Well, That Happened

The Tarheels of North Carolina won the NCAA championship last night. The score was kind of a lot to not quite as much. A few thoughts after the jump.

5) Between this year's Final Four and last year's, KU fans should be at peace with their Roy Williams wounds. He got his championship with someone else's team a few years back, and now he gets a 100 percent legitimate one, two championships that flanked a Final Four loss to his former team that went on to win it all.

4) I know Carolina's good, but I can't figure out what happened to Tom Izzo's Spartans. They rolled all of these teams, and then just looked plain lost tonight.

3) Twenty-one turnovers. Really? Twenty-one? There must be a little too much Brett Favre green in those Michigan State uniforms.

2) Ever heard of a little thing called full-court press? Like, before under five minutes to go? You might consider that if you're down roughly 20 points for the entire game. And square up before you shoot threes from 80 yards away.

1) That had to be one of the most uninteresting basketball games I've watched in some time. I mean, shit -- if you're gonna fold, do it Saturday night, and let UConn up in here or something. That was almost as boring as watching the NBA, except for the fact that it had guys that at least tried to play defense. Jiminy Christmas.
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Saturday Studmuffins: Michigan State's Tom Izzo (Fo' Shizzo)

This is one of those deals where I'm left with no choice but to praise someone who's responsible for the demise of one of my teams, but I'm okay with it. Really. Reasons you're dying for, after the jump.

I'm not gonna lie: I pretty much despise Michigan athletics. Period. The Tigers typically do better than the Royals. The Red Wings manhandle the Blues. Michigan football has gotten the better of Notre Dame football in recent years, and now Michigan State has eliminated my Jayhawks. It's true that I boasted about KU hoops early in the season, and then had nothing to say last Friday night when the Spartans eliminated them, but after a great first half by the crimson and blue, I kind of figured it was in the bag.

Not so much.

But hey -- it was a rebuilding year for the defending champs, and they nearly made the Elite Eight, which is pretty cool.

Know what else is pretty cool? The Izzo.

He's some 335-136 in his collegiate coaching career, which translates to a heady .711 in the old winning-percentage column, which translates to one more guy that's a lot better than Herman Edwards when it comes to playing to win the game.

Now knocking off the 15th-seed Robert Morris Colonials in the first round doesn't get him many cool points. Eliminating a 10th-seed USC team that only won 22 games doesn't say much more. Beating KU -- did I mention that the Jayhawks were the defending champs -- by five, however, is nice work, and handling a Louisville club that looked like they were gonna steamroll everyone in the Eight is pretty good, too.

Tonight the Spartans made fairly easy work of #1 seed UConn, and will play for the title on Monday night. Their foe, by the way, looks to be Roy Williams and the Tarheels as they currently lead Villanova 70-57 with five minutes to go.

Mr. Izzo has twice been named Big X Coach of the Year, and once the AP National coach of the year. He's been a part of March Madness 12 times, and in those dozen seasons, his teams have managed eight Sweet Sixteens, six Elite Eights, five Final Fours -- including a streak of three in a row, and now two championship games. They're also five-time Big X champions.

It's safe to say that Izzo qualifies as a Saturday Studmuffin. I gotta admit I wasn't pleased to see them keep winning, but I'll quietly root for them to get 'er done come Monday.

Has anyone ever quoted Jimmy Buffet and Larry the Cable Guy in the same sentence? I'm pretty sure that no, that has never happened, and I don't care who you are, that right there is funny.
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Monday Miscellany: A Rock-Chalk Triple-Double the Hard Way

This will be a brief look at the defending-champion Kansas Jayhawks' tournament victory yesterday, as a larger foe in Michigan State awaits them, but there are a few nuggets worth loading, you know where.

The Kansas City Star has a brief synopsis of the game here, but if you're not feeling like reading that much, here're a few bullet points:

* The two teams combined for 52 points in the first half, which, for KU, isn't good.

* How the Flyers, who put up some 70+ shots, and scored only 43 points -- you do the math -- managed to eliminate sixth-seed West Virginia in the first round is beyond me.

* KU guard Sherron Collins had a magnificent afternoon with 25 points and an impressive all-around performance.

* The story of the day, however, was Cole Aldrich, who had one assist, 13 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 blocked shots.

* Aldrich's afternoon yielded the first triple-double in Kansas history since the 1986 re-birth of NCAA tournament recordings (the association began noting steals and blocks in '86) of such stats. Former Jayhawk Wilt Chamberlain would've had numerous had the stat been noted back when he played.

* The last tourney triple-double happened in 2003 when Dwayne Wade posted one (points, rebounds, and assists) for Marquette.

* The last tourney triple-double with blocks goes back to 1992 when a guy by the name of Shaquille O'Neal slammed one home for LSU.

* The last time the Jayhawks and the (Michigan State) Spartans squared off was in January, when the Spartans earned the W in East Lansing, 75-62. Kansas, however, won 13 of their next 14 after the game, notching (at least a share of) their fifth consecutive Big XXII title.

Some highlights of yesterday's game:

(video courtesy of Rivals)

The Spartans and Jayhawks will meet Friday night in Indianapolis for the Midwest Regional Semi-Final. The tip will be at 8:37, and the good guys will be wearing the Crimson and Blue.
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Rock. Chalk (Note the lack of choke). Baby.

Damn. There is a God after all. The last time I was this amped up for a sequence of sporting events was, well, 20 years ago. Four rounds ago, I told my sister I didn't see a KU/UNC matchup happening this year, or anytime soon for that matter. In a flash, it was here, and the Jayhawks were destined -- I was sure -- to be eliminated by none other than Roy Williams' Tar Heels. When that insane spectacle of a game came and went, leaving 'Hawk Nation thrilled, floored, and hungover, I thought that that must've been our championship. Our moment in the sun was to go down in the books as sending Roy home. Never in a million years did I imagine the championship game would be so intense, so draining, so sweet.

I'm the first to admit -- Lord knows I took a lot of flack for it -- that just under seven minutes to go, I gave up. In my eyes, all hope was lost. John Calipari and his Memphis Tigers had the proverbial stranglehold on the game, and were prepared to send the 'Hawks home, again without the crown.

Fate had something else in mind.

I thought my friend Bean was insane when, at the seven-minute mark, he predicted overtime. In. Flipping. Sane. I was convinced that Kansas would be denied the title, Coach Self would be history, and Roy would secretly be please. Obviously, neither was true. Then, however, when the lost hope behind the lost hope began to fade, the inevitable, the absotively im-freaking-possible occurred.



I know there've been tons of last-minute/desperation attempts in the history of sports, but that three, for my money, was the ace of spades. That's right. A little Motorhead with your championship Tuesday never hurt. And then, the 'Hawks, knowing the historical significance of that Mario Chalmers tres, came out and dominated the overtime period. It was, and I don't think I'm alone, one of, if not, the best NCAA championship game I've seen this side of two decades. Yes. I'm biased. Sue me.



Lastly, before worrying about whether or not Self leaves for Oklahoma State, or Brandon Rush goes pro, or what have you, please click here, scroll to the comments, and note the one with the time stamp of March 17, 2008 @ 2:51 p.m. It has, for several weeks now, been my indisputable passion to type this closing statement.

Update: The naysayers must be the naysayers. It's inevitable. Here, however, is your non-Wikipedia, not-in-a-Microsoft-Excel-spreadsheet evidence that Chalmers' foot is behind the line. It's at the 2:17 mark. All apologies for the Linkin Park.



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