When Gene Hackman died about this time last year, I went back and watched Hoosiers. I was left with one overwhelming thought: “Why is this a sports movie classic?” Hackman plays Norman Dale, the coach of tiny Hickory High (Indiana) basketball team. They have one good player, Jimmy Chitwood. Spoiler alert: Chitwood leads the team to the state title. The Dale character is an alcoholic boor; he makes Bobby Knight look compassionate and flexible by comparison. During the season, Coach Dale gets annoyed with Chitwood for shooting too much, benches him, and refuses to put in a replacement. The refs consult with the coach to confirm that the inexplicable decision to play four on five is his intention before the debacle proceeds. [Editor’s note: It reminds me of Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie berating his shooting guard, Jodie Meeks, when he was breaking the UK scoring record against Tennessee in 2009. 54 points! Gillispie screamed at him that this wasn’t the University of Meeks and he should stop shooting. Billy Gillispie lasted two seasons at Kentucky; Norman Dale is a folk hero. Back to the Notes.]

Unfortunately for Nebraska, coach Fred Hoiberg did not get the Hickory High treatment when his team had only four players on the floor with less than a minute left in the game. In the postgame, Hoiberg took the blame “for the miscommunication”. Sort of. “I know the referees always count to make sure there's not six,” Hoiberg said. “I don't know the rule on that with four.” Memo to Fred: There is no rule. It is not the officials’ responsibility to do your job as well as theirs.

I did a Zapruder film frame by frame analysis of the play but looking at everything but the play itself. A lot of people realize that a disaster is imminent. Some Iowa players and fans (who start pointing furiously) and finally Hoiberg, who ushers center Rienk Mast toward the scorer’s table. Too late, obviously. Curiously, Mast never subbed out. He was eligible and could have just walked onto the court and started playing. Wouldn’t have made a difference, but interesting.

Fred Hoiberg played for Iowa State back in the day. Hell of a shooter. Was in the NBA for a decade, retiring in 2005. His son, Sam Hoiberg, is a senior on the current Nebraska team, where he became a starter this season. Now that his eligibility is spent, Fred starts working on getting Sam on his staff in 3, 2, 1…

A few more details on the Will Wade to LSU drama. Between LSU (part 1) and NC State, Wade coached at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana. You may remember that McNeese State pulled off a 12-5 upset against Clemson in last year’s tournament. That’s what got Wade the NC State job. Here’s where it gets interesting. The McNeese State President, Wade Rousse, left last year too. To take over as President at LSU. It was Rouse who orchestrated the daring escape of Will Wade from fortress Raleigh, a plan than has been in motion for months, apparently. Wade Rousse, PhD is an accomplished academic. His area of academic expertise: sports ethics. [Editor’s Note: Just kidding.]

Finally, word on the street is Luke Murray will be the next coach at Boston College. Luke Murray is currently an assistant at UConn. And the son of Bill Murray. 

Rick Pitino gets his guys to play full court defense. The Johnnies are aggressive and relentless, creating chaos. It allowed them to speed up Duke and control the game initially. That and an uncharacteristic number of made 3s (9-18 in the first!). Duke didn't score over the final 4+ minutes of the first stanza. St. John's with the lead at the break, 41-40. Surprise contributors for both teams. Prey for St. Johns with 9 (3-3 from 3) and Evans from Duke (14!).   

Pitino in the sideline interview with Tracy Wolfson (the dean of the craft): "Dylan Mitchell just made a 3. The Lord is blessing us tonight!" he said with a laugh. Rick made a joke? In the middle of the game? Age has mellowed that dude. It didn't last.

Close second half. Duke was up 3 with 32 seconds left. Boozer at the line for the front end of 1 and 1. Miss! Zuby fouled and makes 1 of 2 for St. John's, putting them down 2. Duke's Evans went 1-2 on free throws (he's like an 87% shooter!), giving the Johnnies the ball down 3 with 11.2 seconds to go.

Ball in Darling's hands. Again. He got a pretty clean look from 3. Airball. Cam hit a couple free throws to secure a 5-point win, 80-75. The Blue Devils in the Sweet 16 for the third straight season.

The Storms' Zuby Ejiofor ends his college career with 17, 8 and 6. Great college player with enough skills to find a place in the Association.

Cam Boozer with another double-double, 22 and 10 (with 3 assists). Evans ended up with an efficient 25.

Cam Boozer is the first freshman to average 20, 10 and 4 since Larry Bird (who, incredibly, averaged 32.8, 13.3 and 4.4 in 1977).

I've been keeping track, and I have now seen the Boozer brothers Samsung and State Farm commercials a million times each. There are other great college players out there, some of which actually have charisma. Can we get some of them a deal? Apparently, Houston's Emanuel Sharp endorses Freddy's Custard. I am not making this up.

An Alabama judge cleared Aden Holloway, pharmaceutical entrepreneur, to leave the state. Undoubtedly, the judge thought it would be nice if Aden was able to visit to his mother. The question then was: does he show up to the NCAA tournament sporting an ankle bracelet? 

Alabama came out on fire. The Tide have the best offense in the country, statistically, and it showed early. They are the epitome of the modern offense: shots in the lane and from 3 with literally nothing in between. Tonight, Bama decided to bomb from deep. Yaxel kept Michigan in it early, single-handedly. Michigan altered their defense (they stopped switching) and Bama went stone cold. The Tide kept shooting 3s, and eventually they started going in again. Michigan was mainly scoring in the lane. The pace was brisk. Even the coaches were gassed. Alabama went into the break up a bucket, 49-47. 

The stars came out in the first half. Yaxel Lendeborg (12 points) vs Labaron Philon (19!).

The game slowed down in the second half. Alabama was forced to play half-court offense. Stout Michigan D led to late shot clock heaves and turnovers. Michigan started hitting 3s and built a 13-point lead. The Wolverines cruised from there, winning 90-77.

Alabama ran hot and cold. When they were hot, they were the better team tonight. But long cold stretches killed them. Plus Yaxel. Philon, a sophomore from Mobile, poured in 35 (7 boards, 4 assists as well). He declared for the draft last year, but ultimately removed his name. He's a lock for the first round this year, probably a late lottery pick. Kid's got game.

Lindeborg was magnificent for Michigan. 23, 12 and 7. 8-12 from the field, 3-4 frome 3. He may not be the most talented player in the game (although he's no slouch), but he's the MVP in my book.

Michigan-friendly crowd in Chicago, not surprisingly. Home court environment.

To me, of all the modern actors George Clooney most embodies “movie star”. Effortless charm and charisma most obviously reminiscent of Carey Grant, with similarities to Paul Newman as well. My opinion is not at all influenced by the fact that Clooney is a fellow Kentuckian. I’m not sure why a man who is as wealthy as Clooney needs to do commercials, but he does. I would have thought he would have gone the Jon Hamm route, shilling for a luxury brand like Mercedes (and those are merely voiceovers). Grubhub? I don’t hate the “who will eat the fees” commercial, mainly because Clooney is so cool in the middle of the chaos. Don’t exactly love it either. Apparently, Clooney did not agree to do the ads because Grubhub is the only company that will deliver to his Lake Como villa. Rather, it’s because the ads are directed by his buddy Yorgos Lanthimos, whose most recent feature Bugonia was nominated for an academy award. Lanthimos’ movies are not my cup of tea. For that reason, I never saw Poor Things (starring the Lanthimos muse, Emma Stone). So, I consulted an expert. Says Mrs Notes, via text, from Chile: “Where do I begin?!?! First of all, what was the genre of Poor Things? “sci-fi” or “fantasy” or whatever the f@ck that was? Second, you gotta be in the mood for dark humor; I honestly don’t get it. I give the movie credit for Emma Stone’s acting (I think she’s a good actor and very versatile). If you like that genre, just read the book. No need to turn every best seller into a movie. Stay in your lane, sometimes, please🤣😂.” So, not a fan?

The mystery of the George Clooney Grubhub ads, solved. And, yes, he is a legitimate Kentuckian and UK basketball fan. He was born in Lexington (in 1962) but was raised in Augusta, Kentucky, a tiny town in the general Cincinnati area. He was the starting point guard for the Augusta Panthers.

Clooney’s aunt was the uber-famous singer, Rosemary Clooney (also a Kentuckian and co-star with Bing Crosby in White Christmas. Trust me kids, she was a big deal in the 50s.)

[Editor’s Note: There are no Kentucky teams left in the tournament and no obvious Kentucky story lines, and yet I keep finding ways to draw in my home state (the most famous of all states and I dare you to argue the point). I suggest a drinking game, with a shot every time I drag the Bluegrass into the conversation. Back to the Notes.]

UConn efficiently ran their sets. Michigan State's offense was a mess. 21-2 run from UConn in the first half. MSU went almost 9 minutes without a field goal. Every UConn shot seemed to come from an assist. MSU was completely out of sync. 

Then the script filled, at least a bit. Michigan State settled down on both ends, cutting a 19-point down to 8 at the half. UConn looked like it was going to run away with this one, but you can't count out an Izzo-coached team.

Sparty maintained the momentum after the break. Nothing was going right for the Huskies. MSU came all the way back, pulling to within a point. UConn didn't roll over. It took a bit, but MSU finally took the lead with about 10 minutes to go. Anyone's ball game.

MSU kept getting good shots in the lane, and missed almost all of them. UConn took control heading to the stretch, up 7.

Karaban and Frears traded 3s as the game passed the minute mark. With seconds to go, UConn up 2. Michigan State on the line. A perfectly executed miss, but UConn snagged the rebound. They hit a couple free throws to set the final score, 67-63. Next up for UConn: Duke,

Michigan State is the last Big 10 school to win it all. The Mateen Cleaves team in 2000, incredibly.

It's interesting that Starlink is advertising all of a sudden. Didn't think Elon was into that (Tesla doesn't do commercials). The thing that stands out to me is the song in the background: LCD Soundsystem's "oh baby". Banger. Good music video too, featuring Sissy Spacek who won an academy award playing Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter. Where was that movie set? Butcher Holler, Kentucky. [Shot!]

Rock fight, as expected. Nothing came east for either team. Nate Ament got in foul trouble in first half; Vols coach Rick Barnes played him anyway. 34-33 Vols at the break.

Iowa State's offense stalled in the second half, as Tennessee built a double digit lead. Tennessee absolutely dominated the boards (43-22!).

Iowa State's potential comeback was hamstrung by their inability to hit free throws.

Ament stayed in foul trouble, but he hit a 3 down the stretch to put the game definitively out of reach. Tennessee with the upset, going away. The Vols in the Elite 8 three sraight years.

Good run for Iowa State, but they really missed Joshua Jefferson. Sadly, the Cyclones didn't need him to thump my team.

Now we are on Carolina watch. Will Iowa state coach T. J. Otzelberger, whose haircut I'm convinced he got in the bathroom of a neo-Nazi biker bar, end up in Chapel Hill? Stay tuned.