Springtime

Opening thought: The week of massive productivity started out well. I'm looking forward to getting some sleep and getting after it again tomorrow.

If you're looking for NIT analysis, you came to the wrong spot. As big of a basketball fan I am, the NIT is second-rate and I have a hard time watching it. I may watch the Final 4 in New York, but that's about it.

You're also in the wrong spot for any Women's NCAA Tourney analysis. Around Y2K, the women were more fundamentally sound and I did watch some games. Now, I believe the women's game has regressed, lacking the star power of the UConn teams of Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and other players such as Chamique Holdsclaw, Ruth Riley, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, and Kate Starbird. Just look at the WNBA. Consistently, you see low scoring games with neither team shooting better than 35%. Who wants to watch that? I did watch the Olympic team this past summer because they are the cream of the crop and are very good. But, the depth still isn't there on an individual basis even though UConn and Tennessee are no longer the dominant programs in women's college basketball.

Let's see, what else:

• Curtis Sumpter, star forward for Villanova, is out with a torn ACL. This badly damages Nova's hopes of upsetting UNC. Villanova is deep with Markus Austin, Will Sheridan, and Jason Fraser, but Sumpter will be hard to replace. Sumpter could power it up strong inside, then take you outside and hit the 3. He would've created a matchup problem for UNC.
• Game times have been released for Thurs./Fri. Thursday begins with Washington/Louisville and Illinois/UW-Milwaukee followed by Texas Tech/West Virginia and Arizona/Oklahoma St. Friday begins with Duke/Michigan St. and Wisconsin/NC State followed by Utah/Kentucky and N.Carolina/Villanova.
• John Chaney will coach Temple next season. I believe he should've resigned to avoid further tarnish on his Hall of Fame record.
  
• Charlie Villaneuva of UConn will declare for the NBA draft. He originally wanted to skip college altogether and was considered the #2 prospect behind LeBron James, but went to UConn for 2 years that greatly benefitted him. I think he could've used another year to develop more consistency, but he definitely has the tools to be successful and should go in the 1st round.

I got to thinking about the most famous games played in the RCA Dome now that I can add that to the other arenas I've been (UD Arena, Nutter Center, Cincinnati Gardens, St. John Arena).

• Duke/UNLV, National Semifinal 1991. UNLV was undefeated and were defending national champions with Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony and Larry Johnson among others. They had just beaten Duke 103-73 in the finals a year earlier and were big favorites to repeat. But Duke pulled the upset, setting the stage for the run they currently enjoy, winning 79-77 behind Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, and a young freshman named Grant Hill.
• Princeton/UCLA, 1st round, 1996. I would've loved to have been there for this one. Last game of the day, and none other than a back door, the defending National Champs as a 4 seed, were knocked out by the 13 seed Tigers 43-41.
  
• Arizona/Kentucky, Championship, 1997. Kentucky were defending National Champs, but the upstart Wildcats who knocked off #1 Kansas in the Sweet 16, outlasted UK in overtime. Miles Simon and Mike Bibby were unstoppable while Ron Mercer for UK couldn't buy a basket.

And while I'm at it, here are some of the greatest games I've ever seen in person:

• Dayton/Bradley, 1988. This has to make the list because this was the first game I ever went to. I don't remember much of it, but I do remember the 2nd half performance Hersey Hawkins put on. Hawkins would go on to play for the Sonics and 76ers among others in the NBA. This night, he scored 22 of his 27 in the 2nd half to lead Bradley to victory.
• Dayton/Miami, 1992. I don't remember much about this game except Miami was really good and Dayton was really bad. But, you always throw out the records when these two teams get together. Miami had a double digit lead in the 2nd half at UD, but the Flyers came back and took the game to overtime. Then, with time running out, Darnell Hahn (don't ask me how I remember him), hit a 3 to send the game to double overtime. The game would eventually go to a 3rd overtime I believe with Miami winning in the end.
• Michigan St./Wright St. 1999. In a homecoming for Trotwood grad Andre Hutson, the Spartans were ranked 7th in the country when they came to a rarely packed Nutter Center. Wright St. was terrible, an RPI somewhere in the 270s and were severly overmatched. But the Spartans were without star point guard Mateen Cleaves and were unable to overcome cold shooting, keeping the Raiders in it. Wright St. pulled out a 51-49 win, one of the more improbable results in college bball history. It was made even more improbable after the Spartans went on to win the National Championship.
• Temple/Miami, 2000. My first Miami game as a student and I got to see the 17th ranked Owls and John Chaney come into town just after playing #1 Duke to the wire. Temple couldn't miss in the first 10 minutes, jumping out to a 19-8 lead. But the Hawks came back, behind the hot shooting of Jason Grunkemeyer, Doug Davis, and the inside play of Alex Shorts. Add the funniest head and shoulder fake by Rich Allendorf that I've ever seen and it still is the greatest Miami game I've seen in person. Oh yeah, we won, we stormed the court, and saw ourselves on Sportscenter!!!

It's always nice to go back down memory lane.

Song of the Day: "Zombie Nation" (thanks Brad) and our 50 year old balding headband wearing Illinois fan jumping up and down to it. Just wait until you see this picture.