Dean

I never liked the University of North Carolina.

And I never liked Dean Smith — at least not until I read this story from Charles Pierce.

Buffaloed

Colorado has joined the Pac 10 11.

Who will make it the Pac 12? 13? 14? 15? 16?

Best line to put a little balance into it of the day

“Look, I hate to be the skunk at the garden party here. And, by all accounts, [John Wooden] was a wonderful man. But it should be noted before we’re all swept away in a tsunami of Hoosier piety that anyone arguing for John Wooden’s integrity based on the UCLA basketball program that he ran is simply arguing against the historical record …”.

Charles Pierce

UCLA basketball during its dynasty was about as bad as programs this side of John Calipari can get. Cars, cash, clothes, stereos, airline tickets, abortions — for 15 years. If Wooden didn’t know, it’s because he didn’t want to know.

More best lines

“Even Duke center Brian Zoubek thought it had a good chance. ‘My throat closed up, my heart dropped and it went in slow motion,’ he said.

“Duke forward Lance Thomas said, ‘The ball was in the air for three hours.’ ”

The Quad Blog

If you don’t know what the above is about, Butler’s Gordon Hayward launched a 55-foot shot as time ran out. It bounced off the backboard and rim, but did not go in. Had it done so, Butler would have won 62-61. As it was Duke won 61-59.

Some final thoughts from Indy

Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal has a number of interesting insights into the game, Butler and Coach K.

Best line of the day, so far

“Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports sums it up nicely: In its last five possessions, Duke mustered just one point, one air ball, and two turnovers.

” ‘That’s not winning a national championship,’ Doyel writes. ‘That’s finding a national championship.’ ”

The Daily Fix

“However, this is the second major championship in a row in American sports where there was a clear-cut underdog fan favorite (New Orleans Saints/Butler Bulldogs) and a squeaky-clean, stiff do-gooder looking to return to prominence (Indianapolis Colts/Duke Blue Devils). Maybe we just got spoiled with the Saints’ upset in the Super Bowl and started to think Butler could pull it out.”

30-5

Our Lobos gave us a wonderful season. Thanks guys.

Idle thought

I’m thinking not very many people’s brackets have Northern Iowa advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.

Idle thought

I’m thinking not very many people’s brackets have St. Mary’s advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.

Best line of the day

“That the N.C.A.A. would consider tinkering with its gem of a format in pursuit of the mirage of more television money is the real March Madness. Just think, a 96-team tournament might have included all 16 teams from a horrendously overrated Big East.”

Leading Off – A Day for the Davids – NYTimes.com

Best line of the day

“[Kentucky Coach John] Calipari is the only coach in NCAA history to bring to the Final Four two programs so utterly corrupt that neither of them officially exists in the tournament records any more.”

Charles Pierce

UMass had its 4-1 1996 NCAA Tournament record vacated.
Memphis had to vacate the entire 2007-08 season, including the NCAA Tournament and its standing as runner-up.

Yeah, but there’s still Kansas, Kentucky and Duke

“Imagine a tournament (this one) in which UCLA, North Carolina, Indiana, Connecticut and Arizona all failed to make the field; that hasn’t happened since 1966.”

Chris Dufresne — latimes.com

UofA

This alum would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the passing of the streak. With its loss to UCLA today, the Arizona Wildcats ended their run of 25 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament. They ended the season at 16-15 and stand no chance of an at-large bid.

Arizona had been there every year beginning in 1985 — twelve times to the Sweet 16 or better, four times to the Final Four — and the national championship in 1997.

My goodness

According to an item in Sideline Chatter, America’s number one basketball recruit is 6-foot-8.

Number one girl basketball recruit that is.

The Pit

Along with 15,210 other folk we attended the University of New Mexico men’s basketball game against the Air Force Academy at University Arena in Albuquerque tonight. The Lobos beat the Falcons 78-53.

It was the 750th men’s game at The Pit, designated 13th among American sports venues of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. Tonight’s crowd was below average in attendance — the Lobos have averaged 15,559 per game over 42 years.

It’s called The Pit because the arena floor is 37 feet below grade. It’s the loudest basketball venue in America, beating out Cameron Indoor at Duke University in some study done in 1999. One hopes the $60 million renovation that begins in April won’t decrease the noise.

The original cost to build the arena in 1966 was just $1.4 million. Current capacity is 18,018.

Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead

Which old witch?
The wicked witch.

CBS has fired Billy Packer.

It ought to be a national day of celebration and thanksgiving.

Great game

Exciting win for Kansas in overtime and a great game overall. I didn’t even mind Billy Packer.

There could well be an equally exciting game Tuesday night when Stanford plays Tennessee for the women’s championship. Can Candace Parker, first woman ever to dunk in an NCAA tournament game, overcome her shoulder injury and lead the Vols to a repeat title (and eighth overall; Stanford has won it all twice)?

And if you didn’t hang around for Monday’s post game show you missed the Jayhawks climbing a Werner ladder — “Official Ladder of the NCAA® Basketball Championships” — to cut down the net. There isn’t anything that isn’t available for marketing these days.

When is it over?

With apologies to the Sage of St. Louis, there comes a time when it ain’t over, but … it’s over. There comes a time in a relationship when a woman will still answer your phone calls, but you’re wasting your money buying flowers; you know what I’m saying? There comes a moment during a job interview when you’re still talking, but you might as well take off your shoes. There is a time in an illness when you’re not dead yet, but you might as well stop taking that nasty medicine.

Bill James in an article discussing his means of calculating when a basketball games is out of reach. Interesting.

Best summing up of the day, so far

These young women were much, much smarter and much more decent than most of the adult commentary which has swirled around them this week. We thought their coach was outstanding too. Ditto for that superb Rutgers president, who told these young women that he and their school “have their back.”

Daily Howler

Jesus’ General deserves your click on this topic, too.

And, via Crooks and Liars, The Daily Show on Imusgate.

Under achievers

Playing in the NCAA basketball tournament, it turns out, is just like gambling in Vegas.

Play long enough, and the house wins.

Mark Wangrin of the San Antonio Express-News compiled his “SAT” — Seeding Achievement Test — by taking the 10 active coaches with the most NCAA appearances and weighting their games with plus-minus values. Only two (UConn’s Jim Calhoun and Maryland’s Gary Williams) came out ahead, with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski breaking even.

Coaches received zero points for beating a lower-seeded team, one point for beating a higher-seeded team or winning a Final Four game, and minus-one point for losing to a lower-seeded team, with additional minus points tacked on for each subsequent round in which they would have been favored.

The final tally: Calhoun 4, Williams 3, Krzyzewski 0, Tubby Smith -1, Bob Knight -3, Jim Boeheim -3, Roy Williams -6, Rick Barnes -6, Bob Huggins -8, Lute Olson -9.

Or to put it another way: NCAA tournament 29.

Sideline Chatter

D’oh

West Virginia may have won the National Invitation Tournament, but the Mountaineers commemorative T-shirts are less than championship material.

They contain a misspelling.

The “West Virginia” printed on the shirts players wore after winning the NIT title with a 78-73 victory over Clemson on Thursday night is missing the last “i” in “Virginia.”

SI.com

I always thought it was West Virginny.

Packer happily set in his ways

“He’s not prepping to cover his 33rd consecutive NCAA men’s basketball Final Four by watching the teams’ games — ‘I don’t have a tape machine’ — or by going online, because he doesn’t have a computer.”

Michael Hiestand, USA Today, who says Packer provides “anecdotal evidence that NCAA [TV] ratings must be too low because people in airports always talk to him about the tournament.”

So You Picked the Final Four?

[T]his will be the first Final Four since 1993 with no team seeded lower than No. 2.

. . . Last year at this time, of the 3.1 million entries in ESPN.com’s bracket pool, only four chose the correct Final Four teams. This year, 161,869 of 3.3 million entries have the Gators, the Buckeyes, the Bruins and the Hoyas still alive.

The New York Times

That’s still just one in twenty who got all four, so congratulations Jill. You did good.

See also here for some Final Four team summaries. And the NCAA has its Official 2007 Men’s Final Four Records Book available as a pdf file.

Final Four

UCLA is in its 17th NCAA Final Four. It’s Ohio State’s 10th trip, Georgetown’s 5th and Florida’s 4th. There have been 69 final fours counting this year (276 teams).

Others with a lot of appearances but not going this year:

North Carolina 16
Duke 14
Kentucky 13
Kansas 12
Indiana, Louisville 8
Arkansas, Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Oklahoma State 6

UCLA was in the Final Four for 10 consecutive years, 1967-1976.

UCLA has won the championship 11 times, Kentucky 7, Indiana 5, North Carolina 4 and Duke 3. Eight other schools have won twice.

UCLA (1980) and Michigan (1992 and 1993) have had Final Four appearances that were later forfeited (but counted above).

Stupidest line of the day, so far

“There were cries that Green had not reestablished his pivot foot, and therefore traveled. But basketball minds much wiser than us surmised you can’t make a call like that to end a taut thriller.” Mike Wise

So why have refs at all in the last minute?