Last season, George Mason shocked the world by advancing to the Final Four. In the opinion of this college basketball fan and Mason alumnus, this was the greatest sporting event since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and a close third all-time to Jesse Owens giving Adolph Hitler the finger in the 1936 Olympics. Non-power conference schools have been there before, but they also had players like Larry Bird, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson. Something tells me that Lamar Butler, Tony Skinn and Jai Lewis will not be making any all-time top 50 lists outside of the DC area.
A tad hyperbolic? Sure; but the fact of the matter remains is that there will not be another Cinderella who catches America by surprise en route to the national semifinals for a very long time. This season, there is no doubt that coaches of the Tom Izzo-Roy Williams-Jim Calhoun caliber are going to spend an extra bit of time watching game film of plucky upstarts who pull off a round one upset. They're also going to school their players on their opponent's conference affiliation, nickname, colors, etc. On the Saturday preceding the regional final, Rashard Anderson admitted to a reporter that he did not even know what conference their opponent came from. Think that didn't add for any extra motivation? Especially in a glorified home game for the underdogs?
Florida proved this last season. Unlike the three coaches before (Mark Turgeon excluded, as Wichita State did have a game plan; they just couldn't make a basket), Billy Donovan had a game plan to beat the Patriots, and when his better athletes executed, the difference between the SEC and the CAA was evident. This may not happen in round one in the 1-16, 2-15, 3-14, and 4-13 games, but every other team should be wary of those lower seeds coming out of the unknown conferences.
(posted by JH)
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