March Madness is like a wonderful whirlwind most sports fanatics allow themselves to be swept into. Teams and fans get carried away. And, yes, most eventually crash to the ground.
Yet we are joyously pelted by basketball games. Day, night. Straight network, cable. In the nearest region, at the farthest point.
But as we move into Selection Sunday, let's stop and take a beat this morning.
First, a tip of the cap to Marshall and the job coach Dan D'Antoni did in bringing along the Thundering Herd program. Heck of a story.
Then let's examine this WVU basketball season. Some have called it one of the nation's more surprising performances. And that, to me, is silly. The Mountaineers were in the Sweet 16 last season and returned most of their players. Too many analysts got caught up in WVU's rout at the hands of Kentucky and the loss of Juwan Staten.
Yet forget the expectations. Let's examine the season, the accomplishments. Even if you dislike West Virginia or coach Bob Huggins, even if you're the most critical judge, you have to agree the Mountaineer season has been simply terrific. When WVU ended the regular season with a win at Baylor, it capped the most impressive regular season put forth by the school in my 36 years of coverage.
Now, though, I have to ask this: Is it even better than that?
At least one analytic suggests the answer is yes. At least one analytic suggests this isn't only the most impressive regular season, it's the best season in the 107-year-old history of WVU.
And that's not a surprise to Huggins.
"Probably so," he shrugged. "With all due respect to what's known as the glory years, that's probably right."
The analytic is Sports-Reference's Simple Rating System. It's a "rating that takes into account average point differential and strength of schedule. The rating is denominated in points above/below average, where zero is average. Non-Division I games are excluded from the ratings."
All 107 WVU seasons were rated, and the one with the highest score to this point is the ongoing one. After the Mountaineers' thrilling win over Oklahoma and before the Kansas game, the SRS score was 23.3. The closest complete season to it was that of 2009-10 when Huggins took the Mountaineers to the Final Four. That score was 19.16. Which is not really that close.
"And think about the games we had this season without some of our players," Huggins said. "We lost Beetle Bolden [to a knee injury], who we thought was our backup point guard. Jaysean [Paige] sprained his ankle. Dax [Miles] missed three games with a hamstring. [Jon] Holton missed four games [because of suspension]."
Yet WVU was 5-4 missing at least one top player. And that rating? You know how Huggins has been talking about his team's strength of schedule for years?
Well, apparently he's been correct. Huggins' teams have put together six of the school's seven best seasons all-time, according to the SRS: 1. this season; 2. the 2009-10 Final Four, 31-7 season in the Big East; 3. the 2008-09 23-12 season in the Big East; 4. the 2007-08 26-11 season in the Big East; 6. the 2010-11 21-12 season in the Big East; and 7. last season's 25-10 Sweet 16 team in the Big 12.
The only one of the seven best seasons, as rated by the SRS, not coached by Huggins was Gale Catlett's 1997-98 24-9 team in the Big East. That is No. 5.
I hear you. Gobbledygook, right? What about the "Golden Era" of Jerry West?
Well, in 1958-59, when WVU reached the national final before losing to California, the rating was 13.19 - because of the lack of quality opponents played.
I realize writing this might be heresy around here, but look it up. Including the Big 12 championship with Kansas, WVU has played 12 nationally ranked teams this season. T-w-e-l-v-e. They'd won six before Saturday evening's game. They were 26-7 with a No. 10 Rating Percentage Index number, No. 9 Associated Press ranking, No. 8 USA Today coaches poll ranking and No 7 Basketball Power Index ranking.
When West played and Fred Schaus coached that title contender, the Mountaineers played three ranked teams in the regular season: Kentucky, Northwestern and Tennessee. They lost to the first two. In the NCAA tournament, WVU played two ranked teams: St. Joseph's and Cal. It split those. The Mountaineers played against the nation's No. 72 (of 173) strength of schedule that year.
Also, West Virginia played in the Southern Conference at that time. The only teams in that league with winning records in 1958-59 were Virginia Tech, The Citadel and William & Mary. The other five were .500 or below.
This is not meant to tear down that team. Many older Mountaineer fans cling to its memory like a fuzzy blanket, and that's fine.
Understand, however, what WVU's current team and Huggins have given to their fans: perhaps the best regular season in Mountaineer history. (They were rewarded, by the way, with an average home crowd of 10,583 - the fourth highest attendance average in Coliseum history.)
Does that mean this Mountaineer team is more memorable than all the others? No. Certainly not. Success in the NCAA tournament is needed to rival the Final Four teams. It's needed to rival Elite Eight and Sweet 16 teams.
But in regard to the school's regular seasons, these Mountaineers can legitimately stand up and say they were No. 1.