Ten Days A.B (After Bubble)

So my Illini have marched on to to the NIT quarterfinals with a match-up against Dayton tonight to determine who will head to New York to play in the also-ran’s Final Four.

If my excitement doesn’t seem too palpable it’s because it’s largely non-existent. That’s what life “on the bubble” can do to a man.

When I think about what it’s like to be on the bubble, I can’t help but think about Austin Powers’ comment when Vanessa Kensington tells him that “always wanting to have fun” is Austin in a nutshell.

“Help! I'm in a nutshell! What kind of nut has such a big nutshell? How did I get into this bloody great big nutshell?”

Maybe that’s an even better representation of life on the edge of the NCAA Tournament. I guess it would kind of be the opposite effect, though. Cracking your nutshell would be good, whereas your bubble bursting is apparently bad. The confusion I have when it comes to the better-than-mediocre teams who are wondering whether they’ll get invites to the tourney, is if they’re actually sharing the same bubble. It’s known as “the” bubble, yet for some it bursts and others it doesn’t. I find that a little confounding. Maybe they should all get their own nutshells instead. If you’re in the tourney, you get cracked. If you’re not, you’re trapped in a bloody great big nutshell.

That’s where I am now.

It’s been ten days since the announcement of the NCAA Tournament brackets, the Illini have since won two games in the NIT, yet I obviously still haven’t finished the freefall from when my bubble was burst. (And I will refer to it as “my” bubble, because I’ve paid a lot of money and exerted an unquantifiable amount of energy to earn the right to align myself with the University of Illinois in such a manner.)

Yes, we got left out of the party this year, and I’m not likely to get over it any time soon. Watching us play in the NIT isn’t really helping, and it certainly doesn’t push me closer to acceptance by watching 65 other teams these past three days working toward college basketball’s ultimate goal.

It sucks.

Would it be better for me as a fan right now if I’d endured a 16-19 season as the Illini had in 2008, knowing that we weren’t a team that should have been playing in the Big Dance anyway? Probably, but that would have also meant that the last five months collectively would have been much more trying.

So maybe I should be a little happier with my 20-win team and a top seed in the NIT, especially since I know we’re losing just one of our top nine players after the season’s over, and a strong recruiting class is on its way to Champaign as well. The future is bright.

But guess what? The present day blows. I wasn’t sure whether I’d even honor my requested vacation days this past Thursday and Friday, which is pretty standard for me for the tourney’s opening round. I did it, drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of bad food in the process too. Figured I owed that to myself. Again, it doesn’t make it much better though.

Look, the Illini weren’t going to win the national title. I know this. I agree whole-heartedly with ESPN’s Jay Bilas, who said he thinks Illinois is the one school left out of the tournament who has the biggest gripe … but also acknowledged that hoops analysts could be better spending their time discussing the draws of the true championship contenders.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t left my middle finger loudly in the direction of those responsible for stealing bids from my Illini. To name a few …

New Mexico State – This one really hurt late last Saturday night, and it’s filled with irony too. For those unfamiliar with UI basketball history, it was from New Mexico State where Illinois plucked legendary coach Lou Henson, who went on to coach the Illini for a long and successful stint. But the Aggies’ win over Utah State made the WAC an unworthy two-bid league. Utah State was given a 12-seed as an at-large and was grossly overmatched in its first-round game against Texas A&M.

UTEP – The Miners were dominant in their first two conference tourney wins and looked like the superior team in the C-USA title game until the last few minutes. Then they flat-out fucking choked. They got a 12-seed in the Big Dance and promptly proved their unworthiness with a despicable second-half performance that quickly transformed a halftime lead into a blowout loss at the hands of Butler.

Wake Forest – I don’t care that the Deacons won in the opening round, they still shouldn’t have been there. Losers of five of their last six games and a blowout defeat in the opener of their conference tourney … how does that add up to a tournament resume? I’ll try not to be too harsh on them now, though, seeing as they did wipe out a Big 12 school on Thursday night.

Maryland – No, the Terps were not on the bubble. But Maryland, widely referred to as the NCAA Tournament’s strongest #4 seed, just needed to take care of business in their ACC Tourney opener against Georgia Tech to keep the Yellow Jackets out of the field of 65 (in my not-so-humble opinion). To Tech’s credit, they did make it to the ACC Finals, and I give them credit as well for knocking off a Big 12 school in the first round. But I’d have liked it if my boys had that chance themselves.

But I guess it’s not too different from the tournament most other years anyway. There’s just as much rooting against other teams as there is rooting for my own. After all, even when invited, my team can only play once each round. And there are always plenty of enemies to go around.

So I’ll take the NIT for what it is: It's not exciting for a BCS conference school that has a decent basketball history. It’s like a mediocre college football team being invited to a low-tier bowl game after a six- or seven-win season. It gives them a chance to get in more practice and maybe do something memorable in the process. For young kids, which is how I can now refer to 18- to 22-year-olds, getting to Madison Square Garden for the NIT’s final four is a nice prize. I just hope the Illini continue to take it seriously.

And, in the meantime, I can continue to send my unpleasant thoughts in the direction of those assholes who get to enjoy the true March Madness.

Timing Is Everything

March 23, 2006, produced one of my favorite college basketball memories. It was late that night when the NCAA tourney games were winding down, and I was fortunate enough to catch the end of the UCLA-Gonzaga game.

For those unfamiliar with what happened, the Bruins staged an unlikely late comeback, ending the game on an 11-0 run to earn the dramatic win. It was the final collegiate game for floppy-haired Adam Morrison, who wept on the court even before the final second had ticked off the clock.

Adding to the excitement, of course, was the fact that Gus Johnson was handling the play-by-play duties, helping make this one even more of an instant classic. And as Gus was freaking out will Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scored the winning bucket and got a win-preserving steal, I was equally freaking out.

But I suppose this is where I should mention that I was watching this game inside a room in the maternity wing of a local hospital.

Yeah, my wife was about to burst at the time. During the game's climax, which I believe was at about 11:00pm, she was in the bathroom and had no clue what was going on. One of the nurses actually came in to see what was wrong, only to find that it was just a soon-to-be dad flipping out at the television. Sorry, sweetheart, that's just what I do.

My son was born about 36 hours later, firmly in the middle of March Madness. So my question is this: How long until he can fully appreciate it this?

As you may have guessed, my motivation in this case is largely selfish. Last year, Joey's third birthday party was scheduled on the third day of the NCAA Tournament. Had Illinois not lost its opening round game to Western Kentucky, its second-round matchup would have been taking place during the party ... which I was fully prepared to miss.

The news this year isn't any better. I just found out that Joey's party - with its exciting Easter theme - is scheduled for March 20. That's once again the third day of tourney action. Fuck.

Even when my team is not playing, I want to be around to watch all of the action. I want to have access to multiple TVs, I want to have a steady flow of beer, and I certainly don't want to be around a bunch of kids.

Is that too much to ask for a couple of weekends out of the year? (I know, it probably is.)

I just want to know how long it will take for Joey to appreciate this as well. How long might it be before he says, "Listen, Mom, this birthday shit has to wait; these games are too big."

I'm not yet holding my breath for it. But one can hope.