RIP Doug Towey

You may not know his name, but you certainly know his work. Doug Towey, the man responsible for first using the song 'One Shining Moment' as the ending to March Madness each year, has passed away.

In 1987 Towey was a Creative Director with CBS when he was handed the song now known as the send-off to the college basketball season. He had originally planned on using it to close the Super Bowl that year, but events pushed it back and he instead used it to close the NCAA Tournament. Since that moment it's been an iconic part of the tourney.

In Towey's honor, here is the first time it was ever used, in 1987...



Gives me chills every single time i hear that song...

Big Ten Coaches

The Big Ten Conference just got a whole lot tougher in Men's Basketball with the hiring of Tom Crean at Indiana. With this hire, the Big Ten has what has to be considered the top conference coaches from top to bottom anywhere in the land. For a quick recap, let's look at the numbers:

Todd Lickliter, Iowa: Granted this year was rough, but i could pick up four homeless guys and myself and field a team as 'talented' as Iowa was this year. Anyway, it was Lick's first year at Iowa, but he took his Butler team to two Sweet Sixteen's in the last 6 years and was last year's NABC Coach of The Year. He also was under current Ohio State coach Thad Matta at Butler.

Tom Crean, Indiana: Just named coach of Indiana, Crean has been at Marquette the last 9 years, averaging 20 wins a year. He's been to the Tourney each of the last 3 years and advanced to the Final Four in 2003. He was also named Conference Coach of The Year twice.

Bruce Weber, Illinois: Coach at Illinois for last 5 years, Weber had led the Illini to four straight Tourney appearances before this year. In 2005 they were runner-up, losing to UNC in the Championship game, and Weber was named the Naismith Coach of The Year.

John Beilein, Michigan: His first year at Michigan was a struggle, but like Lickliter at Iowa was left with almost nothing. Look only at his last three years at W. Virginia, where he made the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tourney, and won the NIT Tourney last year.

Tom Izzo, Michigan State: Known for having teams that hit the boards hard, Izzo's Spartans haven't missed the Tourney in ten years. He has four final fours and one Championship, plus another Elite Eight and two more Sweet Sixteen appearances. He also served as head coach of the US Basketball team at the 2003 Pan American Games.

Tubby Smith, Minnesota: Another first year coach in the Big Ten, all Smith did was take a team that finished 9-22 last year and made them a 20-13 team this year. Previously at Kentucky, Smith had not missed the Tourney in 14 previous seasons to this one with three different teams, winning the Championship once, making the Sweet Sixteen 5 times, and the Elite Eight 3 additional times.

Bill Carmody, Northwestern: While Northwestern will never be confused for a basketball powerhouse, Carmody has done a nice job in the 8 years he has been there. He has a particular knack for beating the Hawkeyes EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Not that i'm bitter or anything.

Thad Matta, Ohio State: Previous coach at Butler and Xavier, Matta has been in control at Ohio State for four years. This year was his first in 7 years he did not make the Tourney in which his team was eligible (Ohio State was not eligible for postseason play his first year there). He finished runner-up to Florida last season, and made one additional Elite Eight.

Ed DeChellis, Penn State: Well, they can't all be winners. In his fifth year at Penn State, he has never finished better than 7th (this year). Though he did finish in first or tied for first each of his last three years at E. Tennessee State before coming to State College.

Matt Painter, Purdue: Took over the coaching job at Southern Illinois when Weber left for Illinois, and guided that team to a 25-5 record and first in the conference. Was named the MVC Coach of The Year. Left after one year for Purdue to take over for Gene Keady. In three seasons there he has improved the team each year, leading to 2nd place Big Ten finish this year and back to back years in the 2nd round of the Tourney. Was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year this year.

Bo Ryan, Wisconsin: In his 7th season at Wisconsin, Ryan guides the Badgers to 1st in the conference and the Sweet Sixteen. He has not missed the Tourney since becoming coach of the Badgers. Has been to one other Sweet Sixteen, and an additional Elite Eight in that time. Additionally, he coached his UW-Platteville teams to the NCAA D-III Championship three times in nine years in the '90s.

So there you have it. From top to bottom, i challenge any conference in the country to trot out a more formidable and accomplished group of coaches. I don't think this one can be matched.

Elite Eight Picks

10-12 in the Tourney. I suck at this.

Texas +3.5 vs. Memphis
I have a feeling Memphis is getting a little too confidant in themselves because their free shooting hasn't cost them yet. I think that will end this game, as Texas is playing some good ball and just crushed a good Stanford team.

Kansas -10 vs. Davidson
Davidson has had a great run through the Tourney, but have not faced a team with the horses like Kansas. Despite Stephan Curry probably going for 30+ again in the game, the rest of Davidson's team just won't be able to hang with Kansas.

Elite Eight Picks

Well yesterday sucked... 9-11 so far, and now i'm losing more than just the juice.

Xavier +6.5 vs. UCLA (L)
I just don't really believe in UCLA all that much. For a team that a lot of people thought would win it all, they haven't played particularly inspiring basketball...

UNC -6.5 vs. Louisville (W)
UNC was my pick to win it all before the Tourney, and have looked the best out of any team so far. Louisville has been good also, but i think their run ends here.

Sweet Sixteen Picks (Again)

Ok, this is starting to get ridiculous. I am picking all the early games dead on, and getting destroyed in the late games. Every round! I'm now 8-8 for the Tourney. Not terrible, but not winning any money for sure. That UCLA bet yesterday was looking so good at halftime too...

Wisconsin -5.5 vs. Davidson (L)

Stanford +2 vs. Texas (L)

Kansas -12.5 vs. Villanova (W)

Michigan St. +4.5 vs. Memphis (L)

Sweet Sixteen Picks

6-6 so far in the Tourney, which pretty much sucks. Though all i've lost is the juice. From here on out i'll be picking every game, since there's fewer involved. You'll find today's games below:

Xavier +1 vs. West F'n Virginia (W)

North Carolina -9 vs Washington St. (W)

UCLA -12 vs. Western Kentucky (L)

Tennessee +3 vs. Louisville (L)

God i love the tourney...

Sunday Picks

Another day where i start off strong, another day where i get killed at night. One last round of picks for the second round games on Sunday:

Texas -6.5 vs. Miami (L)

Tennessee -4.5 vs. Butler (W)

Georgetown -5.5 vs. Davidson (L)

UNC -11 vs. Arkansas (W)

Pound Georgetown. That line should be double digits...

Tourney Picks

These are my picks for Friday's games. Note that i am picking as if i am in Vegas (where i usually am this time of year), which means i'm not picking games just to pick them - I only pick games i like and feel strongly about. That's why there's only a couple picks here...

Tennessee -19.5 vs. American (L)

Georgetown -17 over UMBC (W)

Greatest. Invention. Ever.

So i brought my laptop into work with me this morning, mainly so i could finish up the bracket i'm running and make sure i was all set for the Tourney. That done and the tourney starting, i decided to check out the feature on CBS Sportsline that supposedly lets you watch all the games live on your computer.

Yeah, it's pretty much the greatest thing in the history of the world. I'm stuck at work, but i have my 15in computer monitor off to my right with the games on it, all live. It's been a little herky-jerky, as i expected, but the picture quality is better than i thought i would be and it's been fairly smooth.

Maybe today and tomorrow won't be too bad afterall...

It's Tourney Time!

For the record, here's my picks for today's games:

Purdue -3 vs. Baylor (W)

Pitt -8.5 vs. Oral Roberts (W)

Stanford -15 vs. Cornell (W)

Cal-State Fullerton +11 vs. Wisconsin (L)

George Mason +6.5 vs. Notre Dame (L)

Miss. Valley St. +32 vs. UCLA (L)

ASU Seed

Let's see where they are in the bracket...

Hmm, there's Arizona at the #10 seed in the West.

I don't see Syracuse in there, that's got to be a good sign right?

West Virginia is there as an at-large.

Wait, wait a second. I don't see ASU! Where are they?!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Suckers.

Big Ten Tourney

I could write about the atrocity that is the Big Ten Tournament, or about how Iowa bowed out ever so (not) gracefully on the first day, but why would i do that when it is so eloquently recapped here.

It's long been known this season that the Big Ten was down, but jesus i didn't realize it was this bad. Here's a tip to all you bettors out there- No matter what Big Ten teams make the tourney, bet against all of them, with the possible exception of Wisconsin. They play such a slow-down style that it keeps them in games with anyone. In their case, always bet the under.

H/T to BHGP

ASU And UA

I spend as little time as possible writing about Arizona State University or the University of Arizona, mainly because i have no real ties to either school other i happen to live in the same city as ASU. Actually, if you want to get technical, i live in Phoenix and ASU is in Tempe, but those are details.

Anyway, all things being equal, i do have a tendency to pull for UA a little bit more than ASU, due to the fact that their basketball coach, Lute Olson, was the coach at my Alma Mater, the University of Iowa (way, way before i went to school there), before heading to Tucson.

Also, all things being equal, i have a general irritation towards students from ASU; the guys are a bunch of douche bags, and while the girls are crazy hot, their bitchiness is unparalleled with the exception of girls from 'Chicago-land' (Don't get me started). Tucson, and UA in general, strikes me as a town and college similar to my own, and thus i can't hate.

All of this is to point out the fact that i think all this talk surrounding UA, ASU, and who deserves to be in the tourney is hilarious. With UA winning yesterday and ASU losing today, i am really, really, really hoping for UA to get into the dance and ASU to be left out. As i said, i have no real rooting interest, i just think it would be fucking funny.

And really, that's all i can ask for in life...

UCLA vs. Stanford

Normally i don't like to complain about refereeing (with the exception of Tim Donaghy), especially in games i don't really care about and didn't watch. However, last night's supposed terrible call against Stanford at the end of regulation has been making the rounds, and i wanted to check it out for myself. So i went looking for video proof. And i found it:

I'm not gonna lie, that's a pretty bad call. Actually, that's a really bad call. He never touched him with the arm, and just barely got a little body (that sounds dirty), but nothing that should warrant a foul being called in that situation. That was a great block ruined by a terrible call.

Oh, and then there's this: UCLA's Darren Collison, who the 'foul' was called on, said after the game: "I was fortunate to get a foul on that call, I heard it was a makeup."

Well Then...

Digger Phelps Getting Down

I can't decide if this is hilarious or creepy...



On second thought, that's just creepy...

Iowa's Justin Johnson Goes Nuts

In the last 1:49 of Iowa's game against Indiana, Iowa' Justin Johnson goes off, hitting 6 treys, including a 40-foot bank shot.

Iowa Hawkeye Basketball

Again, i try not to be homerific on this blog, but this warrants mentioning. My Iowa Hawkeye men's basketball team played a game tonight against Southeastern Louisiana. Despite their recent struggles, the Hawkeyes won the game. But there is an interesting story within the game tonight.

Iowa went 13 minutes in the first half without scoring a point. 13 minutes! They went up 5-0 45 seconds into the game, and didn't score again until there was 6 and a half minutes left in the half. 13 minutes! They took 1/3 of the game off! And still won!

I'm not sure which is worse, that they took 1/3 of the game off, or that they still won...

Iowa Bball

I try not to be too much of a homer, and write excessively about the Minnesota Vikings or Iowa Hawkeyes. This post, however, is all about the Hawkeyes basketball team...

In 1999, i started college at the University of Iowa. Iowa had just hired new coaches for both its football and men's basketball teams. In football, they hired Kirk Ferentz, who at the time, was an unpopular hire. Hawkeye nation wanted Bob Stoops (who turned out to be a pretty good coach for Oklahoma). They got Ferentz, who in retrospect turned out to be a pretty good coach. Despite the last two years struggles by the football team, Captain Kirk has put together quite probably the greatest run by an Iowa football team ever.

On the flip side, the basketball team hired Steve Alford, a young up and comer fresh off a Sweet 16 run with Southwest Missouri State. Alford was considered one of the hot coaching prospects in the country, and got a lot of looks from big programs. When Iowa landed him, it was considered a big-time hire.

I remember sitting in the student section at an Iowa football game, in the middle of a 1-10 first season under Ferentz, when they brought out Alford for an interview on the sideline right in front of the student section. He received one of the biggest and longest standing ovations i've ever seen, long before he had ever coached a game. When he opened that season later in the month with a win over defending national champion UConn, Alford was the toast of the town. It was a short lived toast.

7 years later, despite seeing some of the best talent wonder through Iowa City since the BJ Armstrong, Roy Marble, and Ed Horton days, the Hawkeye basketball team was a perennial underachiever. The final straw, despite Alford lasting one more year, may have come in the 2005-2006 season when a senior-laden team, which had played well enough throughout the season to garner a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, lost in the first round on a last second shot to Northwestern State.

Those Iowa teams, along with off the court troubles (Pierre Pierce anyone?), were known for one thing by anyone who watched them consistently: Bad coaching. Whether it be bad defensive positioning, bad offensive sets, or lack of discipline, Alford was never known as a good in-game coach.

And nothing personified this better than their inability to break a press. I had season tickets for two years while I was in college, watched them religiously the other three years i lived in Iowa City, and watched them sporadically after i moved away. By that point, I couldn't bear to watch them anymore. Any team that played the Hawkeyes needed to have only one blueprint for success: Play a full-court press. It did not matter if the Iowa team had four senior starters or three freshman starters, under Alford they had a complete inability to break a press. Anytime a team played a press, Iowa looked like a bunch of 4th graders. Watching it made me want to ram my head into a wall; it shouldn't be that hard. Spread the floor, find the open man, advance the ball. It seems like a simple concept.

Yet no matter how many times or how many years other teams did this to Iowa, they never seemed to learn. After a while, you could only point to one thing: Bad coaching. Alford came in to Iowa as a supposed renown recruiter, but his coaching was suspect at best. When he feebly left Iowa to go to New Mexico (New Mexico!), Alford was known as a so-so recruiter and a bad coach.

That leads me to new Iowa coach Todd Lickliter. Lickliter's reputation was as a tough defensive coach and systematic offensive scheme, albeit with a fair amount of three-pointers launched. Through 4 games this year (3 of which i've been able to watch, thanks to the wonder that is the Big Ten Network), Lickliter's Iowa's teams have been just that: Tough defensively, systematic offensively, and with a propensity to shoot a fair amount of 3's. They haven't allowed a team to reach 50 points yet, but they haven't exactly been lighting up the scoreboard themselves.

But until tonight, i still wasn't sure about Lickliter's ability to coach. That is, until late in the 2nd half against U. of Maryland Eastern Shore, when that team started pressing Iowa because they were behind. Faced with a full-court press, this year's Iowa team did something i have not seen since the Tom Davis years: They broke it with ease. Not only did they break the press, but they broke it quickly, they broke it with good spacing, they broke it with sharp passes, and they broke it so well it led to layups and dunks. And as i watched, all i could think about was how well-coached this team looked.

I don't know how well this Iowa team will do. They are very young, and very green. They are playing in what is looking to be a very tough Big Ten Conference this year. And they are playing short-handed at the moment with their starting point guard Tony Freeman out with a broken wrist for the next month. But from what i have seen so far this year, the future looks bright. And unlike 8 years ago, when that future looked bright because of good players, this time it looks bright because of good coaching.

And i think that sets up the program for more success...