Sweet 16 games recap: The Year of the Chalk
The top 2 seeds in each region (top 8 teams in the country) are 23-1 (Wisconsin the only one losing).
The Roy "don't look at the score" and "stay the course" approach managed to win the game for Carolina as they wore down USC. Of note, the Billy Packer "drenched jersey" indicator pointing at USC getting worn out earlier in the game before the Carolina comeback wave hit them. Junior-aged freshman Taj Gibson probably made himself a lot of money by more than holding his own against Psycho-T and Brandan Wright. Tim Floyd's habit/superstition of always holding something in his hand (see Pat Forde story on ESPN.com) got him in trouble as he threw it on the floor and got T'ed up for it essentially sealing the game for Carolana. Also of note UNC managed to do all that without Terry and Hansbrough being factors in the game.
The Quack Attack survived a comeback attempt by UNLV making Oregon the 2nd Pac-10 team to advance to the Elite 8.
A valiant effort by Butler, but Florida was bigger, stronger, longer, and better. Why didn't Billy Donovan go to a smaller "4" earlier on, by playing Dan Warner or Corey Brewer as the 4 when they were unable to match up with the smaller Butler forwards?
A travel by Jeff Green and a possible palming by Jessie Sapp in the last couple of minutes broke the hearts of the Vandy players, coaches and fans. Bad zebras, but bad calls are part of the game. Should Vandy have called a timeout after the Green basket?
Memo to CBS: How about using some west coast analysts for the west coast teams/regions? Len Elmore mostly did ACC and Big East games this season, yet he was doing a lot of Pac-10/west coast teams. How about you get Marques Johnson and Steve Physioc for the west coast games?
Just updated the Coaching Carousel with the top available candidates
Happy Trails Randolph Morris. He just signed a contract with the New York Knicks, a two-year, $1.6 million contract according to ESPN News.
Quick comparison of the tenure of Tubby Smith and Rick Pitino at Kentucky
Tubby/Pitino: 10 vs 9 years, 263-83 vs 219-50, 10 NCAA appearances vs 6, 1 Final Four vs 3, both with one national championship.
Xs and Os Used-car salesman Calipari made a point during today's press conferences that his offense is not just "drive and kick". He said his offense is a combination of the Princeton offense and the european style of play, and it takes smart players to play it, it's not just drive and kick! (Thus Spoke Calipari).
Coaching Carousel Instant Update
Recruiting Domino effects by the Kentucky Coaching change
Tubby Smith gets a 7-year, $12.6 million contract with Minnesota
Steve Alford gets a 6-year $5.85 million contract at New Mexico
Wyoming finds its next coach on the Fresno State bench, former Wyoming assistant Heath Schroyer. Five-year contract with a base salary $150,000 per year, with a max of $500,000 with incentives.
Seth Greenberg's brother and assistant coach Brad Greenberg leaves Virginia Tech to take over the head coaching job at Radford. Radford is just 20 miles away from Blacksburg.
The AP has a new story on the Kentucky coaching search
Xavier extended Sean Miller for another 700 years. Will that stop him from leaving when a bigger job comes calling? No!.
Random Notes and Thoughts du jour
New Nike Uniforms record in the NCAA tourney: 5-1 (Arizona lost)
Did you know? Sean Miller (Xavier coach and former Pitt player) was the one who assisted the Send It In Jerome dunk!
If you are an NCAA team how do you know you are going to have a very highly contested instant classic game? When the brackets are announced? No!. When the TV announcers are announced? Yes, if you get Gus Johnson, you are almost guaranteed an instant classic.
Does Pitt have an NCAA ceiling?. With both Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon they have never been able to get beyond the Sweet 16 despite having 30-win seasons. And as I kept saying throughout the year, Aaron Gray was overrated!
ADs gone wild!: This time the Illinois AD yelling at players and poor Bruce Weber. Poor Bruce Weber: Kelvin Sampson "steals" Helen of Troy (Eric Gordon), his players get drunk and into accidents, his AD yells at him, his own brother won't steer his players towards Illinois,...
Ben Howland on his daughter: "she's been on a 22-year scholarship, she'd better root for UCLA". Howland admitted that he got her front row tickets for Justin TimberSync'alake. I don't think I would ever admit that on national TV. What's next? A private concert by 98 Degrees and the Backstreet Boys?
Iowa wasted their money buying "fire-coach" domain names. Steve Alford left on his own *cough* soft-landing *cough*
The Year of the Chalk, both in the NCAA and the NIT
Random Factoid: Once upon a time Spud Webb dunked on Skip Bayless, according to Skip O'Bayless
Ernie Kent is interested in Michigan while his team is playing. Is he really interested or using it too get a good deal from the Nike Ducks?
Greg Marshall's stinginess on timeouts may have cost him the game vs Oregon
Southern Illinois avenged their former boss's NCAA loss by beating Virginia Tech and sending Seth Greenberg back to the CSTV fieldhouse/studio
The Quack Attack finally gets some national respect. It would if they beat UNLV tonight
Has anyone said this yet? The Trojans are a Class Act
CBS and Basketball fans across the world are still upset at USC for taking out Kevin Durant and Texas
Four Naismith finalists: Acie Law, Kevin Durant, Fernando Alando Tucker, Psycho-T
Ref Curtis Shaw is still smarting after getting posterized by T-Will of Louisville
Did Acie Law's dad participate in one of those MTV make-over shows and got made into a Snoop Doggy Dogg look-a-like?
Steve Lavin can no longer hold it in when talking about UCLA's style of play. Not only he mentions Al Davis's "just win baby", he also said that a nice style of play gets you a pink slip.
Gary Williams refuse to comment on the officials because "we need the money here at Maryland".
Is Dave Leito drinking blue water?
By the numbers
* 40 minutes of commercials per NCAA game on CBS. 40 minutes of game-time as well. One on one!
* 39% of ESPN voters said they were glad Duke and Notre Dame lost in the NCAA
* The 1995 2nd round was the last time we did not have one of Lute Olson, Coach Dirty K and Bob Knight. If you add Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim in the mix, we have to go back to 1974
Coaching Changes, incoming freshmen and ...graduate school research
An incoming freshman commits to a university, not to a specific coach, but one of the main reasons a player choses a specific university is the coach. Some people think that a player should not be allowed to go elsewhere regardless of coaching changes. I disagree. Here is an example that may explain the situation a little better: "Steve wants to do his graduate research work on the sleeping habbits of elephants. Steve is very impressed with the research work of Dr Mary Tide at Auburn. Steve applies and enrolls at Auburn. While Steve is enrolled at Auburn, the main reason he went to Auburn was because he wanted to do his research work with Dr Mary Tide. If for some reason Dr Mary Tide decides to leave the university for another job, or is fired, or retires, then Steve is left in an awkward situation with regards to his graduate research project. While "college basketball" is not a "graduate research project", think of it along those lines, and then you'll see why players (at least incoming freshmen) should be allowed to leave when a coach leaves...
This also appears at ArmchairGM
The Tubby Coaching Dominos Show
You can say goodnight to the Bob Knight to Minnessota blasphemous rumor-speculation of last month. Infact with Steve Alford moving down to the Southwest as well, it's highly unlikely Bob Knight will return to the Big 10. Perhaps if Kelvin Sampson screws up Indiana and then they have to beg Knight to return to Indiana (after they fire all the people who fired Knight)?
Contract is 7 years long and $12.6 million dollars
Comments in [square brackets] below are my opinion/comments...
Tubby during the press conference announcing him as the new Minnesota head coach: "I feel the love already", "win championships", "thank all the great people back in Kentucky", "thank Jim Molinari" [crowd applauds], "not going to be easy", "high expectations but with blood/sweat/tears", "exciting, fun style of basketball and win", "students we need you!"
During the Q&A session with the media, Tubby said: "overachieve until we get [better players]..." (he stopped short of saying that), "a new challenge", "guardian/servant of the game", "live and lead by example (but I'm not perfect)", "sharing in a family of 17" [how about a Coke double-feature commercial with Roy's dime commercial???]
Conspiracy Theory???: Minnessota AD denies that a former associate (currently at KY) brokered the deal. This certainly coincides with the smoothness of the transition and smooth landing of Tubby and the 1.5 million April 3rd bonus.
Will Cole Adrich want to stay at home now that the Gophers have a high-tier coach? He did sign with Kansas though.
Calipari on Kentucky on Cold Pizza: "my name is mentioned in every AAU, high school, college and pro opening", "I'm happy for Tubby", "if they are not treating you right, go to another school".
Greg Anthony on Cold Pizza: "[Kentucky] fans have every right to be upset", and said that "you are paid millions to win".
Tubby had more NCAA appearances than the whole Minnessota program. Clearly Tubby wanted to go somewhere where every win he gets is celebrated with joy. Tubby's ball-line defense is ideally suited for the Big 10 style of play. If Tubby's record at Minnesota is anywhere near his Kentucky record, they'll build statues for him, name buildings and even name Lakes after him!!!. Tubby went from a Top 5 to a Top 125 program, but his style of coaching and play and comfort zone with pressure might prove to be a great match...
Wall to wall Kentucky and Tubby coverage at Kentucky.com
Andy Katz and Pat Forde on Cold Pizza
on Tubby and Minnessota Katz: "The process started 6 weeks ago". Thursday 230am they decided to send a plane.
on Kentucky *** Forde: 1st choice: Billy Donovan. No clearcut 2nd choice: Izzo, Crean, Few, That Matta, Jay Wright.
on Iowa *** Katz: Altman if he is offered more than $800K (he makes at Creighton), then Chris Lowery (enjoy the defense!).
on Michigan *** Katz: could go for Lon Kruger and Kevin Stallings... Pat Forde: Kruger is a mid-western guy, his lifestyle doesn't fit Vegas. Also Chris Lowery
Yesterday's wall to wall coverage here!!!
Thanks for the link to the BigLead.com, a website that covers the world of sports and has the inside scoop. A very interesting story is a change of the guard at the top on ESPN and the trickle-down effect
Recruiting Wars is now updated with a list of high profile recruits affected by the Coaching Carousel. The most high profile so far among the committed are Alex Legion (Michigan) and AJ Stewart (Kentucky), while among the uncommitted the one and only Patrick Patterson... Also, the Morgan Wootten winners are announced, the late signing period is just around the corner, and a couple of USC-related posts (OJ Mayo and Malik Story).
Homerism Defined: Howie Schwab was wearing an ACC polo shirt on Cold Pizza.
Sweet 16, Friday March 22, 2007 CBS TV Schedule
4:10pmPT/7:10pmET Butler vs Florida
4:27pmPT/7:27pmET Vanderbilt vs Georgetown
6:40pmPT/9:40pmET UNLV vs Oregon
6:57pmPT/9:57pmET USC vs North Carolina
Elite 8, Saturday March 23, 2007 CBS TV Schedule
12pmPT/3pm ET: Road to the Final Four
1:40pmPT/4:40pmET Memphis vs Ohio State
4:05pmPT/7:05pmET UCLA vs Kansas
Today's musical guest (blogs have musical guests too!) is the new Nine Inch Nails two-hour long live DVD, "Beside you in time" (24 songs), just $12 at Amazon.
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