NCAA Basketball Quiz: 1) Since the men’s tournament
expanded to 64 teams in 1985, how many times in the 22 years
has a #1 seed won? 2) Villanova is the lowest seeded team to
win. What was it? 3) Name the five schools to make it into 12
or more Final Fours. Answers below.
March Madness
Any fan of college basketball has to agree Saturday was as good
as it’s ever been. I haven’t followed the sport that closely this
season because my Wake Forest Demon Deacons had a lousy
year, but those games were special. Sunday was less so.
My own Final Four survives: Florida, Kansas, UNC and Vandy,
but if you saw my full bracket, I was just 10 of 16 overall for the
Sweet 16.
This year, for only the second time since 1985, no double-figure
seed made it to the third round, and with #2 seed Wisconsin’s
loss, that means since ’85, the top two from each region moved
on to the round of 16 only twice.
And just to defend the ACC, which has only one of 7 left, we’re
talking the #1 survives (UNC), but it’s not as if the others were
#2s and #3s. Try #4, #4, #5, #6, #7 and #10. The ACC deserved
all its selections and they were legitimately among the Top 32
teams in the country. It’s just the six who lost the past few days
were all bunched #17 to #32. And that’s a memo……..
Payday
USA Today had a story recently on the amount of money Men’s
Division I basketball coaches make. Using state and federal open
records laws, the paper researched the 65 schools that qualified
for the 2006 NCAA tournament and came up with some of the
following, taking into consideration both guaranteed and non-
guaranteed income, as well as bonuses of all sorts, such as for
winning conference tournaments and those provided by apparel
companies.
Jeff Bzdelik / Air Force…Annual pay…$336,000+
Mark Gottfried / Alabama…$1,036,500+
Will Brown / Albany…$180,000+
Rick Byrd / Belmont…$228,000+
Lute Olson / Arizona…$1,420,000+
Al Skinner / Boston College…$757,000+
Jim Calhoun / UConn….$1,500,000
Mike Krzyzewski / Duke…$1,262,000+
Billy Donovan / Florida…$1,389,000+ [plus one-time bonus of
$1,942,000]
Mark Few / Gonzaga…$590,000+
Bruce Weber / Illinois…$903,000+
Kelvin Sampson / Indiana…$1,100,000+
Jeff Ruland / Iona…$352,000+
Tubby Smith / Kentucky…$2,193,000+
John Calipari / Memphis…$1,326,000+
Roy Williams / UNC…$1,424,000+
Jim Boeheim / Syracuse…$1,095,000+
Gregg Marshall / Winthrop…$224,000
Other perks:
Ohio State’s Thad Matta has use of a private plane for recruiting
and other business trips. Plus he gets an automatic year’s
extension with a regular-season Big Ten title [which he won this
season], league tournament title or Elite Eight appearance in the
NCAA tournament.
Washington’s Lorenzo Romar gets $1,250 for each player (up to
two) selected to the Pac-10 Conference’s all-academic team and
$2,500 if one or more players is an academic All-American. He
also pockets $10,000 if his team’s GPA is 2.7 or better.
Memphis’ John Calipari gets a $15,000 clothing allowance.
Arizona’s Lute Olson gets 13 season tickets for men’s basketball,
eight for football and he can designate 15 people as members of
the school’s postseason traveling party, covering tickets, hotels
and air travel.
*Related to the above, somewhat, Darren Everson had a piece in
the Wall Street Journal on Saturday about coaches with the
strongest “coaching trees” – as well as some with the weakest.
For example, Louisville’s Rick Pitino had the following
protégés; Billy Donovan (Florida), Tubby Smith (Kentucky) and
Jeff Van Gundy (Houston Rockets).
Herb Sendek (Arizona State, after leaving North Carolina State),
is responsible for the careers of Charlie Coles (Miami Univ.),
Thad Matta (Ohio State) and Sean Miller (Xavier). Plus Sendek
was on Pitino’s Kentucky staff.
Jim Calhoun (Connecticut) can count Karl Hobbs (George
Washington), Dave Leitao (Virginia) and Glen Miller (Penn)
But then there’s Mike Krzyzewski. Try Tommy Amaker
(Michigan). Oops, he was just fired after going 43-53 in the Big
Ten in six seasons. Or Quin Snyder, formerly at Missouri who
left under a cloud. Only Mike Brey (Notre Dame) has been
mildly successful, though stumbled versus Winthrop. Bob
Bender and Tim O’Toole are other former Coach K assistants
who have flamed out.
Stuff
–There were a slew of articles this weekend on the spectacular
spring training that Cincinnati outfielder Josh Hamilton, 25, is
having; 17 hits in his first 31 at bats with 26 RBI. But you
wouldn’t see these stories were it not for the fact Hamilton has
been out of baseball three years; forced out for a variety of
substance abuse issues.
Bill Madden of the New York Daily News notes that Hamilton’s
story is far more harrowing than those of other reclamation
projects like Steve Howe and Darryl Strawberry, “culminating
with his arrival on the doorstep of the Raleigh, N.C., home of his
75-year-old grandmother, Mary Holt in October 2005. Sweating
profusely, his eyes glazed and some 40 pounds underweight, the
gaunt, disheveled Hamilton was barely recognizable to her. So
powerful was the hold crack cocaine had on him that, on one
occasion, he reportedly burned his left (throwing) hand with five
lit cigarettes. A few days earlier, he’d tried to commit suicide –
for the fourth or fifth time, by his count – by overdosing with
pills. ‘I’d let so many people down,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to
live anymore.’”
Hamilton had been the No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft, selected by
the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The D-Rays signed him for $4
million, but when Hamilton announced he was coming back after
Major League Baseball said he could, the D-Rays opted not to
put him on the 40-man roster, thus exposing Josh to anyone who
wanted to take a chance on him. The Cubs selected him and then
Cincinnati took Hamilton off their hands for a mere $100,000.
Madden:
“(Tampa Bay) GM Andrew Freidman explained later they didn’t
think any team would take a chance on him. Making it look even
worse for the D-Rays was the fact that a few days after losing
Hamilton in the draft, they non-tendered outfielder Damon
Hollins, who then wound up signing in Japan. So not only did
they waste a roster spot that could have been Hamilton’s on a
player they knew they weren’t going to keep, they didn’t even
get any compensation for him.”
But as Yankee scout Gene Michael notes, Michael having had to
deal with Howe and Strawberry, the demons will always be
there. Here’s hoping Hamilton beats them back.
–One guy who can’t seem to deal with his demons is Pete Rose.
Last Wednesday he told ESPN Radio “I bet on my team every
night. I didn’t bet on my team four nights a week…. I bet on my
team to win every night because I love my team, I believe in my
team. I did everything in my power every night to win that
game.”
But once again Rose is lying.
Murray Chass / New York Times
“Pete Rose still can’t get it right…either from selective memory
or from advancing age, (Rose) forgot one player he didn’t
believe in – Reds starting pitcher Bill Gullickson, the player
whose games Rose basically stopped betting.
“Rose’s chronology of his own betting habits has a long history.
For 15 years, he denied that he had bet on baseball games when
he managed the Reds. To some people, he was very convincing.
“Indeed, critics of Rose’s lifetime ban disparaged A. Bartlett
Giamatti, the commissioner who banned him; Fay Vincent,
Giamatti’s deputy and successor; and John Dowd, the
Washington lawyer whose voluminous report nailed Rose….
“Contrary to what he said in the Wednesday radio interview,
Rose did not bet on Reds games nightly. The record Dowd
created demonstrated that there were games on which Rose did
not bet. It was those games that represented the response to his
supporters who said it was no big deal if Rose bet on games as
long as he didn’t bet on the Reds to lose.
“According to the Dowd report, which included a diary of bets
that Rose made on Reds games and many others – it listed bets
on 390 games over all, 52 of them involving the Reds, in a three-
month period in 1987 – Rose developed a consistency of not
betting on certain contests.
“In particular, Rose stopped betting on Reds games that
Gullickson started. If Rose bet on his team to win other games
but didn’t bet on Gullickson’s games, he was sending a signal to
the bookies he was betting with that he, as manager of the team,
didn’t think much of his team’s chances in those games.
“As far as his betting pattern was concerned, Rose might as well
have bet against the Reds in those games. Such wagers would
have sent the same message to the bookies: ‘I don’t’ expect us to
win these games.’”
Rose didn’t withhold his money on all of Gullickson’s starts. In
1987, during the period Dowd studied, April 7 to July 4, Rose
won the first four times he bet on games the pitcher started. But
then he lost two of his next three and Rose didn’t bet for the next
two weeks. When the betting records resume, Rose didn’t bet on
Gullickson’s next four starts. In that span, May 30 through July
4, Rose failed to place a bet on only 3 of 25 other games.
Incredibly, Dowd’s report revealed that in 69 instances, Rose bet
$2,500 or more on a game. He lost 64 of them!
[Another report over the weekend says Rose avoided starts by
Mario Soto.]
–Bowie Kuhn, dead at the age of 80. Kuhn was commissioner
of baseball from 1969-84, quite a tumultuous time for the sport,
and looking back I can’t say I was a real fan of the guy, but the
Daily News’ Bill Madden has a somewhat different view.
“(Kuhn) probably will be most remembered as the commissioner
who presided over the advent of free agency, salary arbitration
and the accompanying higher salaries – all of which were the
product of the historic gains made by the Players Association and
Kuhn’s longtime nemesis, union chief Marvin Miller. But those
labor victories by Miller were largely the product of
stubbornness, gross miscalculations and blind stupidity on the
owners’ part. For his part, the record will show no commissioner
was tougher in dealing with the owners than Kuhn – he
suspended George Steinbrenner, Charlie Finley and Ted Turner,
mavericks all, for assorted offenses – and dealt swiftly and
decisively with the drug crisis that threatened the game’s
integrity at the end of his term, meting out more suspensions in
1983 to Kansas City Royals players Willie Wilson, Willie Mays
Aikens and Jerry Martin. And when it came to gambling, Kuhn
was vigilant almost to the extreme. He suspended Detroit Tigers
star pitcher Denny McLain for three months in 1970 for
consorting with gamblers and played a leading role in blocking
Eddie DeBartolo’s attempted purchase of the Chicago White Sox
because of his ownership stake in race tracks. I always thought
Kuhn’s issuing of lifetime bans to Willie Mays and Mickey
Mantle for taking jobs as greeters in Atlantic City casinos was a
bit over the top, but, to the end, he maintained he was trying to
send a message that even the most seemingly benign associations
with gambling would not be tolerated on his watch.
“The integrity of the game also was the issue when, in 1976, he
voided Finley’s attempted sales of his Oakland A’s stars, Vida
Blue to the Yankees for $1 million and Joe Rudi and Rollie
Fingers to the Red Sox for $1 million apiece. Finley retaliated
by calling Kuhn ‘the village idiot’ (which earned him another
fine) and filing a lawsuit against baseball (which he lost).”
And Kuhn was the man in charge when Curt Flood challenged
baseball’s reserve clause. Kuhn stood fast, but while Flood lost
in the Supreme Court, free agency would soon carry the day.
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post:
“(In the end, Bowie was) a company man, a management man, a
man who may have wanted to be known for many things but will
best be known as the last guy at the gate, in his perfectly starched
white shirt, refusing to see that the world was changing, and that
economics were changing, and that baseball, inevitably, was
changing forever.
“He was the man who first said ‘no’ to Curt Flood, no matter
how differently he tried to spin it in later years; who firmly
believed that Flood seeking to end baseball’s century-long policy
of indentured servitude was akin to setting the Constitution
aflame. Kuhn was the man who thought it prudent to be
elsewhere on the night of April 8, 1974, when Henry Aaron
broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. He sent Monte Irvin in his
place, and it sent an abysmal message that Aaron, rightfully,
never forgave.
“He was the man who presided over the first two work stoppages
in the history of professional sports, who refused to get directly
involved in the 1981 strike, believing a commissioner’s job was
to stay detached from the dirty-hands part of his sport, even as
that sport nearly imploded. He was the man who unilaterally
prevented Charley Finley from selling off key elements of his
championship A’s to the Red Sox and Yankees, earning a
‘BASEBALL IN CHAOS!’ headline from Sports Illustrated and
a nickname of ‘the village idiot’ from Finley….
“But as we’ve come to understand, baseball is, has, and forever
will be held to a high standard. Kuhn’s contemporary
commissioner, Pete Rozelle, oversaw just as many headaches in
his tenure, actually permitted the use of replacement scab players
on his watch, yet is now viewed universally as a cross between
the Dalai Lama and Gandhi.
“But that’s football. Kuhn was baseball. And as everyone who’s
ever held the job, from Judge Landis all the way to Bud Selig,
has proven, it is as thankless a job as has ever been created.
Some men are just destined to more thanklessness than others.”
So many of Kuhn’s obituaries, however, such as those above,
totally ignored one fateful decision of Kuhn’s that yours truly
still can’t stand….THE DESIGNATED HITTER! That’s what
should be on his tombstone.
“Here lies the man who gave baseball the designated hitter, an
incredibly stupid move.”
–A tragedy down in the Florida Keys hit close to home this
weekend. Three divers, all hailing from neighboring towns to
yours truly’s (Chatham and Westfield) died in what is being
called the worst scuba accident in Florida Keys history.
The three, together with a fourth who survived, were making
what is a common dive in these parts, down to the Spiegel
Grove, a 510-foot Navy landing ship dock that was sunk six
miles off Key Largo five years ago as an artificial reef and diving
attraction. It has become the most popular destination in these
parts and is visited by tens of thousands of divers each year; but
few, and this is the key, venture inside.
Jonathan Casiano, Carly Rothman and Nyier Abdou of the Star-
Ledger:
“Stanley and Walsweer [two of the victims] were found in a
particularly dangerous part of the ship, authorities said,
accessible by a passage so narrow that rescue divers had to swim
through one at a time. The section is supposed to be off-limits
for even the most adventurous ‘thrill divers,’ with hatches
welded shut and doors chained closed, said Becky Herrin, a
spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
“ ‘Even the most trained person would not go in there just for the
sport of it,’ said Key Largo Rescue Chief Sergio Garcia, who led
yesterday’s recovery effort.”
While the exact facts still aren’t known, the danger is in stirring
up the silt, which means you are then diving in total darkness,
even with your lights. These were very experienced divers, but
even the most experienced make mistakes in this sport.
–A new species of big cat has been found in the jungles of
Borneo and Sumatra. Once thought to be the “clouded leopard,”
it’s now clear the new find is as distinct “as the lion and the
tiger,” the World Wildlife Fund proclaimed.
The cat has been reclassified as the Bornean clouded leopard,
and it’s a killer, sports fans. Potentially, a new guerilla
movement is taking shape.
–I have to make a major apology…I understated the size the
other day of the colossal squid that was landed off Antarctica.
Now frozen in a block of ice at New Zealand’s national museum,
it is 1,090 lbs. and 33 feet in length.
–I also forgot to note last time the death of a man at the hands of
a sperm whale off Japan. Three were thrown into the water
during an operation to rescue the stray from a shallow bay. As it
was being towed back to sea, the whale became agitated and, like
King Kong and Godzilla before him, he fought back. But I never
heard what happened to the whale. I assume it’s now heading
down to Australia, to join forces with its great white shark
brethren.
–This Just In……………. “Thieves stole a baby crocodile and
more than 50 snakes and lizards from an Australian wildlife park,
officials said. Jason Watson, owner of the Wildlife Wonderland
park in southern Victoria state, said workers found reptile tanks
raided on Sunday morning. A 23-inch freshwater crocodile, 47
blue tongue lizards, three bearded dragons and two pythons were
missing.” Authorities say the animals were stolen to be sold to
collectors. I say officials are clearly overlooking the main
explanation; the animals were set free by a rogue band of
Tasmanian Devils.
–Here’s a story I never knew. Back in Feb. 1971, Stan Duke,
one of the first blacks in local television news and a popular five-
year weekend sportscaster for KNXT-TV in Los Angeles, was a
man with a bright future in the business.
But on Feb. 7, after finishing a late-evening newscast, he drove
to the Wilshire district home of his estranged wife, Faye
Williams Duke, a junior high school teacher. Duke would later
testify “he saw her and radio commentator Averill Berman in the
bedroom together, left to get a rifle, and after returning” killed
Berman by firing “the fatal shots through the closed door of a
bedroom closet in which Berman was hiding.”
“It took me 17 years to get where I am,” he reportedly said, “and
I blew it all tonight.”
Duke pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but a judge, who
heard the case without a jury, ruled Duke was legally insane and
sentenced him to five years to life.
Duke said outside the courtroom, “When you’re in another guy’s
bed with his wife, it’s dangerous territory,” adding it was a racial
matter; Duke and his wife being black, Berman, white.
Duke was paroled after just three years but the doors were closed
in the television industry. Stan Duke died last Wednesday at the
age of 70.
–“300” has broken all the box-office records in Greece, striking
a patriotic nerve at a time when school textbooks play down
great moments in Greek history.
–Congratulations to Amherst for winning the Division III
basketball title for a first time.
–Now this is a golf story, via Golf World.
“Jim Fisher, a member at Greensboro (N.C.) CC, aced the 18th
hole at Forest Lake Club in Columbia, S.C., with a 5-iron on a
Sunday recently. The next time he played was the following
Saturday, six days later, in a club event with a shotgun start on
the Carlson Farm Course at Greensboro, CC. His first hole was
the par-3 17th, and with the same 5-iron he used in his previous
swing, he made a second consecutive hole-in-one.”
–As Tiger Woods shockingly collapsed on Sunday with a 43 on
the back nine, Vijay Singh waltzed to his 31st career PGA Tour
title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational; his 19th since turning 40.
–Stuart Rosenberg, the director of my favorite all time film,
“Cool Hand Luke,” died on Thursday. He was 79. “Cool Hand
Luke” was his first major studio picture.
–Huge developments in “For Better or For Worse.” The “Party
of the Century” has been accelerated, perhaps starting as early as
Wednesday, and Liz is going with Chopper pilot Warren! As
Jim Valvano said, “Never, ever give up!” And so my brother
and I are still in the running for a $10 cash prize against Jeff B.’s
selection that Liz will end up with Pitiful Wimp Anthony. [Or
PWA as he’s known in the ‘hood.]
But as Jeff B. notes, Liz has clearly been purging because it
appears she’s lost 30 pounds. As for April, she’s been eating
every snack food imaginable, witness the 25 pounds she has
gained in the past two strips. April is also about to get knocked
up…………..DEVELOPING………………..
–Boy I’m sick of all those commercials for Celtic Women. I
think I’d commit hari-kari if I was forced to attend one of their
concerts and I heard them sing “Scarborough Fair.”
–Eegads. #4 on the latest Billboard Pop Chart is “Kidz Bop
Kids.” Rolling Stone: “Child-sung version of hits by Gnarls
Barkley, the Fray and Justin Timberlake? Sounds terrible! But
apparently not to the 74,531 people who bought this its first
week.” You know, I was almost six years old when I first heard
the Beatles. Thank God I continued to listen to the real thing. I
can’t imagine buying a record of my peers singing the same
tunes. I fear for our future……………Actually, I’ll be long
gone. I really couldn’t care less.
Top three albums on the current chart: #1 Norah Jones – Not
Too Late #2 Daughtry – Daughtry [‘American Idol’ reject] #3
Fall Out Boy – Infinity on High
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/18/67: #1 “Penny Lane” (The
Beatles) #2 “Happy Together” (The Turtles) #3 “Baby I Need
Your Lovin’” (Johnny Rivers)…and…#4 “Love Is Here And
Now You’re Gone” (The Supremes) #5 “Ruby Tuesday” (The
Rolling Stones) #6 “Dedicated To The One I Love” (The Mamas
& The Papas) #7 “Sock It To Me-Baby!” (Mitch Ryder and the
Detroit Wheels) #8 “There’s A Kind Of Hush” (Herman’s
Hermits….their worst) #9 “My Cup Runneth Over” (Ed Ames
….of Johnny Carson tomahawk fame) #10 “Then You Can Tell
Me Goodbye” (The Casinos)
NCAA Basketball Quiz Answers: 1) In 12 out of 22 years, a #1
seed won it all since the tourney expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
2) Villanova was a #8 seed when it won in ‘85. 3) Most Final
Fours: North Carolina, 16; UCLA, 15; Duke, 14; Kentucky, 13;
Kansas, 12
NCAA Tourney Tidbits:
After the completion of the first two days of competition, the
record for #15 seeds is now 4-92. For #16 seeds it’s 0-92.
Championships won by (since 1985): #1 seeds, 12; #2 seeds, 4;
#3 seeds, 3; others, #4, #6, #8.
Most titles: UCLA, 11; Kentucky, 7; Indiana, 5; North Carolina,
4; Duke, 3
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
