Closing the Gap

To some coaches of the NCAA's top 20 basketball programs in the 1980s and early 1990s, scary movies didn't have titles like "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare on Elm Street," but "Princeton vs. Villanova game film."

To those coaches, gear didn't come in the form of Freddy Kruger's dagger fingertips or Jason Voorhees' pitchfork. Instead, it wore a suit and went by the name of Pete Carril.

Carril, who coached at Princeton for 30 seasons, took years off the life of many of his counterparts by putting up good battles in the NCAA men's basketball tournament's opening round with low-seeded teams.

Those Tigers squads weren't as talented as the top-shelf teams they played against, but they flawlessly executed Carril's philosophy.

But ultimately, the script usually called for Tigers put a scare into guys like Villanova's Rollie Massimino, Arkansas' Nolan Richardson, or Georgetown's John Thompson — national champion coaches all — before losing.

Carril's Princeton teams were notable for their ability to perform all of the basketball fundamentals, be relentless in their effort, and avoid making mistakes.

This year, though — the 10th anniversary of Carril's last trip to the NCAA tournament — the underdogs did a lot more than scare the favorites. The longshots came in.

Based on the opening round seedings, six of the tournament's remaining 16 teams shouldn't be there. That includes Bradley (13th seed), George Mason (11), Wichita State (7), Georgetown (7), West Virginia (6), and Washington (5).

Fully one-fourth of the first weekend's games — 12 of 48 — ended in legitimate upsets. And that doesn't include Pacific's tough Princeton-style effort in an 88-76 loss to Boston College.

And, since all of those upsets involve teams seeded at least one slot higher than their opponents, the list also doesn't include ninth-seeded Bucknell's first-round win over eight seed Arkansas, or fifth seed Washington over fourth-seeded Illinois.

It also doesn't include West Virginia, which defeated two lower-seeded teams en route to the Sweet 16.

And, while it's still too early to tell, or to rule out the possibility that the NCAA basketball committee members were drunk when they seeded this field, these results might not be a fluke, but the beginning of a pattern.

In the Carril era, unit cohesion, good shooting, and defensive hustle could get a team so far, but usually not all the way against a squad that holds a huge advantage in talent.

However, in recent years, the very best players — the ones who would end up in programs like Tennessee or the University of North Carolina, two of the second-round upset victims — are now bolting for the NBA after one or two years, or even before they set foot in a college classroom.

Without those marquee players, many of the top 20 programs are left with second-tier talent and no cohesion.

Meanwhile, it's pretty unlikely that very many Bradley recruits picked the school over pro ball, unless it's the Swedish League. But today, the 13th-seeded Griffins are getting ready for a surprise week of practice after victories over No. 4 Kansas and five seed Pittsburgh.

With players defecting from the top-shelf programs, the Bradleys and George Masons of the college basketball world have been able to creep closer to their supposed betters. Close enough that victory is only a matter of good shooting and a concerted effort.

The upset storm will probably end this weekend, if only because the top teams remaining hold a sizeable talent advantage over the Sweet 16 party crashers.

And it's no coincidence that the tournament favorite also has the best senior player — Duke, with J.J. Redick.

But it's also worth noting that, just a few years ago, the trend of top players skipping college was being lamented as being the end of NCAA basketball. Instead, it's helped make the tournament more exciting.

Just don't tell that to all those people who picked the favorites in their office pool.