Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. – Dr. Seuss
Midday Quick Hitters
We’re halfway through day two of the opening round, and it has been very different than yesterday. Not that there haven’t been some entertaining games, but the results have been markedly different. With seven games in the books as of this writing, there have been no upsets so far, or as some would say, it’s been all chalk.
- Is There A Dentist In The House? – Wichita State forward Darius Carter got his teeth rearranged, literally, in the Shockers victory over Indiana. The broadcast crew described a cringe-inducing procedure where a dentist was called in to actually pull a displaced tooth back into place. Yowza! Carter would later return to the game, but he was understandably seen holding his mouth most of the time he was shown on camera.
- Is There A Doctor In The House? – It was a tough season for the Wyoming Cowboys. They had not one but TWO players fall prey to mononucleosis during the regular season, and one of those two, Larry Nance, Jr., also suffers from Crone’s Disease. If you ask me, just being on the floor is a win for Mr. Nance.
- Beware The “Izz” of March – March Madness announcer Bill Raftery delivered another signature zinger when he said tournament survivors should be wary of the “Izz of March,” referring of course to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. Sparty won its first round game over Georgia in a contest that was much closer than it needed to be.
- Can I Get A Hallelujah? – I’m not sure why I even noticed, but the Michigan State pep band played the Battle Hymn of the Republic immediately following their team’s victory. Not sure what sort of a statement that makes, but I like it!
- High Fives All Around – For the first time eight years and only the fourth time in the history of the 64-team tournament, there were no 12-over-5 upsets. This no doubt has taken its toll on our brackets, as the minions have become accustomed to “at least one 12” being a lock every year.
- That’s Foul – One victorious 5 seed, West Virginia, has the dubious honor of leading the NCAA in fouls committed. Their game against Buffalo was something of a foul fest, with both teams combining for 49 personal fouls and 52 free throws attempted! Remarkably, only two players fouled out, one for each team.
- I Love Lenny – I just want to say that Len Elmore is the best color commentator in the tournament. That is all.
- Don’t Mess With The Mascot – The Shocker mascot was seen paying a little visit to Chris Webber of Fab Five fame at the media table during the Wichita State vs. Indiana game. Apparently Mr. Webber had recently tweeted that the Shocker mascot looked like Sponge Bob, and Mr. Shocker took umbrage. Of course, mascots cannot speak, so the exchange was muted.
- The Bank Is Open – The 15 seed Belmont Bruins came up short in their impressive attempt to upset #2 Virginia, but they sure had fun in the process. Running back down the court after banking in a long 3 pointer, #23 Craig Bradshaw could be seen shouting “I called that!” at the TV announcers. He must have known what they were saying on air.
- How Long Does It Take To Play 120 Seconds Of Basketball? – If it’s the final two minutes, it can take a long time, indeed. In a game already plagued with four media timeouts, five full timeouts per team, and one use-it-or-lose-it 30 second timeout, the recently implemented practice of allowing game officials to go to the monitor and review plays in the last two minutes of a half are making the problem worse. If we, the TV viewers, can clearly determine after a couple of replays who touched the ball last, why does it take the officials 3 or 4 minutes to come to the same conclusion? It’s a ridiculous stoppage of play, and it needs to be addressed by the rules committee before next year.
- What’s A Guy Gotta Do Around Here To Get An Ant? – Or a win? Those of you who are old enough may remember the old “The Ant and The Aardvark” cartoons that aired on Saturday mornings along with the Pink Panther. Like that poor Aardvark, the UC-Irvine Anteaters, try as they might, just couldn’t quite get the prize. The giant 7′ 6″ Mamadou Ndiaye almost looked too big for his own body at times. When he jumped for a rebound, it was counterproductive, because the ball ended up hitting him in the chest! To me this game ranks right up there with the UCLA game yesterday in terms of dubious officiating at the end. Louisville had a foul to give, and in an obvious attempt to do just that, the refs refused to call the reach-in, and the Anteaters never even got a chance to take a shot for the win or tie.
A Few Awards
With no upsets at all so far today, every win has been worth just one point. Therefore, there hasn’t been much movement in the standings. However, no commentary would be complete without at least a couple of awards.
- The Oooh, Burn! award goes to Emily Croft who changed her alias to “Pur-don’t.” Absolutely classic!
- The Blackjack award goes to Jay Holt and Jim Richards for having 21 correct picks each out of 23 games so far. Jay is currently 11th and Jim is 93rd.
- The Abandon That Strategy, It Never Works award goes to Daniel Labbato who couldn’t resist the lure of the all-upset bracket and picked the lower seed for all 32 first round games. This gives him just 4 wins so far. While that’s good enough for 56th at the moment, there is literally nowhere to go but down.
- The There Can Be Only One award goes to those contestants attempting to usurp the Wizard’s place in the contest: Jason “The Wizard of Eastwoods” Roehl, Chris “The Oracle of Olympia” Wright, and Jeff “The Oracle of McCordsville” Harrington. There’s only one wizard, friends, but for your efforts, you’ll each receive a copy of Highlander on DVD.
Ok, minions, time for a bathroom break before the evening session begins. Watch your twitter feed for in-game quips and your email for the day two commentary later this evening or in the morning, depending on how late you plan on staying up. You can follow me @littlejeff1970 on Twitter.
The Wizard of Whiteland