I Know It's March Madness Time, But...

  In the midst of March Madness, baseball has begun for me. As it should, now that Spring is officially here. 

Sure, the run up to the end of the collegiate basketball for the 2024-25 season has been great. We have seen a couple of upsets in the opening rounds of the NCAA Men’s Tournament—Mc Neese State flexed its muscle in a win over Missouri as did Colorado State when the Rams bounced an overrated Memphis squad from the tourney. It took a buzzer-beater shot for Maryland to eliminate CSU on Sunday. 

We learned that North Carolina, everyone’s whipping boy for grabbing the last slot in the Big Dance. should have been in the tournament with its convincing play-in win over San Diego State, but were they anything but an 11 seed as shown by how Mississippi had difficulty with the Tar Heels? UNC might have made it past the Rebels if the deficit at one point had been far less than 22 points. 

Kansas, another blue blood and the pre-season #1, bowed out with a loss to Arkansas. It was a not-too-subtle fall from grace this season for the Jayhawks. 

Props to the University of New Mexico and Richard Pitino, son of St. John’s head coach, Hall of Famer Rick Pitino. The Lobos handled a very talented Marquette team in the opening round. His team gave a favored Michigan State squad fits in the Round of 32. 

Unfortunately for his father, St. John’s picked a very bad time to have a bad game. New York’s media darlings lost to John Calipari and his Arkansas Razorbacks. 

Defending champion UConn and Florida staged an epic battle. The heart of the Huskies was evident as they valiantly tried to overcome a late spurt by the Gators which proved enough for the team from Gainesville to move on. There will not be a three-peat. Just like in the NFL. For the record, UConn should not have been a #8 seed. And please, Danny Hurley, UConn’s Head Coach—get a grip on your emotions. 

How did the 14 SEC teams do in the first two rounds? Not exactly great. Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Missouri and Georgia went down in the first round. Texas didn’t make it past the play-in game, losing to Xavier (in an odd twist, Texas fired its coach and replaced him with Sean Miller, whose Xavier team had just beaten the Longhorns). When the dust settled after the second round, the SEC had a record 7 teams still vying for the title: Alabama; Arkansas; Auburn; Florida; Kentucky; Mississippi and Tennessee. 

The favored teams performed for the most part on the first round. The somewhat maligned Big Ten went 8-0 to open the festivities, but only four teams advanced to the next round. The Big 12 also placed four teams in the Sweet 16, and they were joined by Duke, the lone ACC team left. Every top four seed won its opening game. No First Four team advanced beyond the first round for the first time since 2011. 

Looking ahead, old rivals Kentucky and Tennessee meet next weekend. Duke faces a solid Arizona team. Top-seeded Auburn draws a hot Michigan squad. Iowa State and Michigan State tangle. Arkansas draws Texas Tech. Maryland and Florida meet. Alabama will be tested by BYU. Houston faces Purdue. 

Good contests abound, with all #1 seeds alive and three #2, #3 and #4 seeds each still in the mix. The lowest seed still alive is #10 Arkansas. This hasn’t been a tournament of upstarts thus far, although that is going to be tested anew as the games go on. No matter what, for those participating and still in the mix, it remains March Madness. 

I really haven’t been following the other post-season tournaments. The National Invitational Tournament, once the best of the best and held at Madison Square Garden has produced a plethora of close games. Cal-Irvine is the only remaining top seed still playing and North Texas is the only second seed remaining. 

Army is still in the College Basketball Invitational with the likes of Queens NC, UIW, Jacksonville, Cleveland State and Florida Gulf Coast. The College Basketball Crown games start on March 31 and end on April 6 if you want to check out FOX’s attempt at further undermining the post-season.

As for the women—the top teams have either romped or had some minor trouble in the first couple of games. A trio of #5 seeds have made it to the Sweet 16—Tennessee, Mississippi and Kansas State.

In Division III action, there will be no double for NYU. That’s because Trinity CT is the best men’s team, having downed top-seeded Wesleyan in the NESCAC Final then once more defeating their rival in the semi-finals. Those wins catapulted the Bantams to a comeback win over the number 2 team in DIII on Saturday, with a late run to hold off the Violets, who defeated Washington University to reach the championship match. 

In a rematch of last year’s final, the NYU women prevailed once more over Smith. It still boggles my mind that Smith is an athletic power. Note that the schools which made the Final Fours were name-brand, quality institutions. With the exception of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, B’Gosh. 

Steph Curry suffered a pelvic contusion and Golden State become mortal against Atlanta in the start of a crucial six game road trip. Not a good thing for the Warriors’ chances to avoid the play-in portion of the playoffs. 

Also, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed back Lebron James from his groin injury when they played Chicago at home on Saturday night. When I saw the lopsided score in favor of the Bulls, I guessed that James didn’t have Luca Doncic playing with him that night. I guessed wrong—a lot like my busted NCAA bracket which looks like Swiss cheese. 

A note on George Foreman’s death. Forget the preacher/pitchman. I think of him as a mean, ornery big man with a devastating punch. His comeuppance came in the stifling heat of Zaire against Muhammad Ali. Foreman’s comeback 10 years later was remarkable. He was a giant among heavyweights. 

I did mention baseball. At last it’s finally that time of the year when the MLB games finally count. 

Technically, the season started about ten days ago in Japan when the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs in a two game series. Shohei Ohtani’s return to his home country was a rousing success. 

The New York Yankees open their defense of the American League crown when the Milwaukee Brewers come to the Bronx on Thursday. While Aaron Judge remains the focus of this team for good reason, it is a different squad in many ways from last year’s version. 

For openers, Juan Soto and his 41 home runs are playing in another borough—Queens. That is a big hole in the NYY lineup which has to be replaced. 

General Manager Brian Cashman brought in aging veterans as reinforcements—Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. He is relying on Jasson Dominguez to man left field where he remained a work-in-progres during Spring Training—even if his bat produced well enough. Judge will be back in right field, where he is better suited to play, with Bellinger and Trent Grisham now patrolling centerfield. 

Gone to Detroit is former second baseman Gleyber Torres. Jazz Chisholm moves to his natural position to replace Torres, leaving third base to Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu when the latter returns from injury. 

Austin Wells will catch and bat leadoff.  Anthony Volpe will continue to improve at shortstop. But the DH spot will rotate among a number of players as there is no timetable for Giancarlo Stanton to return from injury (again).

The pitching is suspect. Even with the addition of lefty Max Fried, there are holes in the starting rotation which have already necessitated reinforcements. Ditto in the bullpen. 

Yet I feel that optimism building. Even if reality isn’t so pretty and the Yankees are far from a lock to win the AL East let alone make it to the playoffs. 

Because it is baseball season. It is the sport I played in college. I went to Weequahic Park in Newark to see my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College, take on Rutgers-Newark. Dressed in F&M gear which included a game-worn #25 grey jersey not unlike what I wore in 1970, I watched my team demolish the Scarlet Raiders by 13-3 and 19-7 scores in a doubleheader. The Diplomats followed up with another victory in a romp over Moravian on Sunday. 

They may not be the best team in the Centennial Conference—Johns Hopkins has been ranked at #2 and the Blue Jays come to Lancaster on Saturday to open conference play. But they are resilient, having rebounded nicely from a 2-8 West Coast trip against stiff competition. 

I watched the game with a friend who played at RU-N and thought about how I once played right field for F&M. It made me think about my first at bats in college—base hits my freshman year against Elizabethtown. Then the next season versus St. Joseph’s, a Division I school as a varsity player, 55 years ago on April 7th. Both on the first pitch I saw. I remain amazed that a 5’5” kid who had not played organized ball since his freshman year in high school could have done this. 

I know it’s March Madness time. But…I love baseball. The Yankees. F&M. Baltimore for my annual trip with Fan X. Any stadium. Any game. Televised or in person. I’m there.