Is it possible that the Final Four is going to be anticlimactic? Is an encore in St. Louis possible after three overtime games in four region finals? Four bounces on the rim for a three-pointer at the buzzer, then five minutes of reviewing enhanced instant replay at courtside? The NCAA tournament has never had three region finals in one year go to overtime . . . until now, until Louisville, Illinois and Kentucky found ways to extend the action and the drama.
How dumb are the people who run Division I-A football not to decide their championship on the field of play the way college basketball does, with teenagers and barely twenty-somethings doing unpredictable, inexplicable, sometimes wonderful but also very human things one night after another in March.
Some of the mistakes committed were as maddening as the spectacular plays made, particularly in the Kentucky-Michigan State game, during which Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith had to rely on a doe-faced freshman who simply was overwhelmed by the moment.
Even so, any criticism of the losers -- Kentucky, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Arizona -- is dwarfed by the made jump shots and free throws, the execution of plays under stress, the euphoria and the tears, the extreme theater of it all.
My God, this weekend of basketball was so delicious.
There's only one way next weekend, the final weekend, in St. Louis could be any more exhilarating than what just took place: If only somebody, anybody, was undefeated.
One jump shot by a kid on a team not even eligible to play in the postseason kept this Final Four from being one of the significant sports events in the last 30 years. Don't get me wrong: Illinois vs. Louisville and North Carolina vs. Michigan State is a Final Four with plenty of appeal.
But how much greater would the event have been if Illinois had gone into the national semifinal undefeated, 37-0 instead of 36-1? How much more anticipation would there be if the Fighting Illini had a real shot at the first undefeated season in 29 years? How cool would it have been if Illinois had gone into the championship game a week from tonight, trying to remain perfect against North Carolina featuring Sean May, playing to keep sacred the last perfect season, authored by Indiana, whose best player was his father Scott May?
I'm trying not to see Matt Sylvester as a national villain right now. He's the Ohio State kid who had the nerve to hit that three-pointer in Columbus with 5.1 seconds left a few Sundays ago to rob us of the ultimate theater in St. Louis.
Fortunately, that might be the only real regret the month of March has produced. Even those of us whose brackets were torn to smithereens on the very first weekend of competition couldn't possibly complain about the journey to St. Louis and what remains. Over the past 10 days we've seen three of greatest games in the last 20 years, two of them on the same day: West Virginia over Wake Forest in double overtime, Louisville over West Virginia in overtime and Illinois coming from 15 down in the final four minutes to beat Arizona in overtime.
The college game, even the tournament, had grown a little stale the last couple of years. It needed a big dose of upperclassmen, new coaches and upsets, 1980s style. And it delivered Bruce Pearl and Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a bunch of kids who gave bravura performances. Start with Louisville's Taquan Dean limping, then playing through a bum ankle and Illinois' Luther Head limping, then soaring in overtime despite a painful hamstring pull. But don't dare forget Arizona's Hassan Adams, who might have lost but might have made himself several million dollars with Saturday's performance, or West Virginia's 6-foot-11 shooter Kevin Pittsnogle who, too, showed the kind of skills a kid might develop if he hangs around college long enough.
It would be unreasonable to expect better games than we saw all weekend. No way could Sunday have equaled Saturday's thrillers. But Wisconsin played the Tar Heels a lot closer than most of us thought possible. And then Patrick Sparks saved Kentucky against Michigan State -- at least for 10 more minutes of play -- with a three-pointer that culminated as frantic a final 10 seconds as we've seen since, well, Saturday.
Three three-pointers in nine seconds? Please, I need an Advil and a cold towel for my throbbing head.
Illinois vs. Louisville and Michigan State vs. Carolina will do just fine. Two from the Big Ten, one from Conference USA, one from the ACC.
Okay, I probably shouldn't go any further without making an apology to the Big Ten. All season long, the Big Ten stunk. Really, it did. Hey, I'm a dues-paying Big Ten alumnus. I grew up on this stuff, all the way back to Cazzie Russell and Rick Mount. I watch these jokers all week throughout the winter on cable, on the satellite dish, wherever I can catch them. Other than Illinois, my peeps stunk all winter.
But they came up fairly large in the tournament. Three Big Ten teams reached the region finals (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State), which was two more than the ACC (North Carolina).
My bracket limped to the finish, but it stays alive as long as Illinois and North Carolina advance to the final. I'm not going to say Illinois vs. Carolina is the championship game most people want to see, not with Louisville among the semifinalists. The Cardinals felt they deserved a higher seed when the tournament field was announced, then went out and proved they were worthy of one. Washington, as some of us thought originally, was rewarded with the No. 1 seed that Louisville should have been given.
But the selection committee is off the hook for whatever sins it might have committed two weeks ago because ultimately the people in that room authored a tale with a spirited beginning and the greatest middle imaginable, one that has led us right to the edge of the cliff and the brink of exhaustion . . . with the ending yet to be written.
