Settle arguments with games

Football may have become America’s sport, but college basketball has one thing college football doesn’t have.

A true national champion.

Over the next month we are going to read story after story about the relative merits of Ohio State and Florida prior to their showdown in the BCS football title game.

But no one knows for sure if those are the two best teams in the nation. Heck, a couple of weeks ago it looked like USC was a lock to face the Buckeyes. Then UCLA happened. A team with little chance – in the public’s eyes – won on the field.

Which is where titles should be won.

The USA Today football coaches’ poll plays a role in determining who will play for the national title. A big role. So big, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel didn’t vote in the final poll so he wouldn’t offend anyone.

Thanks goodness the basketball coaches’ poll doesn’t have anything to do with the title.

Last week, the University of Washington was ranked eighth in the nation in that poll. Eighth. Now UW was undefeated, which has to count for something. But the Dawgs’ seven wins had come against the likes of Sacramento State, Nicholls State and Southern Utah. And all had come at home, with the friendly rims, crowds and bounces.

Still, the nation’s college basketball coaches saw fit to rank the Dawgs above Connecticut, Duke, Wisconsin and, yes, Gonzaga.

Sure the Bulldogs had a loss (when the poll was taken, prior to the WSU defeat), in New York City to then-undefeated Butler. But were the young Dawgs really better?

Saturday night that question was answered on the court, where it should be. The answer was a very loud no.

But UW still didn’t drop below the Bulldogs in this week’s coaches poll. Gonzaga moved up a couple of spots to 16 – past 18th-ranked Butler, which finally lost – but not enough to move ahead of a school it had just defeated by 20 points.

As the season wears on, and if GU continues to play anywhere near the level it played Saturday, the Zags will climb in the polls. Even though West Coast Conference wins mean little to computers, long winning streaks mean a lot to poll voters.

But if basketball were run like football, no matter what the Zags did, they would end the regular season on the outside looking in at the national championship. There would be no chance for them to get into the top two.

And the same would probably hold true for Washington, unranked Washington State or recently ranked Oregon, three other Northwest schools either undefeated or with one loss.

Will any of our area’s major basketball universities win the national championship? Honestly, it’s a longshot.

But they all have a chance. And they’ll earn that chance on the court. They’ll all make the tournament – yes, WSU will make the NCAA tourney this year – which means all they have to do to hoist the trophy is win six consecutive games against the best the nation has to offer.

Tough, yes. But not made impossible due to a bunch of coaches voting other teams higher in a poll or some computer program discounting your basketball program.

Unlike football.