College Basketball Quiz: Name the starting five on the 1984-85 Villanova Cinderella national championship squad. Answer below.
College Basketball
AP Poll
1. Gonzaga (54 first place votes)
2. Duke (11)
3. Indiana
4. Louisville
5. Georgetown
6. Michigan
7. Kansas
8. Michigan State
9. Miami
10. Ohio State
—Gonzaga sure looked impressive on Monday in winning the West Coast Conference title game against Saint Mary’s. There isn’t a single hoops fan in the nation who wouldn’t love to see the Zags win it all.
–USA TODAY bracketologist Patrick Stevens is another saying I’m not supposed to worry about San Diego State making the Big Dance. He has them in the Midwest as an 8, playing 9-seed Oregon. The Aztecs do not deserve an 8 unless they advance to the Mountain West tournament final. But if they won it, suddenly they are a 6.
And what’s this? Jay Bilas, in his rankings of 68, has SDSU No. 25. And ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Aztecs as a 9-seed. Both Lunardi and Stevens have the Mountain West getting five teams (including Boise State).
Finally, CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm gives SDSU a 7-seed.
–According to Stats LLC and the Wall Street Journal, following are college basketball’s top conferences ranked by their recent performance in the NCAA tournament:
1. ACC 82-49 (.626)
2. Big 12 87-53 (.621)
3. Big East 112-70 (.615)
4. SEC 70-47 (.598)
5. Horizon 19-13 (.594…Butler)
6. Big Ten 76-54 (.585)
7. Pac-12 53-42 (.558)
–Pretty good story involving LIU Brooklyn as they earn their third straight NCAA bid in winning the Northeast conference tournament 91-70 over Mount St. Mary’s. I mean understand LIU lost four players to suspension in the fall for their role in a fight and reigning NEC player of the year Julian Boyd tore his ACL in December.
—Notre Dame is joining the ACC in July, two years earlier than anticipated. They will remain independent for football, though beginning in 2014 play five games against ACC opponents.
NFL Bits
–Yippee! The Jets, channeling the Yankees’ intentions, signed 35-year-old quarterback David Garrard to be the main competition for Mark Sanchez! Wow, I’m thrilled! I mean Garrard hasn’t taken a snap since 2010, which means he’s well rested, right? I guess Sonny Jurgensen wasn’t available.
Actually, Garrard was on the Dolphins’ roster last year but needed knee surgery, and in 2011 he had a back issue. Which means he probably moves well on a gurney, which would be the job of the fullback to push it, I’m guessing.
But if he just happens to be healthy enough to play without assistance, Garrard has a 85.8 quarterback rating for his career vs. the pathetic Sanchez’ 71.7. Plus Garrard has a solid TD/INT ratio of 89-54 to Sanchez’ beyond awful 68-69…at least for this era.
Garrard has also averaged one interception every 42.2 attempts to Sanchez’ one every 27.1.
–We note the passing of five-time Pro Bowler George Saimes, 71, whose best years as a defensive back were with the Buffalo Bills, helping lead the team to AFL titles in 1964 and ’65. After seven years in Buffalo, he shuffled off to Denver for three.
Saimes was a two-way star at Michigan State, playing fullback on offense. He was later a scout with a number of NFL teams. Saimes died of leukemia.
–All kinds of moves…The Seahawks acquired Minnesota wide receiver Percy Harvin in exchange for multiple draft picks, including a first rounder. But the immensely talented Harvin has a hard time staying on the field due to injuries (plus he’s a jerk). Minnesota teammate Adrian Peterson was very ticked off the Vikings got rid of the wideout.
–And Baltimore traded Anquan Boldin to San Francisco for a sixth-round draft choice, which doesn’t seem like much, and it isn’t, but Baltimore was prepared to release the clutch receiver for salary cap reasons. Boldin was due $6 million in 2013, the final year of his contract, and they couldn’t agree on a restructuring. The Ravens don’t win the Super Bowl without Boldin’s playoff heroics. It’s also very rare to have a trade like this between two Super Bowl opponents.
–Future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who had said last season was definitely his last while with the Falcons, announced he is returning for a 17th season because he wants that elusive Super Bowl ring. To return, Gonzalez wants a little more money than the $4.9 million he earned last season, as well as reduced training time. Heck, he caught 93 passes with 8 touchdowns.
–The Dolphins signed Steelers free agent receiver Mike Wallace to a five-year, $60 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. Miami is overpaying.
–According to USA TODAY Sports, two quarterbacks moving up on the draft list are Florida State’s E.J. Manuel and Syracuse’ Ryan Nassib. Two dropping down are Oklahoma’s Landry Jones and Arkansas’ Tyler Wilson.
Among running backs, the top three on the list are Eddie Lacy (Alabama), Giovani Bernard (North Carolina) and Montee Ball (Wisconsin).
The Redskins’ Controversy
“I want to see both sides in this. I really do. But two hours after the meaning of the name of Washington’s pro football team was vigorously debated before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board last week in Alexandria, I better understood why I will always be aligned with those who want the name changed.
“On one side, in the middle of the courthouse’s atrium, stood the well-coiffed, handsome representative of the team, Bruce Allen – son of George, the late legendary coach; ballboy for Sonny and Billy and the rest of the Over the Hill Gang. Bruce has worked for other NFL franchises, but the team’s current general manager has, deep down, always been what he calls a ‘proud Redskin,’ through and through.
“On the other side, sitting quietly a few feet away, patiently waiting her turn before the phalanx of cameras and voice recorders, was a bespectacled, regal American Indian woman, Suzan Shown Harjo – great-granddaughter of Cheyenne Chief Bull Bear, daughter of U.S. soldier Freeland Douglas, a decorated code talker who saw combat in Italy with the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division in World War II; proud American, through and through.
“ ‘The argument has always been the same,’ Harjo once told me. ‘ ‘We are honoring you,’ they say. ‘No, you’re not,’ we reply. ‘Shut up,’ they say. That’s pretty much the divide.’…
“ ‘In this day and age, could you foresee a team called the Blackskins?’ I asked Allen on Thursday. A three-second pause later, he uncomfortably replied, ‘I….I don’t know.’
“I’ll help him: No, America wouldn’t stand for a team called the Blackskins – or the Mandingos, the Brothers, the Yellowskins, insert your ethnic minority here.
“Allen gave as strong a defense of why this is important to him as he could. But at one juncture he said, ‘I know there are Native Americans who are very proud of us, who are fans of our football team.’ And unfortunately for him that came across like a man accused of racism might resort to the old ‘Wait, I have black friends.’…
“If I’m (owner Daniel) Snyder right now, I’m proactive before the courts or Roger Goodell takes it out of my hands, before the National Congress of American Indians aligns with another powerful political minority lobby to launch a boycott of my sponsors and starts taking money out of my pocket.
“I name them the Washington Warriors. I do away with the spears, the logo and all native peoples’ imagery. I honorably retire the old name in a ceremony to include tribal chiefs and I dedicate the new name to the Wounded Warriors and every soldier who has served our country…
“Otherwise, with momentum for change growing, the owner will continue to come across as a petty, little man on the wrong side of history.”
Ball Bits
–Like I’ve been saying, the Yankees are going to be fascinating this season. With the injuries to A-Rod, Granderson, and Teixeira, and Derek Jeter coming back from a serious one himself, plus the departure of Nick Swisher, no telling what kind of year, or at least start (until some of the walking wounded return), the Yanks will have. It’s just exciting for us Yankee haters to dream about some of the tabloid headlines if they blow.
So get this. GM Brian Cashman, who broke his ankle skydiving the other day, has gotten so desperate for punch in the order that he has reached out to the likes of Chipper Jones, Derrek Lee, and Scott Rolen, all of whom are retired…or unemployed (Rolen).
Jeter, when apprised of Cashman’s efforts, said, “Call Mike Schmidt, too. Call everybody.”
Personally, I’d send out a feeler to Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner, who had 31 homers and 100 RBI for Cleveland in 1964.
–March 13, 1954…20-year-old rookie Hank Aaron is inserted into the starting lineup for outfielder Bobby Thomson, who had broken his ankle during a spring training game while sliding into second base and the rest is history.
As reported by the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Nick Anapolis:
“Thomson, known for his famous ‘Shot Hear ‘Round the World’ which clinched the 1951 National League pennant for the Giants, was traded from New York to Milwaukee after the 1953 season. In the eighth inning of his first spring training game with Braves, Thomson got his cleats caught in the loose dirt while trying to break up a double play versus the Yankees.
“ ‘I started my slide too late,’ Thomson said at the hospital. ‘It was terrible luck. Charlie Grimm (manager of the Braves) had told me he was going to take me out the next inning.’
“Thomson didn’t see the field again until July 14, hitting just .232 with two home runs in 99 at-bats the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile, the Braves felt Aaron needed a little more time before bringing him up, even after he won the South Atlantic League MVP with Jacksonville in 1953 – leading the league in runs, hits, doubles, RBI and batting average, .362.
“On April 13, 1954, Aaron made his MLB debut, going hitless against Cincinnati. However, one of his many records would begin on this day. Eddie Mathews hit two home runs in the game, paving the way to an eventual record of 863 for the teammates.”
Aaron ended up finishing fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, hitting .280 with 13 homers and 69 RBI in 122 games. But I forgot he fractured his own ankle on Sept. 5. Back then these things were obviously far more serious than with modern medicine. One can safely say Aaron’s recovery went well.
–This just in…the Cleveland Indians have lowered the cost of a 12-ounce beer to $4!!! This should have a major impact on the Cleveland area housing market as the city thus becomes a far more attractive place to live.
Plus the price of a hot dog is going down from $4.50 to $3.00!!! In fact at 15 specific games, a hot dog will cost only $1.00!!!
Bouncing Balls
—Miami stretched its winning streak to 19 on Tuesday in beating the Hawks 98-81 They go for 20 on Wednesday against Philadelphia (after I’ve posted). Only three teams have won 20 in the same season: the 1971-72 Lakers (33), the 2007-08 Rockets (22) and the 1970-71 Bucks (20).
—Dwight Howard returned to Orlando for the first time, leading his Lakers to a 106-97 victory on Tuesday. Not only did he silence the boos, he scored a season-high 39 points as he tied his NBA record with 39 free-throw attempts, making 25. Last December in Los Angeles, Orlando’s Hack Howard strategy paid off as he made just 9 of 21 at the line.
The Lakers are suddenly a season-best three games over .500, having won 9 of their last 11.
–Interesting times for New York sports teams. The New York Knicks lost Amar’e Stoudemire for the season with another knee injury and now you look at the five-year, $100 million contract they signed Amar’e to and seeing as this is year three of it, and Amar’e is owed $45 million, guaranteed, for years four and five, it’s going down as one of the worst contracts, err, any New York team has doled out. See A-Rod, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Mark Sanchez…Bobby Bonilla, Bart Scott…
Anyway…in the first year of his contract, Stoudemire performed like a real warrior…25 points, 8 rebounds in 78 games. In the strike-shortened second season he played in just 47 of 66 games and averaged 17.5/7.8. This year he ends up playing just 29 games and is 14 and 5. For this he is earning $17.7 million.
–Penn State disclosed that the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal has cost the school $41 million through December.
—Three species of sharks have gained international protection, including the oceanic whitetip, which is a killer, so this is good….good for ratings, that is. Three varieties of hammerheads are also now supposed to be off limits to commercial fishermen unless they gain special licenses.
—SUMATRAN TIGER MAULS INDONESIAN FARMER TO DEATH!!!
Medan, Indonesia (AP) – “A rare Sumatran tiger has mauled a farmer to death on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, prompting terrified villagers to call for the animal to be killed, a park official said Wednesday. The same animal is suspected in attacks on five other people.”
C’mon tiger! There are just 400 Sumatran tigers left in Indonesia, down from about 1,000 in the 1970s.
Top 3 songs for the week 3/17/79: #1 “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor…there were worse tunes at this time…) #2 “Tragedy” (Bee Gees…like this one…) #3 “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” (Rod Stewart…and this one…)…and…#4 “Fire” (Pointer Sisters….couldn’t stand them…) #5 “Heaven Knows” (Donna Summer with Brooklyn Dreams…oh what the heck…except for that stupid organ deal in the middle, passable…) #6 “A Little More Love” (Olivia Newton-John) #7 “Shake Your Groove Thing” (Peaches & Herb…if you were drinking six Old Milwaukees, like yours truly on a college budget, this one stayed on the radio….it wouldn’t today…) #8 “What A Fool Believes” (The Doobie Brothers…easily one of their worst…) #9 “Y.M.C.A.” (Village People…just shoot me…how this one became a staple of sporting events, weddings, White House parties, I’ll never know…) #10 “Sultans Of Swing” (Dire Straits… good gawd….just went on and on and on and on….what an absolutely awful week…and I was heading for summer school so I could graduate on time the following spring …Let that be a lesson to all the little children out there… reduce your consumption of Old Milwaukee immediately!)
College Basketball Quiz Answer: 1984-85 Villanova starting five…Dwayne McClain, Ed Pinckney, Harold Jensen, Harold Pressley, Gary McLain…the other three seeing limited minutes were Dwight Wilbur, Mark Plansky and Chuck Everson.
First round…No. 8-seed Villanova defeats 9-seed Dayton 51-49
Second round…Villanova defeats 1-seed Michigan 59-55
Third round…Villanova defeats 5-seed Maryland 46-43
Fourth round…Villanova defeats 2-seed North Carolina 56-44
National Championship…Villanova defeats 1-seed Georgetown 66-64 as ‘Nova shoots a stupendous 22 of 28 (78.6%) from the field and 22-27 from the foul line, while Georgetown goes 29-53 from the field itself.
