Saviour?

It has come to my attention that, in some circles, people are celebrating Duke's victory in the Elite Eight over Baylor, for the reason that it has saved the Final Four. Saved the Final Four? Was the Final Four being held captive in a castle tower by a dragon, and only Kyle Singler in shining armor (or if you watched the game, Lance Thomas) could defeat the beast and save it? I supposed the above can be rationalized by the people who could give a shit about basketball, but happen to work high up at CBS. Perhaps, it could also be rationalized by those in charge of trying to fill an arena for Final Four viewing. But to think that we would not have had a brilliant Final Four without a #1 seed, or a big name team, is ridiculous. In fact, I'm an enormous fan of sport, and I am far more drawn to the early rounds of the tournament, the potential of surprise, the Cinderellas and the slain Giants, and I find myself watching less basketball as the tournament advances.
I have found this to come up in various sporting championships, and it certainly bugs me as a sports fan. The four teams in that make it this far, sure as hell earn the right to be here and be celebrated for doing so. Do I think that Michigan State, Duke, West Virginia and Butler are the four best teams in College Basketball? Of course not. But would I have any other teams here. Hell No. You have to earn your trip here and these four teams did. And looking at the basketball that they've provided for us in the past two weeks, how can we believe that we will be rewarded with anything but great basketball for this final weekend. It would be ridiculous to assume otherwise. Will all three games be decided by a last second sprawling shot? Unlikely. But we should have 3 quality games. What could possibly make people believe that you need specific names or players or what to make a sporting event worthwhile is plain stupid. Good basketball is good basketball, and that's all that should matter to people who don't have money at stake in ratings or ticket sales.
I feel almost silly making this argument, because it is so blatantly obvious to anyone who actually cares about sports themselves, but it was peeving me enough today to write about it. Xavier and Kansas State played the best basketball game of the tournament and the best that I can remember since the second round of I believe in 2003 when the #1 seed in the West, Arizona, edged, I think #9 seed, Gonzaga, after two great overtimes, in what was the most incredibly compelling NCAA tournament game I've ever taken any part in. However if some "fans" saw Xavier-Kansas State as the tournament final, I'm sure you'd get some gripes and wishes for Kansas-Kentucky. I'm sure the same can easily be said about seeing Gonzaga there back in 2003. Especially in college, let's celebrate these kids who have earned everything they've gotten.
All-in-all, I wish everyone good basketball this coming weekend.

-APT

Also, a quick note: ESPN presented PTI with the argument of whether the NCAA should reseed for the Final Four. If this answer it not obvious, it is a heavily resounding NO.