DESIGNATED NOTE: Today’s Designated Contributor is Nico Van Thyn, our former Designated Boss, lifetime friend, recently retired scribe, Woodlawn and Louisiana Tech graduate, former SID for Centenary and executive sports editor of the Shreveport Journal, and the best in-a-fit-of-rage telephone book thrower we have ever seen. EVER!)

By NICO VAN THYN, Designated Contributor

Have some suggestions for the NCAA basketball Tournament, which fall into the “it-will-never-happen” category:

(1) Do away with the conference championship tournaments; (2) include every Division I men’s team in the Tournament — yes, all 351.

Crazy? Maybe. Fair? You decide. (We’ll come back to this if you read on.)

March Madness, indeed. We’re a little mad at the men’s tournament selection committee.
Did not think we would be making a case for Middle Tennessee State University basketball. But here it is.

The NCAA committee put it to the Blue Raiders, or if you prefer uglier terms, hosed them … screwed them. Left them out of the field of 68 teams. Left them for the (who really cares?) NIT.
Those of us who are interested in Conference USA, thanks to our ties to Louisiana Tech, and actually respect the conference, are not happy.

Never mind Middle Tennessee’s 24-7 record, the most road victories (12) in the nation, its 16-2, regular-season C-USA championship run; its RPI of 33 (ratings percentage index — the NCAA system to judge teams based on their W’s and L’s and strength of schedule).

That 33 easily should have told that NCAA committee that Middle Tennessee was in the upper half of the would-be qualifiers.

But … no respect.

Because it lost in the C-USA winner-take-all (automatic NCAA spot) tournament — to Southern Miss, in overtime, no less), the Blue Raiders were left out. They had won 11 games in a row prior to that.

But the NCAA committee picked two “majors” with big reputations — Oklahoma, which tied for sixth in the Big 12 (with an 8-10 conference record), and Syracuse, which tied for 10th in the ACC.

For years, the NCAA committee members always told us that RPI mattered a lot. So did a team’s last 10 games. Sure. That’s why Oklahoma — 14-2 record in mid-January, and 4-11 in the last eight weeks — steamed into the Tournament. Bunk.

Some of us live in Big 12 territory and think OU’s Lon Kruger is one of the best coaches in the country and one of the best guys. And, the Sooners have the hot-shot freshman guard Trae Young, who leads the country in scoring (27.4 points a game) and assists (8.8).

But, really, you think the Sooners would beat Middle Tennessee head-up?

The Blue Raiders, in the NCAAs, took care of Michigan State — in a No. 15 seed-beating-No. 2 scenario — two years ago and Minnesota last year. So it’s a proven program.

We endorse a Facebook post earlier in the week by Jamie Eagles (whose late father, Tommy Joe, coached La. Tech in the NCAAs a few times three decades ago). Jamie suggested that the mid- to lower-major conferences do away with their postseason tournament (which general produce little revenue) and let the regular-season champion receive the NCAA automatic bid.
(That would have worked for Louisiana Tech twice in recent years when Mike White coached regular-season champs, but the Bulldogs did not win the conference tournament.)

So back to the thoughts at the top: Take the week now used for conference tournaments and instead make the first week of the NCAA Tournament … with all 351 teams — in 32 conferences — involved. Divide the first stage into eight regionals (so 43 or 44 teams in each regional), and make those as geographically close as possible.

For instance, mixed the SEC with the Southland and the SWAC and the Sun Belt.

Stay true to geographical regions. Give first-round byes to regular-season champions. Set up five-man seedings/pairings committees for each region). Play each region down to eight teams … thus 64 final teams. Distribute the payouts to the teams by the number of rounds they advance (so everyone at least gets a cut of the whole pie).

Keep the NCAA Tournament selection committee as it is now, and let those people seed the 64 teams and set up the pairings, as they do now.

Just as happens now, distribute the payouts to the teams by the number of rounds they advance (so everyone at least gets a financial cut).

You’ll still have some dissatisfactions with the seedings and the pairings. But at least, those final 64 will be decided by games, not the whims of the big-conference power brokers.

Put the decisions on the playing floor, not in a conference selection room. Let the Middle Tennessees and Louisiana Techs earn their respect.

DESIGNATED NOTE: Doug Ireland is in charge of athletic media relations at his alma mater, Northwestern State, and has  been since 1989. He is also chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and its executive director. He is also our friend and, after today’s surgery, he is short one gall bladder. But he is not short on humor or, more importantly, on heart, something he needed to do such a good job on this tragic story of youth and rage and loss. It was voted Story of the Year in the 2017 Louisiana Sports Writers Association writing contest.

It’s been more than a month and the fog has not lifted.

Death is almost always like that. Untimely passings, more so. When somebody young dies, reality’s bite is especially cruel.

Particularly when it’s somebody as promising as Dylan Poche, the 18-year-old local angler who seemed headed for stardom on the pro bass fishing circuit.

Natchitoches outdoorsman Steve Graf, host of the popular Hook Em Up and Track Em Down radio show on Shreveport’s KWKH AM radio station, has rubbed shoulders with the best in the business.

“I’ve talked with (four-time Bassmaster Classic champion) Kevin VanDam and fished with some of the best,” said Graf, a former minor league baseball player. “Each of those guys have something special, a gift, like a baseball player who can hit a ball 500 feet. It’s rare. Dylan was that kind of kid with a rod in his hand. He had instincts you can’t coach or teach. The great ones have that.

“Dylan was a quiet, confident, but not remotely arrogant kid. He was easy to get along with; all his teammates loved him. He was a rare breed. He was not intimidated fishing alongside pros. He felt he was as good as anybody who could hold a rod, and he had just started proving it.”

Dylan was completely invested in those dreams, certainly inspired by his uncle Keith Poche, who is on the Bassmaster Elite Series pro circuit and finished third in the sport’s version of The Masters, the 2012 Bassmaster Classic hosted by Bossier City on the Red River.

At Natchitoches Central High School, Dylan had grudgingly decided to drop another pursuit, the Chiefs’ baseball team, to focus on his fishing career. He enrolled at Northwestern State last fall, planning to be the first in his family to earn a college degree, and joined the NSU Fishing Team, alongside his good friend Cain Hamous, another Natchitoches teenager.

In a few fateful seconds late on the last Saturday night of January, Dylan died, not by accident, but by another’s hand, in the sort of dispute that can arise among young men.

A week earlier, the fishing community far beyond the 318 area code had seen a flash of the immense potential Poche possessed. He made his debut on the FLW Bass Fishing League in the Cowboy Division tournament on Toledo Bench, weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces of bass and collecting a $1,137 check.

“There were 135 pros in the field and Dylan came in fourth,” said Graf. “One of the pros, who was in the boat with him on the last day, got up at the weigh in and told the crowd, ‘watch this young man. He’s going to be a great angler.’ The tournament at Toledo lit his fire.”

College fishermen carry a load. These are not one-dimensional kids. The time investment in their sport is staggering, yet they have jobs, they go to school, they set high standards for their grades and team responsibilities. Some work in the outdoors industry. Cain Hamous’ part-time employment is rather unusual. He helps out at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home.

So it was that as February beckoned, Cain stood smiling by Dylan’s side, and five days later, laid him to rest. On a cloudy, warm night, a dozen or so young men stood around a fire on the banks of Sibley Lake chatting and chuckling. A minute later, after an angry intrusion, Cain Hamous stood his ground a few feet away as his fishing partner suddenly lost his life. After vainly, heroically trying to stem the flow from a stab wound so randomly, precisely devious that it would have been a killer even steps away from the emergency room, the next Thursday, Cain did his friend one last favor.

The Feb. 4 funeral at Freedom Life Church was suitably, an epic event. The powerful proceedings can still be seen on the church’s website, culminating with the casket being loaded onto Poche’s bass rig for one last outing.

“It was as perfect as anything like that could possibly be,” said Juddy Hamous, Cain’s dad and advisor for the NSU Fishing Team.

Doing his job, like good people do, Cain had dug the grave. After Dylan was settled into his final resting place, Cain, Dylan’s girlfriend Amber Raynes, and Dylan’s not-much-younger brother Kaleb, hand-filled the dirt around the coffin, then lovingly patted down the ground.

Even today, it seems just right. And horribly wrong.

Two lives were lost that night, Dylan’s and his alleged assailant’s, who faces the likelihood of living out his days in Angola State Prison. Dozens more, to say the least, have been deeply scarred by a half-minute of lethal hubris, a flareup with wicked finality.

Dylan simply did what today’s culture calls for, something seemingly honorable, yet now flawed logic. The problem was brewing for a few days, said sheriff’s office investigators. A casual campfire at the boat landing became the setting for a skirmish not unlike countless others for as long as young boys becoming men have sorted through their explosive emotions.

Was there malicious intent? Seems obvious. Murderous? Who knows? This much is certain. We’re left with precious memories and dreams that didn’t come close to fulfillment. Never mind fishing stardom and its rewards. Think of Dylan clasping that college degree, starting a family, living a long, perhaps not necessarily noteworthy life, with its ups and downs, joys and sorrows. No judge or jury or justice system, however noble, can make this right. Nobody, nothing, ever will.

We can only try, for everybody enveloped by the tragedy of Dylan Poche’s senseless slaying. We can remind our kids that life isn’t an X-Box game. The reset button isn’t available. What seems so vital, so infinitely important, at an intense moment, usually isn’t. We believe we should stand for something, and almost always, that is so true. Times like this, we must defy character, and find the elusive strength to stand down.

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3rd Annual Dylan Kyle Poche Memorial Bass Tournament

Register in Person: Friday, March 23, from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm at Toledo Town & Tackle, or on the Morning of Event from 4:30 am to 6:30 am at Cypress Bend Boat Launch. Mail In Registrations must be received by March 22, 2018. Trailering Tournament: Start Fishing at 7:00 am and stop Fishing at 3:00 pm. Be in No later than 4:00 pm

ENTRY FEE $150.00 (Team or Individual) Optional Big Bass $20/Boat

First Place $7,000.00 GUARANTEED
* Additional Payouts will be made
* One place for every 7 entries

Raffles * DJ * Bounce House * Food & Fun for All

Register by mail: (checks payable to)
Dylan Kyle Poche Memorial Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 74
Natchitoches, LA 71458

or Register at: Dylankylepoche.com or to obtain more information & to print additional entry forms.

Proceds to benefit the Dylan Kyle Poche’ Memorial Foundation, Inc. a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization

Contact Burt Poche’ 318-652-3176 or 318-652-7192