Running 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament thread

Come on now. No way those arenas are close to 3/4 empty. It's more like 9/10.

 

Here's one question they should have asked:

"Hey, Ferret-Face . . . why do you (so obviously) teach the kind of chippy, grab-ass defensive tactics that would make even a career abuser like John
Thompson II blush?

"Take your time . . . 'coach' . . . "

 

I wondered about that too ... only thing I come up with is that Duke was hoping for a scrum for the rebound that would have eaten up the remaining 3.6 seconds... but you're right, Zag, there were too many other things that could have gone wrong.

I would have loved to hear Coach K explain THAT one had Hayward's desperation shot gone in.

And ... food for thought ... buy or sell Coach K's denial of interest in the Nets job? What else is there for him to prove at this level, save Knight's all-time win record?

 

1. I'd faint dead away if K left for the Nets or any other NBA job. He knows better, and his ego couldn't take the demotion. An NBA coach can't win unless he's outranked by his players, because he's got top have stars. At Duke, K rules. In an NBA setup, he's a well-paid middle manager.
2. To me, the most interesting thing about Butler is that its players were ALL local, that is, from Indiana or Kentucky. That speaks of a program that knows what it's doing, and it also is a method maybe more schools should think about copying if they're lucky enough to be set in a basketball nexus. I have no trouble with Duke kids coming from all over, since that's pretty much the pattern for their student body, too, especially the Jersey contingent.

 

One more thing just for the fun of stirring an argument. Trying to sleep the other night, I tried to list national champions by memory and arrange them by conference. The ACC has four schools with titles, Duke, UNC, N.C. State and Maryland. The Big East has seven. BUT, three of those schools won their titles before they joined the conference, Marquette, Louisville, and Cincinnati. That leaves Villanova, Syracuse, Georgetown and UConn, and, I think, a very appropriate tie.

 

But those four ACC schools have 12 titles among them, while those four Big East schools only have five. I'm not sure I'd call that a tie. Even adding in the titles of Marquette, Louisville and Cincinnati you still have more championships in the ACC.

Edit: Oh, and by the measure of how many schools have won titles as conference members, the Big Ten is equal (Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan).

 

My mistake, frantic, for not listing Big Ten, which I knew had four. AND, if you're going to rank conferences by number of titles, the Pac-10, for obvious reasons, is in the lead with 13.

 

Well, yeah, it's great if you're courtside. Go ask those people sitting two rows from the top of the stadium; probably not so outstanding.

 

"Has become?"

They've already been. For a couple of decades now.

 

I had this conversation the other night with some people, or something along these lines. It was a debate about whether Brad Stevens should stay or strike while the iron is hot. The consensus at the rest of the table was that Butler is about to go on some wild decade-long run that he needed to stay there to do. My argument was that the chance was better than not that he would never, ever, ever get back this far at Butler. They thought I was nuts, that it was a foregone conclusion that they would be a perennial Final Four team under him.

Fan enthusiasm vs. sports writer realism, I guess.

 

Thinking about Butler's last shot, I thought of another Hoosiers reference that's usually unnoticed.

When Ollie hits the game-winning free throws, the team starts celebrating. Meanwhile Terhune (or whatever opponent it was) launches a half-court shot that bounces off the rim.

I've always thought it funny how they shot that scene, and the guy, on a throwaway shot, nearly made it.