First Weekend Reactions

It's been a week, and I keep putting off my ramblings, so I have a few of them saved up. The main thing going on has been the NCAA Tourney and instead of giving all my thoughts between rounds and going on record, I waited til the end of the weekend so I can seem like I know what i'm talking about. Everyone was disappointed by the lack of upsets in the first round, but it made for a much mroe exciting second round. And for the most part all of the favorites are still alive with the exception of Wisconsin. The Badgers were a team that relied on strong defense and great execution, they didn't have a high margin for error, so once their starting center went down they weren't quite the same team thay had been all year. The next big surprise was Texas being knocked out, many people were predicting them as a final four team, beating both UNC and Georgetown. I guess they were confusing a great player with a great team. Durant was the best player in college this year, and he should turn pro right away, even if he'll only be the second pick. He has a great jumper, and although a lot of people have gotten too high on him right now, he looks like he'll be an all-star in three years. I just don;t see him leading a team in the pros, was Glenn Robinson really any less dominant in college? And the big Dog did it against better competition. As great a year as durant had in college, the definite choice is still Greg Oden, and while he hasn't dominated this year, Shaq, Ewing, and Hakeem didn't dominate as freshmen either.

Of course the Tourney lost some luster for me on Saturday when the mighty BC Eagles lost to Georgetown. I didn't really expect BC to win, although when they had an eight point lead in the second half I started believing a little. But they just couldn't compete with The Hoyas on the inside. The local talk has been whether or not BC could have beaten G-town if they still had Sean Williams. It's impossible to say, but given how close the game ended up being, it couldn;t have hurt, but the real issue is that they wouldn't have had to play a team as good as Georgetown if Williams had still been there. Either way it doesn't matter, BC made the right choice by sending Williams and McClain packing. I still think that Williams has the ability to play in the NBA, but he needs to commit more to basketball, and maybe this situation will help him realize that he needs to give more if he wants to make it in the NBA. I was starting to feel down about BC's future, given that at the end of the season their team was basically three deep and two of those three are graduating. So I looked up BC's recruits for next year, and they have five guys signed, four of whom are in the ESPN150. And they have another seven-footer considering coming as well. He's leaning toward Georgetown, a constant nemesis going back to the time when they swiped up local phenom Patrick Ewing out from under Gary Williams, but you have to think that any seven footer would rather come to BC with their rich legacy of great centers, such as Troy Bowers, Mickey Curley, and Nate Doornekamp. So maybe they can keep up their current string of NCAA appearances. And who knows, maybe Tyler Roche or Shamari Spears will take their games to the next level, and John Oates and Tyrelle Blair will prove to be enough as a combo to compete on the top half of the ACC again.

The other big news in college basketball was the firing of Tommy Amaker by Michigan. It's about time, Amaker has been a flop since leaving Duke as an assistant. He was able to get big recruits at seton Hall, but never won there and then hopped to Michigan where he never qualified for the NCAA tourney. Maybe now we understand why Johnny Dawkins has never ventured out from under Coach K's wing, it'll be interesting to see what amaker does now, if he is a true coach he'll try to get a job with a lower division 1 team, but I'm guessing he'll resurface as an assistant with Coach K or one of his proteges. Maybe he could work at New Hampshire next year,they need a good coach there.

On a closing note, I was sad to see Brandon Rogers get voted off of American Idol this week, he had the talent to go to the final few singers, but he was never able to put it together, perhaps some people are just destined to be good back-up singers. I really wish the fans would let that poor Sanjaya be voted off, he doesn't seem comfortable in his own skin, and he shouldn't be subjected to the torture that is performing then being told he's awful, sadly I don;t think they'll be so merciful anytime soon.

That's all I'm giving for now, until next time,

-Bender Out