What’s wrong with the men?
Here was my schedule Friday night in New Orleans for the NCAA women’s regional. We wrote in our hotel rooms until about 7:20 p.m. That means I got to catch the first half of Wisconsin-Davidson and Texas-Stanford, which down here they kept swapping back and forth on the CBS affiliate.
Decent games at halftime. Texas was up nine, but it was interesting. Wisconsin-Davidson was tied.
But we were starved, so we went out for dinner. There’s a place down south of the Garden District, Pasqual’s Manale, that we wanted to try. We ate there during the Sugar Bowl a few years back, and it’s very good. Italian, seafood type of place.
Anyway, I thought it would be good timing, because I figured we’d have to wait, and we could watch basketball. I remembered they had a large lobby with a television — waiting for a table, that’s where I watched Dallas lose at Carolina in the 2003 NFL playoffs.
Turns out, we didn’t miss much. Davidson dominated the second half, winning 73-56, and Texas spurted away from Stanford 82-62. But we got to see the ends, and we knew the better games would follow.
While we ate, I went back out and checked the scores. Kansas was up 26-10 on Villanova and Memphis led Michigan State 16-11. Uh-oh. Only one good game. Then when we left, it was halftime. Memphis led Michigan State 50-20. Final scores: Kansas won 72-57, and Memphis won 92-74.
Eight Sweet 16 games, only two worth watching. Western Kentucky rallied to make a game of it against UCLA before losing 88-78, and Xavier’s overtime win over West Virginia was a classic. But the rest were duds.
Coincidence or disturbing trend? Hopefully the former. It’s not a problem of parity, I don’t think. After all, little Davidson just routed big Wisconsin. And last week, the first- and second-round games, provided some of the best theater in years.
But the game has problems. Too much coaching. Too much control. Too many timeouts, and too many whistles. I don’t know how that translates to blowouts, necessarily, but keep an eye on this sport.
Not so long ago, women’s basketball was the game of blowouts. The big seeds were automatic advancers with little resistance. The men should beware the same.
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I know what is wrong with the men’s game…. too much wrestling in the paint, and baggy pants instead of shorts.