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And then there were 16 Musings on the first week of NCAA tournament play
Four days and 48 games are in the books (sorry, that cheapo play-in game doesn't count), and I'm drunk on baskets ... From North Carolina's set-jaw grimness in its loss to Penn State in the second round to coach Matt Doherty's postgame tears, there was something familiarly drum-tight about the Tar Heels. Carolina thought it had missed out on Roy Williams last spring, but maybe the school got him after all. Meanwhile, Romper Room Roy is playing with stuffed animals in public. Perhaps MaDo should simply bypass Angst City and head straight for Mellowville. ...
On the other end of the aroma spectrum, the best day at a subregional was Thursday in Boise (four games decided by seven points) while the best session was Friday afternoon in Memphis (Gonzaga and Indiana State took out Virginia and Oklahoma). ... Despite Kareem Rush's best efforts, Quin Snyder is now free to rejoin Kate Moss on the set of that Calvin Klein shoot whence he came. ... Barely a year ago I sat in the office of Ohio University athletic director Tom Boeh and heard him tell me that coaches in the MAC, trying to scratch out wins in the shadow of the Big Ten while playing in an outrageously tough league, should be immune from unrealistic expectations. So, natch, last week Boeh canned coach Larry Hunter. ... If the Pac-10 really wants to put a West Coast wrench in the East Coast hoops establishment, including the favorite subject of the commentator Arizona coach Lute Olson calls "Dukie Vitale," UCLA and USC need to prevent Duke and Kentucky from meeting in Saturday's East Regional final in Philadelphia. Both the Philadelphia Daily News and the Lexington Herald-Leader are readying retrospectives of the 1992 all-blue encounter in the City of Brotherly Love, and I haven't yet canvassed the scribes along Tobacco Road. ... When Rick Pitino says it shouldn't be about the money, I'm first to queue up at the skepticism booth. But the Youthful Genius is entirely within his rights to be incredulous at Bo Schembechler's absurd assertion that no basketball coach in Ann Arbor should earn more than Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr. Tom Izzo, send that crotchety maize-and-blue chucklehead a thank-you note for all the additional recruits who'll now sign with the Spartans. ... Rickie P.'s CBS commentary, by the way, had me listening raptly. I only wished he had explained what he meant by jargon like "nice zipper action there." ... Illinois AD Ron Guenther is apparently among the big-time pooh-bahs trying to rid the college game of early-season exempt events like those in Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico, which give the mid-majors a chance to take on the bigs under fair conditions. Guenther might want to give a listen to his basketball coach. "I know our league has a stand on this issue," says Bill Self, who a season ago saw his Tulsa team come together in Puerto Rico in November and reach a regional final in March. "But I think it would be terrible. We wouldn't be where we are as a team this season if we hadn't gone to Maui. We wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't have won the Big Ten." ... As Indiana State was scoring its upset of Oklahoma, Indiana's Batesville High, alma mater of the Sycamores' senior point guard, Michael Menser, was advancing to Saturday's Hoosier state title game in Conseco Fieldhouse. Readers of Sports Illustrated may remember Menser and his Batesville Bulldogs as the little team we followed in 1997 for an obit of the all-comers Indiana high-school tournament. Butler's Brandon Miller, who had a (hot) hand in taking out Wake Forest last week, starred for the New Castle High team that eliminated Batesville that year. ... Best T-shirt: Gonzaga's CINDERELLA, MY ASS. ... Best anthem improv: Virginia students, who hit the "whose" in "whose broad stripes and bright stars" with a shouted "'Hoos!" ... Most persuasive We Don't Get No Respect Act from a major-conference team: Tie, Ole Miss and Penn State. ... Least persuasive We Don't Get No Respect Act: Arizona. ... Creighton forward Kyle Korver could pass for an oversized Matt Damon, while over in the NIT, Wyoming forward Josh Davis was separated from Ben Affleck at birth. ... The Weinsteins should book the Bluejays and Cowboys for the Miramax Mid-Major Classic next season, then film and release the meeting of these two snipers as Good Look Hunting. All residuals to go straight to a cause right up Hollywood's alley, the MEAC/SWAC Automatic Bid Defense Fund. ... There was something paradoxically admirable about the way his Eagles mates, from coach Al Skinner on down, tried to cover for Boston College's Kenny Harley after Harley drove to the hoop with his team trailing by three in the final seconds. Go ahead and criticize a senior for not being aware of time and score, and induct him into the Society of Buckner ian Boston Boneheads. But whatever togetherness Skinner instilled in that team this season lasted 'til the very end, and that's impressive. ... Of all the how-the-other-half-lives tales to come out of the upset-studded first round, none was richer than that of Hofstra coach Jay Wright's coiffure. Seems that Wright used to slick back his black hair, but was so often mistaken for UCLA's Steve Lavin, coach of the Dutchmen's opponent, that he simply gave up and began styling his locks differently. ... Every year we incant that truism about steady guard play holding the key to tournament success. And every year we're tempted to say, "Nah, too clichéd." Clichéd it may be, but it's also straight-up true. The best examples are Temple and Cincinnati, two teams that have already advanced further this season than they did last, when each had been ticketed for the Elite Eight, if not the Final Four. So all props to the Owls' Quincy Wadley and Lynn Greer, and the Bearcats' Steve Logan and Kenny Satterfield. ... Vivid image from last season's Sunday press conference at the Final Four: Michigan State freshman Jason Richardson patiently explaining how defensively inadequate he was, and how he didn't deserve more than the sparse playing time he was then getting. Overriding impression from this season so far: Uh, Jason, you can play any kind of defense you want. ... Let us know if you can find: Tayshaun Prince's calves ... Gary Williams' Thorazine ... Mike Davis' dignity ... Iowa State ... Sports Illustrated senior writer Alexander Wolff is author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure, which will be published in January 2002 by Warner Books. Send comments to thehooplife@aol.com.
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