11 Grueling Truth’s from Week One of the NCAA Tournament (The Greatest First Week Ever?)

1) The First Four is in Dayton for a good reason

There is no way a better First Four site could be found than Dayton. The atmosphere was amazing, especially for the St. Bonaventure win over UCLA where if you didn’t know any better you would have thought you were at St. Bonaventure for the game.

2) Steve Alford is a terrible coach

Alford has no clue how to coach a big-time college basketball program. He spends more time whining to officials than he does coaching his team. He was a colossal failure at Iowa and it seems like he is headed down that road at UCLA also. The Bruins had more talent than St. Bonaventure did, but when your team can’t even seem to run any semblance of an offense it makes it hard to win at the division one level.

3) Sean Miller cannot get it done at Arizona

Last year he took a talented team and was beaten by Xavier in the Regional Semi-Final. This year he was blown out in the first round by Buffalo. Miller is a solid regular season coach but in a one and done situation, he hasn’t been able to get Arizona as far as their talent should take them.

4) Coach K is a legend for good reason

Duke was hit and miss during the season, but now that it’s tournament time the Blue Devils seem to be firing on all cylinders and it looks like it will be tough for anybody to beat them.

5) Anything really can happen come tourney time

Finally, a number sixteen has beaten a number one and from here on out you can never say something can’t happen during tournament time. UMBC pulled the greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history when they blew out number one seed Virginia by 20.

6) Villanova looks like the best team in the nation

Villanova manhandled Radford, which was to be expected, but the win over Alabama was even more dominating, as Villanova completely took apart Bama is the second half.

7) It’s never over until it’s over

If you don’t believe me, just ask Cincinnati a number two seed that had a 20 point lead with ten minutes to go, only to see a gritty Nevada Wolfpack team come storming back to nip them at the end. Coach Mick Cronin should bear the brunt of the blame for this one for multiple questionable calls. For the Bearcats fans that want Cronin fired though, I say you are crazy because Cronin has the Bearcats on the right track and being basically a mid-major now the only way you will get a better coach is to take a chance on a younger coach.

8) College football needs something like this

Four teams is just not enough! Imagine Central Florida getting a shot to do what these underdogs are doing right now! Instead, we get four power programs battling it out. I don’t know about you, but nothing is better than an underdog getting a chance. Imagine a 16 or even 32 team tournament?

9) Jim Boeheim is a great coach

I am one of those that never bought into the legend of Boeheim, but as the years pass it gets harder and harder to deny him–now it’s impossible. He took a Syracuse team that I didn’t even think should be in the tournament and has beaten Tom Izzo to get to yet another Sweet 16, and the way this year has gone it’s hard telling how much farther the Cuse can go.

10) The City of Cincinnati is snake-bitten

I touched on Cincinnati earlier, now it’s time for Xavier, who lost an 11-point lead with 10 minutes left. In Cincinnati, playoff failures are to be expected, but this year has to be one of the hardest. Especially for Xavier, when it was obvious if J.P. Macura doesn’t foul out the Musketeers would have probably won the game. What makes it worse that, two of the calls were blown calls by the officials, one on a blocked shot and the other on an obvious steal. The third was a questionable charge call that in all fairness could have gone either way. You can add the Cincinnati-Xavier implosions to the Carson Palmer injury, the Reds blowing a 2-0 lead over the Giants in the 2012 playoffs, and of course Jeremy Hill’s fumble in the 2015 playoffs.

11) That was the greatest first week in NCAA Tournament history

This past week had it all and it’s why this first week of the NCAA Tournament is, in my opinion, the greatest sporting event there is. The emotion the player’s exhibit show you the importance of the tournament. Even more than that, the emotions on the fan’s faces, win or lose, show you just how great the NCAA Tournament is. What happens from here? After what we just saw, it’s hard to think anyone can predict what happens next, which is why we will once again be glued to the television again, even if our favorite team has been eliminated. This tournament is the ultimate in reality t.v., and there is nothing else like it in the world of sports.