Ever since North Carolina triumphed over Illinois in last
year’s NCAA championship game, I eagerly awaited for this
March to arrive.
I knew it would provide for something much different.
There was no way our Bruins would be on the bubble. How could
they be when the only key loss was Dijon Thompson and each of last
season’s freshmen would have that much more experience at the
college level?
But then the season and the injuries began. Every week, a new
player seemed to be going down with an injury and the season began
to unravel. Everyone and their mother began to question how the
Bruins would deal with adversity as such a young team.
But the Bruins fought back, and now have a two seed.
But isn’t that what college basketball is about?
It’s also about the Cinderella stories, the
buzzer-beaters, and filling out brackets five or six times before
settling on one that gets blown up anyway by the unbelievable.
There is no other single championship that garners as much
attention as the NCAA Tournament. Not a single one comes even close
to the excitement that stirs in the air around this time of
year.
Sure, all of the athletes competing have dreams of one day going
to the NBA and making a name for themselves. That, however,
doesn’t compare to the loyalty and pageantry of the students
cheering on these athletes who sit in the same classes as them,
live in the same dorms, and take the same finals.
It’s not the same in the NBA.
“Those guys are die-hard fans; ride or die, win or
lose,” Los Angeles Lakers rookie Smush Parker said of college
supporters. “NBA fans are just bandwagon fans.”
Not even the NBA can compare to the Madness that has left
everyone filling out brackets, researching obscure programs like
the Belmont Bruins or Northwestern State Demons and knowing that
one of them will embark on a wild journey.
Even former UConn star Charlie Villanueva reminisces about the
sports mania that doesn’t quite translate into the pros.
“Coming from UConn, there were times when it would be ten
degrees outside and people would be waiting all night in line to
get tickets,” Villanueva said.
Nobody in their right mind would do the same for any other
sporting event.
Perhaps this is the reason for the Madness that has spread not
just about our campus, but around the entire nation.
There is nothing more heart-warming on a cold March afternoon
than hearing that your school’s team will be entering the
NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed.
But that is only the beginning.
Throughout the month, several stories of last-second heroics and
career-ending heartbreaks will cause feelings of jubilee and,
alternatively, wrenching pain.
Sure, this may also be the case in the NBA, but not until the
final game of a series are the mantra of a game “˜win or go
home.’
“College has so many fans and that helps you stay
tough,” said Ronny Turiaf, a rookie from Gonzaga who now
plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. “In the NBA, it’s
never like that, except for maybe in the NBA Finals.”
And even then, it’s still a maybe.
The format provides for perhaps the most exciting aspect of the
tournament: there are no best-of-five series’ or
best-of-seven series’ to determine who is better overall.
Rather, the tournament shows which teams can withstand the
pressure and ride the wave all the way until they are the last ones
standing.
One game has the potential to make or break a team, turn a
program around, and even destroy someone’s hopes of winning
their friendly tournament pools.
Why have it any other way?
There should be more months like this throughout the year.
E-mail Behniwal at abehniwal@media.ucla.edu if you have
noticed a trend of having lower grades during Winter quarter due to
the inability to focus on studying for finals.