| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
OK, the NCAA's Management Council is putting out for discussion whether or not non-conference tournaments should have exempt status. Take away this exempt status and high-profile teams probably wouldn't play in the tournaments.
So, let's discuss the merits of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament Thursday and Friday at Madison Square Garden.
The underlying complaint among the power brokers within the conference commissioners association is that third parties are controlling the money and matchups of non-conference games.
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Coaches vs. Cancer
IKON Classic
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WHEN
Thursday: 6:30 p.m. ET
Friday: 6:30 p.m. ET
WHERE
Madison Square Garden
TEAMS
UCLA, Kansas
Kentucky, St. John's
MATCHUPS
Thursday, 6:30 p.m. ET
UCLA vs. Kansas
Thursday, 9 p.m. ET
Kentucky vs. St. John's
Friday, 6:30 p.m. ET
Thursday's losers
Friday, 9 p.m. ET
Championship Game
TV:
ESPN2 (Both nights)
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In some cases it's true. But in this case?
It's the Coaches vs. Cancer. According to figures provided by the tournament's organizational arm -- New Jesery-based Gazelle Group -- the tournament has raised $1 million for cancer research since 1996.
"The greatest upside to this tournament is giving back," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "Hopefully we can all make a difference."
Next issue? Matchups.
Now, does anyone realistically think four conferences would get together and match up four teams in a tournament format like UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky and St. John's to start the season?
No chance.
A year ago, Duke played Stanford and lost in the first round. Iowa beat defending national champion Connecticut, setting up a remarkable rematch of the previous year's national championship game in the consolation.
Next year's field includes Maryland, Arizona and Florida, with a fourth team still to be determined. Let's see, that means cooperation has existed among the ACC, Big Ten, Big East, SEC, Pac-10 and Big 12.
How difficult would it be to get all of these conferences together to set up a tournament, rather than have one independent party set up the field?
"It's a good thing, and at this time the kids are tired of each other," Jarvis said. " Why not find out how good you are, grow and learn from it."
Certainly, playing games on Nov. 9 and 10, three weeks after practice opened on Oct. 14, can cause problems for teams. The dates could be pushed back a week or two. But no one seems to disagree that college basketball needs to make a statement that it's starting. What better way than to have a marquee tournament, rather than a smattering of non-conference games, without television exposure.
"We celebrate the obvious end of the season with the Final Four and right now this tournament celebrates the beginning of the season," Jarvis said. "The beginning of the season deserves a celebration. Hopefully, wisdom will prevail and this tournament will be exempt for many years to come."
College basketball needs every chance it can get for exposure after losing its marquee players early to the NBA, the negative aura of summer recruiting, the fallout of an academic scandal at Minnesota, Indiana firing Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, and new rules that restrict scholarships to a maximum of eight over two years to newcomers.
"The popularity of college basketball continues to grow and part of the reason is these events at this time of the year," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said.
Smith said he has concerns over the timing of the games, but was honest in his assessment that it would be hard to play in these games without an exemption. Kentucky draws over 20,000 for its home games and couldn't afford to give up two home dates. Smith also sees that access to exempted tournaments for low- mid-major schools becomes an issue.
But it's only an issue for the highest-profile tournaments like the Coaches vs. Cancer, the Great Alaska Shootout or the Maui Invitational. Check the fields in the Preseason NIT, or tournaments in Puerto Rico, Hawaii-Pacific, BYU-Hawaii or an eight-team field in Kansas City to see the plurality of lesser-known teams.
Smith is one of five active head coaches on the basketball issues committee. But he said they didn't discuss the topic of exempted events at their first meeting two weeks ago. They are expected to go over it at their next meeting Dec. 7.
In the interim, the proposal to eliminate the exemption and bump up the maximum number of regular season games from 27 to 28 (29 with one held open for conference tournaments) for 2002 is on the table for the NCAA. It will be discussed at the NCAA Convention in Orlando and then could be up for vote at the management council's next legislative meeting in April, 2001.
"It's best for everyone if they keep the exempted tournaments," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. Williams said Kansas would play in a few selected exempted tournaments, even if they weren't exempted.
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“ |
This is an early measuring stick and
report card as to where your teams are. We got
thumped in Alaska by North Carolina and went
to the Sweet 16. We lost to Tulsa in the NIT and
went to the Elite Eight. You can learn from these
early-season games and go back with enough
time to examine your strengths and
weaknesses. ” |
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— Steve Lavin, UCLA head coach |
And, why not?
A year ago, Stanford got the necessary push it needed early in the season to eventually become a No. 1 seed out of the South. Freshmen Casey Jacobson and Curtis Borchardt had their coming out parties at Madison Square Garden, giving them confidence to play at the Division I level. Iowa rallied behind Steve Alford in his first game as the Hawkeyes coach, making his transition smoother.
Connecticut found out that it wasn't going to be as easy to make a title run. The Huskies learned that relying too much on Khalid El-Amin wouldn't be enough, a fact that eventually led to their loss against Tennessee in the NCAA second round. Duke's Jason Williams suffered through a turnover-plagued two games, humbling and making him work harder during the rest of the year. The Blue Devils won 18 straight games after losing the two in New York to eventually earn a No. 1 seed out of the East.
The same kind of things could occur Thursday and Friday. Kansas enters the tournament like Connecticut, with all the hype from a team last year that returns nearly intact. A breakout performance from confidence building games may be just what once-benched center Eric Chenowith needs in November.
UCLA lost two starters to the NBA draft, but return a core of Jason Kapono, Earl Watson and Dan Gadzuric. The Bruins could either get a significant push with two wins or realize they're not as far along as they thought. Kentucky needs as many games as possible for newcomers Jason Parker and Marquis Estill, as well as for returnee Marvin Stone to feel comfortable inside.
St. John's has an entirely new look with the departures of Erick Barkley, Lavor Postell and Bootsy Thornton. New York City point Omar Cook could face the same kind of debut of New Jersey-area native Williams did last year with Duke. But if Cook has a dominating game then the expectations on the Red Storm will suddenly climb.
"This is an early measuring stick and report card as to where your teams are," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "We got thumped in Alaska in by North Carolina and went to the Sweet 16. We lost to Tulsa in the NIT and went to the Elite Eight. You can learn from these early-season games and go back with enough time to examine your strengths and weaknesses."
Still want to get rid of this tournament?
If the NCAA does, then the conference commissioners better come up with a good cause, high-profile matchups and a television contract.
Good luck.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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