Hoops

Admittedly, I haven't watched any NCAA games so far and I don't have any plans to do so.  I might turn in on an MSU or UM game if I happen to be doing little or nothing, but I won't set aside any time for them.

But it's always pretty interesting to see the upsets.  I guess some Florida Gulf Coast (which I never heard of before this AM) pulled off a biggie, defeating Georgetown (which I have heard of).  The beginning of the game was on the boob tube at the fish fry last night, but I paid little attention, not with the fish coming and conversations in between.

I was told last night that Harvard also pulled an upset on Thurs to advance.  I'm hoping (and assuming) that the Crimson players actually have to go to class and do the work.  It would be cool to see Harvard move on to later rounds, even the finals.  Maybe they can think the ball into the basket?

And, the Lord Jeffs are returning to the Final Four.  They demolished their quarterfinal opponent by 20, leading most of the second half by more than that.  I'm pretty sure they have to go to class and do the work!  And, pretty cool, the Women's Team at Amherst also reached the Final Four last weekend.  We were tied up all weekend or I might have traveled out to Holland to see the Lady Jeffs (or is Sabrinas more appropriate?) game(s).  I think the guys play in VA and then have a two week hiatus before the final game in Atlanta the same weekend of the Div 1 finals.  That seems silly to me, but that's the NCAA.

All this is reminiscent of the Mott teams from a couple of years ago, when both the men's and women's teams were national junior college champions. 

Sometimes I wish I could be like normal guys and get excited (or at least have in interest) in NCAA basketball (or football or the NFL or other sports).  But, I can't fake it.  I just don't care to watch much.  Gee, I used to be a junkie, when I was a kid.  I wonder what turned me away.  Maybe it was the money the professionals make.  Maybe it was the awakening that, in college, big time sports aren't really played by student-athletes. 

I still get a kick, though, out of following the Div 3 Jeffs, esp in baseball.  The team is now 5-2 on its southern trip.  I do chuckle, favorably of course, at the schedule they now play.  Their opponents are all other Div 3 schools, mostly from the North.  "Back when I was a kid," we played Div 1 schools (Northwestern and Purdue from the Big Ten, Western Michigan, Navy, UMass, Boston College, Holy Cross, Rutgers, etc.) and top Div 2 schools from the South (four of whom one year were ranked in the top ten Div 2 ratings).  I think the year we didn't play in a tournament, we also got in two top-ranked junior colleges.  Oh, we held our own and then some.