Big Dance Bobcats

Moments like tonight are why I love college basketball.

Seeing the pure excitement and happiness of a group of college players and their coach upon reaching their goal. This is all genuine.

It’s not the NBA. There are no million-dollar contracts or lazy superstars taking up salary cap space sitting on the bench.

There’s the walk-on who sits on the bench thirsting for his opportunity to get on the court, his hands on the ball. There are star players but also unsung heroes.

College basketball’s system inherently gives the underdog a chance. It’s not Major League Baseball where a Cinderella springs up once or twice a decade. It’s not college football where the pre-ordained few take their place on the top of a poll, while the Cinderellas do all they can but never get a shot at that dance with Prince Charming.

In college basketball, there are Cinderellas every year. Only one conference, the Ivy League, does not have a conference tournament. So, almost every team in Division I college basketball, has a chance to get to the postseason, to determine its outcome on the playing surface not at the hands of a bunch of writers or computers.

Ohio was the number nine seed going to the 2010 MAC Tournament. If you finish ninth in your conference in college football, your season is over. Same for NBA; same for NFL. The Bobcats' season would have been effectively meaningless after Sunday’s Senior Day win vs. Bowling Green in any other system.

But this is college basketball, where magical runs are possible. Four games in less than a week. One loss and it’s all over. It took two overtime games, an upset of the top seed and Armon Bassett scoring more points in a MAC Tournament than anyone before him.

Now, the little guys get to go up against the big guys. They may not win. But they get the chance. It’s a chance they gave themselves by winning.

And even if Ohio gets crushed by a 3 or 4 seed on Thursday or Friday, nothing can change the feeling in Athens tonight. A bar full of people cringing at Akron’s Steve McNees’ game-tying three in regulation, then going crazy with Armon Bassett’s Championship punctuating jam. A Facebook page full of people talking about going dancing. A whole college campus full of 18-24 year olds who have something to get excited about.

As much as I love a lot of other sports, nothing really matches March in college basketball. It’s one of the most real seasons in sport. Most games are do-or-die for at least one of the teams involved. Everything is at stake and it shows in these moments.

Seeing coach John Groce lift his young baby up while cutting the nets, Ohio’s only senior KVK lifting up the championship trophy, out-of-their mind performances like those of Armon Bassett and D.J. Cooper tonight; that’s why I love college basketball. Anything can happen. And it’s even better being on a mid-major NCAA Tournament team's college campus to witness it all. Let the madness begin!