The field.....I meant the court is certainly level
The beauty of March Madness is to expect the unexpected. In addition unlike football anybody could be a winner. Mercer could complete an outstanding season and never be invited to a major bowl game. The school plays Division I-AA football, they don’t compete against Duke on the football field. On the other hand they can match up on the basketball court and the result, well you know the story. Duke (3) lost its match against (14) Mercer, in the case of a 9 seed beating an 8 is probably not considered an upset the two teams are pretty much evenly matched. As for Dayton (11) they beat Ohio State (6) and to prove it was no fluke thumped Syracuse (3) on Saturday.
Harvard (12) gets by Cincinnati (5) and North Dakota State (12) squeezes by Oklahoma (5) in overtime. Stanford (10) beat New Mexico (7) 58-53, however is that really an upset? Stanford slipping by Kansas (2) well that might qualify as an upset. Finally Stephen F. Austin (12) over VCU (5), we might question that one. SFA finished 18-0 in the Southland Conference (32-2) with the VCU win. It should be pointed out they haven’t lost a game since November. A couple of thoughts, these so called mid-major teams rosters are loaded with three and four year athletes. One and done players attend larger Division I schools. Preparation, teams often have little time to prepare for the next round. There is scouting but not near the amount as the regular season.
Speaking of______
There was talk around these parts indicating the Big XII was the strongest basketball conference in the nation, the conference had seven teams selected for the NCAA Tourney. After Sunday only two teams remained, the biggest surprise might be the Kansas Jayhawks being upset by the Stanford Cardinals. It's now up to Iowa State and Baylor to carry the conference banner forward. Wonder what those media types have to say now, they downplayed SEC basketball while extolling the Big XII. Both conferences have two teams remaining in play. Even more interesting for us (including this writer) Baylor's Scott Drew has often been viewed as a good recruiter but not much of an X and O guy, it will be interesting how far they advance. .
No complaints from me
I could be mistaken but I think last year was the first time the networks utilized NBA analysts for the NCAA Tournament. I read several complaints from media and fans alike last season for the network choices, I was not among that number. True these analysts have not concentrated on college ball however once upon a time they did play college ball. The NBA game is certainly different from the collegiate one but these guys are sharp enough to provide viewers insight into the game.
Funnnny
Mark Cuban cracks me up; he’s always voicing his opinion on all things unrelated to his Mavs. The latest was his outlook for future of the Lakers, “the Lakers might never be the Lakers again” was his declaration. I didn’t bother reading the article I just smiled and thought; “this is Cuban being Cuban.” The Lakers will get better or worst but I doubt if Cuban should concern himself. On the other hand maybe he might be worried for his Mavs?
Retired jerseys
You might remember a few weeks ago I wrote the 76ers retired Allen Iverson’s number 3. By all accounts Iverson spent his best years in Philly although he played for several other NBA teams. The Celtics and Knicks are unique in that all the players’ jerseys hanging in the rafters played in Boston or New York. I cannot make a similar claim for my Lakers, they have George Mikan and several other Minneapolis Laker numbers honored. The Jazz retired Pete Maravich’s jersey 7 although he never played in Salt Lake City.
The death of former Kings center Sam Lacey brought this retired jersey issue to the forefront again. The Associated Press account was written as if Kings Management was clueless that Lacey had died. After he retired from the game Lacey chose to remain in Kansas City, he never lived in or around Sacramento. In fact he’d retired two years before the franchise made its move to Sacramento. The AP story did point out Lacey’s jersey number 44 had been retired. We can guess Lacey may have traveled to Sacramento for retirement of his jersey.
