Playing for seed

For a crank like me, this championship week has been a nightmare--spoilers pilfering at-large spots (San Diego, Temple), a few injuries (Luc Richard M'bah a Moute's sprained ankle, Kevin Love's back spasms), a 20-loss team (Coppin St.) making the field, and a ridiculous situation that saw a team play a double-header.

And we're not out of danger yet. Illinois and Georgia each still have a chance to ruin the tourney even more this afternoon. Granted, I don't give either team much of a chance, but again, that's the problem when a team facing an all-or-nothing proposition goes against a team just playing for a better seed (and sometimes not even that). Tne disparity of motivation can alter the outcome tremendously.

If commissioners, coaches, and fans of the NCAA are willing to sacrifice the quality of the tournament field for the "magic" of these Georgia Bulldog-type conference tourney runs, it's not like I'm losing any sleep over it. (Though I have been losing sleep over the thought that Babe Winkelman is gonna walk in my room at night and start talking about Ontario. That guy creeps me out.) I just hope everyone realizes that for every conference tourney spoiler, the quality of the NCAA Tournament takes another hit.