PHILADELPHIA — Build a state university in the south Florida swamplands. Move the athletic program to the highest level in college sports and hire a self-made millionaire coach. When his team makes the NCAA Tournament, say in Year 2 of its eligibility, beat a tradition-rich opponent like a Georgetown.
Basketball
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Watching film of Louisville demolishing Colorado State will be scary enough for anyone who has to face the Cardinals in the next two weeks.
When I heard UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad is a year older than his old man has been telling people, it didn’t come as a surprise: The first time I saw him play for Bishop Gorman, he looked like Grady from “Sanford and Son.”
It is March 24, and from mid-November until now, Mountain West basketball teams have played nearly 300 games. They have been ranked, defeated quality opponents, earned good enough results to have entered the NCAA Tournament with the nation’s No. 1 Ratings Percentage Index of all conferences.
Inside the March Madness Man Cave known as Lagasse’s Stadium sports bar on the Strip sits Jen Wilfong, a 48-year-old Indiana Hoosier hoops woman who honed her laser-perfect outside shot on five basketball rims mounted by her daddy on the family farm in Indiana.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Most of the blame is dumped on the coach when a game or a season ends in depression. Dave Rice deserves some criticism at the conclusion of his second season.
AUSTIN, Texas — Minnesota coach Tubby Smith got the win he needed to calm his critics at home. UCLA’s Ben Howland took a loss that will only ignite a new round of howling for his job out West.
PHILADELPHIA — San Diego State did nothing spectacular and might not find its play on many tournament video clips.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Before the NCAA Tournament begins, Rick Pitino likes to scan the list of teams, looking for a few sleepers he considers “dangerous.”
Dunks are more exciting than free throws, and that’s stating the obvious, but Doug McDermott is the type of player who excites bettors even though he’s not a big-time dunker.
I suppose there is a silver lining for UNLV basketball today, hidden somewhere in the mess of yet another opening-game loss in the NCAA Tournament.
There might not be a more fitting moniker for an event than “March Madness.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Colorado State didn’t think its NCAA Tournament opener against Missouri would go this smoothly.
SALT LAKE CITY — Give those Harvard kids an A-plus in another subject: Bracketbusting 101.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dominic Artis anticipated Marcus Smart’s pass and took the interception the other way for a layup early to set the tone for Oregon.
