March Madness 101, for those out of the hoop

Quick quiz: What is the number one sporting event in America? Of course it's not the soccer World Cup. No, it's not even NFL's Super Bowl or baseball's World Series. It is not the NBA Finals series or the NASCAR series either.

The correct answer is "March Madness", officially known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's basketball tournament.

That's right; a bunch of pimply university kids running around with a big, bouncy orange ball trying to put it through a metal ring raised 10 feet high. How, one might marvel, can this be?

If it is just basketball, why not the NBA, the top hoops league on this planet? Think English Football Association (FA) Cup, except that it all takes place over 17 days with more jam- packed drama, upsets by tiny unknown colleges, intensity, beer and cheerleaders in a 65-team knockout tournament than a House of Representatives debate on fuel prices.

Many of you FA Cup fans may say, "Ah, but American sports are so mercurial and flighty, with players and clubs moving from city to city every month, so it just can't be the same sort of attachment and loyalty."

Well, that is exactly why college sports are more important and exciting for the lumpen proletariat as well as the A-list CEOs; because, just like famous old clubs Liverpool and Blackburn, colleges don't move either and there is a powerful, almost filial bond for the school and among everyone who went to that college or grew up in the area.

The NCAA was founded in 1906 to regulate college sporting competitions; the national men's hoops tourney began in 1939 and has grown to be the biggest multiday sporting event on the entire North American continent.

The University of California, Los Angeles is the undisputed king of the tourney with 11 titles overall, 10 of them won with legendary coach John Wooden at the helm of the UCLA juggernaut.

The tournament has produced some of the most dramatic moments in sports with last-second miracle shots and massive upsets seemingly an annual event.

And so it is that Vermont alums were calling each other all over the country and toasting champagne until the wee hours a couple of weeks ago.

Many an NBA millionaire has caught the eye of the pro scouts for the first time on the biggest stage of them all -- THE BIG DANCE, aka March Madness. Most hoops fans now know NBA superstar Jason Kidd, but few people knew of him back in the early '90s when he was playing under the radar for the lowly University of California Golden Bears.

But then, he and his Berkeley boys went head-to-head against college hoops dynasty Duke U. -- in the '93 edition of the Dance -- and the Blue Devils' vaunted lineup of future pros Grant Hill, Antonio Lang, Cherokee Parks and All-American point guard Bobby Hurley. Tiny Cal, (in terms of basketball success, for they hadn't tasted NCAA glory since the Pete Newell-led teams of the 1950s) and Kidd shocked the basketball world with the way he sliced up the beloved Hurley like a lump of Parma ham on chef Guido's cutting wheel.

That singularly masterful performance against the guy considered the best point guard in America earned Kidd multimillion dollar contracts from the NBA and Nike. Alas, Cal's magical run eventually ended with a gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of traditional power Kansas and their studs Adonis Jordan, Rex Walters and Greg Ostertag, all of whom later played professionally.

Anyway, back to this year's edition, which the CBS TV network paid US$6 billion for the rights to air, and over which $5 billion will have been wagered in office pools, the Internet and Vegas. That is as much money as the whole world pledged for tsunami relief and yet the 18 to 22-year-old players do not get a penny of it! Ah don't get me started on that subject... or the fact that courtside seats will set some VIPs back up to $10,000 dollars!

The tourney is at the final four stage now with Illinois, Louisville, Michigan State and North Carolina vying for the crown.

They have already wrapped up the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8 in thrilling fashion. The Illini, the #1 seeds, miraculously overcame a 15-point deficit with four minutes remaining in their Elite 8 game last Sunday to break the hearts of the #3 Arizona Wildcats and their notoriously rabid legion of supporters and alumni.

Illinois will now (literally, right now, if you are reading this at 7 a.m. or so, so you can follow it on the web or head over to Sportsmans bar and restaurant in Blok M, South Jakarta, which is showing the matches) be challenged by the runnin'- gunnin' Louisville Cardinals and renowned coach Rick Pitino for the chance to meet the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State.

The North Carolina Tar Heels and coach Roy Williams (he was also the coach of that '93 Kansas Final 4 team), along with at least three future NBAers in Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton and Sean May, are my pick to win it all. Sorry Spartans faithful, the talent is just not there this year, but you've had a marvelous run.

By the way, for those of you who are hoops trivia buffs, Sean May might be a familiar name. Back in 1976, the Bobby Knight-led Indiana Hoosiers went undefeated (the last team to accomplish that incredible feat) with a lineup featuring Quinn Buckner, Kent Benson and Scott May.

Yes, you guessed it sports fans, Sean is Scott's son. And the legacy of March Madness continues right into April.

-- Rich Simons