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Teddy Pendergrass died in January.
The legendary crooner had an indelible impression on me at a young age. His was the first version of “One Shining Moment” I heard, or at least the first I remember.
His is still the version that comes to mind when I find myself humming the tune at this time of year. No matter how corny the music and lyrics are, there was something about the direct, gravel-voiced soul in Pendergrass’ voice that resonated.
David Barrett, the song’s creator and first performer, might have put more into his performance. Luther Vandross, whose version has been used for the past seven years, had more vocal range than perhaps any singer ever. But Pendergrass’ version has stuck with me for its honesty, its directness, its purity.
This year, Jennifer Hudson of American Idol and Dreamgirls fame takes on the duties. She’s a powerful vocalist, and having a female voice could bring out a new side to the song.
The only problem: What are they going to show while she sings?
The annual highlight-reel-of-the-year just doesn’t seem that attractive right now. The college basketball landscape is a bit of a mess, thanks to perhaps the lowest quality at-large bubble ever, a poorly distributed field and down years for many traditional powers (including the entire Pac-10 Conference).
When I wrote in January this year was “Nothing Special,” we were still looking at the vague outlines of a bubble watch. There was no indication things would spin this far out of control. There was no indication we’d be talking about our best “should’ve been in” being a Virginia Tech team with a 3-4 record against NCAA Tournament teams, a one-and-done in the ACC Tournament and the 128th-best schedule in the country. Other bubble teams? How about RPI No. 69 Mississippi State or RPI No. 75 Illinois.
To think we were actually spared when San Diego State, New Mexico State and Houston managed to steal bids. Put in those three teams, and you’re talking about a team like Ole Miss or Arizona State making its case for inclusion.
Florida – loser of four of its last five – is a No. 10 seed with a 21-12 record in a mediocre-at-best conference. Two of the Gators’ three best wins came in November.
But we can throw darts at the bottom rungs all we want. They don’t matter in the end. Every team that’s ever made the national championship game has held a seed of No. 8 or higher. Mostly, way higher.
Up top isn’t much prettier. Kansas and Kentucky are legit. Duke has won 12 of its last 13, but the ACC is in a bit of a down year. And Syracuse has just four losses, but two have come in its last two games, and starting center Arinze Onuaku was hurt in its most recent loss.
These aren’t bad No. 1 seeds, per se. But they’re also not of the caliber of the 2008 bunch that all went to the Final Four.
Go any further, and you’ll be stumped. One No. 2 seed, Ohio State, uses just six players most games. Another, West Virginia, has a huge deficiency at point guard. Still another, Kansas State, lost at home to 15-17 Iowa State to close its regular season. And don’t get me started on Villanova, the team that started 20-1 but has lost six of 10 since, including five of its last seven.
It doesn’t get rosier.
And to make matters even more ridiculous, Kansas and Kentucky – the two good top seeds – got Ohio State and West Virgina, respectively, easily the most dangerous No. 2 seeds. The West Region, “starring” Syracuse and Kansas State, might as well be decided by picking out of a hat from any of its top-13 seeds, as it’s loaded with inconsistency. The South Region with Duke and Villanova – it shouldn’t even get a bid to the Final Four.
Kansas was supposedly the top overall seed. Why, then, are they stuck in a region with either the best or second-best team in every seeding from 2-7. Michigan State’s a No. 5 seed? They’d be the most dangerous fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Midwest Region features four coaches with titles: Bill Self (Kansas), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Gary Williams (Maryland) and Steve Fisher (San Diego State). It’s got four more (UNLV’s Lon Kruger, Georgetown’s John Thompson III, Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt and Ohio State’s Thad Matta) who have coached in Final Fours. Oh, and a coach with 650 wins (Houston’s Tom Penders). Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl is looking positively unaccomplished in this region.
In the other three brackets combined, there are only five coaches with rings: Louisville’s Rick Pitino, Minnesota’s Tubby Smith, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Florida’s Billy Donovan and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim. If coaching wins championships, the Midwest should be a title dogfight.
Of course, that number would be higher if North Carolina and Connecticut were in the field. UCLA would be a nice add, too. I’m not even going to complain about Arizona, which didn’t make it for the first time in 26 years. The selection committee couldn’t do anything for those teams – they just weren’t good enough.
So it makes a whole lot of sense that we’re talking about expansion this year. Because apparently, when you can’t get 65 teams good enough to deserve a spot, and when you’re having enough trouble figuring out who should be placed in what region, the cure will be 27 extra slots to fill.
Even those wouldn’t get North Carolina or UCLA into the field this year.
But the thing with this time of year – this March Madness – is that it doesn’t matter. Fill’em up however you like. Stack the odds. Add extra teams. Create a whole round of play-in games.
The thing about this time of year is, it tends to be beautiful no matter what. It’s a simple beauty, teams playing for their legacies, pouring out every drop of energy onto the court. They do it for the miracle 3-pointers by Courtney Lee, for the “how-did-he-get-that-off” twisting leaners by Tyus Edney, for Christian-Laettner-from-Grant-Hill.
I’ll watch. I’ll watch from the play-in game to the “One Shining Moment.” I’ll think of Teddy Pendergrass as I listen to Hudson belt it. I’ll think of the simple kinds of beauty, like when nothing matters but great games in the greatest game on its greatest stage.
You know what? I wouldn’t mind another weekend.
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10 Comments

Author: Adi Joseph

10 Comments

  1. My Take on the NCAA Tournament
    Although leaving Miss. State out of the tournament was a disgrace, I don’t want to see an expansion of the 64 team tournament. Every year there are a couple of teams who should get in, but for one reason or another, they don’t receive a bid. That’s life and it makes the selection process more exciting.

    The NCAA basketball section issues are not even close to the problem they have with that horrendous college football format where the top teams are selected by the polls. With the current 64 team format for basketball, there’s at least some honor to being selected for the tournament. It’s almost as if you earned your place to compete for the title, and on balance, I think it works.

    If there’s anything the NCAA needs to change in terms of basketball, it’s modifying those idiotic media commercials that stop the action every 4 minutes [16, 12, 8, and 4 minute mark]. For a number of reasons, it ruins both the strategy and flow of the game. That’s a national disgrace that places excessive greed way above the quality of the basketball we watch.

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