottle of champagne or sent Northwestern coach Kevin O’Neill in search of a bottle of aspirin. But the chances are they’ve already seen the video, which was delivered to every Division I coach this season.
The tape is aimed at demystifying a process that has come to represent all that’s wrong with major-college basketball–or all that’s right, depending upon one’s seed and site. The tape’s subtext is to provide an explanation, in advance, for coaches who will be howling when their teams are left out of the 64-team field March 7.
The tape lays out the principles for seeding and bracketing the field–an event that in itself has become as much of a national spectacle as any actual sporting contest. It also includes a detailed demonstration of how those principles can create headaches in the seeding of a fictional field.
In the fictional field, for example, DePaul draws a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional and is slotted in Chicago. That would appear to break the rule against allowing teams to play in their home towns. But the narrator explains that the Big Ten is hosting the regional. As long as DePaul hasn’t played more than three games in the arena during the regular season, it can’t be considered a home team.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, a former selection committee member, said the tape did a “good job of explaining how the decisions are made. What it didn’t do is tell how each committee person evaluates the data. But it can’t do that because people view the data differently.”
Committee chair C.M. Newton, the longtime Kentucky athletic director, explains in the video that the toughest conflicts often arise over location. Is it more fair to give a team a worse seed close to home or a better seed across the country?
“Here the committee will discuss the conflict between leaving teams close to their natural regions and achieving balance (in the brackets),” Newton said. “They’ll scratch their heads and talk for a long time about balance.”
If recent history is any indication, they won’t be the only ones scratching their heads on Selection Sunday. The committee’s best efforts will draw fire from players, coaches and fans whose teams are excluded.
“I thought it was educational,” Delany said. “But if people are disappointed that they didn’t make the tournament, a videotape isn’t going to make them feel better.”
Like father, like son: Growing up in Chicago’s northern suburbs, Chris Collins had little reason to pay attention to the longtime rivalry between Seton Hall and Rutgers. But when Seton Hall dropped a heartbreaker to its New Jersey neighbor last weekend, Collins took it as hard as anyone.
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“I was just so drained,” said Collins, a first-year assistant on Tommy Amaker’s Pirates staff. “Now I realize what my father felt like–and he went through it 82 times a season.”
Collins’ father, Doug, coached the Bulls from 1986-89. Doug’s departure wasn’t pleasant for his family, but it didn’t dissuade Chris from following him into the profession. He knew the rigors of the job but said he may have underestimated the emotional wear and tear coaches suffer.
“I had a chance to really see it growing up as a kid,” said Collins, who played guard at Duke from 1993-96. “But you don’t really realize it until you go through it yourself.
“I really enjoy coaching. But I think it’s a lot more emotionally draining than playing even. As a player, you’ve got to be rested and be prepared to compete for two to three hours a day.
“As a coach, the 12-, 13-hour days are part of the job. You live and die with every play. You put so much into it.”
Collins, Take II: Collins said he has been particularly impressed with Duke’s performances on the road this year. The Blue Devils are 13-1 away from Durham, N.C., as they head into Wednesday night’s meeting with DePaul here.
“Oftentimes on the road, it’s them against the world,” Collins said. “Duke basketball is almost like Notre Dame football. You either love them or hate them. Maybe it’s that squeaky-clean image. But there’s a lot of people that don’t like Duke out there.”
DePaul hopes that most of them will be in the sold-out United Center Wednesday night.
Miami heat: Since when is Miami a factor in hoops? Since the Hurricanes turned around their history of Big East road woes.
The Hurricanes did not win a conference road game in their first four years in the Big East. Last weekend they capped an 8-1 conference road record with a 73-71 victory at then-No. 2 Connecticut. Only Connecticut has produced an 8-1 Big East road mark since the conference expanded in 1991.
“I remember coming here as a freshman and getting mutilated,” junior guard Johnny Hemsley said.
Miami’s road prowess figures to make a strong impression with the NCAA tourney selectors. And there’s speculation the Hurricanes could wind up with a second seed.
Thanks for stopping by: Stanford senior Arthur Lee has made his last visit to Washington State, located in a remote section of Eastern Washington. And he wants everyone to know he couldn’t be happier.
“It’s Pullman, Wash.,” said Lee, a native of Los Angeles, during the Cardinal’s visit last week. “It’s tough to come to Pullman, Wash., and get excited about being here.”
Asked if he planned to return, Lee replied: “Never again. Never in my life. That’s a capital `N,’ with an exclamation point at the end.”
Sidelines: Stanford three-point ace Ryan Mendez apparently won’t be back this year. The team had been hoping that Mendez, who had been sidelined with tendinitis in his knee, would return in time for the NCAA tournament. Stanford is 23-1 when Mendez knocks down at least two three-pointers. “The strength of Stanford has always been that inside-outside game, and the outside, at times, has not been there,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. “That allows you to do a whole lot more defensively on them.” Olson’s Wildcats visit Stanford for a critical Pac-10 game Saturday. . . . Fans at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium are known for creative insults, but immaturity remains an issue for some. Saturday, a Dookie apparently was shining a laser light into the eyes of Clemson players, leading coach Mike Krzyzewski to grab the public-address microphone during the game and admonish the crowd. “Whoever has the laser shining on the kids, why don’t you just leave the game?” Krzyzewski said.