Sports Roundup by Various Sports Writers

By Nick Canepa

The sheet covering the bed of the NCAA Basketball Tournament's bracket has been ripped and torn. Used to be you could bounce a nickel off of it. There would be a few wrinkles along the way, creases formed by Cinderellas, but for the most part it was pretty well made, with hospital corners.

And rarely was the Final Four turned inside-out. It is now. And who knows? That bed never again may be totally comfortable for royalty.

It's hard to call it a revolution by the so-called mid-major schools, but why not? Judging by the Final Four nearly upon us, it's close. The NCAA Basketball Committee members and BCS fat cats must be drowning their sorrows in bourbon and branch.

Tiny Butler, a finalist a year ago, is back in the Final Four, despite its best player, Gordon Hayward, leaving early for the NBA. The Bulldogs are really good, and would be totally without fear if they were playing the Lakers.

Virginia Commonwealth will be in Houston to play Butler Saturday and, if the NCAA hadn't expanded the Tournament to 68 teams, the Rams wouldn't have had a chance to be there. They've had to win five games to get this far, toppling giants. They're fun. They're good. They're fearless.

And that, it appears, is a big reason for this phenomenon. Fearlessness.

The other two semifinalists are Kentucky and UConn, basketball blue bloods. Maybe they're the ones who should be afraid.

For the first time in tournament history, there will not be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Final Four, and that's exciting. That's enchanting. That's deserved. Perhaps the mid-major myth is being blown to pieces.

"I would hope so — in basketball, in particular, unlike football, where it takes 40 guys, and they can't leave school that early," says San Diego State coach Steve Fisher, who runs a mid-major. "We have proof beyond doubt now that anyone can win; expect the unexpected and it will be there, with a marginal degree of regularity.

"It only takes a handful of players. A lot of the big schools have kids coming out after one year, and that helps, but there are good players and good teams everywhere now. The talent has been distributed to where there is no dynasty. The game is being played well elsewhere."

University of San Diego coach Bill Grier, who toils for another mid-major, isn't so sure that the myth has been exploded, but he's loving it.

"I don't know if it ever will be dispelled, but what's happened is incredible," Grier says.

"This is the beauty of the tournament, the underdog. There's more parity. The kids play each other so often now, in the summer, that they're not intimidated by anyone anymore. They know one another.

"It's good for college basketball and exciting for the tournament."

Echoing those thoughts is University of California San Diego's Chris Carlson, who may not coach a mid-major (he may soon if the school reaches Division I status), but there is no one I can think of who can speak more eloquently, with more knowledge, about college basketball.

"The way things are now, teams like VCU and Butler can make hay," Carlson says. "It's almost comical to call Butler a mid-major. These kids play a lot of basketball together. Now they can overcome the talent gap. The margin for error is not that great. Some of these schools have good core groups, and they stay together. And the influx of foreign players is everywhere now.

"Duke and Kansas still will have their charter flights, but people are in such a hurry to get to the NBA, it's creating huge gaps in programs. Coaches have to make contingency plans, and it's tough to do at this level. It's tough to make up ground. The entire landscape of college basketball is changing. The VCUs are going to be more prevalent."

But the big thing, according to Carlson — and it's hard not to agree with him — is the players knowing one another so well, which all but erases the big-name intimidation factor.

"The AAU/club basketball culture has stripped much of the mystique away for a lot of kids," Carlson says. "They're growing up playing all over the country against all kinds of competition. Years ago, if you took a team into Rupp Arena or Pauley Pavilion, you were supposed to be scared, down 10 or 15 before you even started because you were playing teams you only read about or saw on TV.

"Everyone now grows up playing against the kids who are playing at Kentucky or UCLA, so they don't know they're not as good or aren't supposed to win that day. The mystique of going into Rupp and playing a top Kentucky team doesn't hold much weight as it once did, like USD going there two years ago and winning.

"This culture isn't going back to what it once was, either."

Good.

Nick Canepa writes about sports for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

COPYRIGHT 2011 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM