What's with college basketball?

Curtains closed and legendary moments relive once again in an incredible uplifted fashion. With the Duke win, coach Mike Krzyzewski creates another addition to the NCAA Championship trophy which is now his fifth one. In substance that only stupendous coaches attain.

Back-to-back championships, which were last accomplished by Florida with Billy Donovan in 2006 and 2007, depicts a laborious determination when there have been two coaches to win in consecutive years since the John Wooden era. The John Wooden era occurred in the 1960’s and 70’s.

For the avid college basketball fan, it is safe to say that when filling out your bracket, the winner always has an entrenched coach backing them up.  Since 1999, the coaches with multiple championships includes: Jim Calhoun, Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan, and Rick Pitino. Each of these coaches fabricated a traditional franchise that still lives.

Want the Cinderella team to win?

The former so-called Cinderella teams to at least advance to the final four were VCU, Butler, Wichita State, and George Mason. The only team to play in the title game was the Butler Bulldogs two straight years in 2010 and 2011.

Brackets are busted every year and upsets do occur. However, the hottest team appears to portray clear dominance throughout the NCAA tournament. The presence of outstanding guard play with defense wins games throughout the tournament. For example - UConn’s Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright led the Huskies to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats in 2014. 

There are many cases of great guard play including Peyton Siva and Russ Smith with Louisville in 2013. Other notables include Kemba Walker with UConn in 2011, Ty Lawson with North Carolina in 2009, and Mario Chalmers with Kansas in 2008.

“One and dones” commutated college basketball, quicker NBA fortuity, the abatement of juniors/seniors being drafted, and the recruiting schemes by some coaches that conjecture student athletes to leave after their freshman year like John Calipari. This leads to a new era of basketball where the prevailing teams lands the top kids in the country to joust at their college programs but also have to replace them after just one year.

"I'm not doing this to please everybody," Calipari said. "I'm doing this to please these young people and their families. That's my mission...… What we do for these kids changes their whole lives and direction, and that's how I look at this."

The routine state of college basketball latches itself during grueling times. There are some people like UConn’s women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma who consider men’s college basketball as a joke. 

“I think the game is a joke,” Auriemma said. “I do not coach it. I do not play it, so I do not understand all the ins and outs of it. But as a spectator watching the game, (forget that I am a coach), it is a joke. There are approximately ten (10) teams out of 25 that actually play the game of basketball that you would like to watch.  The bottom line is that nobody can score. Many would tell you that it is because of great defense, good scouting and tons of team work. I would add nonsense, nonsense and nonsense. College men’s basketball is so far behind the times it’s unbelievable.”

It’s downright an embarrassment to put most accusations on coaches for the one-and-done year tenure and the state of men’s college basketball. The media does not have insight between the player-coach relationships. Having the expertise behind these players framework will bring more of an understanding and actuality behind players’ situations.

These one-year student athletes also get agonized for leaving their schools. The pattern of this trend is in favor of more rotational players than actual stardom since 2006. Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, DeMar DeRozen, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis highlight the one-year players that turned out to be stars. Those are certainly great names, but each year, there are only a couple of one-and-done student athletes that are not just a rotational guy.

"I'm very much in favor of high school kids going pro," Louisville Coach Pitino said. "I had six young men commit to me out of high school that didn't go to college, that went to the pros. I'm very much for that because they didn't want college. They wanted to go to the NBA.”

In all honesty taking the money while you can is the best idea. You only live once. Basketball does not last forever and the merchandise that comes with it does not either. Only being restricted to make salary within a short lifespan justifies the reason players should leave when they can. Players out of high school like LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady did not need years of college to develop their games.

There are many cases on why expanding the NBA age to 20 can actually be a bad idea. Naysayers would say otherwise.

“You would have more skilled players,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “More mature players. The draft would be better. It would be better for basketball in general. Strong college basketball is great for the NBA. And we know those players are eventually going to come to the NBA, whether they are 19 or 20 or 21.”

Increasing the NBA age to 20 could assist the game of college basketball. Future NBA players and traditionally an established basketball program bring in the media attention and revenue to immense operations for the NCAA. Programs like Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas and Duke can bring in enough income amongst themselves.

Men’s college basketball game is a “joke”, stated by Geno Auriemma. Auriemma feels that the joke is centered on rules established by the National Basketball Players Association which have allowed teams to pursue one-and-done student athletes.

There is no reason college basketball should receive the amount of criticism like Tony Romo quarterbacking the Cowboys. Prestigious college coaches that won a championship and appeared to multiple final fours should feel flustered. Jim Boeheim, Bill Self, Calipari, and Kevin Ollie – coaches with at least one ring – implemented good basketball systems and created national powerhouses at their schools. It is unusual when a Kentucky team goes 38-0 but still does not receive honors as the best team of all-time. Certainly, they will not get it now after losing to Wisconsin in the final four. The Wildcats did make history with a perfect 38-0 start. With the entire lecture on smaller schools pulling off upsets in the NCAA tournament, they never take it all. 

Why only the same coaches win?

Because these basketball coaches understands what it takes to win and most importantly understands the fundamental game of basketball.

It starts off with recruitment, building relationships, the importance of winning and understanding the important role of leadership. Convincing a player to stay another year to help the team improve but also have that extra year of development is very important.

Why do coaches preach team over talent?

It’s simple. The better team beats talent any day of the week and Wisconsin proved that against Kentucky.

“We were not necessarily intimidated,” Wisconsin guard Josh Gasser said. “We knew we were a different style team.”

Comparing and contrasting the eras of college basketball starts with an early admission to the league for student athletes served by the NBA. The abbreviating number of juniors/seniors entering the NBA has shaped college basketball to be debilitating. That has led to fewer rivalries due to players leaving after just one year.

The importance of teamwork, in a sport where talent win games, is not just about winning during the regular season but winning during March Madness. A better team over just ‘pure’ talent will win over 50-percent of the time.

Fundamentally sound basketball still matters.