Where is Gus Johnson When You Need Him?

Ohhhhhhh, yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes, yes, yes.  I can't think of anything I would have wanted more than for the Bulldog Butlers to get to play VCU in the Final Four.  Plus, the highest seed to make it to Houston is the #3 UConn Huskies, as well as this being the first time no 1 or 2 seeds have made the Final Four.  I now have a grin on my face that will be cemented in place for a week.  Or, until reality sets in on Monday's first dive into the office email.  But until then, who cares.  I'm loving the college basketball gods right now.

#11 VCU vs. #1 Kansas
We all know how great a game this was to watch with the impressive Rams running away with the game late in the second half.  After falling behind in the early going (see below), VCU never trailed.  At one point at the end of the first half their lead was 18.  Naturally, the Jayhawks made a run and got within 2, but the experienced Rams held them off and expanded their lead down the stretch before finally winning by 10 in the end.  The last #1 seed went down to a team that "wasn't supposed to make the field of 68."  This is why I love this tournament.

Duck, it's more bullets:

• Most comical "analysis" from the screaming morons:  "VCU cannot let Kansas get out to an early lead."  What was it, 11-2 in favor of the Jayhawks in the early going?  Here's a better approach fellas.  "The team that scores more points than its opponents should win."
• Hats off to VCU head coach Shaka Smart, which is the best superhero alter-ego name I've ever heard.  He is getting the most out of his team through excellent motivation, preparation, and tactics.  This is why a lot of smaller hoops programs have a hard time sustaining success.  Every time a little school develops an up and coming coaching talent there are countless underperforming big conference teams waiting in the wings to lure him/her away with better facilities, more pay, greater media exposure, etc.  Let's hope the temptation to make an order of magnitude more money is less attractive than going 9-7 in the SEC for Shaka.
• In the current state of basketball economics, the biggest young talents get identified very early, shepherded off to the top prep, college, and/or pro teams.  VCU is a great example that sometimes athletic talent develops at different rates.  I'm sure none of the current Rams were heavily recruited, but given a chance to play regularly and gain experience, their talents and intelligence are now showing through.  They are no less capable of playing great ball than any of the blue-chip recruits destined for the high profile schools.
• Marv Albert and Steve Kerr were claiming that this was the biggest upset in Big Danced history.  I don't know about that.  It's definitely up there.  Top ten for sure, but NC State in 1983, or Villanova in 1985 have to be bigger upsets due to the way those games transformed college basketball.  Disagree?  Hit the comments with your biggest upset.
• I am still loving the whole storyline about VCU not being worthy to even be in the tournament.  Obviously, they have the talent, coaching, experience, and teamwork to make the Final Four, but does that necessarily mean their body of work from the regular season was strong enough to get an invite?  Thinking like an economist, we might question whether it does.  I'm not saying that I didn't think VCU was deserving.  I do.  It's just that on a purely objective basis, any team stringing together a bunch of impressive wins in a row can sometimes be a mere artifact of randomness.  Just like looking at random coin tosses, or in baseball when the Royals rattle off 10 wins in a row every so often.  They are still a terrible team.  Something like an infinite number of monkeys typing out the works of Shakespeare.
• Kansas has now lost to Northern Iowa and VCU as a #1 seed the last two years.  Parody anyone?

#2 North Carolina vs. #4 Kentucky

(Disclaimer: I'm, at best, a casual basketball fan who really only pays attention to the college game for no more than six weeks every spring.  NBA?  No thanks.  Plus, I never had enough free time to play it as a youth due to it's season being concurrent with hockey.)  Why was I not that into this game?  Was it because it was a matchup of traditional powers who were last relevant in the '90s?  Was it because both teams play disciplined, clean basketball with little flair or excitement like a regular season NBA game where the difference between the two teams is slight and the final difference in the games comes down to highly technical strategy and tactics that are inaccessible to the less knowledgeable fan?  Why couldn't I get behind Kentucky who beat Ohio St. or UNC with their argyle trim on their uniforms?

Ultimately, I blame Jim Nance.  He has to be one of the least interesting basketball commentators there has ever been.  He sounds like he'd be more at home covering golf or badminton.  If only there was some big golf tournament that CBS also regularly covers so that he could be better utilized...

I mean, come on CBS.  There was a freaking finger-roll in this game.  Somewhere Gus Johnson was loosing his shit in the privacy of his hotel room.  Nance didn't even mention George Gervin, or yell "The Ice-Man Cometh!"

Thankfully, the Tar Heels fought back to within two with about five minutes left, salvaging an otherwise bland game.

Not really complaining, though.  Three of the four games this weekend were sublime, and the fourth was very good.  Thanks Big Dance for filling our athletic drama quota for this week.

And now, it's...
The Leaderboard


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(With the excitement of the chaotic results from this weekend I just can't focus on something so mundane as accounting.  Score update coming soon.  Stay tuned.  Same Bat channel, different Bat time.)