Sweet 16 Outlook
By Bruce Marshall
SWEET 16 UPDATE...IS A NEW GEORGE MASON IN THE HOUSE?
When we asked at this time last week if there were "any George Masons" in this year's Big Dance field, we weren't sure we'd be even talking about any mid-majors or good, old-fashioned longshots by the time we got to the Sweet 16. After all, last year at this time, most of the worthwhile storylines in the NCAA Tournament had long since been extinguished; indeed, one of our headlines relating to last year's Sweet 16 was labeled "Aristocrats Only, Please." The little guys didn't get invited to the party after the sub-regionals a year ago.
But that was then, and this is now. And as the Sweet 16 approaches, we don't have just one candidate for this year's George Mason. We've got four.
We haven't seen mid-majors make this sort of impact in the Dance in a long while, perhaps since 1979, the last time the Missouri Valley and Ivy League together sent teams (Penn and Larry Bird's Indiana State) this far into the Sweet 16. The Quakers and Sycamores even made it all of the way to the Final Four that year. In fact, the term "mid-major" hadn't even been coined 31 years ago, when the tournament field consisted of only 40 teams. Although the Dance has expanded to 65 teams since, most of those extra slots usually are awarded to major, BCS-conference schools. More than half (7, to be exact) of the current Big XII made it into this year's field, and exactly half (8 of 16) qualified from the Big East. There was also a bit more room for mid-majors in this year's NCAAs than in recent seasons, but those sorts advancing to the Sweet 16 (Northern Iowa, Butler, Saint Mary's, and Cornell) all qualified for the Dance the old-fashioned way, by winning automatic bids from their respective leagues. And by the broadest definition, we suppose we could even expand the mid-major count to five at this week's Sweet 16 if we want to include A-10 rep Xavier, although the Musketeers have been dancing so consistently in recent years, and making it to the second weekend (this is their fourth Sweet 16 since 2004), that they are more accurately grouped with the elite of college hoops. But if you wish to include the "X" in this year's mid-major parade into the Regionals, be our guest.
With four potential "George Masons" left in the field, we have no shortage of interesting storylines, some of which are helping to recall another era in college basketball, when teams from the Missouri Valley and Ivy League and West Coast Conference (then called the WCAC) would routinely contend for national honors.
MVC champ Northern Iowa's presence in the Sweet 16 reminds us of a time in the early days of TGS publishing when the Valley was probably the premier basketball conference in the land. Before our publishing season concludes in a few weeks, we'll be recalling one of the great teams of that era, and indeed one of the all-time (yet mostly forgotten) college hoop dynasties, the Cincinnati Bearcats of George Smith and Ed Jucker, who reached five consecutive Final Fours between 1959-63 while winning a pair of national titles (and cruelly denied a third). But Cincy was hardly the only storyline those days in the Valley, which packed a powerful wallop despite a membership that included only seven schools. Chuck Orsborn's Bradley Braves were also a powerhouse in those years featuring teams starring future NBA star Chet Walker and the high-scoring Mack Herndon and Levern Tart, winning coveted NIT titles (which were almost as hard as winning NCAA crowns back then) in 1960 and 1964. Future Iowa and Oregon State coach Ralph Miller's Wichita State teams were also a force in those days; the 1962-'63 Shockers (who also had a graduate assistant named Sonny Vaccaro), featuring a pair of future New York Knicks, prolific scoring F Dave Stallworth and C Nate Bowmman, might have been the third best team in the country, if not the best, given that they were the only team to beat both Cincinnati and Loyola-Chicago, the NCAA finalists that season. Wichita, which would make the Final Four two years later, was nonetheless denied an NCAA berth in those early years of the 60s, as was Bradley, Saint Louis (which won a short-lived All-Catholic postseason tourney in 1963), Tulsa, Drake, and North Texas because of the Cincy Bearcats, who kept winning Valley titles in those seasons long before the NCAA allowed conferences to send multiple teams to the Big Dance.
Saint Mary's surprise appearance in the Sweet 16 recalls a golden era of the West Coast Conference (called the WCAC until 1989) that once even featured the Gaels, who, paced by a fiery forward named Tom Meschery (who would later be a Philadelphia Warriors teammate of Wilt Chamberlain's the night the big Dipper scored his 100 points vs. the Knicks in 1962, and several years later when as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics would actually challenge Wilt to a fight) reached the Elite 8 in 1959 before losing to Pete Newell's eventual national champion Cal Bears. Of course, Bill Russell's storied, back-to-back national champion USF Dons hailed from the WCAC in the mid '50s, and the league continued to produce a series of national contenders at USF and Santa Clara for the next few decades, as well as the bittersweet run to the Elite 8 by Bo Kimble's Loyola-Marymount in the wake of Hank Gathers' tragic death in 1990. Yes, there was a WCC before Gonzaga. As for Saint Mary's, it hadn't won an NCAA game since that '59 season until it defeated Richmond and Villanova last week in Providence.
Cornell's second weekend presence also recalls a long-ago era at TGS when Ivy teams were also occasional national contenders, with none any better than Butch Van Breda Kolff's Princeton teams of the mid '60s featuring Bill Bradley. The best of those Tiger quintets qualified for the Final Four in 1965, when Bradley's Princeton was defeated by a Michigan team paced by Cazzie Russell in the national semifinals at Portland. Bradley would go on to score a Final Four-record 58 points in the consolation game vs. aforementioned Wichita State. Later in the decade, Columbia was a powerhouse on the hardwood featuring teams led by future pros Jim McMillian and Haywood Dotson; the 1967-68 Lions reached the Sweet 16 before falling in overtime to Lefty Driesell's Davidson, 61-59, and Columbia eventually finished as the sixth-ranked team in the land. Princeton, under Pete Carril, and Penn, first under Dick Harter, then Bob Weinhauer, were powers for much of the '70s (Carril winning the NIT in 1975), with Weinhauer's Quakers the last Ivy team to reach the Final Four in 1979.
Of course, getting to the Sweet 16 is an accomplishment worth celebrating for any team, especially a mid-major. But, if anything has been true about most Big Dances, it's that the dreamers start losing sleep the further they go. Northern Iowa, Saint Mary's, Butler, and Cornell are now working with the casino's money, but history suggests that it is a short bankroll. No matter, you can't tell them that, because they're not listening while on this ride of their lives, and they all remember what George Mason did in 2006. And at worst, each of these "mids" looks to have a puncher's chance in the Sweet 16. But Thursday and Friday, with big, bad foes from the Big East, SEC, Big Ten, and Big XII waiting, will come faster than any of them can possibly know.
Of the many interesting storylines from the current Sweet 16, perhaps the best one has unfolded at Cornell, and with one of its veteran players, in particular.
The Big Red has been winning consistently the past three years with core of now-senior contributors (Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote, and Louis Dale) who have been starters and stars of the team throughout their recent run of success in the Ivies. Until this season, one of their unheralded senior classmates, 6-7 F Jon Jaques, had provided plenty of morale and practice support, but had not been a primary factor in Cornell's past two Ivy title campaigns in '08 and '09, spending most of his game time on the bench. In his three previous years as a member of the varsity team, Jaques played in only 34 of the Big Red's 87 games, averaging barely three minutes and one point per game. His only real notoriety came from, of all things, the New York Times and its college sports-related blog site, The Quad, in which Jaques has been an occasional and entertaining contributor. Jaques' basketball work ethic, however, never ceased, and his positive attitude was always appreciated by his teammates and coach Steve Donahue, who admired and enjoyed the 6'7 Jaques so much to name him one of this year's tri-captains.
Finally, in his last trip around the Big Red track this season, Jaques' perseverance began to pay off. An injury suffered by starting F Alex Tyler in the Legends Classic at Philadelphia in late November prompted Donahue to give Jaques, one of his best on-ball defenders, some important playing time against Drexel. Jaques delivered, also making a couple of clutch free throws in the Big Red's win, prompting Donahue to nominate Jaques for the all-tournament team despite those limited contributions. Donahue considered it a gesture of thanks, if nothing else. "I felt that was the last we'd see of Jon," said Donahue in an AP story. "I just thought I would reward him for what's he's done over the last three years in accepting his role.
"Little did I know he would end up being one of our best players for the rest of the season."
Tyler's injury, and Jaques' performance vs. Drexel, however, opened up an opportunity for more playing time. Jaques was given his first career start two games later against Saint Joseph's and scored a career-high 15 points against the Hawks. A week later, Jaques connected on 5 of 6 triples in a 20-point Cornell win over St. John's. Suddenly, in a three-game span, Jaques had averaged 13.7 points, after never having scored more than 13 points total in any of the three preceding years!
Had he never made those on-court contributions, Jaques' value to the program was secure nonetheless, mainly because he was such a tiger in practice against Wittman, who credits Jaques' practice work with his own improvement as a player. But the fierce practices eventually helped Jaques as much as Wittman, as coach Donahue is quick to point out. "I think that (daily practice vs. Wittman) has better enabled Jon to help us this year," says Donahue. "If he didn't do that and every single day try to get better, then there's no way he would have been prepared for the situation when the opportunity arose."
Jaques' fellow senior, G Louis Dale, is another unabashed supporter. "It's a testament to him how he's been able to not play for three years and come in and be such a contributor for us," says Dale. "I don't know how I would have handled that."
And getting Jaques on the court in game situations continues to help Wittman, as the coach points out. "To put another kid out there with his size that can shoot the ball, it's enabled Ryan to get more looks," says Donahue. "Ryan this year has been able to get more 3-point looks than ever. It also frees Ryan a bit more on the defensive end, leaves him to save his energy for other things like rebounding."
Jaques also has no bigger fan than Wittman, who is thrilled that his classmate is making such an on-court contribution. "He's given us a huge lift, just giving us another option, another person who can knock down shots," said Wittman, who led the Big Red in scoring for the fourth straight season at 17.5 ppg. "I think everyone's really happy that it's paying off for him."
Jaques, who to no one's surprise also leads the team in taking charges, became a fixture in the starting lineup after that early December game vs. St. Joe's and has been hovering near a blistering 50% from beyond the arc all season, scoring a career-high 20 points on the night Cornell sewed up another Ivy League title against Brown on March 5. Jaques continued his contributions through the sub-regionals, and had 7 points in the first half last Sunday in Jacksonville against Wisconsin, helping stake the Big Red to a 12-point halftime edge en route to a surprisingly easy 87-69 romp past the Big Ten Badgers.
Opponents have taken note of Jaques as well. Especially rival Ivy Leagues coaches, one of whom, Yale's James Jones, summed up Jaques' unexpected contributions this season. "The best story in college basketball, in my mind," said the Yale coach to the Syracuse Post-Standard. And Jaques' inspirational tale is definitely something his Cornell coach Steve Donahue will never forget. "It's something I'll use for the rest of my career," said Donahue. "It's an incredible story."
Believe it or not, however, there's another twist to the Jaques saga, far more emotional and poignant than anything on the hardwood. And if you're not yet convinced the Jaques tale is the most heartwarming of this basketball season, we haven't even gotten to the part that will bring tears to your eyes.
Jaques' father, Doug, a Stanford grad and now an attorney (and a wonderful fellow despite both), grew up in Long Beach, California. Long ago, Doug Jaques had a younger brother who waged a courageous battle against cancer during his teenage years. While conducting that war in the mid 70s against the insidious disease, Doug's younger brother bravely gave his life savings of $1000 to his parents, whom he asked to use it to somehow help future children with cancer.
The younger Jaques eventually lost his battle with cancer, but taught the world a lot about giving and sharing during his brief lifetime. And his fight continues to this day at a Center that bears his name as part of the Miller Children's Hospital of the regional Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, which continues to be a leader in the areas of research and treatment of brain tumors, leukemia, sickle cell, and hemophilia.
The name of the facility at Long Beach Memorial? The Jonathan Jaques Cancer Center at Miller Children's Hospital. His namesake, a nephew he didn't live long enough to see or enjoy, is the one taking those charges and making those clutch baskets the past few months for Cornell.
Jon Jaques.
SWEET 16 & ELITE 8 ON DECK!
We'd love to keep reminiscing, but it's time to review recent Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight history. And there have been a few trends worth noting.
In the Sweet Sixteen, favorites have been in control the past two seasons, covering 11 of 16 chances (including 6 of 8 a year ago), although those trends have been see-sawing over the past decade; the dogs held the advantage the preceding three years (15-8-1 vs. line between 2005-07), while favorites fared better in a 4-season span before that between 2001-04, with the chalk 19-12-1 against the number in those years. There were no double-digit Sweet Sixteen dogs a year ago (and only Cornell might qualify as such this week vs. Kentucky), but they're 9-5 vs. the line in the Sweet 16 since 1999. Some conference point-spread trends in this round are worth noting, especially the Big East, which was 3-2 in the Sweet 16 a year ago but only 11-20-2 since '98 in this round against the number.
More illuminating trends appear in the Elite 8, where underdogs have recorded a notable 28-18 spread mark since '98 (with two pick'ems). Conference-wise, note that Big Ten teams (three of which still alive heading into this weekend) stand 10-4 vs. the line in the Elite 8 over the past decade, while the Big XII reps are only 4-12 in this round against the number over the same span, losing and failing to cover twice a year ago. Shorter-priced Elite 8 chalk (laying 3 1/2 or fewer) is just 4-11 vs. the line in that 12-season span.
Following are the specific breakdowns (not including pick'ems or result "pushes") by point-spread category and conferences for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 since 1998.
SWEET SIXTEEN FAVORITES
Spread category W-L
1-3 points..........16-13
31/2-61/2...............13-15
7-91/2................12-9
10 or more points...5-9
Total...............46-46
Spread record by conference: ACC 12-12-1, Atlantic 10 6-2, Big East 11-20, Big Ten 14-11, Big XII 14-10, CAA 1-0, C-USA 5-3, Horizon 1-2, MAC 1-1, Mid-Continent 1-0, MVC 1-3, Mountain West 0-2, Pac-10 9-14, SEC 11-10, SoCon 1-0, Sun Belt 1-0, WAC 2-1, West Coast 2-3.
ELITE EIGHT FAVORITES
Spread category W-L
1-3 points..........4-11
31/2-61/2...............10-8
7-91/2................3-6
10 or more points...1-3
Total..............18-28
Spread record by conference since 1998: ACC 7-6, Atlantic 10 3-2, Big East 7-8, Big Ten 10-4, Big XII 4-12, CAA 1-0, C-USA 2-3, Pac-10 6-6, SEC 5-4, SoCon 1-0, WAC 1-1, West Coast 1-0.