Another NCAA Tournament, and another year The Beard goes "o-fer" on his Final Four Predictions. That's alright though since this tournament continued to produce very tight, memorable ball games:
- St. Mary's Stagecoach quickly returned to Pumpkin form as they were castrated by Baylor 72-49. Very nice Sweet 16 run for the Gaels, but reality is a tough customer when she wakes up. Butler will find that out next weekend.
- Was very happy to see Baylor reach the elite 8 level. It was just 7 years ago that Carlton Dotson shot and killed Patrick Dennehy, and it's nice to see a school recover from such senseless tragedy. Unfortunately Baylor couldn't close the deal against Duke, as Coach K goes back to the Final Four at their expense. Incidentally, this is one of the "Dukiest" teams to come down the pipe in a long time. They remind me of the teams of the Jay Bilas-era : overly white, tall, hustle-y, and way too excited whenever they do something simple like make a layup while getting fouled, or take a charge in the lane.
- I was getting VERY concerned that the Final Four might be polluted with a Bruce Pearl appearance. Thankfully Michigan State prevented that from happening with a narrow victory 70-69. Not enough bad things can happen to Bruce Pearl in my odd little world. In case anyone doesn't remember, Pearl was responsible for one of the most petty, self-serving, ridiculous incidents when he ratted out Illinois, and Deon Thomas. Here's a copy of Pearl's memo to the NCAA. Feel free to read it if you need a natural laxative. In case you're wondering, Bruce was asked if he would handle the incident differently now on Real Sports two years ago, and he said he would do the same thing over again. I'd love to call him a rat, but I would hate to insult rats that way.
Unfortunately, the Final Four is not completely free of pollution, as West Virginia took advantage of a Kentucky team that forgot how to shoot a basketball on Saturday with a 73-66 victory. I've already seen evidence that people are forgetting what a complete DIRTBALL Bob Huggins is, with articles like this that glance over the deplorable things that happened on his watch. Let's NOT glance over Huggins career infractions, violations, and overall slimy behavior. There's the wonderful 30% graduation rate that he routinely posted while at the University of Cincinnati. The Bearcats were also placed on 2 years probation by the NCAA for "Lack of Institutional Control" in 1998. Also, 19 of his players were charged with crimes ranging from shoplifting to assault, including one infamous incident when Art Long Punched A Horse! That's not even getting into his recruiting of players to commit to him before he was even HIRED for his cup of coffee at Kansas State.
Huggins is the ultimate "black-hat" in college basketball, and should be treated as such. It's gotten to the point where he doesn't even attempt to wear a suit on the sidelines anymore, opting for a West Virginia sweatsuit that would befit a Russian Mobster. Let's hope Huggins gets a quick exit next weekend, and btw of all 4 teams left, I could live with Michigan State winning this tournament the most.
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