Post by JSS on Mar 18, 2009 13:29:14 GMT -5
Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. He can be reached at GoodmanonFOX@aol.com or check out his blog, Good 'N Plenty.
msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9347104/West-Coast-can%27t-complain-about-bias-this-year
It's almost an annual rite of passage. Those on that side of the Mississippi cry and whine about their teams from the West Coast being disrespected.
Wah, wah, wah.
Only this year I can hear a pin drop. No one is talking. No one is complaining about how that side of the country hasn't gotten its just due.
Beat Jeff Goodman
Jeff Goodman Jeff Goodman knows hoops, but here's your chance to show you know better. Take on FOXSports.com's senior college basketball writer pick for pick right here and try to beat our resident expert.
I know why: There's no validity to it this year. There's virtually nothing for those who maintain there's an East Coast bias in the world of college basketball to complain about.
Let's face it. East Coast hoops rule supreme this year — and it's not even under discussion.
In fact, it's really the Big East and ACC conferences that stand alone.
Although this NCAA tournament may be as uncertain as ever with the rash of upsets that occurred in the regular season and the lack of a clear-cut favorite, one thing is blatantly obvious.
Basketball on the left side of the country is down.
UCLA hardly appears to be a team primed for another Final Four run. The Bruins' defense has been anything but Howland-esque this season and it's difficult to imagine a fourth consecutive Final Four berth.
Gonzaga stumbled through the middle of the season before turning it on late in the one-bid West Coast Conference, and Texas, a perennial national power, was on the verge of not even making the Big Dance for a while.
You're going to rest your national title hopes on Washington and Utah? Go ahead. Name the coach of the Utes.
And no, it's no longer Rick Majerus.
Washington and Gonzaga earned the highest seed (4) of any West Coast team and could make a run and win a few games, but it's far-fetched to believe either one is a legitimate contender to win the national title.
Utah was given a No. 5 seed and UCLA a No. 6. Two more Pac-10 teams, USC and Arizona, barely even made the field.
Over on the East Coast, you've got just about everyone with a realistic shot of cutting down the nets on April 6 in Detroit.
The Big East powers include Pittsburgh, UConn and Louisville. North Carolina, Duke and even an enigmatic Wake Forest group come out of the ACC.
That's four teams that have held the No. 1 spot in the country at one point or another this season and a Louisville club that is the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Everyone knew that the Big East would be the elite league in America going into the year, but it was more due to depth. There was talk of 10 teams from the conference making the Big Dance, but at the end of the day, it was the power at the top that became apparent.
It was much of the same in the ACC, where there was mediocrity and even parity in the middle of the league. But still, three elite teams all capable of cutting down the nets at the top.
North Carolina may not be the Tar Heels team that many envisioned, but Roy Williams' club is still arguably the front-runner to win it all. Duke has as much of a chance as just about anyone if the Blue Devils are making shots, and I challenge you to find a roster with as much talent as the one at Wake Forest.
Don't be surprised if there isn't a single West Coast representative in the Final Four this year.
If fact, the shocker just may be if there is a single team playing in Detroit that isn't from the Big East or the ACC.
No bias here. This is reality.
I graduated from a Pac-10 school and I can see it. I can't hear it these days because, well, no one is talking on the left coas
msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9347104/West-Coast-can%27t-complain-about-bias-this-year
It's almost an annual rite of passage. Those on that side of the Mississippi cry and whine about their teams from the West Coast being disrespected.
Wah, wah, wah.
Only this year I can hear a pin drop. No one is talking. No one is complaining about how that side of the country hasn't gotten its just due.
Beat Jeff Goodman
Jeff Goodman Jeff Goodman knows hoops, but here's your chance to show you know better. Take on FOXSports.com's senior college basketball writer pick for pick right here and try to beat our resident expert.
I know why: There's no validity to it this year. There's virtually nothing for those who maintain there's an East Coast bias in the world of college basketball to complain about.
Let's face it. East Coast hoops rule supreme this year — and it's not even under discussion.
In fact, it's really the Big East and ACC conferences that stand alone.
Although this NCAA tournament may be as uncertain as ever with the rash of upsets that occurred in the regular season and the lack of a clear-cut favorite, one thing is blatantly obvious.
Basketball on the left side of the country is down.
UCLA hardly appears to be a team primed for another Final Four run. The Bruins' defense has been anything but Howland-esque this season and it's difficult to imagine a fourth consecutive Final Four berth.
Gonzaga stumbled through the middle of the season before turning it on late in the one-bid West Coast Conference, and Texas, a perennial national power, was on the verge of not even making the Big Dance for a while.
You're going to rest your national title hopes on Washington and Utah? Go ahead. Name the coach of the Utes.
And no, it's no longer Rick Majerus.
Washington and Gonzaga earned the highest seed (4) of any West Coast team and could make a run and win a few games, but it's far-fetched to believe either one is a legitimate contender to win the national title.
Utah was given a No. 5 seed and UCLA a No. 6. Two more Pac-10 teams, USC and Arizona, barely even made the field.
Over on the East Coast, you've got just about everyone with a realistic shot of cutting down the nets on April 6 in Detroit.
The Big East powers include Pittsburgh, UConn and Louisville. North Carolina, Duke and even an enigmatic Wake Forest group come out of the ACC.
That's four teams that have held the No. 1 spot in the country at one point or another this season and a Louisville club that is the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Everyone knew that the Big East would be the elite league in America going into the year, but it was more due to depth. There was talk of 10 teams from the conference making the Big Dance, but at the end of the day, it was the power at the top that became apparent.
It was much of the same in the ACC, where there was mediocrity and even parity in the middle of the league. But still, three elite teams all capable of cutting down the nets at the top.
North Carolina may not be the Tar Heels team that many envisioned, but Roy Williams' club is still arguably the front-runner to win it all. Duke has as much of a chance as just about anyone if the Blue Devils are making shots, and I challenge you to find a roster with as much talent as the one at Wake Forest.
Don't be surprised if there isn't a single West Coast representative in the Final Four this year.
If fact, the shocker just may be if there is a single team playing in Detroit that isn't from the Big East or the ACC.
No bias here. This is reality.
I graduated from a Pac-10 school and I can see it. I can't hear it these days because, well, no one is talking on the left coas