Mid-Tournament Ramblings…

Boy, talk about tough weekends… not only did my bracket have to endure losses by BC, Duke, Ga Tech, Maryland, UVa, and Va Tech, I was involved in a wreck on the way back to work from lunch Friday afternoon. I knew I should have taken the afternoon off to watch hoops. Just before the crash I was listening to Westwood One’s coverage of the Albany – UVa game. My last thought just before locking down the brakes and holding on for dear life was, “Man, Pete Gillian is worse at doing color commentary than he was at coaching...” At least I got home in time to watch the end of the Winthrop – Notre Dame game.

Roy Williams has been complaining about the late starting times the Heels have faced in the tournament. There is a place for 10 pm east coast starting times… It’s called the west coast. CBS used to have late-night 1st round games. The late games on the west coast did not start until 11:00 or later. Anyone remember the Pepperdine game that started the magical tournament run for the Cardiac Pack? That game wasn’t over until sometime early Saturday morning. We may complain about the starting times that CBS dictates, but it could be worse… we could be trying to figure out which local station is picking up Host Communication’s syndicated coverage of the 1st round games.

Did anyone really think the Ohio State was going to lose it’s 2nd round game to Xavier? Panic set in at my brother’s house when Xavier went up 11 with about eight minutes to go. Everyone just knew that their brackets were headed for the trash can when I proclaimed that Ohio State would win the game. My brother and dad thought I had lost my mind until I asked who was coaching Xavier. When they said Sean Miller, I asked who Sean had coached under… The light bulb came on when they said Herb Sendek. I reminded them that Sean Miller had learned at the feet of the master. No lead was safe when Herb was on the sidelines. Sure enough, what followed was classic Herb. Bad shots at the end of the shot clock, missed free-throws, iffy strategies and missed calls by the referees. I really feel for Sean Miller. He and his team deserved a better fate. Miller is one of the up and coming coaches in the NCAA. Hopefully he will learn from what happened at the end of the Ohio State game and become a better coach for it.

The Regional Semi-Finals really stink from TV perspective. At least this year we don’t have to worry about ACC teams playing at the same time. Unless you have one of the packages that allows you to see both of CBS’s feeds and a DVR, you are going to miss large chunks of 2 games each night. I don’t guess the NCAA and CBS are willing to play 2 of the regional semi finals in the afternoon… Again, at least we’re not having to deal with Host Communications.

Not that I’ve been able to figure out the Women’s Tournament, but hats off to the ACC Women’s teams. Duke and Carolina were expected to be in the Sweet 16. Based on the seeding, State was expected to be there, but before Kay Yow returned to the bench, the Wolfpack was headed nowhere… The biggest shockers so far were #10 seed Florida State advancing and #2 seed Maryland going home… 29 turnovers will do that to you.

Clemson will be the only ACC team in New York for the NIT Semi’s. What a strange game with Syracuse. It sort of reflects Clemson’s season… fast start… sudden collapse... Hopefully the way they managed to win when it looked like they had given the game away will be a good omen for the trip to New York