Tears in your Duff

Well, I was going to leave well enough alone with the posts for Sunday after my cursory run at the Final 8 seedings, but a perusal of headlines around Canada eventually landed me at the web site of the Windsor Star and an absolutely misguided and downright foolish column that made the pages of the Star.

Columnist Bob Duff ranted about the Carleton Ravens' inclusion into the national tournament that comes despite the fact the four-time national champs lost in the OUA final this weekend. Duff's argument was that the Windsor Lancers deserved to be the lone Ontario team heading to the big dance and his logic was, put succinctly: "That’s how the post-season is supposed to work. You win, you go on. You lose, you go home."

So in Duff's world the national championship tournament shall only include four teams, a representative from each conference because, after all, those other losers should just go home. If you're going to be making the nationals a four-team tournament, keep in mind that you are also completely taking away the lustre of a three-day tournament in which much of the intrigue is generated by having more good teams all competing for one prize. Very simply, eight is a lot more fun than four.

Why in heaven's name would you ever want to diminish the marquis event in Canadian university sports? An event, it should be noted, that struggles mightily already for national recognition. Now you want to eliminate teams because, on any given night, they dropped one solitary game? A bit over-reactionary to say the least.

Now Duff's point that you have to win to move on isn't without merit because obviously you're looking to get the creme of the crop into the tournament. But anyone suggesting that Carleton isn't among the creme hasn't watched enough basketball.

Duff also suggests that the Wilson Cup final was meaningless because both teams were guaranteed spots in nationals already. By that logic, the folks at Texas and Kansas were probably sleepwalking through their Big 12 championship game on Sunday. No, instead they went to overtime with Kevin Durant scoring 37 points in a losing effort for Texas. Tell the Longhorns they don't deserve their spot in the NCAA March Madness. While you're at it, cancel the tickets of Duke, Boston College, Texas A&M, UCLA and countless other schools that didn't win their conference championships this weekend. Losers.

Shifting back to Canada, tell the Brandon Bobcats they can't go either. The team that was No. 1 for six of the final seven weeks of the season isn't worthy because of dropping a 76-73 decision to the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West final last weekend.

In fact, there is plenty on the line in these conference championships, guaranteed berth or not. Sure there's the admittedly minor aspect of winning your conference, which in the grand scheme of things amounts to merely bragging rights. But, on a much lesser scale than the grandiose NCAA tournament, wins in conference finals mean something in the rankings. With eight teams going, there is less wiggle room for teams to move up or down into different match-ups but make no mistake had Windsor lost that final, the Lancers would be looking at likely a No. 7 seed and a match with the Thunderbirds. Analyze it how you like, but some people would suggest the Lancers were much better served by winning.

"As well as they played Saturday," Duff wrote, "their reward should be more than a mere rubber stamp as the best team in Ontario."

Who cares?

Their reward is the exact same whether Carleton goes to the tournament or not. Having the Ravens there and having a national berth already sewn up doesn't diminish what Windsor achieved nor does it tarnish the overall picture of the national tournament. If Windsor goes and loses its first two games at nationals, is that Wilson Cup still going to gleam and be the ultimate source of pride? No, it will still be just the smaller trophy the Lancers earned when they wanted the big one. Maybe it's just folks in Ontario over-emphasizing the value of the Wilson Cup; after all, no one goes into the season with the ultimate goal being the Wilson Cup. In fact, all across this continent in university and college sports at all levels teams set out at the beginning of the season knowing full well that there are smaller prizes to be won, but there's only one big prize that they're after. This isn't a new concept, folks.

Regardless, if you went to university campuses in Lawrence, Kan., Chapel Hill, N.C., Eugene, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, or Gainesville, Fla., you would see celebrations and a tickled pink student body, for there you would be amongst conference champions. Heck, you'd find the same thing on the campus of Butler University, which captured the championship of the Horizon League, a mid-major conference that put two teams into the annual 64-team showdown.

But when Thursday rolls around and the NCAA tournament begins, no one will care a lick about those trophies. Nor will anyone care a lick about the Wilson Cup come Friday.

And that, in reality, is the way it's supposed to be.

In the national tournament, the more the merrier. And the sooner those pouting about conference championships realize that, the sooner they can just relax and enjoy the real games.