Christilaw: Madness for a good cause still madness
If you’re a plumber, you’re No. 1 on speed dial when your friends and neighbors have a clogged drain. And if you’re a doctor, everyone you meet wants to tell you where it hurts.
Sports writers get their share of such things. Most of the time we get questions like “What’s wrong with the Cougars (fill in the blank) team?” and “Is Gonzaga for real this year?”
In March, many of us get tapped for whatever insights we can muster while our friends fill out their NCAA Tournament brackets. Not that we have a statistical edge on plumbers and doctors when it comes to predicting what will happen in a college basketball game.
When was the last time you saw a sports writer win one of those online bracket challenges? Yeah, I don’t remember either.
But my beloved partner seeks me out for my opinion on her bracket.
Julie and her colleagues at Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners compete in the annual Spokane Club charity bracket buster auction. They put together a group of basketball junkies, throw some money into the pot and bid on teams and groups of teams in the NCAA tournament. After the national champion is crowned the proceeds are divvied up and split among charities.
It’s a good cause and the competitors all are good-hearted individuals with a passion for basketball.
I wasn’t able to attend the auction last year, but Julie came home raving both about some advice she’d gotten from former Gonzaga great Matt Santangelo and the Spokane Club’s chicken wings. And SNAP won some money after winning bids on Tennessee and Dayton.
Never one to pass up a chance to have a really good teriyaki wing, I again agreed to help – this time in person.
The library at the Spokane Club was filled with hoops fans and, luckily, the supply of wings held out all night.
There are a few things to remember about the NCAA tournament before you head out to an action like this.
First, a team seeded last on a regional, a 16th seed, has never beaten a No. 1 seed in the history of the tournament. The closest one has come to pulling off that kind of an upset was in 1989 when Princeton lost to Georgetown, 50-49 when Alonzo Mourning blocked two shots in the closing seconds to preserve the win.
Second, No. 2 seeds have been knocked off by a 15th seed seven times – the last time was 2013 when Georgetown was knocked off by Florida Gulf Coast. Lehigh beat Duke in 2012 and people still talk about the year (1991) when Richmond upset mighty Syracuse.
Third, No. 3 seeds have been upset 18 times by 14th seeds – still far from an annual occurrence. It happened to Georgetown in 2010 and last year Mercer knocked off Duke.
(Fans will tell you that Hoya, the Georgetown nickname, is derived from an old cheer of “Hoya Saxa,” which translates to mean “What rocks!” Others will tell you that “Hoya” is basketball for “upset special.”)
Once you get to 12th seeds, however, the bets have much better odds. Gonzaga did it against Virginia in 2001. By the time you get to the middle of pack, the game between teams seeded 8th and 9th, it’s pretty much an even-money bet.
This year, the big money went for three teams: Kentucky ($2,000), Gonzaga ($1,100) and Notre Dame ($1,000) – the latter only accounted for when you consider that the auction was held the day before St. Patrick’s Day.
SNAP’s group was in on a few good picks, but missed out on teams like Wisconsin and Villanova. Oddly enough, considering its track record as a high seed and the fact that it’s playing Eastern Washington, Georgetown still was bid up to $400. We picked up all of the 15th seeds (hoping lightning strikes somewhere other than Seattle, where North Dakota State takes on Gonzaga) and the 12th seeds (all upset picks on one bracket or another: Buffalo, Wofford, Wyoming and Stephen F. Austin).
And we had winning bids on our hometown Eagles and on Louisiana State – both of which I have as sleeper picks on my personal bracket.
So let us be charitable, gather around our televisions and turn our attention to Portland as Eastern Washington adds yet another rock on the pile of Georgetown upset specials!