SATURDAY’S SCREEN-N-ROLL

The NCAA semi-finals take place tonight in New Orleans. First game is Louisville-Kentucky followed by Ohio State-Kansas.

On the last weekend of the three greatest weeks in sports here in America, I came across a couple of articles written on what else? Student-Athletes in college sports.

Joe Nocera of the NY Times has a bone to pick with the commercial we have seen over and over where the female athlete at the conclusion says, “Still think we’re just a bunch of dumb jocks?”

Rick Telander of the Chicao Sun-Times on Northwestern men’s basketball and the “one and done” in college hoops.

Ira Boudway of the Bloomberg Business Week on Louisville basketball…which raked in $40 million dollars, more than any other school.

Danny Wetzel of Yahoo Sports on the ‘other side’ of John Calipari.

“The perception of him is so far from the truth it’s a joke,” said Auburn coach Tony Barbee, who played for Calipari at Massachusetts and worked as an assistant under him at Memphis. “He loves basketball and that’s what he does, but this is the human element that is most important to him. Everyone who has played or worked for him knows it’s more than business.”

Yesterday I blogged about Bernard King not being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for 2012. Well another basketball guy has been denied too. CBS Sportsline.com on Guy Lewis, former college basketball coach will have to wait which has his former players ticked off.

Elvin Hayes hasn’t visited the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame since his induction in 1990, and he even turns down invitations to attend special events affiliated with it.

The former University of Houston star will only end his boycott if his college coach is enshrined, but there’s no guarantee that day will ever come.

Guy V. Lewis will be passed over again when a new class of inductees is announced before Monday’s national championship game in New Orleans. Many of his former players, including Hayes, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, have unsuccessfully campaigned for their coach for years, and their frustration builds with each passing year.

“It’s a sad situation,” Hayes said, “because when I look at the people they put in the hall, and then look at coach, and what he accomplished, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Ian O’Connor of ESPN New York tells us the HOF has passed on Rick Pitino.

Listening to sports talk radio out of New York City on Saturday morning (660 WFAN), the host hit the nail on the head, “you don’t hear about the basketball Hall of Fame like you do the football or baseball hall.”

He has a good point.

Quote of the Day: “As a player, control what you can control” -Joakim Noah

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

NO HALL FOR BERNARD

Fox Sports.com with reports that Bernard King, who was nominated will not be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

“It’s fair to say I’m quite disappointed,” King told the Post on Thursday, after being informed of his status Wednesday night.

“I was not selected this year with the 2012 class. Obviously, I’m honored to be a finalist. I think it would be a tremendous honor for my family if I’m inducted. It would be wonderful.

“My professional career and what I did in college and even high school merits selection and hopefully one day I’ll have the opportunity to be [inducted].”

FINAL FOUR WEEKEND

The three greatest weeks of sports in America is coming to an end.

Three weeks ago I filled out a bracket for the men’s NCAA basketball tournament. I was able to pick 2 of the 4 Final Four participants.

Baylor and Missouri let me down.

I had Kansas and Missouri in the finals with the Jayhawks winning it all.

This weekend I think Kentucky will be playing Ohio State in the finals and I’ll go with Kentucky.

The Final Four is a great weekend. Coaches from all over the country meet up to have a ton of fun. There are coaching clinics, great food and of course 3 outstanding games.

I have been to a few Final Four’s over the years and have had a blast. I highly recommend attending in the future.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times on Thad Matta of Ohio State.

Howard Beck of the New York Times on Mike Woodson, the NY Knicks coach doing a great job.

Andy Gardiner of USA Today on Baylor’s womens coach Kim Mulkey. Here’s Nancy Kerchavel of Bloomberg News Mulkey who has been diagnosed with ‘Bell’s Palsy’.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News on John Calipari and Rick Pitino and the coverage they receive from the media.

Steve Kroner of the SF Gate on the 3-point shot.

Ted Lewis of Nola.com on college basketball one and done’s.

But nobody, it seems, can come up with a plan that might be an incentive for remaining in college, even though Emmert has labeled some of the one-and-doners “young men … who have little or no interest in going to college.”

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

THURSDAY’S THINK TANK

Wednesday night I watched the New York Knicks crush the Orlando Magic.

New York played without Jeremy Lin and Amare Stoudemire.

Since Mike Woodson has taken over as head coach, the Knicks are 8-1.

Marc Berman of the NY Post on the incredible night for the Knickerbockers which had Carmelo Anthony a +33 and Dwight Howard a -31.

SF Gate Blog on Ray Lewis and his motivational talk to the Stanford men’s basketball team.

Bill Koch of Cincinnati.com on Mick Cronin head coach of the Bearcats wanting to play more up-tempo next season.

Mike Hunt of JS Online.com with his piece on Don Nelson who’s going into the basketball Hall of Fame.

“It’s a great honor to cap my career,” Nelson told ESPN. “I’ve had a great time and a great life coaching basketball.

Congratulations to Danny Manning; he’s been named the new head coach at Tulsa.

Felisha Legette-Jack was fired 2 weeks ago from Indiana…I’m just finding that out now.

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

WEDNESDAY’S WORD

Frank Deford of NPR on the state of college basketball

But if the Final Four might delight fans by giving them aristocracy in its teams, unfortunately the whole of college basketball is plagued by anonymity in its players, and external issues that have diminished the popularity of the game.

Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal on Tom Izzo‘s excitement on his in-coming class for 2013.

“We think we have an incredible class academically and athletically coming in,” said Izzo on Tuesday at a news conference to wrap up the season and look ahead. “We have something that we needed. We got a big guy (Costello). We got a shooter (Kaminski). That’s something we needed. We got an athlete (Harris). That’s something we needed. And we got an incredible passer (Valentine). So if I don’t screw them up we have a chance to be pretty good next year.”

Scott Hall of the Daily Helmsman on Josh Pastner’s extension at Memphis.

“We are very pleased with the efforts of our basketball coaches this past season,” said Athletic Director R.C. Johnson. “Our coaches are very visible in the community and have established relationships with their fanbase. Their public relations efforts have kept both a local and national spotlight shining on our campus and have made both programs highly successful.”

Michael McCarthy of the USA Today on the NCAA College basketball tournament passing the Super Bowl in terms of money gambled.

“You take all those games, and combine them all, it surpasses what we take in on the Super Bowl,” Kornegay says. “It’s 67 games — as opposed to one game.”

From talking to other sports book directors, Kornegay believes the first four days of the men’s tournament alone rivals the usual Super Bowl betting “handle,”or betting total, of $90 million to $100 million. That’s not counting cash wagered on women’s basketball or other college basketball events such as the NIT Tournament.

William Paxton of the CT Post on the Fairfield men’s basketball program.

Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal on Kentucky’s Anthony Davis…who almost went to Cleveland State.

Luke Winn of SI.com on Russ Smith of Louisville.

Zach Shonbrun of the New York Times on Wagner’s new head coach Bashir Mason.

How disturbing is this story? Here’s the AP on a Rhode Island men’s basketball player, Jonathan Holton was arrested and charged with a felony for posting video footage on Facebook of 2 sexual encounters he had with students.

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore