MARCH TO ATLANTA
Like thousands of college players, Georgia Tech's Javaris Crittenton will not be in this weekend's Final Four in the Georgia Dome, which was reason enough for him not only to block the NCAA tournament from his mind, but also flee it.
Then, a friend changed his mind, and now his girlfriend in Virginia must wait.
At first, I was going to go out of town because I was so upset we're not in it," Javaris Crittenton said. "Then Kevin Durant hit me up and said he was coming. That's the only reason I'm staying. We're going to chill at the Final Four together and do some stuff. I'm going to show him the city."
Javaris Crittenton and Kevin Durant, the Texas freshman phenom named national player of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, are rarities in that they will attend games. (Javaris Crittenton said an uncle got tickets; he doesn't know how.)
Several players say they've hardly paid attention to the NCAAs.
Then, there's Purdue freshman guard Chris Kramer, who helped the Boilermakers beat Arizona in the first round, and give Florida — a Final Four participant — a run in the second round. He and others like him have bought into the madness.
"I've watched almost all the games," said Kramer, who made a shot from his knees against Arizona. "The highlights have been when [Ohio State's] Greg Oden blocked the final shot against Tennessee and Jeff Green's [game-winning] shot for Georgetown [against Vanderbilt in the third round]."
Kramer has been rehabbing his knees. Javaris Crittenton dropped basketball for a week after Tech lost to UNLV in the first round and has been working hard since, especially on "maximizing the space I can create with three dribbles."
Northwestern (La.) State junior forward Colby Bargeman, whose team upset Iowa in the first round of last year's tournament, can't stay away from the game.
He didn't make his high school team as a freshman, becoming team videographer. Then, he grew four inches, improved and now plays — and supports — Division I.
"I've been watching every game all the way to the Final Four," said Bargeman, whose team lost the Southland Conference tournament title to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to miss this year's NCAAs. "I'm a fan of the game. Some of my teammates probably lost their feel for the game after we lost.
"Most games I root for underdogs, because when we were in the tournament we were underdogs."
Kevin Kanaskie, a sophomore point guard at Middle Tennessee State, is a coach's son. You know he's been up late even though MTSU didn't make the NCAAs.
"I'm still following the tournament, every game, because I love college basketball," he said. "I am pulling for Ohio State because that's who I predicted would win it, plus my dad [Kurt] is an assistant at Penn State so I'm supporting the Big Ten."
Many, like Georgia's Billy Humphrey, haven't exactly glued themselves to TVs.
"It's not something I make a priority to watch," said the Bulldogs guard, whose team went to the NIT. "Most of the time I just hear what's going on. People have told me Florida and Tennessee are still playing."
Uh, Billy: The Vols were knocked out last weekend. Cue laughter. "Oh, really? Well there ya go," Humphrey said. "I guess I'm not paying very close attention."
Tech's D'Andre Bell said that because he's from Los Angeles he watched parts of UCLA and USC games, but, "other than that, I'm not really interested." Mostly, he's been catching up on schoolwork.
Teammates Javaris Crittenton and Anthony Morrow watched no basketball the first weekend of the tournament after Tech's elimination. Morrow has tuned in recently.
"I've been watching more NIT and my homeboy, my friend K.C. Rivers [of Clemson]," Morrow said. "I know the four teams in the Final Four, that's about it. Usually, it's watching games while going out to eat and stuff like that."
Morrow is not the only catch-as-catch-can fan.
Baylor junior guard Aaron Bruce, an Australian, has caught "bits and pieces," he said. "It's hard to watch because we're not playing in the tournament, although some of what I've watched motivates me to get to it next year."
Crittenton can relate.
"At first, after we lost, I didn't want to watch it at all because I sort of felt we were supposed to still be in it," he said. "I was at the barber shop watching, and it just hurt. In the back of my mind, I was like, 'What if?' "
Indeed, what if?
Humphrey has a ticket to the semis and will root for — gasp — the Gators.
"I want Florida to win it because they gave us three losses and, if somebody has to win it I want it to be somebody in our division in our conference," he said of the Bulldogs' SEC East rivals. "I think I'll check it out. Hopefully one day I'll get to see it from the inside."
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