The Final Four that nobody wanted features UNC & who?
The four teams that make up this year’s March Madness Final Four, the Final Four that nobody seemed to want, are Gonzaga, Oregon, South Carolina and North Carolina. If you think three of these teams represent the best teams in America, you are crazy.
What the heck is a tiny school from Spokane, Washington doing in the Final Four? Or how about Oregon, which allowed Nike founder and benefactor Phil Knight to cut down the nets after their regional victory. What do the
Ducks know about basketball, other than they won it all in 1939? The shape of the ball may have changed since then. And South Carolina? The Gamecocks haven’t been this deep into the tournament since forever. Once SC made it past the first round, and that was when Bobby Cremins was still 20-something and Frank McGuire was still at the helm.
So, like it or not, the only blue blood in the national finals is North Carolina, who barely earned a spot in the semifinals by dispatching a Kentucky team at the buzzer, promptly reducing Big Blue fans and players to tears. I mean huge, sobbing tears on full display anywhere you looked on the court or in the stands. How much disappointment can the Wildcats take, especially since UNC’s
Luke Maye’s buzzer beater was most reminiscent of Duke’s Christian Laettner’s shot in the mid-1990s?
The Final Four features three teams that almost no one cares about. Face it, CBS. You’ve got a Final Four clunker on your hands and good luck on dressing it up. No doubt you’ll capture the TV market in Corvallis, Columbia and Spokane, but so what? Well, just hold on because The Masters begins April 6, only a week or so away. And that’s probably going to happen sans Tiger Woods. Oh well, college football is just four months away.
Basketball additions
Just a note about each of the Final Four: South Carolina has head coach Frank Martin, a stern disciplinarian who teaches defense, and Sindarius Thornwell, a fabulous player who can do it all at both ends.
Spokane gives us Gonzaga, a name mispronounced by almost all (It’s GonZAG-a — not Gon-ZOG-a.) and an excellent coach named Mark Few, not to be confused with Georgia’s Mark Fox.
Oregon has three players who could end up in the NBA, but nobody can tell you their names.
And then there’s the Tar Heels, with Roy Williams, who’s going for his third NCAA title in Chapel Hill. If he should get it he would surpass the legendary Dean Smith in number of titles. The Heels also feature small forward Justin Jackson, an All-American, and point guard Joel Berry II, who desperately needs a haircut. That’s about it.
Name of the week
An Illinois State football signee, 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive lineman Kobe Buffalomeat is from Lawrence, Kansas.
More stuff
Duke freshman forward Jayson Tatum has declared for the NBA draft. … Georgetown has finally fired John Thompson III after 13 long years. Believe it or not, Patrick Ewing was contacted about the open job, but he says he’s not interested. …
Dayton’s Archie Miller has signed a seven-year contract to coach Indiana, which fired Tom Crean.… North Carolina forward Luke Maye, who made the buzzer beater to carry the Tar Heels past Kentucky, was given a standing ovation in his Business 101 class Monday morning in Chapel Hill. …
After South Carolina reached the Final Four, a large part of its student body partied and celebrated late into the night by jumping into the campus fountain in front of the library. … Darius Rucker, former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish and a former Gamecock, was photographed crying tears of joy in the stands.
Out & about
Kentucky double-dipped by signing football coach Mark Stoops and basketball coach John Calipari to two-year contract extensions . ... Maybe the Arkansas legislature came to its senses when it passed a gun law that allows carrying a firearm everywhere BUT Arkansas football or basketball games. …
Dallas quarterback Tony Romo has more-or-less resigned himself to either being traded to the NFL’s Texans or retiring. … Wrestling star Kane, aka Glenn Jacobs, is running for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.… LSU quarterback Brandon Harris has transferred to North Carolina. … I’ll tell you what I’m really getting real, real, real tired of. Nick Saban going off on the media. Nick, sit down and shut up.