Act III Comes To Town

OK, you have had fair warning. March Madness is in full swing. The venerable CIAA and its 10 member schools descended upon Charlotte to kick-off the month of college basketball revelry by bringing both its Men’s and Women’s Tournaments to town. The schools, concentrated in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina are from as far away as Bowie, Maryland, and as near as Beatties Ford Road, here in Charlotte. The fans came from all across the Country in the basketball equivalent of a Family Reunion. The sporting part of the event was highlighted by crowning the new Champions, the Lady Bears, of Shaw University in Raleigh, for the Women, and the home standing Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls, for the men.

Two weeks ago, the ACC followed suit by bringing fans of its 12 participating schools from as far North as Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, as far South as Coral Gables, Florida, and as near as Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The event culminated in the University of North Carolina prevailing as the Tournament Champion. Winning the Tournament propelled the Tar Heels, already the #1 Ranked team in the Country to one of four #1 Seeds in the NCAA Tournament, as well as the overall Tournament #1 Seed.

This week, Act III comes to town Thursday, as the NCAA Tournament East Regional visits Charlotte for a segment of the Sweet 16. The East Regional (Charlotte), South Regional (Houston), Midwest Regional (Detroit), and West Regional (Phoenix) each hosts 4 teams. One team from each Regional will advance to the Final Four in San Antonio at the end of this weekend’s games. The Final Four will take place the following Saturday and Monday, April 5th, and 7th, at the Alamodome, with the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion crowned at the end of Monday’s game.

Of the four Regionals, the East is the only one that held to form, with Seeds 1-4 winning two games this past weekend to earn the right to continue play in Charlotte this week. On Thursday evening, #4 Seed Washington State University (Pullman, Washington) will play #1 Seed University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) in the first game, and #3 Seed University of Louisville (Louisville, Kentucky) will face off against #2 Seed University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee). The winners will play each other Saturday for the right to advance to the Final Four. GO HEELS!

By the way, it should be noted that Mecklenburg County’s own Davidson College (Davidson, North Carolina) is also a Sweet 16 participant. Davidson, Seeded 10th takes on #3 Seed Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin), while #12 Seed Villanova University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) takes on #1 Seed Kansas University (Lawrence, Kansas).

Now that you have the particulars for the games (in Charlotte), I am going to introduce subject that has generated a fair amount of controversy in some circles. This time of year, frequently referred to as March Madness, is an apt time to explore the question of whether athletes who play “revenue sports” at major colleges are exploited. Take college basketball for example. With television contract worth an estimated value of several billion dollars, it would seem, at the very least to be a viable topic for consideration and exploration.

Of course many pundits and prognosticators regularly weigh in on this subject. Not surprisingly, the so-called experts, and Monday morning quarterbacks (or point guards) vary widely in the opinions expressed on the matter.

The long held traditional view is that students receive a free education in exchange for their services, and as such are paid. A popular counterpoint to this notion is that by reaping billions of dollars, millions of which is directed to, the social contract is significantly unbalanced. There are also a number of rules, regulations, and restrictions that apply one way to coaches, who may leave on a whim, to pursue a more lucrative contract, while the student-athlete must sit out a year if he or she transfers to another school.

Part of the outrage, or at least grave concern emanates from the fact many schools appear to do just enough to keep kids in school until they have exhausted their eligibility, at which point they become expendable, and are often cut loose. For example, an article by Associated Press writer Travis Reed notes that the University of North Carolina is the top #1 Seed academically, in the Tournament, graduating 86% of its players over a six-year period. Of the other three #1 Seeds, one graduated 45 %, and the other two 40% during the same period.

While those numbers are dreadful enough, in and of themselves, Richard Lapchick, head of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, who conducted the study these statistics were derived from, was mainly concerned with the disparity between black and white players.

He found that thirty-three schools graduated at least 70 percent of their white men's basketball players; only 19 graduated that many black players. Further, at least 50 percent of white players earned degrees at 45 schools, but black athletes had that much success at only 36 schools. The good news is the numbers are trending upward.

So as I draw to a close, once again I ask you the reader to weigh-in. Are these gifted and talented athletes exploited? You make the call! By the way, just in case you are wondering what I think…in a word, yes!

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com, or by Googling thesphinxofcharlotte. A new post is published each Wednesday


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