The big news o' the day is
the spectacular win by Tennessee over Tech, when Tech should have had the
game wrapped. Tennessee
hit a half court shot with about a half-second on the clock for a one-point
win. Had Tech missed their last free throw on purpose, Tennessee
couldn't possibly have gotten the shot off. Congrats to Buzz Peterson, who
has always struck us as a good guy.
Wake
goes to 4-0 with their win over SMU, coached by former Duke assistant Mike
Dement, and saved athletically years ago by former Duke Chancellor Ken Pye.
Herman "The Herminator" Wendorff has a really nice article up about
State's
too-brief return to Reynolds Coliseum, and he makes the suggestion that UNC
should follow suit with Carmichael. Excellent idea. To take it a
step further, UNC could exempt it from the packages the fatcats get to buy and
make it a publicly available ticket. That would be a great experience, and
great nostalgia for a lot of people, at least in Chapel Hill.
Speaking of State, for the first time, on Tuesday, they
are in the Jimmy V Classic. When asked why, Herb Sendek said (and we
paraphrase) the timing never worked out, it hasn't been convenient, etc.
All of which is a nice way of obfuscating the truth: State sucked too bad to be
asked. There! We said it.
No one was going to pay to see State in a charity game when they were as bad
and as boring as they were in recent years. It's an anniversary and all of
that, but come on, if they were playing like they did when Kenny Inge and the
like defined the program, they'd still be waiting.
Speaking of bygone State players, Damien Wilkins pulled a triple single with
sixth man minutes against Gonzaga. Eight assists is pretty good,
though.
For a day, the
old FSU almost resurfaced, as the 'Noles had no focus and played with a lack
of passion before pulling things together to beat Birmingham Southern. And that
reminds us: is there a Birmingham Northern? Or is that just some
sort of extra emphasis on being Southern? Is Birmingham the most southern place
possible? What a strange name.