The NCAA Tournament tips off this evening at 5:10pm, est with Texas Southern taking on Mount Saint Mary’s. I’ve never really been a fan of the First Four. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it has allowed some teams to make the field that I felt deserved to be in, but I also need to say that in pretty much every single one of those cases I felt that team belonged in the Round of 64 anyway. We have also seen some really good games, and at least from an administrative point of view, it isn’t the worst thing in the world because you get a full NCAA unit for playing in it. In other words, going from the First Four to the Round of 64 will get your conference two units. It’s the same as going from the Round of 64 to the Round of 32. So for the UTR conferences, it’s actually a bit of a bargain for those conferences.
My two biggest issues with it have always been that it didn’t feel like the NCAA Tournament. I’ve been to games in every round of the NCAA Tournament throughout my existence. I know what a typical NCAA Tournament atmosphere is. You typically do not get that at the First Four. The City of Dayton and the University of Dayton do a fantastic job hosting it, but the crowd typically extremely neutral (understandably so), they don’t really know the teams (also understandably so), and on top of that they probably haven’t even picked one of them in their brackets so they have no rooting interest at all. It’s a blah experience. My second issue is that I don’t like how a team learns that they are in on Sunday, has to travel to Dayton by Tuesday (less than 48hrs), and then travel again to their next site to get ready for the Round of 64. I’d much rather play two games in two days in one place than play two games in three days in two different places. I’d prefer that a ton, actually. So, if we are going to have a First Four, my proposal would be to some how figure out a way to play it at the site that it’s playing in to rather than play it in Dayton. And, again, I must echo my support for the job the University of Dayton does hosting this event. I have issues with the First Four, but none of my issues involve them.
Now, having said all that…neither of my two big issues matter this year. Everyone is in Indianapolis, everyone is staying in Indianapolis, and there are very few fans so there won’t be much of an atmosphere at any of the games anyway. And. some of these teams are pretty good. Drake and Wichita State had really good years and were really good stories. It wouldn’t shock me if the winner of the game today was able to get to the Round of 32. Michigan State and UCLA are two brand name programs, and Michigan State was playing pretty well down the stretch. That one should be fun. The two #16 seeded games will be fun as well with Texas Southern getting hot at the end of the year, Mount Saint Mary’s playing a unique slow down style and winning the NEC, Norfolk State looking like a strong team and playing a crazy conference format due to COVID protocol, and Appalachian State winning a Sun Belt Tournament after a year where every week it looked like we had a different top team in that league.
So, while I’m not a fan of the First Four, I do think we have some good basketball games to watch tonight. And, we’ve got something tonight that we didn’t have at all last year! WE’VE GOT NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES!!!