Andre McCarter

March Madness has begun as the four “Play In” games and Thursday’s games are in the record books. The NCAA field is in motion some teams are on the way home. The NIT started with a major upset as little Robert Morris and their home crowd of 3,500 fans beat the defending national champions Kentucky Wildcats 59-57 which should send the NIT into a tailspin as teams vie for an NIT title. Where are the fundamentals?

Men’s college basketball’s inconsistent play and the inability of teams to maintain a lead and/or blow a team out have plagued NCAA Division I basketball this season. In recent years, the team scoring averages have been getting lower. This season’s play has produced the lowest team scoring averages in decades. The overall turnover level of teams has reached epic proportions literally going through the roof. Men’s college basketball across the board needs an execution makeover.

March 13th, 2013, is the opening day of the 2nd Annual PAC 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament under the new PAC-12 brand name. In recent years the previous PAC-10 and now PAC-12 Tournament was held at the Staple Center in Los Angeles, California. The Staple Center is a great facility but maybe not the best venue when trying to lore travelers from vast regions of the West, like Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Oregon. Even the Los Angeles crowd has grown stale but when you throw Las Vegas into the mix fan interest may be stirred up. Some people make up excuses for why they have to go to Las Vegas. Businesses and conventioneers always have Las Vegas at or near the top of their list of locations to hold conventions, business meetings, etc. . . , especially when there are participants are coming diverse locations.

Trending is the new media, online-tech term today in describing what is hot on the minds of masses of people. “Storming the Court” is trending now and it is hot! 

“Storming the Court” was already at a fevers pitch as this season produced the phenomenon at the highest levels ever and the season is not over yet. Last year the Atlantic Coast Conference, (ACC) had one occurrence of “Storming the Court during the 2011-2012 season  and as of last week Duke alone has had four and there has been eight currently for the ACC overall. The ACC has so many quality teams with high national rankings and reputations that when a so-called underdog beats a team that has a high ranking or one better than their home opponent they are tipping ground for a court storming.

The Arizona Wildcats will be coming into the UCLA Bruins’ newly renovated home, Pauley Pavilion, seeking retribution of an earlier season loss to the Bruins at home. This game between the Bruins and the Wildcats is significant with the Oregon Ducks on the ropes in first place at 12-4; a win by either team could forge the way for their team to go on to win the PAC-12 regular season conference title. A win by the Bruins or the Wildcats could be a catalyst game that could provide momentum and the confidence to go on to win the PAC-12 Tournament title helping them gain a higher NCAA tournament seeding are all at state in this game.

Tonight, Wednesday February 20th, 2013, the Los Angeles Lakers will take on their arch rivals the Boston Celtics. It is possible this rivalry may never be the same, but tonight these Lakers have some personal business they need to take care of for Dr. Buss. The Lakers need to throw all their troubles, records, injuries, trades and rumors of trades, etc . . . out the window, the Boston Celtics cannot get out of the Staples Center tonight with a win.

Can you imagine Riles, the Captain, Magic, Big Game and Silk in a game situation like this? Dr. Buss would still love his players if they lost this game, but deep down in his championship laden soul where he was one NBA championship title away from tying the Celtics he would want this regular season game like no other. One of the qualities that made Dr. Buss unique is that he would want this win more for his players than for himself. The Lakers have company (Buss)iness tonight!