Opening Round Superlatives

Well, my first ever NCAA tournament as a media member turned out to be pretty sweet. I got to meet some cool fans, some nice writers and even better, I saw some great basketball. I couldn't have asked for better games than the ones I saw with Northwestern State and Iowa, West Virginia and Southern Illinois and Friday's finale, Kansas and Bradley.

Props to Bradley for playing their hearts two games in a row against easily more athletically talented teams. To me, it seems like some teams just don't play very hard for 30 or 35 minutes and then turn it on. If Kansas or Pitt played like they actually cared, they could've blown out Bradley. It just looked like they could care less about the environment or the importance of their game.

Okay, well, I enjoyed the weekend so I might as well describe it all to you.

We pulled up to the Palace at Auburn Hills and I suddenly realized what I was doing. I was about to do something I'd been dreaming of since I was five. We walked into the Palace media entrance and cleared security. We approached the row tables where the media relations interns were hanging out, flashed our IDs and collected our little name tags.

A big "M" stood out as identification that granted access to the depths of the Palace. We followed a plush rug that led us down the gaping cement hallways toward the media workroom. We walked into the media room and saw pure mayhem.

Writers, cameramen, broadcasters and officials milled around the gigantic media epicenter of the Palace. Everyone was in high spirits at the outset of the competition, only to be fatigued and a little less excited by Sunday morning. We found the media buffet-- a room decorated like a fine restaurant-- and immediately dug in. Delicious chicken sandwiches, roast beef, several drinks, Reese's Pieces chewy cookies, anything you could possibly fathom, it was there.

CBS had their own break room and buffet. They seemed like they owned the entire operation, which is probably the case. Verne Lundquist resembled a small bowling ball with legs and sweet glasses. He was a nice man. Bill Raftery was very tall. He seemed like he was friends with everyone in the media at the event, chatting up every guy that approached him.

But anyway, the floor literally bumps when the fans are into the game. You can sense the tension of the tournament in the air. The games seem faster than any regular season game I've attended, in fact, the pace is almost frantic. Even teams that run halfcourt offenses and slow-paced games still seem rushed.

The bands were all fantastic and the cheerleaders were really into their routines. The fans all cheered mostly for their clubs and I noticed the lack of any negative yelling or defamatory comments coming from the crowd. In other words, the crowd was nothing like the Oakland Zoo.

Nonetheless, I spent two nights in a hotel and three days watching basketball. I saw five games in three days in person and many more on television. I also listened to most of Sunday's action on the radio, which made things a lot different but also more fun to hear the excitement instead of seeing commercials every ten seconds. Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I would love to do it regularly for the rest of my life. I fully expect to be back next year wherever Pitt plays. Here are some superlatives.

BEST BAND-- Kansas
BEST MASCOT-- Southern Illinois
BEST UNIFORMS-- Kansas
BEST GAME-- Kansas-Bradley
BIGGEST SURPRISE-- Northwestern State beating Iowa...what a game!
BIGGEST LETDOWN-- Southern Illinois
BEST DUNK-- Sam Young's pullback windmill against Kent State
BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE-- Clifton Lee vs. Iowa; Marcellus Sommerville vs. Kansas
BEST TEAM PERFORMANCE-- West Virginia vs. Southern Illinois
BEST FANS-- Kansas
MOST ANIMATED COACH-- Bill Self, Kansas
JERK OF THE WEEKEND-- Steve Alford. He just yelled at everyone, even his assistants and players.
MOST WHITE GUYS-- Definitely Iowa.

That's it, folks. Be back soon.