The New England NCAA Tournament Blues

I’m sorry, but as I sit here on day two of the NCAA tournament, try as I might, I can’t get into March Madness this year. I think there’s a lot of factors involved here. The UConn team that I’ve been following since 1990, and the days of Nadav “The Dove” Henefeld, Scott Burrell, and Chris Smith suffered through their first losing season in 30 years. My alma mater, Northeastern, also finished below .500. In all, only three New England Schools made the Big Dance – Providence College (my grandfather’s alma mater); Rhode Island and Vermont. None of them are seeded above 11th, and PC and UVM have already gone down to defeat. I’ve tried to get into it. I even let my four-year-old pick the games for me.

URI Beats Creighton

After Providence College blew a 17-point lead in the First Four against USC, and Vermont lost a competitive game to Purdue, it was up to #11 seed URI to prevent an NCAA tournament with no teams from New England. The Rams got past #6 seed Creighton in Sacramento in which the #11 seed was actually favored. Well done Vegas. They went 28-31 from the free throw line in getting past the Blue Jays. If you’re going to go 4-21 from the three, making 90% of your free throws is a great way to compensate.

The Rams will play #3 seed Oregon on Sunday.

NCAA March Madness Past

Schools from New England actually have a pretty strong history of NCAA success. First of all, Bob Cousy’s Holy Cross Crusaders won the 1947 tournament.

Providence College won two NIT Titles in the early 1960s (including one featuring future Boston mayor Ray Flynn) went on to the Final Four in 1973 with Ernie DiGregorio and Marvin Barnes. The Friars went back to the Final Four again in 1987 under Rick Pitino. They came within four points of making the 1997 Final Four as a #10 seed, coming up just short against Arizona.

Before Jim Calhoun made history with the UConn Huskies, he was the head man on Huntington Avenue. His Huskies won NCAA Tournament games in 1981 and ’82. They made four straight tournaments with Reggie Lewis in the mid-80s.

The rise of Calhoun’s UConn Huskies in 1989-90 was a lot of fun to watch. From a Big East regular season title, a #1 seed, and Tate George making “The Shot” against Clemson, I was hooked. They followed that up with a run of success that lasted for decades. Ray Allen’s game-winner against Georgetown and Allen Iverson seemed to defy physics. They came up just short of the Final Four year-after year – despite a lot of exciting finishes, before finally breaking through in a big way, winning a championship in 1999 behind Khalid El-Amin and Rip Hamilton. They followed that up with another one in 2004 (full-game here), another in 2011, and yet another title in 2014.

Other Great Runs

Boston College came within a game of the Final Four three times(1967, 1982 and 1994), highlighted by their upset of  Dean Smith’s #1 North Carolina in 1994.

Next, UMass’s run of success in the mid-1990s culminated with a Final Four (later vacated) run in 1995 with Marcus Camby and Lou Roe. If you’re interested, the whole game is on YouTube.

Then, Jim Harrick’s URI Rams were within a minute from the Final Four in 1998 against Stanford. Tyson Wheeler and Cuttio Mobley led them to an upset of #1 seed Kansas.

Vermont’s TJ Sorrentine hit a three-pointer to pull off an overtime upset of Syracuse in 2005

Last year, we even had Yale upsetting Baylor.

But this year, there’s not much locally to get excited about.

Blame the Patriots and the Celtics

As it turns out, the Patriots were pretty good this year.

The Celtics, have also been great to watch this year, behind an historic season from Isaiah Thomas, are within three games of first place in the Eastern Conference. If they can ever get their whole team on the floor for more than a few games in a row, they’re a threat to go deep in the playoffs.

Blame the Games

So far, there really haven’t been any historic upsets. Teams ranked 12-16 are 1-14 thus far. So let’s go UC Davis! Put on the slipper Troy! How about #15 Northern Kentucky knocking off their neighbors from Lexington?

Maybe the only reason to be excited about this year’s Big Dance is as an audition for the Celtics possible #1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

Am I wrong? Are you excited by this year’s tournament?

Let me know in the comments below.