We made it through Weekend One of the 2007 NCAA Tournament and even with the knowledge that my CSTV Expert Pool bracket has lost its national runner-up (Texas), I'm still pretty jacked and pumped (see: USC in Meadowlands next weekend) about surviving both St. St. Patrick's Day in Buffalo and the mysterious Gurgling Sink of Room 1414 at the Pearl Street Hyatt.
If some, or any of that, makes sense, please read on. If it doesn't, you've joined the Hang Time party from The Buff too late and have some catchng up to do. Go ahead and check the archives and then come back. We'll still be here.
After the jump, some Buffalo memories and a peek ahead at the Sweet 16, specifically the East Rutherford Regional, where I begin live-blogging again on Thursday afternoon during the interview sessions from the Meadowlands Arena.
Not to boast or brag too much, but I'm not sure there was a better overall sub-regional - in terms of competitive, intriguing games played - than the one that played out at the HSBC Arena on Thursday and Saturday. The only true stinker of the six games was Pitt's drubbing of Wright State during the Thursday nightcap. But the residual buzz from Duke getting dumped by VCU even made that 79-58 thumping fairly bearable.
Davidson, despite losing by a dozen to Maryland in Game #1, was competitive throughout and only trailed by four points with 2:50 left in the game (with the ball). Butler and ODU in Game #2 was a bit of a yawner, but the fact that two mid-majors were waging war on thenational stage and giving no ground for the first 30 minutes allows us to overlook the ugliness of the contest (the teams hit just 15 combined field goals in the 20-19 first half).
Game #3 was Duke's Demise, Game #5 was Horizon League Butler's downing of ACC-power Maryland and the weekend's capper, Game #6, between Pitt and VCU saw the Rams erase a 19-point deficit in the game's final 12:11 to create overtime, where they ultimately fell.
Ohio State and Xavier may have been THE Game of the first weekend (or Vandy-Washington State's 2OT thriller, but that didn't have Greg Oden or Ron Lewis's miracle shot) but The Buff certainly had its share of storylines and compelling play.
. . .Player of the Buffalo Sub-regional: Eric Maynor. He struggled a bit on Saturday but still wound up with 14 points, eight assists, three steals and the most moxie of anyone in the Greater Buffalo area (which is saying something with the hearty souls who inhabit the region). He was the Hero on Thursday night against Duke and the sophomore guard very likely placed himself on some 2007-08 pre-season All-America teams with his HSBC display. "That kid's a pro," said Tony Chiles, a Drexel assistant who does not look forward to facing the VCU guard for two more years in the rough and tumble CAA.
. . . Coach of the Buffalo Sub-regional: Tie between Bob McKillop of Davidson and Anthony Grant of VCU. McKillop's been doing it at Davidson seemingly forever (since 1989) and Grant has been at VCU for just one year (after a decade with Billy Donovan). They are in different stages of their careers but one striking similarity is the resiliency of their teams and the ability to get more out of less.
. . .Game of the Buffalo Sub-regional: VCU-Pitt. The Duke game was the upset special and saved the first day of the Tournament for everyone, but the comeback executed on the Panthers by the Rams did two things: It showed what kind of team VCU is and it exposed Pitt's inability to handle fullcourt pressure.
. . .Quote of the Buffalo Sub-regional: Two, really, both pertaining to what kind of reaction the VCU Rams got after their upset of Duke:
Jesse Pellot-Rosa:
"I got a lot of calls. I got one phone call from my high school coach and I ain't heard from him in three years. He claimed he was looking for my number, I was happy to hear from him."
Eric Maynor:
"I got a lot of phone calls and there were a lot of numbers that weren't stored in my phone. And I seen a lot of missed calls and a lot of ones, I was like I can't call all these people back! When I woke up this morning I had to ask B.A. (Walker) this morning, 'Is today Friday?' my phone ain't free (until the weekends) and I've been talking to all these people. I've been getting a lot of text messages too."
Can you put a number on the total amount of calls?
"A lot of calls - over my (plan's) limit!"
If they had advanced to the Final Four, Maynor would have needed to get a loan to pay his March cell phone bill.
. . . Turnover of the Buffalo Sub-regional: The room switch (or 'room turnover') Hang Time received at the Buffalo Hyatt from the haunted room 1414 to the posh room 1427, "The CSTV Mini-Suite." We had fruit and cheese plates, pinot noir and a sitting area. Depsite searching high and low for friends to share the luxury with, we still found ourselves with Mo the Barkeep at the Century Bar and a host of degenerate St. Patty's Day celebrators. We even managed to bump into the lone non-degenerate of the bunch, former Niagara head coach Jack Armstrong, the Toronto Raptors TV analyst for Rogers Sportsnet.
. . . Hang Time's All-Buffalo Starting Five. . .
Eric Maynor, VCU
Jesse-Pellot Rosa, VCU
Stephen Curry, Davidson
AJ Graves, Butler
Levon Kendall, Pitt
. . .Some Sweet Nuggets to nibble on:
* There's no seed under a seven (UNLV) remaining and the average remaining seed is a 3.2 (last year's a was 4.3 thanks largely to George Mason's 11 and Bradley's 13 and a couple of seven's in Georgetown and Wichita State). Your four returning Sweet 16 teams are Memphis, UCLA, Florida and Georgetown (three of whom got to the Elite 8 (all but the Hoyas) and two to the Final Four (Bruins and Gators).
It may give the Committee's choices some validity on the top of the draw, but it still doesn't make up for the dearth of mid-majors.
. . . CSTV.com and Hang Time were onto UNLV early this season, if you'll recall from our Media Days journeys. Of course we also thought we were onto Iona when the season began.
But it's still worth noting and worth the look back to how a Sweet 16 team went from crawling to walking and now, to Runnin'.
(Won't this Michigan deal now have to involve Lon Kruger in some way? Haven't heard his name yet anywhere, but he's not exactly Mr. Vegas if you catch my drift. He might be a better "fit" in Ann Arbor, back in the Big Ten he knew.)
. . . Doesn't UNC-USC look odd on the page? Unk and Usk - sounds like Disney characters or baby talk.
. . . USC's trip to the Meadowlands should stir up a couple of Pete Carroll stories from his days at the Jets. We're wondering if Coach Pumped and Jacked has any dinner suggestions for Coach Floyd's team?
. . . The Twins of the Sweet 16 will be the Stewart brothers, Rodrick (Kansas) and Lodrick (USC) are in the Sweet 16. Their only chance at meeting is on Monday night, April 2.
. . .The Volunteer State is clearly the Basketball State with Memphis, the Vols and Vandy all representing their home-campus state quite well. Memphis and Tennessee are set up for a re-match from the Vols' 18 point win on December 6 in Knoxville. That would be a true battle of the Alamo Dome.
. . .East Rutherford, where we will are schedule to finally get to meet up with with Hoops Odyssey law firm of Waxman, Osterhout and Camera. We're already sensing danger when Hang Time gets his hands on that digital video documenter - someone alert the FCC. Or Al Gore, or whoever is in charge of these Interwebnets.
. . .My present Elite Eight, in my fill-it-in-as-the-Tourney-develops-bracket is: Florida, UNLV, Kansas, UCLA, UNC, GTown, Memphis and The Orange Pearls.
