Coach K on Colbert Report

WATCH IT HERE

In the opening seconds it was:

“They might have made the Final Four if they were called the ‘Blue Jesuses’”

Then at the beginning of the segment, it was:

“He may have lost the NCAA tournament, but he’s one of my final four guests of the week.”

Thank you Stephen Colbert.

Coach K was on the Colbert Report last night. The PR master himself was promoting his book on coaching the Olympic basketball team, “The Gold Standard: Building a world class team.”

Gag me. At least Colbert wore a Carolina blue tie.

There was another shining moment for UNC, though as Colbert asked K who was the best player he ever coached. K referred to his time as an assistant for the 1992 Dream Team. 

“Jordan is the best ever,” he said.

“Did you make him run suicides?” asked Colbert.

“It would be suicide if we didn’t have him on the team”

Yes. Yes. Yes. Probably felt like suicide about 10 years before that when frosh Jordan hit the game winner in the ‘82 National Championship, too. Anyway I guess I can’t get too critical of K for writing the book because Chuck Daly, the ‘92 coach, also wrote one about his team of All-Stars. People are probably interested to read about the team.

BUT.

The book is coming out now, in the third week of April. The Olympics were in August. So between September and, oh I don’t know giving some time for editing, MARCH. Coach has been writing a book about “building a world class team.”

This tells me two things: 1) Coach K thinks he played a huge part in the gold medal because the title suggests the book is about how he BUILT a team (using NBA superstars was merely coincidental) and 2) He was writing this during Duke’s entire season! Unless he somehow managed to write the entire book in the month of September, he was definitely taking time away from the Dukies to write. No wonder they didn’t get past the Sweet 16 yet again.

I’m not saying it’s impossible to write a book in a month, but from the timing of the release, I’m guessing there was work to be done in the meantime between September and now. Way to go, weasel.

More UNC Celebrating

I’ve basically spent at least two hours per day since Monday reading every story I can find about the Heel’s championship. Here’s an awesome timelapse done by the DTH and even better video of the celebrations. 

Why do we do this?

It’s hard to explain — how UNC alumni feel about basketball and their university. The two are interconnected in so many ways and through so many experiences that the answer is surely different for every person. Mike Ogle got it really really close though with his special to SI.com. It’s a must-read for the Tar Heel faithful. 

Read it here. 

Franklin Street Pictures

I went back to Chapel Hill to watch the Final Four. Needless to say, debauchery ensued.

Check out more here.

Beer Madness Finale

So I never updated the WaPo’s beer madness after I initially posted it a few weeks ago. And if you were really dying to know I’m sure you already checked it on its Web site. 

The Final Four proved to be some good competition: Ommegang Hennepin, Troeg’s HopBack Amber, The Raven and Brooklyn Brown Ale. But it turns out Troegs’ HopBack won it all.

I found it really surprising at some of the comments from the judging panel, whom the writer claims are “not beer geeks.” 

One said they preferred the “simple flavor of hops” compared to the subtle, lighter  – and in my opinion more drinkable to a non hop aficionado — Hennepin. I’ve always found within my circle of friends that hops are more of an acquired taste than most other flavors in beer, so I’m not convinced this panel didn’t include at least a few folks who drink their fair share of brew. I guess just because you drink IPAs it doesn’t necessarily make you a “beer geek,” but hey it’s just an observation. 

Regardless, the HopBack won it and I have never tried it, even though they sell it in my usual store, Cairo Liquor. Add that to my bucket list.

My brother — who is in college back in Chapel Hill, to where I am departing today for the Final Four! — recently attended a similar “tourney” at a local beer shop in Carrboro, N.C. I can’t recall the name of the store, but it’s attached to Tyler’s Tap Room, and is probably one of the best beer stores in the area. He said a bunch of people showed up, they tasted every matchup for the 32 beers and then divided the room for the consensus opinion. Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon. Wonder if I can convince them to do an NIT while I’m back this weekend?

Speaking of which, congrats to Penn State (my dad’s alma mater) on their championship last night!

Tar Heels back in Final Four

So, by now no longer big news, as it’s about 20 hours old, the Tar Heels will be making a return trip to the Final Four this year. The old class ring trick (UNC has never lost when I wear my class ring) worked over Oklahoma, who only hit two of 19 attempted 3-pointers in a 12-point loss. 

They will be joined by Villanova, arguably the hottest team in the tourney, Michigan State, who beat the overall No. 1 seed Louisville, and Connecticut, who many had No. 2 to UNC at the beginning of the season. 

The FF will not be lacking in tradition or storylines. UNC has been to more Final Fours and has more NCAA tournament wins than any other program.

Connecticut has never lost in the Final Four under Jim Calhoun. Even though some questionable recruiting practices have come to light recently, that won’t have an effect on this weekend. The other times UConn won the championship they were coming out of the West Regional, just like this year. 

Michigan State has been to more Final Fours in the past 11 seasons that any other program (UNC is No. 2 with four to their five, just pointing that out). And also the Spartans will be playing in their home state — at Ford Field where UNC trounced them by 30 earlier this year. 

And then there’s Villanova, back to the FF for the first time since they won it all in 1985, their only championship. So in my lifetime, they’ve never been. 

I like the way the Heels will matchup against Villanova — though to be fair I liked the way Pitt matched up against them, too. We should be able to pound inside and control tempo. And after the defense stepped it up against Oklahoma, I like our chances. 

UConn/Michigan State is a tough one. Both teams bring a lot of toughness, and playing in their home state will give a lift to the Spartans. For the theatre, I’d take either one getting to the final. If it’s MSU, then they will have that same home crowd going crazy. If it’s UConn, then it will be the exact matchup people have been talking about seeing all year. 

It’s kind of a moot point though, because the Heels are going to be winning it all! (Cue Dicky V singing Motown and staring at the camera like he has dementia)

Madness I say

Discussion of all other topics besides Tar Heel basketball is now banned from the wom until further notice…OK maybe not ALL. This is not to say I won’t talk about something else, but that I’ll try to work in something about the Heels into every post for the next two weeks.

Anyway, after a weekend in which my bracket might as well be torn to shreds, the Heels did not fall victim to upset despite some hairy moments in the LSU game in the second round. Thank God Ty Lawson is back.

The wom’s upset picks were so close I could smell the office pool jackpot, but now those picks are putting me in the middle-lower part of the pack. Here was my downfall:

Arizona:  While Arizona probably has better talent than Utah State,  I figured their poor finish in the regular season would carry over and had them losing in the first round. Said poor finish did not carry over, and they are now in the Sweet 16, robbing me of two bracket wins.

Cleveland State: They got me good. Not only did I have them losing to Wake in the first round, but I had Wake in the Final Four. It wasn’t even close. The Rams dominated the Demon Deacons

Southern Cal: I had the Trojans over Maryland, but also had them beating Michigan State. They lost a nail-biter, eventually by five points, after leading for most of the game. Thanks, guys.

Utah State: Without Dominic James, I had planned for the Marquette Golden Eagles to fall in the first round, to no avail. Utah State lost by one. Another round of thank-yous.

Florida State: The team that beat UNC in the ACC tourney. I had them in the Sweet 16 on grounds they would eat up Wisconsin from the what-I-thought-was-a-weak Big 10 and then do similarly over Xavier, who plays in the somewhat good A10. Nope. ‘Noles lose to Badgers by two. Another two victories I won’t see.

VCU: This was the great pick! I mean c’mon. UCLA, who had not looked that good and was coming out of the unconvincing Pac-10, against a well-coached VCU team with the same star guard, Eric Maynor, that beat Duke two years ago? I filled it in right away – VCU over UCLA. VCU goes down by one.

Western Kentucky: A very similar team, with many of the same players, to last year’s Sweet 16 team. I was definitely taking them over Illinois, which they did accomplish, and tried to flex superior knowledge and pick them over Gonzaga as well. One last-second layup later, they were bounced by two points. Great D on that last play Hilltoppers. Y’all WERE my boys!

 

Clemson: Oh, this one’s the best. Given I see them play in the ACC fairly often, I was going to give them the benefit of a doubt this year. Finally, Clemson was going to pull it out and perform decently in the Big Dance. Similar to the way I predicted Fla. State, I had Clemson in the Sweet 16, upsetting Oklahoma no less. Guess the Tigers will just have to wail til next year. They didn’t get out of the first round.

So by a combined 11 points (with five of those from one game), I lost out on six games that I picked in my brackets, the games those picks actually lost and any future-round games that I might have had them winning. So as far as the office pool(s) [I'm in two] I guess I’ll be waiting til next March like most of the teams in this post.

One pick is still intact though, mostly becaus they now have the ACC’s all-time leading scorer on their team, Tyler Hansbrough. Suck it, JJ!

HEELS ALL THE WAY!