The tourney, excellence, and us

McKillop: “There is a constant attempt in our society to diminish the value of excellence. Making the NCAA Tournament is a mark of excellence, and excellence should never be diminished.”

He is alone

Just now on Kyle’s Twitter feed: Insider account of NABC meeting yesterday: coaches talking 96-team bracket. “Great idea. Anyone not in favor?” One man stood up: McKillop. More from Kyle.

Morrissey to McKillop

Bless you, Coach.

(More) on the NCAA tourney expansion debate

McKillop: “If it’s going to be an experience in which, sure, the Southern Conference regular season winner goes, but then the ninth-place finisher in the SEC or the ACC or the Big East goes with those additional 30-plus or 10-plus or 5-plus slots, I don’t think that’s fair to the mid-major and low-major programs.” Earlier.

On the NCAA tourney expansion debate

In the NYT:

But a small segment of coaches have said that bigger may not be better.

“It takes away from the special nature of it,” said Steve Donahue, who has coached Cornell to the N.C.A.A. tournament for three straight years. “It’s supposed to be an incredible award for a great, great season. If you expand it, it’s not that. Everyone thinks more is better. It’s not.”

Davidson Coach Bob McKillop went a step further.

“Isn’t this whole thing a window into society?” he said. “We’ve diminished so many other things. We’ve diminished test scores. We’ve diminished admission policies. We diminish so much for reasons that are not accentuating excellence and performance. It’s almost too inclusive.”

Probably not a coincidence that these comments come from two smart men who coach smart kids in programs that are more than just preprofessional way stations masquerading as institutions of higher education.