Basketball on the street has one simple rule. You take on all comers. Next five, let's go. You and the boys didn't get to look over the brooding pack of ballers sitting on the sidelines, and say "um, we'll play you, and, uh, that guy in the back, and maybe those two guys wearing tank tops."
As my college roommate at UCSB John Peterson liked to say, "Get your best five Czaban, and we'll spank ya!" Nothing more needed to be said. When our Sunday afternoon games were organized at the local blacktop, you wanted a piece of everybody, and usually got it.
Too bad then, that Division I coaches in the NCAA are such yellow-bellied nancy-boys. Have they no sense of the playground creed? Take all comers! Duck nobody. "Get your best five, and we'll spank ya!"
Instead, the talk of the NCAAs after one week is about how "shocking" it was to see the likes of Georgia State, Hampton, Indiana State and Gonzaga in the second round. Not shocking to those teams themselves. They know they can play. It's just that few, if any, of the so called "power programs" want any part of them.
In fact Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few was borderline irate after his squad had subdued Indiana State to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year. Irate because he had to field more asinine questions about being a "Cinderella."
The only reason they could be called a "Cinderella" is that the tournament committee has no idea how to properly seed them, and the big boys outside the WCC would rather schedule a game against the Lakers than against the 'Zags.
I bet Gonzaga would gladly schedule trips through Stanford, UCLA and Arizona in December to boost their RPI, but their phone calls just don't seem to get returned these days. I suppose getting within a heartbeat of the Final Four in 1999 will do that to you.
And while this year's first round Cinderellas should enjoy their moment of March magic, they should also know that their phone numbers are being taken out of coaching rolodexes across the country. "Whoa, Hampton. They can play. Better take them off the schedule."
Naturally, I have an answer.
The NCAA should immediately institute what I would call "The Challenge Rule."
If you make the NCAA Tournament, and are NOT from one of the "Power Six" Conferences (Big Ten, Pac Ten, Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 12) you are allowed to issue a home and home challenge to anybody else in the Tournament that year.
The challenge games would be played on a home and home basis over the next two years. If a Georgia State calls out North Carolina as it's Challenge Game, the Tar Heels must accept. Period. No exceptions. No hemming and hawing about "fitting them in" or promises to do it five years from now. Look at your calendars, pick a date.
Now, to prevent a team like say, Stanford, from getting bogged down by a dozen or more Challenge Games each year, we'll make it a draft according to how deep your team went in the Tournament.
For first and second round exits, any basic tiebreaker could be used such as a team's win total, RPI, or even a random draw. If Gonzaga gets the first pick in the "Challenge Draft" and calls out those punks in Palo Alto, then Stanford is off the board.
There were 29 teams that would be entitled to a Challenge Series this year. To help expand their menu a bit, you could include teams from last year's brackets, which would bump their choices to 40-45 teams.
Of course, the Dukes of the world would end up with two mandatory "Challenge Games" on their schedule every year, but one of them would always be at home. So while a Cal State Northridge may force the Dukies to fly out and play in their bandbox gym, the Matadors must return the favor the next year. And believe me, Coach K and the boys would relish the chance to give Northridge an ass-whooping they won't soon forget at both ends of the "Challenge."
Talk about being careful what you wish for! After back to back thrashings, the next time Northridge makes The Dance, they might set their sights a little lower and place a call to USC instead.
But either way, it would a hell of a lot of fun. The little guys would have the ability to bring major basketball powerhouses to small towns, and even smaller gyms for at least one night of excitement. I remember at UCSB when Ohio State came to town with Jim Jackson. The atmosphere was electric.
A few years later, Texas rolled through as part of a home and home. Again, the anticipation was off the hook. After that, the home and home offers stopped coming from big name non-conference foes.
Too risky, they figured. A good team, in a tough place to play, but no national reputation. We'll pass, they said.
Well, I say it's about time we put the street code back into Division I hoops. Take all comers. Duck nobody. Next five guys on the board, your run.
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
