The 2011 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament is down to the Sweet Sixteen. The first weekend of the tournament has given us what we have come to love about March Madness, last second buckets and major upsets (including a #1 seed, Pittsburgh going down). But unfortunately we have also seen a display of some questionable and mediocre play, something that we have not become accustomed to observing.
I don't like bashing college athletes about their play because the reality is, they are young and still learning. Some of these guys are just 18 years old and less than a year out of high school. Then they are suddenly thrusted into the national spotlight and a lot of analyst expect them to handle pressure that grown experienced men would have trouble with. But there are some basketball plays that are just that, basketball plays. No matter what level of basketball an athlete is playing, certain mistakes shouldn't happen. Fouls should not be commited at certain points of the game. There should be a certain amount of urgency when you need a bucket and there are less than 10 seconds on the clock; strolling with the ball like your trying to impress a young lady is going to get you sent home. You must impose your will on lower ranked, inferior teams; not doing so will ultimately get your fellings hurt. Even the referees had some mediocre games. Qustionable foul calls/non-calls and issues with time (clocks & counts) have had folks scratching their heads all weekend.
These are just some of the things that we witnessed this weekend that has made this great pastime of ours slighty less spectacular. Don't get me wrong, the games were still interesting and fun to watch but the errors so far seem to be more pronounced and painfully obvious.
