Thursday, March 28, 2013

15 Games to Go

Here are tonight's matchups in the Sweet 16 (all times Central) (rankings by Ken Pomeroy):

East Region (Washington):
6:15 P.M.:  # 13 Miami (Fla.) (29-6) v. # 27 Marquette (25-8) (CBS)
8:45 P.M.:  # 3 Indiana (29-6) v. # 12 Syracuse (28-9) (CBS)

West Region (Los Angeles):
6:47 P.M.:  # 5 Ohio St. (28-7) v. # 15 Arizona (27-7) (TBS)
9:17 P.M.:  # 23 Wichita St. (28-8) v. # 45 LaSalle (24-9) (TBS)

I will be attending the East Region games at the Verizon Center, so I will not be commenting tonight.  But if anyone else has any thoughts, they are welcome to put them in the comments.


21 comments:

  1. I am expecting live blogging from the game.

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  2. Can't get wireless reception there. I can't even get phone calls there. But I may have some comments once I get home.

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  3. I, for one, would love to know about food and drink options and prices, the availability of printed programs and the half-time shows.

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  4. I will pass that along.

    One of Number1Son's long-time issues with Verizon Center is that the hamburger coverage is somewhat spotty. You can get hamburgers in a few places, but the hamburger coverage isn't as good as the pizza / hot dog coverage.

    Verizon Center also features a big restaurant / bar thing on the second level, although I've never eaten there. I usually just go with the standard hot-dog/popcorn type fare.

    There are also a lot of restaurants around Verizon Center, with everything from Legal Seafood to Clyde's (which is a lot like the Old Ebbitt Grill) to McDonald's. So a lot of people eat at one of those places before the game.

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  5. Verizon Center also features big pictures of the many acts and athletes who have appeared there. The last time I was there, I saw a big poster of John Wall and a big poster of Taylor Swift.

    It also has the NBA Championship Trophy won by the Bullets in 1978.

    During Georgetown games, the time-outs and halftime shows are occasions for all sorts of goofy games, like a competition where little kids have to score while wearing full-size Georgetown gear (including sneakers). They also roll out a T-shirt cannon from time to time. I don't know what they'll do tonight.

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    1. Hooray for the Bullets!

      Here are some events that were important to me in my 1978 in sports:

      -- Dallas beats Denver in the Super Bowl, Jan. 15.

      -- Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali, Feb. 15.

      -- UK beats Duke for the national championship, March 27.

      -- Reggie Jackson candy-bar day at Yankee Stadium, April 13. I loved those candy bars and kept a wrapper for years and years.

      -- Affirmed completes the Triple Crown, May 20.

      -- Al Unser wins the Indianapolis 500, May 28.

      -- The Bullets beat the Sonics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, June 7.

      -- Ron Guidry starts 13-0, July 2.

      -- Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert at Wimbledon, July 7.

      -- Bjorn Borg wins at Wimbledon, July 8.

      -- Pete Rose's hitting streak ends at 44 games, Aug. 1.

      -- Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks, Sept. 15.

      -- The Yankees beat the Red Sox in the A.L. East playoff, Oct. 2.

      -- The Yankees finish off the Dodgers, Oct. 17.

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    2. I saw all of those events except for Reggie Jackson's day. But I saw enough of him in the rest of 1978.

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  6. I should also note that for the CBS broadcast team, we got Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery, and Rachel Nichols.

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  7. If you see Verne tell him he's the best, and he was right Laettner did step on Timberlake on purpose.

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  8. One thing I wanted to note: Indiana fans REALLY love those red-and-white striped pants.

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  9. Big East will now have at least one Final Four team--two if Louisville's seed holds up.

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  10. Here's the thing about the Big East. If you play them in the first round, and they're not making their shots, they don't look all that impressive. But if you play them in the later rounds, when the officials aren't calling anything on the inside, you are in big trouble unless you can shoot well. That's why we lost to West Virginia in 2010 and to UConn in 2011. Last night Indiana went 3-15 from three-point range against Syracuse; Miami went 8-26 from three-point range against Marquette. Without their outside shooting, Indiana and Miami were overwhelmed by the superior athleticism of Syracuse and Marquette.

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  11. Tom Crean was badly outcoached last night. IU should have played a zone on defense to protect their guards -- who simply could not defend Syracuse's guards at all. They also should have run their whole offense through Victor Oladipo -- he went 5-6 from the field and 5-8 from the line on a night when the rest of the team went 8-41 from the field. But IU simply wouldn't let Oladipo take enough shots, and in fact, they never made any adjustments in response to Syracuse (at least not any that I could see).

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    1. By the way, Crean's team scored 50 points last night. A few weeks ago, in the Big East Tournament final, Rick Pitino's Louisville team scored 56 points against Syracuse -- in the second half.

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  12. At the end of the game, by the way, the Syracuse fans were chanting "Hoosier Daddy?" Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. "Hoosier Daddy?" Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

    The Orange fans really brought the full New York attitude last night.

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  13. The program sold at the game cost $10, features a really bad drawing of John Thompson on the cover, and is filled with articles that are so bland as to be almost unreadable. ("The Right Call" -- "John Higgins has worked his way up the officiating ranks.") ("Foot Work" -- "Georgia State coach Ron Hunter brings hope to impoverished children by delivering shoes.")

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  14. The program also features an article by John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader about last year's UK team: "Gr8ness." Here's how it starts:

    "As Tom Petty once sang, 'The waiting is the hardest part.'

    "For the Big Blue Nation, it had been the Wait for Eight."

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  15. The NCAA Tournament doesn't feature any of those goofy contests you see at Georgetown games. Every break is pretty much all cheerleaders and bands.

    That's fine, but I was annoyed that the out-of-town scoreboard was turned off, which made it difficult to know what was happening elsewhere.

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  16. Meanwhile, on Rupp's Rafters, the UK fans are discussing, "Which fans are worse: U of L or IU?" Here is a comment from "Shawn(uk7spd)": "I don't know about in real life, but on the message boards, Indiana fans are WAY worse. If you spend any time on their boards, it will make you feel like there is no hope for humanity."

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  17. Last night, at about 1 A.M., there were over 4,000 people on Rupp's Rafters celebrating the IU loss.

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