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Day 3 of the 2023 NCAA Tournament
On last thing about Uruguay. They were actually the first country in the world to legalize marijuana. What about the Netherlands? I'll let Vincent Vega explain it.
Houston and Alabama are your favorites
Coming into the weekend, there were serious questions about the health of Marcus Sasser and Brandon Miller. Both looked great tonight. Sasser had 22 and seemed as quick off the bounce as ever. Miller scored a smooth 19 against the Terps. They are the best players left in the tournament and their teams should be the favorites.
Unfortunately for Maryland, they were the other team on the court as Bama activated beast mode. Terps coach Kevin Willard was hired away from Seton Hall 362 days ago. Kevin Willard played at Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh, where he was coached by his father, Ralph Willard. Willard Sr. also was an associate coach under Rick Pitino for the Knicks as well as at Kentucky. Kevin Willard was an assistant under Pitino at Louisville. When he left to take the Iona head job, he was replaced by Ralph Willard. After three successful seasons at Iona, Kevin Willard left for the Seton Hall job....and was replaced by Pitino!
The Terps' talent is not on the level of Alabama and the first round game was played in Birmingham in front of a highly partisan crowd. Willard tried to slow the game down to limit possessions, which worked for about a half. Despite the blowout loss, I think Maryland is moving in the right direction.
Kevin Willard and Rick Pitino
Sasser's jumper was falling too, and from deep.
Jahvon Quinerley, who had 22, was also terrific for the Tide.
Sasser Returns for Houston
Auburn and Penn State came to play, but in both cases talent won out. Houston and Texas to the Sweet 16. Dylan Disou took over for Texas down the stretch, pouring in 10 of his 28 points in the final 4.5 minutes. In terms of Houston, significantly, Marcus Sasser played and played well. Even though he was saddled with foul trouble, Sasser scored an efficient 22. Tramon Mark also terrific with 26 points and 9 boards. Auburn led by 10 at the half but were outscored 50-23 (!) in the second. With Sasser healthy, Houston should be the favorite to win this thing.
The Shoe Fits for Cinderella Princeton!
I wish I could tell you more about Dennis Gates. Probably next year. Gates replaced Cuonzo Martin at Missouri this season and changed everything. From slow-down, defensive-minded hoops, to a fluid dribble-drive aesthetic. Missouri improbably won 25 games this season and were a more than legit 7 seed. Princeton totally dominated them today. Princeton. A place I don’t think Mat Wimmer has ever even been. I watched it and I can’t explain it. Princeton’s Blake Peters hit five 3-pointers. In the second half. Princeton outrebounded Missouri by 14. Inexplicable.
This is the first Sweet 16 for the Tigers since 1967. Have any other Ivy League teams made it to the Sweet 16? A few. Penn (my old boss) in 1978 and 1979 as well as Cornell in 2010. Shockingly, Penn made it to the Final Four in 1979.
Princeton’s Caden Pierce had 16 rebounds today. The 6’6” Pierce (nice name) comes from an athletic family. Mom and Dad met at Northwestern, where he played football and she volleyball. Brother Justin played hoops at North Carolina and now is a pro overseas. Caden’s other brother Alec is a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.
This is the third straight year that a 15 seed (like Princeton) has made the Sweet 16 (previously Oral Roberts and St. Peter’s).
Penn really did make a Final Four. There are black and white photos and everything.
Woo Pig Souie!
Terrific game between Arkansas and Kansas. Unless you are a Kansas fan (sorry Suzanne). Kansas led by eight at the conclusion of the first half, which they controlled completely. This shouldn’t have come as a shock. #1 seed Kansas is led by All-American Jalen Wilson. Arkansas has a lot of talent but had an up and down season. They limped into the tourney losing six of their last nine. The good news for the Hogs? Devonte Davis took over in the second half, scoring 21 of his 25 points after the break. The bad news? He fouled out going down the stretch. Next man up and that meant it was time for Ricky Counsil IV, who dominated the end of the game on the way to a 21-point night.
Kansas' Bill Self, who is 60 years old, did not coach this game as he recovers from a cardiovascular procedure. Assistant Norm Roberts coached the team in Self's absence. Would Self have made a difference? Probably, although there were no obvious Kansas coaching blunders.
At the end, Kansas was down three and at the line for two. After making the first, Jalen Wilson tried to miss the second but banked it in. Arkansas quickly got the ball in bounds and ran out the final three seconds. Ball game.
Devonte Davis is known as Devo. I can only assume that’s because his parents are big fans of post-punk new wave electronic synth-pop.
Arkansas has a quality coach in Eric Musselman, who is older than I am. I mention this only because he insists on stripping his shirt off after big wins like today. Appreciate the enthusiasm, I guess.
Yea, no.
Interviews like this are what Mrs Notes likes about March Madness (0:50 mark).
Are we not men?
Couldn't They Both Lose?
Some think that Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler, who tore his ACL a few weeks back, is Tennessee’s best player. With respect to Zakai, who is a quality player, I would go with the Vol’s Santiago Véscovi, the pride of Montevideo, Uruguay. Véscovi reminds me a bit of Argentinian Manu Ginóbili (although he shoots it nowhere near as well). There has been a grand total of one Uruguayan NBA player (Esteban Batista – I obviously had to look that up). Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay, which is on the east coast of South America, tucked between Argentina and Brazil. For decades Uruguay fought off colonization efforts from Spain and Portugal. When the Europeans gave up, Brazil and Argentina took turns invading them. The fact that Uruguay still exists speaks to the fact that they can be fierce warriors. Somewhat surprisingly, modern Uruguay is a model liberal democracy, having legalized marijuana, abortion, same-sex marriage and prostitution while protecting LGBTQ rights.
Santiago, Buenos Aires and Montevideo basically line up on the same meridian, but Montevideo is slightly further south making it the most southern capital in the Americas. Ranching (horsemeat?!) and agriculture (beeswax and quinces) are major drivers of the economy as is tourism. The seaside city of Punta del Este evolved from a vacation spot primarily for Argentinians into a playground for jet setters in the mold of St.-Tropez or St. Barts.
Punta del Este
Montevideo, Uruguay.
Punta del Este
Tennessee plays an uber-physical brand of ball. Put another way, they are a bunch of thugs. Coach Rick Barnes clearly believes that the refs won’t call all the fouls if you foul constantly, and he’s right. I hate playing them. There’s a not so fine line between aggressive and dirty. Duke was clearly not prepared for the onslaught, and several Devils ended up bloodied early on. It takes a lot to make me feel sorry for that private school in North Carolina with the wrong color blue but Tennessee managed it.
The Vols led 27-21 at the half. Tennessee imposed their grind it out style while forcing Duke into 11 (!) turnovers in the opening stanza. Tennessee was still up six at the mid-point of the second half. Duke decided to go to a 2-3 zone, which Tennessee proceeded to methodically pick apart. Scheyer stuck with it for the rest of the game, why I have no idea. The Vols gradually pulled out to a double-digit lead and ended up winning by 13. Vescovi is not the most athletic guy, but he had a huge block on the break down the stretch. He ended up with 14 points, 5 assists and provided steady leadership in the absence of Zeigler. The player of the game, however, was Olivier Nkamhoua with a career-high 27 including 13 straight after Duke went to that 2-3 zone.
Duke started four heralded freshmen. They are all good players. None lived up to the hype, however. They should all return to school. I sure hope they don’t. Tennessee, in contrast, started four seniors who looked comfortable on the big stage.
Filipowski, who looks like a prizefighter here, caught two elbows early in the game.
Vescovi's girlfriend, Maria Nelson, is a member of the Tennessee soccer team. They are quite the handsome couple.
At the end of the Alabama-Texas A&M Corpus Christi game yesterday, with time running out and CC trailing by 24, the CC player kept acting like he was going to shoot or drive or something. He ultimately hoisted up a 3-pointer that improbably went in as time expired. I thought it was odd at the time.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but turns out that the betting spread was 22.5 meaning that the final shot was far from meaningless from the perspective of gamblers, degenerate and otherwise.
The CC player in question is Ross Williams, who worked his way up through stops at NAIA and Division II schools before landing at Texas A&M Corpus Christi as a graduate student (with an extra year of covid eligibility). This was probably his final competitive basketball game. Williams received advice and encouragement through this basketball journey from his father figure, Willie Green, the current New Orleans Pelicans coach and former NBA journeyman (including a seven year stint with the 76ers). When Ross was little, he attended a Green basketball camp. Evidently, he was the only camper who failed to notice that Willie Green was getting awfully friendly with Ross' mother, Terrah. Willie and Terrah dated for several years before marrying in 2010. Ross proudly calls Willie Dad.
Skip all the way to the 9:56 mark to see Williams' last shot.
The Green family. From left, Ross, Willie and Terrah.
A free morning! And there's still snow on the ground so I invited the Cormier boys for a ride (all three of them including Dad!).
With all this snow, you might wonder why we haven't been skiing. Mrs Notes thought the same. The answer, as always, is because I am an idiot. I left my skis in Philly after my trip to Utah in January with Mathieu Wimmer, who is defintely not from Princeton, NJ despite the scurrilous rumors and even though his accent sounds kinda mid-Atlantic but it's actually 100% Marseilles and don't you forget it.
10 feet of snow in Utah.
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