Great games
We had another few thrillers this weekend and March Madness certainly is not disappointing.
Kentucky and Louisville played out a classic, with Kentucky coming up huge down the stretch after trailing by 13. The two teams share perhaps the most bitter rivalry in college basketball, which only added to the intensity and feeling on show. They would proceed to have another thriller two days later against Michigan, where after being neck-and-neck the whole game, Aaron Harrison hit a clutch three-point shot under all sorts of pressure.
In other games, Arizona and Wisconsin played out an overtime epic, while Connecticut upset Michigan State in a game that consisted of a series of crazy swings. Every year you get this sort of drama in this tournament and it is above all, what makes this such a great tournament.
Decision reviews
The use of technology by officials to review decisions has been one of the most controversial topics in New Zealand sport recently. In rugby union the inaccuracies of decisions have been questioned, in rugby league the frequency of its use is getting ridiculous and in cricket there are still those that question the reliability of the technology.
Basketball has its own system, slightly different to all three of these sports, that works well enough.
Of course it may not be a practical system to use in these other sports either, but it does show that it is possible for a decision review system to work in sport.
By limiting reviews to the final two minutes of the game and to checking flagrant fouls, there is not the constant stoppages in play that have been plaguing rugby in recent times. The referees themselves go over to a monitor to check the decision, rather than referring to a different person, meaning there should not be inconsistencies of opinion and communication problems.
Given this, when a decision is reviewed it is far more tolerable if the referee takes longer in their review, as the game has not been stopped regularly before-hand. Generally when a decision is reviewed it is because the decision is worth being reviewed too. That is, the game is probably close and the outcome of the decision will have an influence on the game, creating a suspenseful situation for everyone involved.
Twice this weekend we saw games come down to situations like this. The Kentucky-Louisville and Arizona-Wisconsin games both ended with decision reviews like this. Neither replay was truly conclusive, especially the Kentucky-Louisville one. Yet the way the system is set up, it was not such a drag to have the referee's take their time to make the right decision.
A year in college doesn't hurt
There has been lots of talk surrounding whether a talented player should be able to go straight to the Pros from high school, or whether it should be compulsory for them to do a year or even two years in College. This year's Kentucky team has shown the merits of having at least a year in College.
They entered the season as perhaps the most hyped college basketball team ever, with six top 25 recruits, two returning stars, a No. 1 pre-season ranking and even talk of them going 40-0.
In their first game against Michigan State though, they looked every bit like a team of high school hot shots who were out of their depth playing against older, more experienced men. They were making basic errors, turning ball over and getting run off the floor. While in high school they probably would have gotten away with most of what they were doing, the Michigan State players exposed their mistakes and took full advantage of them.
Fast-forward five months and they are looking a far more mature group. They have learnt a lot and adjusted to the speed and intensity of college basketball. Andrew Harrison looks far more assured running the point, James Young is playing a more efficient game and Aaron Harrison has come up with a handful of clutch plays. All are now looking far more like the players they were said to be coming out of high school and find themselves heading to the Final Four. Who would have thought after that drubbing from Michigan State in November?
Dayton Flyers
Every year there seems to be a team play above themselves at this tournament. While there are usually a handful of upsets in the first round, it is not as common to see a team make a run deep into the tournament and knock off a series of big-guns. This year we saw the largely unheralded Dayton Flyers do just that, taking down Ohio State and Syracuse to set up a Sweet Sixteen match-up with Stanford, ensuring one double-digit seed would make the Elite Eight.
While they eventually went down to Florida, they made a good game of it and other than being on the wrong end of a 15-1 run late in the first half, they stuck with the No. 1 overall seed for most of the game. It is yet another reminder of the way a team can get on a run in sports and the effect confidence and form can have on a team.
The Final Four
The Final Four is the pinnacle of basketball at the college level, where the winners of each region of March Madness meet over one weekend to do battle for the National Championship. Over the years there have been many memorable encounters and so many legends of the game have made their name there. If what has happened so far this year is anything to go by, this year will be much the same.
Pre-tournament favourite Florida will enter as favourite, but will face tough opposition against a Connecticut team that has a big-game player in Shabazz Napier. The other match-up sees the much talked-about Kentucky team come up against a well-drilled Wisconsin line up, led by the 7-foot tall Frank Kaminsky. Both will be intense games and now more than ever, anything can happen in games such as this.
