By Dave Faries
dfaries@record-bee.com @beedavefaries on Twitter
Another “Selection Sunday” has come and gone.
For those unfamiliar with the phrase, it refers to that dreaded day when a committee fills in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament bracket. Perhaps you’ve seen the chart pinned to an office bulletin board surrounded by anxious members of the company pool debating their predictions as productivity slumps.
In the modern format, a whopping 68 teams earn bids to the “big dance,” either through conference titles or at large selection. That’s right, 68 teams out of some 300 in the Division I tier. So the odds of a school taking up a bracket slot at some point in its history are reasonably good.
Ah, but that’s where the dread comes into play.
My undergraduate school, Western Illinois, is one of 62 teams that have never been invited to the dance. The fightin’ Leathernecks are a big fat zero for 33 since gaining Division I status. And let’s face it, the tournament would be improved by the presence of teams like Western, the ones with colorful knicknames.
At least the UC Irvine Anteaters broke their dry spell this year.
I shouldn’t be discouraged by this little detail. There’s plenty of hardwood ineptitude to go around. For example, no school from the entire state of Maine has appeared in the event. Even worse, the so-called “forgotten five” — Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, St. Francis College and William & Mary — have been excluded from the beginning of time … if you count the beginning of time as 1948, when the NCAA introduced a divisional structure.
Army may be the most pathetic example. In 1968 they turned down a tournament bid to play in the then more lucrative NIT. Even Western Illinois can look back on a couple of near misses. The ‘Necks took the conference crown back in the mid-’80s, but ended up watching from tiny dorm room televisions thanks to a rule barring first year conferences from the automatic bid.
Besides, Western’s continuing absence puts them in rare company. There’s a certain nobility in belonging to this never invited group, and maybe a few fringe benefits. The starting center on that mid-80s team at Western graduated with a 4.0 in engineering, I’m guessing thanks to all that extra study time alloted to him by the lack of post-season play.
The world admires the persistence of those who fall short year after year, only to get up, brush off and go at it again. In baseball there’s the woeful Chicago Cubs. In football, maybe the Cleveland Browns fill the same role. In politics Mitt Romney comes to mind. Who isn’t more intrigued by the Oscar also-rans, like “Boyhood,” than the winner? The principle even applies to nations. Nobody thinks ill of Belgium.
So as the big names of college basketball take the stage this week, send a thought to the harmless, homebound players from Stony Brook, Sacred Heart, Maryland-Eastern Shore, UC Davis, Sacramento State, Western Illinois and the like. Their underachievement stands as a beacon, a shining example of all-for-naught effort in the darkness of goals met and honors earned.
It is, after all, the backmarkers who set the standard all hope to surpass. The thrill of victory can only be experienced because someone suffers the agony of defeat.
Or maybe I’m just bitter.
