Fishy
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This will probably be a ramble, but so be it. I'm old and you're a captive audience.
1) Oh, my god. Do you know how unbearable Deepster is gonna be after this? The Senhor thread, which unfortunately seems to have been deleted, was as close to the old Boneyard as we've been in many years. Well done.
2) I was not 100% on board with the Ollie hire at the time. I wasn't crazy about Calhoun forcing the school's hand when people like Shaka Smart were out there and interested. Well, I'm good with it now.
3) I wasn't crazy about a coaching staff where it seemed that the only prerequisite was that you had to have played for UConn. Well, I saw Ricky Moore hugging Kevin Freeman on the court tonight. I'm good with it now.
4) When we lost to SMU for the second time, I told anyone who would listen that Ollie seemed to have no answer whenever he was matched against an experienced coach. Martelli, Wright, Izzo, Donovan, Calipari...gone, gone, gone, gone and gone.
5) The mojo requirements for these championship games is becoming time consuming. Tonight, I left work early specifically because I knew I had to go somewhere and find Rolling Rock beer. I bought a 25 ounce can of of it at a gas station which just absolutely puts my in hayseed territory.
During the Michigan State game, I got so nervous that I drove to the local state park's hiking trails at half time and I watched the rest of the game on my phone two miles deep in the woods. So I went back there at the start of the Florida game because, well, it worked. So...I went there tonight and was worried that simply stepping foot onto the trail head might not be enough, but it was dark and there are black bears there.
When Kentucky got down to one in the second half, I got nervous again and I watched the rest of the game on my phone standing in my yard. I will freeze to death during a game next winter.
6) Four titles. It's an insane number. That's more than Kansas and as many as Duke. UConn's three titles were somehow minimized - it'll be very difficult for that to happen with four. Related note - I can't believe Ollie told Gampel that he'd be bringing a trophy back and then did it.
7) One of the things that most impressed me about Kevin Ollie during the tournament is how foul trouble never bothered him and he never let it bother the team. Brimah and Nolan ran around the Final Four with four fouls - Brimah had his fourth with more than ten minutes to play and it didn't even seem like an event. He shifts his defenses and the beat goes on.
8) Another thing that impressed - we had a very Calhoun-like progression. The defense in the early season was a little sketchy and the interior guys were downright deficient. The defense in the tournament was relentless and took the legs away from some very good teams. And Ryan Boatright, who takes all sorts of crap here, played six tremendous basketball games on both sides of the ball.
9) Don't want to hear that UConn was lucky or that they had an easy road. Don't want to hear it at all. The 7-seed thing was nonsense - there's nothing overly shocking about a top-20 team winning a title.
UConn beat the #1, #7, #9, #13, #22 and #32 teams in the last coaches' poll. They took out the number one overall seed, the wise-guy pick to win the whole thing, a two-seed, etc., etc. They were favored once in the NCAA tournament and that was by one over St. Joe's. They were simply the best defensive team and the toughest team in the dance - and that wins.
10) Where does Shabazz land on our Mt. Rushmore? Ah, wherever he wants. Two rings, consensus All-American, Cousy Award, conference POTY, NCAA tourney MOP, etc. There's more drama in Mariano Rivera's first hall of fame ballot appearance than whether Bazz is heading to the Huskies of Honor wall.
11) Napier, Olander and Giffey were plan C or plan D recruits. When the year ends, they'll have six rings and three diplomas between 'em. Well done, gentlemen.
12) The single most important play of our season - Amida Brimah's offensive rebound and put back/and-one against St. Joe's. It was actually pretty easy from that point on.
13) How fast did Emmert get off the stage after the game? The NCAA president doesn't say a word and then scrambles off the stage without shaking a hand or patting a back. A lackey hands over the hardware.
14) In a world without UConn, Kentucky and Duke have two more titles a piece. (Syracuse would still only have one.)
15) As a program, we have over 13 minutes of One Shining Moments. Here's about three minutes of 'em for you...
1) Oh, my god. Do you know how unbearable Deepster is gonna be after this? The Senhor thread, which unfortunately seems to have been deleted, was as close to the old Boneyard as we've been in many years. Well done.
2) I was not 100% on board with the Ollie hire at the time. I wasn't crazy about Calhoun forcing the school's hand when people like Shaka Smart were out there and interested. Well, I'm good with it now.
3) I wasn't crazy about a coaching staff where it seemed that the only prerequisite was that you had to have played for UConn. Well, I saw Ricky Moore hugging Kevin Freeman on the court tonight. I'm good with it now.
4) When we lost to SMU for the second time, I told anyone who would listen that Ollie seemed to have no answer whenever he was matched against an experienced coach. Martelli, Wright, Izzo, Donovan, Calipari...gone, gone, gone, gone and gone.
5) The mojo requirements for these championship games is becoming time consuming. Tonight, I left work early specifically because I knew I had to go somewhere and find Rolling Rock beer. I bought a 25 ounce can of of it at a gas station which just absolutely puts my in hayseed territory.
During the Michigan State game, I got so nervous that I drove to the local state park's hiking trails at half time and I watched the rest of the game on my phone two miles deep in the woods. So I went back there at the start of the Florida game because, well, it worked. So...I went there tonight and was worried that simply stepping foot onto the trail head might not be enough, but it was dark and there are black bears there.
When Kentucky got down to one in the second half, I got nervous again and I watched the rest of the game on my phone standing in my yard. I will freeze to death during a game next winter.
6) Four titles. It's an insane number. That's more than Kansas and as many as Duke. UConn's three titles were somehow minimized - it'll be very difficult for that to happen with four. Related note - I can't believe Ollie told Gampel that he'd be bringing a trophy back and then did it.
7) One of the things that most impressed me about Kevin Ollie during the tournament is how foul trouble never bothered him and he never let it bother the team. Brimah and Nolan ran around the Final Four with four fouls - Brimah had his fourth with more than ten minutes to play and it didn't even seem like an event. He shifts his defenses and the beat goes on.
8) Another thing that impressed - we had a very Calhoun-like progression. The defense in the early season was a little sketchy and the interior guys were downright deficient. The defense in the tournament was relentless and took the legs away from some very good teams. And Ryan Boatright, who takes all sorts of crap here, played six tremendous basketball games on both sides of the ball.
9) Don't want to hear that UConn was lucky or that they had an easy road. Don't want to hear it at all. The 7-seed thing was nonsense - there's nothing overly shocking about a top-20 team winning a title.
UConn beat the #1, #7, #9, #13, #22 and #32 teams in the last coaches' poll. They took out the number one overall seed, the wise-guy pick to win the whole thing, a two-seed, etc., etc. They were favored once in the NCAA tournament and that was by one over St. Joe's. They were simply the best defensive team and the toughest team in the dance - and that wins.
10) Where does Shabazz land on our Mt. Rushmore? Ah, wherever he wants. Two rings, consensus All-American, Cousy Award, conference POTY, NCAA tourney MOP, etc. There's more drama in Mariano Rivera's first hall of fame ballot appearance than whether Bazz is heading to the Huskies of Honor wall.
11) Napier, Olander and Giffey were plan C or plan D recruits. When the year ends, they'll have six rings and three diplomas between 'em. Well done, gentlemen.
12) The single most important play of our season - Amida Brimah's offensive rebound and put back/and-one against St. Joe's. It was actually pretty easy from that point on.
13) How fast did Emmert get off the stage after the game? The NCAA president doesn't say a word and then scrambles off the stage without shaking a hand or patting a back. A lackey hands over the hardware.
14) In a world without UConn, Kentucky and Duke have two more titles a piece. (Syracuse would still only have one.)
15) As a program, we have over 13 minutes of One Shining Moments. Here's about three minutes of 'em for you...
