'Weak field' produces excellent NCAA tournament

Roseanne Barr disappeared for a while, but she's back now. The last month has gone exceedingly well for her. She won a beauty contest - though it was of the metaphorical variety. (Keep at it, Roseanne. You'll get there.)

Before the NCAA tournament began, lots of well-paid and over-caffeinated college hoops experts evaluated the field by screaming into television cameras. Many disapproving fingers were wagged.

One of those hyper-animated analysts was Dick Vitale. This will surprise you, but Dicky V was pretty worked up about the NCAA selection committee. He was talking so fast that his face turned red. It looked like he wasn't getting enough oxygen, and it sounded like he was speaking in tongues. I kept waiting for him to projectile vomit on Digger Phelps right before Max von Sydow appeared.

"I mean, give me a break! It makes no logic whatsoever! . . . Look at Colorado's resumé, look at UAB, and look at VCU, it'd be a mismatch, man," Vitale ranted. "It would be like a beauty contest with Roseanne Barr walking in vs. Scarlett Johansson. No shot. None whatsoever."

Naturally, VCU went from the First Four to the Final Four. The Rams lost to Butler and won't appear in Monday's championship game, but their implausible and impressive run served as a credit to the program and the tournament - and a slap to Vitale. A group called Venture Richmond ordered a giant banner - 30 feet tall, 20 feet across - with Vitale's likeness and the words "Eat Crow, Baby!" It hung outside the Richmond airport for a while, then made various stops around town.

Vitale wasn't the only one who looked bad. When the bracket was announced, Vitale's colleague at ESPN, Jay Bilas, was every bit as dismissive and condescending.

"I wonder whether some people on the committee know whether the ball is round," said Bilas, who then added that this tournament featured "the weakest field we've ever had."

If that's the case, then I'd like the selection committee to dilute the tournament every year. The old concentrated version - dense with dominant teams and few upsets - that Bilas apparently pines for paled in comparison to the wild tournament we've witnessed over the last month.