Tuesday Morning Rant

From R.H.

Nice win for Nova. A welcome change of pace after the Eagles annual January debacle. Helps that I learned to not get my hopes up long ago.

Really Nova's first big test, although Louisville is down a bit this year. Reynolds was ridiculous. He was putting up a Laettner perfect game for a while. Playing like an All-American. Once again, thank God for the corrupt Kelvin Sampson leaving Oklahoma for Indiana (which he summarily destroyed). 9-10 shooting for a guard!! He doesn't take bad shots and has that uncanny knack of getting to the basket. Big East slugfest, my God. 67 fouls?!? Not that there were alot of bad calls. They probably even missed some. It was almost as long as the Meineke Car Care Bowl (only much, much more entertaining). Did Louisville reach in every time Nova got a defensive rebound or what?? A well-placed elbow to the face early in the game will take care of alot of that.

That Yarou guy is definitely raw, and he might be 37, but at least he gives Nova some semblance of a presence inside. Pena's tough, but he's undersized. How did Yarou not go to Uconn? I thought Calhoun had the West African market cornered? Still, how did Louisville not go to Samuels more often? Nova clearly couldn't handle him down low. He took 4 shots?? That's coaching. Pitino's been too busy banging ladies inside locked Italian restaurants. You stay classy, Rick. They took a million terrible, rushed 3's, playing right into Nova's hands.

Taylor King-- I can't say enough about this guy. A joy to watch. Gets his hands on everything, is smart as hell, helps out on the boards. As I've said, I was plenty skeptical when he transferred from Duke, I thought he was just another entitled Coach K 3-point shooting zombie. I don't even think he took a 3 last night. Needs to get more minutes if anything. They said he committed to UCLA when he was in 8th grade. I wonder what happened. Wait, so him and Love could've played together?!? My head would've exploded.

Nova does turn it over alot, and can be frustrating at times because of the youth of their young guards (at least that's what McNabb said), but if it all comes together at some point, look out. They throw that press on and teams just can't figure it out. I think Louisville threw it away on three consecutive trips, as Pitino tried in vain to get the spaghetti sauce off his silly white suit. 20,000 Kentuckians dressed in white? Sounds like a Clan convention.

Redding had a forgettable night. Someone get him some medical marijuana.

I know I criticize announcers alot, but I'll say it again- It doesn't get any better than McDonough, Raftery, and Bilas. Ok, Bilas can be a bit wordy (and nerdy) at times (how many times did he say "backflow" last night? Is that a word? Yeesh). Also, he should never be allowed to do Duke games (like he did AGAIN Sat. at Georgia Tech!). His love cannot be hidden and his overcompensating is transparent. It's like when Tom Heinson would do Sixers-Celtics Eastern Conference Final games on CBS (a travesty that hopefully somone was fired for) and give high-fives to the Celtic players as they came to the scorer's table. But really, other than all that, I like Bilas.

McDonough is the best play-by-play guy out there (for football too). No-nonsense, doesn't yell all the time or make it about himself. He's just like Brent Musberger, only the complete opposite. I loved how after they showed a replay, because ESPN thinks it's cool I guess, of Sosa (little punk) woofing at Nova, McDonough said obviously Sosa has some more maturing to do. No other guys have the balls to say that. They're supposed to embrace trash-talking, which they usually do. And Raftery, well, fuggetaboutit.

How deflating was it when they went to the second game, a Big 12 snoozefest with Oklahoma-Oklahoma State? With Brent doing it! I couldn't reach for the remote fast enough. Brent, Dick Stockton, and Verne Lundquist should be sent to a galaxy far, far away.

Mark McGwire comes out 6 years later and admits to roids. Meh. I didn't watch it. Cardinals fan Bob Costas handing a weepy McGwire tissues....no thanks. Blatant attempt to try to grovel his way back into the HOF discussion, and to prevent a media circus when he shows up as hitting instructor at spring training (as Tony LaRussa plays beer-pong in the clubhouse). McGwire said, "I wish I had never played during the steroid era." Um, yo dude, you and Canseco started the steroid era!!!! Thanks for that by the way. Gimme a break. That's like Artest saying he wishes he was never involved in the Malice at the Palace. Bud Selig was contacted for a comment, but it turns out he's been in a coma for 5 years. Who knew?