Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack
-- St Bonaventure 98, St Joe's 90-- Marcus Posey had 47 for the Bonnies.
-- Washington 98, Washington St. 91-- Andrew Andrews also had 47 for U-Dub.
-- Ole Miss 86, Mississippi St 78-- Stefan Moody had half the Rebels' points.
-- Hartford 68, Albany 59-- #2-seed Great Danes were 18-point home favorites.
-- NC State 73, Boston College 72-- Eagles almost got their first ACC win.
-- Austin Peay 92, Tennessee Tech 72-- Minor upset in OVC tourney.
**********
Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.......
13) RIP Mr Ray Stack-- A teacher, coach, friend, Ray passed away this week after a lengthy illness. Blessed with a booming voice and a tremendous laugh, Ray was always fun to be around-- you couldn't help but feel smarter after spending time with him.
He made an outsider feel welcome when he didn't have to; the four years Ray and I coached basketball together was one of the best experiences of my life.
RIP, Ray. It was an honor to know you.
12) Denver Broncos didn't franchise QB Brock Osweiler, meaning he becomes a free agent Wednesday; could it be that Peyton Manning might return to Denver?
11) VCU 70, Davidson 60-- Davidson coach Bob McKillop became Wildcats' coach in 1989, when VCU coach Will Wade.......was seven years old.
10) UNLV freshman Derrick Jones Jr has a 3.25 GPA, is a solid citizen, but he was declared ineligible this week because the ACT, out of nowhere, declared his test score ineligible.....on March 2. Not the NCAA, the actual ACT. Something isn't right-- why wasn't this discovered earlier? Now the kid will go pro when he isn't ready, when if it was discovered in the fall, he could've sat this year out, played next year, and his career wouldn't be screwed up. This doesn't sound like the right way to do business.
9) We talked yesterday about credits for the movie Leap of Faith, where a guy named Ricky Jay was mentioned-- turns out he is a magician that was influential in Steve Martin's career. Early on, Martin used to include magic in his comedy act, so it was a joke that Ricky Jay was listed in the credits as "Cons and Frauds Consultant".
8) Greedy bastard update-- We haven't done this for a while; I am told the price of gas in Ohio is in the $1.60's, which is great for them, but at the Mobil station closest to my house, it is still $2.13. Now there is another Mobil station about a mile from there- their price is $1.99, which makes no sense. Across the street from the place where gas is $2.13, they're selling it for $1.97, but the place has crummy parking and is harder to get in and out of, so not as many people get gas there. Go figure.
7) 36-year old Baron Davis played for the Knicks in 2012, the last time he was in the NBA; he has signed with the 76ers' D-League team, as he launches a comeback. This is going to be interesting, I guess, but do the 76ers really want him? If he can still play, what contender would take a chance on him? Four years is a long time.
6) Speaking of the D-League, the Knicks didn't offer Jimmer Fredette a second 10-day contract, which is a little unusual. I've always said he has two years on the Jazz bench coming to him, because his status as a BYU legend will allow him to end his playing career gracefully- that day may be coming sooner than he had hoped.
5) I'm enjoying spring training games during the day this week, but March is the one time of year I do not want to hear the name of players on my fantasy team on TV- it is seldom good news. Already have two pitchers hurt and a shortstop about to get the book thrown at him for a domestic violence thing. Oy.
4) Interesting contrast on ESPN-- they employ Joe Lunardi to re-configure the Field of 68 during every TV timeout, seemingly-- he works hard, his work is interesting, albeit irrelevant, but it is something to talk about. When it comes to the at-large bids, Lunardi favors taking strong mid-majors who slipped up in conference tournaments over teams from big conferences who had under-.500 records in conference.
Then there is Jay Bilas, an elitist who thinks the NCAAs should be the 68 best teams, no matter what. No automatic bids for smaller leagues-- those are the teams who make the tournament the fascinating event it is. He'd rather see the 10th-place team in the Pac-12 get in over the champ of the Southland Conference or the MAAC.
Differing opinions make for an interesting debate, but the charm of the NCAAs, and the big money it draws from CBS, is because it is truly a national tournament-- where else could Montana State play St John's, or UCLA play Stephen F Austin?
3) Heard a guy on TV say over weekend that he thought a #1 seed would get beat in first round of NCAA tournament this year- that has never happened. His partner was not agreeing with him, saying the 16-seeds have gotten worse over the years, plus two of the four 16-seeds have to win a play-in game first. Makes it harder.
2) In case you care about such things, going back to 1987, smallest pointspread in a 1-16 first round game was in 1990, when Michigan State was 15-point favorite over Murray State-- the Spartans won in overtime, as close to losing as a 1-seed has come.
1) I do think this year will be like 1988, when 6-seed Kansas won the national title, running a huge wave of luck to get advantageous matchups. Let me show you.....
1st round-- 6-seed Kansas (even) beat 11-seed Xavier 85-72
2nd round-- Kansas (-7.5) 61, beat 14-seed Murray State 61-58. Murray had upset the #3-seed NC State in its first round game.
3rd round-- Kansas (-1) beat Vanderbilt 77-64. Vandy upset #2-seed Pitt in a second round game.
Regional final-- Kansas (+2) beat Kansas State 77-58. K-State had upset the top seed Purdue in the regional semi-final.
So Kansas made the Final Four without playing the 1,2 or 3 seed in that region- that is how underdogs get to the Final Four. It could happen again.
-- St Bonaventure 98, St Joe's 90-- Marcus Posey had 47 for the Bonnies.
-- Washington 98, Washington St. 91-- Andrew Andrews also had 47 for U-Dub.
-- Ole Miss 86, Mississippi St 78-- Stefan Moody had half the Rebels' points.
-- Hartford 68, Albany 59-- #2-seed Great Danes were 18-point home favorites.
-- NC State 73, Boston College 72-- Eagles almost got their first ACC win.
-- Austin Peay 92, Tennessee Tech 72-- Minor upset in OVC tourney.
**********
Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.......
13) RIP Mr Ray Stack-- A teacher, coach, friend, Ray passed away this week after a lengthy illness. Blessed with a booming voice and a tremendous laugh, Ray was always fun to be around-- you couldn't help but feel smarter after spending time with him.
He made an outsider feel welcome when he didn't have to; the four years Ray and I coached basketball together was one of the best experiences of my life.
RIP, Ray. It was an honor to know you.
12) Denver Broncos didn't franchise QB Brock Osweiler, meaning he becomes a free agent Wednesday; could it be that Peyton Manning might return to Denver?
11) VCU 70, Davidson 60-- Davidson coach Bob McKillop became Wildcats' coach in 1989, when VCU coach Will Wade.......was seven years old.
10) UNLV freshman Derrick Jones Jr has a 3.25 GPA, is a solid citizen, but he was declared ineligible this week because the ACT, out of nowhere, declared his test score ineligible.....on March 2. Not the NCAA, the actual ACT. Something isn't right-- why wasn't this discovered earlier? Now the kid will go pro when he isn't ready, when if it was discovered in the fall, he could've sat this year out, played next year, and his career wouldn't be screwed up. This doesn't sound like the right way to do business.
9) We talked yesterday about credits for the movie Leap of Faith, where a guy named Ricky Jay was mentioned-- turns out he is a magician that was influential in Steve Martin's career. Early on, Martin used to include magic in his comedy act, so it was a joke that Ricky Jay was listed in the credits as "Cons and Frauds Consultant".
8) Greedy bastard update-- We haven't done this for a while; I am told the price of gas in Ohio is in the $1.60's, which is great for them, but at the Mobil station closest to my house, it is still $2.13. Now there is another Mobil station about a mile from there- their price is $1.99, which makes no sense. Across the street from the place where gas is $2.13, they're selling it for $1.97, but the place has crummy parking and is harder to get in and out of, so not as many people get gas there. Go figure.
7) 36-year old Baron Davis played for the Knicks in 2012, the last time he was in the NBA; he has signed with the 76ers' D-League team, as he launches a comeback. This is going to be interesting, I guess, but do the 76ers really want him? If he can still play, what contender would take a chance on him? Four years is a long time.
6) Speaking of the D-League, the Knicks didn't offer Jimmer Fredette a second 10-day contract, which is a little unusual. I've always said he has two years on the Jazz bench coming to him, because his status as a BYU legend will allow him to end his playing career gracefully- that day may be coming sooner than he had hoped.
5) I'm enjoying spring training games during the day this week, but March is the one time of year I do not want to hear the name of players on my fantasy team on TV- it is seldom good news. Already have two pitchers hurt and a shortstop about to get the book thrown at him for a domestic violence thing. Oy.
4) Interesting contrast on ESPN-- they employ Joe Lunardi to re-configure the Field of 68 during every TV timeout, seemingly-- he works hard, his work is interesting, albeit irrelevant, but it is something to talk about. When it comes to the at-large bids, Lunardi favors taking strong mid-majors who slipped up in conference tournaments over teams from big conferences who had under-.500 records in conference.
Then there is Jay Bilas, an elitist who thinks the NCAAs should be the 68 best teams, no matter what. No automatic bids for smaller leagues-- those are the teams who make the tournament the fascinating event it is. He'd rather see the 10th-place team in the Pac-12 get in over the champ of the Southland Conference or the MAAC.
Differing opinions make for an interesting debate, but the charm of the NCAAs, and the big money it draws from CBS, is because it is truly a national tournament-- where else could Montana State play St John's, or UCLA play Stephen F Austin?
3) Heard a guy on TV say over weekend that he thought a #1 seed would get beat in first round of NCAA tournament this year- that has never happened. His partner was not agreeing with him, saying the 16-seeds have gotten worse over the years, plus two of the four 16-seeds have to win a play-in game first. Makes it harder.
2) In case you care about such things, going back to 1987, smallest pointspread in a 1-16 first round game was in 1990, when Michigan State was 15-point favorite over Murray State-- the Spartans won in overtime, as close to losing as a 1-seed has come.
1) I do think this year will be like 1988, when 6-seed Kansas won the national title, running a huge wave of luck to get advantageous matchups. Let me show you.....
1st round-- 6-seed Kansas (even) beat 11-seed Xavier 85-72
2nd round-- Kansas (-7.5) 61, beat 14-seed Murray State 61-58. Murray had upset the #3-seed NC State in its first round game.
3rd round-- Kansas (-1) beat Vanderbilt 77-64. Vandy upset #2-seed Pitt in a second round game.
Regional final-- Kansas (+2) beat Kansas State 77-58. K-State had upset the top seed Purdue in the regional semi-final.
So Kansas made the Final Four without playing the 1,2 or 3 seed in that region- that is how underdogs get to the Final Four. It could happen again.
