Morning Coffee

by Peter Bean on Mar 8, 2007 8:27 AM CST in Quick Hits Comment 8 comments

As of today, every major conference will be underway with their postseason tournament, including the Big XII. Today's action includes #8 Iowa State vs. #9 Oklahoma, #5 Texas Tech vs. #12 Colorado, #7 Oklahoma State vs. #10 Nebraska, and #6 Missouri vs. #11 Baylor. First game (ISU-OU) tips at 11:30 a.m.

Day One in the Big East tournament saw all the favorites advance - Marquette survived St. Johns, West Virginia shot past Providence, Syracuse took care of UConn, and Villanova beat DePaul. Things get interesting in New York City this morning, as Villanova takes on conference champion Georgetown at 11:00 a.m. No bubbles burst just yet, but Syracuse would love another win (though they're almost certainly in now), while West Virginia probably has to upset Louisville to stay relevant.

Mack Brown spoke to the press one more time before spring break. Mack noted that this team lacks the experience of some of his teams from recent years past, but that there's as much, or more, depth than there ever has been. Interesting distinction.

We also learned that the players were required to invite their favorite faculty member to watch practice, after which they'd all join up for a big team/faculty dinner. We probably don't praise Mack Brown enough for the little things like this that he does. Like every coach, he's not perfect, but he does so many good things with the kids that reflect well on the program and university. I think a lot of fans forget that. (Or don't care.)

The awards keep piling up for Kevin Durant, as yesterday the National Association of Basketball Coaches named him to its first team All America selections. I believe the Wooden Award is announced on Selection Sunday, and I won't be surprised when Kevin receives the biggest award of them all.

If you missed it below, it's time to start registering for the BON NCAA Tournament Chalennge. Click through for instructions.

Later today: the Texas Basketball Report.

--PB--

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i'm skipping class today

to go to the first 2 big east tournament games with some georgetown friends of mine. i'll let you know how the hoyas look, PB. also, villanova, syracuse, and ND, sincce we're probably fighting ND for seeding.

by billyzane on Mar 8, 2007 8:31 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Color me jealous

Let us know how they look.

--PB--

by Peter Bean on Mar 8, 2007 8:33 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

okay, back from MSG...

Georgetown looked phenomenal for the first 15 minutes, at one point leading 26-2. It was a combination of them running the JT3 offense VERY well and 'nova just taking terrible shots and missing all of them. at some point in the first half, jay wright switched to a 2-3 zone with a zone press and the hoyas were never the same. although the press never really created any turnovers, it took them 8 seconds to get the ball across half court every single time and really disrupted their offensive flow. they had a tough time getting entry passes to Hibbert, despite the fact that he's 9 feet tall.

at the same time, 'nova became much more physical but the refs called the same game they had been calling, meaning G-town was getting mugged out there without many fouls being called. 'nova started hitting some shots and g-town stopped making as many. the game never got that close, really. 'nova hit a pointless 3 at the buzzer to get it down to a 5-point margin at the end (which was the spread for you conspiracy theorists out there), but g-town led the entire game.

as for syracuse-ND, what a weird game. syracuse is so much faster, more athletic, and better at basketball than ND, and it seemed to me like they were dominating the game. but every time i looked up at the scoreboard, ND was down 2, or up 3. then syracuse went cold for a while and ND hit some shots and the orange never recovered. ND is slow, unathletic, and appears to be not really good at anything. but they won and are ranked #16. go figure.

by billyzane on Mar 8, 2007 4:49 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

faculty dinner

i bet it was hard for each player to invite a faculty member, considering they all take the same classes.

by Vice President Coco on Mar 8, 2007 8:42 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

true

Maybe there's a couple children's lit professors?

by whoopspat on Mar 8, 2007 9:03 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure

if I would have been able to think of someone I liked at certain points during my four years.

I'd try to invite the guy who drives the car with the toy plastic dinasouaurs glued all over the body.

Cats and dogs sleeping together.

by EYESofBEVO on Mar 8, 2007 9:34 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Dr. John

Maybe they all brought John Bartholomew. I think half of the '98 team was in the first class that I took with him. It was a Sports Psychology class and I remember a lecture about the struggle for athletes when they lose playing time due to injury, specifically talking about Walton getting hurt. It was funny because Major was in his sight-line.

by Bob LaBlog on Mar 8, 2007 12:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs