I was speaking to a college head coach way back in October and I asked him if his school puts on a Midnight Madness show. He looked at me and said, “we don’t care about Midnight Madness, it’s all about March Madness!”
Today is March 1st, it can mean only one thing. Tournament time in basketball.
The NCAA has March Madness and High School basketball playoffs get under way.
It’s a great time of year; you can feel it in your bones.
Everyone gets excited about the NCAA tournament. The talk of seeds and bubbles are all over the place. People sign up for bracket contests and test their knowledge by choosing the winners of each game. Men, women and even the children get involved.
In college, conference tournaments begin play this week (unless you’re the Ivy league) player rotations are cut down unless you’re Ohio State, they’ve been playing 6 guys for a long time now; and having a ton of success. They can clinch a tie for the Big Ten title with a win over Illinois on Tuesday.
At the high school level, varsity teams from all over the State begin their district tournaments and battle it out for the best in their respective class. (JV players sit and wait anxiously for the call to be moved up just like a promising minor league player when Septemeber rolls around and rosters are expanded)
Residing in Michigan for the past 13 years I have been treated to some exciting games in the month of March at the high school level. The State tournament semi-finals are held in East Lansing, just a hop, skip and a jump away from my front door. I have seen the likes of Jason Richardson, Antonio Gates, Al Horford, Shane Battier and Marcus Taylor all work hard to lead their teams to the promise land. Michigan State University has been to 5 Final Fours in the past 11 years, so you know it’s always electric in these parts. My own team (Jackson Community College) starts Tuesday night in the MCCAA quarterfinals. We head to Grand Rapids to take on GRCC. Winner moves into the semi-finals held Friday.
There’s something about March when it comes to basketball…it’s a special feeling if you are a fan of the roundball.
Big ups to Team USA in Hockey. The Americans lost the Gold medal game to Team Canada in overtime 3-2. Goaltender Ryan Miller of Team USA (former Michigan State Spartan) was named MVP of the olympics despite being on the losing end. Which brings to mind Jerry West. Any reason why West would come to mind?
In case you missed it over the weekend the New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics in Boston! Yes that’s right, you read that right. The Nets came out on top 104-96. New Jersey attempted 41 foul shots to the Celtics 11.
“They played better than us. It’s not hard to explain,” Celtics coach DocRivers said. “We told them yesterday, ‘It ain’t the system. It’s our heads. It’s between the ears. And we’ve got to come out and play. Everyone wants to beat you, you can bank on that.’”
JSOnline.com The one deal no one was talking about at the trade deadline last week was John Salmons to Milwaukee. Despite losing last night, Salmons has really helped the Bucks.
“There’s not old school and new school. It’s good school, bad school.”
-Jim Craig former hockey player
-Coach Finamore
Hoops135@hotmail.com
Ohio State playing 6 players is doable, sorry guys on the bench, cheer and root for your team…I agree steve, this type of atmosphere gives me a happy feeling, with NCAA tournament time, spring on the way, and high school tourneys, its just great…What do you think about Syracuse being #1 ranked? suprised or not suprised?
Hi Claudio,
SU being ranked # 1 well they deserve it, I guess but I’m not a big fan of rankings. It’s more for the fans. Boeheim has those guys playing hard and playing together.
All I know is I’ve ordered my directTV March Madnees package. requested the first weekend off let the games begin
G-Man, love that philosophy! Enjoy the games…