Coach Ray Meyer, 1913 - 2006

Ray Meyer coached at DePaul for 42 years - FORTY-TWO YEARS!!! He complied a 724-354 record and his teams had 21 post-season appearences. He passed away on St. Patrick's Day. When I was a little kid and just getting obsessed with college hoops, I became aware of Meyer - in fact, if you said, "college basketball coach" to me, I'd think of Meyer and Bob Knight. According to the many obits written about him (and these, of course, tend to be quite hagiographic), he was a wonderful man...here's a sampling:

- Chicago Tribune: Hundreds gather to remember, honor to Meyer
- Dick Vitale: Meyer: A class act all the way
- Chicago Sun-Times: Thanks for the memories, Coach Ray
- NY Times: Ray Meyer, Former DePaul Coach, Dies at 92

Pete Newell

When I was young, college basketball was an extension of the college, itself. Now, it's a piece of some television network.

--Pete Newell

...and Newell could take the St. Barnabbas' JV team to the Elite Eight, so take what he says with the full weight of someone who knows.

DAY ONE RECAP: I'm exhausted and it's not even noon...

Yesterday was really, really tiring for hoops watchers, but I've been ingesting nothing but red meat and coffee for the past three weeks, so I'm protein-proficient and can live on only three hours of sleep thourgh the rest of the tourney. Here are the higlights as I see them:

- Montana?: That was just purely beautiful, but it was a killer to my brackets. Rob Nakamura convinced me that Nevada had serious potential and I had them going two rounds. Damn Rob Nakamura. Actually, anyone could have given me any piece of information and I would have taken it as gospel as I was filling out my picks.

- Winthrop: God, I would have loved to have seen them beat the Volunteers. I mean, four seconds to go? Oh man...so close. And let me just add here that people spend thousands on guacamole and sissy carbo-less beer to watch the Super Bowl which is basically a substitute for Ritalin. With March Madness you get to watch a bunch of kids from a school that you don't know it's location, and you get to see them almost nail David with a big old rock (except David has a chance to icily hit a jumper with four seconds to go).

- Texas A&M: For Lou regulars, what do I ALWAYS say?.......NEVER PICK SYRACUSE OR ARIZONA. And I even broke my cardinal rule on this - I only picked Syracuse to go one round, which I shouldn't even have done. Syracuse is repeatedly over-rated. But enough about the Orangemen, as this is all about the Aggies - what a game and what a fantastic win.

- Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Here's a new rule for The Lou - if a school has a connection to Al McGuire or Rick Majerus, PICK THEM TO BE A WINNER.

I gotta go see what happens to Davidson now...more later.

When did CBS forget they are a media company?

CBS Sportsline has a great service - you can watch tourney games online. However, you have to wait in line (virtually) to start watching - so I signed up and now I'm 45,636th in line...I have a waiting time of 1 hour and 29 minutes. Are you kidding me? Here's a thought for the geniuses at CBS - buy yourself 10 more servers at about $1000 per and blast these games out to EVERYONE. We didn't invent the Internet so we'd all have more time to sit around and play grubahss...

Best/Worst case scenarios

Pat Forde from ESPN has best/worst case scenarios for all 64 teams. It's a fun read, but Forde, like just about every columnist for ESPN and Yahoo Sports, has spent too much time watching highlight films. He comments on NC State has having a "Princeton offense". For one thing, that's just frankly an insult, because Princeton, while a crowd favorite with Pete Carril as coach, had a horrible tourney record...so, the offense didn't do much for them. But more importantly, does Forde think that Carril invented things like the pick-and-roll and off-the-ball screens? Well, he didn't, but because you won't see a lot of backdoors on the "Play of the Day", then the overpaid Forde probably missed that...

Cal in the Final Four?

From the Chronicle:

Cal in the Final Four? It's a preposterous notion. A week ago, the Bears were not sure they would get into the NCAA Tournament, and only two Cal players have postseason experience. A first-round win over North Carolina State on Friday would amount to a successful tournament for the Bears. The odds of No. 7-seeded Cal getting to the national semifinals are about the same as the Warriors getting to the NBA Finals.

Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle has an article about Leon Powe and says:

Much is at stake here for Powe, and for the Bears, who aren't going anywhere unless it's on the shoulders of a guy whose last name many knowledgeable fans can't pronounce.

I hate to admit it, but there's a lot of truth in that...I mean, the part about the pronunciation...

Monmouth Hawks now going to the tourney...

The Hawks basked in the glow of winning an N.C.A.A. tournament game for the first time since its founding in West Long Branch, N.J., in 1933. 'To this date, this is Monmouth's finest moment," Hawks Coach Dave Calloway said.

Tigers in Stockton

Ray Ratto gives us a great profile of UOP and coach Bob Thomason. I'll be rooting for the Tigers, and if you're an American, you will too (remember, God loves the underdog)...

"Now go home and get your shine box"

The Betting Fool sticks it to the tourney pickers and whining coaches. I love these:

"This is nothing close to the best 64 teams in the country. It's the best 45-50, and 15-20 that have no chance. Please, spare me the plucky underdog stories and how charming it is and how it's the spirit of the tourney and how you loved Mary Poppins when she went for umbrella rides."

...and...

"...you'll play the best teams in the country in the tournament. Does it matter from which seed you beat them? Now go home and get your shine box!"

Well said...this is exactly why the Lou repeatedly give Lute Olsen the "Visine Award"...how many times did he get apoplectic that Arizona got a 2 seed rather than a 1 seed, only to then have the Wildcats go down in ignominious defeat in the second round - it happened a lot and Lute didn't endear himself to anyone.

Where have you gone, Lou Campanelli

Many of you have asked on the whereabouts of good ol' Lou. He's currently the director of basketball officials for the Pac-10...which is kind of like saying he's the facilities manager of Purgatory. Here's a current picture of The Man, looking quite dapper. And the Pac-10 must be paying well...that's quite a fine-looking (and very manly) bracelet he's wearing.

And check out this article about when Cal beat UCLA in 1986 and ended a 25-year drought over the Bruins.

Funding college sports...

The Sports Biz Blog has a synopsis of an article that was in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. It shows how some schools' athletic departments have benefitted from investments with venture capital firms. Among those that have taken this funding approach:

- UCLA: they invested $400,000 in a fund in 2000. Now they have $400,000. Someone neglected to tell them that they were in the middle of an unprecedented housing boom, and that they could have used that money to buy a condo in Reseda and probably made 30% on their investment.

- Northwestern: they put $500,000 into a partnership and made $2 million on it. They then used that to build a field hockey and lacrosse stadium. Are you kidding me? Why not just buy new slide-rules for all the students..

- Stanford invested $100,000 in 1982 and now has $85 million. Typical. That will buy a lot of PowerPoint software and overpriced German sedans, but it won't get Prince Lightfoot's boys into the NCAA tournament.

Best 3-point shooters

According to the March Madness All Season blog, these are the top long-range NCAA shooters:

1. J.J Redick, Duke
2. Chris Lofton, Tennessee
3. Steve Novak, Marquette
4. Lee Humphrey, Florida
5. Marshall Strickland, Indiana
6. Josh Goodwin, Belmont
7. Jaycee Carroll, Utah State
8. Rashad Anderson, Connecticut
9. Wes Miller, North Carolina
10. Sean Ogirri, Wichita State
11. Michael Neal, Oklahoma
12. Kevin Criswell, Montana
13. Brandon Rush, Kansas
14. Ken Tutt, Oral Roberts
15. Allan Ray, Villanova
16. Brandon Heath, San Diego State
17. Mike Gansey, West Virginia
18. Richard Law, South Alabama
19. Steve Burtt, Iona
20. Ryan Appleby, Washington

Billy Beane for basketball?

I haven't read this guy's book, but he proclaims to be a hoops statistics guru in the mold of Billy Beane. His stuff looks interesting. I may need to get his book. If any of you check it out, I'd love to know what you think.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

The UCLA Hoop Scoop is a great blog for Bruin fans - this guy has clearly done his research. Fun stuff to check out, even though I have a predetermined genetic makeup that makes me puke at the color powder blue...

Billy Packer smackdown

I don't know if Craig Littlepage knows is ass from his elbow (I suspect he does not), but the fact that he's taking on Billy Packer might get him a place in the "Friends of Lou Hall of Fame". In fact, we'll be offering a very nice gift basket for anyone with a media platform who mocks Packer or Jim Nantz.

Will Hale is the winner...

It's Tuesday at 3:42pm on the West Coast, which means you East Coasters are all home by now watching your Tivo'd edition of "24" from last night. And so far, I have two people who have submitted their brackets to me. I really expected more from all of you. I know that you'll have lame excuses like, "I was volunteering to build homes for people ravaged by Hurricane Katrina", or, "I was helping the kids with algebra homework", or even worse, "I was working". Whatever. I need to feel some love and know your commitment. So how about we get off the dime and get cracking right quickly on those brackets. Otherwise, Will Hale will win it all and could potentially use his winnings for evil pursuits.

NCAA Tourney look-alikes

Annual ESPN round-up of Tourney look-alikes.

CHANEY, not Cheney...

So many people were thrilled at the thought of Dick Cheney retiring, but alas, it's just Temple coach John Chaney. ..which is ironic, because people think of Chaney as being a nicer, kinder version of Cheney. They're actually quite similar - they issue a lot of threats and start fights...I guess the real difference is that Chaney can actually back it up...awwwww yeeeeeahhhhh...no, you didn't just say that!?!...

Anyway, here's a great article that details not only Chaney's various death-threats and fisticuffs, but also his dedication to college basketball.

Aztecs Embrace Coach's Past as He Tries to Escape It

Great article about Steve Fisher at SDSU...you remember him...sharp-dressed guy that coached the Fab Five to the championship and then no one ever heard from him again. He's doing a great job with the Aztecs...in fact, because of Fisher, Rob Nakamura has changed his will so that the SDSU athletic program will recieve all of his money.

March Manifesto - CHN.net

Here's the March Manifesto from CollegeHoopsNet.net. Among some of the gems:
"Sixty-five teams. Four regions. Sixty-five potential champions. There are over eighteen quintillion possibilities for every bracket. That’s “18” and eighteen zero’s. Yet as chaotic as the NCAA Tournament appears to be, there is order in the disorder. So before you can predict the winners, you must understand the reason certain teams are configured for successful tournament runs. Essentially, you just have to know the seven Secrets for NCAA Tournament Success."

Read it in it's entirety.

Interactive pool

Good interactive pool from NYTimes...you can see team records, player stats, etc.

Please stop, Fran...you're wasting my life

My five-year old can, and quite often does, provide a more insightful analysis of college hoops. To really understand the stupidity of most analysts, just read Fran Fraschilla's analysis of Duke. Here are some gems:

- " Leadership is the biggest reason the Blue Devils landed another overall No. 1 seed." Well, at least Fran proved that he knows what the Duke mascot is. But am I to believe that all these Div. 1 coaches sat around a table and said, "Look, forget the fact that they're 30-3, and they have JJ Redick, it's the leadership that I really like...I mean, I gotta have more cow-bell".

- "Weaknesses: Duke has been beaten off the dribble a number of times this season..." Yeah, well, a team doesn't really get beaten off the dribble, a player does. And if you're in the ACC and don't get beaten off the dribble at least 50 times in a season, then you're the '84 Lakers playing against the Sisters of Perpetual Ignominity JV team.

You can undoubtedly see where this is going...I promise to take a break from coffee for the next two hours, and leave Fran alone until at least tomorrow. But if that guy starts talking smack about Leon Powe...........

California draws a No. 7 seed -- and familiar opponent in N.C. State

We know you care about the Cal Bears.

ESPN.com - Expert bracket quick takes

ESPN.com has a round-up of picks from "experts". This is embarassing for ESPN because I think the number one question asked last year was, "Who the hell is Fran Fraschilla, and why is he talking so much?"...anyway, if you want to ruin your picks, then read this.

Picking your teams - NY Times

The accompanying article for the graph below asks THE question for all bracket-pickers:
Do you back the favorite or go for the long shot?

Don't always follow the crowd

From the NY Times, a great graphic that shows how teams fare with regard to their ranking vs. how people are influenced to pick the top-rated teams:

Temple Coach John Chaney to Retire

John Chaney is retiring after 24 seasons as Temple's basketball coach, ending a Hall of Fame career in which his temper often got the better of him, a school official told The Associated Press on Monday. - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/03/13/sports/s061711S28.DTL

Let the madness begin...

If you need information from me about The Lou, or are interested in participating, check out the email I sent this morning - if you didn't receive that, contact me at: flanders at sbcglobal dot net