Whose Glass Slipper Still Fits?

Okay, Final Four time. Time to “get your story straight” so to speak. So here goes, for the record, for what it’s worth – which I’ll readily admit, ain’t much.

(PS: Remember how I said I was not going to post my brackets this year, for lack of sufficient college hoops TV face time? Remember how some of you, actually COMPLAINED about this? Well, suffice to say, I am 0-4 on Final Four teams in my “bracket” so there. At least I knew what the hell I was doing by passing this year. Best call I made all tournament.)

(PPS: I just looked up my recommendations on teams to play either “short” or “long.” And I had some okay calls amidst some mistakes.

Longs:
UCLA, LSU, Pitt, UNC – Not bad, with two of them in the Final Four.

Shorts:
Gonzaga, Tennessee, Boston College, Texas, Florida. – Again, pretty good. Considering ‘Zaga and Texas were 3 and 2 seeds, I was correct in saying they would fall short of the Final Four. Boston College was DEAD in the 1st round, so I am claiming that as a win. Tennessee was easy, so why even take credit. And Florida? Oops. My bad.

Wild Hair Upsets:
George Mason, NW State, N. Iowa, GW. – Three of the four teams at least won one game. GW disappointed vs. Duke. And nobody expected this much from Mason.

Okay, on with my picks…

George Mason +6.5 vs. Florida

I think this line has too much “Cinderella’s coach is ready to turn into a pumpkin” built into it. Since when is Florida this clutch “get it done” team? They lost twice to South Carolina!

Plus, Mason has had no problems with big men so far. Horford and Noah? Okay, fine. How are they more dangerous than Paul Davis, or Paul Miller, or Hansborough, or Boone and Armstrong?

I’m gonna call the front lines a wash, because Jai Lewis and Will Thomas are no scrubs. They’ll be fine. That leaves it up to guard play, and I’ll take a senior tandem of Skinn and Butler over the streakier Taurean Green and merely solid Lee Humphrey.

Florida is scary in transition, and can throw a wicked zone at Mason with their size and athleticism up front. But Mason’s scramble defense and trapping will give the Gators headaches.

Take the points, but I think Mason’s slipper stays on, and they play for Immortality on Monday night.

LSU -2 vs. UCLA

Okay, bias admission here. I will be ROOTING very hard for Ben Howland and the Bruins. I spent many many long van rides with Howland when he was an assistant to Jerry Pimm at Santa Barbara in the early 1990’s. I was a wide-eyed 22 year old play by play man for KTMS 1250 having the absolutely time of my life calling games on the radio.

That being said, I can’t in good conscience count on a UCLA team that has seen their guard tandem of Afflalo and Farmer shoot 35% combined this tournament. Plus, UCLA got out-boarded by Gonzaga and Memphis. They should have never escaped the Zags, and Memphis just shot themselves in the foot (31%, 2-17 from 3).

God help UCLA on the boards vs. Big Baby and Tyrus Thomas. Plus, LSU just held Duke and Texas to 29% shooting these last two games.

I know LSU has point-guard problems, rotating three guys through that job this season, but I think they’ll be okay.

So, LSU vs. Cinderella Monday night. Should be fun.

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Lost amid the hype about NFL rule changes regarding endzone boogie-downs, was this little nugget.

The NFL will now allow instant replay to essentially IGNORE the whistle being blown, so that turnovers can be declared even after a referee has deemed a runner “down by contact.”

Forget for a moment, the fact that this makes “playing to the whistle” irrelevant now. Players will have to instead “play until all dead bodies are no longer moving” since I turnover could occur at or slightly after a whistle.

But what is really stupid, is this statistic: NFL zebra boss Mike Pereira said that in 2005, there were 12 plays that would have been affected by this new rule.

That’s right. TWELVE!

Here’s the math. There are 32 teams which combine to play 256 games per season. In a typical game, there are at least 150 total ‘plays’. That makes for a season of 38,400 plays. Of which this new rule will help “fix” twelve of them.

Or in other words, 0.03%.

Super. Glad we’re going after “fixing” that nagging 3/100th of a percent of calls.

Oh yeah, the NFL also has redefined the “horse collar tackle” to include takedowns where the JERSEY is used, and not just the shoulder pads.

Whatever. Last year, the league called exactly TWO “horsecollar tackle” penalties. I kid you not. TWO. And oh yeah, they didn’t call one used against Matt Hasselback in the Super Bowl by Pittsburgh.

That would have made three. Hoo hah.

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HORRIBLE AND IRONIC WAYS TO DIE #51
A woman apparently suffocated when a decorative plate shaped like an Easter bunny was shoved down her throat, authorities said. Her husband has been charged with murder.
Patrick Zurkowski, 38, was charged Monday with homicide in the death of June Zurkowski, 40.
An autopsy found pieces of the plate broke off and lodged in the woman's throat, prosecutor Ken Heimerman said.
A criminal complaint said Patrick Zurkowski initially told police he was hit by his wife and acted in self-defense. He was being held on $1 million bail.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled April 5.
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Was it just me, or did anyone else think that Kelvin Sampson’s opening remarks at his coming out presser as IU’s new hoop boss were at best strange, if not down right stupid. Among the Sampson gems…

”I’m here today, because I need a team, and this team needs a coach.”

Then there was…

“I took this job because I think we can win championships at Indiana.”

Gee. Ya think? What do you call those banners hanging behind you, Coach? You THINK you can win Championships at Indiana?