But what if this madness is a mirage? What if we for once stopped being sheep and questioned the nature of our reality? What if we simply opened our third eye to see the obvious warning signs flashing right in front of our eyes?
Burt Tyrannosaurus Macklin hasn't been seen since he fell off the map in Pawnee, Indiana a few years ago. Macklin led us to believe he retired. The FBI's Twitter account even tried to tell us as much and throw us off his scent. The FBI isn't supposed to investigate college basketball, though. And yet out of nowhere, an investigation by the Feds went from raising eyebrows around college basketball to rattling the sport to its core these past six months? Interesting.
The Pawnee Police Department never possessed the moxie to challenge Greg Pikitis. They were clueless at pinning Ben Wyatt's pie assailant. Macklin was the only man up for the job. Meanwhile, the NCAA lacks both the moral compass and legal enforcement to correct its wrongdoings. It seems evident to me an unconventional agent with roots in one of our country's most passionate basketball states would be up for this challenge.
Think about it. Your average narc would question only the blue bloods. Badger John Calipari into admitting he's paying recruits at Kentucky. Prove Marvin Bagley collected duffel bags of Benjamins during his recruiting pitches from Duke. Once these quests proved futile, they would have admitted defeat and gone home. That's not Macklin's style. He didn't abandon his pursuit of Janet Snakehole after one attempt.
He went west of the Mississippi River, normally a desolate wasteland for college basketball attention and storylines. He narrowed in on the desert and found a man who gave all the classic telltale signs of trouble. Mainly, he sweats may more than any normal man should in a dry heat. Not to mention he landed DeAndre Ayton, who given his frame, may share Macklin's middle name.
A report last month claimed FBI wiretaps caught Sean Miller, head coach of Arizona, discussing paying Ayton, who will likely be a top five pick in this June's NBA draft, $100,000 to secure his commitment. Miller has vehemently denied the allegations, and various edits to ESPN's report have poked holes in the legacy, but that's not important. What is important is Burt Macklin did his job. He tried to warn us.
Macklin wrote his legacy in Pawnee looking out for everyday people. Last time I checked, everyday people liked the NCAA Tournament for all those reasons I mentioned in the first paragraph. Everyday people don't want to watch an Arizona title get vacated weeks, months, or possibly years from now, especially when circumstantial evidence like this comes out ahead of any potential run. Louisville presented the awkward case of writing a revisionist history in sports only last month. Considering Ayton is playing like a man possessed by the best bigs in the history of the sport since this allegation came to light, it's well within the realm of possibility.
Picture this run by the Wildcats over the next few weeks. They crush a mid major team in Buffalo showing no regards for the team representing the farmers and blue collar workers that make up Macklin's home in middle America. They get past the Kentucky Wildcats and their rabid fanbase goes hysterical when they find out in February 2019 that Ayton should have been ruled ineligible. They bully Virginia into submission and basketball nerds everywhere need lobotomies after watching Tony Bennett's packline defense fall short of the Final Four once again. They zip Cincinnati up and put the Bearcats in body bags.
In the Final Four, there are a host of disappointing possibilities. Arizona's penultimate victim could be Xavier, fresh off making the national semifinals for the first time in school history. It could be North Carolina falling just short of their third straight appearance in the national championship. With their title game opponent, Arizona might crush America's most popular March maven, Tom Izzo, and Michigan State. Duke's Grayson Allen (probably born and raised in Eagleton let's be honest) could end his final game uncontrollably sobbing after tripping up and falling short of going out on top. I can't begin to imagine the devastation should a Cinderella team, like Butler in 2010 or 2011, make a run to write this scenario's final chapter.
Burt Macklin's evidence may prove to not be enough to pin charges on Arizona. His work may be all for naught if Sean Miller continues to dispatch questionable lineups leading to a Wildcats' loss before the tournament's weekend first weekend is over. But his service should be commended regardless. He didn't need LaVar Ball's brashness or Jay Bilas' legalese to start a dialogue about changing the NCAA. He only needed himself.
Cheers to you, Burt. You son of a bitch.
J. Nave
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