Woman-on-Woman Action

Duke has knocked off Connecticut, turning the Final Four into practically an ACC Tournament redux. When was the last time a conference put three teams in the Final FOur for either gender?

On a more sinister note, the Women's Hoops Blog points to a Boston Globe article on the homophobia tactics plaguing women's recruiting, typified by the lawsuit against Penn State coach Rene Portland. It's not a new problem - I remember it being discussed in a 1997 SI article. It's disturbing to read about coaches using positions of authority to prey on the insecurities of high school students and ostracize a segment of players and fans, and it needs to stop. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

(And to think, I never thought to encounter an influence in recruiting more nefarious than shoe companies.)

Second Half - Winner Takes James K. Polk

5:18 47-35 when I get back to the computer, 16:45 left in the game and play stopped for the refs and coaches to confer. Tennessee ball.
5:20 UNC gets a steal and a third foul from Spencer. Offensive rebounds are beginning to come UNC's way, and it's 49-35.
5:22 Back-to-back missed layups going into the timeout. More a function of good defense than bad offense for both teams.

5:26 Tennessee gets a Spencer three and follows it up with a steal but can't convert. They're clamping down on defense and beginning to ruin the Heels, but the shots aren't falling. 49-38.
5:27 Spencer also gets her fourth foul though, and Latta makes one of two. 50-38.
5:29 The Vols are driving and racking up fouls on the offensive end. Another three and it's 50-42 and a timeout for UNC.
5:32 UNC is having a difficult time getting it inside, and it's throwing off their offense. A lob to Little gets two points despite the doubleteam. 52-42.

5:37 When Little does get the ball in the paint, she's taking over the game. Fouls are being called more often, and another two from the line from Tennessee makes it 54-45.
5:38 Jump ball number seven allows UNC to retain possession but turns it over on the ensuing inbounds. The Vols don't look like their used to teams forcing the shot clock against them - they've taken some bad shots once the clock hits five.
5:40 Tennessee struggled in the first half with Parker on the bench, and are similarly troubled with Spencer riding the pine in the second. They're losing their rebounding advantage and on the eighth jump ball, it's 56-45.
5:43 The tight calls are working in Tennessee's advantage. Miller's three-pointer is working against them. 59-47.

5:48 Tennessee is coming back on offense, cutting it to 59-52. Another jump ball (nine) keeps the ball in UNC's hands.
5:49 UNC trunover. They're still out of sync on offense. And Parker backs it down and cuts it to 59-54.
5:50 Atkinson sinks an open three after a long moment of consideration. 62-54.
5:51 Larkins also finds the hoop to extend the lead. A blocking foul at the other end sends Tennessee back to the line. 64-56 with 4:39 to play.
5:54 Long three from Latta after no offensive movement. Bad play if it doesn't work, but it does. The Vols are scoring down low, and it's 67-60, 2:45 remaining.
5:55 Great drive and dish by Latta to Larkins. Larkins also pulls down a defensive rebound and draws a foul, making 69-60.

5:58 Tennessee's trap gets the steal, but Atkinson is able to block Spencer's outside shot. Parker makes one of two from the line 69-61, under two minutes.
6:00 Another steal when Latta drives gets the Vols two. 69-63 with 1:00 to go, and Tennessee is still shy of giving seven fouls.
6:01 The constantly mentioned stat the winner of every UNC Elite Eight matchup wins the title is a polite way of saying UNC doesn't make it to the Final Four very often. Tennessee hits the bonus and Latta hits the line. 71-63, 56 seconds.
6:04 Latta gets the steal and runs a bit of clock down before Spencer fouls out. 39 seconds remain. 73-63.

And it's all over but the free throws. UNC pulls away with a 75-63 win, and gets another Maryland rematch Boston. Congratulations.

Liveblogging UNC-Tennessee

The Final Four game that isn't. Pregame information can be found here and here.

4:06 A three pointer and two steals from Carolina only gets a 3-0 lead. The defense is keeping Tennessee almost entirely behind the arc though.
4:09 Tennessee on the other hand is playing big defense down low, getting rebounds and giving up the occasional foul to stop the basket. 4-2 Heels.
4:11 The downside of that defense is that Latta is open for the three. 5 straight points from her, but offensive rebounds for the Vols make it 9-8.
4:12 The Vol's Parker picks up her second foul with a charge going into the first media timeout. The crowd seems to be slightly favoring UNC, surprisingly enough.

4:16 Candace Parker is sitting with two fouls, and Little takes advantage to get her first basket. Back and forth misses keep it at 11-8.
4:17 Another offensive rebound and bucket for the Vols - 8 of their 10 points have come that way - but UNC responds, 13-10. Rebounding is going to kill the Heels at this rate though. A five second violation gives UNC the ball though.
4:20 Another Tennessee turnover, but they cause a jump ball on the defensive end in response. Pringle gets two points in the post though, 15-10. And another Vol turnover - the third straight.
4:22 The defenses are both suffocating - UNC loses the ball out of bounds, but can set up their half court trap and force another jump ball. The teams exchange baskets, 17-12. The more shots UNC can hit, the better they can set up the defense.

4:26 UNC is using its depth, getting points from folks the play-by-play crew aren't familar with. A defensive lapse gets the Vols an easy bucket in response. 19-14.
4:28 The Heels run off a long missed three - Tennessee is completely cold from behind the arc - to get an easy Latta layup, and follow it up with a steal, a bucket, and a charge. 24-14.
4:30 UNC gets good defense after a turnover to stop the fast break, and a loose ball tussle requires a Tennessee timeout. UNC is, rebounding aside, completely in control of the game.
4:32 Tennessee turnover, but the Heel's cant convert. Again Vol rebounding gives them the ball and gets them a bucket from Parkeron the other end. 24-16 going into the next TV timeout.

4:35 I was worried about 6'3" Parker gaurding Latta on the perimeter, but Latta drains a three over her. The Vols get four or five rebouds on the other end before finding the hoop. UNC's beginning to run more and it's 29-18.
4:37 The fourth jump ball of the half allows sloppy Tennessee to keep possession. I don't know if the number of tie-ups is unusual, a characteristic of women's ball, or a characteristic of a quick, scrappy Carolina. 31-18 after a Little downcourt break.
4:39 Tennessee's Zolman hits their first three, and the next time down the court they get a backdoor layup. Pringle responds, and it's 33-23.
4:41 McCants gets a three off of a great pass from the paint. The Vols are beginning to find an offense underneath though, and UNC calls a timeout at 36-27.

4:42 A good pass to find the open layup underneath, followed by a Latta steal and bucket. 40-27. No, 43-27 after a Little three. If UNC has been playing down to their competition so far this tournament, they sure aren't now.
4:45 Good drives and passes get the Vols two. 43-29.
4:46 Spencer is coming alive down low for Tennessee, getting points off of first opportunities for a change. Latta misses a layup on the other end -there's been a little too much of that from Carolina - and it's 43-31.
4:49 Eight steals and now two blocks for the half. Very impressive showing by Carolina. Latta's waiting for the last shot, but a ricochet out of bounds and a failed inbounds play ends the half with the same 43-31. Pat Summit thinks the lead should be more like 25, and I can't really argue with that.

George! Mason!

The patriots didn't attempt a single three-pointer in the entire overtime period. They didn't substitute for the last fifteen minutes. Just smart basketball, good defense, and enough missed free throws to frustrate anyone watching.

That's good assistant coaching right there.

(And UNC lost to the team that beat the team that beat the team that beat Illinois. That compensates for the November game, right?)

Purdue

Sylvia Hatchell is significantly more confident in the triviality of Ivory Latta's injury than I am. I hope she's right.

That being said, it was a good ending to UNC's second straight road game - a play I would have disparaged in most men's tournament games works here with Latta's large talent advantage. The preceding inbounds play was even better, almost getting the easy layup on the long distance pass. A good win off poor play, which doesn't bode well for Tennessee.

Morrison

It occurs to me I don;t think I've seen a Gonzaga game all year. Maybe one back in November. But other than that nothing. So I have a question.

Has Adam Morrison been throwing elbows when driving to the basket all year, or is this a new thing? Even the play-by-play guys were joking about it.

Schadenfreude

Give it up to Gregg Doyel, who twice made the prediction I couldn't convince myself to make - LSU beating Duke. (Although I did bite the bullet in ACC Basketblog's pool. Take a look at that entry quickly, because it'll look real ugly after this weekend.) And they lost the same way they've lost all season, with a hand in J.J. Redick's face and no one around to help Sheldon Williams. The other five Blue Devils - and there were only five - put up 28 shots total, making seven.

It will be interesting to see how the boys in evil blue fare next year. Caulton Tudor puts them third and seems to expect a big improvement from DeMarcus Nelson. But Boston College looks to lose one star player to the Blue Devil's two, and I'm not sure slotting the Eagles behind them is a wise move. A lot depends on the incoming freshmen and what Krzyzewski does with them. It'll be a fun season to watch.

And I have to thank CBS and Getty Images for this. A better image to end the Duke season couldn't have been asked for.

Alright, I'll Talk About It

Six turnovers on six poseessions to start the half. The January Heels returned with a vengeance.

George Mason was the quickest defensive team I've seen all year. To be able to press that far out on the guards and still collapse four people on to Hansbrough and grab as many defensive rebounds as they did. But still, there were enough UNC defensive stops in the last three minutes that better shots would have given the Heels the game. And as much as the coach is willing to take the blame, when it came down to it the team didn't get the job done.

That being said, I don't think the loss was the total disaster some people think. George Mason is a team playing well, with few embarassing losses on their schedule. (They have issues with Hofstra, true, but Hofstra's still playing in the NIT, which is a feat Wake, Clemson, Maryland and Virginia can't lay claim to.) I think they'll push past Witchita State before getting hit by the UConn Final Four train this weekend. There are limits to what even The Cherry can accomplish, after all.

Meanwhile, the fans get to turn their focus to the more experienced Tar Heels facing a tougher road in their tournament. And confidential to BTW -- UNC alum James K. Polk is a much better subject for your attentions.

Aaaugh

George Mason Maryland

Gregg Doyel discusses the recruiting, or lack thereof, of the entire Patriot squad, and it looks like Gary Williams is not using his free time very well. Or he's just being outmaneuvered by the brilliance of Scott Cherry. Either way, we could have been facing this group of players quite a lot over the last couple of years.

The first half has been a poor shooting clinic - here's hoping for better results in the second.

Meanwhile, in Dayton...

...the vaunted Michigan State home court advantage ran up against the coaching wisdom of Scott Cherry. Never bet agaisnt The Cherry when he faces a Michigan team.

As for the Heels, it probably was a good thing I was at a St. Patrick's Day party that showed the Kentuck-UAB contest. It kept the swearing to a minimum. The team kept its poise at the end though, holding off the Fightin' Murrays. Between Michigan State not living up to expectations and Tennessee finally doing as expected, the next major conference team the Heels could see is most likely a Husky in the Elite Eight. Shades of the 1998 bracket there.

Of course, if George Mason's rebounding dominance was more Patriot power than Spartan slackerdom, UNC won't have to worry about travel plans next week.

(ESPN2 is making CBS proud by airing FSU-LaTech instead of local Big West girls UC Riverside - the C is for Can't Get on TV - trying to upset the Tar Heels women's squad. But since the score is 38-17 in the first half, I'm reasonably sure there's not much to be discussed here.)

Illinos-Washington

Instances of incompetence during today's afternoon matchup:

• 
  CBS affiliates that scheduled the Illinois game for the afternoon slot and then aired the entire second half of Witchita State vs. Tennessee. Not that the latter wasn't a decent game, but by scheduling Illinois, the blacked out the San Diego pod feed, so none of the area bars (or March Madness on demand) had the first half of the Illinois game. It makes you want to go and illegally download something.
  
• The referees that called one of the more lopsided games I've seen in a good while - and I catch a fair number of Duke games. They completely stopped any rhythm the game had, and left us with a ridiculous second half free throw margin of 19 to 0 before the clock management fouls began.
  
• The Illinois offense that had some of the prettiest ball movement I've seen in years for the first ten minutes of the second half, only to abandon it for milling around and poor three point shots. I can't tell if their inability to run any sort of play out of their last two timeouts was a coaching or implementation failure, but the fact Dee Brown's couldn't even get a screen on the final play was embarassing. Not to mention Augustine's last bucket coming at the 15:04 mark.

And don't get me started on the Illini Coke ad.

Today's Discussion Topic

Is the rash of horrible decisions in the waning seconds of the game (Boston College and Pacific in yesterday's game, UNC-Wilmington's poor three point shot against GW, the first UNC-Duke game of the year) a recent phenomenon? Or do we only remember the successful end-of-game plays, and there were an equal number of lousy ones ten and fifteen years ago?

Bear-on-Bear Action

3:39 pm No matter what the pod system does, it's tough to really have a home court advantage when you're a top seed. The crowd in San Diego is really responding to Belmont - out of Tennessee - as they take it to local boys UCLA. Which they are, as with ten and a half in the first half it's 13-10 Belmont. Why? Poor shooting and sloppy play from the West Coast, the same things that hindered Nevada and Tennessee. Going into a UCLA timeout, it's 16-10 Belmont.
3:43 pm There's an entire empty section behind the left basket. I'm guessing Belmont didn't bring (or maybe even have) a pep band.
3:52 pm UCLA has turned up their perimeter defense and is running Belmont. They're still being sloppy in transition though, and Belmont's up 18-14 with six minutes in the half.
4:20 pm The local affiliate has no idea how to handle the delayed UCLA game. They keep cutting to screensavers during times when they should be providing commercials, programming, or something besides dead air. We just got three minutes of the Clearchannel logo before switching to Gonzaga-Xavier. UCLA had gone up twelve at the half and seems to be finding thier groove.

Scott Cherry Sighting

I may be the last person to realize this, but former UNC player Scott Cherry, best known for this box score and a surprise substitution in the 1993 championship, is an assistant coach for Georgre Mason. The patriots share a pod with the Tar Heels and provided they get past Michigan State in the first round could face his alma mater in round two.

Good luck, up until the weekend Scott.

One More Time to the West

2:31 pm Montana has stretched a lead that had fallen to 3 back up to 8. This team should not be getting this many boards. They're just outfighting a bigger Nevada team.
2:34 pm I'm rarely prouder of the fact that Santa Barbara does not have an Applebee's as I am when those nitwits singing about shrimp come on my TV. Montana extends thier lead to ten on a backdoor cut we almost miss so Greg Gumbel can talk about Alabama pulling away from Marquette. Nevada's Kemp picks up a fourth foul on the offesnive end.
2:41 pm Montana owns this game. They're the first Big Sky team to win a tournament game since 1999 when I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
2:44 pm Meanwhile, Alabama is trying to give away the game to Marquette. They can't beat the press, and they're taking poor shots that happen to be dropping. Back-to-back Marquette threes make it a one point game, 84-83.
2:45 pm And just like that, Alabama takes a smart shot and Marquette a dumb one. 86-83 at the one minute mark unti Alabama turns it over on a long rebound.
2:50 pm Alabama turns it over again. Teams should be required to wear warning labels if they're that poor against a press.
2:51 pm Marquette needs to remember this isn't fantasy basketball, and you don't get points for steals. You have to make the shot, too. Alabama gets the rebound, the foul, and two points from the line. 86-83 with nineteen ticks on the clock.
2:53 pm Wide-open three from the corner. Bounces off the top of the backboard. Now if only Alabama can inbounds - 7.1 seconds left.
2:55 pm They can, and hit two free throws. Ball game, 90-85 Alabama.

One of the joys of the West Coast is that they will not let us miss the UCLA game, if the crawl is any indication. I'll continue to dither until the local bar calls.

Back to Montana

Because it's not like there's an exciting Tennessee-Winthrop matchup we could be watching.

1:58 pm Nevada may want to not let short guys stand under the basket to get offensive rebounds. I'm just sayin'. 44-37 Nevada.
1:59 pm In a second half contrast, now Montana is putting up threes while Nevada passes them up. Except Montana makes their shots, while Nevada misses the floaters in the lane as well. Montana by ten.
2:06 pm A sign in the Montana section: "Grizzly Bear - 1,300 lbs. Wolf - 70 lbs. No contest." Nick Fazekas (The Nevada center, not the Montana one as I thought in the now-corrected first half post) is disputing that, but Montana seems to be outscrapping the rest of the Wolf Pack. 49-44 Montana, but CBS has taken us back to Greensboro.
2:07 pm Just in time for Winthrop to break a five minute drought with a three. And then we go to timeout.
2:14 pm Winthrop takes a timeout with 52 seconds remaining. Smart, since their point guard had spent the last five dribbling back and forth.
2:12 pm Winthrop can get any offensive production, almost losing the pall to an inbounds violation, only to have the shot clock expire. Tennesee miss, Winthrop miss, Tennessee travel. No one wants to win this game.
2:14 pm Is Marquette coming back against Alabama. Did Bradshaw just airball a free throw for Tennessee? The answers are tough to tell and yes, respectively.
2:15 pm Winthrop can't get it inside, and takes a long poor three. Tennessee takes a timeout with 21 seconds left.
2:18 pm Tennessee misses a three - I've seen one made shot and a free throw since we tuned in to this game - but takes the long rebound away from Winthrop with a possible over and back. Another timeout and one more bite at the apple. And another clock replay debate.
2:21 pm 2.9 seconds is the final verdict. Tennessee hits a cray shot for the lead. That one they can make? 0.4 seconds left.
2:25 pm Winthrop tossesd it off the backboard to get a decent shot, but it doesn't fall. It probably would have been overturned on clock review anyway. Tennessee escapes with the win.

I got a call from a former Illini roommate who made it down to San Diego for the bombscare. Not a lot to report - he wasn't told anything, he wandered over to a practice gym and ran into all the teams waiting to get in. Nice little thing for him, but not really breaking news.

Home Court Advantage

It's interesting that in all the complaints I've heard this week over high seeds playing in rough places - UNC in Dayton being particularly criticized - no one mentioned Tennessee playing a team based outside of Charlotte in Greensboro. Now true, a fifteen seed that keeps it close is going to get the crowd on their side no matter what, but Winthrop appears to have sprinkled the crowd quite liberally with that bright yellow color. Good for them. (Winthrop's up one with 12:30 to play.)

Grizzly Play

For all of you east-coasters not getting the bear-wolf slugfest:

1:07 pmMontana has pulled out in front, 17-10. Why? The Grizzlies can actually put the ball inside for these strange things called "high-percentage shots". Nevada just keeps putting up threes that clank off the rim. Montana's even switched to a zone to encourage this shooting performance.
1:09 pm Monata's now up nine (21-12) and forcing Nevada to foul. The local CBS station crawl still hasn't come to grips with the fact that the UCLA game in San Diego won't be starting in forty-five minutes.
1:11 pm Ramon Sessions drives and gets something inside, and Nevada seems to be waking up. 23-18 going into Montana's timeout.

Since they've sent me a couple of e-mails and say good things about UNC, I'll mention Think Progress' summary of tournament graduation rates. UNC (989), Duke (978) and UNCW (990) are all comfortably above the minimum requirements. N.C State (922) and Boston College (917) need to hit the books more. And for those members of the Orange Crush holding grudges against Bruce Pearl, Illinois (990) is significantly better than UW-Milwaukee (939) and Tennessee (918).

1:23 pm Mediocre basketball is beginning to take its toll. I'm mentally comparing Montana's center Andrew Strait to Tyler Hansbrough - both have a nice touch in the paint on the offensive end, slipping around multiple defenders. Of course, Hansbrough could outrebound the entire Grizzly team on the other end of the boards, so the comparison kind of falls apart. 29-23 going into the final timeout.

1:29 pm In the last minute, CBS has switched to every other game currently being played before coming back to Nevada-Montana, standing around waiting for play to resume. Strait is still unstoppable on offense. 38-29 Montana.

1:36 pm Nevada got a nice finger roll layup to close out the half. 40-33 Montana though. We're finally getting Winthrop-Tennesee out here.

Great Moments in Programming Choices

CBS has cut away from a 34-31 -Tennessee-Winthrop matchup so southern California can see the tip of the Nevada-Montana game. It's especially futile, since the station has periodically let us know that they'd be switching to the UCLA game at 1:55 pm for the last hour or so. I actually miss the four-screen split of CBS's heyday.

After One Overtime

It's clear that end-game situations are not being practiced enough at either of these schools. Hopefully Craig Smith finding his touch and Hinnant finding Sean Williams for the dunk to start the next five minutes is the start of a trend.

Jet Lagged

There was a Sports Illustrated article at least a decade ago profiling one successful NCAA pool winner who liked picking against teams that had to cross multiple time zones to play their games. It was all anecdotal evidence, but Boston College is trying it's damdest to back that theory up. They've been hustling throughout Pacific's comeback run, but they've been throwing up poor shots and falling asleep on defense the entire way. BC's free throw shooting is only surpassed in futility in the ACC by Clemson and Virginia Tech (in conference) if you need another reason to worry about falling out of your pool.

Between Witchita State and UW-Milwaukee, I've already kissed my money goodbye. Which I spent on lunch. Because profiting off of college athletics is morally wrong unless you are a large corporation buying airtime on CBS.

It took a timeout to develop the Craig-Smith-loses-control-and-falls-down play?

Am I the only finding CBS's cuts away from the exciting Pacific-BC matchup to the empty San Diego arena a hilarious distillation of everything that ever went wrong with televised tournament coverage?

Better tournament blogging than mine can be found at Uncertain Principles and Deadspin, if you weren't already aware.

Investigative Journalism Granted

I tend to hit blog silence the week of the NCAA tournament, as there's only so much prognostication you can take before you're eyes glaze over and you really believe Southern can pull of that upset. But since one of the joys of grad school is that you can drop everything to watch twelve hours of basketball, I should be back in full force once the games begin. But in the meantime, something's been found that demands immediate attention:

According to this widget, our mystery UNC voter is none other than Joe Mihalich, coach at Niagara.

I have no idea why he held the Heels in such high esteem. Apparently, he's also inordinately fond of Bucknell, and is not particularly high on Ohio State at the moment.

Also of note - Phil Martelli (St. Joseph's) was responsible for all the votes received by Pacific, Murray State, and South Alabama, all of who he ranked above Syracuse, Tennessee, LSU, West Virginia, and Georgetown. Is it too late to join his office pool?

Tennessee Seeding

It looks like the NCAA overcompensated for giving Bruce Pearl's squad (21-7, but 2-4 in the last three weeks) a number two seed by giving Pat Summit's crew (28-4, SEC Champions) a number two seed.

And then putting them in the bracket of #1 (RPI, AP, ACC, ESPN, and anything else) North Carolina. And poking them with a stick, for good measure.

The general consensus seems to be UNC is getting screwed by this matchup. And with any other squad, I may agree. But it's few NCAA Women's Championships that don't go through Tennessee, and this squad is more than up to the challenge. And a little revenge for the 1998 Elite Eight game never hurt anyone, either.

65 Games in 6 Minutes

First, Malcolm Gladwell impressions, an annual tradition:

Atlanta: In the first weekend, Duke beats George Washington, LSU knocks off a tiring Syracuse, Texas fuels N.C. State's Barnes infatuation, and West Virginia takes out West Virginia. Duke, alas, will top the Moutaineers for the Final Four ticket.

DC: UConn over Kentucky, Illinois (shafted at a 4-spot) over Washington, Seton Hall taking out Winthrop (Tennessee is the worst 2-seed in quite awhile) and as for the UNC-Michigan State game... I've changed my mind three times already, but I'll go with the Spartans right now. UConn will step past the UNC/MSU winner for the Final Four anyway.

Minneapolis: Villanova will squeak past Wisconsin, BC can handle Nevade, Georgetown will upset Ohio State and Florida can beat Oklahoma. Villanova wins the Big East rematch with the Hoyas to make the final weekend.

Oakland: Bucknell can make the Sweet 16 over Memphis, Pittsburgh will slip past Kansas, Alabama can punch a ticket over also-overseeded UCLA, and Gonzaga will end San Diego State's season. Gonzaga will be the fourth Final Four team at Pittsburgh's expense.

And we can all sit back and watch Connecticut send Duke home in April. I know this is a complete reversal of my earlier view of Duke and Gonzaga but I really can't find the teams in their brackets to beat them. Stick them in the DC bracket at 1 and 2, and Illinois and the UNC/MSU winner are the ones fighting for that Final Four spot. As it stands though, UConn and Villanova - the teams I had much more confidence in - have tougher rows to hoe.

Oh, and the most important pick: Hampton crushes Monmouth.

Back to BC

First of all, a message for Dick Vitale, Mike Patrick, and ESPN. Those guys in the funny clothes running up and down the court? That's what people are tuning in to watch. They're not merely visual noise to complement your pontificating, and they're not pretty faces to focus on while the action happens elsewhere. They're the game. That's what people want to watch.

To not even know who had the ball on the inbounds until after David Noel scored with 5 seconds remaining is criminally bad announcing. The multiple fast breaks that weren't televised becuase the camera was focused on whichever face had made the previous play shows a complete ambivalence to the game at hand. No one cares about your archaiac views on jump balls, no one cares about the Carolina-Duke tournament records at this juncture, no one wants half the screen obscured by whatever meaningless statistic you're pimping at the moment and I'm sure as hell no one gives a damn about J.J. Redick. You are there to serve the game, it's not there to serve you.

Now about that game. If you needed any more proof on how important Reyshawn Terry's beome to this team, the team's performance in losing him for most of the second half is the gold standard. Other than that, it seems every semifinal team reverted to midseason form in exhausting second halfs. Wake returned to bad shots and poor play, BC to overly physical inside play - a different style of refereeing and this becomes a UNC rout - and Carolina returned to uncontrolled freshman play relying entirely on Noel and Hansbrough. And with the latter handily tied up by the Eagles' frontline, the resulting deficit couldn't be overcome no matter how poor the free throw shooting.

(On thing I had no problem with - contra the talking heads - was the decision not to foul on the posession with a minute to play. The defense had stepped up and shut down the scoring options, and had they not allowed the tip-in at the end of the play, they'd have been facing a one-point deficit in the waning seconds. As it was, the last thirty seconds was brilliantly played by a young team that just couldn't compensate for previous mistakes. Hopefully it will serve them well in the coming weeks.

To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever

A book review as we wait for Duke to lose and UNC to win:


Will Blythe didn't really write a book about the UNC-Duke rivalry, and the result is much better than the standard sportswriter's history. The rivalry's there, of course. Dean Smith's wry humility and Mike Krzyzewski's corporate enthusiasm are still the opposing tent poles of the book under which a parade of players, sportwriters and fans pass under. But the book itself is about families - individual and collective ones.

Blythe devotes a good chunk of the pages to his own family, and their role in his basketball loyalties. His late father was a UNC medical professor with an incredible pride in his alma mater and home state, but no real interest the games the students are playing in shorts, while his mother is an adopted Carolinian and a rabid hoops fans. They're contrasted to Melvin Scott's extended family, supporting him as he adjusts to a smaller role on a championship team. Interspersed among this is a parade of players (including Shavlik Randolph, who comes across as extremely sympathetic in discussing his playing time, Caulton Tudor's column, and his mother cuttin gup his food) fans with more of a familial relationship to their teams than their blood relatives, and assorted media types doing their media typing.

The book is remarkably balanced with regards to the rivalry, from stating its biases on the cover to freely admitting there are times when the matchup isn't the biggest thing in sports. But it also elevates the bad blood to the importance it does hold in most people's hearts, detailing the stresses it puts on the author's own relationships in New York and discussing the overarching implications of Duke hatred with Buddhist professors and Methodist ministers on Franklin Street. And while Art Heyman slings his usual bullshit, and J.J. Redick can't realy hide the side of him that irritates opposing fans, Blythe has a love for everyone on both sides of the divide that seeps through in his writing. This is a book that's enjoyable to both Carolina and Duke fan alike. But keep in mind Blue Devils, in the last chapter only one team cuts down the nets in St. Louis.

Deacons Finally Demonized

I believe in Wake Forest.

I spent most of the afternoon looking for coverage of Wake's three game winning streak (first since December!) but it's been drowned out by Syracuse excitement and Sendek hatred. After all, victories over a weak FSU squad and a weakening State crew won't garner the same excitement as what's happening in Madison Square Garden, and no one in the media gets excited about a team about to face the Blue Devils. No one sees a good team back from the brink, they just see the weaknesses in the opponents, the disappointment behind and ahead. But me? I believe.

I want this to be the team everyone saw in preseason. I want the Williams v. Williams epic matchup we expected in January. I want Wake's NCAA dreams to last one more day. And I think it can - the collection of walk-ons, freshmen, and out-of-the-wildnerness Chris Ellis that have rejuvinated this team will have to avoid wilting under Duke's perimeter defense, but this is a sputtering Blue Devil team that's limped its way into the home stretch. While this Wake Forest team reminds me of Herb Sendek's 1997 squad, the one that came out of the Les Robinson Invitational to stun top seed Duke and become the only ACC tournament team to win three games and not cut down the nets. A bunch of who-dats with a few leaders dejected in their senior season. A team that could get the entire Greensboro Colesium on their side as they scraped their way to Sunday.

And that team? They lost to Carolina in the finals. I could stand to relive that, as well.

All the News That's Already Reported

Some quick links I haven't seen elsewhere:

Gary Williams' complaints about the MVC have resulted in an interesting response - MVC schools calling the scheduling offices. Maryland's never displayed a lack of scheduling fortitude as far as I know, and I think next year's expectedly poor Terrapin squad would still have a good chance against the Bears. I hope the deal goes through.

And yes, it took me a couple of minutes with google to find out the mascot for Missouri State (neé Southern Missouri State).

Also, King Kaufman has a good column on big conference teams tanking their tournaments that also mentions how said big confrence tournaments don't pull in the big bucks. The glaring exception to both of these trends? The ACC, naturally.

State-Wake

It's a bit of a shame that the two teams that most need to win this tournament, as well as the two I'd rather have win it all if UNC cannot, have to meet in a quarterfinal matchup. Wake Forest, who faces thier last game of the season every time they step on the court at this point, is suddenly remembering they were picked second in the conference (Has the last place team in the ACC ever put two players on the all-ACC teams before?). And the Wolfpack are rapidly losing any good feelings the season up to February had engendered in their fans. With Duke putting forth a conference tourney performance similar to UNC's effort last year, the winner of this game has a good chance of making to the finals.

DOn't count the Wolfpack out yet - in addition to Sendek's 8-1 opening round record, he's also only ever lost to three conference teams postseason - Duke (1-4), Maryland (2-2) and UNC (0-2). The Wolfpack need to show a rarely seen second half intensity to keep that streak going, though.

Your Meaningless Daily ACC Factoid

Coming into this year's tournament, only one coach has a winning tournament record against any coach who has been in the ACC longer than he has - Oliver Purnell has a 1-0 record against Gary Williams. So from that point of view, Wake Forest over Florida State doesn't seem so outrageous, does it?

(Caveat: This is being written with 1:18 to play in the Wake-FSU game. Also, after this morning Frank Haith (hired 2004) is now 1-0 against Oliver Purnell (hired 2003), so this factoid becomes more meaningless by the second.)

And Yet the First Games Are Also Called the Les Robinson Invitational

Disconcerted by a twelve-team ACC tournament? Yearning for the halycon days of a simple, eight-team bracket?

Then I advise you stay far, far away from the Big West Tournament.

The Big West, with the magic number of eight members, could have the simplest of conference tournaments. So what do they do? They have the lower four seeds play on Wednesday. The winners of those two games play the 3 and 4 seeds on Thursday. Those two winners meet the 1 and 2 seeds on Friday. And the two squads left standing play for the championship on Saturday. In other words the number five seed has to win twice as many games (4) to cut down the nets as the top seed (2).

Now the Big West is, and probably always will be, a one tournament team league. And the temptation to make that one team the best the league has to offer is pretty tempting. But if that's the route you want to go, give the bid to the regular season champ and call it a day, because this? This is just humiliating to half your conference members.

(And in case you care, UNC early season opponent and Tar Heel March postgraduate institution UC Santa Barbara trounced UC Riverside to advance to the next round 76-44.)

Investigative Journalism Wanted

Here's a question I recieved multiple times while out drinking Monday night, but haven't seen any mention of it in the sports blogs:

Who voted UNC #1 in the coaches poll?

It's a ludicrous vote - although the team is light-years beyond all expectations, no one in their right mind thinks they're the best team in basketball. And it sure as hell didn't come from the modesty-above-all-else Tar Heel coaching staff. I'd think it would have to be one of last week's opponents, and it doesn't really sound like a Blue Devil thing. Leitao maybe?

Journalists have ferretted out coaching votes before - Steve Spurrier always puts Duke at #25 in the first football poll of the season, for instance. Does anyone with a coaching rolodex want to let their fingers do the walking?

Bracketphrenology

Folks are still making bracket predictions? You were doing that in January? Shouldn't your prognostications be moving along by now? Isn't it time to show some crystal balls? Here, I'll get you started:

Post Selection Sunday Predictions:

• Neither of the two player of the year favorites will be in uniform for the second weekend of the tournament.
  
• After the first weekend, office poolers everywhere will regret picking so many Missouri Valley Conference teams.
  
• After the first weekend, office poolers everywhere will regret picking so few Big East teams. And they'll have picked a lot of Big East teams.
  
• The Pac-10 will be gone after the first weekend. The Big 12 before the second.
  
• Herb Sendek's job will be in greater jeopardy than it was at the end of last season.
  

More specific:

• The ACC will go 6-5.
  
• UNC and Illinois will again be the last teams standing from their respective conferences.

Ridiculously specific:

• UNC will be eliminated by Villanova.
  
• Mike Krzyzewski and Bruce Pearl will be the coaches in the booth for CBS during the Final Four.

Further in the future:

• Neither of the two player of the year favorites will be in the running for NBA rookie of the year past January.
  
• The ACC will put seven teams in the NCAA tournament in 2008.

Further still:

• Your 2014 NCAA Champions: The Pittsburgh Panthers.

Fear my psychic powers.

Don't Relieve the Hype

Going through UNC-Duke hype withdrawl? Got the DT's after almost 14 Vitale-free hours? Aimlessly flipping between the eight ESPNs wondering what these people not wearing blue are doing?

Sports Illustrated can help, by getting you a head start on the story you won't be able to escape at the next couple of years' matchups.

ACC Champs

I've always found ACC championships a little sweeter when they're avenging season losses. Like 1998's men's team that walked away with payback for all three conference losses in one weekend. Of course, when you only have one loss for the season, it's even better:

The women's team took down another set of nets beating the Terrapins 91-80. ESPN seems to think this will keep Maryland from being a number on seed, but with only three losses (all to number one seeds themselves) and being the only team to beat both Duke and Carolina, I'd think they'd lock down the third of three top seeds for the ACC.

Congrats to Hatchell's Heels, who now get the experience the NCAA tournament as the favorites for the first time. Somehow I think they can handle it.

Postgame

If I had to design the perfect Carolina defeat of this Duke squad, I'm not sure I could do much better than this. A larger margin of victory perhaps, and I could do without the late DeMarcus Nelson threes. But the constant "J.J. Redick has hit one shot in the last 30-odd minutes" infographic? The complete removal of the Duke crowd? Redick's red-rimmed eyes at the close of the game? Beautiful. How good of a game was it?

For a moment, I almost wanted ESPNU's Cameron Crazy Coverage. That's how good of a game it was.

Duke is still lost when J.J. Redick isn't carrying them. There's no half court offense. Sheldon Williams was scoring seemingly at will and a team with basically four guards couldn't pass it too him. The Blue Devils were so disheartened at the end of the game, they didn't even look to Redick open at the wing for the tying shot. There's a decent chance the last North Carolina team in the tournament will be from Chapel Hill.

7-1 on the road in the ACC. Seven straight victories to close the season. From a team that lost its to seven scorers. Second in the ACC. It's been a damn good season, and I can't wait to see where it goes for here.

Pregame

Duke fans have claimed the sportswriter's vote.

UNC fans control the political perspective (Although the authors are Swarthmore and Dartmouth grads, respectively).

But the best way to sum up the game? Two coaches. One was offered the Lakers job and made turning it down a public spectacle. The other? He turned it down three times. And you only know about it because of an offhand comment from the Lakers GM. Right there is the difference between Duke and Carolina.

Carolina wins.

And on the Ocho

There's not much that can be said about ESPN's alcohol-fueled plan to try to kill the greatest basketball rivalry around. The game will still be great, everyone will stick with vanilla ESPN, and we can only hope that by relegating the Cameron Crazies to ESPNU (The U stands for Unwatchable) the rest of our TVs will be spared.

Although the roommate mentioned a good observation from an Illini message board - somehere, somehow, there's an ESPN feed with a camera angle until now only used by Krzyzewski's proctologist.

And that camera angle will be showing Dick Vitale.

Scalping

A freshman has been evicted from Krzyzewskiville for scalping his spot in Cameron on Craigslist. And while I had a brief chuckle envisioning the Duke defrocking ceremony ("Please remove your half basketball headgear. Gentleman, commence the Hosing of the Body Paint.") I wouldn't bother mentioning it, except it brought forth a vignette from my own past.

My freshman year of college, I sold the best Duke-Carolina seats I could ever hope to have.

Let me explain. My four years in Chapel Hill were among those where the CAA was constantly tinkering with ticket distribution. Perhaps everyone's was. It could be and endless cycle of waffling from free-for-all camp outs to orderly morning lines to lotteries and back for the entire history of the university. I don't know. But my freshman year, the policy was Friday camp outs beginning at noon outside the Dean Dome, with tickets distributed Saturday, about a month before the actual games. And being ensconced in Ehringhaus as I was that year, I was at every camp out, though for the life of me I never remember actually sleeping at one of them.

That policy was changed for the Duke game. As a gift to seniors, for that game they wouldn't have to camp - they instead could show up on Friday, pick up a voucher for their place in line, and show up Saturday morning to collect their ticket. Underclassmen would instead camp out from Friday until Sunday morning, when they would get their tickets.

Well, that was too much for me and my friend. This isn't Durham, with its lax 1 out of 12 in a tent line checks and ethernet in the lampposts. This was a parking lot in January, around the beginning of midterms for the seats already picked over by a year of students. Instead our plan was to just saunter down Sunday morning and get in the back of the line. If we got tickets, great. If not, well they went to better fans than us.

We got tickets.

In fact we got great tickets. Apparently, more seniors had picked up line vouchers than had actually collected tickets Saturday morning. But the best seats had been already allotted based on the number of line vouchers given out, and they had been separated from the tickets to be disbursed Sunday morning. These unclaimed tickets were then tossed back into the general ticket population some time on Sunday. At random. Of course we didn't know this when we meandered to the back of the line and waited to see if we were going to get tickets. We we just happy to get anything, and it wasn't until we were headed back to the dorms that we looked to see what we got.

We were holding in our hands the passes to Section 110, Row D, Seats 1 and 2. Right behind the Carolina bench.

These were obviously the best Carolina-Duke tickets we were ever going to get in our natural lives. And we were thrilled to be going. You couldn't have bought that pair from us for all the money in the world. But a funny thing happened on the way to March. My friend and I recieved an invitation to travel with the team to the Women's ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

For various reasons I won't bother going into, this was not an offer we were in a position to turn down. And to be honest, we didn't really want to - we'd been going to the women's games as faithfully as the men's, and the team, fresh off the national championship was a thrill to watch. But the tournament was, as always, the week before the men's, and the same weekend as the Duke game. Best tickets I was ever going to see, and I wasn't able to go.

We ended up selling the tickets to my friend's brother, a true blue Carolina fan who had graduated the year before. (And I mean true blue literally, as he was on Franklin Street for the National Championship two years earlier, and when drunkenly asked by a guy carrying Carolina Blue house paint whether he could paint him blue, drunkenly assented.) I think we got something like forty dollars for the pair, as it wasn't about the money. UNC won the game going away, in the penultimate game of the Pete Gaudet Era and the last home game for Stackhouse and Wallace. We spent the weekend hanging out with the JV cheerleaders and the band as the women's team knocked off Duke to win the ACC. I don't regret my decision in the slightest, but can't look at the seats behind the bench during a Duke game without a slight twinge.

Before I gave up the tickets though, I went down to the local Kinko's and had the guy behind the counter make a color blowup of the ticket - I still have it to this day. The guy behind the counter acted like it was the most natural request in the world.

Fans Do the Darndest Things

First of all, a message to the Florida State fans: Learn to read a clock.

Secondly, a message to Dick Vitale: Stop whining about the Florida State fans. They just beat Duke. And don't fault the school for not having a platoon of highway patrolmen on hand on the off chance FSU pulled an upset.

And since the roommates have the Ohio State/Northwestern game on: Illinois sent about 1,000 fans to Northwestern to cheer against Ohio State. There's some folks with a vested intrest in a conference race for you.

Oh, and Duke: Bwah-ha-ha-ha.