Goodman: True madness is here for Auburn and Alabama

There was a frenzied moment during a wild day in Birmingham when the spirit prince of College Basketball Crazy Town, USA, skipped towards his psychotic subjects in the crowd and flashed his wild-eyed teeth.

It was KD Johnson, of course, the Auburn man who is beloved by fans for his bouncing, stomping, screaming energy of animated basketball joy. There was no chance that Auburn could lose to Iowa on this opening night of the NCAA Tournament at Legacy Arena, and maybe America didn’t understand that at the time, but Prince Johnson and his royal court of chaos certainly did.

With a lead on the scoreboard and the look of lunacy all around, the Prince gazed out at the boiling sea of mass hysteria and opened his teeth wide and feral. Out came his tongue, and then, like a mouth metronome, he moved it back and forth, from side to side, this way and that, tasting the air, feeding the appetites, sharing a carnal love, keeping the beat of a manic rhythm that pulsated through every heart in the country.

“This is March Madness,” Johnson said after the game, celebrating the start of it all like he was a fan himself.

It was quite the experience for College Basketball Crazy Town, USA, on Thursday, but it was just the beginning. Now comes the Round of 32. Nine-seed Auburn went on to win its first-round game 83-75, and will play one-seed Houston at 6:10 p.m. on Saturday. Earlier in the day at Legacy Arena, the one-seed Alabama Crimson Tide washed over the 16-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 96-75. A favorite to win the whole thing, Alabama plays eight-seed Maryland at 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, or directly after rival Auburn.

The first full day of the NCAA Tournament in Birmingham was all drama all the time. It felt like the Magic City Classic and the Iron Bowl on the same day. It started early with Maryland’s 67-65 victory over nine-seed West Virginia and it ended late with Houston’s 63-52 win against 16-seed Northern Kentucky. In between were the home games for the home-state teams.

What’s next? A different kind of party for St. Patrick’s Day, and then back at it.

But with a twist like never before and probably never again.

“Guys, this is Birmingham, Alabama,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “This is football country. And we dominate. And I’m really proud of that. But we looked like a basketball state today.

“Alabama took care of their business today early on. They filled the building. Auburn played a really good team out of the Big Ten. And we played well and we filled our building. And I think it makes a statement about basketball in the state of Auburn and the great job that people here in Birmingham did putting this tournament together.”

“State of Auburn,” Pearl said, and I think that was an unintentional mixup of words, but I’m not quite sure because the motivations of fandom in this town are about to get confusing.

Pace yourselves, friends. Stay hydrated, and drink water, too. The real craziness comes next. This city knows all about big Saturdays with Alabama and Auburn, but not like this. This is different. Y’all, this is truly a different kind of madness.

Stick your tongue out, Birmingham, Alabama. Revel in this moment like Prince Johnson celebrates an and-one bucket. What happens on Saturday will be something this city and this state remembers for a long time.

Have you realized the implications yet? Have you processed fully the scenario that will play out on national television? Did the NCAA understand what it was doing when it placed Auburn and Alabama together in Birmingham but in separate regional brackets of the Big Dance?

Alabama is the top-seeded team in the South. Auburn is the nine-seed in the Midwest, and the Tigers are playing one-seed Houston. Certainly there is a joker with a sneaky sense of humor behind this mischief. It’s Auburn and Houston first on Saturday and then Alabama vs. Maryland as the nightcap.

Yes, I think the NCAA knew exactly what it was doing when it sent Alabama and Auburn to Legacy Arena to begin the NCAA Tournament. This first weekend of the tournament is a celebration like Birmingham deserves. It’s a great sports town, and the city, through hard work and unity, has put itself in a position to be the envy of others.

And unity between Alabama and Auburn will be a theme for one of the greatest days of sports a divided town has ever known.

In football, we have the Iron Bowl every year, but for one day in the history of this split-down-the-middle state, the NCAA has given Birmingham a scenario where it is in the best interest of Alabama to cheer for the success of Auburn before the Crimson Tide takes the court.

The Final Four, after all, is in Houston. If Auburn, playing in front of a home-state crowd, can knock off and upset the Houston Cougars, then that might be the biggest win of all for Auburn’s rival.

Can Alabama move itself to cheer for rival Auburn?

Alabama, Prince Johnson of Auburn is your champion for a day. Welcome to College Basketball Crazy Town, USA. The rules are different here. In this royal court, togetherness reigns like a mad king.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.