Cinderellas announce presence before March

Anyone who thinks there isn’t parity in college basketball has been out of the country.

Baylor at No. 1 isn’t a huge stunner, nor is Gonzaga at No. 2 or Kansas at No. 3.

Those are staples of college basketball, but San Diego State at No. 4?

Isn’t that the place with the great zoo?

The Aztecs are 26-0 against a bunch of teams you’ve mostly heard nothing about. They are undefeated in the Mountain West Conference, but no one spells that ACC or Big East.

The biggest surprise might be the Dayton Flyers at No. 5. That’s a city known for car tires and play-in games.

The Flyers only losses were to No. 3 Kansas in overtime and No. 18 Colorado, which

shares the lead in the Pac-12 Conference. That loss was in overtime, too.

Not only are those two teams ranked, but their NCAA Net rankings put them both in the top 5. The Aztecs are ranked No. 1 overall.

They will make the NCAA Tournament even if they lose their conference tournament.

College basketball needed some Cinderellas, and it got them earlier than usual this season. ... The time was well spent, but the selection committee for the Arkansas Softball Hall of Fame held a lengthy meeting last week.

When the dust settled, we had 13 new inductees, two teams to honor, and a time and place for the annual banquet.

The newest inductees are Danny Barnes, Brandon Bates, Kenny Bean, Greg Guess, Don Haney, Rusty Reed, Chris Wilson, Trish Blaylock Birch, Leslie “Radar” Davasher Boyles, Shana Taylor, Tommy Taylor, Jane Ann Willcoxon and Reo Hosman.

The banquet will be Wednesday, April 29, at the Benton Event Center.

The reception begins at 5 p.m., dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and the awards ceremony starts at 6:45 p.m.

In addition to honoring 13 players, teams Bale Chevrolet and Double Trouble will be recognized.

The Shane Pique Award for outstanding contributions to softball in Arkansas also will be presented.

All new inductees will receive their Hall of Fame ring, and any past inductees who haven’t received one will as well.

This event, in its third season, has become a family reunion with players from every decade back to the 1950s.

...

“It’s kind of long,” Bob Holt said. That’s something we are quite accustomed to in the sports department at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Only, it wasn’t a basketball story. Nor was it about baseball or track and field.

It was an email informing us that his dad had died

Sunday, and that Bob was in Gainesville, Fla., to cover the Arkansas-Florida game Tuesday.

He said it was exactly what his dad would have wanted.

Bob’s dad, who was 93, had been in rehab for the past 14 months, and more than ever he lived the world of sports through the eyes and ears of his son.

In the email Bob said, “He was a great dad.” No one doubted it.

Bob, a perfect gentleman who woudn’t say spit with a mouthful of it, is very much like his dad.

When his parents — his dad was a college professor and his mother a librarian — retired, they traveled the world. They were in Ireland when his dad had a heart attack in 1997.

For about an hour, Bob stewed about whether he should go. His dad called and said absolutely not.

When Bob’s dad was put in rehab, his mother moved into an assisted-living facility that was just down the hall from her husband. They continued to spend hours a day together.

When Bob visited his parents in January, he knew that might be the last time he would see his dad alive. He also remembered his dad saying that if he had known he was going to live so long, he wouldn’t have taken Social Security so early.

Like father, like son.