Getting Kids Active…
How do we get kids more active? Hello and welcome to this very interesting topic and a question that is a very important one to many parents and coaches alike.
In today’s world of bad food, bad exercise habits, and Video/TV screens of all sorts ruling our kids lives- our kids would rather play a sport game on a screen than literally play it – we need to HELP them get out there and get active. There is one other observation I have made in my travels as well – kids around the world have forgotten how to – or have no idea how to play by themselves or outside with friends!!!! So here’s the secret…Get Out There With Them!!!!
Usually when people read this they think they are going to have to be as active as their children and play chase and all those other games that kids play. Why don’t you start with basketball???? Here are some really simple tips to get this process happening…
1. Turn off the TV or Video Game – for the day, for the weekend – whatever – make it a “screen free” weekend – no computers, TV’s, video games – if it has a screen – it is off!
2. Don’t go out in the heat of the day – this is just not smart, try mid morning or late afternoon when the sun has lost a bit of it’s strength – this is meant to be FUN remember?
3. If you are actually playing basketball against your child/children, you will find that they will play for a very long time – for one simple reason – because YOU are out there with them! Kids just want to hang with mum & dad – wherever that may be.
4. If you don’t have a basketball ring handy, or the room to play a game, you can play bouncing games with a ball, you can play down ball, funny passing, dribble tests, there is one more that I found is awesome to do with little kids and keeps them amused for a long period of time – ready for it? Make a ring with your arms and let them either do shooting at you or let them have a little dunk session – kids LOVE it. All you need to do is stand there with your arms in a circle and praise them!
5. Commentate! Yes – kids love hearing their own name and especially in a situation like this – make it fun – you can even introduce them at the start of the game – let their imagination go wild – they can be just like the players on TV – getting introduced! WOW! If you want to take it one step further – put on a music player and have them introduced to some cool music – they go crazy – its great fun to watch!!!! (You can also do this if you don’t want to actually join in the game – they know you are watching them perform as well.)
6. Make it regular – when is the best time to do this? Well – there are no rules – in summer – why not after school or whenever is best for all of you to get together. Get your kids to invite their friends over if you want to have a game – or just make it family time. What about on a weekend at a set time say Sunday morning at 10am – you can then get the kids all excited about the weekly game challenge and that this week you are going to be ready for them – whether you play or not – make an effort in some way.
The upside of these games is this – when your kids get older – this is something they will bring up as a very happy memory and hopefully they will do the same with their kids. If we can all make a little effort – we can change habits in our kids.
And one last little snippet I heard at a tournament recently – “kids in sport stay out of court”. Enough said huh? Treasure these moments with your children – they will not last forever!
Any comments or feedback on this article can be forwarded directly to Bruce – bruce@billybounce.com
Monday, April 17, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Key coaching points on dribble moves
Key coaching points on dribble moves:
1. When you get to the 3 pt. line use 1 dribble to get to the basket unless you hesitate to take the help out.
2. Do the moves at full speed game like conditions.
3. Chin ball when shooting lay-ups.
4. Circle tight with the ball on direct and crossover drives. Tighten up your game. Don't be loose with the ball. Be compact and have an economy of motion.
5. Start and finish all moves from a low body balance base of support.
6. Use all moves, but develop a go to and counter move.
7. After move go straight to the basket don't belly out.
8. Make moves right at an imaginary defender. Get the defender on their heels.
9. Go -when you first catch a pass, your the most open.
10. Use your right hand when going right, and use your left when going left.
1. When you get to the 3 pt. line use 1 dribble to get to the basket unless you hesitate to take the help out.
2. Do the moves at full speed game like conditions.
3. Chin ball when shooting lay-ups.
4. Circle tight with the ball on direct and crossover drives. Tighten up your game. Don't be loose with the ball. Be compact and have an economy of motion.
5. Start and finish all moves from a low body balance base of support.
6. Use all moves, but develop a go to and counter move.
7. After move go straight to the basket don't belly out.
8. Make moves right at an imaginary defender. Get the defender on their heels.
9. Go -when you first catch a pass, your the most open.
10. Use your right hand when going right, and use your left when going left.
32 point shooting
32 point shooting
*Five spots on the floor: baseline, wing, on top, opposite wing, and opposite baseline.
*You make 3 moves from each spot.
*The first is a 3 point shot (worth 3 points), the second is a shot fake one dribble drive to middle shoot jumper (worth 2 points) , and the third move is a shot fake one dribble drive to middle lay up (worth 1 point).
*So each spot is worth 6 points.
*At the end you shoot 2 free throws (worth 1 point each) for a total of 32 points.
*You compete against yourself.
*Make the moves at game speeds be tight with your game.
*The drives to the middle you will be using direct and crossover moves so step with the same foot each time.
*The moves from the top you can go either way, but be able to go both ways.
*Five spots on the floor: baseline, wing, on top, opposite wing, and opposite baseline.
*You make 3 moves from each spot.
*The first is a 3 point shot (worth 3 points), the second is a shot fake one dribble drive to middle shoot jumper (worth 2 points) , and the third move is a shot fake one dribble drive to middle lay up (worth 1 point).
*So each spot is worth 6 points.
*At the end you shoot 2 free throws (worth 1 point each) for a total of 32 points.
*You compete against yourself.
*Make the moves at game speeds be tight with your game.
*The drives to the middle you will be using direct and crossover moves so step with the same foot each time.
*The moves from the top you can go either way, but be able to go both ways.
Four main objectives for guards on drives
Four main objectives for guards on drives:
1. Create space between themselves and their defender.
2. Go north and south on drives don't belly out (straight to hoop).
3. Put your body on the defenders body on the start step.
4. Take your dribble moves right at the defender get them on their heels. If you get beside them or get them on their heels, they are yours.
what drive coaches nuts about guards:
1. When a guard just dribbles once and picks up his dribbel.
2. When the guard starts going east and west instead of attacking.
3. When a guard hesitates on passing, making the play, or decision making.
1. Create space between themselves and their defender.
2. Go north and south on drives don't belly out (straight to hoop).
3. Put your body on the defenders body on the start step.
4. Take your dribble moves right at the defender get them on their heels. If you get beside them or get them on their heels, they are yours.
what drive coaches nuts about guards:
1. When a guard just dribbles once and picks up his dribbel.
2. When the guard starts going east and west instead of attacking.
3. When a guard hesitates on passing, making the play, or decision making.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Coaching techniques on: ball fakes, shot fakes, and pass fakes
Coaching Techniques on: ball fakes, shot fakes, and pass fake
1. shot fake -the ball should go up while the butt goes down! The ball will go only to a point above the eyes. This is done so that the knees stay bent so if the defense comes out of his stance the offensive player can go by the defender without having to bend the knees again. Also, this motion creates a better shot fake
2. pass fake -look in the direction of the fake direction, show the ball and then pass in a different direction
1. shot fake -the ball should go up while the butt goes down! The ball will go only to a point above the eyes. This is done so that the knees stay bent so if the defense comes out of his stance the offensive player can go by the defender without having to bend the knees again. Also, this motion creates a better shot fake
2. pass fake -look in the direction of the fake direction, show the ball and then pass in a different direction
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Point guard Devan Downey
News from Cincinnati! First the coach leaves, and now there starting point guard Devan Downey has decided to leave Cincinnati, the latest fallout from coach Bob Huggins' ouster last August. Downey averaged 11.9 points and 4.3 assists as a freshman last season, Cincinnati's first in the Big East.
Dixon Funeral
Dixon Funeral: About 1,200 mourners attended Maggie Dixon's funeral in Los Angeles, five days after the 28-year-old Army women's basketball coach died.
Dixon, was the coach of the U.S. Military Academy's women's basketball team and sister of Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon.
She died of an arrhythmic heart episode, but don’t know what caused it.
Dr. Christopher Bonnett, head of electrophysiology at Allegheny General Hospital, says most people who get arrhythmias are older and have had heart attacks and weakened heart muscles.
“But in my field, it’s not unusual to see young healthy people just suddenly have a short circuit where the rhythm goes fast, they pass out from a lack of blood flow to the brain and if not resuscitated, they die suddenly,” he explained.
Dixon collapsed Wednesday at West Point. That morning, she had breakfast with her brother, Jamie, had a meeting with the athletic director at West Point and had tea with a friend.
She was hired a few weeks before the season began, and led the Black Knights to their first NCAA tournament appearance last month.
Maggie and Jamie are believed to have been the first brother and sister to have coached in the NCAA tournament in the same year.
Dixon says Maggie seemed fine when they had breakfast together Wednesday, but at a friend's house at West Point that afternoon, she said she wasn't feeling well and collapsed.
Dixon, was the coach of the U.S. Military Academy's women's basketball team and sister of Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon.
She died of an arrhythmic heart episode, but don’t know what caused it.
Dr. Christopher Bonnett, head of electrophysiology at Allegheny General Hospital, says most people who get arrhythmias are older and have had heart attacks and weakened heart muscles.
“But in my field, it’s not unusual to see young healthy people just suddenly have a short circuit where the rhythm goes fast, they pass out from a lack of blood flow to the brain and if not resuscitated, they die suddenly,” he explained.
Dixon collapsed Wednesday at West Point. That morning, she had breakfast with her brother, Jamie, had a meeting with the athletic director at West Point and had tea with a friend.
She was hired a few weeks before the season began, and led the Black Knights to their first NCAA tournament appearance last month.
Maggie and Jamie are believed to have been the first brother and sister to have coached in the NCAA tournament in the same year.
Dixon says Maggie seemed fine when they had breakfast together Wednesday, but at a friend's house at West Point that afternoon, she said she wasn't feeling well and collapsed.
Wichita State basketball is staying!
TURGEON STAYING: Wichita State basketball coach Mark Turgeon has agreed to a long-term contract extension, ending speculation he would leave for a a larger school following the Shockers' run to the NCAA round of 16. "I just want to get this out of the way: I'm staying," Turgeon said Monday.
The moves are starting already!
They started even early for Kelvin Sampson going to the Indiana's basketball. But Now it's Jeff Capel turn to take over as Oklahoma's basketball coach, Capel resigned from Virginia Commonwealth.
Capel, a former Duke player, was 79-41 in four seasons as coach at VCU. Only time will tell what he can do with program like Oklahom!
Capel, a former Duke player, was 79-41 in four seasons as coach at VCU. Only time will tell what he can do with program like Oklahom!
Did you hear about Ramar Smith!
First day of college basketball's national signing period, spring semester version, for the 2006-07 season.
Today's the day the Southeastern Conference gets a well-earned boost for its shiny showing in the NCAA Tournament.
Only it's not so much Florida that's set to harvest the fruits of its labor.
It's not Kentucky.
It's Tennessee.
Ramar Smith, a highly touted 6-foot-2 guard out of Detroit's Martin Luther King High School, ranked 34th in the nation by Hoop Scoop (if you believe such things) and 30th by Rivals (if you believe such things), promised to wear orange.
That would be Ramar Smith, Duke Crews and Wayne Chism. Crews is a 6-foot-7 forward from Hampton, Va., ranked 14th by Hoop Scoop. Chism is a 6-foot-9 center from Bolvar, Tenn., ranked 61st by Hoop Scoop.
Throw in Marques Johnson, a 6-foot-6 forward from Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Josh Tabb, a 6-foot-3 guard from a Cincinnati prep school. Both are well-regarded.
"It's pretty amazing what Coach Pearl has done," Meyer told the Tennessean.
Today's the day the Southeastern Conference gets a well-earned boost for its shiny showing in the NCAA Tournament.
Only it's not so much Florida that's set to harvest the fruits of its labor.
It's not Kentucky.
It's Tennessee.
Ramar Smith, a highly touted 6-foot-2 guard out of Detroit's Martin Luther King High School, ranked 34th in the nation by Hoop Scoop (if you believe such things) and 30th by Rivals (if you believe such things), promised to wear orange.
That would be Ramar Smith, Duke Crews and Wayne Chism. Crews is a 6-foot-7 forward from Hampton, Va., ranked 14th by Hoop Scoop. Chism is a 6-foot-9 center from Bolvar, Tenn., ranked 61st by Hoop Scoop.
Throw in Marques Johnson, a 6-foot-6 forward from Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Josh Tabb, a 6-foot-3 guard from a Cincinnati prep school. Both are well-regarded.
"It's pretty amazing what Coach Pearl has done," Meyer told the Tennessean.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Getting Kids Active…
Getting Kids Active…
How do we get kids more active? Hello and welcome to this very interesting topic and a question that is a very important one to many parents and coaches alike.
In today’s world of bad food, bad exercise habits, and Video/TV screens of all sorts ruling our kids lives- our kids would rather play a sport game on a screen than literally play it – we need to HELP them get out there and get active. There is one other observation I have made in my travels as well – kids around the world have forgotten how to – or have no idea how to play by themselves or outside with friends!!!! So here’s the secret…Get Out There With Them!!!!
Usually when people read this they think they are going to have to be as active as their children and play chase and all those other games that kids play. Why don’t you start with basketball???? Here are some really simple tips to get this process happening…
1. Turn off the TV or Video Game – for the day, for the weekend – whatever – make it a “screen free” weekend – no computers, TV’s, video games – if it has a screen – it is off!
2. Don’t go out in the heat of the day – this is just not smart, try mid morning or late afternoon when the sun has lost a bit of it’s strength – this is meant to be FUN remember?
3. If you are actually playing basketball against your child/children, you will find that they will play for a very long time – for one simple reason – because YOU are out there with them! Kids just want to hang with mum & dad – wherever that may be.
4. If you don’t have a basketball ring handy, or the room to play a game, you can play bouncing games with a ball, you can play down ball, funny passing, dribble tests, there is one more that I found is awesome to do with little kids and keeps them amused for a long period of time – ready for it? Make a ring with your arms and let them either do shooting at you or let them have a little dunk session – kids LOVE it. All you need to do is stand there with your arms in a circle and praise them!
5. Commentate! Yes – kids love hearing their own name and especially in a situation like this – make it fun – you can even introduce them at the start of the game – let their imagination go wild – they can be just like the players on TV – getting introduced! WOW! If you want to take it one step further – put on a music player and have them introduced to some cool music – they go crazy – its great fun to watch!!!! (You can also do this if you don’t want to actually join in the game – they know you are watching them perform as well.)
6. Make it regular – when is the best time to do this? Well – there are no rules – in summer – why not after school or whenever is best for all of you to get together. Get your kids to invite their friends over if you want to have a game – or just make it family time. What about on a weekend at a set time say Sunday morning at 10am – you can then get the kids all excited about the weekly game challenge and that this week you are going to be ready for them – whether you play or not – make an effort in some way.
The upside of these games is this – when your kids get older – this is something they will bring up as a very happy memory and hopefully they will do the same with their kids. If we can all make a little effort – we can change habits in our kids.
And one last little snippet I heard at a tournament recently – “kids in sport stay out of court”. Enough said huh? Treasure these moments with your children – they will not last forever!
Any comments or feedback on this article can be forwarded directly to Bruce – bruce@billybounce.com
How do we get kids more active? Hello and welcome to this very interesting topic and a question that is a very important one to many parents and coaches alike.
In today’s world of bad food, bad exercise habits, and Video/TV screens of all sorts ruling our kids lives- our kids would rather play a sport game on a screen than literally play it – we need to HELP them get out there and get active. There is one other observation I have made in my travels as well – kids around the world have forgotten how to – or have no idea how to play by themselves or outside with friends!!!! So here’s the secret…Get Out There With Them!!!!
Usually when people read this they think they are going to have to be as active as their children and play chase and all those other games that kids play. Why don’t you start with basketball???? Here are some really simple tips to get this process happening…
1. Turn off the TV or Video Game – for the day, for the weekend – whatever – make it a “screen free” weekend – no computers, TV’s, video games – if it has a screen – it is off!
2. Don’t go out in the heat of the day – this is just not smart, try mid morning or late afternoon when the sun has lost a bit of it’s strength – this is meant to be FUN remember?
3. If you are actually playing basketball against your child/children, you will find that they will play for a very long time – for one simple reason – because YOU are out there with them! Kids just want to hang with mum & dad – wherever that may be.
4. If you don’t have a basketball ring handy, or the room to play a game, you can play bouncing games with a ball, you can play down ball, funny passing, dribble tests, there is one more that I found is awesome to do with little kids and keeps them amused for a long period of time – ready for it? Make a ring with your arms and let them either do shooting at you or let them have a little dunk session – kids LOVE it. All you need to do is stand there with your arms in a circle and praise them!
5. Commentate! Yes – kids love hearing their own name and especially in a situation like this – make it fun – you can even introduce them at the start of the game – let their imagination go wild – they can be just like the players on TV – getting introduced! WOW! If you want to take it one step further – put on a music player and have them introduced to some cool music – they go crazy – its great fun to watch!!!! (You can also do this if you don’t want to actually join in the game – they know you are watching them perform as well.)
6. Make it regular – when is the best time to do this? Well – there are no rules – in summer – why not after school or whenever is best for all of you to get together. Get your kids to invite their friends over if you want to have a game – or just make it family time. What about on a weekend at a set time say Sunday morning at 10am – you can then get the kids all excited about the weekly game challenge and that this week you are going to be ready for them – whether you play or not – make an effort in some way.
The upside of these games is this – when your kids get older – this is something they will bring up as a very happy memory and hopefully they will do the same with their kids. If we can all make a little effort – we can change habits in our kids.
And one last little snippet I heard at a tournament recently – “kids in sport stay out of court”. Enough said huh? Treasure these moments with your children – they will not last forever!
Any comments or feedback on this article can be forwarded directly to Bruce – bruce@billybounce.com
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The state of Hoops Hoosierland!
"In 49 states it's just basketball ... but this is Indiana."
-- Video boards in Conseco Fieldhouse.
INDIANAPOLIS -- That declaration is meant as a rallying cry, a point of pride. These days in the humiliated Hoosier state, it should be viewed as a call to arms.
The state of basketball is lamentable in the state that loves basketball the most. And something needs to be done about it.
The nation's capital of hoops is convulsed in a full-blown, honest-to-Hickory identity crisis. The Final Four, the ultimate celebration of the game, returns to hardwood Mecca for the first time in six years -- and finds the holy land desecrated by bad ideas, bad decisions, bad teams and bad actors. From preps to pros, the franchise sport of Indiana is in lousy shape.
If the Wizard of Westwood has one more magic basketball act in his wand, he should use it to heal his home state. Alas, John Wooden is 95. The Martinsville native and Purdue graduate won't be here for the Final Four.
Perhaps it's a good thing, because Wooden wouldn't like what he would see:
The Prep Tournament
World-famous Indiana high school basketball, the stuff of myth and legend, ruined perfection by switching eight years ago from a single-class state tournament to four classes. The ultimate meritocracy in youth sports has become the ultimate mediocrity. More trophies are awarded; far fewer fans care.
"We had a national heritage that they just gave up," said Bobby Plump, the man who hit the most famous shot in the history of Hoosier Hysteria. It was the shot that gave little Milan High its miracle state title in 1954 over powerhouse Muncie Central and spawned a Cinderella story told a million times over, most notably in the movie "Hoosiers."
In 1962, a reported 1.55 million fans attended state tournament games. Now, Plump says, attendance is about one-third of that. In 1990, 41,046 fans flocked to the then-Hoosier Dome to watch Damon Bailey close out his legendary high school career with a state title. This year, having long since downsized from the dome to Conseco, a total of 31,828 fans watched all four state title games.
"The people have not embraced it," Plump said. "But I don't think they will admit they made a mistake."
The Prep Players
High school basketball has forfeited its charm, but not its talent. The state that produced Oscar Robertson, Rick Mount, George McGinnis, Larry Bird, Steve Alford, Glenn Robinson, Bailey and countless others still churns out great players today.
Problem is, they can't wait to get out of Indiana for college.
Last week Indianapolis Lawrence North High won its 45th straight game and third consecutive state title behind 7-foot center Greg Oden, potentially the best Hoosier baller since Bird, and guard Mike Conley Jr. Their college destination: Ohio State.
The two best talents in last year's class were big man Josh McRoberts of Carmel and point guard Dominic James of Richmond. They started as freshmen for Duke and Marquette, respectively.
In recent years the talent drain has taken Zach Randolph to Michigan State, Jason Gardner to Arizona and Sean May to North Carolina. In 2007 it will take Indianapolis guard Eric Gordon, possibly the best junior in America, to Illinois.
"About all our good high school players are going out of state," said Bird, now president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. "...That's something that probably hurts more than anything. It's very important to try to keep our kids in-state. That's how you have an identity."
The Colleges
College basketball in the state has lost its leadership, lost its star power and lost far too many games. Ultimately it has lost its place among the elite.
Flagship programs Indiana and Purdue are enduring brutal times.
The five-time national champion Hoosiers have stumbled through four undistinguished, acrimonious seasons since a surprise 2002 run to the NCAA title game. That resulted in the firing of Mike Davis and the tepidly received hiring of Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma -- neither a glitzy name nor an "IU family name."
Upon the announcement of his resignation in February, Davis declared, "What I want is for this program to be united."
Former Hoosier Ted Kitchel told the Indianapolis Star this week, regarding the Sampson hire: "I wouldn't hire that guy to coach my fifth-grade girls team."
So much for unity. The struggle for the soul of the Hoosiers rages on unabated, six years after it began with the firing of icon Bob Knight.
"The program has definitely been in disarray," said Bailey, now the coach at his alma mater, Bedford North Lawrence High School. "I don't ever want to put the blame on coach Davis; I think he was in a no-win situation from day one. He had some seasons a lot of programs would be happy with, but Indiana wants an opportunity, year in and year out, to compete for a national championship.
"It's lost a lot of support. Hopefully coach Sampson can get back some of that support. ... With the possible candidates out there, I don't know if we could have gotten anyone better qualified. I'm very happy with coach Sampson."
That's part of the problem: getting the top-shelf coaches interested in IU. You know the program has lost something when it offers hefty bank to the coach at Gonzaga and gets turned down.
The Boilermakers are working their way through the Comb-over Hangover, after excessive loyalty to coach Gene Keady led a declining program to rock bottom before the rebuilding could begin. Purdue has made just one of the past six NCAA Tournaments and is trying to relocate its old spunk.
The once-rabid rivalry between the two barely registers nationally and doesn't stir the same passions within the state.
"You don't have the dominant personalities that you did at Purdue and Indiana," said the coach who replaced Keady at Purdue, Matt Painter.
"Matt Painter will do well there, give him some time," Plump said. "They're so far down you have to give him some time."
Nobody else in the state is picking up the slack. Notre Dame barely made the Big East tournament this year and hasn't seen the NCAA Tournament since 2003. The normally reliable mid-major class of Butler, Valparaiso, Ball State, IUPUI, Evansville, Indiana State and D-I newcomer IPFW has combined for one bid the past three Marches.
From 1975 through 2003, the state put a minimum of two teams in the NCAAs every year but one. An Indiana team made the Final Four every year from 1978 through '81 -- and each year it was someone different: Notre Dame in '78, Indiana State in '79, Purdue in '80 and national champion Indiana in '81. Participation peaked in 2000 with six bids. Victories peaked in 1987 at nine, as IU won the national title.
Now look at Indiana's feeble contribution to March Madness: Over the past three seasons, teams from the state have earned two NCAA bids and won exactly one tournament game -- on a last-second shot at that, two weeks ago by Indiana's Robert Vaden against San Diego State. That's it since 2003. That's the worst three-year stretch in this state since 1966-68, a time when far fewer teams got in the tourney.
The Pros
The NBA's Indiana Pacers, for years one of the most consistent and stable franchises in a turbulent league, lost their all-time most popular player last year: Reggie Miller. Simultaneously, they've had their franchise sabotaged by the man talented enough to succeed Miller but misanthropic enough to undermine everything instead: Ron Artest.
Artest has poisoned the past two seasons for Indiana. In 2004-05, he touched off the infamous Malice in the Palace brawl in Detroit, resulting in a record 73-game suspension that torpedoed the Pacers' chances of seriously competing in the Eastern Conference. They plummeted from 61 wins the previous year to 44.
Then, after Indiana brought Artest back this year and Bird publicly stood behind one of the most unpopular players in the league, Artest repaid him by demanding a trade in early December. The Pacers deactivated him Dec. 12 and went 9-13 without Artest before finally unloading him to Sacramento for Peja Stojakovic Jan. 25. Indiana is currently 35-35 and in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.
"I ain't gonna sit here and blame it all on Ronnie, because other things happened, too," Bird said. "But in the pros, when you don't win, people are disappointed. I see it and I'm disappointed, too."
The State Tournament
The biggest disappointments in Indiana lie below the pro level. The college disappointments are significant, but none is bigger than the atrocity committed upon Hoosier Hysteria.
Understand that Indiana is home to 19 of the 20 largest high school gyms in America, topped by New Castle High, Alford's alma mater, at 9,325 seats. Understand that the Indiana State Library's Web site lists no fewer than 33 books on its shelves relating to high school basketball, including, "Somebody Stole the Pea Out of My Whistle: The Golden Age of Hoosier Basketball Referees." Understand that if there were such a thing as a state sound, in Indiana it would be a basketball slapping off a wood floor in an empty gym.
If you understand all that, if you grasp the folklore and the sport's place in society, you can understand what the state tournament used to be. For that, take a drive through the rolling hills of Southern Indiana.
On Indiana Highway 37 you'll see a sign outside Mitchell, pop. 5,000. It commemorates the 1940 state tournament runner-up, the Mitchell High Bluejackets.
Not the champions. The runners-up. From 66 years ago.
Now drive down the serpentine stretch of Indiana Highway 58 that leads you to Heltonville Elementary School, in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. The limestone building was once Heltonville High, before it was swallowed by consolidation to create a larger countywide school, Bedford North Lawrence.
Go in the gym. There on one wall, near the exit, is a yellowed photo of the 1954 Heltonville basketball team -- the team that won the school's only sectional championship. Damon Bailey, Heltonville product, says the photo is still there.
The high school was closed 20 years later, but that team lives on in eternity in a town of about 500 souls. That's what this tournament once meant.
The 64 statewide sectionals were the foundation of the tourney: the first round, the local scrum that produced one champion to go to the four-team regionals. From there the regional champ went to the four-team semistate, and from there to the four-team state finals in Indianapolis -- where only one team was crowned king of the state.
In Lawrence County, the sectional was an eight-school brawl back in those days -- the little rural schools like Heltonville trying to knock off the "city" school of Bedford. School would be canceled and opening-round games would be played all day. It was the social event of the year.
And if a little school won a sectional, it was a ticket to local immortality. Just ask the guys from that '54 Heltonville team.
"For smaller schools, the state championships were the sectionals," Bailey said. "If you could come through the sectional and win it, you had that one great weekend of games to remember."
And there are road signs and faded pictures and old trophies all over this state, commemorating those victories.
That's the thing the Indiana High School Athletic Association missed when it dismantled Hoosier Hysteria and replaced it with its four-class, four-champion system, which sometimes sends teams long distances for smaller, sparsely attended sectionals and regionals.
Bird is one of the five most accomplished players in the history of the sport. He's done everything there is to do with a basketball: three NBA titles, three straight NBA MVP awards, an Olympic gold medal, first-ballot Hall of Fame status, ad infinitum. But ask him about the Indiana state tournament from his days at tiny Springs Valley High School, and his recall is as sharp as the epic '84 finals against the Lakers.
After winning its sectional, Valley was in against bigger Bedford in the regional and had a six-point lead with a minute and a half left -- and lost.
"My best friend missed three one-and-ones," Bird said. "I still get mad at him for that."
Larry Legend laughed.
"Everyone does."
The big thing that loss cost Bird was the chance to play a truly big school, Jeffersonville, in the regional final.
"That's what the state tournament was all about," he said. "You wanted to play against the best. We were a small school, but our goal was to get to the state finals. I'd rather play for one title."
Bailey makes a compelling case for a co-conspirator in the demise of Hoosier Hysteria: consolidation. The number of high schools in the state has dwindled from a high of near 800 to about 400, robbing small towns of their identities and rooting interests along the way.
"If you have seven varsity teams in a county, that's 70 to 80 varsity players," Bailey said. "If you consolidate to one school, that's 12 players. A lot of the consolidated kids' kids are now at the high school level, and their parents didn't grow up playing basketball like mine did. They didn't go to the gym every Friday night.
"That's what my dad did, and his dad did, and his dad's dad did. The student interest is not there as it once was."
Bailey, Bird and Painter all prefer the single-class tournament -- but they pale in intensity to Plump. The 69-year-old Indianapolis businessman who put Milan on the map led an impassioned fight for years against class basketball.
There would be no Milan miracle under the current format. Nothing to talk about for the next 50 years.
"Since they went to class basketball, Milan has been to the semistate twice, and nobody knows it," Plump said. "That gives you the idea that people don't care. The sectional winners in the old days will be remembered a long time after the four state champions are remembered.
"When you can play, you want to play against the big boys. You might get your brains beat out, but it won't be the last time that happens in life."
Basketball in this state is getting its brains beat out on every level these days. For the good of the game and the good of the people who love it more than anywhere else, that needs to change.
After all, in 49 states it's just basketball. But this is Indiana.
Especial thanks from:
Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.
Check out the article on espn.com here And along with Pat Fore latest articles can be found here also
-- Video boards in Conseco Fieldhouse.
INDIANAPOLIS -- That declaration is meant as a rallying cry, a point of pride. These days in the humiliated Hoosier state, it should be viewed as a call to arms.
The state of basketball is lamentable in the state that loves basketball the most. And something needs to be done about it.
The nation's capital of hoops is convulsed in a full-blown, honest-to-Hickory identity crisis. The Final Four, the ultimate celebration of the game, returns to hardwood Mecca for the first time in six years -- and finds the holy land desecrated by bad ideas, bad decisions, bad teams and bad actors. From preps to pros, the franchise sport of Indiana is in lousy shape.
If the Wizard of Westwood has one more magic basketball act in his wand, he should use it to heal his home state. Alas, John Wooden is 95. The Martinsville native and Purdue graduate won't be here for the Final Four.
Perhaps it's a good thing, because Wooden wouldn't like what he would see:
The Prep Tournament
World-famous Indiana high school basketball, the stuff of myth and legend, ruined perfection by switching eight years ago from a single-class state tournament to four classes. The ultimate meritocracy in youth sports has become the ultimate mediocrity. More trophies are awarded; far fewer fans care.
"We had a national heritage that they just gave up," said Bobby Plump, the man who hit the most famous shot in the history of Hoosier Hysteria. It was the shot that gave little Milan High its miracle state title in 1954 over powerhouse Muncie Central and spawned a Cinderella story told a million times over, most notably in the movie "Hoosiers."
In 1962, a reported 1.55 million fans attended state tournament games. Now, Plump says, attendance is about one-third of that. In 1990, 41,046 fans flocked to the then-Hoosier Dome to watch Damon Bailey close out his legendary high school career with a state title. This year, having long since downsized from the dome to Conseco, a total of 31,828 fans watched all four state title games.
"The people have not embraced it," Plump said. "But I don't think they will admit they made a mistake."
The Prep Players
High school basketball has forfeited its charm, but not its talent. The state that produced Oscar Robertson, Rick Mount, George McGinnis, Larry Bird, Steve Alford, Glenn Robinson, Bailey and countless others still churns out great players today.
Problem is, they can't wait to get out of Indiana for college.
Last week Indianapolis Lawrence North High won its 45th straight game and third consecutive state title behind 7-foot center Greg Oden, potentially the best Hoosier baller since Bird, and guard Mike Conley Jr. Their college destination: Ohio State.
The two best talents in last year's class were big man Josh McRoberts of Carmel and point guard Dominic James of Richmond. They started as freshmen for Duke and Marquette, respectively.
In recent years the talent drain has taken Zach Randolph to Michigan State, Jason Gardner to Arizona and Sean May to North Carolina. In 2007 it will take Indianapolis guard Eric Gordon, possibly the best junior in America, to Illinois.
"About all our good high school players are going out of state," said Bird, now president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. "...That's something that probably hurts more than anything. It's very important to try to keep our kids in-state. That's how you have an identity."
The Colleges
College basketball in the state has lost its leadership, lost its star power and lost far too many games. Ultimately it has lost its place among the elite.
Flagship programs Indiana and Purdue are enduring brutal times.
The five-time national champion Hoosiers have stumbled through four undistinguished, acrimonious seasons since a surprise 2002 run to the NCAA title game. That resulted in the firing of Mike Davis and the tepidly received hiring of Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma -- neither a glitzy name nor an "IU family name."
Upon the announcement of his resignation in February, Davis declared, "What I want is for this program to be united."
Former Hoosier Ted Kitchel told the Indianapolis Star this week, regarding the Sampson hire: "I wouldn't hire that guy to coach my fifth-grade girls team."
So much for unity. The struggle for the soul of the Hoosiers rages on unabated, six years after it began with the firing of icon Bob Knight.
"The program has definitely been in disarray," said Bailey, now the coach at his alma mater, Bedford North Lawrence High School. "I don't ever want to put the blame on coach Davis; I think he was in a no-win situation from day one. He had some seasons a lot of programs would be happy with, but Indiana wants an opportunity, year in and year out, to compete for a national championship.
"It's lost a lot of support. Hopefully coach Sampson can get back some of that support. ... With the possible candidates out there, I don't know if we could have gotten anyone better qualified. I'm very happy with coach Sampson."
That's part of the problem: getting the top-shelf coaches interested in IU. You know the program has lost something when it offers hefty bank to the coach at Gonzaga and gets turned down.
The Boilermakers are working their way through the Comb-over Hangover, after excessive loyalty to coach Gene Keady led a declining program to rock bottom before the rebuilding could begin. Purdue has made just one of the past six NCAA Tournaments and is trying to relocate its old spunk.
The once-rabid rivalry between the two barely registers nationally and doesn't stir the same passions within the state.
"You don't have the dominant personalities that you did at Purdue and Indiana," said the coach who replaced Keady at Purdue, Matt Painter.
"Matt Painter will do well there, give him some time," Plump said. "They're so far down you have to give him some time."
Nobody else in the state is picking up the slack. Notre Dame barely made the Big East tournament this year and hasn't seen the NCAA Tournament since 2003. The normally reliable mid-major class of Butler, Valparaiso, Ball State, IUPUI, Evansville, Indiana State and D-I newcomer IPFW has combined for one bid the past three Marches.
From 1975 through 2003, the state put a minimum of two teams in the NCAAs every year but one. An Indiana team made the Final Four every year from 1978 through '81 -- and each year it was someone different: Notre Dame in '78, Indiana State in '79, Purdue in '80 and national champion Indiana in '81. Participation peaked in 2000 with six bids. Victories peaked in 1987 at nine, as IU won the national title.
Now look at Indiana's feeble contribution to March Madness: Over the past three seasons, teams from the state have earned two NCAA bids and won exactly one tournament game -- on a last-second shot at that, two weeks ago by Indiana's Robert Vaden against San Diego State. That's it since 2003. That's the worst three-year stretch in this state since 1966-68, a time when far fewer teams got in the tourney.
The Pros
The NBA's Indiana Pacers, for years one of the most consistent and stable franchises in a turbulent league, lost their all-time most popular player last year: Reggie Miller. Simultaneously, they've had their franchise sabotaged by the man talented enough to succeed Miller but misanthropic enough to undermine everything instead: Ron Artest.
Artest has poisoned the past two seasons for Indiana. In 2004-05, he touched off the infamous Malice in the Palace brawl in Detroit, resulting in a record 73-game suspension that torpedoed the Pacers' chances of seriously competing in the Eastern Conference. They plummeted from 61 wins the previous year to 44.
Then, after Indiana brought Artest back this year and Bird publicly stood behind one of the most unpopular players in the league, Artest repaid him by demanding a trade in early December. The Pacers deactivated him Dec. 12 and went 9-13 without Artest before finally unloading him to Sacramento for Peja Stojakovic Jan. 25. Indiana is currently 35-35 and in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.
"I ain't gonna sit here and blame it all on Ronnie, because other things happened, too," Bird said. "But in the pros, when you don't win, people are disappointed. I see it and I'm disappointed, too."
The State Tournament
The biggest disappointments in Indiana lie below the pro level. The college disappointments are significant, but none is bigger than the atrocity committed upon Hoosier Hysteria.
Understand that Indiana is home to 19 of the 20 largest high school gyms in America, topped by New Castle High, Alford's alma mater, at 9,325 seats. Understand that the Indiana State Library's Web site lists no fewer than 33 books on its shelves relating to high school basketball, including, "Somebody Stole the Pea Out of My Whistle: The Golden Age of Hoosier Basketball Referees." Understand that if there were such a thing as a state sound, in Indiana it would be a basketball slapping off a wood floor in an empty gym.
If you understand all that, if you grasp the folklore and the sport's place in society, you can understand what the state tournament used to be. For that, take a drive through the rolling hills of Southern Indiana.
On Indiana Highway 37 you'll see a sign outside Mitchell, pop. 5,000. It commemorates the 1940 state tournament runner-up, the Mitchell High Bluejackets.
Not the champions. The runners-up. From 66 years ago.
Now drive down the serpentine stretch of Indiana Highway 58 that leads you to Heltonville Elementary School, in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. The limestone building was once Heltonville High, before it was swallowed by consolidation to create a larger countywide school, Bedford North Lawrence.
Go in the gym. There on one wall, near the exit, is a yellowed photo of the 1954 Heltonville basketball team -- the team that won the school's only sectional championship. Damon Bailey, Heltonville product, says the photo is still there.
The high school was closed 20 years later, but that team lives on in eternity in a town of about 500 souls. That's what this tournament once meant.
The 64 statewide sectionals were the foundation of the tourney: the first round, the local scrum that produced one champion to go to the four-team regionals. From there the regional champ went to the four-team semistate, and from there to the four-team state finals in Indianapolis -- where only one team was crowned king of the state.
In Lawrence County, the sectional was an eight-school brawl back in those days -- the little rural schools like Heltonville trying to knock off the "city" school of Bedford. School would be canceled and opening-round games would be played all day. It was the social event of the year.
And if a little school won a sectional, it was a ticket to local immortality. Just ask the guys from that '54 Heltonville team.
"For smaller schools, the state championships were the sectionals," Bailey said. "If you could come through the sectional and win it, you had that one great weekend of games to remember."
And there are road signs and faded pictures and old trophies all over this state, commemorating those victories.
That's the thing the Indiana High School Athletic Association missed when it dismantled Hoosier Hysteria and replaced it with its four-class, four-champion system, which sometimes sends teams long distances for smaller, sparsely attended sectionals and regionals.
Bird is one of the five most accomplished players in the history of the sport. He's done everything there is to do with a basketball: three NBA titles, three straight NBA MVP awards, an Olympic gold medal, first-ballot Hall of Fame status, ad infinitum. But ask him about the Indiana state tournament from his days at tiny Springs Valley High School, and his recall is as sharp as the epic '84 finals against the Lakers.
After winning its sectional, Valley was in against bigger Bedford in the regional and had a six-point lead with a minute and a half left -- and lost.
"My best friend missed three one-and-ones," Bird said. "I still get mad at him for that."
Larry Legend laughed.
"Everyone does."
The big thing that loss cost Bird was the chance to play a truly big school, Jeffersonville, in the regional final.
"That's what the state tournament was all about," he said. "You wanted to play against the best. We were a small school, but our goal was to get to the state finals. I'd rather play for one title."
Bailey makes a compelling case for a co-conspirator in the demise of Hoosier Hysteria: consolidation. The number of high schools in the state has dwindled from a high of near 800 to about 400, robbing small towns of their identities and rooting interests along the way.
"If you have seven varsity teams in a county, that's 70 to 80 varsity players," Bailey said. "If you consolidate to one school, that's 12 players. A lot of the consolidated kids' kids are now at the high school level, and their parents didn't grow up playing basketball like mine did. They didn't go to the gym every Friday night.
"That's what my dad did, and his dad did, and his dad's dad did. The student interest is not there as it once was."
Bailey, Bird and Painter all prefer the single-class tournament -- but they pale in intensity to Plump. The 69-year-old Indianapolis businessman who put Milan on the map led an impassioned fight for years against class basketball.
There would be no Milan miracle under the current format. Nothing to talk about for the next 50 years.
"Since they went to class basketball, Milan has been to the semistate twice, and nobody knows it," Plump said. "That gives you the idea that people don't care. The sectional winners in the old days will be remembered a long time after the four state champions are remembered.
"When you can play, you want to play against the big boys. You might get your brains beat out, but it won't be the last time that happens in life."
Basketball in this state is getting its brains beat out on every level these days. For the good of the game and the good of the people who love it more than anywhere else, that needs to change.
After all, in 49 states it's just basketball. But this is Indiana.
Especial thanks from:
Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.
Check out the article on espn.com here And along with Pat Fore latest articles can be found here also
Friday, March 31, 2006
What were the odds?
What are the odds or where the odds of George Mason
Let us brake them down
before the March Madness even started the George Mason Patriot's where as high as 400-to-1 to win the whole March Madness Final Four in Indianapolis.
"There has been no truly dominant team this year, so if there was a year to take a longshot this might have been it," said John Avello, director of the race and sports book at Wynn Las Vegas.
Can you now believe that the George Mason Patriots, a No. 11 seed, at 300-to-1, have now increased there odds every game they keep winning of course, but still are pretty much the ultimate Cinderalle long shot! Those odds now likely will be somewhere in between 8-to-1 and 15-to-1.
The stats state or we know that there has been no seed higher then No. 8 Villanova back in 1985 to EVER and we do mean EVER WIN the national championship game. So the odds are very slim.
George Mason finished its regular season at 22-6 and received an at-large bid into the Tournament after losing to Hofstra in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals. The Patriots were 0-3 in their previous three NCAA appearances.
Interested to see the odds being played out!!
Let us brake them down
before the March Madness even started the George Mason Patriot's where as high as 400-to-1 to win the whole March Madness Final Four in Indianapolis.
"There has been no truly dominant team this year, so if there was a year to take a longshot this might have been it," said John Avello, director of the race and sports book at Wynn Las Vegas.
Can you now believe that the George Mason Patriots, a No. 11 seed, at 300-to-1, have now increased there odds every game they keep winning of course, but still are pretty much the ultimate Cinderalle long shot! Those odds now likely will be somewhere in between 8-to-1 and 15-to-1.
The stats state or we know that there has been no seed higher then No. 8 Villanova back in 1985 to EVER and we do mean EVER WIN the national championship game. So the odds are very slim.
George Mason finished its regular season at 22-6 and received an at-large bid into the Tournament after losing to Hofstra in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals. The Patriots were 0-3 in their previous three NCAA appearances.
Interested to see the odds being played out!!
Monday, March 27, 2006
George Mason are they real deal or the real Cinderella
George Mason are they real deal or the real Cinderella!
Wow someon pinch me, are you serious! George Mason in the Final Four! Wow, headed to Indianapolis for the final four! George Mason!
Well, I guess only time will tell if if the real Cinderella story will have a good ending or not!
Wow someon pinch me, are you serious! George Mason in the Final Four! Wow, headed to Indianapolis for the final four! George Mason!
Well, I guess only time will tell if if the real Cinderella story will have a good ending or not!
George Mason are they real deal or the real Cinderella
George Mason are they real deal or the real Cinderella!
Wow someon pinch me, are you serious! George Mason in the Final Four! Wow, headed to Indianapolis for the final four! George Mason!
Well, I guess only time will tell if if the real Cinderella story will have a good ending or not!
Wow someon pinch me, are you serious! George Mason in the Final Four! Wow, headed to Indianapolis for the final four! George Mason!
Well, I guess only time will tell if if the real Cinderella story will have a good ending or not!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
It's more then basketball
Here are some thoughts and quotes about the dissappointment of Morrison!
"I felt for him," Afflalo said. "He's a great player. There's really no reason for him -- outside of the fact that he's a competitor and wanted to win -- he has no reason to cry.
"He should definitely keep his head up. That's hard to say when you won the game and your opponent lost. But I really just wanted to see him in a good mood."
Though, I can feel for him, now one is going to be smiling after a team comes back from leading the whole game and at one point by 17 points. They are not going to be cracking jokes or smiliing about this one after the game.
"I hate losing, period," an emotional Morrison said afterward. "I mean, anything, especially basketball. Obviously I'm going to let it all hang out. And that's what I did."
Though the Zags were in control the whole game the last few seconds of the game will be recalled by Morrison statements, "I was on the other side and I heard foul," he said. "I assumed they were trying to foul J.P. They didn't call it. That's the way the NCAA Tournament goes. They got the ball and scored."
It sank in immediately in the Gonzaga locker room. There, some 30 minutes after the game was over, those in the room still sat silent. The players in one room, still in their uniforms, not saying a word. Coaches and staff members in another room, sitting in a row of folding chairs, stunned at what they had just witnessed.
Head coach Mark Few couldn't help but think about the what ifs.
"We actually had the ball in the people's hands that we wanted," Few said. "We just had -- gosh -- there were a couple shots that just rimmed out."
Especially from Morrison. One shot, in which Morrison drove down the lane, Few said the All-American makes, "95 out of 100 times." Then there was the fadeaway that Few said he has seen the junior make "a thousand times." And a wide-open 3 by Raivio.
"Either of those shots would have probably effectively ended the game," Few said. "They didn't go. We've been making them all year. That's why we're here. Because guys make those shots."
With this all said and done, the game over...I still like the characert of Morrison admitting the truth...which it all came down too!
Morrison, his head down, his words brief, explained the game's final minutes like this: "I missed the shots."
"This team has been so incredible this entire year, winning games like that and digging 'em out, making big shots, getting that last big stop," Few said. "It just finally caught up to us at the end."
Which is why Morrison laid at center court, his face down, his body numb, his emotions flowing. And why Afflalo felt for his basketball brother. The two had traded words, elbows and passions for the better part of two hours Thursday night. But in the end, they were two human beings.
"They had enough guts as a man to come over in their moment of victory, pick somebody up off the floor," said Morrison. "If I could thank them, I would. That's just a sign of great people and great players.
"It's more than basketball."
Dukes nine straight sweet 16 appearance!
Okay so everyone knows John Wooden had seven straight NCAA titles (10 total) at UCLA might be the hardest college basketball record to break. Which in and of itself is just flat out incredible, and yet still not even close to any other coach or team beating this record.
Though, we need to give our props out to Mike Krzyzewski aka Coach K having nine straight Sweet 16 appearances at Duke ends up being just as difficult to approach.
"What Mike has done is certainly in the same category as what John Wooden did," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "It's an awfully, awfully impressive thing in today's world."
"What's amazing to me is that they didn't have one bad second-round game," said Pitt's Jamie Dixon.
Though, we need to give our props out to Mike Krzyzewski aka Coach K having nine straight Sweet 16 appearances at Duke ends up being just as difficult to approach.
"What Mike has done is certainly in the same category as what John Wooden did," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "It's an awfully, awfully impressive thing in today's world."
"What's amazing to me is that they didn't have one bad second-round game," said Pitt's Jamie Dixon.
basketball plays, ncaa basketball plays,
Hear is the inside scoop and breaking down of Gonzaga getting there leader scorer in the nation open even while he is the target for the defenese. What about the West Virginia basketball plays, animation basketball plays for coaches. We have it all right here. Learn how to get a three point shoot, inside play, or other animated basketball plays.
Here are four animated basketball plays broken down to key each offensive set from all the following teams such as Georgetown, Gonzaga, UCLA and West Virginia!
Watch the animated playes brokendown below:
animated basketball plays from Georgetown, Gonzaga, UCLA and West Virginia
Here are four animated basketball plays broken down to key each offensive set from all the following teams such as Georgetown, Gonzaga, UCLA and West Virginia!
Watch the animated playes brokendown below:
animated basketball plays from Georgetown, Gonzaga, UCLA and West Virginia
Monday, March 20, 2006
It came & went! March Madness opening weekend
It came & went! March Madness opening weekend! March Madness was here and gone before you could think of all the great ups and downs! Let us help refresh your memory with a came and went run down of the March Madness this past weekend!
C for Cinderella: Take your pick: 13-seed Bradley from the trendy MVC? Or 11-seed George Mason, which slayed Michigan St. and UNC? They make perennial Cinderella bandwagon team Gonzaga look like "The Man."
A for All Sweet 16 Team
"All-Sweet 16" Team
Craig Smith
22 and 16 in W over Grizzlies
Joakim Noah
Tourney's top stat-stuffer
Brandon Roy
49 pts in 2 Washington Ws
Marcus Williams
UConn PG staves off upsets
Roy Hibbert
Joins G'town big-men legacy
M for Missouri Valley Conference: Two teams in the Sweet 16, the same as the ACC, SEC and Pac-10. And two more than the pathetic Big Ten.
E for Embarrassment: The RPI's top-ranked league, the Big Ten, got 6 NCAA bids. Not one survived the weekend, an epic humiliation.
W for Washington, D.C.: Host of the most intriguing regional semi: 7-seed Wichita St. vs. 11-seed George Mason. Can fans root for both?
A for ahead look to the next round
Atlanta -1 Duke/4 LSU..it's all Duke this one!
2 Texas/6 West Virginia - WVA is looking for revenge from Dec.
Oakland - 1 Memphis/13 Bradley...Bradley's run stops here
2 UCLA/3 Gonzaga - Morrison is going to keep doing it!
D.C. - 1 UConn/5 Washington - UConn to the top
7 Wichita St./11 George Mason - Whoever wins, who are these teams, whoever wins will lose
Minneapolis - 1 Villanova/4 Boston College should be the best sweet 16 game.
3 Florida/7 Georgetown - G'town I think could take this one
N for Naysayers: No one looks like a bigger fool than the "experts" who griped at the last few at-large bids, including Bradley and GMU.
T for Top Seed: Oh the irony, if we paid all this attention to the Cinderellas, only to end up with an unprecedented all-No.1-seed Final Four?
Oakland - 1 Memphis/13 Bradley...Bradley's run stops here
2 UCLA/3 Gonzaga - Morrison is going to keep doing it!
D.C. - 1 UConn/5 Washington - UConn to the top
7 Wichita St./11 George Mason - Whoever wins, who are these teams, whoever wins will lose
Minneapolis - 1 Villanova/4 Boston College should be the best sweet 16 game.
3 Florida/7 Georgetown - G'town I think could take this one
C for Cinderella: Take your pick: 13-seed Bradley from the trendy MVC? Or 11-seed George Mason, which slayed Michigan St. and UNC? They make perennial Cinderella bandwagon team Gonzaga look like "The Man."
A for All Sweet 16 Team
"All-Sweet 16" Team
Craig Smith
22 and 16 in W over Grizzlies
Joakim Noah
Tourney's top stat-stuffer
Brandon Roy
49 pts in 2 Washington Ws
Marcus Williams
UConn PG staves off upsets
Roy Hibbert
Joins G'town big-men legacy
M for Missouri Valley Conference: Two teams in the Sweet 16, the same as the ACC, SEC and Pac-10. And two more than the pathetic Big Ten.
E for Embarrassment: The RPI's top-ranked league, the Big Ten, got 6 NCAA bids. Not one survived the weekend, an epic humiliation.
W for Washington, D.C.: Host of the most intriguing regional semi: 7-seed Wichita St. vs. 11-seed George Mason. Can fans root for both?
A for ahead look to the next round
Atlanta -1 Duke/4 LSU..it's all Duke this one!
2 Texas/6 West Virginia - WVA is looking for revenge from Dec.
Oakland - 1 Memphis/13 Bradley...Bradley's run stops here
2 UCLA/3 Gonzaga - Morrison is going to keep doing it!
D.C. - 1 UConn/5 Washington - UConn to the top
7 Wichita St./11 George Mason - Whoever wins, who are these teams, whoever wins will lose
Minneapolis - 1 Villanova/4 Boston College should be the best sweet 16 game.
3 Florida/7 Georgetown - G'town I think could take this one
N for Naysayers: No one looks like a bigger fool than the "experts" who griped at the last few at-large bids, including Bradley and GMU.
T for Top Seed: Oh the irony, if we paid all this attention to the Cinderellas, only to end up with an unprecedented all-No.1-seed Final Four?
Oakland - 1 Memphis/13 Bradley...Bradley's run stops here
2 UCLA/3 Gonzaga - Morrison is going to keep doing it!
D.C. - 1 UConn/5 Washington - UConn to the top
7 Wichita St./11 George Mason - Whoever wins, who are these teams, whoever wins will lose
Minneapolis - 1 Villanova/4 Boston College should be the best sweet 16 game.
3 Florida/7 Georgetown - G'town I think could take this one
big ten were they even in the tournament
This is really going to hurt, and I am even a big ten fan. But let's just face the facts this one is really going to hurt the Big Ten. I mean really every Big Ten team lost and did not make it into the Sweet Sixteen! Wow!!
Ohio State (No. 2 seed), Iowa (No. 3), Illinois (No. 4) and Michigan State (No. 6) all lost to lower seeds. Wisconsin (No. 9) was buried in round one. At least Indiana (No. 6) gave Gonzaga a tussle before succumbing in the second round.
Bottom line: When hard-working but fairly pedestrian Terence Dials of Ohio State is the Big Ten player of the year, the league lacks star power. Plenty of good players, no great ones. Nobody who could put a team on his back and rise above the round of 32.
And for a league of the Big Ten's stature, that's pretty sad.
This is a very very sad weekend for the Big Ten across the board! Wow, I really think this could hurt for while too.
Ohio State (No. 2 seed), Iowa (No. 3), Illinois (No. 4) and Michigan State (No. 6) all lost to lower seeds. Wisconsin (No. 9) was buried in round one. At least Indiana (No. 6) gave Gonzaga a tussle before succumbing in the second round.
Bottom line: When hard-working but fairly pedestrian Terence Dials of Ohio State is the Big Ten player of the year, the league lacks star power. Plenty of good players, no great ones. Nobody who could put a team on his back and rise above the round of 32.
And for a league of the Big Ten's stature, that's pretty sad.
This is a very very sad weekend for the Big Ten across the board! Wow, I really think this could hurt for while too.
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