My NCAA Tournament Thoughts

Since I'm a credentialed media member for college basketball, I thought I should share some thoughts about the first two rounds of the NCAA men's tournament.

CBS has a "Remember Me?" segment where they highlight players from past tournaments. One video featured Kevin Pittsnogle, who was a star at West Virginia University and is now a middle school principal. Sean's Ramblings may have been a Kevin Pittsnogle fan page based on some of the early posts of this blog. I even received a comment on one of my posts from Pittsnogle's mom. Anyway, I'm happy that Pittsnogle is doing well and getting some attention.

Perhaps you saw the end of the Nebraska-Vanderbilt game. Nebraska made a lay-up with just over 2 seconds left to take a 74-72 lead. Vanderbilt had a chance to win at the end, but barely missed what could have been one of the greatest shots in tournament history. 

As a University of Pittsburgh basketball fan who remembers when Will Perdue and Barry Goheen defeated the Panthers in a major upset, this is my reaction to Vanderbilt fans.

Sean Miller was on that Pitt team that lost to Vanderbilt and is now the coach at the University of Texas. Based on his success in leading the Longhorns to the Sweet 16 in his first season in Austin, Miller should be ready to return to his alma mater and coach Pitt!

Two Atlantic-10 conference teams made the tournament: St. Louis and VCU. Both won their first round matches. Good job A-10! By the way, it would be nice for the power conference schools to play away matches against A-10 schools. Just look at the DC area as an example. Maryland or Georgetown could easily charter a bus or two to play at George Mason or George Washington, but that doesn't benefit the schools financially and there's a risk they could lose. Might as well play lower-tier teams at home or another power conference team in a home-in-home series or a neutral site. Rant over.

I'm happy that Iowa upset #1-seed Florida last night, particularly since my brother-in-law is an Iowa grad. Still, while it would never get called and I might be the only one who thinks this, it really seemed like Iowa's Alvaro Folgueiras traveled before taking his game-winning 3-point shot. Both feet seemed to move.

I'll admit that I don't follow college basketball as much as I did when I was younger. With that written, I was shocked when The Moose told me that Purdue's Braden Smith set the men's NCAA Division I record for most career assists. I thought maybe he meant in a season or in the Big Ten, but it's actually the most all-time passing Duke's Bobby Hurley.

All of my final four selections are still intact, and I picked Arizona to win it all. And baseball's opening day is just a few days away!

Photo of Pittsnogle from Berkeley County Schools.