Comments on Dan Shanoff: Would You Rather Be Duke or Villanova?

What accurate hindsite you have! Where can I get s...

2008-03-25T01:30:00.000-04:00

What accurate hindsite you have! Where can I get some of that? Not to be too snotty, but if you had asked this question March 15th, how many people would have said Villanova?

I would rather be Duke. You had a good season. By ...

2008-03-24T17:21:00.000-04:00

I would rather be Duke. You had a good season. By your own admission, one that was better than Vill. There is very little chance that Vill is going to win the NCAA tourney. As such its season will end with less wins that Duke. Secondly, unless they win it all, they like every other team, but two (NCAA and NIT champion) will end the season the same, with a loss.

This puts too much emphasis on the NCAA tourney. I know that winning it all is great, but it isn't the be all and end all college basketball. Just my opinion.

As a fan of a lower-conference school (UMass) and ...

2008-03-24T16:12:00.000-04:00

As a fan of a lower-conference school (UMass) and premier professional sports teams (Red Sox/Patriots), I have to go with Villanova on this one. That moment of joy from a breakthrough (in this case, the Sweet 16, in UMass' case, beating Alabama in the NIT last year) is much much more rewarding their being the favorite and winning another title (third Pats Superbowl/second Sox WS).

You root for your middling team through the whole season. Experience the joys of big wins and the frustration of bad losses. You second guess your coach, rationalize why they'll be able to pull it together at some point and why they're not as bad as their record stands. And it's all 100 percent worth it for that one, season-defining win. Last year, we beat Alabama in a thriller in the NIT and that was the payoff. No one really cared that we didn't have a chance against WVU in the next round. We got our joy.