It’s the middle of March again and all sports fans are walking around with that puzzled look on their faces. Yes March Madness is here once again and after the last few days of filling in their brackets sports fans have settled in for three weeks of total college basketball madness.
Of course everyone has made their picks and are watching to see if the number 1’s will all make it to the final four or who the Cinderella team will be. How will the three number 1’s seeded Big East Conference teams fare? Most of us will be watching to find out the answers but there a few other things that have my curiosity radar tuned in.
How about Coach Tubby Smith, after leaving Kentucky, one of the nation’s most storied programs for a team that had just set a school record for losses in a season, and after being absent only one year is back in the NCAA tournament earlier than anyone could have reasonably expected when he accepted this rebuilding project – and his old school is missing from the 65-team field. When Minnesota faces Texas today it will make Coach Smith just the sixth person to coach four schools in the NCAA tournament. He previously did it with Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky. Minnesota is holding his practices at nearby High Point University, where Coach Smith played and earned all-conference honors. Smith’s critics at Kentucky believed the season should have ended with a win more often. After leading Kentucky to a national championship in his debut season of 1997-98, they didn’t get to the Final Four again; three appearances in the Elite Eight were not enough. Tubby Smith never won fewer than 22 games at Kentucky. The Wildcats had to settle for an NIT, ending a string of 17 consecutive NCAA appearances.
How about the guys from North Carolina staying in school for a shot at a national championship? How about the president picking them to win in all? How will the overrated Big Ten or the underrated Pac Ten do?
My pick – Louisville. And here we go!
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