Three Points and Five Fouls

Because I love to share opinions, I'm going to rearrange some of this into a more coherent format.  Keep in mind I said the format would be coherent...the rhetoric not necessarily so.  Rambling at best, acerbic at times, here comes three points and five fouls.

THREE POINTS
1).  How incredible was the finish of the Butler/Pitt game?  Not nearly incredible as the responses of the game's participants to the two fouls that were called within two seconds of each other at the end.  I have never seen a unusual finish like that handled more professionally by both sides with the exception of the perfect game that was taken away from Detroit Tigers pitcher last year.  Pitt's coach Jamie Dixon was spot on when he said they got down by too many early in the game and that their comeback fell short for that reason.  The Panther that committed the foul, Nasir Robinson, said that "It wasn't the ref's fault.  It was my fault."  Butler coach Brad Stevens was gracious in his post-game interview on the court saying he felt bad it ended that way.  But I will say this...both were definitely fouls and should have been called.  As one studio host said, if it's a foul in the first second or during the game, it's a foul in the last second too.
2).  Gus Johnson is easily the best announcer the NCAA and NFL have on the payroll.  If you get a last second, tight game in either sport, he accentuates the excitement with his call of the action.  You never get the feeling he is out of control or overhyping but he also doesn't downplay the moment--his voice delivers on what you are seeing.  He doesn't overhype (see Nantz, Jim), overcriticize (see Davis, Seth) or overcomment with no purpose (see Packer, Billy).  If CBS is smart, they ask Nantz to stick to golf and move Gus to the "A" Team.
3).  The NCAA finally did something right.  With the new scheduling and spacing on the Thursday through Sunday games, rarely did two games bump up against each other at critical moments.  In fact, I barely needed to invoke the use of my three television hook-ups in the RegCave on Saturday or Sunday as the games were spaced to avoid the absolute need to see two games at once.  Having said that, the televisions were in full service on Thursday and Friday and that's what makes that first round so special.

FIVE FOULS
1).  You knew I was going to lead with the end of the North Carolina/Washington game.  What a contrast to the officiating in the Pitt/Butler game--but more like the fiasco in the Big East Tournament.  The Huskies coaching staff claims they asked the officials to double-check the clock and that they said they did and stood by putting .5 seconds on the clock.  So someone is lying.  Either the coaching staff blew it (highly unlikely that that many coaches would all forget to ask the question) or the officials blew it off.  Having watched games all weekend and knowing how long it has taken the officials to review timing calls at the end of games, there is no way the officials checked it.  Especially when replays clearly show there was at least a full second left.  Granted, Washington made way too many mistakes before that moment to deserve to win, it still is an egregious error for an officiating crew to make in a close game like that.  UPDATE--NCAA officials clarified that it should have been when the whistle blows, not when the ball hits the court.  If that is true, they have been grossly inconsistent in past games as I know that various timing decisions in the past were determined by when the ball was out of bounds.

2).  Seth Davis needs to quit defending his fellow media members.  When Kansas State head coach Frank Martin verbally went after the reporter who asked the question of Jacob Pullen about his "emotions" after the game, he was simply defending his player in the face of a very emotional press conference.  For Davis to feel the need to point out the reporter was right to ask the question instead of discussing the game, shows Exhibit A that the media themselves are cognizant of their negative perception within the public because they are always quick to defend each other publicly instead of discussing the real story.  The self-importance of the media is almost as disgusting as their need to stir controversy.

3).  Speaking of the media...Jim Nantz needs to follow Billy Packer stage left.  His overhyping every Carolina three and underhyping every Husky play as if he were the Tar Heel play by play announcer on the radio was embarrassing.  Poor Clark Kellog seems to be following his lead--hopefully that is out of necessity and not an approval of the Nantz approach.  He may be the voice of the Masters but he doesn't (and has never) made the transition very well to basketball.

4).  How many times can Georgetown and Pittsburgh lay eggs in this tournament before they stop getting overhyped by the media and pollsters during they year?  Or even the Big East for that matter.  11 teams in the tournament...four first round exits (G-town, Louisville, Villanova, and St. John's), all to mid-major teams and four second round exits, albeit two of them to their own kind (UConn over Cincy and ) but the other two to Butler and Kentucky, no pushovers but still teams that the top teams in a supposed "Super Power" Conference should beat.  The Big East does not get enough (if any) criticism for being the most overhyped conference in any sport in any era.

5).  What a waste of spots...once again proof that the tournament may be better off adding more mid-majors instead of Penn State, USC, and Missouri (two lost to mid-majors in the first round, the last one just embarrassed itself against Cincy).  I would be very interested to see what would happen if you took the #16's (all six of them...again, leave it to the NCAA to come up with that concept) and had them play the bottom entries from the so-called "power conferences"--I bet you get a split.  Just so you think I'm not all mid-major love, two of them proved they had no business being in.  UAB who was no contest for Clemson in the brutal "First Four" and UNLV which made Illinois look like Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas all at once--both teams should have been replaced with more deserving mid-majors or at least Alabama and Virginia Tech.

But if they did all that, we would have nothing to complain about.

Peace,
Reg