Around here, the Big Dance started Tuesday with the First Four.
I always make sure I get a credential for this event not only because my seat on press row is always between legends Tom Archdeacon and Hal McCoy but also because it is a big deal on the local and national sports landscapes.
What can be better than that for a market like ours?
First Four delivers again
A couple of people asked me last week what I would write about on those first days of March Madness at UD Arena.
My response was typically something like, “I don’t know. Something always surfaces.”
I sensed some skepticism, but I was vindicated when three obvious angles materialized right away.
Saint Francis (Pa.) featured Juan Cranford Jr., a wing from Wayne High School who was named the top freshman in the Northeast Conference, Mount St. Mary’s is coached by New Knoxville native Donny Lind, and Xavier is… Xavier.
All of those stories turned out better than I’d hoped as Lind’s team won, Cranford was in the middle of the action in the first game of the tournament, and the Musketeers rallied to win in front of a partisan crowd.
To top it all off, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis delivered the money-est of money quotes when I asked him about his experience at the First Four: “We have 15 guys on the team, and eight of them, this is their first time going to the NCAA Tournament, and I couldn’t think of a better way for them to get their first taste of the tournament than coming here to Dayton.”
Every year, I ask as many of the participants as I can what they think of the experience, and I report what they say.
I think this is a worthwhile exercise because there are still lots of national people who put down the First Four every chance they get.
Of course, I get the whole concept of cramming an extra eight teams into the otherwise symmetrical bracket is a bit silly, but I also think this reaction is, well, ignorant, after watching how it all plays out in real life.
The stated goal of the people in Dayton is to make this feel like every other NCAA Tournament site, and I would say they pull that off without question.
If anything, it’s probably better.
The downside is travel (unless you’re coming from, say, Cincinnati), especially the quick turnaround. Obviously getting to Dayton in less than 24 hours can be a major challenge.
Playing an extra game also seems to have its pros and cons. While it creates an extra barrier to making it to the field of 64, it also seems to help some teams get their sea legs and hit the ground running at the next stop.
If you believe the reports — and understand the general incompetence of almost everyone leading college athletics these days — some sort of change will be coming to the NCAA Tournament in the near future.
Hopefully, they figure out a way to keep this event here as part of whatever the next iteration of the Big Dance looks like.
That wasn’t all that went on this week in sports (even if it sometimes felt like it).
Here are a few more stories to check out:
Two Centerville grads already announced plans to enter the transfer portal
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Gabe Cupps is exploring an exit from Indiana while Jonathan Powell is likely leaving West Virginia (players who enter the portal are able to withdraw and remain at their original school if both sides agree to it). Ironically, Powell’s coach, Darian DeVries, will be the new coach at Indiana so it will be interesting to see how that all plays out.
The Bengals made two big moves
Or was it really one? Whatever the case, they are committed to paying Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins a lot of money over the next four years. If they combine with Joe Burrow to bring a Super Bowl victory to the Queen City, no one will doubt it was worth it. READ MORE
Dayton is still dancing
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
No one would confuse a first-round National Invitation Tournament game with paradise, even if palm trees surrounded the building and typical Florida sunshine bathed the arena, but for the Dayton Flyers, any basketball is better than none.
Here’s how the Flyers beat FAU to open the NIT on Wednesday night: LINK
Girls wrestling exploding across Ohio
Credit: Brad Piper Photography
Credit: Brad Piper Photography
The Sunday paper will feature a front page story on the impact of the OHSAA sanctioning a state tournament for girls wrestling two years ago, but you can read it now online if you can’t wait!
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