My Beloved 108 Bloggees:
For a fantastic insight of Billy Donovan spend a few minutes, put the feet up with a sandwich and watch his Friday press conference by clicking here http://www.gatorvision.tv/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=762519&db_oem_id=6500 . There are two parts....go directly to the part 2. His anecdotes regarding Larry Bird, Bill Belichick, Brad Stevens and many, many more are outstanding. You do not have to be a Gator fan to enjoy hearing from a guy who loves basketball and can relate his passion the way Billy can. NEXT
There is a lot of excitement in Gator Nation with a chance today at 3:30 CDT on CBS to play for a trip to the Final Four. However, playing a tough, tournament-tested team like Butler is worrisome. Plus I heard an unsettling statistic....the previous 11 teams who won an NCAA game in overtime all lost their next NCAA tournament. Let me remind you that the Gators beat BYU in overtime in its previous game. Oh no!
For a video preview of the game with bloggee Kevin # 1, click here http://video.gatorsports.com/ . For Kevin's written preview, click on http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20110326/ARTICLES/110329567/1136?Title=Experience-has-Florida-Butler-in-Elite-Eight . NEXT
If VCU coach Shaka Smart were a stock, how many shares would you buy....or should I ask, how many thousands of shares would you buy? The former Florida assistant is one hot commodity. He led his Rams to the Elite Eight with an overtime (oh no) 72 - 71 win over defensive-minded FSU http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103250213 .
The nation heard former NBA GM and current broadcaster, Steve Kerr, saying, "Shaka Smart can coach" numerous times, especially after drawing up the game-winning inbounds play near the end of the overtime period. That means the ADs at schools, such as the University of Tennessee and University of Missouri who have head coach openings, also most likely heard Kerr's praise of Shaka. Schools from the power conferences are always looking for the next Billy the Kid, and Shaka Smart fits that to a tee, especially having an apprenticeship year on Billy Donovan's staff under his belt. NEXT
Kentucky destroyed many a bracket last night when Brandon Knight's tie-breaking mid-range jumper with 5 seconds left lifted the SEC tourney champs to a 62 - 60 thriller over top-seeded Ohio State http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103250443 . What a game! The Buckeye's long-range shooter, Jon Diebler, had just tied the game with a three before Knight's heroics.
The Wildcats' "lunch bucket carrying" Josh Harrellson continued his postseason resurgence with a double-double, 17 points on 7 for 9 and 10 rebounds. The Buckeyes' freshman superstar, Jared Sullinger, collected 16 rebounds and was 7 for 14 on the way to his double-double, but William Buford's 2 for 16 shooting performance offset Sullinger's contributions. Buford also missed the potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. William, I know the feeling, I once struck out with two outs in the last inning with the potential tying and winning runs on base in the playoffs to end my team's season, also. You never forget those disappointing moments, unfortunately. NEXT
It is Friday night after a long week. You are all excited to sit at home and switch back and forth between the two early Sweet Sixteen games. Those plans go awry with two clunkers... North Carolina's 81 - 63 whupping of Marquette http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103250413 and Kansas's 77 - 57 thrashing of Richmond http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103250287 . Both games were even bigger routs than the final scores indicate.
North Carolina's front line of Harrison Barnes, Todd Zeller and John Henson just missed all having double-doubles when Barnes had 9 rebounds with his 20 points. Zeller was dominating with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Hensen also had 12 boards with his 14 points. Red-hot Kentucky looms next in what should be an epic battle between tradition-rich programs.
Kansas, the lone remaining one-seed, is finding itself having an easy road to the Final Four due to early round upsets on their side of the bracket. A Sweet Sixteen with a win against 12-seed Richmond and then tomorrow, 11-seed VCU as the opposition, surely contrasts with the more difficult paths other teams have had to try to get to Houston. NEXT
Former Gator assistant Donnie Jones saw his UCF basketball team's disappointing season mercifully come to an end when Creighton thumped them in Omaha on Wednesday night, 82 - 64 in the semi-finals of the CBI postseason tournament. Marcus " son of " Jordan who is averaging over 15 points a game, failed to reach double figures for the second consecutive game, scoring just 9 points on 4 for 9, and nothing to show for his 3 deep attempts http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/88734 .
The CBI did get a break with their best of three finals matchup between Creighton and Oregon who is coached by Dana Altman, the former Creighton coach for the previous 16 years. It is a promoter's dream for such a tournament. The first game is at Creighton next Monday and during that March Madness off night, it will be interesting to see the reception he gets.
If you remember, Oregon is the second school for which Altmann left Creighton. After the 2007 season he left for Arkansas and then within 24 hours of the press conference introducing him as the Hogs' coach, he "Billy Donovan-ed" and returned to Creighton http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2824653
By the way, guess who won the CBI tournament last year? Shaka Smart and this year's Elite Eight VCU. THAT'S IT
Enjoy......will be giving you a break by taking a couple of blogging days off.....did I hear a bunch of you yell "hooray"?......I just watched the halftime speech of Pat Summitt with her Tennessee team losing at halftime to Ohio State....."that team over there has more energy and more heart than we do. Does that bother you? It makes me sick to my stomach. ....I don't know what you are going to do but you better come out of this locker room with a big-time attitude, you with me? You defend, defend, defend, and rebound, rebound, rebound. Do you want to go home? You play like you don't want to be here, and you look like you don't want to be here.".....Wow. If that were an audition for the Tennessee men's job, she should get it.
Barry
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