An Orgy Of Basketball?

My long-suffering wife would probably describe my behavior over last weekend as “an orgy of basketball”; I prefer to see it as a total immersion in March Madness.  Perspective is everything …  However, you choose to believe what the environment was like last weekend here in Curmudgeon Central, here are my notes from the games and the TV presentation.

Bruce Pearl replaced Jay Wright as the “coach-in-residence” on one of the studio shows this year; that is not/was not an upgrade on the commentary front nor on the sartorial front.  Coach Wright used to show up on set in an “Armani suit” that probably cost a couple grand; Coach Pearl wore a sports jacket with a pattern reminiscent of the rug in you Aunt Betty’s mud room.  No matter what the management gurus tell you, all change is not for the better.

Jim Spanarkel is teamed with Spero Dedes this year.  It is an excellent pairing because Dedes does the game under control and Spanarkel provides insight with a touch of humor.  Jim Spanarkel used to be paired with Ian Eagle – – and that was a great announcing duo – – but when Eagle was “promoted” to the #1 broadcast team slot by CBS, they found another outstanding play-by-play guy to match with Spanarkel.

• Memo To AT&T Ad Executives: “Lily” was a whole lot more entertaining than the “Guarantee Guys” and/or “Ted”.
• Just saying …

Notes from Friday’s games:

• Santa Clara/Kentucky was probably the best first round game this year and both teams deserved to win.
• Wright State/UVA was a toss-up with 3:00 left in the game.  UVA had a late spurt, but that game was much closer than the final score would indicate.
• Utah St./Villanova:  Entertaining back and forth game.  The team that made the last scoring run won it and moved on.
• UCLA/UCF:  UCLA coach [Mick Cronin] is a sideline asshole”.  Get a grip man; you’re an adult.   Also, UCF foul shooting should be an emphasis in practice; they shot 5 for 16 in the game.  Blowing the front end of a one-and-one is the equivalent of a turnover; foul shooting must be better than 31%.
• UConn/Furman:  Dan Hurley was calm and composed on the sideline; I hope he is OK.

Notes from Saturday’s games:

• Michigan St./Louisville:  If you ever need to point to a game as an example of “winning ugly”, this should be on your list of exhibits.
• Arkansas/High Point:  It’s like watching a tennis match.
• Nebraska/Vandy:  Most entertaining game of the tournament so far.
• Texas/Gonzaga:  Texas is this year’s Cinderella; the Longhorns make the Sweet 16 after being in a playoff game and having lost 14 games in the regular season.
• VCU trailed Illinois by 7 at the half but there was no furious comeback this time.  Illinois is workmanlike not spectacular.
• Michigan is the best team I have seen in the tournament so far.

Instead of notes from all the Sunday games, let me suggest that what I saw on Sunday reminded me of the story of the coelacanth.  For those of you not particularly interested in biological evolution, let me give you a Cliff Notes version of the coelacanth story.

• The coelacanth was known from the fossil record; it is a lobe-finned fish but not all the body structure of bony fishes; it is thought to be part of the evolutionary process that took fish out of the sea and onto land.  The oldest coelacanth fossils are about 400 million years old.  The species was thought to be extinct until 1938 when a fisherman caught one and retained it.  That fisherman – – looking at his catch of an extinct species – – may have had something in common with me watching Sunday’s games.
  • • In the Purdue/Miami game, there was a 3-second violation called by one of the officials.  I haven’t seen one of those in a long time.
    • Then in the Kentucky/Iowa state game, there was a violation called for “palming the basketball”.  Holy Ancient Relics, Batman …

Finally, this truth from comedian Joey Adams:

“Do not worry about avoiding temptation.  As you grow older, it will avoid you.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………