Isn’t this the gala, joyeaux noel time of year when we who would hold ourselves out as hoops pundits go through the not-as-cute-as-we-think-it-is exercise of naming teams, then revealing what they’ve asked Santa to bring them in a letter now piled up at the Post Office?
Yes, it is.
Like, say, from Tommy Amaker: “Santa, please bring my Harvard Crimson a shooting touch.”
Well, not to worry, I’m not going there. It’s way too been there, done that for an erstwhile iconoclast like me.
But, before we move on . . . that school which is the Harvard of Cambridge and Ivy League faves, against Virginia, one of Seedy K’s Today’s Final Four, did can but one of its twenty first half FG attempts Sunday, actually going 20 minutes without scoring a bucket.
The name of the only other school to toil through a half of major college b-ball in such futility might sound familiar. Savannah State suffered such a drought against Kansas State back in 2008.1
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I daresay nobody figured the Big Ten was going to suffer Appalachian State Syndrome, Hardwood Mutation all season. NJIT over the Wolverines. Incarnate Word over the Cornhuskers. Calling Akoy Agau!!!!
Plus there are directional Ls to North Florida, and two Eastern’s, Michigan and Washington.
The latest howthehelldidthathappen? reads: Texas Southern 71, Sparty 64. Just when you’re absolutely, positively sure that Mike Davis can’t coach, his Tigers show more savagery than Savannah State’s and win in East Lansing.
And didn’t Purdue used to be pretty good year in and year out?
It’s a weird season.
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How weird? Well, TCU is 11-0.
And, Top 25 Miami lost . . . by 28 . . . at home . . . to Eastern Kentucky.
While Top 25 St. John’s was nip and tuck to beat St. Mary’s in one of the most god awful displays of basketball since yours truly was in the Biddy League at the J.C.C.
While last season’s finale came from nowhere — How did UConn win the title? — this one is proving more cockamamie than anybody could have expected.
Kentucky may actually be exceeding its considerable hype. And the season is starting to have that uneasy feel of those not really very much fun years when UCLA was a foregone conclusion. As if to underline that and put a few exclamation points behind it, those two top shelf programs played Saturday and . . . well . . . you know what happened.
Of course, league play hasn’t started, and, on a given night in a one and done tourney, anything can happen, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, yet it’s looking like the only succor any fans not in the BBN are going to get in the end as this season winds forward is the comfort of knowing there’s another dent in Bobby’s Knight’s fast fading reputation.
A legit question is: Are there 24 other teams worthy of Top 25 status?
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The best ending of the year so far came Saturday when Villanova went all Reggie Miller on the ‘Cuse, scoring 5 points in the last 10.8 seconds of regulation to send the game to OT, during which those Wildcats dispatched the visiting Orange.2
The action was enhanced thanks to scintillating announcer Gus Johnson, who went all Gus Johnson, hyperventilating, “We’ve got OT in Philly!!!!!!!!” Which was just a few moments after he gave some props to Nova’s coach, “GQ Jay Wright.”
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Quick Shots:
Bobby Huggs’ Mountaineers are 10-1 after their W in the Gahhhden over NC State.
Bad Boy Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers are 5-5 after a double OT victory over Xavier.
Get well, Mick Cronin.
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Today’s Final Four: Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Duke, Villanova, Virginia.
— Seedy K
I have tried to hold my tongue….but….today’s UbaK love fest is too much….
UCLA quit shortly after the jump ball….
UbaK still has the twins, so they are beatable; A-ron and Booker won’t always shoot like they did on Saturday; the closer to draft time, the more likely the Cayut ball players will be interested to see if the checks have cleared…Cal is still coaching them; A team like your UVA squad may be the perfect foil ….since they are like Columbia on steroids…
I am not saying the Blew don’t have a shot, but they aren’t foregone like the boys of John W and silent Sam Gilbert. I dare say, my Cards will have the 2 best players on the court next Saturday….anything can happen if we make our FT’s and a few 3’s….the bucket can get awfully small for the semi-pros if we do….