The nerds from Yale run a Moneyball version of a basketball program but somehow found a way to beat SEC tournament champion Auburn in the Round of 64 on Friday.
John Poulakidas scored 28 points for the victorious Bulldogs, so let’s acknowledge how good they were at getting the job done and advancing as the No. 13 seed. What a crazy ending they must endure in order to win.
But damn. Talk about grim words from Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl, whose team does look primed for March Madness after a blowout win in the conference tournament.
Before the NCAA tournament began, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey publicly advocated for narrowing the Big Dance field. That is, allowing more power conference shows into the bracket and excluding those middling Cinderellas that instantly became legends and captured America’s hearts.
Too bad, man.What to do on Friday at Auburn and Kentucky stuns Oakland, FBI on alertthe SEC just didn’t cut it when the playoffs mattered most.
For fuller context, here’s what Sankey said to ESPN before the SEC screwed up:
“Competition for bandwidth within the top 50 is fierce. We offer highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers [from smaller leagues], and I think as we expand and have more competitive basketball leagues in high-end areas, the pressure will increase. “
Sankey suggested that automatic bids would be “given up” to programs at smaller schools that don’t deserve it or didn’t actually earn it.Meanwhile, Auburn is losing their first game as an automatic qualifier Thanks to their SEC Championship win, Yale is here like…
Check out what Poulakidas just did for Yale, or take Great performance from Oakland’s Jack Gohlke When he hit 10 3-pointers against John Calipari’s hapless Kentucky team. Imagine if you were deprived of that right and instead supported a well-known SEC team. That’s too bad.
Amazingly, as Yale’s upset was coming to an end, No. 10 seed Colorado also defeated their SEC rival Florida with KJ Simpson’s game-winning shot.
College basketball is in a weird phase right now, with not many obvious male stars, and Women’s Final Four Outsells Men’s Game Very much (h/t Caitlin Clark). Sports fans with zero standards might be looking for the names of Gohlke or Poulakidas if it weren’t for what they just did on NCAA basketball’s biggest stage. First, their names are difficult to spell and require constant copy+pasting when referencing them repeatedly. Second, the Oakland and Yale basketball programs were not in the top 100,000 programs in my mind until the past 24 hours. Now this is like a starting example where I feel like I care all the time but just need the sleep cell mental preprogrammed triggers to remind me.
It’s nice to know that many people on the Internet share my opinion about how great the NCAA Tournament is, and why Sankey’s elitist insistence on exclusivity rings hollow.
So no way, Greg Sankey. Don’t tighten up on the NCAA tournament. Your own conference has not earned this pernicious privilege. The Big Dance was perfect with 64 teams participating. A nice even number. Lots of strong-arm/blue-blood schemes. There’s enough Cinderella to keep things cute and interesting. The four-day peak rivals anything in American sports, even if it’s only 96 hours in a year. Don’t touch. No touching. let it be. please.
Yale, baby!