Madness 101: The Curse of Number One

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be number one, in whatever I was doing. Whether it is in sports or in academics I always wanted to be ranked number 1. It’s just in human nature to strive to be the best. Or is it? If we take a look at what has taken place atop the polls throughout this current NCAA Men’s Basketball season it looks like there is a Curse of the Number One Seed.

At the start of the season the pre-season polls had North Carolina ranked number one, and rightfully so. On paper they had the best talent in the country and they had senior Tyler Hansbrough returning for his final season and coming of a year were he accepted numerous awards, including Player of the Year. They also had Ty Lawson coming back after he decided to stay for his junior season. UNC rolled through the first half of there schedule romping teams by 10, 20 and even 30 points a game. Than when Conference play started the Curse of the Number One seed hit. North Carolina had what was thought to be an easy match up against Boston College in their conference play opener and it was far from it. UNC ended up losing there game to BC and to follow that up their next game against a conference opponent was against undefeated Wake Forest and the next thing the tar heels knew they were 0-2 in ACC play and bounced from the number one spot.

For the next 2 weeks the number one spot was held by Pittsburgh from the Big East. They, like UNC, were rolling through there non conference schedule and even had a 4-0 record in Big East play. One of those wins coming against Georgetown who for the last couple of years seemed to rule the Big East and seemed to be in for a good season even this year. But all those wins did not matter to Louisville. They didn’t care about Pitts 4-0 conference record or the fact they handed Georgetown a big loss on Georgetown’s own court. All Louisville knew was they had a date with the current number one ranked team in Pittsburgh and they wanted to prove to the world they should be considered a contender. And they did, after they beat Pitt at home in an entertaining game 69-63. 1 day after being ranked # 1 for the second straight week.

Wake Forest didn’t mind that Pittsburgh was bit by the Curse because after surprising the world and beating UNC wake went on to beat up on Boston College and than went into Clemson and beat the undefeated Tigers on their home court. Then the Curse struck again. Wake had what was thought to be a walk in the park game against Virginia Tech, but that was far from the case. The Hoakies went in to Wake Forest and stunned the freshly crowned # 1 seed 78-71. But Wake Forest would get its revenge on the curse

Duke who as a whole seemed to be cursed for one reason or another, had its date with the number one seed in the country and boy was it short lived. Coming a massive thrashing of Maryland, Duke was looking at a road game against Wake the team that they just over took in the Polls as the number one seed. The Blue Devils, which has had much luck in recent years, looked sluggish all game and even trailed by double digits late in the game. But Duke made a push late and ended up tying the game and it almost looked like they looked the curse in the face and said “Not This Week”, but the curse proved to be more powerful than the great wizard Dumbledore for the harry Potter novels and Wake ended up scoring on an easy inbound play with 2 seconds left.

UConn who is currently ranked number one has the longest ranked streak after UNC with 3 weeks atop the polls but after their loss on Monday to Pittsburgh at home, Connecticut looks to be dethroned by the Curse. They had a nice run at the top beating some big teams and having a 13 game win streak going into the game against Pittsburgh. This game was huge not only for the polls but also the Big East in general. Sophomore Dejaun Blair was tired of hearing about how good Hasheem Thabeet was and decided to use this game to show the world he was the big man in the Big East. Blair held Thabeet to 5 points and 4 rebounds while collecting 22 points and an outstanding 23 rebounds against the Big East rivals. Not to mention the Huskies lost Jerome Dyson in a game against Syracuse while being ranked number one.

But the most surprising case of The Curse of the Number One Seed is how badly it hit Oklahoma. After UConn lost to Pittsburgh all Oklahoma had to do was win its only game of the week against Big 12 rival Texas and the Number one seed was all Oklahoma’s. But the Curse struck them in the middle of the game against Texas before the new polls were even released. Right before the half Blake Griffin was hit in the nose by Texas Centre Dexter Pittman accidently and Blake griffin sat out the rest of the half. Trailing 34-29 the doctors on the Oklahoma bench decided to keep Griffin out with what appeared to be a concussion. Talk about your bad luck. The Sooners tried to make a run for it but the loss of Griffin was too much even behind Freshman Willie Warren’s 27 point performance.

Believe what you want, bit from what I have seen with my own eyes its apparent there is a Curse of the Number One Seed. If you don’t believe me see what happens to the team who gets the ranking for week 15 of the NCAA season. Or just watch the March Madness and see how well number one seeds will fair.

Nelson “Demon Seed” Swan