The basketball bonanza wraps up this weekend as the NCAA tournament concludes in a football stadium. I've never been a huge fan of using domes for hoops...depth perception stinks for players while the buzz of having fans on top of the action is missing. Still, this is the way the NCAA conducts business--so lets move to the matchups...:
Michigan State over UConn... this should be a fun contest to watch-- as Calhoun and Izzo are master tacticians...although the Huskies are the more talented team, the Spartans are playing close to home and Ford Field will be rocking in a way most Final Four venues aren't.
North Carolina over Villanova... the Tar Heels are just too talented to be beaten (when they put their mind to it)...there's always the danger of UNC developing ADD--witness last year's first half against Kansas, or 2007's second half against Georgetown...and they don't defend well. Still, they have better and more seasoned players than the Wildcats.
Coaching carousel--I'm not surprised to see John Calipari get the Kentucky job...at first I thought they'd bring in Travis Ford or another ex-Wildcat. Although Calipari brings a fantastic resume to Lexington, those who drink the Calipari Kool-aid should beware: he's won at two schools (UMass and Memphis) with superior talent in second-tier conferences...lets see him triumph in a conference where there's more parity between the haves and have-nots. There's also usually been a recruiting cloud following him around...and UK's been trying to avoid its shady past that almost had the program facing the death penalty in the late 80's.
I was surprised to see Virginia bring in Washington State's Tony Bennett--I thought Anthony Ford might be ticketed to Charlottesville--but I think it's a better hire than Tubby Smith from the standpoint of Bennett being around longterm. UVa will have its fourth coach in eleven years--and needs some stability that marked the program under Terry Holland and Jeff Jones for 24 years. Bennett fared well at WSU...lets see how he does in the ACC.
In other relevant news, CBS announced it will cancel Guiding Light...when I was a kid my 80-something Aunt Sade watched GL religiously--and not only was I expected to know state capitals, I had to be up on the latest plotlines of her show. One time my parents wanted me to call Aunt Sade with my "Alan Spaulding" imitation--which sounded like an 11-year old sounding nothing like Alan Spaulding. I thought the show made some major mistakes in the 80's by de-emphasizing its core family the Bauers and turning into the Josh and Reva showcase... and GL's handling of Michael Zaslow's ALS (they fired him) was less than stellar. Still, it's tough to imagine afternoons minus the original Springfield USA.
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