Daily Tourney Talk (Monday)

Coaching Carousel: Michigan
There will be three types of coaches flirting with Michigan and vice versa:
1) The ones who want to coach at Michigan and Michigan wants them to coach there (the new coach will likely come from this group)
2) The ones who want to boost their current salary and status but they are not really interested in Michigan, but Michigan wants them and will talk to them, if nothing else to make the job appear more appealing. Remember Rick Barnes and John Calipari taking a look at NC State and then a couple of weeks later getting salary and contrast boosts? :-)
3) The ones who want the job, but Michigan doesn't really want them, but would consider them if they can't get anyone from the list of who they want or they can't afford them.

So with that in mind

Dick Vitale heavily encourages Michigan to hire Tubby Smith (on Mike and Mike)... And he goes on a shaming spree for all those who dare to complain about Tubby's record.

Michigan fan blog Conquering Heroes has a long list of potential candidates.

The ESPN story has a long list of candidates according to Andy Katz, including two of his co-workers (Majerus and Lavin). Also included is Ben Braun but I have a hard time believing Michigan would hire Braun since his record at Cal is not that much different from Amaker's record at Michigan (with the exception of a few NCAA tourney appearances)

A quick recap of the latest news in the College Hoops Repor(t)

The Greg Oden foul continues to get some talk, should it have been just a hard foul or something more?

Logic and common-sense says Texas A&M will disect Memphis like a frog (a Steve Lavin term; no animals were harmed during this phrase). But don't sleep on the Memphis Tigers! Calipari can throw all sorts of defenders on Acie Law from fire-hydrant Allen to 7-foot wing-span Robert Dozier. And Calipari has at least a dozen of them.

Dust up your VHS tapes! The 2005-2006 North Carolina at USC game could have a similar outcome in the Sweet 16? The Tennessee at Ohio State game from January is also repeated in the Sweet 16!

Where are you ACC Homers?. Dan Bonner wanted nine (9) ACC teams in the NCAA tourney. They got seven. I thought BC was a bubble team without Sean Williams, but what do I know? The ACC only has one team in the Sweet 16!


Xs and Os

If you are Xavier, do you let Ron Lewis shoot and make a heroic three or do you foul him? Not fouling did not help Xavier. The three-point line is so close and the shooters are good!

Tennessee did both against Virginia, in the first such possession they fouled, in the second possession they didn't. It worked out for them both times.


NCAA Tourney primetime ratings

Thursdays games got CBS a 6.2 rating (9%), and the #6 spot. The 18-49 age group got them a 3.5. Last year they got a 7.3 (12%) and 4.0 among 18-49 year olds.

Friday's games got CBS a 5.9 rating (10%) and the #1 spot. The 18-49 age group was a 3.4 and also #1. Last year they got a 6.1 (11%) with the same 18-49 rating.

Saturday's games got CBS a 3.8 in the advertiser-interest 18-49 age group, compared to 3.2 last year.

Sunday's games sneaked into primetime (Kentucky vs Kansas, Nevada vs Memphis, Texas vs USC), giving CBS an 8.4 rating (15%), and #2. In the advertiser-interest 18-49 age group it got a 4.0 and was #2. The Kevin Durant boost?