Some thoughts of day 2 of action at the Men's NCAA basketball tourney:
For starters, even though I did not catch the entire Heels game, that is the kind of win you want to start the tourney. I mean, it isn't every day when you hit the 101 mark with 4 mins to go and your scrubs end up playing 3+ minutes and Surry Wood gets an alley oop. Just crazy.
Although I think Arkansas may be playing better ball now, I sure am glad not to get Indiana in the 2nd round. Indiana may be struggling after the Sampson fiasco, but they have some crazy good players that I would not want to face in the 2nd round of the tourney.
I feel bad for Clemson choking away another big lead or maybe they just got caught by the 'Turmoil in Tampa'. I guess they just never figured out a way to close out games and this showed again. Once they tighten up it is all downhill. That and the abnormal number of treys from way the hell out they took.
The W. KY ending was crazy. I was following the game at work and got to catch the ending. I still cannot believe the shot that kid hit over 2 guys...or wait, was it 3 defenders?
The San Diego ending was just as crazy, with the added craziness that UConn looked horrid for a huge chunk of the game (even with AJ Price getting hurt). I guess I got used to watching us play because I am not used to missing lots of shots from 5 feet away where you don't even hit the basket. I thought the most telling point of the game, besides the game winning shot, was Calhoun calling a TO as one of his players was about to shoot a wide open three. Just not a pretty scene.
Vandy got destroyed by Siena. There have been some grumblings (not an expert but it goes to the point) before the tournament about Vandy being mostly good at home and mostly mediocre away from home. The home court advantage may have something to do wit the weird configuration of the court, where the team benches are at the end of the floor as opposed to the side.
Out of the first weekend, three out of the four #1 seeds just overpowered their opponent in the first game. The only one that didn't clobber the #16 seed was really Memphis. While a 87-63 win is clearly a butt kicking, Memphis just didn't run away with their game as badly as the other #1 seeds (Kansas, UCLA, UNC).
One last note. I hope Bobby Knight goes back to coaching, not only because he is a good basketball coach but also because he is completely life-less as a TV commentator. He rambles on and on and lacks the spice that always made him entertaining in press conferences.
Enjoy round 2 today and tomorrow.
14 comments:
Very happy with the way the Heels played last night, particularly on the offensive end. Lawson looked really, really good, and I was particularly impressed with the minutes from Alex Stepheson. I think the Heels will need big minutes from him and from Deon in this tournament.
Definitely agree about preferring Arkansas to IU. If IU could've put it together, they've got Final Four talent.
Clemson makes me ill. We talked about their lack of a go to guy, and I thought it did them in. Once they stopped turning Nova over, their offense just stalled in the halfcourt. Typically, their possessions ended with Oglesby jacking up a contested three where he was less interested in making the shot and more intersted in trying to bait the refs into calling a foul.
Didn't see that Vandy upset coming, even though many of the talking heads predicted it. But speaking of teams from Nashville, Belmont had the dukies. How do you let Henderson go coast to coast? Somebody has to stop the ball!!!
Last thing from this novel of a reply... UCLA and KU now have cakewalks to the Elite 8. I predict that the Bruins get to San Antonio without playing anybody seeded better than 6 or 7. Craziness.
A couple of other funny UNC basketball stories that you might enjoy.
First, from the ACC Tournament, Roy Williams on Marcus missing so many bunnies around the rim. On returning to the huddle Marcus commented that he must have the lowest shooting percentage on layups of anyone anywhere. Roy responded, paraphrasing here, "Well son, if you don't, there aren't too many folks behind you."
And Tyler on Marcus' missed dunk last night...
"He fell pretty hard missing that dunk. I told him I would have just stayed there and waited for a dead ball or something. He'll learn from that and use the backboard next time. Hopefully."
You might enjoy this as well.
And I'll assume that national coverage cut away before Surry Wood's wicked slam.
I saw the Packer thing and although the feed on the game went away fairly early, I caught the alley oop online. I love that I can watch the games online.
The Belmont finish was crazy, not in a good way and it reminded me a little of Duhon going coast-to-coast on us a few years back in the Dean Dome. Thankfully West Virginia took care of things.
I also forgot to mention Curry for Davidson going completely off (40 of 82 points) on the Zags.
I missed the Ginyard dunk but I am glad that people gave him a hard time and that he took it well, because after seeing the replay that was pretty funny.
The Packer thing isn't really all that funny, but I really liked the part at the beginning where he says, "Well, I'm not a sports fan, Jim."
Curry is a stud. That matchup with Georgetown is interesting.
I want to see a Louisville-Tennessee match-up.
Count me as not entirely convinced that the Vols are as good as advertised. I expect Butler to give them all they can handle.
I agree with you but I would still like to see the afore-mentioned match-up. I would also like to see a UNC-Memphis championship game.
I don't know what to make out of Tennessee. I think they are good but I doubt they could take on KU, Memphis, UCLA, etc.
Then again UCLA was very lucky to get out of that game. I mean, A&M didn't score a FG for like 8 mins and they still had a chance to win it.
I thought Tennessee beat Memphis about a month ago? It was at home but they did it.
Self has bad luck when trying to get out of the Elite 8. He's been there with three different schools and has never been in the Final Four.
UCLA has no excuse for not blowing a team out that didn't score a field goal in 8 minutes. They're not going to make the Final Four if they keep that up. I like West Virginia in that Region.
UCLA sets college basketball back 40 years. 53-49? I guess I get spoiled by watching teams run up and down the floor.
Let me reiterate my point. UNC scored more points in the 2nd half than UCLA scored in that entire game yesterday. Don't get wrong- I think UCLA is the best team in the country, but that's some ugly basketball.
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