He Looks Tougher

Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk played 22 minutes in a game against the Pacers with a hideous black eye caused by an elbow from teammate Shavlik Randolph. And he scored 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting.

Story suggested by Razor

Song of the Week

"Somebody" - Natalie La Rose featuring Jeremih
This is Mrs. Poop's Shazam jam. She figured out how to e-mail songs from Shazam and this is the first one she sent me.
It also has a nice sample from the late great Whitney Houston.
And I love big hoop earrings!

Tournament Thoughts: Elite Eight Sunday

His first name is really Lourawls? And he's a Junior? You'll never find -- a name as dumb as that.

The refs missed one when a Louisville player had his hand literally up through the next and hoop, but they didn't call anything.

Both sides victimized by poor free shooting down the stretch of regulation.

Huge mistake on that lane violation, giving Michigan State an extra point. It was absolutely the correct call though.

Terry Rozier following in the great tradition of volume shooters on Louisville. When they're hitting they win games for you, when they're not, they kill you. Somewhere Russ Smith is smiling.

Late-game strategy question: Dawson gets the rebound with 32 seconds left in overtime and a 2-point lead. I think he should have come down with it and forced Louisville to foul. If he misses Louisville gets a great chance to win or tie. Yes, he made it, but that doesn't necessarily make it the most winning long-term strategy.

Terrible possession by Louisville, waste 20 seconds and then throw it away without getting a shot. They would have been better off driving into someone and hoping to get a foul called.

Damn, I wish I had picked Michigan State for the Final Four. I seriously debated it, but chose Northern Iowa instead.

Seventh Final Four since 1999 for Michigan State. If it were Duke or Kentucky it would be impressive but at Michigan State it's amazing.

Two terrible late fouls by Sabonis in the first half. We always talk about that, how those fouls that put you in foul trouble come on the offensive end. And they interrupted a great Gonzaga comeback, aided by some brutal shooting from Duke.

If there's a loose ball and all ten players are equidistant from it, I like Pangos's chances to come away with it.

Adam Morrison in the crowd!

Jim Nantz loves the Bushes.

Not impressed with Wiltjer at all. He's no better than the third best player on the team. And he seems to shy away from contact. He missed a huge layup that would have tied the game at 53, and I think it was because he was worried about Okafor coming over.

Gonzaga completely choked down the stretch of this game, blew every opportunity.

This is what happens when you have a team full of great players. Great game by Matt Jones. Much needed lift.

For all the upsets early, three #1 seeds made the Final Four.

Congrats to the Daminos, Damino and BigKev, maybe their teams will face each other in the final game and the brothers will fight and beat the crap out of each other.

Tournament Thoughts: Elite 8 Saturday

What an amazing game. By far the best game of the tournament so far.

I kind of felt bad rooting for Goliath there but I want to see history. I like watching this team play.

Aaron Harrison, ONIONS!!!!!! I told everyone who would listen that Kentucky would win this tournament and one of the first things I mentioned was Aaron Harrison who has shown himself to be a player who can hit big shots.

Jerian Grant has ONIONS!!!! too.

What a great game by Zach Auguste. He went against one of the best front line in college basketball history and had a huge game. He just couldn't guard Karl-Anthony Towns.

Calipari was completely outcoached by Mike Brey -- and me. If you read my blueprint for beating Kentucky the executed it, fewer 3-pointers, more drives. Too often Kentucky had their great interior defenders stuck outside 1-on-1 isolated against quicker guards. Willie Cauley-Stein cqn't guard Pat Connaughton. And they got of position so much, giving Auguste room for offensive rebounds.

My only regret with this game is that it basically ended on my pet peeve of basically plays. Andrew Harrison took the ball, drove hard, ran into someone and got fouled.

The worst thing an announcer can do is put fake words in players' mouth. The infamous example involves Isiah Thomas saying something about Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Batman and Robin.

Lots of Polish surnames in this tournament. Kaminsky, Tarczewski, Karnowski, Bachynski.

I wonder what Billy thinks of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's free throw routine. We all know Billy is a stickler for fundamentals, but he also loves to shimmy. He must be very conflicted.



There is only one thing to say about this game: Wisconsin had one of the best shooting games in the history of shooting, especially the second half. I don't even think Arizona's defense was bad, the Badgers just made everything.

Arizona actually played really well. They made 28 of 30 (93%) free throws which is amazing, and they made 56% of their shots from the field, turned it over only 10 times, and never really had a chance.

55 points in the second half on 10 of 12 from 3-point range.

Sam Dekker made 5 of 6 and scored 27 points.

If they can repeat that performance in the next round they might stay within 20 points of Kentucky.

Well we got the game we wanted. It is going to be huge. I think Wisconsin can see a little bit of what Notre Dame did and execute it with their players and we might have a game on our hands.

But again, this is the thing I love about this Kentucky team. They don't just blow people out and choke when it's close. When it's close they execute on offense, they clamp down on defense and they win games. Other great teams that didn't go undefeated were equally as dominant but just didn't close out one or two close games the way Kentucky does.

Notre Dame's Only Hope

Desperate times call for desperate measures and even before the game tips off Notre Dame is in desperation mode.
When you're playing any opponent, the best strategy is to neutralize their strength. Kentucky's biggest strength: interior defense.
How do you neutralize that? You don't go inside. And Notre Dame is equipped to do that because they have so many good 3-point shooters.
Pat Connaughton (43%), Demitius Jackson (43%), VJ Beachem (42%), Steve Vasturia (41%) and Jerian Grant (32%) can all makes shots from outside.
So I would put Zach Auguste and the middle and station 4 other players around the arc and bomb nothing but 3-pointers. Try to get hot early, try to get some long offense rebounds, try to get Towns, Cauley-Stein and Lyles out of their comfort zone. It might sound crazy but I think it's their best chance to win.

Tournament Thoughts: Sweet 16 Friday

Every time I've seen them play I've really liked Gonzaga.

I love everything about Pangos except for his hair.

Przemek Karnowski is the Polish Jake Voskuhl. With the conditioning of Matt Stainbrook.

Love Donatos Sabonis. He looks like he could be a star. A shame we'll never know what his father could have been if he had been allowed to play in the NBA in his prime.

How many times do you think he's heard the Not Your-Vidas, Not My-Vidas, he's Ar-Vidas?

After Louisville kicked Chris Jones off the team he is accused of raping one girl, in the ass, and with two other guys, forcing a second girl into unwanted oral and vaginal sex. Nice guy.

Valiant effort by NC State they just couldn't make the plays at the end.

Last time I ever listen to Mike Francesa. I thought Louisville wasn't very good and when he said he thought they would go out early, he just sounded so sure. So I picked them to lose in the first round. You see how well that worked out.

I normally don't buy that crap that teams have to adjust to shooting in domes and big stadia, because I have a lifetime of evidence of Syracuse home games to disprove that, but Duke and Utah certainly took long enough to make a field goal.

We've mentioned this before this tournament but you can definitely see that Duke has more athleticism this year than they have had in the recent past. I'd even put this team above the 2010 title team in terms of ability to run the floor.

I'm a little concerned about Okafor's defense on the NBA level. I saw a couple times Utah's big guys put the moves on him.

Delon Wright did not live up to his billing this game.

I hate these arena setups where the floor is elevated and you have to step down to get o the bench. I realize it's necessary in these huge arenas, but it's still silly.

Michigan State was 3 of 10 from the line, but Valentine and Trice nailed 4 down the stretch when they needed to.

Love Tom Izzo. The guy just wins in the tournament. But this does not mean they were underseeded. Michigan State lost 10 games this season, including 0-6 against top 40 teams until the Big Ten tournament, when they beat Maryland. They were 23 in the RPI which favors them for playing such a tough schedule. So 6 or 7 was a fair seeding, 5 or 8 would be a stretch. You can seed a team based on how awesome their coach is in the tournament.

Although this bracket didn't turn out as we planned, a Louisville-Michigan State matchup is pretty interesting.

And even though tonight's games weren't that great, I think we have 2 great matchups to look forward to on Sunday.

Nicest Thing Ever

Even Damino will have to leave a nice comment on this post.
In his will Dean Smith left $200 to every varsity letterman, whom he coached, 180 in all. The executor of Coach Smith's will sent a check and a letter explaining the Coach's wishes.
The one below was sent to one of Billy's all-time favorite Tar Heels, Dante Calabria.

The letter reads, in part:

"Each player was important and special to Coach Smith and when he prepared his estate plan, Coach wanted to reach out to each of his lettermen. Accordingly, Coach directed that following his passing each letterman be sent a two hundred dollar ($200.00) check with the message "enjoy a dinner out compliments of Coach Dean Smith." Enclosed is a check in the amount of two hundred dollars ($200.00) with the notation "Dinner out".

180 lettermen, $200 each, equals $36,000. Pretty generous and very classy of the Coach who must have planned this long ago because his health and mental acuity declined rapidly in his final years.

I hope the UNC players receiving this benefit will follow the lead of the coach and do something better with the money than enjoy a dinner out. Maybe Michael Jordan could invite all the players to a dinner to remember their coach and donate $36,000 to charity in his name.

Tournament Thoughts - Sweet 16 Thursday

For all the talk about how bad the play in college basketball has become, Wichita State and Notre Dame play a good game with passing and shooting.

Fred Vanvleet is a fun player with a fun name. Though if he were my friend I would call him Derf.

Zach Auguste got himself a fresh new haircut during the days off.

I am totally against the kill the ball with a lead strategy (I called it the Jim Boeheim Memorial No Points Offense because it kills him all the time) but with a 14 point lead and 3 minutes to go, it seems the prudent approach.

Tokoto sounds like an Indian tribe.

I know I said this last year but Traevon Jackson is the son of Jimmy Jackson and looks just like him.

Wisconsin won this game during that brief stretch when they were down 7, then came back with 6 quick. Not allowing the game to get out of hand makes a huge strategical difference in how the game is played.

Great try by Marcus Paige. Almost single-handedly kept them in the game late.

That noise you hear is a bunch of Daminos cheering. Not only are Damino's and Big Kev's alma maters still in it, North Carolina is not.

Also, I really didn't think Big Kev was old enough to go to college yet.

I love L.A. Aaron Rodgers and Olivia Munn in the crowd rooting on Wisconsin.

Fresh pair of kicks worn by an unnamed North Carolina player. They're brand Jordan so it isn't a big surprise but the Ram on the side is pretty cool.

Kentucky vs. West Virginia is one of the biggest dominations in the history of the tournament. You expect to see a 16 seed get beaten like this in the first round. Not a 5 seed from a major conference in the Sweet 16.

West Virginia scored 18 points in the first half, and 1 for the first 8 minutes of the second.

Just an absolute slaughter.

Billy wants to add Billy Dee Williams to his all-name team.

I make fun of Matt Stainbrook's appearance, but he actually is a pretty good player. But I think his lack of conditioning slows Xavier down at times.

He also did the funniest flop when he got whacked in the face.

Good game between Arizona and Xavier, Arizona just made a couple more plays down the stretch.

I hate to see plays like the one that really ended this game, Davis drives into the lane with no intention to do anything other than draw a foul. He just tried to run into Hollis-Jefferson and hope for the best, when he backed off Davis was in no position to even put up a shot. Draw a play, run something, set some screens, don't count on the refs to bail you out.

Some good games tonight, nothing spectacular and all four favorites (by seeding not spread) won their games. We may see some more upheaval tomorrow night. I hope so because I have Michigan State beating Oklahoma.

I'd Hate to Be the Person Who Made This Mistake

I often criticize the Associated Press for occasional dumb shit, but for the most part they do an incredibly hard job, very well.
Not this time.
Here is the write through for the arrest of Robert Durst:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A Louisiana State Police trooper says millionaire Robert Durst has been booked on weapons charges in that state – on top of a first-degree murder charge lodged by Los Angeles authorities. Trooper Melissa Matey told the Associated Press that an arrest warrant was issued for the former Limp Bizkit frontman and he was rebooked in the Orleans Parish Jail on Monday under two new charges.

Here is the subsequent correction:

In the second item of the California 10th NewsMinute sent March 16 to users of the state broadcast wire, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Robert Durst is a member of a band. He is a real estate heir; Fred Durst is the former frontman of Limp Bizkit.

Farewell to the GOAT of Crooked Fingers

Philadelphia Eagles legend Chuck Bednarik died this week at the age of 89.
He is known for three things:
1) he was the last player to play both offense and defense regularly in the NFL
2) he knocked out Frank Gifford, causing Gifford to miss a year and a half, and then stood over his stiff body

3) he was generally a tough son of a bitch. He is Godfather of the mangled finger. Anthony Munoz, Charles Mann, Alan Page and our own beloved Billy have Bednarik to thank for the glory he brought to hideously unaligned fingers.

Song of the Week

"Grazing in the Grass" - Friends of Distinction
Mrs. Poop was incredulous that there was a song about grazing in the grass but it's true and there's good reason for it. The song was first an instrumental by Jazz great Hugh Masekela (who also plays the flugelhorn, making him a flugelhornist according to his Wikipedia), and the father of Sal Masekela whom you may have seen on ESPN over the years, and whose Wikipedia says he lived in Staten Island for part of his youth.
But back to the song, a year after Masekela released it, the Friends of Distinction got a hold of it added some lyrics, trying to keep with the theme, similar to what the Sugar Hill Gang did with "Apache" (SOTW, 8/22/2007).

A Man After My Own Heart

If you've ever covered a sporting event (very few of you have) you would know that reporters are furnished with a sheet of quotes from the postgame press conference. So who compiles those quotes? A courtroom style stenographer.
Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes decided to have some fun with her.
In response to the first question he said “Before I answer that question, I would like to say a few words: cattywampus, onomatopoeia and antidisestablishmentarianism. Now, back to your question.”
When asked why he did that Hayes responded “She [the stenographer] does an amazing job of typing words, sometimes if words are not in her dictionary, maybe if I say soliloquy right now, she may have to work a little bit harder to type that word, or quandary, zephyr, xylophone, things like that, that make her job really interesting.”
Apparently Hayes, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker were fascinated with the stenographer and her machine from the previous day.

Funny thing is, none of this would have gotten out, if not for the stenographer.

Story suggested by Billy

What an Embarrassment

Syracuse's run in the NCAA tournament ended in bitter defeat against the Gamecocks of South Carolina, on the Cocks home floor.
They were just bigger, faster and better.
But the Orange gave a valiant effort, especially Alexis Peterson who followed up her 24 points against Nebraska in the first round with 23 more, most of them coming on reckless drives to the basket against South Carolina's bigger front line.
The Orange have played their hearts out and ended a great season with a loss to a great team, a serious title contender.
And they conduct themselves like true student-athletes, no failed drug tests, no fabricated grades, no booster at the YWCA (to my knowledge) while constantly showing great effort and emotion.
The women's program (unlike the men's) is improving every year and given the prominence of the ACC, they will get opportunities to draw top recruits and consistently compete against the best teams in the country.
And a lot of this has to do with Coach Quentin Hillsman who is a good coach, and you can tell he cares deeply about his players.
So what is embarrassing about that?
Nothing, except this shirt:

Ok, so it doesn't look that bad with the jacket on, but trust me, once he took the jacket off, it was terrible.

Tournament Thoughts: Second Round Sunday

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between good defense and horrible shooting. I actually think we've had equal helpings of both from Virginia and Michigan State.

Also the referees have done a poor job. The game has been very physical, at some points they allowed a lot of it, then at other times they whistled everything.

Someone needs to school these guys about the 18-foot jump shot. It is the worst shot in basketball. So inefficient. You don't make it with the consistency of dunks and layups, and you don't get as many points as you would if you moved back 2 feet.

Both teams going huge stretches without a field goal. Not only bad offense, but the fact that every time someone goes to shoot, they refs call a foul, some of which really were fouls.

Trice got carried away with himself. Made a huge 3, then took a long 2 with his feet on the line (worst shot) and 20 seconds left on the shot clock. There's no need for it.

And that is why I always pick Michigan State. They have a great tournament history. They're the anti-Villanova.

Also historically I have a tremendous record in selecting the correct #2 seed to lose in the second round. It happens almost every year and very often I'm right on it, but too often I have the wrong team beating them.

Dominant performance by Duke. I really think they're a different team this year. They have athletes and big men, and they were fast-breaking whenever possible.

Ron Baker is not making Mrs. Poop's All-Hair team but she concedes is current style is a big improvement over what he was rocking in high school.

If you're going to pull off a big upset you need to shoot the ball well. Wichita St. hit so many 3s I thought they were playing Syracuse.

Kansas was just driving recklessly and hoping for fouls/rebounds/lucky rolls, while the Shockers were passing the ball around and shooting the lights out.

As you know I hate storylines that have nothing to do with the game. So you can bet I am already sick of the narrative that says Wichita St. beat Kansas fueled by the disrespect of the Jayhawks refusing to play them.

The Kansas cheerleaders got into this Sunflower State showdown, rocking sunflowers in their hair.

I understand this was the biggest game in the history of the state of Kansas. But really, was there much competition for that title.

Speaking of storylines I'm sick of, Dayton, home court advantage, and even Archie Miller. I think his wife rubbed me the wrong way last year when they beat Syracuse. To repeat, I don't think the home state advantage had too much impact on the game (more so against Boise State than against Providence) but I think the NCAA should have avoided it just for the sake of appearances.

I really like Buddy Hield aka Buddy Love. Good player and fun guy.

I wonder if Archie will go watch Arizona. I know their dad will.

I wonder where Kevin Pangos ranks on Billy's list of favorite Gonaga players. Probably behind Richie Frahm and ahead of Blake Stepp. ANd way ahead of Adam Morrison, who is in last.

Doug Gottlieb said some unpleasant things about the city of Syracuse, but I can't really disagree with him.

Notice how Oregon's program has gotten so much better since Ernie Kent got fired.

Bo Ryan always looks so angry. He should cheer up. He was a good team. They could really be on collision course for 3 tough games in a row if they can win the first two, UNC, Arizona and then Kentucky. If they win those they might actually catch a softer opponent in the National Final.

If Louisville is shooting 50% against you, you aren't playing good enough defense.

Maryland vs. West Virginia an old fashioned ACC-Big East matchup. A new fangled Big Ten-Big XII matchup.

Maryland's Richaud Pack dyed his hair blonde last week. His aunt died, and she was a lifelong blonde, so to honor her Pack and other family members went blonde. A local sportscaster joined the Pack family.

A real shame that Melo Trimble got rocked two times in the second half. Hard to put a kid back in there after two possibly concussive incidents. But its hard to beat a team like West Virginia without your point guard.

So I picked 4 upsets in the first round, Buffalo over West Virginia, Wofford over Arkansas, Texas over Butler and UC-Irvine over Louisville. Not only did I get all 4 of those wrong, 3 of those teams won their second game and went to the Sweet 16 completely screwing me.

Louisville looked much better than I had seen them all season. Maybe Pitino is like Tom Izzo, knows how to get his teams to win in the tournament.

Disappointing ending to a fun first weekend.

Here's what I'm looking forward to next week: some real challenges for Kentucky. A Wisconsin-Arizona matchup, as well as Duke-Gonzaga, hope they both happen. I would also love to see NC State and Michigan State in the regional. No matter who gets there, it should be fun.

Tournament Thoughts: Second Round Saturday

To repeat: this is the second round. Those first four games are not the first round, I do not care what the committee tries to sell me.

Billie must not have been watching UCLA very much recently or he surely would have remarked on the awesome uniform patches commemorating Wooden and his Pyramid of Success. But he died 5 years ago, how long are they going to honor him?

Now we get to hear about how UCLA proved their critics wrong, which is bullshit because 1) people weren't saying they weren't good enough to win, just that they didn't deserve a bid based on their regular season performance 2) they got a lucky call against SMU 3) they got a favorable draw against UAB and 4) the tournament is a total crapshoot.

If there were momentum that ferocious dunk by Willie Cauley-Stein could have shifted it. He just demolished the poor dude that got in his way.

Fresh off of being ejected in the last game, Octavius Ellis didn't let that curtail his instigating ways. He actually drew a technical from one of the Harrisons who gave him a bump and a shove.

But Kentucky is just too good. Their defense is good but Cincinnati also kept their own score down by holding the ball.

I really think they have a better than 75% chance of going 40-0 and becoming an all-time great team.

I didn't watch any of Arizona's first game versus Texas Southern because it was such a blowout, but you can see why people are picking them to upset Kentucky. They certainly have the talent.

Xavier has Miles Davis. I bet he's cool. And if he has to play ball in Europe after graduation, I wonder if they will call him Kilometers Davis.

Coach Hunter is certainly taking advantage of his moment in the sun. Upset victory, unusual injury, son on the team. He is not turning down any interviews.

But RJ Hunter can play.

Matt Stainbrook looks like the fat kid at summer camp who has to play just cuz he's the biggest kid. He's got the doughy physique, the t-shirt under his uniform, the glasses, just looks dorky and unathletic. But he has a really cool story. He graduated in four years, so this year he is taking classes towards his MBA. His brother is also on the team and somehow Matt gave up his scholarship so Tim could have it. Apparently graduate school only costs 1/3 what Tim would have to pay for undergrad.

And since he's not on scholarship, Matt can get a job. So he drives for Uber. He said at some point he was doing 20 to 25 hours a week.

But he's reportedly down about 30 pounds (and some hair) from when he arrived at Xavier.

Speaking of hair, Mrs. Poop put TJ Shipes on her real All-Hair team.

So long Ron Hunter's stool/knee scooter. We hardly knew ye.

Villanova has a horrible recent history in the tournament. They have made the tournament 5 of the past 6 years and haven't made the Sweet 16. After going to the Final Four in 2010, they lost as a 2 seed in the second round twice, and a one seed in the second round now. Plus two times in the first round 8/9 game. That is just putrid.

Cat Barbour is really good. So skinny and quick, but wiry and strong.

What a great game by Malik Abu. Thank you come again. (I know it's really Apu, but it's funny.)

Who can watch Utah play and not think of My Cousin Vinny?

I loved the pace of the Arkansas-North Carolina game. Apparently the refs got too tired after the first half so they decided to slow the game down in the second. They called a foul on anything that event looked like contact. Ruined a potentially great game.

Marcus Paige played awesome. He's a true point guard. Sets everyone else up but when it comes to winning time he takes the shots for himself.

Bobby Portis looks like a poor man's Chris Bosh.

There were 5 teams from Indiana in this tournament. All of them ended up in the same bracket. Indiana, Valpo and Purdue all lost, so it's Butler and Notre Dame for bragging rights.

Chase picked Butler because he likes Bertram the Butler from "Jessie." Julian picked Butler because they have the "butt" sound in their name.

Pat Conaughton's father is sitting right behind Jerome Bettis. And a couple row in front of Harvey Grant. Where Jerami at? (I know he's with the 76ers and actually playing pretty well.

I know it's a tough call to make at the end of a game, but Auguste absolutely double dribbled that ball. It was so blatantly obvious it had ot be called.

How do you leave two shooters wide open in the corner? You know that's their safety valve. I'd sooner leave a guy open at the top of the key. Terrible late game defense by Butler, but great execution by Notre Dame. You still gotta make the shots. Add the driving layup by Jerian Grant and they got 8 points in 3 possessions while simultaneously using a lot of time.

Great way to end the night with an overtime thriller.

Tournament Thoughts: Late Friday

We start the evening session off with a nice piece of cheese for Duke. Absolutely dominating Robert Morris.

But at least we got a new addition to Mrs. Poop's All-Hair team. Robert Morris's Andre Frederick.

Don't need to watch the second half of this one though.

Oklahoma State vs Oregon is really showing off the color capabilities of my TV.

Oregon gives the Pac-12 a perfect opening round, Arizona, UCLA and Utah all won.

Terrible opening round for the Big 12 though. Oklahoma St., Texas, Baylor and Iowa State all out in Round 1.

Total domination by Iowa. I only picked them because I thought too many people were picking Davidson based solely on the fact that Steph Curry went there. But even he couldn't have helped them tonight. Ok, maybe he could have.

Not sure why they have a camera in the living room of Peter Hooley's family home. Why not bring them to where the cameras are? They couldn't travel to Columbus, Ohio? I know his mom recently passed, but I don't understand why they're at the game. And why they chose to sent a camera crew to record his sister's reactions.

Frank Kaminsky is excellent. I really want to see the matchup between him and Kentucky's bigs in the a national semifinal.

San Diego State's Malik Pope made Billy's All-Hair Team.

St. John's gave it a great effort and man did they push the pace, they just couldn't make enough shots, or hold San Diego State long enough to really cut the lead to a threatening number.

If Gonzaga is the West Coast mid-major version of Duke, then Kevin Pangos is JJ Reddick.

Sir'Dominic Pointer is on every All-Name team. And his sister's name is Miz'Unique.

And speaking of names, Dayton has Bobby Wehrli (rhymes with Hurley) and Scoochie Smith (real name: Dayshon).

It's the Flyers vs. the Friars. I wonder if there are two other teams whose names rhyme. We know Syracuse will never play in such a game.

Providence coach Ed Cooley lost more than 100 pounds after getting bariatric surgery a couple years ago. He doesn't even look like the same guy, except for the weird hair thing.

Why would the committee do this? I still can't understand how they can send Dayton to Dayton, isn't there a rule saying you can't play a tournament game on a court where you hosted at least 3 games during the regular season? Why is Dayton exempt. And then send them to Columbus for the first round. I don't believe the home court advantage matters that much, but why open yourself up to the criticism?

So we end the day with only even minor upset. That tends to happen after a big day of upsets on day 1. But it does set us up for some good games on Sunday. Looking forward to it.

Tournament Thoughts - Early Friday

We start day 2 with Kansas and New Mexico State. Kansas is the two seed a lot of people think is ripe for an upset. But I think they're good, just played a tough schedule.

Not much to comment on from Kansas's blowout.

Sim Bhullar's brother, Tanveer is 7'3" 355 lbs and hardly plays. He did make both his shots.

Every year I pick Michigan State. Some years they let me down, but they usually always play well and Coach Izzo always makes good decisions late in games. Ok, not always, but they had a big enough lead to hold on.

A couple of Michigan State players have nice sneakers, kind of remind me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Wyoming has Larry Nance Jr. that's a sure sign of aging, when you start to watch the kids of players you used to watch.

Northern Iowa looks good. Lots of guys who can knock down shots. Have I mentioned I picked them to make the Final Four? Go make me proud Panthers.

Great run by Wyoming to cut a 21-point deficit. UNI helped them out by shooting quick 3s. Larry Nance Jr got hot. He's 6'8" and can shoot. Maybe he'll get a luck from an NBA team.

Kurt Warner representing Northern Iowa!

In the Christian Laettner 30 for 30 Bobby Hurley was 18 and he looked 10. Now he's about 40 and looks like 50.

So there will be no 12-5 upset this year, despite a couple close calls.

Buffalo had so many chances but could just never seize the lead. That's why size matters, WVU got that huge offensive rebound that gave them another possession, which turned into the back-breaking 3-pointer.

So Belmont couldn't pull off the upset but they did give us one of those nice moments where an underdog makes a run and they showed the guys in the bench in warmups going nuts.

The winner of this year's Coach Memorial You Can't Teach Height Award is UC-Irvine's 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndaiye. There used to be a guy of the same name who played at Auburn and briefly in the NBA.

Terrible end of game performance for UC Irvine. Wasted an entire possession with a tie game, committed a dumb foul in the corner and then couldn't even get a shot to tie the game.

It's just crazy that practically every single close game goes against the team I picked.
Purdue, Buffalo, Wofford, UC Irvine, LSU, SMU. All of them had good chances to win, and I lost every single one of those games.

Maryland holds off Valpo. Drews are now 0-2 in this tournament.

All the 4s and 5s survived, pretty sure that has never happened before. Now onto the final session of the best two days of the years.

Tournament Thoughts - Late Thursday

That battle of Pennsylvania never materialized. Villanova took it to Lafayette. And they looked good doing it. But those of us who have Nova exiting early shouldn't panic. Plenty of teams dominated in round 1, and lost in round 2.

Note: Until they got to 96 teams I will not call the playing games the first round. I'm becoming an old fart. Or I resist shill marketing. You make up your own mind.

Utah is coached by Larry Krystowiak, one of The Concierge's favorite players.

Basil Smotherman definitely leading the all-name team so far this tournament.

Octavius Ellis ejected for Cincinnati. Deservedly so. Brutal cheapshot forearm under the chin of AJ Hammons.

Purdue picked a good time to get hot from 3. Started 1-18, hit 3 of next 4.

But once again no such thing as momentum. Quick basket for Cincy, a turnover on a ball batted off the fingertips and reversed on review, then a hard take to the basket for an and-1. But you have to just get out of the way there. A 2-point lead and the ball with 39 seconds left is pretty strong. Can't risk fouling, especially because the shot could miss.

No whistles at the end of this game. But I like the no call. I don't like rewarding an offensive player for running recklessly into a defender.

Damn that was an exciting shot. Buzzer off, shot up, rolling around the rim. It actually took long enough to process all that. Another overtime game.

Exciting overtime considering no one could make a shot, lent itself to some up and down action though. In games this close those little things that happen throughout the course of the game, the missed free throws, the bad passes, the defensive lapses, determine the winner and loser.

I really enjoy watching the Ivy League teams play. The always give a solid effort. And they usually keep it close through ball movement and good outside shooting.

I really enjoy Andrew Catalon as an announcer. He does the Olympic curling but is getting more high profile assignments.

Wow, what a finish. North Carolina just made the plays to hold off Harvard. A great game though, both teams played well and made plays instead of some other games that stayed close because of ineptitude.

Ty Charles of Stephen F Austin made Mrs. Poop's All-Hair team.

She also likes their neon shoes.

Valiant effort by Stephen F. Austin but good job by Utah to hold them off.

If I were friends with Thomas Walkup I would call him 5th floor.

Average height of Kentucky starters: 6'9"
Average height of Hampton starters: 6'3"

They look like men vs. boys out there.

Chase picked NC State to the make the Final Four because their red S looks like Syracuse's orange one. I actually changed his bracket and put Providence in the Final Four instead. He's going to be so happy in the morning.

Great comeback attempt by NC State. They fell in love with the 3 just a little too much but LSU absolutely handed the game to them by missing 6 free throws in a row. This is the distinction I make between a great game and a close, exciting one. This was not a good game, poorly played, miscues galore, but a thrilling finish.

I guarantee LSU's players will be thinking about that one for a while.

Ok, now on to Wofford, one my of 2 12 over 5 picks this year. They just look like a spunky underdog. And they seem to have quite a bit of support in Jacksonville. That is only about 5 hours from campus. And if you're a Wofford alum you probably don't get a better chance to see your team in the tournament.

Great exchange, Qualls throws down a monster dunk to give Arkansas a 1-point lead. Before he can even mean mug for the cameras, Wofford nails a 3 to retake the lead. Dunks, no matter how loud, ferocious or spectacular are still only worth 2 points.

The only reason Wofford did not pull off that upset is because they shot too may 3s, and missed the last 6 they took in the game. They needed to try to get the ball to the basket especially those possessions where they had a 1 or 2 or 3 point lead. And that last possession they basically held for a 3 to tie. I know Arkansas played good D on them, but they should have tried to get a bucket and foul.

Georgetown has a guy named Mikael Hopkins. I feel like I have mentioned this before. But it doesn't seem I did.

A great first day of games with some monumental upsets, two overtime games, and 5 games deciding by exactly 1 point, a new single day tournament record.

Days like this are the reason I love the Big Dance. Even though I can't pick a bracket for shit.

Tournament Thoughts - Early Thursday

It's very rare you see Notre Dame being the more athletic team on the floor. Usually they just have a bunch of slow white guys who can shoot.

I don't have a lot of confidence in Northeastern after hearing their coach fell off the Al Skinner coaching tree.

UAB just seems nervous. Shooting terribly, dropping passes. They likely won't be able to come back if they fall into a huge hole against Iowa St.

Fred Hoiberg doesn't age.

UAB did withstand that initial punch from Iowa State and got back into the game by grabbing a lot of offensive rebounds, which is easier when you miss a ton of shots.

The downside of Greg Anthony's prostitution arrest: all the announce teams got shuffled, Verne and Raf got separated so did Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel. Eagle and Spanarkel were the longest running team, at 17 years.

I hate cliches like "they wanted it more" but UAB is trying a lot harder, running faster, boxing out more than Iowa State.

Terrible late game strategy by Notre Dame. Up 6 under 3 to go and Jerian Grant holds the ball for 30 seconds and chucks up a bad three. Then they fall asleep on defense and allow Northeastern an easy backdoor bucket. The luck of the Irish certainly with them. They tried to blow this game. Why throw an 80-foot pass? Someone come to the ball! But they played great defense in the final possession with a 2-point lead and that was good enough to hold on.

When Niang passes and gets other people involved Iowa State's offense works great. When he gets the ball and shoots it without passing, it doesn't work for them. He doesn't have the hot hand in this game, other teammates particularly Thomas do, but he doesn't seem to recognize that. He finished 4-15 from the field (pitiful considering most were within 10 ft) with 3 turnovers.

So that's the first big upset of the tournament. A lot of people had Iowa State going to the Final Four. I had them losing to SMU on Saturday so this actually works out pretty well for me.

Georgia State's coach looks so silly rolling along the sideline on a stool.

I have no idea why Georgia State chose to slow the pace. They had the ball up 1, slowed it down and it all went to shit. They were pressuring Baylor and forcing turnovers and then they stopped, and Baylor went on a 10-0 run.

Georgia State has Kevin Ware. Surely you remember his gruesome injury from when he was with Louisville 2 years ago.

Funny thing, when Baylor got the lead, they tried to sit on it, and GSU went off, especially the coach's son.

And bang, there you have it. The first big ONIONS!!!!! moment of the tournament. Incredible shot by Hunter, the coach's son, knocking dad off his stool. Incredible. If he hadn't hurt himself after the conference title game he would have done it after this one. Amazing. That's why we love the tournament.

Two No. 14 seeds won in the same tournament only twice, in 1986 (Arkansas-Little Rock over Notre Dame, Cleveland State over Indiana) and 1995 (Weber State over Michigan State, Old Dominion over Villanova).

This Butler-Texas game seems to me to be one of those overachieving hard-working teams that plays good basketball against an undisciplined underachieving team with lots of talent. But I prefer talent which is why I have Texas winning this one.

Larry Brown is going to die on the sideline. He does not look well. He's only three years older than Boeheim. Is that what we have to look forward to in year 3? A decrepit corpse on the sideline?

What a comeback by SMU! That little guy Nick Moore was awesome. 19-0 run!

I never believe in momentum and these games often prove it. Teams get their doors blown off for a few minutes, then hit a couple shots and of the sudden they have all the "momentum." If it's that transient it probably doesn't mean anything at all.

Bryce Alford on fire. It is a good day to be a coach's son.

Oh what a terrible ending to a great game. Very hard to say but I don't think that was goaltending. What a terrible finish to a very exciting game. SMU was in this cage of their own creation though, with a very bad turnover when they should have been sealing the victory.

It always figures that the team everyone is criticizing about their bid is the one that wins a game, and now they have a very good chance to make the Sweet 16.

It seems like D'Angelo Russell is going to be a very high pick in the NBA. And he certainly is a very good player but it seems to me a lot of these athletic wings types have been busts in the NBA.

That was a vicious elbow to Russell's face. It should have been a flagrant 1, excessive contact, but because it wasn't intentional it didn't rise to the level of a flagrant 2. They got one right, huge turn of events.

VCU gave that game away. Way too many mistakes, bad turnovers, ill-advised shots.

But an overtime game was an exciting way to end the first session of games.

I'll Believe It When I See It

Jim Boeheim announced this morning that he will retire in 3 years.
That seems like a really long transition period to me. Maybe he can say he didn't want his hand-picked predecessor Mike Hopkins to take over amidst the turmoil and sanctions from the NCAA.
But this also gives Boeheim way too much time to change his mind.
I do not trust him but I guess this gives him time to remove the stain of this latest ugly incident from being the last thing people remember about him.
But if he didn't want it to appear as if he were forced out, why not wait a year or two to announce this?
This doesn't give him enough time to recoup the 108 wins he lost, so he will never get to 1,000.

So he turns the program over to Mike Hopkins who has been on the staff for 20 years, and been the designated coach-in-waiting for at least the last five.
I am not sure what kind of coach Hopkins will be. Will he just be a Boeheim clone and do everything exactly the same? Will he try to put his own stamp on the program? Will he follow his mentor and teach one defense and employ one strategy no matter the circumstances? Or will he be a real coach who prepares his players for different opponents and adapts his scheme to the strength of his team.

I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

In three years.

Hopefully after Boeheim goes out on a high note of back-to-back-to-back National Championships.