INDIANAPOLIS – The entire NCAA tournament doubled as a leap in time. The games are over and the digital pages return to find distant precedents and snapshots of bygone ages.
With apparently every team moving forward, there is a corresponding tour of the past. DeLorean’s final spin came at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, when Houston’s No. 2 stifled Syracuse with a rugged man-to-man defense in the 62-46 victory.
This marked Houston’s first trip to the Elite Eight since 1984, with Kelvin Sampson’s team reliving the ghosts of Phi Slama Jama. “How old is it?” Sampson said, before learning, it was 37 years old. “Think of all the people who have come and gone since then.”
That kind of setback came from all corners of Indianapolis on Saturday. For number 12 in the state of Oregon, it marked the program’s first Elite Eight since 1982. No. 1 Baylor is a victory from the program’s first Final Four since 1950. No. 3 Arkansas is reliving the Clinton years, attacking its first Elite Eight since 1995.
All of these return trips also offer us a glimpse into the future. Both the near future and the long-term future of the sport will continue to be filled with consistent news, advances and inconsistencies. Consider that none of the head coaches of the remaining 12 teams in Indianapolis have won a national title.
Certainly, the blue bloods are not going to disappear from the landscape. But when half of Elite Eight is Houston, Baylor, Oregon State and Arkansas, it is a sign that new blood will be transfused into the upper echelon of the sport more often.
Welcome to the age of transference, elite talent choosing the G League and a few more seasons of uncertainty as the federal investigation hovers over the sport. Chaos will be normalized, talent will be more diversely dispersed and the gap between the double-digit seeds and the corresponding teams appearing in the key will continue to narrow.
If you need more proof, just look at Sunday. Sport is returning to the precipice of history.
Gonzaga is the favorite for the first title in the school’s history. Then there is the state of Florida, which can make its first Final Four since 1992. Alabama is aiming for its first Final Four. The USC has not been to a Final Four since 1954, which has long been pre-Pac-8. There are all kinds of stories, but not the places we are used to telling them.
There are a multitude of reasons for identifying this influx of new faces, places and historical landmarks. The federal court’s spectrum has diluted places like Kansas, Louisville and Arizona, which are familiar faces this tournament weekend for the past two decades. (These real case decisions appear to be about to emerge at the time when Jim Boeheim’s grandson is playing for Orange.)
It is counting the time when Houston’s best player, Quentin Grimes, came from Kansas. Arkansas had 11 offensive rebounds from the Indiana transfer from Justin Smith and 22 points from the transfer from Northern Kentucky Jalen Tate. Davion Mitchell de Baylor came from Auburn and MaCio Teague came from UNC-Asheville. Oregon State’s second best player on Saturday, Warith Alatishe, came from Nicholls State.
Transfers will come up, down, laterally and in all directions. The only thing that is certain is that they will keep coming – almost 1,000 on the portal as we type. Whether you want to accept or judge, get used to it. The waves of the free college basketball agency are just beginning.
Two more major changes to the rules are imminent – the long-awaited ability of athletes to profit from their Name, Image and Similarity, and the inevitable move from the single transfer exemption. The sport is a giant snow globe, shaken every year to form a distinctly different landscape.
The best talents will not stop going to Duke, Kentucky and Louisville. But the question is whether there will be a shift in recruiting priorities for high school players and a focus on college veterans. Today was more proof that this is a tournament for the injured and developed, not for the early ones with potential.
Is this good for the sport? Is bad? This will be the dominant off-season podcast storyline. No one can argue that it is the reality. Constant change, dynamic change and historical change are the new standards of college basketball.
And there will be no greater symbol of that than all the title winners who watch tomorrow at home. The new blood is pumping fast, and it is not diminishing.
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