The Morning Dish – Thursday, March 18th
Submit your brackets!!!
Now that Florida A&M has once again restored hope in the SWAC, and the first round of interviews is complete, it is time to play basketball! We all wait an entire year for the month of March, when the threes come raining down like unleavened bread from heaven, when the winds stir up the prayers of the faithful alumni, and the formidable sound of fight songs are heard as warm-up jerseys are strewn aside like the sheaths of so many swords.
This is it. Please, enjoy responsibly.
Georgetown shopping for a new coach: After having the program’s worst season in 31 years, Georgetown coach Craig Esherick was brought home in the middle of a recruiting trip and promptly fired. This occurred on the eve of a rally organized by alumni meant to protest the coach as well as the lack of a new arena on campus. Esherick had only made the NCAA tournament once in his tenure as the Hoyas coach, a distinct contrast to the 20 NCAA tournament appearances by John Thompson in his 27 years as coach of the Hoyas. Georgetown President John J. DeGioia will now lead the Hoyas on their first search for a head coach in more then three decades. A top candidate for the position is John Thompson’s son John Thompson III, who has led Princeton to an NCAA tournament birth this year. Princeton will play Texas in the first round of the tournament.
Duhon’s ribs still aching: In shoot around, Duhon noticeably grimaced as he came down from his jump shots. This does not bode well for Duke on the eve of their first round match up with Alabama State. Their senior leader was injured in the final game, a loss to Maryland in the ACC tournament final, when he dove for a ball and slammed into a bottom of a stanchion put in place to hold a television camera. He suffered a rib injury, but insists that he will play in the first round match up, something his coach won’t say until game time. The Blue Devils are favored by 34 points, but without their leader and main ball handler, they are left wondering whether their chances are as good as they were before the Maryland game.
Stanford’s Davis is day-to-day: Justin Davis provides Stanford with the front-court depth that the school is noted for, but he is not in tip-top shape. Davis played limited minutes in the Pac-10 tournament, and has since experienced soreness in his partially torn left knee ligament, which was injured in a game against Oregon State on January 29th. Coach Mike Montgomery has insisted that he will not push Davis, which might not bode well for the Cardinal.
DePaul without its Seals: Levar Seals will not play in the Blue Demons first round match up with the Dayton Flyers. He will take with him a 3.8 scoring average and 17 minutes a game. He is well known as a defensive stopper, and coach Dave Leitao admitted that is was a tough loss for the team. The suspension was due to a punch that connected with Cincinnati’s Tony Bobbit in the Conference USA championship game, a game that DePaul lost. Though Seals pleaded that it was an inadvertent punch, the referees ruled the confrontation a fight, and NCAA rules say that a player must serve a mandatory one game suspension for any flagrant foul called a fight. Though not a Conference USA rule, now that the NCAA tournament has begun, Seals will be on the sideline with the fans in Buffalo.
The NIT, oh yeah…
It was a huge night in the NIT tournament, with the only ranked team in the tournament proving that it should have been there in the first place, as Utah State fell to Hawaii. Without Jamie Lloreda, LSU couldn’t overcome the once ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Florida State needed two overtimes to beat the mighty Wichita State Shockers, something that doesn’t bode well for those people who were pushing the ACC in their NCAA tournament brackets. Here is a quick recap of some of the more interesting games played in that other March tournament…
George Mason 58 Tennessee 55: George Mason won its first post-season game in 18 years. The victory was the school’s 22nd, setting a school record. In those 18 winless years, the school went 0-3 in the NCAA tournament, and 0-2 in the NIT.
Notre Dame 71 Purdue 59: Notre Dame was a team that felt that they deserved a spot in the NCAA tournament, and they had a legitimate claim, boasting one of the nation’s toughest schedules, and a good record to boot. Well, they took out their frustration of not making the Big Dance on Purdue, a team that once had a strong hold on the Big Ten, and then came crashing down the second half of the season. Chris Quinn led all players with 21 points, and Norte Dame is quickly becoming the NIT favorite, especially now that…
Hawaii 85 Utah State 74: Hawaii scored its first ever road win over a ranked opponent in school history. It couldn’t have come any sweeter, as Hawaii had lost three straight and seven of the last ten. Utah State on the other hand now has no argument concerning its omission from the NCAA tournament.
Ex-Jim Harrick schools: Georgia lost, and Rhode Island won, making school’s that Jim Harrick once led to the NCAA tournament one and one. Though Rhode Island had a distinct advantage, having survived the Harrick storm, and been long removed from his influences, Georgia could not overcome his reach. It will have been almost 10 years since Harrick was ousted at UCLA for suspicious behavior, and that program is still recovering. Let’s hope that Texas A&M doesn’t give him consideration, with Texas’ history of hiring embattled coaches.
Western Carolina guard submits name for draft: Junior guard Kevin Martin, the nation’s second leading scorer behind sophomore guard Keydren Clark (all 5-9 of him), has declared himself eligible for the NBA draft on the eve of the NCAA tournament. Though he has not hired an agent, leaving him eligible for returning to his team next season, he is hoping to get an idea of where he will land in the draft.
Tonight’s Menu:
There are too many games to count, and if you haven’t already filled out your bracket, or bought the additional coverage from your satellite/cable service, then my telling you what games are playing is pointless anyway. I will share with you the game of the night, or what I would like to call ‘Upset Central’, Connecticut versus Vermont. I’m not making a prediction, but I am saying that I think any game pitting two Northeastern schools against each other will be festive.
