Many of you probably have noticed, but there is a national tournament going on right now in sport of college basketball, which pits 64 teams (I refuse to say 68) in a single elimination tournament to crown an eventual national champion. It is commonly referred to as the Big Dance; hopefully you’ve heard of it. This year’s tournament is unique in the fact that there is one clear cut favorite: the Kentucky Wildcats. How big of a favorite? According to Ken Pomeroy, they are a 40% favorite over the entire field, which may actually sound low, but this number is usually in the 10-15% range (last years winner Louisville was a 15% favorite). Kentucky enters the tournament undefeated at 34-0, are winning their games by 29.8 points and are 6/5 betting favorites. According to ESPN’s Chad Ford, they have four players projected as top 20 draft picks and six who could be selected in the first round. It has already been speculated that, should they go on to win the tournament, they should be considered the greatest college basketball team ever. The question will be asked a million times: Where does this team rank? The answer should always be: who cares?

This is a conversation every serious sports fan has had, in some form. To be completely frank, it is annoying and a waste of time. During the 2010 Western Conference Finals, Kobe Bryant was on a tear against the Phoenix Suns, perhaps having his best playoff series ever, which is saying something considering his playoff accomplishments. He averaged 33.6 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.1 rebounds while leading the Lakers to a 4-2 series win and a berth in the NBA Finals. It was beautiful and great basketball by any measure. During the two weeks it took to complete this conference finals round, a daily talking point revolved around where this now put Kobe in the rankings of best players ever. Many then put him in the top five, some still outside the top 10. These conversations then became a comparison between his career and Jordan, Magic, Bird et al. Rather than enjoy the artistry, which we got to see on a nightly basis, it HAD to be determined, yes this is great, but what does it MEAN?

The problem with these debates is there is never a resolution, it boils down to whichever construct and/or bias you have for or against said player or team. They are arguments that inevitably lead us to nowhere. And to be sure, any argument for or against Kentucky maybe being the best team ever will lead down the same path. Kentucky can’t go back in time and play Larry Johnson and UNLV. They can’t match up against Lew Alcindor or Bill Walton and hoop it up against the Bruins. Why even speculate about it? It’s hard enough to win a national championship and go undefeated, it’s even harder to win a mythical game against men who are now in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

We watch sports to see great performance; it’s really that simple. When we see great performance, we should revel in it, call it great and move on with our day. Where those great performances rank should not be a thought in our minds. If we are in an art gallery and see a great painting, we say Wow, that’s a beautiful painting and we move on to the next one. Have you ever been to an art gallery and heard That’s definitely a top 10 painting for me, but no way is it top 5? Of course not, because no one ranks paintings, because it’s ridiculous to rank art. Ranking an extemporaneous performance against another is folly; they are given with their best effort and should be judged on the merits of the performance alone, not compared to someone else’s best effort in another extemporaneous venture. They are to be savored and enjoyed. As we move on to the Sweet 16 this year, lets savor the great performances we see and move on . To quote the fabulous Bill Belichick “on to the next game”.