(H-L photo/Jonathan Palmer)
Some lunchtime notes from the Wendy’s in the Detroit airport.
- The festivities in Houston start Thursday with press conferences involving all four teams and coaches. Open practices will be held on Friday, with more press conferences. VCU-Butler tips at 5:09 on Saturday, with Kentucky-Connecticut following.
- How about a Kentucky vs. Shelvin Mack final? How fun would that be?
- Connecticut was the only team to beat the Cats by double digits this year.
- The Big East has not won a game in the Final Four since UConn took the title in 2004.
- Besides coaching in the same state, what else do John Calipari and Rick Pitino have in common? They are the only two coaches to take three different schools to the Final Four.
- Butler could have lost to Old Dominion, winning on a put-back late. And Butler should have lost to Florida, trailing the No. 2 seed by 11 with under 10 minutes to play.
- Josh Harrellson has made 25 of 33 field goals so far in this NCAA Tournament for a ridiculous 76 percent. Harrellson is averaging 14.8 points and nine rebounds over the four games.
- This is first time since seeding started in 1979 that there are not a single No. 1 seed or a No. 2 seed in the Final Four.
- Brandon Knight’s five three-pointers on Sunday were the most he had made in a game since Jan. 15 against LSU.
- Let’s hope Knight breaks his bad game/good game streak. Brandon scored just two points, but hit the game-winner against Princeton. He followed that up with a 30-point performance against West Virginia. Knight scored just nine points, but hit the game-winner against Ohio State. He followed that with 22 points against North Carolina.
- Darius Miller’s 11 points on Sunday snapped a streak of two straight single-figure games.
- Jarrod Polson was the first one up the ladder to cut the nets down on Sunday.
- I would have been more impressed if Beyonce was in the UK locker room after the game. Nothing against Jay-Z.
- Kentucky made 12 three-pointers on Sunday was its highest total since making 12 of 22 against Winthrop on Dec. 22. The Cats made 13 of 26 threes against East Tennessee in the season opener.
- Compare that 12-of-22 in this year’s East Region final to last year’s four-of-32 in the East Region final.
- It was pretty ironic that NCAA president Mark Emmertt was there to present the title trophy to John Calipari. Kentucky fans have not forgotten that Emmertt was the president of Washington, where Enes Kanter first committed, and that the NCAA deemed Kanter “permanently ineligible.” There were some boos when Emmertt’s name was announced.
- Kentucky has gone 32 straight games holding the opponent under 50 percent.
- Connecticut lost four of its last five regular season games before winning five straight games in the Big East Tournament.
- Kemba Walker scored 29 points in the first meeting between the two teams in Maui. And DeAndre Liggins remembers.
- Jim Calhoun is gunning for his third national title. That’s also the number of Big East games he will have to sit out next year for his problems with the NCAA.
- Of the Final Four teams, Butler played the highest seeds (combined 16), followed by VCU (20), Kentucky (21) and Connecticut (27). That’s not counting VCU’s play-in win over Southern Cal.
- Kentucky actually outscored Connecticut 38-34 in the second half in Maui.
- Expect to see the word “vacated” a lot in the national media this week.
They’re already spouting that word over on ESPN Radio. Their overnight guy (had to look him up — it was Jason Smith) was going hot and heavy last night against Cal and at 4 a.m. [don't ask] nastily went on about how Kentucky won’t be appreciating that 8th banner because it will be gone in the future.
“Vacated” by the national media? Try local media. Check out your friend Jerry’s column today.
Having Polson be the first to cut the net just shows what kind of team we have. Not only do they have a championship teamwork mentality, they are also a classy group of young men.
The “triumverate” has already started making snide comments. Today on Colin “blowhard” Cowherd’s show Dana O’Neill said, “well, you’ve got UConn in the Final Four as well. They’re on probation, too…”
OK…
Later O’Neill “apologized” claiming that she misspoke because she only had four or five hours of sleep.
I really hope UK can win this thing and shove it right up the noses of each and every one of them.
Mark Liptak
John,
I posted this question as a comment on an older blog post of yours – but am reposting it here, as I would love to hear your and your readers’ thoughts:
Talent is exciting, and wins games. But year after year we see in college basketball that TEAMS win championships. Cal says that between talent and experience he’ll take talent. I know it’s not that black and white – but do you think this experience with this team will impact his recruiting strategy? Will he keep getting the best one-and-done talent, or will he build teams? I’ve had so much more fun watching these guys struggle, develop, and now achieve than I did last year watching those incredibly talented guys win. I’m glad Billy G. has moved on, but I’m also glad that he gave us Liggins, Harrellson, and Miller. They’ve made this season.
“I say if it’s experience or talent and I have a choice, I’m taking talent and we’ll figure out how to make them play together.” Well, it’s not either or as this team showed. Tubby used to recruit both and though you still hear a lot from those who say not enough of the former (in spite of Rondo, Prince, Bogans, etc.), it’s desirable and necessary. Draymond Greene was coming here before Tubby left. Besides the great scorers you need that kind of versatile player, and I hope that Cal’ll broaden his search to include the next Harrellson and Liggins. They made themselves with his coaching but you could see the raw talent there, that wasn’t going to come around fully in a year but would grow. I think Cal has evolved here already, and I hope he takes from this team as much as they’ve taken from them. Harrellson when saying this team has more heart than last year’s might ruffle some feathers if everyone wasn’t so ecstatic, but he’s right. Talent isn’t heart. But the way Miller has developed into the same kind of player as Chandler Parsons (perhaps inspired by that first Florida game where he stole the game from him), but with more physical gifts.
PS As has been shown with Pearl and Sampson if a coach is at fault the NCAA will hammer him (Calhoun got off lightly as he’s old and has/had cancer, UConn should have been banned this year period and Calhoun fired). If Cal was responsible they’d have nailed him. The Memphis situation is still ridiculous too, as they cleared Rose twice. In a legal situation their position would be laughable but of course they are a law unto themselves.
What an unbelievable Season ! What an unbelievable set of Circumstances ! What an unbelievable SEC Tournament ! What an unbelievable #4 Seed ! What an unbelievable Senior in Jorts ! What an unbelievable NCAA Tournament ! What an unbelievable Team and Coaching Staff ! What an unbelievable opportunity to Win A National Championship ! To me, this Team will always be,” THE UNBELIEVABLES “,BBN, We Believed ! Larry, Fort Lauderdale. Home of B.Knight
I’m perfectly happy with an occasional run by a VCU or Butler, or a title by a Villanova or Kansas, in exchange for all the excitement it brings with it.
I believe they were going by youngest class up. Polson up through Liggins and Miller with senior Josh last.