By JOHN P. WISEOne Great Season
What a great day to have spent in the living room and in front of the TV with an apartment that smelled entirely of pork. I had the crock pot on all day, rocking the barbecued pork loin sandwiches.
And because I am only one man, there remains much more pork to be eaten. Today shall be another great day. Oh yeah, there's more basketball.
Today's Tidbits
+ I think it might take a minute, but at some point, we're going to look back at what Connecticut did this week as one of the most impressive feats in recent sports history. To win five basketball games in five days in a brutal conference tournament — four of which were against higher-seeded teams — was remarkable and I'm glad I got to watch much of it.
+ Kansas saved its best Big 12 Tournament effort for last. The Jayhawks struggled with Oklahoma State and Colorado, but manhandled a good Texas team in the conference title game on Saturday.
+ Washington's overtime win over Arizona in the Pac-10 final might have been the most exciting nationally televised game of the day. Isaiah Thomas' long jumper at the buzzer gave the surging Huskies their second straight conference tournament crown.
+ You know how we've been laughing at Conference USA a lot lately? Well, Memphis and UTEP actually staged a nice final on Saturday. The Tigers probably needed to win the whole thing to get an NCAA bid, and that's exactly what they did in yesterday's 67-66 nailbiter.
Top Four Seeds
+ EAST — Ohio State: The cement is dry on the top seed, but the Buckeyes might want to blow out Penn State just because they can.
+ SOUTHEAST — Notre Dame: In a year with few dominant teams, the Irish deserve the No. 1 seed here, but I don't know if they're a Final Four team.
+ SOUTHWEST — Kansas: The Jayhawks are the OGS favorite to cut down the nets in Houston.
+ WEST — Duke: The Devils deserve this top seed if they beat North Carolina in today's ACC final.
On The Bubble
+ Alabama — An unimpressive resume will keep the Tide sweating it out until dinnertime.
Today's Top Read
+ This is a few days old, but I'm glad to see I won't be the only one picking Belmont to pull an upset or two this year. Sports Illustrated's Jordan Conn makes the case for the Bruins.
What To Watch
+ Duke vs. North Carolina, ESPN, 1 p.m.
Your Tournament Video Of The Day
Without this game-saving play in the second round, UCLA never would have won the 1995 national championship: