A reason for this year's madness

From Associated Press columnist Jim Litke:

This year's (NCAA men's basketball) tournament, already packed with buzzer-beaters and more than a dozen games decided by three points or fewer, could turn out to be the most volatile ever.

Because of AAU teams, talented kids have played each other in big games all over the country before they set foot in college. The brand names, both programs and players, aren't nearly as loaded as they used to be. The very best players are gone after a year, and with nearly every team on TV, the rest of the best no longer stack up anywhere waiting for their turn. With more money invested, more teams have topflight coaches.

So while VCU's players didn't bother to learn the (Purdue) Boilermakers' names, their coach, Shaka Smart, prepared them for exactly what to expect.

"We just had to have everyone on the same page and everyone going in the same direction," he said.

"It's just basketball, man," (VCU forward Jamie) Skeen said, adding a moment later, "If you jell as a team like we did today, you can beat anybody."

No doubt. But this year, it's happening at a dizzying clip as mid-major teams heavy on experienced upperclassmen refuse to be intimidated by the names on either the front or the back of opponents' jerseys. San Diego State and VCU are both in the round of 16 for the first time ever; BYU, Richmond and Florida State are back for the first time since 1981, 1988 and 1993 respectively.

"I think it's kind of the way of the world, the way it's going to be," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said before his team got axed by the Seminoles in the nightcap Sunday. "I bet this tournament is going to be really good even though maybe there's no great teams."

That point was made forcefully a day earlier as Butler's Shelvin Mack inexplicably ran into Pitt's Gilbert Brown as Brown tried a half-court desperation heave with three seconds left. Brown made the first free throw to tie the score at 70, then missed the second. As the Bulldogs' Matt Howard grabbed the rebound only to be fouled even more inexplicably by Nasir Robinson with 0.8 seconds left. Howard made the first for the game-winner.

"I've never seen anything like that in 39 years of coaching," is how UConn coach Jim Calhoun summed it up. "Both plays."

And to think: the madness has only just begun.