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It used to be so much easier than this. Once upon a time, on the night NCAA Tournament bids were announced, Lou Carnesecca decided to go out to dinner. This was 1979, the last year prior to the advent of the Big East. St. John’s had lost to Iona in the finals of the ECAC qualifier the night before. They were 18-10.
There was no NET then, to put a team’s NCAA rank in metric terms, no RPI, no KenPom, no Sagarin. There were no bracketologists — it was only a few years earlier when brackets appeared at all in conjunction with the NCAA. There was only Carnesecca judging his gut instincts and his own sense of probability, along with the fact that just 40 teams made the tournament.
So he went to dinner.
“Nothing I could do about it,” he explained years later. “And you have to eat.”
The call came to his house, and his daughter relayed the message. Carnesecca was already thinking about the NIT. He didn’t have to. The Johnnies got a game the next Friday, at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum, against Temple. They won that. They shocked Duke the next day, then edged Rutgers the next week at Greensboro Coliseum.
The ride ended in a bitter two-point loss to Pennsylvania a step away from the Final Four that officially introduced the world to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but it was an amazing ride, one that started with no watch parties, no fanfare, and with a coach enjoying some antipasto well off campus grounds. It was probably better that way.
Sunday, at various locales around the country, it will be much different. Some teams have little angst attached to the process — they know they’re in (or out). Some teams have automatic bids sewn up. Some teams are wondering if they’ll have to start their journey in Dayton, Ohio, site of the “First Four” Tuesday and Wednesday.
And some will experience the worst kind of torture.
The kind when you won’t know until you know.
Around here, the most anxious place will be at Rutgers. Rutgers should be an NCAA team. They finished fourth in the Big Ten. They had that almost surreal stretch in February when they beat four ranked teams in a row. They scuffled a bit in November and December, lost some games they shouldn’t have lost. But they are 18-13, and they have proven capable of playing with — and beating — the very best teams in the nation.
It should be a matter of seeding at Rutgers.
A matter of: Dayton or no Dayton.
But the harsh truth is, you never really know. Not until you see your name on the TV screen. And sometimes even then it can be an emotional cauldron. A few years ago I was lucky enough to spend Selection Sunday with the basketball team at my alma mater, St. Bonaventure. Like Rutgers, they should have been fine.
But they had been badly snubbed two years earlier, so that alone was enough to plant seeds of worry. (I’d been at Iona covering a watch party that day. When the brackets appeared without the Bonnies, Tim Cluess came over, shook my hand, and said, “You just got hosed,” though he used a different word than “hosed.”)
This was the year CBS decided to reveal the field alphabetically. Inside the room, we waited for “S.” And when Seton Hall appeared, there was momentary panic: Were they going with “Saint Bonaventure” or “St. Bonaventure?” It made all the difference in the world. And then “St. Bonaventure” appeared on the screen. And the joy was unlike any I’d ever seen up close before.
Rutgers deserves that moment Sunday. But there will be teams, and campuses, thrown into instant depression when the brackets are revealed. There will be little consolation for those deemed to be the “first four out,” and less for the “next four out.” It will be a long, long day on those campuses. Agony.
Maybe they should just go out to dinner. You have to eat.
Vac’s Whacks
Which team is going to better convince you that it’s not yet too late to make a run, the Knicks or the Islanders?
The Long Island Catholic hoops league lost a good one Super Bowl Sunday when Steve Siegler, who played on a truly great St. Anthony’s team in 1979, passed away suddenly. Those of us who grew up on the NSCHAA in those days remember those teams fondly, even if we went off to rival schools later on.
Despite a date change caused by COVID, the Thurman Munson Awards last Monday raised $600,000 for AHRC NYC assisting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, upping the 42-year total to $19 million. World Series champs Jeff Nelson and Mookie Wilson were the baseball honorees.
Thank you Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Jalen Adaway, Dominick Welch and Jaren Holmes; if you know, you know. (Go Bonnies) (#unfurl)
Whack Back at Vac
Charles Cook: It was refreshing, especially during this Lenten season, to read the quotes from Syracuse-Florida State from Buddy Boeheim (contrition), Wyatt Wilkes (forgiveness), and most of all Leonard Hamilton (wisdom and empathy). Good examples for all of us.
Vac: Does that make Coach Boeheim Judas in all of this?
Dennis Daly: Here we go, Mike. Seven betting sites, four live gambling shows daily. First pro player, Calvin Ridley, suspended one year for betting. Can’t wait for the first player or official to get caught fixing a game.
Vac: The slippery slope is slippery and slope-y for a good reason.
@Bkjbearcat1: At Arkansas, Mike Anderson got the nickname “Mediocre Mike.” I don’t think he improved after getting fired from his dream job.
@MikeVacc: I would really like to be able to debate this point, but …
Evan Charles: I believe the roots of the hostility between players and owners actually dates back to 1889 when the Players League was formed because the players objected to the reserve clause that the NL and American Association imposed. The breakaway Players League lasted for one year (1890).
Vac: Now that’s a hell of a long grudge.
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