O’Donnell: Robots and distraction but few surprises in NCAA men’s tourney?
A SECOND STRAIGHT NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR featuring four No. 1 seeds would be like opening a birthday card and finding a $5 gift certificate to Domino's Pizza inside.
Is the universe mad about something?
The official college basketball madness of March appears to be circling chaos support. Surprise drama is an endangered species. This is no land for double-digit seeds.
Credible projectionists have a clear Final Four in sight with the multimillion-dollar quartet all being odds-on to safety dance at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 4 and 6.
THAT RESOURCED FOURSOME would be: Michigan (-210), Duke (-185), Arizona (-125) and Florida (-110).
Leave any of those out of endgame office-pool brackets only at acute risk.
Those who want fresh tensions within the NCAA tournament structure might suggest those four slugging it out in their own double-elimination knockout, the remaining 64 doing the same in a more traditional format and the two survivors meeting in a reconstituted finale.
At least littler guys would have a better chance and not be dependent upon any kind and ill-timed weaknesses of the proven power rangers.
NAME, IMAGE & LIKENESS MONEY (NIL) along with the transfer portal have altered the college game to a point unseen since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — then still Lew Alcindor — turned the tournament into One Man's Three-Spring Showcase back in March 1967.
The 11 TV game days and nights constituting the 2026 event — beginning Tuesday evening in Dayton — don't have enough time to present all of the new-wave twists, traps and information lurking within.
FOR OPENERS, WHAT WILL VIEWING AMERICA BE LEARNING about the comparative NIL payrolls of the 68 contestants?
Regarding individual players, think there are going to be many graphics presenting the specifics of multistop collegiate careers along with income summaries from each court of enrichment?
A concurrent reality for almost all participating coaches is that they are both recruiting potential returnees from their own current rosters and looking to upgrade from more vulnerable fish down below.
To think it all started with Dr. James Naismith merely dividing a physical education class of 21 into two nine-man teams with three left-outs to fetch wayward volleyballs.
FOR COMMITTED PICKERS — the kind who bet rather than merely play office pools — a few truisms will endure:
— You don't need anybody else to tell you how to lose your money;
— The serious wagering side is not a game for little boys in short pants; and,
— Odds, point spreads and divine providence, at every final buzzer, someone will win.
IT'S MADNESS, IT'S ENTERTAINMENT and in an American March with a whole lot more important matters to be focusing on, it's a distraction not necessarily for the greatest public good this time around.
The robotic specter almost makes a $5 birthday gift certificate from Domino's seem like more of a win-win.
STREET-BEATIN':
Extra practice time, extra rest for Illinois following its 91-88 loss to Wisconsin Friday in a quarterfinal of the Big Ten men's tournament. But if Brad Underwood doesn't get the current Fighting Illini to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, the most influential around the program have to be thinking of making a change. Considering his pay grade, Underwood simply doesn't make good things happen in March. …
Fox Sports is claiming up to 5M people have been watching some games in that hollow-shelled World Baseball Classic. The number just underscores how many pastime challenged there are in Our Land, the same type who high-five over Drew Barrymore responses in the new prime-time “Hollywood Squares.” The utterly gratuitous WBC thankfully ends Tuesday (7 p.m., Fox). …
Ryan Chiaverini is marking his 20th anniversary at WLS-Channel 7. The California native stepped out of Sports at the ABC o-and-o for a stellar 10-year run alongside Val Warner as co-host of “Windy City Live” (2011-21). That daily was faced with the daunting task of replacing the market slot filled by the iconic “Oprah Winfrey Show.” Chiaverini is best of breed among local sports nightlies. …
Look hard enough at bottom seeders in the NCAA men's field and there will be Rod Strickland and Long Island University. The DePaul great directed his Sharks (24-10) to an automatic bid by winning the Northeast Conference tournament. Back in November, LIU was still learning to compete in beatdowns at Notre Dame (89-67) and Illinois (98-58). …
Warmest basketball story of the week was the selection of Chris Carrino as a Curt Gowdy Media Award winner into the Naismith Hall. The 55-year-old New Yorker has been handling Nets radio play-by-by since 2002 despite the challenging impact of muscular dystrophy. Chicago-tinged among 21 finalists for the prime Hall path include Dick Motta, Doc Rivers and Candace Parker. The recipients will be announced April 4. …
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.