Congratulations are in order for both the Louisville Cardinals and the Michigan Wolverines for last night's game. That was an awful lot of fun to watch.
Other Thoughts:
* Louisville deserved that championship. The Cardinals were the best men's college basketball team in America for most of the year and they proved it throughout the Big East and NCAA Tournaments.
* Personally, I knew/believed that Michigan was in trouble at the end of the first half. The Wolverines had played extremely well in the first half - they even had some depth player go off for 17 points - and yet were still up by just one point going into the locker room. That's never a good sign.
* Louisville's constant pressure always wears its opponents down and anyone who has seen them play often knew that all of those jump shots were eventually going to stop falling as the shooters' legs became more and more tired. That's exactly what happened last night and it's what happens to most jump shooting teams who play the Cards.
* That Hancock kid is a player and he saved UL's bacon last night. If he doesn't go off for all of those threes late in the first half, and at least one big three late in the game, Michigan would have cut down the nets. That kid is a good player.
* I think Trey Burke is an unbelievable talent. He'll be an excellent NBA player. He reminds me a bit of Allen Iverson - in both the good and the bad ways.
* Burke had two foul calls against him that were egregious and impacted last night's game. The one was on a 3-point attempt by Hancock in which the shooter clearly initiated contact. The other, bigger call came on a layup attempt by Peyton Siva. That block was as clean as a whistle and Burke was called for a foul. Terrible call at an important moment.
* The officials struggled mightily last night. That was a very poorly officiated game. Questionable calls went against both teams all night long and a lot of no-brainer calls went uncalled. A very poor effort by the zebras.
* I have known for most of the season that Louisville was very good and capable of winning the whole enchilada. However, the way they came back against Syracuse in the Big East Tournament championship game was EXTREMELY impressive and I think I knew that night who was the most likely team to win the national title.
* I had Louisville over Indiana in my bracket with Kansas and Ohio State as my other Final Four teams, so that goes to show what I know.
* I wouldn't watch the NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship game if they played it in my living room. However, you have to give it to Louisville to be playing in that game too. Has any school ever done that before in the same year? UConn maybe?
* When you throw in the success of the Cardinals' football team, which blew out allegedly mighty Florida in the Sugar Bowl, has any school ever had this kind of a year before? Not that I can remember.
* Finally, I think this is a fitting ending for the Big East - at least as we have long known it.
To any objective observer, that league has long been the best men's (and women's) conference basketball in America - and usually by a country mile. However, its schools tend to be in pro sports dominated markets and their fan bases tend to be much smaller than their state school peers in other leagues who pump our graduates and ardent fans at prodigious rates.
As such, I don't think the BE ever fully got the full respect it deserved as the undisputed kings of the hardwood even though year after year after year it out-performed the competition - sending three teams to the Final Four one year and 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament in another year.
Even this year, all we heard all year long was Big Ten this and Big Ten that. And you know what? The Big Ten deserved the praise it received. This was a TREMENDOUS year for that league and they had several excellent teams. However, let's be real here and acknowledge that it was a long time in coming. The B1G was mediocre or worse top to bottom for several years. Sparty is always good and Ohio State is usually pretty good too. Also, Sconnie is a rock solid program and Illinois under Bill Self and Bruce Weber for a while were occasionally very good.
However Indiana blew for years and years and so too did a number of other teams in the league, including: Minnesota, Iowa and Purdue amon others.
But those schools are no match for the top of the Big East and the further you get towards the middle the more glaring the differences become.
This year, the BE sent 9 teams to the NCAAs and that would have been a record had the league not sent 11 teams to the tournament a few years back.
Just an awesome, awesome men's college basketball league - the best college basketball has ever seen - and it deserves respect from everyone on the day following its passing (at least in its complete form).
The Big East will go on from here and I think it still has a bright future. However it will never be what it once was and frankly, neither will college basketball.
It been a hellva ride since late November, the ACC Invite....beat'n Rutgers on the road with Teddy Bridgewater play'n with a broken wrist & a bad high ankle sprain and then blows out #3 SEC Florida. In Basketball won the title & play'n for the women title tonight...again a hellva ride.
As for the Dave Gavittt BIG EAST...it went out with a bang. Won the Men's Basketball Title, won it BCS Bowl game and no matter what will win the Women Title...for all the bashing it took in the media...on the field of play it took a backseat to nobody.
What a great way to end the Big East as We know it. This is for all of the final current Big East line up of this just ended season.Good luck to the New Big East line up in the future but the Last line up has been a Conference for the Ages and Louisville is Blessed that They were a major player in it.
The AAC will also move forward and will be very successful in All sports. They have added some very good schools that will really grow in the future.
Hardwood season not over yet; tonight it's the AAC(UConn) vs the ACC(Lville) that alone will make it interesting TV viewing.
The BE is definitely stronger at the top than the Big 10; but when 6 out of 7 Big 10 invitees make the 2nd round and 4 of those make the Sweet 16; while the BE lost 5 of it's 8 first round games and 3 of those losses were by 10 or more (Gtown to FGCU, Pitt to Wichita & ND to Iowa St); plus Iowa playing in the NIT title game, the Big 10 was stronger top to bottom than the BE.
Congrats to Louisville - (and to former NAU alum/NAU AD/co-worker Tom Jurich who made this possible) - I had picked them to win it all in every one of my brackets.
(04-09-2013 07:40 AM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote: * When you throw in the success of the Cardinals' football team, which blew out allegedly mighty Florida in the Sugar Bowl, has any school ever had this kind of a year before? Not that I can remember.
Florida's football and basketball teams both won national titles by beating Ohio State. First the Gators won the BCS Title Game on January 8, 2007. Then they took the NCAA Basketball Title game on April 2, 2007.
I don't know when jurich started at Louisville I believe b4 they joined the BE ? Its amazing the strides that school has made since leaving cusa. Prior to the BE Louisville finished near the bottom in rankings of CURRENT BE schools in the sears cup (no matter what league any of those schools belonged to at the time) Now not only are they consistently at the top of the BE schools sears cup rankings but do very well nationally. Only Notre same which has always ranked 1st amongst BE schools has performed consistently better. Louisville certainly knows how to run an athletic program!. Its a shame we are all going or seperate ways.
/
Congratulations to Louisville...
