Are you upset that there have already been many upsets in college basketball? don’t be. Think of how upset Iowa players and coaches are today, not to mention the entire Hawkeye State. The Big Ten Tournament champions led by 17 with 8½ minutes to go against tiny Northwestern State. In the blink of an eye, the 14th-seeded Demons came back and stunned Iowa, 64-63. Discomfort is the right word. Think about how upset all the ticketed sports bettors in Iowa are!
That’s because it’s a dog’s life during the March tournament. This is nothing new. Every season we see surprise surprises all the time. Everyone remembers the Final Four and the participants in the championship game, which almost always hosts big-name shows. But because the March twists move so fast, it’s all too easy to forget about all the hiccups along the way.
Iowa’s loss to Northwestern State was one of many examples… this March! Bucknell put on a game face and beat Arkansas. On the opening day of the tournament, Wisconsin Milwaukee defeated Oklahoma, Tennessee outlasted Winthrop by a basket, and the Pacific led Boston College to two overtimes before the Eagles survived. A pair of No. 12 seeds defeated No. 5 seeds, as Texas A&M beat Syracuse and Montana defeated Nevada.
It’s all part of what makes Madness great. One reason is that smaller schools can be so excited to get to the Big Ball that they give it all they’ve got. They know there’s a national television audience watching them, so they want to play their best, and if they lose, the season is over. So why shouldn’t a team give it their all? After all, they have been together for many months and have enjoyed great victories and tournament victories. A team good enough to go this far clearly has drive, pride and talent.
Another factor is that smaller schools don’t attend the party very often, and not nearly as often as schools like Kansas, Duke, and UConn. NCAA tournament berths are uniquely special for a school, like bowl games for college football programs. The players and coaches know that they are representing their school and since small schools arrive so rarely, they know that for years to come they will hold a special place in school history. Keep in mind that Northwestern State is in the NCAA Tournament for the second time, coming here in 2001.
Another factor to keep in mind is that punters have to respect bigger and more well-known schools more. Their purpose is to attract money on each side of a game, they don’t care who is going to win, just that they get the same action. So if UCLA is playing Belmont, they have to shade a point or two towards UCLA knowing that most punters will be more familiar with the Bruins than a school like Belmont. There are plenty of dogs alive that offer good betting value at this time of year.
Finally, the main reason why there are always upsets in the tournament is that these small teams are very good. They have talent, or they play strong defense, or they have an excellent coaching staff. Some have all three. Some even have potential NBA talent. You might see players like Pacific’s Christian Maraker playing very well in the NBA in a few years. He will certainly be a better NBA player than Pacific’s Michael Olowakandi! So don’t be shocked, surprised or upset when you see upsets like Northwestern State’s dramatic 64-63 win over Iowa on Friday in the NCAA Tournament. And it won’t be the last big surprise either!
