Let's see, by my count I've consumed about 23 hours of basketball action coupled with several hours of newspaper sports section reading, internet browsing and junk food consumption. And, day two isn't even finished yet!
- For all the talk about a loose week of practice, Kansas came out tight. The "energy guy," so often referenced by Bill Self, for this game was none other than the forgotten man of the Jayhawks--Josh Selby. Selby played 15 minutes--the most since the Oklahoma game on February 26--and seemed to be close-to-fully recovered from his foot injury. While he only scored four points, they were points made with penetration, coupled with two assists where he drove into the zone and dished for easy baskets.
- CBS/TNT/TBS/truTV need to ditch the funky above-the-action camera angles. Yes, we know you have the cool technology to do so, but it's not an angle which works for following basketball action.
- Quintrell Thomas starts for UNLV and, if the name is familiar, it's because Thomas transferred from Kansas two years ago. Thomas came to KU in the same recruiting class as Tyshawn Taylor and was a fellow New Jersey kid.
- For all the talk of upsets and Cinderella teams, there typically are only eight-nine games per tournament where a lower seeded team beats a higher seeded team. Yes, there are often close games but, in recent history, that ratio of upsets has been very consistent.
- Favorite announcing crews: Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery, Tim Brando/Mike Gminski, Gus Johnson/Len Elmore, Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg, Kevin Harlan/Reggie Miller/Dan Bonner.
- Least favorite announcing crews: Spero Dedes/Bob Wenzel, Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel.
- It was fun to hear Marv Albert call the Kansas game but the guy has lost a step...or two...or three--there were far too many mistakes, e.g., the "Marcus twins."
- Interesting--Indiana State has a nickname which is a tree while Stanford (not in the tournament) has a nickname of a color but a mascot which is a tree. Hmm...
- If the Big 12 wants to get more than five teams into the tournament, then they need to play to their seed when in the tournament. Texas A&M ran into a Florida State defense that they could not figure out and an offensively-challenged Aggie team was exposed.
- Interesting third round match-ups: Richmond versus Morehead State--a 12 seed taking on a 13; Pittsburgh and Butler, two fundamentally sound, well-coached teams; Arizona versus Texas, Derrick Williams against Tristan Thompson; West Virginia and Bob Huggins against nemesis Kentucky and John Calipari; former Illinois coach Bill Self and Kansas against Bruce Weber, a guy who took some verbal shots at Self in the year after his departure to KU.; and Duke-Michigan, two programs who've been in the news this week given the verbal sparring between Fab Five members Jalen Rose and Jimmy King with Grant Hill and the Duke establishment.
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