If you start with 65 teams and play more than 50 games, you'll get an upset or two, some thrilling finishes and new stars. But if the final produces a terribly mismatched conclusion, was it still a great tournament?
Of course. It's always a great tournament. But we can't say the same for the final. As usual, CBS did a solid job with the title game, even when handed a dud. Nothing special, but not as bad as it could have been, and nothing to keep you hanging around.
One Shining Moment it wasn't.
For the seventh time in the past 15 finals, Monday's game was decided by nine points or more. Only twice in the past 15 seasons has it been decided by three points or fewer.
Jim Nantz and Billy Packer did their best work in the game's last five minutes, when Tech made a mini rally, but was anyone still watching?
YEAH, YEAH, YEAH: If you've seen one montage of the tournament's highlights set to One Shining Moment, you've seen them all.
NOT QUITE: Looking for some canned drama, as he is prone to do, Nantz said basketball analysts pitched the matchup between UConn's Emeka Okafor and Georgia Tech's Luke Schenscher as the final's best "since Ewing and Olajuwon." And this came in the second half, after the matchup clearly hadn't panned out.
Maybe Nantz was citing CBS's "expert" Seth Davis (who picked Georgia Tech to win). But does anyone remember any hype centering on the center matchup as being one of the greatest ever?
It was nice to see Packer laugh - laugh - in replying, "I wouldn't even attempt to go there."
Nantz tried to explain what he really meant, but the veteran analyst refused to give credence to such a silly comparison.
WORST EVER: By the way, Schenscher was horribly overmatched by Okafor. The experts Nantz cited should be ashamed; those who said Okafor and Josh Boone were too fast for Schenscher and would run him into the ground should be applauded.
LOST MINUTES: In the span of two free throws, Nantz segued from this title game to the 1983 final that was voted the most exciting by viewers to a shot of Hall of Fame inductee Clyde Drexler to UConn guard Ben Gordon being born the same day N.C. State beat Drexler's Houston team in 1983. Typical Nantz and two minutes of our lives we'll never get back.
MAYBE NOT: When Boone went to the free-throw line early, Packer said, "as we know, this is a problem for Connecticut." Turns out it was Georgia Tech that had the problem.
QUICK ANSWER: After Tech's B.J. Elder missed consecutive shots, Packer said it would be interesting to see if he kept shooting. Before Packer could finish his sentence, Elder let loose a jump shot that swished through. "It's great to see a guy show some confidence there," Packer said.
Elder disappeared after that.
ON THE MONEY: Kudos to Packer, who was quick to say the early upbeat pace favored UConn and questioned Tech's failure to foul the poor free-throw shooting Huskies when trying to rally late.
OFF THE MONEY: Here is his most incorrect observation: Packer's pregame analysis ended with what he thought was a pretty good kicker: No team has ever won the Preseason NIT and the NCAA Tournament, as Tech was attempting. "Think about that," he said proudly to Nantz. Oops. Packer was corrected after 15 minutes by the crack CBS research crew, who dug deep into the archives to unearth that Duke won both titles.
