“There are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were.” – Irish Proverb
One small upset, one shocking upset, and a thrilling night cap make up the trifecta of triumph for March Madness day three.
Game Notes
- Who Said We Don’t Belong? Just about everyone did, but UCLA tried to silence their detractors by thumping upstart UAB in the battle of the acronyms. I’m still not sold on the notion that UCLA’s Sweet 16 appearance proves anything about the team or justifies the selection committee’s decision. They got past SMU on a technicality at best and a boneheaded bailout by their opponent at worst, and UAB isn’t exactly a national powerhouse, their victory over Iowa State notwithstanding. Still, I CAN find something to celebrate about these Bruins. I’ll give the Mr. Nice Guy award to UCLA’s Tony Parker who closed his post game interview with reporter Allie LaForce with the compliment, “Nice bracelet, by the way.”
- 2 down 4 to go – In the I-75 showdown, Kentucky may have failed to impress, but they got the win over Cincinnati in front of a partisan crowd at the Yum! Center in Louisville, KY. This game was competitive for a while, but I’m sorry. It’s going to take a lot more than Cincinnati to topple Kentucky.
- Make That Two Wildcats, Please – Like their Kentucky counterparts, the Arizona Wildcats made easy work of their opponents in the second half, also an Ohio squad, the Ohio State Buckeyes. It turns out that the moniker, Wildcats, isn’t the only thing Kentucky and Arizona have in common. They also sport star players with hyphenated last names: Willy Cauley-Stein and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. I don’t know if the hyphen improves their play, but it certainly makes for a more difficult jersey fitting.
- X Marks The Spot where Georgia State’s Cinderella run comes to an end as Xavier held off their every comeback attempt to advance to the Sweet 16. The story of this game was Georgia State coach Ron Hunter, who, you will recall, tore his Achilles tendon celebrating his team’s conference championship that sent them to the big dance in the first place. Because he was forced to wear an open-toed cast on his injured leg, his wife forced him to get a pedicure. As if that wasn’t humiliating enough, the broadcast crew did a close up of his toes. Now, my wife is a pedicure fanatic, and so I’ve seen my share, and Ron definitely received the full package. I can just hear it, now. “Ronnie, those toes are atrocious! You either get a pedicure, or I’m not going to be seen with you at the arena!” “You want me to get a WHAT?!”
- Villa no va in Spanish means Villa does not go, and Villanova is definitely not going to the Sweet 16 or Final Four or National Championship or any place else many sports analysts and minions had them going. In what is undoubtedly the most shocking upset of the tournament so far, NC State dismissed the first #1 seed with vicious inside play and strong rebounding. Usually I say, “Make your free throws, win the game,” but this game ran counter to that conventional wisdom. Villanova was 21-23 from the line for 91%, while NC State was just 20-27 for 74%. Ultimately, NC State just outworked Villanova, forcing them in to bad shots and grabbing 13 more rebounds. The only reason the game was close was Villanova’s Darrun Hilliard catching fire and burying 3 of 4 three-pointers in the last 1:29. Anyway, this game definitely gets the Who’s On First award for rosters full of names that are just plain fun to say: Abdul-Malik Abu, Cat Barber, Beejay Anya, Dee Lee, Daniel Ochefu, and Ryan Arcidiacono.
- The other Coach K, Utah’s Larry Krystkowiak did his part to move the Utes back toward their former glory they enjoyed under the late Rick Majerus. Utah gave us the day’s second upset, albeit a mild one, by beating Georgetown and their hulking, NFL left tackle candidate, Josh Smith. At 6’10” and 350 pounds, he is a man among men out there. Ironically, it was Utah’s diminutive guard Brandon Taylor (5’10”, 170 pounds) and his near 50% shooting that largely carried them to victory.
- First One To 90 Wins – Ok, they didn’t quite make it to 90, but UNC won a track meet with Arkansas that was entertaining until the parade to the free throw line started. The big story from this game is the injury to UNC star forward Kennedy Meeks. It remains to be seen if the injury is serious and if Meeks will be available for the Sweet 16.
- In 49 States, It’s Just Basketball, but this is “The Indiana” as Samuel L. Jackson would say. In what was by far the best game of the day fittingly saved for last, Notre Dame lived up to the “Fighting” part of the Fighting Irish by outlasting Butler in an excellent display of all that is good (or at least used to be) about basketball in Indiana. Butler is a team, as I tweeted earlier, whose whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. There just isn’t much to impress a person about this Butler team, and yet they continue to be one of the toughest outs in the tournament from year to year. If you didn’t watch this game, you missed a thriller. Neither team scored for the final 2:56 of regulation. Notre Dame’s Zach Auguste gets the Boneheaded Play Of The Day award for double dribbling after securing the rebound on Roosevelt Jones’ missed shot with just seconds remaining. This gave Butler one more chance with 2 seconds left, but Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton sent Kellen Dunham’s 3 pointer for the win into the cheerleaders. Connaughton ended up being the difference maker in overtime, hitting his first and only 3 pointer of the game (he was 0-5 up to that point) to put Notre Dame in the lead for good. I like this Notre Dame team. Many have suggested they have what it takes to beat Kentucky, and with a little luck of the Irish, they just might.
- Conference Watch – It wasn’t a good day for the Big East who went 1-3. Meanwhile, the ACC and Pac 12 remain undefeated.
Burning Questions
This section of tonight’s commentary is devoted to those things that make you go, “hmmmm.”
- Can anyone tell Kentucky’s Harrison twins apart without looking at their numbers?
- Does anyone sweat more than Ohio State Coach Thad Matta? I mean, the guy is just dripping from the time he gets off the bus. That has to be an uncomfortable experience for the female sideline reporters who have to stand so close to him in post game interviews. Can you say, “Ew?”
- Is there anything in basketball that constitutes a travel anymore? I mean, seriously, I know I’ve beaten this horse to death, but this whole “tote-the-football” move is an obvious violation. Somebody needs to throw a flag on the play.
- Has anyone else noticed that the floor designs in all of the arenas are essentially the same?
- Does all that spandex players wear these days really help? Shooting sleeves, compression shorts, compression tights, lower leg sleeves, compression tights with knee pads, Under Armor, body armor, C’MON MAN! A typical March Madness game has more spandex on the court than a Comic-Con convention. Is all that gear really necessary? Are we playing basketball or fighting super villains?
- Alert minion Troy Breidenbach asked this burning question: “Are the boxing bells at every stoppage of play new this year?” I don’t know, Troy, but I noticed them, too. I haven’t noticed them at every game, though, and I don’t know if they are being played in the arena or if they are only on the TV feed. Perhaps someone is trying to make a statement about the physical level of play.
- Another inquisitive minion, Braden Murray, asked this burning question: “How many tacky fouls can they call in this Georgia State vs. Xavier game?” I can tell you that they called 39 fouls total. Not sure how many of them qualified as tacky.
- Perhaps my perception is off, but I believe I’ve watched more than one game this year where the announcers declare that player so-and-so received an “inadvertent poke in the eye.” This raises a burning question in my mind. Has there ever been an advertent poke in the eye? “Number 24 just got a flagrant 2 for going all Three Stooges on opposing center Joe Blow. He just said, ‘Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk,’ and then poked him right in the eye! There’s just no place for that in basketball, Vern!”
Day 3 Awards
It’s late. I’m tired. Church in the morning. Awards will be brief tonight. No complaining.
- The Stuck In The Slow Lane award goes to Jordan Lane, who is exactly 722 places behind his 10th place brother, Brandon Lane who gets the Life In The Fast Lane award. Brandon will receive a copy of the hit single of the same name by The Eagles. He will then have to ask his parents who The Eagles are.
- The Rockin’ Robin award goes to David “here we go again” Ricks for being the minion who sent me the most tweets today. David is tied for 489th.
- The Na Na Nee Boo Boo award goes to RJ Wynn who could not resist pointing out to me that he and 60 other minions had picked NC State to beat Villanova, whom I had in my Final Four. RJ is currently 13th. RJ is about to be unfriended.
- The Fruit Of The Loom award goes to clever minion Josh “I’m more of a banana than a” Pearman. In a tie for 526th, I’m sure this year’s contest is driving him bananas.
- The Pass It On award goes to top 10 newcomer Beth Spark, who is currently in 4th place. After all, it only takes a spark…
- The Seventh Heaven award goes to astute minions Kory Wilcoxson and Rita Dieringer who each picked 7 of today’s 8 games correctly. Each will receive Seventh Heaven: The Complete First Season on BluRay.
- Finally, the If You Pick It, He Will Come award goes to Garrison “I was dreaming when I wrote this” Cooper, our current contest leader. Garrison was a beneficiary of the Nova flame out and wins the tiebreaker over second place minion Jane Gomez by virtue of a better winning percentage. Just three points behind them is Sue “no clue” Chmura, who seems to be doing quite well in spite of her alias.
Ok, minions, that’s it for day three. By this time tomorrow, the Sweet 16 will be set, and we’ll have our final commentary of the contest’s opening week. If your bracket is busted, fear not! The re-pick round is just around the corner. Details soon to come.
The Wizard of Whiteland