MM#99 -- March Madness SPECIAL -- The Madness Of March

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I'm David and welcome back to another Mojo minute. This week will be a special week because we're kicking off a flurry of mojo minutes, all around the NCAA tournament. Because after all, it's my second favorite time of the year. It is spring and winter is behind us in warmer days are in front of us. At least for some of us, in the upper Midwest, Ohio Valley. That is the case even though yesterday, we got a last blast of winters, full fury, with two and a half inches of snow and single digit temperatures. And when you figured in the 20 Mauer, per hour wind chill, it was excruciatingly cold.

 So yes, for me, when March hits the calendar, the light is at the end of the tunnel. And it's also the madness of March. And that in the basketball world is a great time. In fact, it's a unique time in the college basketball world. Because at the end of every basketball season, there is a 68 team playoff. So whether you're a player or a coach, or simply just a passionate fan, this is the pinnacle of the college basketball world. Now there are some strict requirements for this tournament tournament. Not everybody gets into this tournament. If your team does happen to make it, you will have quote, made the dance as they call it, unquote. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work blood, sweat and tears. 

And reaching this tournament for some teams is a huge success and reward in and of itself. That with this tournament. It's like climbing on Rocky edges of a cliff. Because if you win, you keep advancing up the mountain. One step closer to your goal of a national championship. If you lose, if you miss one step you tumble down the cliff. Metaphorically Of course, and you and your team go home with heart ache and broken dreams. So over the course of the next week, we'll be offering several Mojo minutes. And we will explore this unique time of year and its cultural phenomenon that we call March Madness. Now, you might be thinking, How do your teams get invited to this unique tournament? How do teams make it to the dance as many people have said? Well, there's no better book to help us understand this complex web of decisions involving metrics, algorithms. And sometimes frankly, just luck. Then today's Mojo Minute Book of choice. 

And that book of choice is bracketology March Madness college basketball in the creation of a national obsession by Joe Lunardi. And so with that, let's dig into this book for for a quick quote. Well, actually, before we do that, let's I want to talk about there is a great foreword, written in this book and it's by Mark few the head men's basketball coach at Gonzaga University. And a quick word about Coach Few. So you understand the context of what he's writing in this forward. He's been at Gonzaga University since 1999. He won AP Coach of the Year in 2017. He won the coveted Naismith coach of the year, twice, 2017 and 2021. And he's just had great teams in an area of the country, not known for their basketball prowess, the Pacific Northwest. And of late COACH FEW has had his Gonzaga squad in the NCAA championship game two of the last five tournaments. That's an incredible feat.

So now let's go to coach view, as he's writing in the foreword to Jolin Artis bracketology book. Joe's resources are very valuable to coaches because scheduling is such an important part of our job. scheduling is tucked neatly behind recruiting in importance to being successful in your job as a coach. I think it would be amazing to research how many coaches look at his work and use it in regards to scheduling, he has become an extremely valuable resource. I was an assistant at Gonzaga with Dan Monson. When he took over the head job in 1997. He changed how we scheduled at Gonzaga, we went out and aggressively tried to schedule the best opponents we could for our own experiences within the program, we felt like it would be fun for our players to play against the best teams. And it also helped us grow the program. We needed to analyze the best, the best ways to schedule to put ourselves in position to get strong consideration for an at large bid. He's talking about the NCAA tournament. I don't think that bracketology aspect really took hold of us until the early 2000s, long after we reached the Elite Eight and 1999 and then backed it up with to sweet sixteens in the next two years. By then I felt like we had put ourselves in that position. We were already using those types of principles. But we had no numbers to back it up. We were doing it all by feel, knowing college basketball and knowing who was going to be good. Joe put a science to it, unquote. 

So that was Joe Lunardi. I'm sorry, that was COACH MARK FEW talking about in the foreword to Jurgen Arnie's book bracketology. Talking about the science behind getting into the tournament, and ultimately successfully getting to the championship and winning the championship. Jill Leonardi puts all kinds of metrics, all kinds of statistics, all kind of just it's really, as Coach Few said it, he puts the science behind this whole tournament. And it's fascinating. So that let's pivot to that to the UCLA college basketball dynasty, because for years, I would get in heated arguments about the UCLA college basketball dynasty. And that dynasty lasted from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. And I wasn't articulate enough with my facts and figures to make a compelling case. And I would always lose this argument of why wasn't necessarily the greatest thing in college basketball. And I'd always get dismissed very quickly. I'd always lose that argument. But I knew in my gut, I was like this. This UCLA greatness has to be put in context. And everybody is forgetting the facts in the history around the development of the NCAA tournament. 

Well, well, well. Mr. Joe Lunardi. Thank you, because he crushes the UCLA basketball program debate in its dynasty, in the very opening paragraphs of his book. So now let's go the book, so can hear the greatness on display for Mr. Lunardi.

The UCLA dynasty under John Wooden is overrated. It's not the greatest accomplishment in college basketball history. There, I said it bracketology came make you crazy that way. Of course, seven straight NCAA titles, and 10 and a 12 year span is a remarkable streak. But it needs context, having to win only four games for all but one of their championships. Two victories coming in the weekends weakest region of a much smaller tournament field made what the Bruins achieved considerably easier than it would be today. Until wooden's last title in 1975, which was a five game journey. UCLA had a much easier road through the tournament than our current champions do. The Bruins never had to face teams from the ACC, the SEC, the big 10 or any of the storied independents, such as Notre Dame until their very last game. Final Four matchups paired West versus Midwest until 1973. There were simply fewer schools, particularly high level basketball schools west of the Mississippi. Ride on right on Joe hubba hubba 

Let's keep going back to the book. Obviously those UCLA teams are great. If you were starting Lew Alcindor. Later Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Bill Walton at center six times in an eight year period, you're going to win a lot. But having to win six games in a deeper balanced NCAA field, with a geographic wealth, and dozens of quality at large teams spread equally, is much harder than any path the Bruins faced during their glory years, unquote. And so there you have it, you have the classic nail in the coffin of the UCLA debate from Jolin Artis new book bracketology, which just came out so we are kicking off March Madness in college basketball this week. And in so today's Mojo minute if you've never got swept up in March Madness, in college basketball's unique three week period of high drama, compelling stories and extremely high level basketball. 

Well, then I simply suggest, allow yourself to allow yourself to enjoy this year's NCAA college basketball tournament, which starts this Thursday. Actually, there's two playing games on Tuesday, but it really kicks off the real thing kicks off at noon, roughly at noon, on Thursday. And if you do allow yourself to be caught up, I'm sure like me, you will be caught up in that emotion because it's the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat. And after all, it's the madness the March and we love it. And in the end the end, I hope to see you in the championship. high fiving your team on to victory in Georgia.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on