The Sunday Blog is a little cranky today because the NCAA won’t allow us to leave our hotels early despite the Florida loss and despite the fact that the power has been out all morning. Death to the NCAA. Greedy is way too soft a word.
1. A perfect example of how poor offense can lead to a run by the other team came against UConn. Casey Prather was on a fast break and tried to lob the ball awkwardly at the basket hoping a teammate would get the dunk follow. Instead, UConn corralled the ball and went on an 11-0 run. Possessions are too valuable in the postseason. We saw Kentucky go on its run in Atlanta after a missed Dorian Finney-Smith dunk. I’m not going to pick on a team that went 36-3 but sometimes shot selection wasn’t very good this season. Will Yeguete should have been tackled every time he thought about taking a three.
2. Still, what a season and what a classy group of players. Some Gator fans I bumped into Saturday night told me that as Patric Young was leaving the court, he went through the tunnel where the Wisconsin players were waiting to come out. He shook every one of their hands and wished them good luck.
3. After experiencing North Texas for a regional last year, we knew this was going to be inconvenient and it surpassed our expectations. There was a 1:38 shuttle ride to the hotel and the mile walk from the interview room to the Florida locker room. But when the game was getting ready to start and you looked around and basketball celebrities were passing in front of you every minute, man, where else would you want to be? Personally, I think all of the Final Fours should be in Indianapolis or San Antonio. But clearly nobody cares what I think.
4. This Kentucky thing is amazing. I give them credit for deciding after Florida handled them to close out the regular season, that it was time to start playing. But who would have thought that day that Kentucky would last longer in the tournament than Florida. It goes to show you that — as much as I think it’s wrong — teams are always judged by what they do in the Big Dance.
