Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: I know UCLA doesn't want to hear this right now, but - good season Bruins.

Okay, so the Bruins went down tonight by a 76-66 count to Florida here at the Georgia Dome. Granted. But let's Big Picture this thing...

UCLA lost two NBA draftees off last year's team, Jordan Farmar and Ryan Hollins, along with a dependable senior in Cedric Bozeman. They brought in a couple of Frosh, but James Keefe and Russell Westbrook weren't difference-makers as first year players.

And yet, the Bruins finished the season at 30-6 and in the Final Four for the second straight year. Had it not been for the return of the Florida five juggernaut, this may have been UCLA's year to get back in the winner's circle.

Even UofF coach Billy Donovan said after tonight's game that going back and studying the films of last year's win over UCLA did them no good. "I just thought for our team we needed to understand that UCLA was different and they were better than a year ago."

Pretty heady words considering the aforementioned losses off last year's squad.

The emergence of Darren Collison had to be the most important and pleasant development for Ben Howland's team. The National Defensive Player of the Year was an impact player from the first tip of the season and did a better job of distributing the ball than Farmar did last year. He was, in the words of former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, the guy that shared the sugar to all the shooters.

Aaron Afflalo became a more demonstrative leader, despite some spells where he vanished from games. His scoring was great, but his the example he set was the most important part of this team.

The inside play of Lorenzo Mata and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute got better as the year went on and made this post-season run possible. They weren't dominant by any means, but they were mean as rattlesnakes on defense, especially in tournament games with Pitt and Kansas.

Josh Shipp was the X-factor. Out all of last year due to injury, his return signaled a secondary go-to guy at key times. Like in the first half tonight, he seemed to pick up his game when the team needed a boost. His first half didn't go unnotinced by Florida's Billy Donovan, "Give Josh Shipp a lot of credit. He stepped up and played well in the first half." He had 14 points at the half, going 6-of-10 and single-handedly being the one reason the Bruins were only down by six.

The upshot of this loss and the promise of tomorrow was echoed by Ben Howland in the post-game news conference, "We've got no seniors in the program. I'm thinking that we're going to be a very good team and very competitive team next year."

Howland expanded a bit on the new prospects for next year as well, "Kevin Love, who is one of the top players in the country, if not the best kid in the country is joining us. He gives us a very good inside presense. Then we're also getting the Los Angeles City Player of the Year in Chase Stanback."

Howland readily admitted his team's current state of frustration. "Our players are hurting right now. They're deeply disappointed. You know, we've got to bounce back. But I'm excited about our team for next year."

Again, good season UCLA. It's little solace right now, but Bruin fans can take heart in the silver lining being two things: 1- Ben Howland is still your coach. And 2- You guys aren't going to go away anytime soon.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Just like last year!

That's the chant coming from the Florida section between the "It's great - to be - a Florida Gator" chants.

I suppose it is. They'll get a shot at defending their title against the Buckeyes on Monday after dropping UCLA 76-66 in a game that was not as close as the score indicated.

Of to the press conferences to hear how very, very happy Billy Donovan is and then a wrap.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: 56 wasn't enough

It turns out that 56 points wasn't enough. The Gators put it in cruise control and Aaron Afflalo has scored 15 points, earning him the Too Little, Too Late award.

We have also learned, from the trainer sitting next to us, that the guy Eric threatened in defense of our seats is the head orthopedic surgeon at Georgia Tech who is here helping out the medical staff. That means that if I hit a soft spot on the floor and blow my knee, I can count on him to come over and give the other one a good swift kick.

Actually, that's probably more true of Eric, but Eric is less likely to injure himself.

Eric points out that if he did kick the doctors butt, he could fix himself.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: It's foulfest now. Gators ready to play for another national title

Gators by 12 now. I'm sure the Florida administration is currently looking into adding more sports to their ledger so they can with more national titles. I hear the darts and billiards national titles are going to be contended for next month.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Fried Bruin

Afflalo just hit his first points of the game at the six and a half minute mark of the game. He's still got more fouls than points.

It's Florida by 16 with 4:44 left. It might as well be 6:66 left for UCLA. They're getting the Devil kicked out of them here.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Florida just toying with them now

The Gators have 56 points at the 8-minute timeout, which is probably six more than they will need today. They are starting to play with more fun and clearly feeling less pressure. The band and even Al the Alligator are already celebrating. We're on our way to a BCS title game rematch.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: The Numbers Game

Basketball is played on cedar and not paper. And with so much emphasis during the second half of the season placed on numbers like the RPI or SOS, it's easy to forget that sometimes these figures can represent nothing more than math voodoo. After all, even numbers like offensive and defensive efficiencies -- among the most powerful and revealing statistics in the sport -- are drawn from gigantic sample sizes much greater than the span of a single game. (Which can make the numbers that much more irrelevant come March Madness.)

But sometimes the stats can bring to light ideas and insights which can't be drawn from the box score. Like with tonight's plus-minus experiment examining how the Hoyas and Buckeyes performed with and without their marquee big men. After checking my chicken scrawl against the official play-by-play, here's a look at the final tallies with respect to Hibbert and Oden:

When Oden and Hibbert were both in the game: Georgetown 33, OSU 24
When Hibbert was in the game and Oden was out: Georgetown 15, OSU 14
When Oden was in the game and Hibbert was out: OSU 15, Georgetown 2
When both Oden and Hibbert were on the bench: OSU 12, Georgetown 9

It doesn't take a genius to realize that the Hoyas needed Hibbert to stay on the floor to have the best chance for victory. Three of the above four scenarios saw Georgetown and Ohio State play one another to a deadlock. The score was essentially even when Hibbert was on the floor and Oden was on the bench and the same goes for when both big men were sidelined. Georgetown's nine-point advantage while both players were on the floor is actually a three-point edge when you deduct Georgetown's cosmetic scoring during "garbage time" -- after David Lighty's three-point play opened a 61-52 lead with 1:41 remaining.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Bruins worst nightmare... feather fouls

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute just breathed heavy on Chris Richard and got called for his fifth foul. And I'm talking about genuine piece-of-crap calls are going against the Bruins.

They don't have much chance here. Florida is too talented and the Bruins would need a LOT of breaks to go their way now.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Successful eviction

It's been a real odyssey for the Hoops Odyssey guys. They have been struggling to find a seat here today, and it's been especially hard for Matt. His credential says MUP, which means upper press box only. Jake has the regular M credential, which means he can go anywhere.

Matt managed to sneak into a seat near us at the start of this game, but he made the mistake of leaving and now the yellow coats (security) won't let him back in. Problem is, he left his computer, so Jake is here to work it now.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Humphrey to shoot free throw!

We interrupt this blog to report that Lee Humprhey is about to shoot a free throw. You may not think that merits an interruption of your regular programming, but this is only Humphrey's 13th free throw of the season. He averages 30 minutes per game and 0.33 FT attempts per game. He actually drove into the lane. I'm surprised his feet didn't start burning when he went inside the three point line. On top of that, he hit the runner and got fouled.

That 13th FT attempt proved unlucky though - he missed it.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Hoya Turnova

It wasn't even a storyline coming into the national semifinal, nor should it have been. Both Ohio State and Georgetown had made their March Madness runs without the sadness of turning the ball over extensively.

For Ohio State, which had valued the ball all year, its highest turnover game of the entire post-season was 14 (against Xavier in the second round of the NCAAs). The Hoyas had been even more protective of the rock committing its post-season-high of 12 turnovers against Belmont in the first round of the NCAAs.

But the Hoyas reverted to the form that had appeared in fits and starts throughout the season - including back-to-back 19 turnover games to end the regular season - with 14 turnovers in Saturday night's 67-60 loss to Ohio State. Though not an astronomical number, those turns were converted into 22 points. The Buckeyes had just eight turns that resulted in 10 Hoya points.

"That was obviously a key to the game, I think," said OSU's Thad Matta. "We weren't sure if we could turn them over. We did a great job of covering down the way we wanted to and scoop some balls up, got out (and advanced it). I thought our guys did a nice job of finishing in the transition zone."

His guys - especially the fantasmical freshman guard, Mike Conley, Jr - also did a nice job controlling the tempo and making good decisions. Conley had 15 points, six assists and one turnover and played all but one minute of the game. The tandem of Ron Lewis and Jamar Butler combined for 19 Buckeye points, six assists three turnovers and three steals (the team had eight steals as a whole). And the Hoya big men (DaJuan Summers, Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert) acocunted for 8 of the 14 Ohio State turnovers.

Coach John Thompson III didn't see it coming from his club.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Gators running away

Corey Brewer has shot two three pointers. Unfortunately on the first one, he was inside the line, so it was an airball. The second was behind the arc, so that was a lot more accurate. Noah and Richard have rim-rattling jams and Florida is now up 16 and threatening to send everyone home early.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Time to stick a fork in the Bruins?

13:49 left. UCLA down by 16. Just used their last time out.

They can't drive to the basket. They can't hit an outside shot (What was THAT Luc?). In a word, ouch.

It's starting to look like the Gators will end the UCLA season again.

It may be hard to think of a scenario that UCLA makes a big comeback in this one.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Nearly evicted

Lee Humphrey buried a couple of threes and Joakim Noah has a layup to pace the Gators to a 37-28 lead.

Someone came by to try to throw us out of our seats claiming they were his, but Eric threatened to kick his butt (actually, Eric is a lot more vulgar than that, but this is a family blog) all the way across Atlanta, so he crept away, sobbing softly.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Afflalo back in, Gators by nine, 16:14 left.

One of the huge problems for UCLA is the personals on Aaron Afflalo as he just now entered the game (17:00 mark) with his three fouls and foul demeanor. Also on the foul front, Mbah a Moute and Mata are currently playing with two fouls each. Both need to make it to the 10-12 minute mark foul-free.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Revealing halftime

And I'm not talking about the dance teams. Unlike previous rounds of the tournament, we get a shot chart at halftime. Florida is playing right into UCLA's hands, yet still leads. Florida has taken only four shots inside the three point line. Four. One was by Hodge, which was a miss, and one was a 17-footer by Green, which went in. The Gators also have ten turnovers to one for the Bruins. So why are the Gators leading? UCLA is 0-3 from three point range and 9-29 overall. Also, Florida is killing them on the boards to the tune of 20-11, although there was only one offensive rebound in the entire half by either team (Alfred Aboya of UCLA, who missed a putback).

The second half is underway!

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Florida up at half

We have finally reached halftime and the Gators are up 29-23. They have to feel pretty good about being up despite the game being played at UCLA's pace. Foul trouble on the Bruins has helped, but Brewer is on fire with 15 points on a perfect 4-4 from the field and the line.

Eric is about to tell you why we should expect a pretty spirited second half.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Jawwwwing in the tunnel

While I went to hit the urinal at half-time, I came walking back out and heard this back-and-forth between the Florida and UCLA players as they walked to the locker room...

Marreese Speights (talking to Corey Brewer):
Man, those guys gotta be saying 'Will you PLEASE stop hitting all those shots"

Corey Brewer:
I guess so.

Michael Roll (to Speights):
Shiiiii. You haven't even left the bench. You're still in your warm-ups.

Josh Shipp:
We're out there playing. What would you rather do, hit shots or sit on the bench?

I found it strange that the two teams would not only be able to leave the court at the same time, but also go down the very same walkway to the side-by-side locker rooms.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Noah not a happy camper

Joakim Noah just picked up his second foul and was not at all pleased. He flailed his arms around a couple of times, but when he yanked his shirt up, I thought he'd get T'd up for sure. Luckily for him, that didn't happen because that would have been his third.

Brewer is really feeling it. He just hit his third three and according to Eric, made some gesture at the UCLA bench.

Horford just picked up his second foul and when he went to talk to the ref about it, the ref told him to go away.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Dean and Russ/Butch and Sundance

Earlier this evening, we had occassion to ride up in the elevator to our LEGAL seats in the UPPER PRESS BOX with a field agent for the FBI who is on duty protecting the Dome. We have placed a call to the kind gent's phone and he assures us that the two perpetrators who are hanging with Dean Smith and Bill Russell and having a grand old time from their ILLEGAL seats.

We've also instructed Al the Florida Gator that he would be well within his right to chomp on a limb or two of the Palm reader and Sorenson of Abner Doubleday.

. . . The mascots are supposed to be wearing a black armband to honor the deceased Tar Heel mascot but we'll have to leave it to Butch and Sundance to report on any such remembrance because they can, ya know, see the mascots. . . and the cheerleaders. . . and the game.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Lots of football smarts in the house

Not only is Ohio St football coach Jim Tressel here, but so is Gator grid mentor Urban Meyer. Tressel has better seats. He's in the front row on an aisle, while Meyer is about 30 rows up. Meyer is getting even by trying to reflect the light off of his championship ring into Tressel's face.

OK, I made that last part up. So far as I know.

Also here is Tony Dungy, coach of the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts. Dungy's a Minnesota grad, so I assume he's just a fan and has no dog in this fight.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: It's starting to look a lot like '06 for Bruins

Florida has built up a 9-point lead with 3:58 left in the first half. Much like last year's title game, Florida eventually broke out to a lead in the first half and kept UCLA at an arm's length the rest of the night.

If the Bruins don't cut this lead to at last three or four before the half, it could be Taps City for them. Any bigger of a lead? Oh, that's a death-knell.

Aaron Afflalo's three fouls is a back-breaker for them. As is Lorenzo Mata having to sit out with two fouls.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Finally, a three point threat

The slowest first half in Final Four history has the Gators up 24-16 thanks to a barrage of threes by Brewer (2), a Humphrey and Green.

And in spite of my lawlessness, of which I am not the least bit ashamed, let the record show that if I get jiggy with anything, I will likely need medical attention.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: For the record, Ludicris is...

of no interest to me, if he IS sitting near us.

If I had the chance, the first thing I would ask him is, "So Ludi... I know you can talk over music and rhyme and stuff... but is there an instrument you know how to play? Or are you as MUSICALLY talented as, say, Britney Spears?"

Hmmm. Keep it real.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Gators now looking inside

Florida is now up 13-12 with 7:52 left and while the pace favors UCLA, the Gators are benefiting from foul trouble on UCLA in general and Afflalo in particular.

Also, Florida is now finally looking inside. The Gators' last two buckets have come in the paint from Richard and Brewer.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: The coach and the player sitting right near me

Coaching legend Dean Smith and the hall-of-famer Bill Russell, reading my blog entries over my shoulder.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Security! Come Quick

Just so there's no question about who initiated the removal of our courtside bloggers, we have just alerted the authorities to the Press Row Squatting being conducted by Palm and Sorenson (or as they will soon be known, Bucth and Sundance).

Here we are - Bryan Graham and yours truly - law abiding citizens obeying the NCAA's misguided and antiquated seating assignment policy and Butch and Sundance are down there playing with mascots and ogling cheer squads.

As a man on the side of truth, I find it offensive and I'm trying to contact the Hoops Odyssey guys to capture the expulsion and imprisonment on tape. I hear the Georgia Dome prison makes Sing Sing look like doggy daycare.

Worse yet, the Dastardly Duo is not too far from rapper, Ludacris (who performed a free concert earlier today at Centennial Park) and they're probably getting all sorts of jiggy with him and planning on hanging with Lud (or is it 'Acris?) well into the wee hours of Sunday.

. . . An no, I won't return the favor and bring you guys soda and snacks at half. Maybe one of your cheerleader friends can feed your seat-stealing mouths.

. . . I kid, I jest, I need a nap.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Florida dialing long-distance, but no connection

Florida trails 6-5 at the second time out and is still shooting nothing but threes. They are 1-7 from the floor, and all seven shots are from long range. At some point, the Gators are going to have to start looking inside, because this ain't working. A couple of possessions ago, Green got to the hole for a layup, but it was waved off for a charge. It looked like the UCLA player was under the basket, which is a call I don't like. When I reffed, we were taught not to call charges too deep.

At least the Gators will be in the bonus the rest of the half.

Al the Gator mascot is sitting on the floor, head in paw, looking bored. I can only assume his eyeholes are plugged, because the veela are on the floor.

(For those who don't know what veela are are, click here)

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Afflalo body language/foul situation not looking good

Bruin guard Aaron Afflalo was put back in the game with two fouls and next thing you know, boom! he picks up hhis third foul at just the 11:26 mark of the first half. THAT hurts.

Afflalo nearly tripped over his lip as he walked off the court before this time out.

On another note, the Florida fans behind us claimed that the Gators were "going to have their way with UCLA inside"

So far, the Bruins size difference hasn't been exposed. That's because of the number of hands, elbows and arms the Bruins have in all their passing lanes. Forcing Noah to travel was the first indication that this wasn't going to be a cakewalk inside.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Better seats, pace favors Bruins.

Unlike the two bloggers from today's first game, Jerry Palm and I aren't sitting in the "football press box" that sits two football fields from the floor. Jerry found some seats on the second row of the press section right behind the Florida bench... and within great sightlines of the Florida dance team.

Defense dictating things so far, which you would expect for the Bruins. The pace is favoring UCLA... but it's early.

Make note that Florida's first point from the field didn't happen until the 12:30 mark of the first half. Again, that's a UCLA thing.

Second foul on Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is not a good sign for the undersized Bruins.

The view from Jerry and I's seats for this game.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Veela working their magic early

Florida trails 4-2 at the first timeout and it looks like the veela are having an impact. All three of Florida's shots have come from beyond the arc and all drew big iron. UCLA has already committed five fouls which means the Gators may shoot a lot of free throws in this half (where the veela could again come into play). That's where Florida's points have come.

Donovan working subs in already. Richard is in, giving Noah a break, and then Horford. Hodge has just come in for Green.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Down in front

One bad thing about our seats, which could be a problem all night, is that Florida bench always stands, which means they're always in our way. Every Gator game I've done, they've been told repeatedly to sit by the refs (it's a rule). So, we may only see half the game.

In fact, the ref just gave them the first warning of the game.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Getting ready for game 2

Eric and I have found spots at a table by the floor, so until they throw us out, we'll be down by the Florida bench and band. We're also sitting right next to the emergency, back up trainer for the NCAA. Her day job is at Georgia Tech. She is equipped to deal with any blood emergencies. I wonder if I should show her my elbow. I went head first into my chair once in the first half and scraped my elbow.

The Gator band is jammin' and the OSU band is dancing their way past and out of the gym. When I came out of the media area over to our seat, I walked past the band and almost got cold-cocked by a trombone slide. You would think an old band jock like me would know better.

Both teams are on the floor warming up. The Gators are in home whites and orange warm up tops, which I don't think I've seen before.

In the first half, they will shoot at the end of the floor where the UCLA cheerleaders/veela are, so if they only hit about 5% of their shots, you'll know why.

While roaming around at halftime of the first game, I saw the Hoya mascot walking around without his head on. Well, the mascot head. The kid's head was still in place. He looked like he had spent an hour wrapped in a wool blanked. Maybe that's because he had.

We're less than ten minutes to the tip.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Initial Thoughts and More Text Messages

David and I have navigated our way down to the interview room to await Ohio State then Georgetown. My pretty angry friend Billy, a lifelong Connecticut fan who doesn't even like Georgetown, keeps sending text messages expressing his outrage at the officiating. (His most recent offering: Ohio State has been handed this entire tournament on a silver platter and it is disgusting.) While mine may not be on par with the degree of his sentiments, I have seen better-called games and there's no question that the discrepancy at the foul line made the difference in the score: Georgetown was 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) while Ohio State was 13-for-19 (68.4 percent) -- making good on more than twice as many chances.

With Matta, Oden and Conley, Jr., coming to the dais any moment, here's a quick look at three more numbers that jump off the box score:

• In a game that saw so many Ohio State freshmen step up to secure the victory, no one came up smaller than Georgetown first-year stud DaJuan Summers. The McDonough alum finished with four points on 1-for-10 shooting.

• The Hoyas got bupkis from its bench: a giant goose egg. Ohio State's reserves outscored Georgetown's, 13-0.

• Ohio State's advantage on the glass (a 37-30 margin) was earned on the offensive end, where the Buckeyes outrebounded the Hoyas, 16-9.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Halfway to a Re-match of the BCS Title Game

With :21.8 left in the game and the Buckeyes leading 63-57, it appears as though the Matta Men will advance to Monday night's title game and a possible re-do of the BCS title game from January where Florida beat the Buckeyes in Arizona.

Rebounding woes and turnover problems have been the undoing of the Hoyas.

. . . We're ready to leave you in the capable hands of the live-blogging firm of Palm and Sorenson for tonight's second game. We'll be back with you later tonight with some post-game thoughts and comments from the Ohio State win.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: DiGiorno Pizza commercial - Final Four connection

Have you guys seen the pizza TV commercial where Dick Vitale is having a dream of slam dunking and sky-walking over opposing players in a game?

That commercial was filmed in the old Sports Arena that sits next to the Coliseum in Los Angeles. The Sports Arena is notable as the location of the 1968 and 1972 Final Fours. UCLA won both of those titles: 78-55 over North Carolina and 81-75 over Florida State.

To be honest, the place is a real dump too. The crowds for those two final games were 11,492 and 9,207. Guess people just stayed away knowing that UCLA was going to win it again.

USC was the last regular tenent, playing last year at the aged arena, before building the new Galen Center just off campus.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Getting the Message

I've gotten three text messages in the last five minutes about the quality of the officiating in this game. I'll let you take a guess on the sentiment.

Endgame here at the Georgia Dome with Ohio State holding a 63-57 lead over Georgetown with under a half-minute remaining.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: TV Teddy Leaves His Mark

The Hoyas will not quietly in this one and now trail 56-52 with 2:36 left in the game. Roy Hibbert now had a game-high 19 points and OSU is led by Conley's 15.

The Buckeyes have four timeouts remaining, the Hoyas have three and team fouls are even at five apiece.

. . . OSU is out-rebounding Georgetown 17-11 in the second half and the Buckeyes have a full 15 of their boards on the offensive glass but Georgetown continues its one and dones on the O-glass.

. . . The blocking foul called on Jeff Green on the monster dunk attempt by Greg Oden did not appear to be a good call from the replay we saw (just shown once by CBS after the break). The call, a bit delayed, was made and emphasized, of course, by Teddy Valentine.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: High Drama in the ATL

When Greg Oden's free throw capped a 7-0 run that gave Ohio State a 51-44 lead, prospects appeared grim for the Hoyas -- whose slow-developing offensive isn't particularly conducive to playing from behind. But the Big East champs have pulled within 56-52 at the 2:36 mark on Jessie Sapp's slashing lay-up. Greg Oden just picked up his fourth foul. Even in the upper press box, the tension in this building is palpable.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Four-boding

John Thompson III took a gamble in leaving Roy Hibbert in the game with three fouls but the big man's fourth foul (at the 8:49 mark) makes one wonder whether the Georgetown coach should consider the value of conservatism instead.

With Hibbert out of the game, Ohio State is pushing the ball into the teeth of the Georgetown defense, which is looking a little sluggish as the game wears on. The Buckeyes have scored six unanswered points since Hibbert's exit to open a 50-44 advantage.

When Oden is in the game and Hibbert is on the bench, the Bucks have outscored the Hoyas, 11-2.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: GTown is Hibbert Town Now

With Thad Matta continuing to baby his 7-footer, Greg Oden, JTIII began riding his horse, Hibbert, the game's high-scorer with 15 points. But the ride ended with 8:50 left in the game when Hibbert picked up his fourth foul of the game and Matt re-inserted Oden.

The Buckeyes went on a 6-0 run in a minute-twenty-five and now lead 50-44 with 7:24 left in the game.

. . . We're not going to say that the refs are deciding this game because there's been just 18 total fouls to the point, but it is worth noting that the game was billed as a Battle of the Big Men and that has never been allowed to manifest itself for a combination of reasons.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Bucks Holding Six

The 12-minute TV timeout is breaking for play with Ohio State ahead of the Hoyas, 44-38. Hibbert is walking onto the floor while Oden is on the bench. Quick plus-minus update:

When Oden and Hibbert are both in the game: Georgetown 18, OSU 11
When Hibbert is in the game and Oden is out: OSU 10, Georgetown 9
When Oden is in the game and Hibbert is out: OSU 7, Georgetown 2
When both Oden and Hibbert are on the bench: OSU 14, Georgetown 9

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: JTIII Rolls the Dice

JTIII didn't want things to get too far out of reach and he re-inserted Hibbert in the 12 minute area. With the Hoyas trailing 42-36, HIbbert's first possession resulted in a dunk and foul where he missed the free throw. It's 42-38 with 11:30 left in the game.

Thompson had to do a similar thing last week and when asked about it after the game he saidc it was a "feel thing" nad he had no hard and fast rule on when to put players in foul trouble back into games. We like that. A lot.

. . . A special treat for all you 'Toon fans after the jump, as Hang Time offers up another in our long line of crappy cell phone pictures for your viewing pleasure. And your childrens'.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Hibbert with Three

Now we'll see what Greg Oden can do without Roy Hibbert in the game as the Hoya 7-footer picked up his third foul with 15:56 left in the game and the Hoyas clinging to a 34-33 lead. He committed it on Ivan Harris.

Georgetown has come out with a bit more purpose in this half and have already hit two 3-pointers (Summers and Sapp) to match their trey output of the first half.

This next eight minute stretcth will likely decide the game as the Hoyas will need to keep it close.

. . . On the OSU's first possession after the Hibbert sit-down, Oden dunked for two and quickly find themselves up 38-34.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Georgetown Pulls Ahead and Plus-Minus Update

The Hoyas have sprinted from the gates with an 11-6 run to take their first lead of the game -- at 34-33 -- since the 16:20 mark of the first half. Roy Hibbert is headed to the bench after picking up his third foul. This will mark the first time that Oden will be on the floor while Hibbert is not.

A quick update on the plus-minus numbers with respect to Hibbert and Oden, which I didn't include in that halftime post.

When Oden and Hibbert were both in the game: Georgetown 5, OSU 3
When Hibbert was in the game and Oden was out: OSU 10, Georgetown 9
When both Oden and Hibbert were on the bench: OSU 14, Georgetown 9

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Palm for M.O.P.

The Palm Reader delivered on our beverage request, thus making every other Upper Press Box inhabitant completely jealous of the BAG man and myself.

. . . The turnover story is a major factor as the usually protective Hoyas have nine int he first half to just four for the Buckeyes. OSU converted those nine turns into 13 points. Reboudning is virtually even with the Hoyas holding a slight 16-15 edge.

DaJuan summers had three of the Hyas' nine turns, but also had two assists, a block and a steal.

. . . OSU managed six offensive boards out of their 15, while Georgetown had three of 16 on the O-glass.

. . . Jeff Green, who came on in the latter part of the half, has a game-high six rebounds to go with his five points.

. . . Largest lead of the half for GTown came with 19:22 left in the half (two points) and OSU built an eight point lead with 3:33 left.

. . . The Hoyas returned to the floor with 3:23 left on the halftime clock.

. . . Hey Palm, thanks for the drinks. You got any of the DiGiorno pizza left over? (I sampled the Big D's pizza as well during my visit to Hoops City and with each slice I was handed (upwards of 18), I asked, "Is this delivery?" And each time the dutiful server repliued, "No, it's DiGiorno."

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: The Value of Conservatism

Going back to his days at Xavier -- at the height of my Atlantic 10 fanaticism -- Matta has always struck me as a conservative coach. Never dangerously so but that's always seemed to be the governing principle behind his decision-making.

That tendency finds itself in the national spotlight at halftime. Ohio State holds a 27-23 lead over the Hoyas at the midpoint but Oden has played under four minutes -- picking splinters since picking up his second personal foul at the 17:13 mark. (Both were offensive fouls: a charge and a moving screen.) Should Georgetown come back to win -- regardless of how the second half unfolds -- a huge controversy will spring from the second-guessing of Matta's conservatism -- or as my Hang Time comrade David Scott has called it: "coaching scared."

For the record, I agree with Matta's choice. The advantage of conservative coaching is the ability to "keep it all in front of you" -- and the way Georgetown plays is inherently predictable which plays into the tactic, since it's rare that the Hoyas will blitz to a 10-point run that could change the game before Matta could get Oden into the game. So as long as the Buckeyes were able to sustain their two-to-three-possession cushion with capable pivotman Othello Hunter in the paint -- which they did -- Ohio State could get away with keeping Oden for the bench and saving those minutes for the second half.

Of course the devil's advocate would retort that the Buckeyes could have widened that advantage with Oden in the game, thus increasing their chances of victory. But risk -- losing Oden for an even lengthier period or even for the game -- outweighs that reward. Especially when you've got a team that's more than accustomed to playing without the freshman wunderkind (like the entire month of November).

Add in the fact that the referees seemed to be very vigilant in the early going (though they did ease up) and that makes Matta's decision that much more sensible.

Other notes of interest:

• Ohio State was outscoring Georgetown in points off turnovers at the four-minute mark by a 13-0 margin. It's 13-1 at the break.

• Georgetown didn't attempt a free throw until Jeff Green split a pair at the 2:44 mark. The Hoyas finished with four -- the second pair coming on a shooting foul with 4.2 seconds remaining.

• Mike Conley, Jr., has been the best point guard in America since the beginning of March and that reputation is growing today. Oden's kemo sabe has a game-high 11 points on 5-for-7 from the floor with two assists against zero turnovers.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Hoyas Can't Control Conley

The Hoyas trail 27-23 at the break and Thad Matta has to be feeling good about getting nothing out of his Big Man and still managing to take a four point lead into the break.

Mike Conley, Jr. has been as-advertised for the Buckeyes and the Hoyas have no answer for his penetrating ability against GTown's two-three zone. Conley leads all scorers with 11 points in the game. Hibbert has eight for the Hoyas.

. . . The teams went a combined 6 of 12 form the free throw line in the first half and 6 of 14 from 3-point land (3 treys for each side.

. . . There's only been two bench points scored for either side (Terwilliger for the Buckeyes).

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Palm on the Floor

This live-blogging operation is really gaingin some steam as we're now able to throw it down to our man on the floor, Jerry Palm, for his take at court-level.

Hey, Palm? Can you send up two beverages. we're parched up here.

. . . The Hoyas are not able to capitalize on the absence of Oden and continue to struggle a bit form the field. jeff Green's first points of the game didn't come until the 3:00 area. Not what you expect from the Big East Player of the Year.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Corporate Sponsor problems

"NCAA Coca-Cola CASH CORRUPTS" balloons have been confiscated.

While I was standing on the floor watching some of this first game, a rich man in an expensive suit came up to the guy I was standing next to and said, "Gary, people have been smuggling in these 'Coca-Cola Cash corrupts' balloons and fillling them up with air."

The guy brought over a sample to Gary who is apparently in charge of NCAA sponsorships for the Final Four.

Gary unrolled the balloon and said, "Shit, this thing even has the NCAA logo on it!... where are people getting these things from?"

The guy told him, "We've got 20 people walking around the outside of the arena on the lookout for them. But I don't know how they got all these logos on them!"

I don't know if Coca-Cola corrupts, but I DO know these same people were outside of the San Jose HP Pavilion last weekend before the Regional finals. They're getting around.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Centers of Attention

A pair of Hibbert baskets including a put-back dunk closed the margin to 15-14 -- but the 7-foot-3 pivotman just picked up his second foul of the game in hacking a driving David Lighty going into the eight-minute TV timeout. Wouldn't be surprised to see Georgetown take the floor without Hibbert here -- but will Oden's having sat for the past 11 minutes and likely to soon return influence Thompson's decision?

Moot point as the case may be -- as both teams just took the court without their marquee big men. Othello Hunter (6-8, 225 lbs.), the least heralded member of the Thad Five, is playing the five for Ohio State while Patrick Ewing, Jr. (6-8, 238 lbs.) is his counterpart.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Hibbert Dunking Hoyas Back Into Game

On two Roy Hibbert dunks on consecutive trips down the floor, Roy Hibbert has brought his Hoyas back into this one and they now trail 15-14 with 6:48 left in the game.

Of you ask us, and we know you did, Thad Matta is coaching scared with his big man, Oden, who is still not being re-inserted into the line-up with his two fouls. Hibbert leads all scorers with eight points. We know of few coaches who will play anyone with two fouls in the first half, but Matta was over-cautious when Oden had one.

. . .Jeremiah "Li Doc" Rivers got his first foul of the game with 8:10 left in the half. It was the team's second.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final: A Hib to the Hibberty

With Oden out of the game, the Hoyas looked to got to Roy Hibbert inside and were fairly effective before JTIII decided to rest him with around 13 minutes left in the half to take advantage of Oden's absence form the game.

With 9;48 left in the half, the Buckeyes have extended to a 14-7 lead.The Hoyas are shooting just 30 percent from the field (3 of 10) and the Buckedyes are at 6 of 13 (46 percent).

. . . Before this timeout, it appeared that both big men were ready to check back into the game. Of course from up here, all the big men and little men look the same - in fact, they all look like little men. (Only Hibbert came back in.)

. . . The Hoyas are getting picked apart on defense and GTown continues to miss some bunnies in the lane.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: On the floor

The view from the corner behind the OSU bench is probably different than from above.

Just about everybody walks past where I'm seating, including Joe Lunardi, who I met for the first time. Hopefully Dave Jones and Ted Gangi aren't reading this since each hopes to be the first to introduce us

A couple of things I noticed that may have escaped the attention of the guys upstairs:

Ted Valentine has lost some weight and is REALLY pumped for this game. I thought he was going to break the arms of the OSU coaches shaking hands.

Georgetown's band played, "Jesus Loves the Little Children" during a timeout.

Buckeye FB coach Jim Tressel is in the house, but incognito. He's not wearing his trademark sweater vest.

Thad Matta has an signal for an offensive play that is similar to the Gator chomp.

More later - maybe.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: State Doubling Up Hoyas

I don't think Ohio State's energetic man-to-man defense the cause of Georgetown's offensive struggles so much as the D.C. school's hesitancy. The Hoyas looked much more confident in the execution of their deliberate offensive sets the last couple times I've seen them on TV and in person. John Thompson III's charges just turned the ball over on consecutive possessions -- and nearly a third straight time on a full-court baseball pass.

In the seven-and-a-half minutes since Greg Oden left the game at the 17:19 mark, Ohio State has used an 11-2 run to stake a 14-7 advantage.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Close Early

The Hoyas are having early problems defending the 3-pointer as 2 of OSU's first 3 field goals have come form beyond the arc. The Hoyas trail 8-5 with 15:38 left in the half.

. . . Roy Hibbert committed his first foul of the game with 28 seconds gone in the game. Not a good sign. Oden got his with 51 second gone. Also not a good sign.

. . . Hibbert's waved off putback was clearly goaltending. Good call.

. . . You can't even imagine some of the tickets that are sold to this event - there are seats in the upper bowl that are as far form the court as if you were in Columbus, Ohio.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Crying Foul

Took Roy Hibbert a whole 18 seconds to pick up his first foul -- hacking Greg Oden in the act of shooting. (The freshman missed both shots.)

But Oden picked his first at the 19:02 mark and his second just possessions later -- heading to the bench before the first TV timeout. Not a great harbinger for Ohio State fans.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: OSU enters the Georgia Dome

The Ohio State team jumps up and down in a circle chanting "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" before they enter the floor area.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: The Ball is Tipped. . .

Just so you know how things are working around here for the next five hours, the first game will be live-blogged by myself (commenting on Georgetown) and Bryan Graham (on Ohio State).

The second contest brings you Jerry Palm on Florida and Eric Sorenson on UCLA.

Sit back and enjoy the ride as we take you from four teams to two over the course of the evening.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Hang Time Perch in the Sky

As the largest slacker of your dutiful correspondents here in Atlanta, I am just arriving in the Dome and have settled into the Hang Time perch high above courtside. We might need to emphasize "high above" courtside becuase we're apporximately 53 miles from courtside in an area known as the Upper Press Box. The good news is we have TV monitors above our heads, the bad news is those monitors offer us our best view of the action.

Despite our live-blogging disadvantage, we're still here to provide you the color and pageantry of the games and the dominate color in front of our perch is Red, as in Ohio State red. In fact, in our roamings around Centennial Park and Hoops City (the interactive fan event that has grown exponentially in recent years) the majority of fans we ran into were Ohio State boosters. It's become clear that the two best travelling programs in Atlanta are OSU and Florida.

. . . Between the time we last left you from the NABC All-Star dud last night and now we have: rubbed elbows with Tony Romo and Hannah Storm and we've also been reunited with our dear friend from Buffalo, Pabst Blue Ribbon in a can. In fact, the mothership (CBS's) fantastic party last night had numerous highlights but the absolute finest moment came when we went to order a final round of Bud Light and Heinekens and were told that "all we have left is PBR in a can." I must have yelped because the poor barkeep was taken aback when I screamed for six pack.

Better yet, the walk back to the Hang Time balcony perch was like the walk of a conquering hero. "Hey, look at the guys with all the PBR." I was famous for one shining moment. And the prominent East Coast coach who grabbed one of the six is forever indebted to us.

. . . Game officials for tonight are TV Teddy Valentine, Richard Cartmell, Mike Kitts and the standby official Tom Lopes. We have to hoep that TV doesn't try and take over the game early and put one or both of the big men (Roy Hibbert and Greg Oden) on the bench with two quick fouls.

Valentine has a propensity for getting his mug on national TV games.

. . . Starting line-ups look like this:

For Georgetown, Jonathan Wallace, Jessie Sapp, Roy Hibbert, DaJaun Summers and Jeff Green

For Ohio State, Mike Conley, Jr. Ron Lewis, Jamar Butler, Greg Oden and Ivan Harris.

The total is three freshmen (Summers, Conley and Oden), one sophomore (Sapp), four juniors (Wallace, Hibbert, Green and Butler) and two seniors (Lewis and Harris).

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Simple Arithmetic

During my school days in Philly, I worked part-time with the Philadelphia 76ers department of statistical information under family friend Harvey Pollack, the numbers guru and innovator who coined the term triple-double, hand-wrote the "100" on the sheet of paper from the famous photo of Wilt Chamberlain following his 100-point game and remains the only person who has worked for the NBA since its inception (a distinction the Philly native long shared with Red Auerbach until a few years ago).

One of my heavier periods working with Harv and the group came during the tail end of the 1999-00 season into the playoffs. That 49-33 team was the second-best group of the Larry Brown era -- the first of the two legitimate conference championship contenders during the Iverson years -- and afforded this student of the game an exciting laboratory to peruse basketball's numerical intricacies several years prior to my discovery of possession-based statistics. It was also when I discovered the importance of the plus-minus statistic -- a number commonplace in the hockey arena -- where a player gains a point for each point his team scores while on the court and one deducted for each point allowed.

According to Harv, Coach Brown was obsessed with the number -- and not just the individual plus-minus for a particular player (as you see with hockey) but for entire five-man lineups. Brown wanted to know whether Snow-Iverson-Lynch-Ratliff-Hill was really a more effective group as one would expect than, say, an Iverson-Hughes-Lynch-Hill-Geiger lineup with Allen playing the one. Compiling the number, which can only be done by poring through the play-by-play records that each NBA team tabulates, is next-level tedious. And that's how I spent most of my time in the office that spring. But Brown's emphasis on the stat -- the coach would ask for plus-minus reports during halftime of games on occasion -- has always stuck with me. Even when that cockroach left the Sixers high and dry at the first sight of the oncoming train rushing down the tunnel.

This is all a roundabout way of delving into the plus-minus discussion which the recent work of Ken Pomeroy and SI.com scribe Luke Winn have been addressing. With game time approaching (52 minutes from tip as I type this), I'll spare you the paraphrasing and let you delve deeper for yourself if numbers are your thing. But the short version is that I'm looking forward to examining how both Georgetown and Ohio State fare when their respective seven-footers -- Roy Hibbert and Greg Oden -- are either on or off the court. And I'll report my findings at a later point.

Starting lineups have just been handed out and the most important names on the sheet could be Richard Cartmell, Mike Kitts and Ted Valentine -- the zebras whose handling of tonight's action is a major plotline considering how Hibbert and Oden have been hampered by foul trouble in recent weeks. But as for the players, no real surprises: Jon Wallace, Jessie Sapp, Hibbert, DaJuan Summers and Jeff Green getting the call for the Hoyas while Mike Conley, Jr., Ron Lewis, Jamar Butler, Oden and Ivan Harris are good to go for the Buckeyes.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Game day pregame/name droppings

I had breakfast this morning with Dave Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News, who doubles as my agent. A family of UCLA fans sat down a table near us as we were getting ready to leave and one of the young ladies, who turned out to be a UCLA student, had on a shirt with a funny drawing of Lorenzo Mata and said "Lorenzo Mata Superfan Club."

Her mom was a dead ringer for Mary Steenburgen, the actress who is married to Ted Danson. Since Danson wasn't there, we figured it probably wasn't her.

I walked over to the Florida team hotel to see if anything was going on there. On my way, I passed Steve McClain, who was fired from the Wyoming job, bending another coach's ear. Everywhere I go, I see him. I beginning to feel stalked.

I also came across Kansas coach Bill Self, who was telling a group of women that "I screwed up a lot of people's brackets."

After quickly discovering that nothing was happening at the team hotel, I headed back to the coaches' hotel to do some radio. On my way, I passed Southern Illinois AD Mario Moccia talking with current Purdue and former SIU assistant coach Paul Lusk. I didn't eavesdrop, so I can't say if it was just old friends chatting or Moccia screening a potential replacement for Chris Lowery if he leaves.

When my radio gig was over, I ran into Jones again in the lobby of the coaches' hotel. He introduced me to former Penn St three-point bomber Shareef Chambliss, who is now an assistant at UW-Milwaukee. Nice kid.

There really wasn't much going on there though, so I decided to head for the dome, find our seats, and catch some of the action at Hoop City and Centennial Park. The media shuttle was delayed because traffic was blocked by police and fire units outside the hotel. Apparently, a window was shot out of the building across the street from the hotel.

We did get here eventually, but the seat assignments weren't available yet (they were up the day before at the previous sites), so I headed for Hoop City.

There's quite a bit going on there. They have all kinds of basketball exhibitions, as well as oppotunities to test your own shooting skills. You can also kick soccer goals and see how fast you can throw a baseball. When I walked by, there was an 8 or 9-year old really bringing the heat, and with accuracy.

DiGiorno Pizza had an area where you could try their pizza (my slice of pepperoni was tasty enough, but a little overdone). You could also try to shoot baskets from a comfy chair, which I didn't try because the line was too long.

I happened across the CSTV setup and talked to PR honcho Dan Sabreen. We left and walked over to the CSTV set at Centennial Park, where Greg Amsinger, Steve Lappas, Pete Gillen and Seth Greenberg were working hard to do a show with Ludacris performing in the background. I'll say this about Ludacris - he lives up to his name.

I also talked for a while with Jason Horowitz of CBS Sportsline, who was there to do a segment with the guys. Among the many things I found out about him is that, while he likes stuff like Ludacris, his favorite band is Queen. That's my favorite band also, but considering Freddy Mercury died when he was still in diapers, it's pretty surprising that someone his age would even know Queen, let alone consider them a favorite.

The last stop before getting back here to the dome was at the Florida Alumni Association pep rally in the building next to the dome. There wasn't a whole lot of pepping going on, but Gator fans (and three Ohio St fans) got in long lines for freebies like shirts, hats, signs, pom pons, buttons and ticket holders. The signs they gave out had Geico ads on them, which makes sense, since Gators are nothing more than overgrown geckos.

A couple of fans were looking for tickets, but the only ones being offered were down low seats that brokers are trying to get $1500 for. They just want to get in the gym, not take out a mortgage.

There was one guy there in what looked like a plastic, white Elvis-style outfit. You will undoubtedly see that on TV.

You probably won't see us on TV though. Our seats (two for the six of us who are here) are up in the football press box. The blimp is here to provide an aerial view of the action. We'll be looking down on the blimp from our perch.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Dome Buzz Growing

As the media shuttle turned left down Georgia Dome Drive NW and the will call windows on the south end of the venue came into full view, I had to take a look at my cell phone to make sure I wasn't much later that I thought. Nope. 2:48 p.m., 72 minutes before the gates open to the public and a full three hours and 19 minutes before Roy Hibbert and Greg Oden meet at center court for the third-to-last game of the heretofore most predictable college basketball season I can remember. The bus slows for the drop-off point and I'm seeing close to a thousand scarlet football jerseys, T-shirts and newly minted Final Four gear in a queue for the Ohio State will call window. The line leads back about 30 yards before bending on a right angle and wrapping all the way to the end of the building.

The NCAA allots 3,750 tickets to each participating school -- or 15,000 of the arena's 53,500-seat capacity for basketball. Since the Final Four wasn't set until about five-and-a-half days ago, picking up school-distributed tickets through will call is the most popular option and the Dome sets up one window for each school. As I walked from the bus into the venue, I counted two people in the UCLA line, two in the Georgetown line and maybe a dozen and change waiting for Florida. So either the Buckeyes are going to enjoy one of the most overwhelming home-court advantages in this event's 68-year history -- or the Columbus school can just claim the most hyper-punctual fan base in college sports. 2:48, kids.

The seat cushions mentioned in my final post from the Dome Friday night have been placed in every last seat in the building and a few dozen yellow-clad stadium workers are seated in Sections 200 and 201 getting a pep talk from a bullhorn-toting supervisor. In just the 25 minutes since I started writing this, the population in the media work area has quadrupled while the arena workers are testing the P.A. system. I haven't gotten to watch a ton of TV since landing in the ATL but I'm guessing CBS is going heavy with the feature stuff because my mom just called from Philadelphia sobbing so hard that I instantly thought a family member had died. Turns out she'd been watching a story on Ryan Francis, the USC point guard who was murdered 10 months ago in his Baton Rouge hometown. It's 4:07 p.m. now and I'm hearing "Let's Go Hoyas" chants from what sounds like a sparse but spirited group behind the curtain that separates the press area from the floor. Maybe the Dome won't be Value City Arena South after all.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: No b.s., this is where my friend Eddie is sitting after ordering tickets for the Final Four...

In case you guys were wondering where your seats are when you order Final Four tickets and get put into the "lottery" for the next season's event, this picture was taken where my friend Eddie is going to sit for the three games this weekend.

They are in section 345, row 15, seat 11. Goodbye to 275 dollars. Thank you NCAA:

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Name Droppings, part deux

Back by popular demand, another edition of Name Droppings.

After leaving the dome yesterday, David and I made it back to the coaches hotel (I sat next to a couple of Ole Miss assistants on the bus - they were bragging on their season a bit) and hung out with the Wetzels, Drexel assistant coach Tony Childs, and Charlie Pierce. Pierce is apparently a writing legend on the East coast. I've seen him at every Final Four I've been at wearing the gaudy hat with eight sections, each one representing a SWAC school (note - the SWAC is a conference of HBCUs, he's a middle-aged white guy who went to Marquette). And at every Final Four I've been at, the media folks flock to him like ants to a picnic. I didn't get to ask, but I wonder why he doesn't just get a credential.

I also talked shop Ted Gangi from the FWAA and USBWA (football and basketball writers groups). Gangi said he was going to try to introduce me to Joe Lunardi, who is supposedly here somewhere. One question I get asked frequently, especially in early March, is what my relationship is with Joe (since we are generally considered to be the main resources as bracket-guessers). People expect us to have a deep hatred-filled rivalry, but we've corresponded over the years (not as much now as say, ten years ago, because we're both so busy) and it's always been friendly discourse. We've just never met in person because we're rarely in the same part of the world.

After David and TC took off, the Wetzels and I went to the sports bar in the media hotel for dinner and ran into Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star. It's fun for a relative newbie like me to listen to guys like Bob and Dan talk about the trials and tribulations (and joys) of their jobs.

Another of my agents, Dennis Dodd from CBS Sportsline, showed up with another group of writers after a while. Dodd usually covers college football, but is taking a temporary break from spring practice coverage to help on on hoops this weekend.

Then it was off to the CBS party in a cab driven by Edwin Okafor, who claimed to be a cousin of Emeka. You can read some about that below. I was hanging out with the Hoops Odyssey guys a little (more Matt than Jake). There was a ton of CSTV people there. I also got to sit in on the chat the HO guys had with Maryland coach Gary Williams, who I fully expected to try to throw me off the balcony. I was a bit tough on his Terps the last couple of years (not this year, but the two previous) and a reporter told me that he took my name in vain more than once. He probably forgot all that though, because none of that ever came up.

Among the CSTV people I saw was fellow Hangtimer Bryan Graham, who until then had successfully avoided me. He couldn't escape in the crowded party room though. I also chatted Purdue basketball with Steve Lappas, who had met coach Matt Painter earlier in the day and couldn't believe how tall he is. Matt's 6'6", but all Lappas knew was that he was a point guard at Purdue. You don't see a lot of 6'6" PGs now, and that was especially true back when Matt played in the early 90s.

I also got to talk with ESPN's Doug Gottlieb, Tim Brando, CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish, Hannah Storm (I'll let Matt tell that story), and played a brief, but weird game of charades with Shawn Farnham through a window between the party room and the balcony.

After David ditched me, I ended up walking back to the hotel and went past a couple of interesting places. One was Gladys Knight and Ron Winans Chicken and Waffles, which appeared to be doing a brisk business for 2 AM. The other was a place that I think was called Jango (the logo was tough to read), which billed itself as a Gypsy Kitchen and Saloon. Gypsies must go to bed early though because it was closed.

And finally, just this morning, I said hello to Lute Olson (in the Starbux at the hotel - he's a latte guy), Bruce Pearl, and Illinois assistant Jay Price, who I know from his days at Purdue.

Games today, of course, and I'm going to try to hit some pregame festivities.

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Saturday, 03/31/07

Final Four: Columbia Broadcasting Soiree

CSTV.com gossip correspondent Perez Horford can't get a proper Hang Time login for another couple days, so I've agreed to turn over the keyboard to our team's mercurial yet well-traveled rookie -- a jet-setter in the classical sense who makes the Hoops Odyssey twinsies look like North Country homebodies -- on his condition that I neither edit nor alter his thoughts about tonight's event. So without further ado, here's the report on tonight's CBS party:

Went to the CBS party tonight in the private room of the Sweet Lowdown, a swanky nightspot not a five-minute cab ride from the Marriott Marquis and just up the street from the Fox Theater, where Jamie Foxx was playing his song-and-standup show. In the house were CSTV studio personalities Pete Gillen and Steve Lappas as well as a bevy of coaches: Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Bucknell's Pat Flannery, Hofstra's Tom Pecora, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Houston's Tom Penders, Seton Hall's Bobby Gonzalez along with Fred Hill from regional rival Rutgers.

Media types included The Early Show anchor Hannah Storm, ESPN sideline jockey Erin Andrews and pair of noted scribes: Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan and New York Daily News staple Dick "Hoops" Weiss. Also in attendance was Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who was every bit as dreamy as I imagined -- though a suddenly irascible Bryan, diehard Eagles fan that he is, spent the last 75 minutes of the night fantasizing about tossing his glass of Cabernet in the signal-caller's face. Right before the open bar closed for the night, Maryland coach Gary Williams slipped a Pabst Blue Ribbon to CSTV behind-the-scenes vet Ryan Dougherty, who's probably telling the story as I write to anyone who will listen.

Took a cab up Peachtree Street back to the hotel with Bryan and put our poor and overworked word jockey to bed. Given our non-smoking accommodations, I slipped outside for a cig around 3 a.m., and it didn't take a minute to see the Marriott Marquis was still poppin' -- a steady stream of taxi drop-offs with the late-night crowd slipping out of the cars like reanimated corpses while the hotel bellhops and valet service roll their eyes. And with that, I'm off to bed as as soon as I can find my air-pillow silicon earplugs -- that Bryan is a snorer! TTFN.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Karl Will (Not) be the MVP

In some breaking news provided by ace reporter, Jacon Osterhout, we have learned that Coby Karl will be named the game's Most Outstanding Player.

UPDATE: Our information was poor and there were actually two MVPs (one from each side) and neither is Karl. The MVPs were Winthrop's Torrell Martin and Xavier's Justin Doellman.

The final score is the 'Nagas 128 and the Bradys 100.

. . . The HO Guys are hanging with Lute right now. Those three would be able to attract the ladies, for sure.

Olson, according to Matt (my new HO source after the misinfo perpetrated by Jake) was asked to sign two different pieces of parquet by one "fan." The first one was signed with Lute's name and National Champs, the second with coach's name and Hall of Fame. Matt asked what the deal was. "Ebay," Olson said.

. . . Warrick Dunn was in the building but he was even too elusive for the HO Guys.

. . . The game's high scorer was Coby Karl with 22 points while Rashad Jennings had 12 points and 11 rebounds and was perfect form the field (5 of 5).

The Bradys high-scorer was Justin Doellman with 20 (7 of 8 from the field).

. . . The announced attendance was 3,975 and is one of the more creative attendance figures we've seen in recent memory.

. . . We chatted briefly with Larranaga after the game and he picked Florida to win the second game tomorrow night but hedged on the first game. He also said that last year at this time he was an Outback Steakhouse with his team in Indy. "I'll be honest, I'd rather be coaching tomorrow night than tonight," he said. "But this was great and my staff did a great job getting the team ready in just two days of practice."

Larranaga just arrived in town today, he said.

. . . Good night and we'll be back with you tomorrow afternoon.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Straw Stirring the Bradys

If I had to guess at the one surefire NBA player on the court, I'd go with DJ Strawberry, who has shown some fabulous flashes of his indiviidual skills. Cartier Martin also has some NBA skills in his tool box.

. . . Some stellar work by our roomie for the trip, Bryan Graham, who it appears will be one of the last ones to leave the Georgia Dome this evening. We were wondering where BG was hiding himself while we slave over the rigors of this live-blogging extravaganza. And now we know: he's been with the rest of the Krispy Kreme donuts in Dome.
The dedication of this CSTV.com staff is something I'm hoping you're appreciating.

. . . The 'Nagas are threatening to eclipse the 120 point mark as they lead 115-96 with 2:30 left in the game.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: The Whistler

The 'Nagas are running away with this one leading 91-66 with under 12:00 left in the game.

. . . Torrell Martin of Winthrop has stepped it up in the second half, earning "That was nice" compliments from Larranaga when Martin was replaced int he line-up.

. . .You know it's a shaky game when a fan in the crowd yells, "Come on blue team." No one has any idea what the teams are called and the rosters handed out to fans have no uniform numbers on them.

. . . Larranaga as we pointed out early in the season from a Holy Cross game, is one of the foremost whistlers in all of coaching. He could hail a cab in midtown Manhattan in the dead of rush hour and have no problem getting a ride.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Sayonara from the Dome (Until Saturday)

While my Hang Time comrades appear to be having all sorts of fun around the ATL, your faithful narrator will be the ninth-to-last reporter to leave the Georgia Dome when I finish this post. Spent the last four hours working on a couple pieces in the media work area -- among them a Final Exam with a Final Four bend which should go live on CSTV.com in the next hour. If being a good test-taker and bragging about it is your thing then give it a shot.

Since periphery noise doesn't stand a chance at being noticed while I'm writing, I've only just taken note of the happenings in the upper reaches of the venue. Anywhere between two and three dozen stadium workers have been placing white squares -- they look like seat cushions with Final Four logos but that's a long way to look up -- on every last seat in the upper deck. They appear to be having as much fun as a group can have performing such a menial task, chirping away while tossing around the boxes to one another. Maybe they'll hit the lower level later but I won't know until tomorrow because I'm out like slap bracelets in '88. Until tomorrow!

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: 'Nagas Build on Lead

The 'Nagas are now ahead 75-58 with 15:25 left in the game.

. . . It's not delivery, it's DiGiorno and we're damn hungry. So please stop reminding us.

. . . We're starting to fall in serious like with Coby Karl and not just because of his inspiring story. He can stroke it.

. . . It appears Aaron Brooks was a late scratch as he didn't aapear in the first half and we don't see him on the Bradys bench.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Halftime Stats and Observations

The Bradys were led by Justin Doellman's 11 points in nine minutes of play while the Larranagas were paced by Courtney Sims' 11 points, also in nine minutes. Rashad Jones-Jennings (UA-L) has ten points in his 11 minutes.

The Larranagas hold a 26-21 rebounding edge.

. . .Coach Caputo said the big adjustment for the 'Nagas will be adjusting to how they handle the ball screen and they will not be following suit with the full court press. "They got one turnover out of it and we got three lay-ups. We like those percentages."

This Caputo guy has head coach written all over him, not to mention he went to the same college as my sister Stacey - Westfield (Mass.) State. She, however, does not have coach written all over her.

. . . Mahogany in Motion was the halftime entertainment and if I'm not mistaken, they might have given me Goose Bumps.

. . . Lute Olson is in the house, looking as sharp as ever.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Our Dedication Knows No Bounds

We were starting to feel bad about the $100 bar tab we ran up in our Coaches' Lobby foray this afternoon and then we got here and began live-blogging this game.

We now realize we still had about $300 worth of damage to do to make up for this event. It's not that there's not some good players - Xaveirs' Justin Doellman has been impressive - but there's no energy in the arena and the most interesting thing to happen is when Matt offered two side by side pictures of Alando Tucker and Tracy McGrady to prove his point that they're blood brothers.

They look nothing alike in reality. And Matt now realizes this, but I tried to soften the blow. "They both play hoops and wear red while doing so."

. . . For the record, the Larranagas are ahead of the Bradys by a halftime score of 58-46. We're not expecting halftime stats but if they come, we'll give you the deets.

. . . I learned a tough lesson this afternoon when I decided to introduce the HO guys to an official from the Big XII conference. Little did I know the Dynamic Duo had offended the gentleman earlier in their trip.

I now have a HO Rule that states: Meet your own damn people.

. . . For a second there, we thought Courtney Sims was going to start a fight on a rebound. Sadly, no such luck.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Exciting NABC All Star Action

The Larranaga National team is out to a 31-25 lead and we're sensing that Chris Caputo's scouting efforts are paying off for the team in red.

. . . The Philips has a ridiculous stack of luxury boxes on the upper levels opposite the bench. It looks like apartment living straight out of "The Jetsons."

. . . HO guy, Matt Waxman just had the National team bench managers pour him a cold glass of water. These guys are the best - no one ever says no to them.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Larranaga on His Game

Coach Larranaga is in mid-season form as he noticed that the score is wrong in the early going (his squad was up 4-2)

. . .There has also been some early clock issues. Brady said from in front of his bench to Larranaga: "I gotta go to dinner at 9:30, so we need to get things going here."

. . . The Hoops Odyssey guys are in the house with Jake to my left and Matt grabbing a front row seat behind the scorer's table.

. . . DiGiorno is the presenting sponsor but there's not a pizza (nor a cold drink) to be found in the media room.

. . . Larranaga is having a heck of a time. When Brady's American showed a full court press, Larranaga yelled at Brady, "No full court zone press, didn't you get the memo?"

. . . The game is tied 12-12 with 14:26 left in the half.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: NABC All-Star Game

And just like that we've gone from Lobby Madness to NABC Madness, as we've arrived at the Philips Arena for tonight's NABC All Star game between the American side and the National side.

Already we've been given bad information as the coaches for this game are not John Brady and Chris Caputo, but Brady and Caputo's boss at Mason, Jim Laraanaga. Caputo just stopped by the Hang Time perch and had nothing but praise for his side's squad which is made up of Bobby Brown (Cal State Fullerton), Zabian Dowdell (Va. Tech), Adam Haluska (Iowa), Rashad Jones-Jennings (Arkansas-Little Rock), Coby Karl (Boise State, sone of George Karl), Cartier Martin (Kansas State), Torrell Martin (Winthrop), Ivan Radenovic (Arizona), Blake Schib (Loyola-Chicago) and Courtney Sims (Michigan).

For Brady's American team: Aaron Brooks (Oregon), Sean Denison (Santa Clara), Justim Doellman (Xavier), Caleb Green (Oral Roberts), Jarrius Jackson (Texas Tech), Trey Johnson (Jackson State), Calr Landry (Purdue), Dan Nwaelele (Air Force), DJ Strawberry (Maryland), Jamaal Tatum (Southern Illinois) and Kyle Visser (Wake Forest).

. . . Last year at this time both coaches and their staffs were preparing for the Final Four.

What a difference a year makes as the arena is probably housing fewer than a thousand fans.

. . . Among the crowd is Celtics GM Danny Ainge (not sitting next to any players relatives as far as we can tell) and Danny Ferry. We also spotted Skip Prosser of Wake Forest, here to watch his player, Visser.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Lobby Lobs, Day Two, Final Entry

TC has spotted the "Hawaii dude who got forced out." Riley Wallace of course.

. . . Garland Mance, a former star at St. Bonaventure, is looking to be a front-runner for the Bonnies job, which has had no luck in luring a head coach. Mance is an assistant under Perry Watson at Detroit.

. . . When I informed TC that he was tlaking faster than I could type, he said, "That's the way I do it, you know."

. . . TC says he got a doggie bag for me from my favorite restaurant R Thomas. "But I had to wait 20 minutes for the cab and I ate the wings I was brinigng for you. They're just bones now in my garbage. I got some celery for you too."

The celery's gone too, I suppose.

"It was a long wait for the cab."

I'm starting to have a growing distaste for TC, despite a decade friendship.

. . . "I've got something for you, Bill Courtney, who is at Virginia now just walked by. he's the guy who recruited all the kids at George Mason who made the Final Four. Reaping the benefits."

. . . "See this not a good blog area - all the people trying to get bull-^#@* are up front," said TC, who is now all of the sudden a live-blog connisseur. "I just miss then pretzels and the table."

. . . The younger, less wise Wetzel, has brought up the fact that it was unfair of the Dome catering to provide Krispy Kreme donuts all afternoon long.

"The first time I resisted, the seocnd time I faked a take. By the third time, I was taking three at a time."

Join the club. And the best thing was the donuts had orange frosting and a replica brown frosting basketball on the top. How could we resist.

. . . "Another one for you," said TC. "That was Brian Bartley, who coached Randolph Morris (now of the NY Knicks) in high school."

TC's really on a roll now, unfortunately we have to head over to the NABC all star game, sponsored by DiGiorno, which is not delivery.

We've been told that one of the coaches, George Mason assistant Chris Caputo in the game (facing John Brady) is taking the game very seriously. Which we like, especially if a mid-major assistant beats a high major head coach.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Lobby Lobs, Day 2, Part 2

Okay, TC is here and in fine fiddle after a restful night and a meal (which he was supposed ot have with us) at the nearby classic joint, R Thomas.

"I was just in the bar with the 800 win guy from Philly Textile," said TC. " Herb McGee."

Oh, you know his governement name? (Yesterday, TC claimed not to be too good with names, especially governmnet-issue names.)

"He's gonna be one the all-time winningest coach, I know those people's government names," TC said.

Now TC is on a roll. "That was Johnny Mathis - him and Tony Archibald are 'like this' to this day," he said.

. . . A soft rumor of Rick Majerus going to Iowa has been flowing, but that's a long shot at best. But since we're in the coaches' hotel, it's prefectly legal to rumor-monger. The lobby thrives on it.

. . . Steve Lappas (of CSTV) was seen huddling with his his agent, furthering the speculation that Coach Lappas might be leaving CSTV for a job in the near future.

. . . TC reports that Villanova assistant Ed Pinckney lost his cell phone in a cab. If you know any coaches, you know how devestating that can be. Pinckney looks like a lost puppy without the cell phone. TC, in his first ever quote delivery, "I'm done without that thing. Lost."

TC really has a knack for the quote gathering. We need to get him on payroll.

. . . Jerry Palm has returned from Radio Row. he smoothly transitioned back into a Miller Lite.

. . . The lobby is definitely hopping today, much more so than yesterday.

. . . The multi-colored SWAC cap that Chalrie Pierce wears - "It''s made more Final Fours than Wooden," said Dan Wetzel, who has just arrived (surprise, surprise, there's beer and Wetzel arrives) - has been at every Final Four, except last year's, since 1993. "It's stored in plastic all the rest of the year. never worn other than at the FF."

. . . "There's a lot of peopl here, but there ain't a whole lot of scuttlebutt," said TC.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Lobby Lobs, Day Two

Due to popular demand, we're back live-blogging in the Coaches' Hotel Lobby at the Hilton (where your Internet access is free if you're creative).

We're efforting to get Drexel assistant coach Tony Chiles back on live-blogging duties but if you recall from yesterday's session, this is right around Chiles nap time.

We're joined today by CSTV's own Bill Strickland (a former boss of mine who now is mucking things up with our beloved brand), Paul Wetzel (the famous father of Yahoo! national columnist) and the esteemed author and Boston Globe magazine writer (and quite insane fellow) Charlie Pierce, a Marquette alum who still thinks his team is nicknamed the Warriors. And will never believe otherwise.

. . . A text message has just informed us that guest blogger, Tony Chiles is en route. Let the fun re-begin.

. . . We're in a much less visible position this afternoon so it's harder to see the minglers in the front lobby.

. . . Our man, Jerry Palm has abandoned us to go do a radio interview. Big timer.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: No b.s., this is where my friend Eddie is sitting this weekend...

He got his tickets through the yearly lottery that they hold after every Final Four ticket order is sent in. Bring your binocs Eddie. And when the guy on the p.a. asks for the loudest fan to win a free pizza, scream your head off and wave your arms.

Section 345, Row 15, Seat 13

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Done at the dome

Florida finished early, so we're all done for the day. I still have a few random thoughts lingering in my brain and they must be removed.

The floor here is treacherous. Not the playing surface - that looks OK - the floor that we're all walking on around the playing surface and back in the media area. There's random soft spots and edges that, for a balance-challenged person like myself, will probably result in a blown knee or ankle or, God forbid, a pulled groin. I was following CSTV's Steve Lappas down the hall and one of those edges almost sent him on his ear. Fortunately, being the well-conditioned athlete that he is, he stayed on his feet.

The snack table spread was pretty nice today. We had all varieties of chips and pretzels, pop, and cookies as big as your head. Well, my head anyway. I've never seen your head.

In the locker room, while the media was fawning over Noah, Horford, Green and Brewer, the backups sat around in various states of boredom. A couple of them were back in a corner battling a Sudoku puzzle.

That's in for now. Tonight, we may see if we can crash the CBS party.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Randomnality

We're side-by-side with the Palm Reader at press row and the dueling banjo bloggers are feverishly attempting to inform and entertain.

Since I can do neither for you, I'll offer a few random thoughts on the Official Day Before The Day. . .

. . . Florida appeared to have the largest crowd at their open practice and we're still expecting the Gators to have the largest fan representation in Atlanta. As Gator SID Steve McLain pointe dout to us, there's a lot of Gator alum in the greater Atlanta area.

. . .One wiseacre near the Hang Time perch suggested that the Florida practice session crowd was larger than the SEC tournament crowd. We were here for that and the wiseacre is way off in his assessment. But his point is well-taken: the SEC Tournament did lose some oomph, especially when Kentucky got bounced.

. . . Some strong rumors that have filtered around the Dome today include one that has John Beilein in heavy consideration for the Michigam job. Beilein's buyout at WVU is quite hefty (believed to be int he $3 million range) and that's going to be a stumbling block. However, if Michigan is serious about getting him, that's chump change.

We haven't assembled the entire Hall of Fame class that will be announced on Monday morning, but we're fairly confident that Dick Vitale will NOT be among the Class of 2007. We're also relatively comforatbel in sharing that Bobby Hurley, Sr. is not getting the nod. The three entrants were 99 percent sure on are Phil Jackson, Chris Mullin and the 1966 Texas Western team.

. . . We've lost track of the HO Guys (not our turn to watch them), but we're fairly confident they're off creating mischief somewhere. Our fondness for those guys grows by leaps and bounds with each passing blog entry they provide and each pasisng conversation we have with the pair.

. . . Billy Packer is resplendent in his yellow sweater.

No, really he is.

. . . Clark Kellogg is in the house and he looked like he had good spurtability for the weekend of work he's undertaking. His tablemate and CSTV compadre, Seth Davis is also roaming the courtside area. It's always nice when Seth acknowledges us live-blogger types. Gives us Goose Bumps.

. . . Final Four Friday has officially ended and the Gators, according to CSTV.com's Florida correspondent, Jerry Palm, left four minutes of court time on the clock. The CSTV.com Live Bloggers contemplated taking the floor to wow the crowd, but none of us had our New Blanace mud slinging sneakers with us.

. . .

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Fan-atacism

A silver-haired Florida fanatic no less than 300 pounds with an obvious joie de vivre and a mustache as thick as his Southern drawl has made his way to the front row behind the press tables, shouting encouragement and waving a ratty orange handkerchief at the Florida players who have been on the floor for practice during the past half hour. Brief exclamations soon gave way to a colorful if not particularly funny array one-and-a-half-liners that seem pretty much the opposite of spontaneous. These are the moments that I don't even bother trying to share with my friends and family when I return home from a basketball trip since James Agee wouldn't have the words to do the picture justice:

That California dreaming's gonna be a nightmare when the Gators get to them!

"I got one thing to say and I'm going to say it: If you're not a Gator, baby -- you're Gator bait!

UCLA: That stands for University of California Loses Again! (To which an eye-rolling teenage girl across the section commented: "You already said that!")

Quick postscript: One moment after finishing the above post, no less than three members of the press have circled around the guy for a quick interview. Don't be surprised to read about the latter-day Bill Swerski in tomorrow's early editions.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Florida in their own words

I decided that instead of sitting through the press conference with Gator players Lee Humphrey and Chris Richard that I would go into the locker room and see what has happening there. It turns out that I was not the only one with that idea. I felt compelled to MOOO! as we were herded in like cattle. Fortunately, they put Al Horford right next to the hallway, which made it even harder for all of us to get in. By the time I got there, the hardest working man in television, CSTV's Brian Curtis, was already wrapping up his interview with Horford.

The player with the biggest horde around him was Joakim Noah, who has the one quality reporters love - an unfiltered mouth. The locker room is a tough place to be only 6'1" and I'm not the shortest guy in there by far. I saw one reporter standing on a chair to try to get a look over the crowd around Noah.

Noah warmed us up with, "At this point, the best team is the one that's focused." He talked about focus a lot. You could say he was focused on it, but I wouldn't.

He also talked about making a return trip to the Final Four. He said, "This is so satisfying. So satisfying. So satisfying. But we're not satisfied." Huh?

Noah on how hard it's been to repeat: "This is so hard because all we do is talk. Talk, talk, talk talk. We just want to play basketball."

We now interrupt this quotefest to report that UCLA asst coach Donny Daniels had sat down next to me to scout the Gators. I asked him what he can get out of scouting something like this and he said, "see how they shoot."

Billy Donovan was up next. He's very, very excited to be here. Billy isn't very excited. He's very, very excited. He says "very, very" so much that you might be inclined to believe that he thinks "very, very" is one word.

UCLA is a "very, very good defensive team" and "very, very physical." His players are "very, very receptive" to his coaching and it's been "very, very difficult" to get back to the Final Four.

And what about the Kentucky job? You don't really think that question didn't get asked, do you? Florida fans will be relieved to know that he's "very, very happy" at Florida. However, he also never said "no." Again.

Coach Daniels ought to be happy. He's seeing a lot of shooting. In fact, he just borrowed my pen to make drawings of some of the stuff their doing.

Meanwhile, we're playing dodgeball here as long rebound after long rebound threatens to knock us out.

More later, if the computer survives.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Behind the Scenes with CSTV

The Hoops Odyssey guys are in the house and the legend of the HO guys grows by the minute, hour and day. Matt and Jake finished up their first Starbucks coffees of the day just in time to be energized for a live shot with the CSTV crew including Greg Amsinger, Steve Lappas and Seth Greenberg. From all accounts they did a fabulous job in re-telling some of the highlights of the 100 day/103 game (and counting) journey.

I have to say the Dynamic Duo is looking a lot perkier and more fresh than this time last week when we shared some time in East Rutherford. They see the light at the end of the tunnel and they are energized by it for sure. Not to mention the Goose Bumps that we're all getting from being on-site at the Final Four.

. . . As Jamie Dixon waited for the duo to be done for his live shot on CSTV, his two young children, Jack and Shannon played some old-school WWF wrestling, followed by Jack (5 years old in June) giving his little sister, 3, a horsie ride on the blue carpet of the CSTV holding pen. Jack refused to give us the next ride, which we found to be a bit selfish.

. . . Crack CSTV research man, Steve Brauntuch was keeping the hosts honest on facts and was at the ready with any number of media guides and game notes. I need a Steve.

. . . HO guy, Jake has aodpted the Roy Hibbert look and theory on hair giving him strength as he has gone unshaven for the journey. Where Hibbert is still having trouble growing his beard, Jake has a robust red scruff kicking. Hibbert's 'fro, however, is much poofier than the Osterhout 'do.

. . . CSTV poobah and overall nice guy, Tim Pernetti stopped by the Hang Time perch to encourage our writing endeavors and let us know how happy he is with our efforts. (Okay, he might not have said those exact words, but I sensed them, nonetheless.)

. . . Hang Time's arch enemy, JJ Jumper, the lame NCAA Mascot is jumping around the building.

We have ways of dealing with mascots like him.

You've been warned, JJ.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: UCLA quotes & note about press conferences in general

At the risk of getting fired from CSTV yet again - I've gotta say, the NCAA media team here in Atlanta does such an incredibly quick, efficient job of typing and distributing press conference quotes, there's almost no need for me to physically attend the pressers.

So unless I want to be sure to talk about some of the facial expressions or laughter in the room, I can get every quote and every uttered word in each press conference.

None-the-less, here are some of the somewhat interesting quotes from UCLA's press conference. (Quotes-be-damned, it still pales in comparison to seeing the whole team and coaching staff trying to sink half-court shots for the last five minutes of the practice.)

.
Coach Howland:
- We're really excited to be back. It's a great, great honor to be a part of the Final Four. Just an unbelievable field this year.

On the NCAA selection committee:
You have to commend the NCAA selection committee fo rthe great job they did selecting the field and the seeding of the field, with the way things played out. There are four outstanding teams here in Atlanta.

On the "Princeton offense":
You go back to the old school... Pete Carril is truly a genius in college basketball. His philosophies you see how not only at Georgetown, but you've seen the NBA over the last decade both in Sacramento and the Wizards right now. A number of different teams imploy that offense. We all thought of Princeton being a slow-down offense. If you emply it at the NBA level, these are the highest scoring games. It's about passing, cutting, moving without the ball, knowing how to play basketball.

Going against Noah and Horford:
Well we know we're going up against two of the best big guys on the same team in the country. They're really a rarified duo. I can't think of another one in recent memory that has two lottery picks either this year or a year from now.

Talking about Noah's passing:
He's such a good passer. I think when you see a good basketabll player - you can't be a good passer and not have a good understanding of the game. Good passing skills and understanding of the game, correlate.

Howland the stats gearhead:
Florida is shooting 53% from the field. They're shooting 40% from threes, 42.3% in the last 22 games. Inside the three-point line they're shooting 59.8% as a team. They're holding their opponents to 40%. They out-board their opponents by seven boards a game. I mean, this is an incredible team, one of the great teams in college basketball history.

On being a UCLA junkie as a kid:
UCLA has always been the dream job for me. As a child, watching the Wooden teams play with Dick Enberg doing the call. Each and every replay game on KTLA back in the day at 11 o'clock. Watching those games as a young player, idolizing all the players, wanting to be a player. As a coach, that was always to me, the pinnacle job: UCLA.

.
Aaron Afflalo:
On seeing Florida celebrate last year's title:
I definitely wasn't happy. (laughs). I had a lot of anger, a lot of pain as well. It's just different to watch other people celebrate agaisnt you. But those times are gone. They came out and competed. They played very hard. We didn't put forth the effort that we needed to. They were deserving of that championship last year.

On the Bruin defensive reputation:
We have the personnel to play that type of defense. The way Josh (Shipp) sees the floor on the defensive end. The way Darren can pressure the ball. My willingness to try to stop whoever. The physicality and mobility of our bigs allow us to play a certain type of defense that has really worked for us.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Ohio State Open Practice

Jerry's name droppings from earlier this morning gets the point across just fine -- but it's impossible to overstate the number of basketball luminaries, semi-luminaries and just plain faces of the game that this weekend's convention draws. During my 20-second foray to from the elevator in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis to the media shuttle outside the hotel entrance, I bumped into Illinois men's coach Bruce Weber, Villanova women's coach and one-of-a-kind personality Harry Perretta and Gotham prep hoops guru Ron Naclerio, who was wearing a Mitchell-and-Ness style Cardozo High shirt that I want. (Meaning serious propers to the reader who can tell me where to get one.)

Open practice day at the Georgia Dome continues to operate like clockwork as the Buckeyes have just taken the court for their session at 2:10 p.m. on the dot. Even as the lunchtime crowd files out, there's still healthy number of diehard fans and curious onlookers in the lower bowl, with the heaviest concentration behind the scorer's table and player benches. Among the sights in my immediate field of vision: the Hoops Odyssey duo getting their game faces ready for a TV interview, the Ohio State pep band going through their reps (including staple anthem "Across the Field"), a stunning redhead seated on press row five empty seats to my right who's knows I'm staring, Washington Post scribe John Feinstein conducting an interview with CSTV's own Craig Esherick, another anonymous reporter doing the same with ESPN talking head Jay Bilas, a group of teenagers in the front row behind the press tables playfully jawing with Ron Lewis and Ivan Harris -- colorful banter that the players can't help but acknowledge with a nod and a smile.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Testing, testing, 1-2-3

While I'm waiting for the Buckeyes to take the floor, I thought this would be a good time to test out my internet connection. I about half an hour, I'll be in the interview room, which has all the ambiance of a dungeon, listening to Billy Donovan pontificate on some subject or another. I'll have all that for you when it's over.

Meanwhile, I've been hanging out in the dome, pestering as many people as possible. I tried to make it difficult for David and Eric to get any work done, but they were too focused, so I headed over to the CSTV set for a while. There, I got to meet selection committee chairman Gary Walters and chat him up a bit while the CSTV crew worked out some technical difficulties. Nothing earth shaking came from that conversation except that he indicated that while he enjoyed his time on the committee, he is looking forward to getting the time that takes back into his life.

Ohio St just walked out onto the court in front of me. I can report to you that Greg Oden is one big dude in person. I'm sure I'll have more shocking revelations later.

While UCLA was on the floor, I walked around past their band and some young reporter-type was interviewing one of the Veela, er, dancers. I eavesdropped and this is what I was able to pick up:

Young Reporter: "Hi, I'm from the New York Times. Can I interview you for a story I'm doing on dance teams?
Veela: "Sure!"
YR: "Thanks! What's your name?"
Veela: "Veela!"
YR: "Can I have your phone number, Veela? You know, in case I have to, um, follow up with you?"

Or perhaps that's what YR was hoping for.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Bruin half-court shots

To close out practice, the entire Bruin team, including coaches too, are taking half and 3/4er shots. They're actually hitting a couple here and there, but mostly just pelting ball boys and photogs at the other end.

This is actually something fun to watch.

Press conferences chock full of boring/expected quotes.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Loco Locker Room With the Hoyas

Media access for the Hoyas has wound down and the Hoya locker room was completely jam-packed with media types. So much so, in fact, that Jonathan Wallace and Jeff Green were brought into the hallway to help free up some space in the cramped quarters.

The two players brought into the media interview room were also Green and Wallace and many of the media were upset that Roy Hibbert was not made available on the dais.

. . . Green is quickly emerging as a real personality of this Tournament. He's quick with a smile and provides some great quotes and insight. The best one we heard was Green explaining that his favorite stastic is "assists. I look at rebounds and assists first. I like to look at how many boards I got."

For more of Green and other presser transcripts, check out asapsports.com in the coming minutes and hours.

. . . We'll go nose around the CSTV set and see if we can annoy the TV people in some small way.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: UCLA loose, band joins in

Unlike the Hoya Paranoya in the first practice session that saw Georgetown go through the motions with stone-like seriousness, UCLA came out laughing and jovially going through lay-up drills after they took the court.

Right now, they're stretching on the floor. Aaron Afflalo and Russell Westbrook were just trying to slap each other while on the floor.

They've also been joined here at practice day by their pep band, cheerleaders, dancers, mascots and... well, I'm still looking for the juggler. Jim Nantz just came down to courtside and shook hands and chatted with Ben Howland.

I'm also sitting next to Lesley Visser here in the press area. She's a chatty Kathy, I tell ya'. John Feinstein is sitting with her.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Hoyas Winding Down

We're in the final ten minutes of Hoya Time and the team is in full-on free-shooting mode. Jonanthan Wallace, the Elite 8 hero is a bit cold from beyond the arc at this moment but he did just nail a repeat-of-Sunday top of the key bomb as we type these words. He must have sensed our live-blog criticism.

. . . A Lesley Visser sighting has now occurred as well as a Bryan Curtis of CSTV encounter. The sheer volume of CSTV media badges is quite something to behold. We could very well have better representation than any media outlet in Atlanta.

. . . We'll work the Georgetown access period and get back with you after that. In the meantime we leave you in the capable hands of Eric Sorenson, who you should know, has been sneaking peeks at college baseball stats. You can take the guy out of a baseball stadium, but you can't take the baseball stadium out of the guy.

Okay, I'll go away now.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Ohio State Preview

Hang Time's fourth and final team preview is coming live from the open practices at the venue, where the media contingent is putting the Georgia Dome Network Services Department's wireless access point to the test judging by an Internet connection that's loading slower than the Georgetown offense.

What the South Region champion Ohio State lacks in experience, the Buckeyes compensate for with star power and droves of it. Floor general Mike Conley, Jr., is a freshman in classification only -- having played more like a senior during the NCAA Tournament than most of the fourth-year point guards in Division I throughout the season. Mercurial senior guard Ron Lewis has been electric throughout the month of March, his three-point equalizer to push Ohio State's second-round escape against Xavier into overtime is just the most famous play in a highlight-reel month for the Bowling Green transfer. Junior Jamar Butler is the resident sniper whose long-range precision -- as indicated with a team-leading 73 made three-pointers -- has kept opposing defenses honest throughout the season. And there's no bigger impact player in college basketball than Oden, who commands the attention of the other nine players on the court -- not to mention the capacity crowds before which the seven-footer has been playing for the past five years. (Not since I saw LeBron James bring his St. Vincent-St. Mary club to the Palestra for a showdown with reigning Philly Public League champ Strawberry Mansion on Dec. 22, 2002 have I seen an amateur demand the attention of 10,000-plus onlookers the same way.)

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Hoya Practice Continues

The Hoyas continue to go through the paces of what can best be termed a light workout.

Mothership announce team, Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are being debriefed by the Goergetown Sports Information staff (Bill Shapland and Mike "Mex" Carey). Braodcaster Jim Gray is also in the house, and we believe he's on the national radio broadcast in some fashion.

Basketball Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe did a quick Packer interview courtside as well.

. . . Hoya big men are now working out at one side of the court and the little men are at the other. With 30 minutes left in the session, they switched sides to get a feel for both rims and sight lines.

JTIII iswatching the proceedings from midcourt while assistants orchestrate the shooting drills.

. . . Tyler Crawford appears to be the sweatiest Hoya at this end of the floor.

. . . We'd like to give you a re-cap of the Calipari/Flint dinner from last night (held at an excellent local Italian joint on No. Highland, Il Localino) but Calipari swore us to secrecy on the night's events.

The one thing we can tell you is that a former Cal assistant got a full tray of odd-smelling beverages dumped on his dress shirt. Fortunately it was a good-natured former assistant and not one of his current guys like the ornery John Robic who was three minutes shy of going in the kitchen to prepare his own meal when the food service was delayed because of the large number in the Cal/Flint party.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Okay, I'll say it first... I'VE got better feet than Roy Hibbert

Watching the Georgetown practice, I've noticed how tall, long and large of a man Hibbert is. But also how he's stumble-footed, has the vertical jump of a rhino and as gangly as a newborn deer.

Then again, he's the one that's going to be a sick-like millionaire in a short amount of time. Not me. In my face.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Hoya Delaya

The Hoyas court time clock started ticking promptly at noon and the Hoyas did not jump at the opportunity to be on-court. Coach Thompson hit the court with 46:04 left on the clock and his team followed closely behind. The final Hoya to hit the floor was Roy Hibbert.

The team is currently going through full court dribbling drills - no shooting yet.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Open Practices/Pressers/Dome Loitering

ATLANTA - Welcome back to the Georgia Dome for today's open practice session which begins in just a few minutes with Georgetown taking the floor first (followed by UCLA at 1 p.m. (EST), Ohio State (2:10 p.m.) and Florida (3:10 p.m.). Each squad gets 50 minutes of floor time and also has interview responsibilities that strecth for 30 minutes either before or after the team's court time.

. . .Members of the NCAA selection committee have been on the floor and on one of the team benches mingling and doing important things like looking at the quality of the hardwood (where the dominate color schemes are green and black with the Atlanta Final Four logo at midcourt and two red white and blue ribbons).

. . . A good crowd is already on hand as the lower sections of each sideline are mostly filled in (where seats aren't otherwise designated as reserved). The lower endzones also have a good amount of folks and there appears to be several area school groups.

. . . John Thompson Jr, the proud papa, just entered the courtside area. He walks with a pronounced limp and his arrival was chronicled by more than a few videographers.

Soon after he settled into his seat, an introduction video for the Hoyas, narrated by Jim Nantz, began playing on the video boards.

. . . The Hoyas are about to take the floor and Final Four weekend is officially underway.

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: A who's who red-eye flight

Just got here to the Georgia Dome. Man this place is big. Man this place is too big for a basketball game. I've got friends that will be sitting in section 346 for tomorrow's games. It's hard to describe how nose-bleed that is. It's the third/top tier of seats in the stadium. iv'e warned him to go ahead and bring his binoculars with him. And some gauze plugs to stick up his nose when the blood flows.

On the red-eye flight from Los Angeles, I was joined by L.A. luminaries like radio personalities Steve Hartman and Vick "The Brick" Jacobs. Vick was in his usual Molly Hatchet-length hair and bucket hat. Feelin' YOU!

Also sat near the dignitary of L.A. sports television: CBS 2's Jim Hill. That guy is pure class, through and through, dressed in his usual double-breasted suit. Just sharp, man. I remember that guy when he was doing college football studio work for ABC's national telecasts in 1987... I swear the dude hasn't aged a freakin' second since then!

Practices are about to start here. They'll have press conferences for each team today as well. I personally am hoping for a "Big Country" Reeves type of thing where someone crashes a backboard with a dunk in practice. $10 bonus for those of you who remember that..

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Friday, 03/30/07

Final Four: Name Droppings

Dropping names isn't really my style, but there simply is no other way to describe day one in Hotlanta (high in the low 80s) without them.

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Thursday, 03/29/07

Final Four: Lobby Lobs, Final Part

We left TC to his own devices with the computer but he failed to pull a post for us while we were chatting with Jeff Ruland.

In the interim, we've also been joined by the Palm Reader, Jerry Palm, fresh off his coverage of the NABC and Myles Brand pressers for CSTV.com. Boy was he parched after that duty.

The highlight arrival is the early evening is that of Yahoo!'s national columnist, Dan Wetzel and his Final Four Father, Paul (husband of Mickey). (We can confirm to Mickey that Paul has actually had a nap today and is also sharply dressed for his annual crash of the Calipari/Flint dinner. So far, so good with Papa Wetz.)

. . . TC is starting to fire up his recognitions again, but his name recall is abysmal. "I don't get too personal with people, you know that. That was Beano over there from Marist."

Beano isn't listed as a coach at Marist, TC.

"I don't use government names. That's him, Orlando Ranson," TC says. "I gotta go get dressed for dinner."

And just like that my color commentator is gone. I will never be able to explain these expenses.

. . . Ruland is in fairly good spirits, considering he was fired while he was on a cruise with his wife (to Mexico). His settlement will take care of him for quite some time and he has some opportunities looming in both coaching and perhaps TV.

He's sporting a pair of size 15 Ostrich boots, he shot 90 today on the golf course with UConn assistant George Blaney and is on his way to dinner with his wife, a close friend and his agent, Rob Ades.

. . . Coaches spotted: Kevin Nickelberry at Hampton, Gary DeCesare and Jerry Wainwright from DePaul, Kent State's Jim Christian, Jareem Dowling Cecil Community College, last year's DII JUCO Champs.

. . . Okay, when we start i.d.ing JUCO coaches, it's time to pack it in. Join us again around lucnh time on Friday as we live blog from open practices and the four teams' press conferences.

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Thursday, 03/29/07

Final Four: Lobby Lobs, Part II

Our man, TC (Tony Chiles), is now starting to step up his game. He's overheard the shady gentleman in the Nike Airmax sneakers next to him trying to sell some tickets. He's discovered a closer bar to our perch than the one I had previously been using. And, he's on the verge of procuring where the annual Calipari/Flint Family Tree dinner will be held tonight. (It's our goal to sneak in on that for the sole purpose of watching the yearly battle between Cal and his former assistant, Bruiser, when the check comes. "They're all your guys, Bru." "No, they're all your guys, Cal." Cal usually winds up paying.)

To top it all off, TC has landed us some some soft pretzels. (Also being expensed, if the beancounters are reading.)

TC has now befriended the ticket scalper, Timmy's Buddy, who says the market is slow.

. . . "This is a good pretzel - not a Philly pretzel, but it's good," says TC. "You just missed Coach (Bill) Self going up to the fitnes center. There's the Kent State coach and the Buffalo coach - you know I'm not good with names."

Jim Christian and Reggie Witherspoon, respectively.

"See, you got the technology and I lead you in the right direction. At least I didn't call him Bill," TC says. "Karma's a mutha-f&*^$#, you know that."

No idea where that last comment came from, but it appears TC has spotted an arch coaching enemy.

"Just on the side of truth, Hang Time man."

. . . The ticket scalper crew (including Timmy) have overtaken my office space. They answer the cell phone, "Ticket Central." But they're complaining at how slow things are, which should be expected on the day before most people arrive.

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Thursday, 03/29/07

Final Four: Lobs from the Lobby

Our distinguished color commentator for this session of CSTV.com "Coaches Hotel Lobby Lowdown" is none other than Tony Chiles, an assistant coach on Bruiser Flint's staff and a man recently named one of CBSsportsline's Top 10 rising assistants in the nation.

Chiles is one of the most connected New York City recruiters and has coached at Manhattan College, Iona College and now Drexel. He is a grad of Columbia, where he was a pretty nifty guard for the Lions.

All that is seocndary to Chiles' true talent: Funniest Coach on Earth.

So, TC, how's the lobby treating you.

"I'm tired man, you just woke me up. You think I can come out of bed just making threes? Let me warm up"

He's making this hard to justify expensing the Lilte beer.

"It's kind of slow right now," says Chiles. "It's heavy traffic, but there's not a lot going on. Oh, that's the fired Georgia State coach over there (Michael Perry)."

"There's the Nevada coach (Mark Fox), he's like me, he doesn't wear any gear - I've got no Drexel stuff on, as you see," says Chiles. "There's Fran-Tastic, Fran Dunphy (Temple). You've got guys looking for tickets. There's Kevin Clark from Rhode Island."

Now we're rolling. The Lite beer is starting to work it's magic.

"I'm getting my bitter back on, too," Chiles says.

. . . Coaches spotted: Andy Kennedy of Ole Miss, In-demand Billy Gillespie of Texas A&M, coaching legend Billy Tubbs, Pitt assistant Orlando Antigua, Marist assistant Rob O'Driscoll, Fordham's Derrick Whittenburg.

. . . Non-coaches spotted: Rudy Martzke, the former USA Today emdia columnist and his ever-trusty sidekick, "Mouse." Recruiting guru, Clark Francis, Andy Katz from ESPN.

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Thursday, 03/29/07

Final Four: Coachapalooza

Welcome to the lobby of the Atlanta downtown Hilton where we have re-convened in a hidden nook off the main entrance. We are awaiting the arrival of our special guest Coach's Lobby Color Commentator, who was napping to better prepare for his rigorous duties.

He will not be happy when he learns his Miller Lite is warm.

. . . For those of you who have never been to a Final Four, much less the Coaches' Hotel, here's the scene in a nutshell:

Tall men, short men, thin men, hefty men - all wearing scool colors and gear, most of them in sweats and sneakers. The men mingle, shake hands, laugh and generally mill about. On-court enemies become in-lobby friends and in-lobby friends lobby for better jobs with bigger programs. You've got to remember, this is the National Association of Basketball Coaches annual convention as well, so there are all levels of basketball coaches in the mix.

We have enough trouble identifying DI coaches, so forgive us if we can't quite pick out the DII and DIII coaches in the crowd.

. . . John Thompson Jr., whose son JTIII will be leading his Hoyas against Ohio State on Saturday, just entered the "Le Cafe" in the Hilton with his other son, Ronny (the Ball State coach and they are sitting down for a quiet late-afternoon meal. Big John is in a Georgetown warm-up suit.

. . . Ex-Iona coach, Jeff Ruland just checked in from a nearby golf course and we're scheduled to meet the Big Man in the 6 p.m. hour and then perhaps join him for dinner

. . .Our special guest analyst is on his way from his nap. He won;t be happy that not only is his beer warm, but we've eaten all the peanuts that came in our Welcome to Atlanta bag.

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Thursday, 03/29/07

Final Four: The Eagle Has Landed

ATLANTA - Hang Time is on the ground and in the Georgia Dome as we kick off our five-day live-blogging extravaganza from the 2007 Final Four.

We have secured our press credential which this year includes a picture of each bearer for the first time in Final Four history. (The practice is common at the Super Bowl.) This Hang Timer's picture would qualify as a "bad mug shot," and our hope is that it's the ONLY mugshot of the extended weekend.

We just wanted to check in and let you know that we're here and already working for you. We drove by the Coaches' Hotel on the way to the Media Hotel (the Hitlon and Marriott Marquis, respectively) and we've already espied Steve Alford (new of New Mexico), Al Skinner (BC), Dave Leitao (Virginia), Travis Ford (UMass) and Bobby Gonzalez (Seton Hall). That's five down and some 300-odd coaches left to ID.

We're going to head back to the Coaches' Hotel lobby where we expect to have a special guest as our Lobby Action analyst. To be sure, it's worth coming back to hear the hilarity of this prominent Northeast assistant coach.

. . . There's already word filtering out that despite the best efforts of Bobby Knight (and other high profile coaches) the candidacy of Dick Vitale for the Hall of Fame has been stymied again. We made our argument for Vitale's entrance when the nominations came out and we stand by those thoughts. But the pro-NBA Hall just doesn't appear ready to admit that Vitale has contributed to the game. Not sure on other Hall entrants, but the 1966 Texas Western Team is believed to be a lock for induction.

The official announcement comes on Monday morning at a Hall of Fame press conference which we will live blog (of course).
. . . Just a little bit more on coaching news before we get back on the shuttle: ESPN's Fran Fraschilla has reportedly taken himself out of consideration for South Florida and West Virginia's John Beilein is the current hot name for Michigan. The Iona search is just getting under way, now that the settlement has been reached with Jeff Ruland.

. . . For our Hangers-on in the Northeast region with Comcast as their cable provider, this Hang Timer will be a guest, live via satellite on CN8's 11 p.m. "Out of Bounds" show. We're trying to put off our first beer of the Final Four until AFTER that live hit, but the temptations are everywhere. Wish us luck.

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Wednesday, 03/28/07

Final Four: Georgetown Preview

ON THE VERGE - That's where we write this from. It's also known as home, but we've mostly been calling the road our home for the past month. The apartment is no more than a laundromat at this time of year.

And the dog? My dog, Percy or the Hoya dog of Georgetown?

Of course, how silly of us. The Hoya Dog.

(But just so you know, Percy the Dog is having extended stay at cousin Brady's house. Brady is a sweater-wearing mini-poodle and Percy is a stuffed-animal-eating major-black lab. You can only imagine the comedic value my sister, bro-in-law and niece and nephew are treated to with his two-week visit.)

As for the 'Dogs of John Thompson III - JTIII from here on out - well, they're having all sorts of their own fun. Except JTIII isn't rolling in the meadow grass quite yet.

"We still have a long way to go," he said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon. "We're still a long way from where I want to be as a program. We don't want to be a cute, trendy team."

But in a Final Four devoid of the cute and trendy (as George Mason was last year in Indy), the Hoyas are playing the role quite well. Although they are a #2 seed like possible Monday night foe, UCLA, the Hoyas are riding what JTIII calls the "Son of" team theme and acting the underdog. (JTIII said at the end of the call, "I'm sitting here terrified of Ohio State.")

[For edification, my Top 4 storylines going into the Final 4, are: Donovan to Kentucky; Oden vs. Hibbert; Ewing/Thompson/Rivers Sons and Florida/UCLA re-match.]

So how 'bout it Son of Coach, looking forward to 14 feet of post play?

"A lot of big guys now are shying away from the post, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but we have two guys here that like the fact that they're low-post players," said JTIII.

Likewise, America will like these two behomeths who stand to make themselves each quite a bit of money if they can have an epic duel. (More after the Jump)

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Wednesday, 03/28/07

Final Four: UCLA preview

- UCLA (30-5, No. 2 seed out of the West)

Versatility. Coaches love having that in a team. So you would expect Ben Howland to be smiling bigger those people in the Soundgarden video to "Black Hole Sun" right? Because his Bruins are the chameleons of this year's Final Four, able to play many different styles and many different tempos.

There is still one constant to any game they play - defense.

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Wednesday, 03/28/07

Final Four: Florida Preview

The Gators come to Atlanta looking to defend their national championship of a year ago, and they bring a lot of weapons with them, which might be a problem getting through airport security.

Florida is difficult to defend because any of the starters are capable of carrying the team on any given night. Each of them has led the team in scoring in at least five different games this season and averages in double figures. A big reason for this is that they are a very unselfish team. Since they know that any of them is an offensive threat, they often make the extra pass for a better shot. The only starter averaging below 2 assists per game is Lee Humphrey and the only one with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio is Joakim Noah. Florida is also a very good rebounding team and is one of the best in the nation at defending the three-point line.

Still, as coach Billy Donovan likes to say, the Gators "are a flawed basketball team." Sometimes, that extra pass is really one too many. They have been sloppy with the basketball in their last three games, including an 18 turnover performance against Oregon. They are also not a particularly good free throw shooting team. Florida averages only 68% from the line, and nearly shot the Ducks back into the game the other night by going 18-28 down the stretch of that game. In the two previous games against Butler and Purdue, they were much better closing out at the line. They have also struggled coming out of the locker room in each half of this tournament except two - the second half against Jackson St and the second half against Oregon.

Another potential problem for Florida may be the distraction of the talk about Donovan going to Kentucky or to the Miami Heat or to anywhere-but-Florida. In St. Louis, Donovan was asked about the Kentucky job and gave us a dissertation for an answer that didn't contain the word "no." Donovan is one of those guys with a poor quantity-to-quality-of-words ratio. However, the Gators have done a reasonably good job this season of handling the distraction of being the team to beat, so maybe this distraction won't be much of an issue.

In short, if Florida plays its best, they'll be the first team to repeat since Duke did it in 1991-92. If they don't, they might go home Saturday.

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Tuesday, 03/27/07

Coaching Changes: Iona and Ruland Reach Agreement on Divorce

An official separation between Iona College and its now former basketball coach, Jeff Ruland, has been announced. The official search for Ruland's replacement will now commence and Ruland is also free to seek other opportunities. The opinionated, humorous and insightful Ruland would be a natural for the broadcast booth, should he decide to go that route.

Possible replacements at the metro-New York school which have already been floated include former MAAC coach (Manhattan), Fran Fraschilla (now at ESPN), as well as CSTV's New York-connected ex-coach, Pete Gillen. Current assistant coaches on the Iona radar will almost certainly include Providence's Steve DeMeo and Syracuse's Mike Hopkins.

The job is considered quite attractive to many because of the program's rich history and its New York City appeal to recruits.

The release from Iona follows:

Iona, Ruland Announce Settlement Agreement on Contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2007

New Rochelle, N.Y. -- Iona College and former men's basketball coach Jeff Ruland have reached a settlement agreement for the final two years of his contract, both sides announced today in a joint written statement.

Both sides declined to comment on the terms of the agreement but said that it was amicably reached.

It ends a nine-year run for Ruland as head coach at Iona during which he led the Gaels to three MAAC titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances.

"Jeff Ruland has been a loyal Gael as a student, player, coach and, more importantly, as a person. He will always have a place in Iona's rich tradition and history," said Iona College President Brother James A. Liguori, CFC.

"In the collegiate sports arena, change is a constant. The fact that Jeff was a member of the coaching staff of the men’s basketball program for twelve years, nine as a head coach, is indicative of our mutual loyalty, respect, commitment and fondness," he continued.

"After careful thought and consideration, Iona felt the need to take the men's basketball program in a different direction and Jeff felt it was time to move on to other opportunities. Thus, we were able to reach a settlement agreement on the final two years of his contract. As expected, Jeff was an absolute gentleman during this process," Liguori said.

"Given his past success as a collegiate player and coach, and as an NBA all-star, we are certain that Jeff will succeed wherever he goes. Iona wishes him only the best," he added.

Ruland's attorney, Rob Ades, said the agreement was delayed for a few days because his client was on a cruise and unreachable.

"The negotiations could not have been more amicable. Iona has shown a great deal of respect for Jeff, and these feelings are mutual. I am sure that Jeff will always be a favorite son of Iona, and he certainly will always be a Gael at heart," Ades said.

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Monday, 03/26/07

St. Louis: The best and worst of the Gateway City

Here are some of the best and worst things I encountered during my four days on the banks of the Mississippi.

Best Player: Taurean Green

JP's All-Regional team: Green, Lee Humphrey, Aaron Brooks, Al Horford, Malik Hairston

JP All-Regional honorable mention: Tajuan Porter, who may have had the best individual performance of the tournament so far against UNLV.

Best Cheerleaders/Dancers: Oregon - not even close. They brought the biggest and most polished group.

Best Band: Oregon - again, not even close. Better style and variety and that' s not even considering the fact that they have 9 saxes.

Best Fans: Butler - biggest contingent and while they were the closest to St. Louis, they were also the smallest school in this group. Many were still around on Sunday.

Best Coach: Todd Lickliter of Butler. Had a great game plan against Florida and almost pulled it off. While his team lost, he never lost perspective; never lost his good humor.

Best Food: Ice cream and pulled pork in the media room.

Best Drink: Beer in the frozen fish bowl at Rigazzi's on the Hill in St. Louis. It is more like an aquarium than a fish bowl. I was hoping Jaws wouldn't jump out of it. ("But, oshifer, I only had two beers (holding up three fingers).")

Worst fans: Nike poobah (it says that on his business card) Phil Knight and posse, who showed up at the postgame press conference (who credentialed these guys?) and applauded as Oregon took the podium. Bad form, but when you have more money than God, you don't care about decorum.

Worst food: Stale pretzels in media room

Worst part of downtown: Since I was last here for the NCAAs, which was two years ago for the Final Four, an entire downtown mall has closed and Lacledes Landing is half boarded up. The southern part of downtown around Busch Stadium has some places to go and things to do, but the north end by the dome is basically hotels, the clubs left at Lacledes, and not much else.

Worst engineering idea: Let's take the part of town where all the night clubs are (Lacledes) and make the sidewalks and streets out of uneven brick, so when people come stumbling out drunk at the end of the night, they have an even tougher time staying on their feet. It's hard enough to stay on your feet sober down there.

Worst question Saturday (to Oregon's Bryce Taylor): "Bryce, you guys are the champion of one of the BCS conferences. You've been in the Top 20 pretty much from January on. And yet you are the lowest seed left in the tournament. I was just wondering, do you guys feel like this year's George Mason?"

In nearly every interview I did this season, I was asked who would be this year's George Mason. The answer - from November on - was that there wouldn't be one. That kind of thing happens once every 20 years or so. That's why it's interesting. Nonetheless, people kept looking for them. Once we got three days into the tournament, any potential "George Mason" was already gone, and yet, we still have one guy looking for them. I suppose they'll ask UCLA next. Sheesh.

Worst question, Sunday (to Lee Humphrey): "Late in the first half, you actually broke the twine. Did you have any special spin on that shot?"

Humphrey: "Actually, I stuck a razor blade in the ball before I shot. We needed a timeout."

No, I made that up. I wish he'd said that. I forget what he said, but it was much more polite than it should have been.

You know, I'm still new to this whole ask questions in a press conference thing, but if I ever ask a question like either of those, I do hope someone jabs their elbows into my ribs so I remember never to do that again.

Worst question II, Sunday (to me): "Can I see your id?" Are you very bad word kidding me?? My drivers' license is old enough to drink. Look at that picture over there --->. Does that look like an 18-year-old?

Worst concept of "hospitality": The NCAA media hospitality room. Often at tournaments, the organizers will have a hospitality room for the media, usually in the media hotel. The Big Ten's is pretty good. The Valley's is terrific, and not surprisingly, it was packed every night. The Big East didn't have one at all, so far as I know. The NCAA's is open for three hours beginning with the end of the game on game nights. That's fine, but there's hardly ever anyone there. Among the biggest reasons for that is that most writers are still working then. It would seem that if they are going to go to the effort to do that, they ought to do it when people can go.

Best Landmark: The Gateway Arch. It's smaller in person than it looks like in pictures, but it's still pretty cool.

Worst Landmark: The huge Amoco sign. There's a BP station on the western edge of town that has an enormous Amoco sign on top of the building. It's so big that I don't know how the building supports it. It must be 150 feet across. And it's in this nice, older neighborhood. It couldn't look more out of place.

That's it from St. Louis. I'll see you in Atlanta next week.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: We Are. . . Georgetown

The 19,557 spoiled fans who filled the Continental Airlines Arena on this final Sunday of March, 2007, already knew who they were. So did any number of the millions who watched the game in its entirety or tuned in around the time the "60 Minutes" stopwatch was supposed to be ticking.

Instead of the John Edwards interview with Katie Couric, the clock was ticking on the Georgetown Hoyas' season as they trailed by 10 points to the fast and furious North Carolina Tarheels, with a little more than seven minutes left in the East Regional Final.

But in those final seven minutes and nineteen seconds of regulation and surely in the final five minutes of the extra period, John Thompson III's basketball club let America know exactly what he would later scream from atop the stage at midcourt:

"WE ARE," bellowed the son of the program's most famous coach.

And his legions of supporters bellowed in return: "GEORGETOWN."

He did it twice more on the stage and three times on the ladder after he snipped the last strand of net - just as he had done a few weeks ago up the road at Madison Square Garden when his Hoyas took the Big East tournament title.

"WE ARE. . . "

"GEORGETOWN."

Indeed they are. After this 96-84 comeback win over the No. 1 seed in the East region, these Hoyas are every bit as much a part of the program's storied past as the Ewing teams, JT III's dad Big John and all those wonderful Hoya squads of the 80s that helped build the Big East into the power it has become.

"That's my favorite cheer. There's no other way to put it," explained Little John. "It's growing up, you know, coming to the games growing up with the program. That's something that is special to me."

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: It's Been Such a Long Time

For the first time since the 1984-85 season (when they lost 66-64 to Villanova in the title game) Georgetown is back in the Final Four. That season was part of back-to-back Final Four trips for the Hoyas, who had defeated Houston the prior year in Seattle.

. . . Craig Littlepage from the University of Virginia and a member of the NCAA Selection Committee presented the Hoyas with their East Regional championship trophy.

. . . John Thompson III took the trophy and led the crowd in a chorus of "WE ARE. . ." to which the crowd responded. . . "GEOGRETOWN." Nice touch.

. . . Ohio State and Georgetown will meet in the first semifinal next Saturday, followed by the Florida-UCLA game, it was announced .

. . . The PA Announcer thanked the four teams that particpated here in Jersey, but instead of saying Vanderbilt, he thanked Davidson. D'oh!

. . . The Hoyas are clipping the nets right now. Not sure why Roy Hibbert would need a ladder, but he'll use it anyway.

JTIII got the biggest ovation on the last snip and then repeated his We Are. . . chant from atop the ladder.

. . . Hibbert finished with 13 points, 11 rebouinds and six blocks. Jeff Green had 22 to lead the Hoyas (and nine rebounds, three assists and two steals).

For UNC, Hansbrough had 26 points and 11 rebounds.

. . . Final free throws were: 12 of 18 for GTown and 29 of 34 for UNC.

. . . The Heels were 1 of 8 from 3-point land int he second half and 1 of 8 in the OT. For the game they were 5 of 20.
The Hoyas were 8 of 14 from 3-point land with Jonathan Wallace hitting 3 of 4, including the bniggest of the day that effectively sent the game to OT.

. . . Georgetown wound up winning the points int he paint battle 56-32, meaning they dominated 28-12 in the second half.

. . . Patrick Ewing is on the floor with the Hoyas enjoying the moment. He is now being surrounded by about a dozen reporters.

. . . No word yet on the All-East Region team is Jeff Green (also the MOP), Roy HIbbert, DaJuan Summers, Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright.

Summers had 20 points today and six rebounds.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoya's Advance

A complete ass-thumping in the overtime gives the Hoyas a well-earned 96-84 win as they outscore the Heels 15-3 in the extra session. UNC could not hit a 3-pointer in the second half to save their soul and Georgetown patiently waited, waited and finally pounced.

John Thompson III's coaching was masterful.

The Heels are absolutely stunned and the Hoya fans are besides themselves. One older gentlemen in a plaid sportcaot in front of me just keeps saying: UNBELIEVABLE, UNBELIEVABLE. He also gave his attractive daughter (we think it's his daughter) a rather juicy smooch.

. . . We'll be back with post-game observations and later on with a post-game columnette focusing on the Hoyas.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoyas Surge Ahead

Georgetown is amped up, has the building behyind them and is out to an 87-81 lead with 1:38 left.

The Hoyas, who went to a two-three zone int he seocnd half, have just been tremendous down the stretch and the Heels ahve been abysmal from the field, especially beyond the arc.

Get ready for Hibbert-Oden.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: OT Reset

This is just how it should be with a Final Four bid on the line. "60 Minutes" can wait another 20 minutes or so.

Hibbert and Ewing have four fouls for the Hoyas and Wright has four for UNC.

Team fouls are seven for GTown and six for UNC and each team gets one timeout.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hand it to Hansbrough

Fasten your seatbelts folks. We're tied 81-81 with 24.4 seconds left after a deep 3-pointer by Jonathan Wallace with 32 seconds left.

. . . Look for Barndan Wright to get the ball.

. . . A ferocious Tyler Hansbrough up and under move as he was double-teamed with 1:40 left in the game gave the Heels an 81-78 lead. Hansbrough then grabbed a huge rebound on the Hoyas next possession, his sixth of the game.

. . . The Heels are 90 percent at the line, 29 of 32 . The Hoyas are at 55 percent, 5 of 9.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoyas Clawing Toward Even

John Thompson II has been trying to go offense/defense with Roy Hibbert and is now re-inserting his big man with 2:21 left in the game and the ball. UNC leads 79-76.

Hansbrough has hit 14 of 14 from the line and has 24 points.

UNC has three timeouts left and GTown has one.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoyas Make Charge

UNC has gone cold from the field allowing the Hoyas back into this one as Jeff Green has asserted himself on the offensive end with nine second half points (18 for the game). With 3:48 left in the game, the Heels lead 75-72 and Brandan Wright will be at the line to shoot two shots. He is 4 of 4 form the charity stripe thus far.

Coming out of a Roy Williams timeout, Brandan Wright drew Roy HIbbert's fourth foul of the game with a baseline duink attempt with 3:48 left in the game.

. . . The Heels are 1 of 6 from 3-point land in the second half and 8 of 23 overall from the field.

. . . The arena got as loud as it's been all day long as we went under four minutes and the underdog Hoyas have picked up some admirers for sure.

. . . A Hibbert spin and dunk with 4:20 left to cut it 75-72.

. . . Brandan Wright picked up his fourth personal foul of the game with 6:02 left in the game when he fouled jeff Green, who hit both his free throws.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Under-8:00 With an Eight Point Lead

UNC leads 73-65 with 7:51 left in the game and it's getting near crunch time if Georgetown is going to make a run in this one. The Hoyas are still be limiting to one-and-dones on the offensive end as the rebounding edge for the Heels is at 31-17.

Hansbrough leads all scorers with 22 points and Jeff Green leads the Hoyas with 15.

. . . Coach John Thompson III has been stealing minutes on the bench for his big man, Roy HIbbert, who is playinjg with three fouls.

Deon Thompson matched his seasno and career best with a tip in to give the Heels the 73-65 lead and give him 14 points.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Yada, yada, yada

That's what most press conferences are like, but there were a few notable quotes, so here they are.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoyas Linger

UNC continues to pull ahead and Georgetown continues to creep back as the Heels lead which had grown to 11 (69-58, largest of the game) is now back to six, 69-63 with 11:23 LEFT.

The Heels had gone ahead 65-56 with 13:32 left on a Deon Thompson put back, leading to a Hoya timeout with 13:22 left in the game. Roy Hibbert was re-inserted after that timeout.

. . . Hansbrough had six of the Heels' first 11 points fo the second half.

. . . UNC Freshman Deon Thompson is two points from matching his season high of 14 points.

. . . The first half saw seven ties and three lead changes. GTown's biggest lead was seven, the Heels biggest was 10. The Hoyas last lead of the game was at 12:34 before the Thompson technical.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Heels Keep It At Six

We're 15:37 from having our fourth participant of the 2007 Final Four and UNC has the inside track as they have maintained a 59-53 lead

. . . Tyler Hansbrough has had another strong start to a half as he scored UNC's first six points of the second stanza, including two free throws after he drew Roy Hibbert into his third foul of the game within the first minute of the half. Hansbrough has a game-high 18 points.

Hibbert was replaced immediately by Vernon Macklin again. He'll likely return afte rthe next media timeout.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Halftime Stats and Observations

While the foul shooting discrepancy was getting much of the attention in the backroom of the arena, the real story of the first half is the rebounding edge that the Heels are enjoying, 22-11, including a 10-4 edge on the offensive boards.

Lightly-used frehsman Alex Stephenson has come of the Heel bench to grab six rebounds (3 on both ends) in eight minutes of play. His season-high is eight boards. In fact, the UNC bench has been tremendous all around with 24 points from the reserves to just five bench points from GTown . The Hoya bench has just two rebounds, while the Tar Heel reserves have stepped up with 10.

Georgetown has eight blocks on the game (four form Hibbert) and the Hoyas also have 14 assists on their 19 field goals. The Hoyas have outscored the Heels 28-20 in the paint and the Heels have turned four Hoya tirnovers into ten points (UNC has four turns as well that have been turne dinto four points).

. . . Obviously Georgetown needs to get to the line more in the second half and we're guessing that will happen and the free throw edge will even out a bit. But realistically, with Hibbert playing just 14 minutes and after getting doub led up on the boards, the Hoyas should be happy to just down six at the break.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoyas Hang Tough

Despite a huge discrepancy in free throw shooting, the Hoyas managed to hang within six points at the half and trail 50-44.

. . . Hoya fans have been none too pleased with the officiating (especially with Curtis Shaw) as their men in navy blue had been whistled for 9 fouls to just five for UNC at the under-4:00 media timeout (at half it's 10-8 for the Hoyas). Every pro-Hoya call has been getting sarcastic cheers from the GTown faithful. The Hoyas shot five free throws (hitting three) in the half and UNC shot 20 (making 17). Patrick Ewing, Jr. was whistled for his thrid foul of the game with .8 seconds remaining in the half, giving rise to even more boos from the Hoya loyals.

Ewing and Sapp have three each for Georgetown.

. . . Hansbrough and Wright have 12 points apiece for UNC and Georgetown is being led by Roy Hibbert's 11 (5 of 6 from the field).

. . . I've been trying to count the number of surefire career NBA players who are in this game and so far I'm at six. Wright, Lawson and Terry for UNC; Green, Hibbert and Ewing for GTown. But I'm open to additions or subtractions from that preliminary list.

. . . Back in a few with halftime stats and observations.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hoyas Struggle to Get Close

UNC continues to run all over the Hoyas and maintains a 44-35 lead with 3:52 left in the half. Jessie Sapp just picked up his third foul of the game as he was whistled for contact on Brandan Wright in the paint.

After a slow start, Wright has stepped things up a bit and now has 12 points on 4 of 4 from the field and is all over the offensive glass for the Heels. The kid is simply special. WOW!

. . . Tyler Hansbrough picked up his second foul of the game (on a shove of Hibbert) with 6:04 left but remained in the game. he is now on the bench for the remainder of the half, we'll guess.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Heels Build Lead

UNC is once again getting contributions from all of its players as eight Heels have now scored at least a point and Roy's Boys are leading 35-26 with 7:16 left in the game. The Hoyas too are getting well-rounded scoring with seven players having at least two points.

. . . Reyshawn Terry hit his first field goal of the game, a three pointer with about 9:30 left in the half, on the next Heel possession he nailed another one of a curl and feed from Hansbrough. It gave UNC a 33-26 lead.

. . . The absence of Hibbert greatly affects the game as UNC is much more free to go inside and outside without the fear of being met by the 7-2 man-child. The Hoyas re-inserted Hibbert after the under-8:00 timeout, a calculated risk by John Thompson III.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Hibbert to the Bench

Georgetown big man, Roy Hibbert was whistled for his second personal foul of the half with 9:58 left and is being replaced in the game by freshman Vernon Macklin. Hibbert will likely be on the bench the remainder of the half, meaning the Heels are going to need to go inside often. Hibbert has nine points.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Heels Come Back in a Flash

In less than three minutes, UNC erased a 7 point deficit by going on an 11-0 run in one of the Heels' patented spurts and now lead 26-22 with 10:30 left in the half.

Deon Thompson has been very active for the Heels and has six points (the freshman's season high is 14 against Arizona, his only double figure scoring game of the season).

. . . John Thompson III was hit with a technical foul at the 12:34 mark and Danny Green's two free throws tied the game at 22-22.

. . . Hansbrough had 10 of the Heels' first 15 and is the game's leading scorer with those 10 points.

. . . The Hoyas are 3 of 4 from 3-point land.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Game wrap

After the game, I followed Phil Knight and posse out of gym as they made a beeline for the Oregon locker room.

After getting their trophy on the temporary stage, the Florida players had a big group hug (Barney would have been proud). It looked like the stage may not hold up, but it did.

The all-regional team was Brooks, Hairston, Humphrey, Porter, Green, who was the MOP. I didn't get a vote, but I can't argue much with that. It's unusual for the losing team to have more players on the all-tournament team than the winners.

The net is now being cut down since it didn't fall off on its own.

Humphrey finished with 23 to lead Florida. Green added 21. Noah also had a big game with 14 each points and rebounds.

Aaron Brooks had 27 and Malik Hairston had 18 to lead Oregon.

That's all for now, but I'll have more later from the press conferences if anything interesting is said. I'll also have my best and worst of St. Louis later on.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Up and Down We Go

A quick start to this one with boith clubs comfortable going up and down. UNC leads 13-11 with 15:29 left in the half. The Hoyas are shooting 80 percent to this point (5 of 7) and the Heels are at 57 percent (4 of 7).

Jessie Sapp has two early fouls for Georgetown as the Hoyas have committed four fouls to just one for the Heels.

. . . As expected Reyshawn Terry did not start for the Heels. he came off the bench third for the Heels with 16:17 left in the half.

. . . Roy Hibbert was whistled for his first foul on UNC's firstpossession (against Tyler Hansbrough).

. . . UNC opens in a man-to-man defense as does Georgetown.

. . . Hansbrough scored six of the Heels' first eight points and eight of UNC's first 13.

. . . First two Heels off the bench were Deon Thompson and Alex Stephenson. Patrick Ewing, Jr. was the first off the Hoya bench.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Florida repeats Final Four

The Gators finally finished it off and make their second straight Final Four appearance with a 85-77 win over Oregon. With UCLA repeating as well, it's the first time since 97-98 that two teams will be repeating in the Final Four. North Carolina and Kentucky did it those two years.

I'll be back with postgame info and reaction in a bit.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: The Final of the Four To Be Determined

With one national semi-final match-up now settled - UCLA gets a re-match from last year's title game loss in a date with Florida, which just defeated feisty Orgeon - we're just about set to determine the who will face Ohio State in the other semi next Saturday in Atlanta.

. . . We spotted Patrick Ewing Sr. in the concourse about ten minutes before tup, heading to his seat in section 107 of the Continental Airlines Arena. All eyes were fixated on the big man to the point where traffic stopped in his general vicinity. Makes it hard to get to the men's room when that happens, but it was a neat scene nontheless.

. . . Our sneaker battle is between two Nike schools, although technically they might both be Jordan Brand institutions. You get the point.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Porter finally finds the range

It might be too little too late (no pun intended), but Porter has finally found the range, hitting two straight threes to bring the Ducks within four with 16 seconds left. Poor free throw shooting has also helped as the Gators have missed three in the last two minutes.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: "It ain't over yet!"

An Oregon fan behind me just yelled out, "Hang in there! It ain't over yet!" That was right before Horford bricked a couple of freebies and Maarty Leunen came down for a layup. The lead for Florida is still 6 with 1:53 left.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Tip in 15

Both teams are on the floor going through final stretching and shooting drills. Carolina is in home whites with sky blue shooting jerseys and Georgetown is in road grays with navy blue warm-ups.

Some of the more interesting notes we culled from both teams game notes:

. . . UNC has won 13 consecutive NCAA regional games and seven straight regional finals.

. . . Roy Williams has never faced Georgetown as a head coach.

. . . The is will be the Tar Heels 38th game of the year, tying a school record (1992-93 and the Final Four year of 1997-98).

. . . The Heels are 6-1 in four NCAA Tournament appearances in East Rutherford, with their only loss in the Meadowlands coming against Syracuse in 1987.

. . . Georgetown is in its eighth Elite Eight and its first since 1995-96.

. . . Roy Hibbert is averaging 13.0 ppg and 11.7 rpg in the three games of NCAA Tournament play; his season averages in both categories are 12.7 and 6.8.

. . . The Hoyas average 68.5 points per game and the Heels are scoring at an 85.8 ppg clip. Repsectively they hold teams to 57.0 and 67.9.

. . . Georgetown Athletic Director Bernard Muir was recently honored as one of Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal's "40 Under 40." Muir, 38, has been the Hoya AD since June of 2005.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Oregon still hanging around

Oregon is still hanging around. Brooks, Hairston and Leunen all have four fouls now and are all still in the game with 4:55 left. No reason to save them.

Florida leads by six, but they are leaving a lot of points at the line. The Gators are only 13-21 from the stripe.

Porter is still looking for his first bucket. He's 0-9, 0-7 from three point range. He's not forcing - they're good shots - but on his last one, he jumped forward instead of straight up. That could be his problem.

Florida's up 70-64 and Hairston has just fouled out boxing out on Horford. There's now 3:54 left and time is running out for the Ducks.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Florida starting to pull away

Florida got back to back threes from Humprhrey to extend the Gators' lead to 10, although Maarty Leunen hit one right before the timeout to get the Ducks back to within 7.

Humphrey has matched Brooks with 23 points.

Hairston picked up his fourth foul about a minute ago and Catron came in to replace him. Catron's had such a tough day with fouls, I'm surprised he didn't foul the official scorer checking in. After Humphrey's second three, Hairston came back in.

It's Florida by 7 at the eight minute timeout.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Still No Report on UNC Mascot

We asked UNC sports information director Steve Kirschner for an update on the critically injured Tar Heel mascot, Jason Ray, but he had no new information to report beyond that he believed Ray was still in critical condition at a nearby hospital. Adam Lucas has a wonderful tribute to Ray.

. . . Officials for today's game will be Curtis B. Shaw, Michael Scyphers, John M. Higgins and standby official Zelton D. Steed. The crew will have a big impact on the game tonight, as the Hoyas have a distinct size and bulk advantage on the front line and if they are allowed to be physical, it will be a boon to the Hoyas' hopes.

. . . Probable starting line-ups have been distributed and UNC's Reyshawn Terry is not in the Tar Heel list, again replaced by Marcus Ginyard, who would be getting his second straight start after not starting all season long.

The probables look like this:

For UNC, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Ginyard, Brandan Wright and Tyler Hansbrough. That line-up goes 5-11, 6-4, 6-5, 6-9 and 6-9.

For Georgetown, Jonathan Wallace, Jessie Sapp, Roy HIbbert, DaJuan Summers and Jeff Green. That line-up goes 6-1, 6-3, 7-2, 6-8 and 6-9.

There's not a senior in the bunch as the Tar Heels have three frosh and two sophs; and the Hoyas have three juniors, a sophomore and a freshman.

. . . A chant of "Let's Go Hoyas" was started with 43:00 left on the pre-game clock by a rowdy group of Hoya faithful in the upper, 206/207 section of the arena. There is also one very loud young man who will very likely not have any voice left for the game. He's been hurling insults at any UNC player he can identify.

. . . John Thompson the elder is engaged in a courtside conversation with William Rhoden of the New York Times as Thompson readies to go on air for the radio boradcast with his partner Dave Sims.

. . . It's once again looking like a pro-Tar Heel crowd with lots of sky blue in the stands already.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Brooks trying to carry the Ducks

Aaron Brooks is doing it all in an effort to keep the Ducks in this game. He's up to 21 points and has seven of Oregon's 15 in this half. Joevan Catron came in and almost immediately picked up his fourth foul.

Oregon has just called timeout after a turnover and faces its biggest deficit of the game as Florida leads 59-53 with an unlucky (for someone) 13:13 left.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Gators extend lead a little

The credential police went by again yanking at all our credentials to make sure we belong here. Gary Parrish of corporate Big Brother CBS Sportsline said, "We can't even get peanuts in here. How are we getting in here without a credential?"

That's a reference to the fact that they don't allow food in the arena. This is the first place I've ever seen that. If we walk in with a cup the "Liquids Only!" guy checks to make sure that's all we have. I'm tempted to try to bring ice cream in and debate the guy over whether that is any less of a liquid than the ice in my drink, but I'd hate to see good ice cream get wasted over principle.

On the court, Maarty Leunen and Malik Hairston have each picked up their third foul early in the period, and Brooks just got his right after the timeout. Florida is now up six as Humphrey hits another three.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Florida up at half

And interesting and exciting first half, punctuated by a moment of boredom, ended with the Gators up 40-38.

Florida finally stopped turning the ball over. After having nine in the first ten minutes, they only had one after that, which Bryce Taylor converted to a dunk.

Florida also has 11 offensive rebounds among its total of 20. Oregon has a total of 12.

Aaron Brooks took over for Oregon in the last four minutes, scoring nine straight Duck points. He has 14 to lead Oregon, while Malik Hairston has 12.

Florida is led by the three point shooting of Lee Humphrey, who as four of them as part of his 14 points. Taurean Green is the only other Gator in double figures with 10. Noah and Horford are a combined 2-7 from the floor and have eight points.

Right now, our crack staff is changing the nets at both ends of the floor. They'll probably fall off altogether in the second half.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Is there an engineer in the house?

How many engineers does it take to change a net?

Both bands have gone through their full repertoire. The net still isn't changed.

If this goes on much longer, both teams will have to warm up again.

Pat Forde (two seats to my right) thought the guy changing it should wave the old one above his head, but he didn't.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Burning the nets

Lee Humphrey's latest three pointer has dislodged the net from the basket and we have a timeout while that is fixed. We've now had net problems at both ends.

Humprhey has hit 3-5 from three point range and has a steal and breakaway layup for 11 points total. Malik Hairston is up to 12 for Oregon after another nice move in the lane.

Florida is starting to look inside more - finally. I am eternally baffled by their long stretches where they seem to forget about that part of their game. Joevan Catron picked up his third foul the last time down trying to guard Noah and Aaron Brooks, who has two, is back in for Oregon.

In the time I wrote all this, no ladder has appeared yet to fix the net. We may be here a while.

Not only that, we're ten seconds from another media timeout.

Florida has pulled ahead 33-27 with 4:09 to go.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Oregon maintaining lead

One key development in the last segment was Aaron Brooks picking up his second foul. Malik Hairston and Bryce Taylor are picking up the slack. They are a combined 6-7 from the floor. Brooks has the only other two buckets for the Ducks.

Florida is up to nine offensive rebounds and nine turnovers.

When Al Horford was shooting free throws a minute ago, and Oregon fan behind me yelled, "You're ugly and your shoes are huge!" I guess that qualifies as an insult from a fan of Team Nike.

Oregon is up 3 with 7:50 left.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

Meadowlands: Welcome Back to 1982

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - We're back at the Continental Airlines Arena for the regional final between No. 1 seed North Carolina and No. 2 seed Goergetown which tips at 5:05. We've settled into the Hang Time perch a bit early so we can follow along with the Florida-Orgeon game on the monitors positioned to our far left and far right.

Fans are lined up outside at the gates and will be allowed in the building in about 15 minutes according to our friendly neighborhood usher, Jackie E. There was also some tailgating commencing when the media shuttle dropped us off.

. . . There's a scorer's table seat reserved for NCAA selection committee chairman Gary Walters, who will be in his fourth region in four days. Impressive travel schedule, that, as he worked his way eastward from San Jose on Thursday.

. . . We're also expecting John Thompson III's dad, John Thompson to be in the building, as he calls the gamne on thhe national radio feed. No word on whether Michael Jordan will be here. Jeremiah Rivers' dad, Doc - who was unable to attend the Friday night game because his Celtics were playing - is also expected to be in attendance.

. . . Georgetown game notes are here.

North Carolina game notes are here.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Oregon up now

There were some pretty athletic plays in this last segment. Corey Brewer had a nice scoop shot in the lane. That was followed by Bryce Taylor dunking over Al Horford. Then Walter Hodge tried to put one in over his shoulder and backwards, but that didn't work.

Brewer also picked up a charge and on the next possession, got tied up by two Ducks for a jump ball. Walking back down court, he had a discussion and a laugh with ref Tom O'Neill, probably about the charge, which O'Neill called.

Oregon has hit four of its last six shots and now leads by two with Noah going to the line. Florida is up to seven turnovers already. When they hold onto the ball, the Gators get good looks, but are only 4-11 from the floor so far.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Florida up early

Some key early stats. Florida has seven rebounds already, including four on offense. The Ducks gave up 19 offensive rebounds to UNLV, and a number like that today will probably be fatal.

Oregon has missed two of its first three three pointers, both by Friday's star, Tajuan Porter. The Ducks are only 2-6 from the floor to start the game, but Florida is only 3-9.

Florida has three turnovers already. They have been sloppy with the ball to start each of the last four halves.

The net got caught on the rim at the Oregon hoop. That net also got caught twice on Friday.

The refs have already had to tell the kids on the bench to sit down twice.

It turns out that the Oregon cheerleader that I mentioned the other day that is bigger than all the others is Ernie Kent's daughter.

Florida leads 8-5 at the first timeout.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Lineups being introduced - probably

The lineups are being introduced to the crowd, although we can't really hear them. The PA here sounds like the adult voice in those old Peanuts cartoons ("Wahwahwah").

It's kind of a late arriving crowd. Florida fans appear to have scarfed up a lot of the tickets that Butler and Vegas fans unloaded, but there's still lot of good empty seats and people filing in.

Right before the game, the Duck mascot was going down press row shaking hands with everyone, but he paid special attention to and got a little flirty with Nancy Armour of the AP. I expect her face started to match her red hair.

Oregon is wearing black unis, with green trim and day-glo yellow numbers. People at the top of the arch will have no trouble seeing them.

There's the tip, and we're underway.

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Sunday, 03/25/07

St. Louis: Getting ready

We're a half hour before tip and the teams and refs are on the floor. The bands and cheerleaders are in place. The Oregon band is playing "Dude Looks Like a Lady." I don't know who they're talking about.

I had to use all my miles, but I got a seat upgrade for this game. I'm now sitting directly behind Len Elmore. near center court.

My old boss is working the game today. When I was a high school ref, I worked for Tom O'Neill, who assigned the games for the league I worked in south suburban Chicago. He's the referee for today's battle. The three guys doing this game did not work either game on Friday. Maybe we'll have a well officiated game today. For a change.

Both teams will start the same guys that started on Friday. Oregon is going with Brooks, Porter, Leunen, Hairston and Taylor. Florida will use Green, Humphrey, Horford, Brewer and Noah.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Famous last words

UCLA wins 68-55 and advances to the Final Four (not like you didn't know that).

First off, the all-tournament team:

Jamal Tatum, Southern Illinois
Russel Robinson, Kansas
Darren Collison, UCLA
Brandon Rush, Kansas
Aaron Afflalo, UCLA

MVP: Aaron Afflalo

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Key plays of the game:
1- At the end of the first half, Aaron Afflalo penetrates into the key, but kicks out a pass to Josh Shipp in the corner, who buries the three as the horn sounds to put UCLA up 35-31 at the half.
2- With the shot clock winding down in the second half, point guard Darren Collison puts up an NBA three-pointer and sinks it to give UCLA an 8-point advantage and ignite the pro-Bruin crowd.

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Bill Self:
For the last 25 minutes of the game, they controlled the game. I think we got sped up. I thought our guards got a little careless. We overpenetrated, should have been driving to the dish more. But you know, the kids were trying so hard. I mean, being sped up on defense is great, but we needed to flip it; you need to be sped up on defense and relaxed on offense.

Both teams can guard. Heck, we had 17 steals and forced 25 turnovers. But you've got to make shots and they made theirs.

I'd much rather play in the game (and not make the Final Four) than not be in it. But it hurts. This is a hard-working profession to put yourself in this position. But I'm not going to look and say "poor pitiful me." It's not about that.

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Ben Howland:
We beat the best team we played all year. For sure, Kansas is the best team in my opinion that we faced all season.

We were fortunate to be able to win with 25 turnovers. We shot over 50%, which I think was the only team all year to shoot over 50% against them. But it's kind of an asterisk next to it with 25 turnovers.

I thought the shot at the end of the half was great. Aaron Afflalo made a great read and penetrated and hit Josh for the shot. Taht gave us great momentum going into the half. Then it was like two boxers going at it in the second half. Both teams were slugging it out the first three or four minutes.

Then Darren's shot was unbelievable. Shots like that are back-breakers. You're playing great defense and then a guy hits an unbelievable shot from 25 feet. That is tough. The bounces went our way.

There's no doubt that Bill Self and Kansas are going to win a national championship here at some point. They do an incredible job. They're as well-coached as anybody we've played. It's an incredible program.

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Best cheerleaders/dancers: UCLA.
Hands down, a no-brainer.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Veni, Vidi, Vici

Ben Howland extols the crowd as Dick Enberg awaits to interview him

UCLA wins 68-55 over Kansas.

In a nutshell, the Bruins just never let KU get over that 6-to-10 point hump. UCLA was Heisman-like, with a good stiff-arm of the Jayhawks all afternoon long.

Bruins hit key free throws, made huge defensive stops and had the body language of a team that didn't want to lose at all. And of course, shooting near-60% shooting (10-for-17) in the second half didn't hurt either.

Strong work Bruins.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: two words, Helter Skelter

Man! KU has upped the ante on defense. The equivalence of an 8-man blitz in football. They're going after UCLA ball-handlers pell-mell now. The Bruin fans were screaming for Collison to pass the ball to a wide-open man under the goal, but with so many hands, elbows and arms flailing at him, he couldn't see him. It's going to be a foul-fest.

UCLA up 60-53 with 1:26 blood-curdling time remaining.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Why are those threes at the buzzer so big?

When Daron Collison hit that three as the shot clock expired, the joint exploded here in Jose!

That put UCLA up by eight. A defensive stand further energized things for the Bruin faithful. But Aaron Afflalo just chucked the ball into the stands, taking the wind out of things briefly here.

UCLA up 58-50, 3:10 left. KU MUST make its move now... if it can. Tell you what, if KU doesn't score on their next three possessions, it's Taps City.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Crunch time imminent

Okay, so here we go. UCLA has had a 6-to-9 point buffer the whole second half, and now leads by eight, 53-45, with 7:30 left. KU needs to keep letting Rush take advantage of his one-on-one matchups. Though as a team, UCLA is still staying stoudt on D.

Key stat is Lorenzo Mata picking up foul number four a few minutes ago. The ball doesn't seem to be falling for KU and the Bruins will need his rebounding ability in the closing minutes.

All the press boys are staring at the UCLA dance girls again. Who needs a juggler with that going on, right?

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: If you guys haven't seen this dude before...

the freakin' incredible UCLA juggler.

According to my good bud John Walters of NBC.com, who did a feature on him earlier this year, the guy is a senior at UCLA and actually has a scholarship to be the juggler for the athletic program. He got the scholarship by telling the University, "Look, if a baton twirler can get a scholarship for throwing and catching one object, I should get one for three to 10 objects."

Sure enough. It worked. The dude got a full-freakin'-ride scholly.

Gotta say though, the crowd is transfixed every time he enters the floor to work his act.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Afflalo vs. Rush. Afflalo wins. UCLA up by 7

So much for my previous analysis... at least on this one.

With the shot clock winding down Aaron Afflalo shaked-n-baked and put up a three-pointer, bottoms! Rush wasn't playing in-his-jock defense that time. Bruins up 40-33 with 16:35 remaining.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Ohio State Newsy Notes

Some newsy notes from today's South Regional final:

• Ohio State improved its record to 34-3 with the 92-76 win against Memphis, extending the school's single-season record for victories. The previous mark (27) had been shared by the 1961 and 1999 teams.

• The Buckeyes have won 21 games in a row. The school record of 32 was set by the 1960 (five wins to close out the season) and 1961 teams (27 wins to start the season). The current streak began with a 68-66 win over Tennessee on Jan. 13 in Columbus.

• Ohio State is now 12-3 all-time against teams from Conference USA.

• The Buckeyes are going to the Final Four for the first time since 1999 and the 10th time overall. Ohio State played in the very first NCAA finals in 1939 and finished as runners-up to Oregon.

• Thad Matta's record with the Buckeyes now stands at 80-21 in three seasons in Columbus. His overall record in seven seasons is 182-52. This will be his first trip to the Final Four.

• Each of Matta's seven teams have won at least 20 games. This is his first 30-win season and he has averaged 26 wins a year.

• Matta has taken all six of his eligible teams to the NCAA Tournament, where his record is 11-5.

• Mike Conley, Jr., the true freshman who garnered MOP honors for the South Regional, owns the Ohio State single-season records for steals (83) and assists (226).

• Ohio State is now 59-4 when ranked No. 1 in the polls.

• Ron Lewis is averaging 24.0 points in NCAA Tournament play. He has made 24-of-46 field goal attempts, including 12-of-26 shots from three-point range.

• Ohio State is now 22-1 this year when scoring more than 70 points.

• The 92 points by OSU is the second-highest point total for the Buckeyes this season, surpassed only by 103 in the season opener against VMI.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: It's all about defense, UCLA up 35-31

Despite the score in the 30s, this has been a bitchin' first half defensively. Hands everywhere, quick feet and great helpside D on both teams part.

Turnovers: UCLA, 13. KU, 10.
Steals: UCLA has 6, KU has stolen 8.
Blocks: UCLA 1, KU has blocked 5

That last stat is the kind that tends to get into the head of a team. So we'll see if that continues to make a difference in the second half.

Great last play for UCLA:
It came down to that matchup that I've said was a huge key to this game, Aaron Afflalo passed up a chance to shoot the last shot against the more-athletic Brandon Rush, and dished the ball to Josh Shipp, who drained a three at the horn. Boom! UCLA up by four now.

And a smart play on Afflalo's part.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: For what it's worth - NBA prospects

The professional basketball evaluator next to me has said that Kareem Rush is the best prospect in the game tonight.

He also said that Aaron Afflalo isn't athletic enough, doesn't have the explosiveness of an NBA player for a guy 6'5. He pointed out to me that Aflalo's had three of his shots blocked, two by Rush, and it has gotten in his head now.

Keep that in mind as the game goes on.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Kansas pulling a UCLA. Up 20-16

The Jayhawks have been playing the type of D that UCLA has been more known for in the Howland era. Harassing, haranging and destroying the confidence of the Bruins and Aaron Afflalo, in particular, so far.I'll be interested to see what the turnover and steal totals are at the half.

Kansas is flashing huge athletic ability too, pulling off three alley oop plays already in this game. Going over the top of the tough UCLA defense has been sweet to the Jayhawks so far.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Knee-jerk reactions to first few minutes

It's 12-9 Kansas. 15:25 mark

1- The refs are a little too keyed up. Seems like they've already made a few bad calls.

2- Kansas, unlike Pitt, appears to have an offense and can actually score against the Bruins. They are moving the ball around extremely well so far.

3- More Bruin fans appear to have made the trip up here today. It's a louder powder blue today.

4- The entire press row was oggling the UCLA dance girls during the entirety of this first time out. Pffft!Perverts.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Vision Realized

Thad Matta's words to the Ohio State fans that stuck around for the post-game awards ceremony and net-cutting ceremonies were short but sweet:

"Three years ago we talked about a vision for this program. It just became a reality."

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Atlanta-Bound Buckeyes

Ohio State is Final Four-bound with its 92-67 victory over Memphis in the books. They are handing out the T-shirts, they have set up the podium at center court for the awards ceremony and they just announced the All-Regional team over the P.A. system: Chris Douglas-Roberts (UM), Jeremy Hunt (UM), Greg Oden (OSU), Ron Lewis (OSU) and Most Outstanding Player Mike Conley, Jr. (OSU).

More to come from the post-game pressers, which should get underway shortly.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Approaching the Final

Memphis used a pair of three-pointers to whittle the OSU advantage down to 78-72. But Chris Douglas-Roberts just picked up his fifth personal foul and the Buckeyes used four free throws to open the lead to double digits again.

The Ohio State fans in the house are starting to sense it: the school's first Final Four appearance since 1999.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Oden, Ohio State Taking Control

Greg Oden's nifty spin move and bucket extended a 17-6 run that has given Ohio State a 71-66 lead. The seven-footer has scored 12 of his 17 points during the second half. The Buckeyes seem be inching toward that Final Four berth.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: CDR

Chris Douglas-Roberts has scored 10 of his 12 points during the first seven minutes of the second half to help Memphis take back the lead. It's 56-51, Tigers leading.

C-D-R! C-D-R! chants the crowd.

Oden is back in the game with three fouls.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Oden Benched Again

Just when Oden was really starting to go to work on the offensive end -- with three field goals during the second half so far -- the freshman went to the bench with his third personal foul. Definitely a phantom call but the Memphis fans aren't complaining.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: State Strikes Quickly to Open Half

Ohio State opened the second half with a pair of Greg Oden buckets in the first 40 seconds to open a 45-38 lead and prompt Calipari to call a quick timeout.

Antonio Anderson, who missed the end of the first half after getting whacked by teammate Robert Dozier during a scramble for a rebound, is back on the court with a small bandage above his nose.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Jose: Dick Enberg. The man. They myth.

Dick Enberg... A blurry Dick Enberg that is. Sorry.

As part of CBS' announcing crew here in San Jose is play by play extraordinaire, Dick Enberg, this time teamed with Jay Bilas. His voice will always be tied to college basketball for me, especially in his days with NBC and part of the announcing team of Al McGuire and Billy Packer. Those three legends teamed up for five high-quality years of roundball announcing.

I mean, I love the improvements that CBS has made over the years to its coverage of the Big Dance, but it was in its heyday with those three calling the action. The biggest stage of all was their calling of the 1979 Michigan State-Indiana State game featuring Magic Johnson against Larry Bird. Even to this day, it is still the most-watched college hoops game in history. I didn't even mind the fact that NBC used Kenny Loggins' "This is it" as their theme music.

Unfortunately, NBC's run of televising the NCAA tournament ended after Darrell Griffith and Louisville's "Doctors of Dunk" beat UCLA in the 1980 title game. CBS took over the next season (and promptly went out and showed fewer replays, especially on dunks, might i add). I always thought their coverage was much weaker in the early years. As mentioned above, eventually CBS' coverage improved and they did a lot of smart things - like stagger the start times and televise every game.

Dick Enberg, a Central Michigan grad, was a UCLA announcer during the Lew Alcindor/Bill Walton days before jumping up to NBC. He should be at home working today's UCLA-Kansas game. I'm jealous of all you out there since I won't be able to hear his call of the action.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: OSU Ahead at Halftime

Memphis ended the half on an 8-2 run -- featuring a pair of Willie Kemp three-pointers and an explosive Chris Douglas-Roberts slam dunk -- to close within 41-38.

Jeremy Hunt has been carrying the load for the Tigers with a game-high 16 points while freshman point guard Mike Conley paces the Buckeyes with 11. The interior stars for both sides -- Memphis forward Joey Dorsey and OSU center Greg Oden -- spent a majority of the first half on the bench with two personal fouls apiece.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

St. Louis: Off-day Press Feeding

It's the day after the night and before the day in St. Louis. That means two things. First, we had the off-day press conferences. Second, two other elite eight games are happening. I'm writing this one as the Ohio St-Memphis game is starting. I'm not sure I have enough alcohol in my veins to watch the Buckeyes, although you might think otherwise after reading that first sentence. It could be the heat. I underpacked. It's 125 degrees in St. Louis today (with the wind chill) and I have nothing but long sleeves.

This is a pretty Oregon-heavy note because their guys had more interesting things to say...

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Thrill of the Hunt

The lead just changed hands for the fifth time today as Jeremy Hunt buried a three-pointer to open a 20-17 lead for the Tigers. The Memphis native has 13 points this afternoon -- including a 7-for-8 performance from the line so far.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Two on Oden

Just seconds after throwing down a vicious two-handed dunk to give Ohio State a 17-15 advantage, Greg Oden was whistled for his second personal foul as play broke for the 12-minute media timeout. Wouldn't be surprised to see the freshman watch the last 9:14 of the first half from the bench.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Tigers Edge Ahead

Memphis senior Jeremy Hunt has scored eight straight points (one three-pointer and five more from the charity stripe) to turn a 9-2 deficit into a 10-9 advantage -- the first Memphis lead of the game with 12:25 remaining in the first half. We've got ourselves a game.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Memphis Still Settling In

Memphis has looked a little bit rattled by the magnitude of the situation during the first few possessions. The Tigers missed their first seven shots, turned the ball over three times and allowed Ohio State to open an 8-0 lead before Antonio Anderson's transition lay-up got the Conference USA champs on the board. The count is 8-2 at the 16-minute media timeout.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Sign Watch

MEMPHIS 3, EXPERTS 0

It would appear even the fans are embracing the Coach Cal's us-against-the-world attitude.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Starting Lineups

With about 10 minutes until tip, the Ohio State pep band just played the national anthem and the starting lineups have been distributed to the media. They are:

Memphis (33-3)

G #1 Willie Kemp, Freshman, 6-2, 165, Bolivar, Tenn.
G #12 Antonio Anderson, Sophomore, 6-6, 200, Lynn, Mass.
G #14 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Sophomore, 6-6, 190, Detroit, Mich.
F #2 Robert Dozier, Sophomore, 6-9, 215, Lithonia, Ga.
F #32 Joey Dorsey, Junior, 6-9, 260, Baltimore Md.

Ohio State (33-3)

G #1 Mike Conley, Jr., Freshman, 6-1, 180, Indianapolis, Ind.
G #12 Ron Lewis, Senior, 6-4, 200, Columbus, Ohio
G #14 Jamar Butler, Junior, 6-2, 205, Lima, Ohio
C #20 Greg Oden, Freshman, 7-0, 280, Indianapolis, Ind.
F #3 Ivan Harris, Senior, 6-7, 220, Springfield, Ohio

Game Officials

Timothy Higgins
Donnee Gray
Mike Kitts
Paul Faia (standby)

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: The Wow of Wright

It is a question that Brandan Wright did not have to hesitate to answer. He knows the number as cold as he knows his own birthdate (10/5/87) and probably better than he knows his season averages (14.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and almost two blocks per game).

"It's 7-feet-5-inches," said the soft-spoken freshman from Nashville, Tennessee of his otherworldly wingspan. "I think at the Nike camp they really take pride in those numbers. That's the first time I started to look into it."

The rest of college basketball is starting to look into the Wright Wingspan and the Wright Way with more intensity as well, especially as he leads his Tar Heels into a date with Georgetown on Sunday in the Elite Eight. At 6-foot-9, 205 pounds, Wright possesses freakish speed, freakish jumping ability and the freakish wingspan that allows almost every ball to be within his reach. So much so that his teammates each have their own Wright "Wow Moments."

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Saturday, 03/24/07

San Antonio: Texas-Sized Showdown

The first spot in the Final Four will be filled this afternoon when Ohio State and Memphis clash in a showdown between the region's top two seeds.

With about 90 minutes to go until the tip (3:40 p.m. local time), about 200 fans have trickled into the cavernous Alamodome. The announcer is testing the P.A. system, an invisible band member from either school is tuning his or her trumpet and the hungry media contingent is feasting on an elaborate spread featuring tricked-out salad and fajita bars.

The Buckeyes and Tigers have not lost in a combined 169 games (winning a combined 45 contests over that span) but something's got to give today. Who's going to blink first?

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: No Word on Tar Heel Mascot, Jason Ray

Just wanted to give a non-update, update on the Tar Heel mascot, Jason Ray, who was critically injured in a pedestrian/vehicle accident on Friday afternoon outside his hotel in Fort Lee, NJ.

UNC sports information director Steve Kirschner said he was still awaiting word from Ray's family and/or the hospital (Hackensack Medical Center) where Ray was taken yesterday and listed in critical condition.

"We were told after the game that he was in really bad shape and that he had an accident," said UNC senior reserve Wes Miller. "I personally don't know him, but he is a Carolina student and we are just praying for him, hoping for the best. Hopefully his family knows that he is in our prayers right now."

"I found out after the game that he was hit by a car," said UNC sophomore Danny Green. "We are praying for him right now and hopefully everything will turn out all right. We have a lot of guys on the team, who are close friends with him. If we have time to visit him, we will go, but I am not sure we will be able to get over there or not."

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: Terry Update

UNC's lone senior of note, Reyshawn Terry, is still battling the effects of his bout with strep throat and coach Roy Williams is still not sure of what Terry's status will be for Sunday's game.

"I did hear him laugh this morning for the first time in seven days," said Williams. "But he had no gas in the tank left last night. His tank was out and I emptied it after he didn't get back on defense after missing a jumper in front of our bench (and arguing with an official)."

Terry missed his first start of the season and came off the bench to play in just five minutes (one in the second half), but still managed nine points and an assist. Sophomore Marcus Ginyard got the start in place of Terry, his first of the season, and filled in admirably with 10 points, nine rebounds and one turnover in 26 minutes.

. . . We're working on a Brandan Wright columnette for later in the day and will also get you some highlights from the Georgetown coach and player availibility sessions.

. . . As expected, the 1982 game is a big storyline and Williams seemed to get a bit weary of the line of questioning during his presser, but still offered some his memories and thoughts on that game, where he still had "black hair" and was an assistant under Dean Smith. The players - none of whom were born in 1982 - were also a bit perplexed by the '82 storyline, but did their best to answer the historical questions on the game. The clip of Jordan's shot is part of a pre-game video shown in the Dean Dome, according to the players.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: In-between Day Pressers

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Welcome back to the Continental Airlines Arena where the in-between day press conferences and player/coach availibility is scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes.

The match-up most folks were anticipating (and media members were begging for) has come to fruition as No. 1 seed North Carolina will face No. 2 seed Georgetown in what is being billed as the 25th Anniversary re-match of the 1982 NCAA Championship game played at the New Orleans Superdome on March 29, 1982.

UNC won that historic battle 63-62 on a 16-foot jumper with 15 seconds left by a precocious freshman named Michael Jordan. Georgetown's Fred Brown, on the ensuing possession, threw the ball away into the hands of James Worthy to clinch the first National Championship for Dean Smith and launch the Era of MJ.

"Jordan had his best game as a freshman in the final, but Worthy was the obvious MVP," said Dean Smith in the UNC media guide. "His play gets overshadowed because of Michael's shot. The play was No. 1 to post up Worthy, then have Perkins come in behind him. or you could go crosscourt to the wing for Michael and was wide open from 17-18 feet. It looked good, i was right in line with him. Then we put on our scramble defense. Worthy was out of position, but Jordan stopped the pass that made Fred Brown throw it away."

The teams have met four times since then, splitting those games (1989-90 and 2002-03 games went to Georgetown; and 1994-95 and 1999-00 to UNC). Overall, the series is even at 4-4. UNC is 2-0 in NCAA Tournament play against the Hoyas (the other win coming on March 23, 1995 in the Southeast Regional semifinals in Birmingham, Ala.).

While that storyline will be overplayed and overhyped in the next 27 hours (and throughout the CBS broadcast which tips at 5:05 EST on Sunday), the overall effect of that game on this Regional Final is negligible at best. Yes, there's a Ewing on the floor for Georgetwon tomorrow night as there was in '82 and yes, Roy Williams was an assistant coach on that Smith staff. But this is a completely different era of college basketball and the stakes are arguably higher (at least monetarily and in terms of exposure) in this game than they were in '82.

. . . The team's last met, oddly, in the NIT quarterfinals in Chapel Hill in 2003 in Matt Doherty's final game as Tar Heel head coach as the Hoyas won 79-74 in a down year for both teams. What a difference four years makes.

. . . Just got to meet CSTV's Brian Curtis who is working his rear off here in East Rutherford and is getting geared up for the Atlanta sojourn where the network has some major plans to bring wall-to-wall coverage. Curtis's producer and camera man have been working the phones all morning long as they set up some special features which you're going to need to tune into CSTV to watch.

. . . A little bit of buzz in the media room concerning the perception that Jeff Green may have travelled on his game-winning move and bank-shot. We've seen the replay several times and we're not buying the travel. He fumbled the ball, which he admitted and there's no way you can travel when you don;t have possession of the ball. Just something for the talk radio folks to burn the lines about. No referee has ever determined the outcome of a game by himself. Never.

That said, Taj Gibson's fourth and fifth fouls in the nightcap for USC were sketchy at best and Tim Floyd said as much (coyly) in the post-game.

. . . We're heading over to the pressers and we'll be back periodically, so stick with us you Hangers-on.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

St. Louis: Oregon-UNLV wrap

Among the things we learned tonight, we learned that margin of victory can be deceiving in basketball. The night cap ended up being a closer score (4 points), but wasn't really as close a game as Florida-Butler.

Tajuan Porter's final line: 9-17 from the floor, 8-12 on threes, 7-9 from the line for 33 points. Malik Hairston added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Maarty Leunen had 11 and 10.

For UNLV, they shot 28-74, a whopping 26 more attempts than Oregon, but only five more hoops. The Rebels were 9-33 from three-point range, and many of those came late. Michael Umeh and Kevin Kruger finished with 15 each.

I'll be back tomorrow with a preview of the final on Sunday, which tips at 1:40 CT.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: Heels Win It

UNC advances with a 74-64 win as Brandan Wright finishes iwth a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds. Taj Gibson finished with 16 points and 12 rebouinds for 'SC.

. . . Sunday's game will be a 5:05 tip, meaning it is the second of the CBS doubleheader and we will add the fourth of the Final Four teams from this site (as expected with CBS's No. 1 team of Packer and Nantz at this venue).

. . .Tim Floyd was T'ed up with 48.5 seconds to go after contesting an offensive foul call on Taj Gibson. Floyd stepped onto the court and threw the two pieces of paper he had in his hand onto the court in the direction of the official.

Somewhere in El Paso, Floyd's mentor, Don Haskins, smiled at that one.

Replays indicated the call was a bit suspicious at best. It was Gibson's fifth foul of the game.

. . . We'll be back on Saturday with some coverage of the between-day press conference which begin at 1:30 p.m. EST.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: Heels Win It

UNC advances with a 74-64 win as Brandan Wright finishes iwth a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds. Taj Gibson finished with 16 points and 12 rebouinds for 'SC.

. . . Sunday's game will be a 5:05 tip, meaning it is the second of the CBS doubleheader and we will add the fourth of the Final Four teams from this site (as expected with CBS's No. 1 team of Packer and Nantz at this venue).

. . .Tim Floyd was T'ed up with 48.5 seconds to go after contesting an offensive foul call on Taj Gibson. Floyd stepped onto the court and threw the two pieces of paper he had in his hand onto the court in the direction of the official.

Somewhere in El Paso, Floyd's mentor, Don Haskins, smiled at that one.

Replays indicated the call was a bit suspicious at best. It was Gibson's fifth foul of the game.

. . . Some final numbers from this one: USC shot just 33 percent in the second half (22 points) while the Heels shot 41 percent in the second half (41 points). Carolina out-rebounded the Trojans 46-39 and USC had twice as many turnovers (18-9).

Danny Green had a solid game off the bench for UNC with eight points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes of play.

. . . We'll be back on Saturday with some coverage of the between-day press conferences which begin at 1:30 p.m. EST.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

St. Louis: Oregon hangs on

UNLV fought all the way to the end, but fell just short as Oregon advances 76-72. Michael Umeh had 8 points in the last 1:20 and Joe Darger hit a three also as the Rebels tried to make an improbable comeback. Ultimately, it was too much Tajuan Porter, who hit 4-6 free throws down in the final minute to seal it.

Oregon will face Florida for a trip to Atlanta on Sunday.

It's pretty funny to see 6'10" Len Elmore interview the 5'6" Porter after the game.

I'll be back with some postgame info and reaction.

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Saturday, 03/24/07

Meadowlands: Heels-Hoyas in the Offing

We're 1:16 from a Sunday battle between the No. 1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels and the No. 2 seed Georgetown Hoyas. UNC, after a spirited second half is up 70-64 with 1:16 left.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Tar Heels Off and Running

It took a while but the Heels are off and running and now up 69-62. Most of the run has come without Tyler Hansbrough contributing in any way. Brandan Wright has 21 for the game (13 in the second half) and nine rebounds. Taj Gibson continsues to lead USC with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

. . . UNC is winning the second chance points battle 29-4 and the turnovers have absolutley killed USC, with 18 (10 in the second half). UNC has a 50-28 edge in paints scoring.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Tar Heels Off and Running

It took a while but the Heels are off and running and now up 69-62. Most of the run has come without Tyler Hansbrough contributing in any way. Brandan Wright has 21 for the game (13 in the second half) and nine rebounds. Taj Gibson continsues to lead USC with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

. . . UNC is winning the second chance points battle 29-4 and the turnovers have absolutley killed USC, with 18 (10 in the second half). UNC has a 50-28 edge in paints scoring.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Rebels not going quietly

UNLV has used a 15-4 run over the last four minutes to cut the Oregon lead to six. They just had a five point possession when Joel Anthony was fouled (bad call) on a dunk. He missed the free throw, but Wink Adams got the rebound (after a pretty big push off that wasn't called), kicked it out to Michael Umeh for a three.

Umeh has just scored again to cut it to four with 50.2 seconds left.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: UNC Winning Rebound Battle

UNC has a 15-9 rebounding edge in the half and that is largely why the Heels are now leading 62-59 with under-7:00 to go.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Everything just Ducky

Porter is back in the game for Oregon as they try to run out the clock on this win over UNLV. The Duck lead is 13 with just three minutes to play.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Tar Heels Get Back Into It

With what seems like a home crowd behind them, the Tar Heels have made this a three point game with a 17-8 run. It's USC up 59-56 with 8:23 left in the game.

The tide has definitely shifted and the pro-Tar Heel supporters are being heard with every.

Brandan Wright now has 16 to lead the Tar Heels. Nick Young leads USC with 15.

. . . Our sneaker war is between to Nike schools, although technically UNC is in Jordan Brand shoes.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Tar Heels Get Back Into It

With what seems like a home crowd behind them, the Tar Heels have made this a three point game with a 17-8 run. It's USC up 59-56 with 8:23 left in the game.

The tide has definitely shifted and the pro-Tar Heel supporters are being heard with every.

Brandan Wright now has 16 to lead the Tar Heels. Nick Young leads USC with 15.

. . . Our sneaker war is between to Nike schools, although technically UNC is in Jordan Brand shoes.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Porter comes up limping

Aaron Brooks hit a layup to stop a 9-0 Oregon run and then Porter hit another three to put the lead back to 14. On the next possession, UNLV finally got a hand in Porter's face and he missed a three. Worse than that, he came up limping. I don't think it's anything too serious because he came out of the game, but is just sitting on the bench. The trainers aren't working on him.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Pruitt To It

With 11:16 left in the game, the Trojans lead 57-49.

. . . Gabe Pruitt is simply phenomenal for the Trojans, including his strip in the backcourt that led to a nasty dunk and gave USC a 51-39 lead. He has 11 points and six assists on 4 of 9 from the field.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: UNLV showing life

Joel Anthony has come in off the bench and scored six straight points to help cut the Oregon lead to 11 with 7:58 to go. The UNLV fans have stayed in the game pretty much the whole way and are especially loud at the moment. That's probably because the band is playing "Viva Las Vegas" again. Is that their fight song?

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Ducking for cover

UNLV is starting to fade quickly in this game. The Rebels trail by 18 now at the 11:37 mark of the second half. The Ducks have outscored them 21-7 so far in the second half. Tajuan Porter has another three and 26 total. Maarty Leunen has 11, which puts the two of them just three short of the whole UNLV team.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: USC Extends

The Trojans have come out with a 7-2 run in the first 4:29 of the second half and now lead 49-35 with 15:31.

. . . Eli Manning of the New York Football Giants is in attendance tonight. He looks like he's about 15 years old and I swear I cuaght him eating cotton candy.

. . . Our update on the UNC mascot is as follows:

UNC student Jason Ray, a senior from Concord, NC was injured in a pedestrian/vehicle accident late this afternoon while walking outside a hotel in Fort Lee, NJ

Ray, a member of the cheerleading squad, has worn the mascot unifrom the past three years and was scheduled to have been at tonight's game.

Ray was taken to Hackensack Medical Center where he is in critical condition.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Porter misses!

Tajuan Porter finally missed. After hitting yet another three to give him 23 for the game, he finally clanked one off the back iron. It then hit the top of the backboard, then the shot clock, the top of the backboard again, and then it almost went it. It wouldn't have counted of course, but when you're hot, you're hot.

Oregon leads by 15 at the first media timeout anyway.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Tar Heel Mascot Injured

Some sad news from the UNC sports info staff as news has circulated along press row that the UNC team mascot (more accurately the student wearing the mascot outfit) was injured earlier today. The mascot - we're not sure if it's a male or female - is in critical condition at a local hospital.

We're efforting more information but needless to say our thoughts go out to the mascot and the student's family.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Oregon extends the lead

We're not even two minutes into the half, but Oregon has started on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 12. Tajuan Porter hit another three to give him 20 points. The Ducks are doing this with little offensive production from their leading scorer, Aaron Brooks, who only has two points on 1-5 shooting.

UNLV's only attempt from the floor so far this half was a Michael Umeh three pointer that was so strong it almost went through the backboard.

And because I know you need to know, the latest cheerleader fashion update is that the UNLV dancers have gone back to their undressed look, while half the Oregon cheerleaders changed back into yellow and the other half stayed in black.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Halftime Stats and Observations

For the most part, USC simply outplayed and outshot the Tar Heels in the first half. USC was 17 of 34 from the field while the Heels shot just 15 of 40 and only 2 of 12 from 3-point land.

Nick Young had 11 first half points and Taj Gibson had 12 points to lead USC. Gibson also has a game-high nine rebounds. UNC was led by eight points and five rebounds from Brandan Wright and the strep throat of Reyshawn Terry has limited him to just seven points in four minutes.

. . . Postgame quotes from the Georgetown press conference are now posted at ASAPsports.com for your viewing pleasure.

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Friday, 03/23/07

Meadowlands: Trojans Up at the Break

In another mild surprise from the Swamps of Jersey, USC is up 42-33 at the half.

The Trojans have not been initimidated at all by the beefy front line of the Tar Heels and Gabe Pruitt (nine points) has had moments of absolute briliiance for USC including a fast break dunk and the foul with under a minute left that gave the Trojans a nine point lead.

UNC is 3-4 this season when it trails at the half.

We'll be back in a few with halftime stats and observations.

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Friday, 03/23/07

St. Louis: Little man playing big

Tajuan Porter scored 17 straight Oregon points late in the half to help stake the Ducks to a 37-33 halftime lead. UNLV is only shooting 31% to 43% for Oregon, but they're still in the game.

The Duck mascot came over during a timeout and shook hands with James Brown, who was surprised to see him.

The Oregon cheerleaders just did the quickest outfit change in basketball history, going from fluorescent yellow to black in about two minutes. I can put my sunglasses away now. They also dance in their area while the UNLV band plays. I guess they just have to get their groove on, no matter what music it is.

Commissioner Lecrone just stopped by to say hi to the Brands. I imagine they see each other a lot in Indianapolis.

The UNLV dancers and the Oregon cheerleaders, doubling as the dance team, performed at the half. The UNLV dancers found some clothes.

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