Chansky’s Notebook: The Who-Dats?

The NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen yielded three West Coast teams, all of which are either double-digit seeds or long-ago visitors to the Final Four, plus three No. 1 seeds and two lucky-to-be-alives.

What this strange event has shown us while hopping around to various arenas in Indianapolis is how much the sport has grown in recent years. Interested college basketball fans, but not mavens of the game, had to be saying repeatedly, “Who are these great players and coaches, never heard of any of them.”

Only another Cinderella run by Loyola-Chicago kept all four No. 1 seeds from advancing to the Elite Eight, one game from returning to Lucas Oil Stadium and the Final Four Saturday. If Illinois hadn’t been dreadfully outplayed and outcoached by Sister Jean’s Ramblers in the second round, the Illini would have gotten it together to join Baylor, Gonzaga and Michigan and still be alive on the top line, where certain ACC programs used to reside.

Three Pac 12 members of a beleaguered basketball conference are still playing, and they are not who you expect. One from Oregon, but the State Beavers, not the Nike Ducks who we have seen much more recently. Then the two schools from LaLa Land, UCLA and USC, which have been out of the mere conversation for years.

It’s likely over for the Westwood and Watts residents. The Bruins face top-seeded Michigan, which has kept the Big Ten from the total embarrassment of having all nine of its team knocked out by now, and the Trojans (where by the way Carol Folt is now the boss) has the dubious task of facing overall No. 1 seed and unbeaten Gonzaga.

Oregon State, which hasn’t been this far in the NCAA tourney since 1982 – a familiar year to us – came from being picked last in the Pac 12 to have a reasonable shot of making its first Final Four since 1963 against second-seeded Houston, which could have easily been gone by now. The Cougars are athletic but far from Phi Slama Jama from the 1980s.

And third-seeded Arkansas, which was fortunate to escape No. 15 Oral Roberts in the round of 16, can say bye-bye to the Big Dance compliments of the bad Baylor Bears of the Big 12.

(featured image via AP Photo/AJ Mast)

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