Billy Paultz Reconsidered

The guy’s been broadcasting college hoops since well before John Wooden quit coaching it. I don’t hate Packer, which evidently makes me a cult of one. Deadspin, in its’ understated fashion, today referred to him as ”The Archangel of Death.”
We can assume Phil Martelli and Dick Jerardi shared a long, tearful, celebratory hug. Maybe still are. And they aren’t […]

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Pat Flannery, who announced his retirement as head basketball coach at Bucknell Friday, is the only great coach I’ve been friendly with, and gotten to see up close. He is absolutely the most competitive human I’ve ever been around. He was so competitive, in fact, that the game ate at him and threatened his health.
I saw […]

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Penn State basketball player Stanley Pringle believes loving others really begins with loving oneself. Pringle has announced his candidacy for the Al Bundy Scholarship.
Pringle’s explanation: “This is how I chill.”
Yo Stan: This is how everybody chills. Just not in a college library. That’s really the newsworthy part of your story. Not the act. The venue.
Let’s […]

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Since I first-guessed Charlie Manuel the other day about something no one else seemed to notice, I wanted to defend him from some particularly stupid grief he got recently.
This is from the Adam Eaton game with the Reds Saturday. Eaton enters the eighth inning with a 3-2 lead, his pitch count in the 70s. He […]

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Congrats to Kansas, but let’s face it- Memphis blew it and not just, or even mostly, because they missed four of their last five regulation free throws.
As you have no doubt heard by now, the Tigers could have fouled rather than allowed Mario Chalmers to get off the 3-pointers that forced overtime and guaranteed that […]

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So who’d like to be Derrick Rose’s agent?
I love Memphis, and I was a moron for thinking UCLA could play with them. I really think Memphis is going to win it, which is bad news for the Tigers. Me thinking it, I mean.
Rose is a more athletic Deron Williams right now.
In game two, Kansas was […]

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The headline to this post refers to an amazing 1955 Sports Illustrated piece about the Kentucky Derby by some Faulkner dude who could write a little.
It also refers to the fact that unlike most of America, I have worked Saturdays for my entire adult life. This not only doesn’t bother me, it’s an enormous relief. […]

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Memphis-UCLA: UCLA wants to play fierce, hands-on, cutter-bumping man-to-man. Memphis wants to beat you off the dribble and get to the rim. As somebody once said, you can’t always get what you want.
So the hard truth is the refs are going to have a lot to do with this one. One reason to pick UCLA […]

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I’m sitting on my bed with the computer in my lap. Son number one is web-surfing in his room. Son number two is doing the Jimi Hendrix thing in his. Mom is downstairs watching whatever on the HDTV with Tivo, and using her laptop….
It’s a full life, but a very electronic one.
It’s been a light […]

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Continuing today’s breakdown of the NCAAs with the Friday games:
Midwest region
Wisconsin-Davidson: I don’t think Davidson is that live a dog. Its front line is substandard, and it’s utterly dependent on a small, not-especially quick jump-shooter. After Kansas-Carolina-UCLA, the Badgers are as good as anybody.
Can Stephan Curry play in the NBA? Sure, in the right situation. But he’s […]

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