My Beloved 108 Bloggees:
The timing of my out of town trip was perfect....the day after the Gators' disappointing loss to Butler in a classic overtime Elite Eight game. At this juncture, any comment would be like reading yesterday's newspaper, so I will just congratulate the Bulldogs on being such a tough tournament team that works hard every second on the court. Brad Stevens is a marvelous coach. I would not be surprised if they win it all....as mentioned in a previous blog, they seem to have destiny on their side.
The Gators gave their fans some memorable moments this year, especially in March. Billy Donovan and the team need to feel proud for making Florida basketball relevant once again, after a brief lull. NEXT
It has been a good week for Anthony Grant. He is being praised for stocking the roster of Final Four team, VCU, with winners before leaving the Richmond school two years ago. Secondly, his Crimson Tide are playing for the NIT Championship on Thursday after squeaking by fellow number 1 seed Colorado, 62 - 61 in Tuesday's semi-final http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201103290125 .
A quick point guard I love, Alabama's Trevor Releford, drove the baseline and made a game-winning layup "among the trees". Colorado's stud, Alec Burks, who had already scored 20 points, missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have sent Alabama home. The men of Crimson were led by JaMychal Green who had a game-high o 22 points on 11 for 16 shooting. Alabama overcame a Vernon Macklin-like 4 for 11 from the charity stripe.
Wichita State stands in the way of the NIT gold after they demolished Washington State 77 - 45 when 7-footer Garrett Stutz came off the bench with a double-double, 24 points on 10 for 13 along with 11 rebounds. Klay (son of former NBAer Mychal) Thompson was way off for Wash State, shooting 1 for 10, coming up empty on all 5 three-point attempts.
By the way, during Bracket Buster Saturday in February, Wichita State lost to VCU 68 - 67 on two free throws with less than a second. They also lost to another Final Four team, Connecticut 83 - 79 in Novermber after leading with less than 3 minutes remaining. NEXT
There was a big surprise to me Monday in the first game of the best of three championship series of the CBI tournament at Creighton. They were hosting Oregon and the return of their former coach, Dana Altman, who deserted the Omaha school for the greenbacks of Nike U last April. Altman, who had 327 victories and 7 NCAA appearances at Creighton during his 16 years actually received a terrific reception when he came out of the tunnel and when his name was announced.
Wow! Folks in the Midwest sure have class. I am not sure that type of crowd reception would have happened in other venues across the country in a similar situation. When Lon Kruger left Florida for Illinois in 1996 just two years after taking the Gators to the Final Four, he was Benedict Kruger in my book (even though he seemed to be a great guy when I met him after UF played in a consolation game of the NIT a few years earlier.....I know, one needs help if they go to a game like that....like most consolation games in the postseason, it has been eliminated). NEXT
Who is the best high school hoopster ever to come out of the St. Louis area.....Bill Bradley, Jojo White, Larry Hughes, LaPhonso Ellis, David Lee or the current Gator signee, Bradley Beal? Click on this article for a discussion http://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/boys-basketball/article_154f01e2-5724-11e0-9d4b-00127992bc8b.html . Thanks to bloggee Sean for forwarding the article. THAT'S IT
Enjoy.........in a blog over the weekend, I gave you the trascript of Pat Summitt's halftime speech when her Vols were losing to Ohio State.....a video of it begins at the 25 second mark of this clip....definitely worth watching..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTavyjvvwn0 .....of course, they came back to win.....however the Lady Vols lost on Monday to Notre Dame....need to find a locker room clip of Pat from that game....I still get a kick out of her yelling at her team for its low energy level "....and it makes me sick to my stomach",
Barry
