A week that started out looking light turned into a pretty busy situation where I have worked all sorts of weird hours so I have not really been able to post the way I would have liked and it will be another crazy day today especially with some snow coming so I look to busy with some fracture work.
I was able to catch some games last night. I did get to see the Duke/ VCU game which was a real treat, not because Duke lost, I don't hate Duke like a lot of people do I'm just ambivalent, but because it is always neat when the underdog wins and VCU really played them aggressively and they were always scrapping for the ball, they never gave up.
Some news and notes for today:
A little trash talk by Beverly: It seems that Arkansas Guard Patrick Beverly thinks the Hogs can get into the Sweet 16. OK, I'll bite, even if they do get past SC tonight the still need to face Texas and that will be no small task. But I think it will be a moot point when SC beats them tonight.
Francis' mom in attendance: USC Coach Tim Floyd has never forgotten the importance of the Late Ryan Francis so much so that he wanted the late players mother in attendance when SC plays Arkansas tonight in Spokane. Even after her sons death she has been a strong supporter of the SC Hoops program and Coach Tim Floyd.
Ahead of schedule: An article to day in the LAT by Ben Bolch discusses this past season as a preamble to next season that also characterizes the team as ahead of schedule when top recruits May and Patterson get the team next year. I'm not sure if I agree with that assessment so we'll see if he's right next season. He also has a preview of tonight's game.
A showdown out in town: I saw this earlier in the week on Wolf's Blog It seems that a couple of players from both the USC and UCLA football teams bumped into one another out in town.
A couple USC players, led by linebacker Brian Cushing, recently bumped into some UCLA players, led by offensive lineman Shannon Tevaga. After a few tense early moments, things eventually loosened up.
Cushing talked about the problems the defense had with some assignments while the Bruins talked about their respect for Cushing, because he did not talk trash during the game.
Not surprising as the proximity of the two institutions will allow that to happen from time to time but I would check out some of the comments in the threads. Yes, of course there is some trash talk but the third comment stood out to me- "Sometimes it seems the fans care more about the rivalry than the players do. Where's the hate?" - Posted by: uzair3_21
I couldn't agree more as most of us who blog and/or comment on these sites have never played at that level so it would be safe to say that we don't get it. In the end the players understand what's at stake and that bigger prizes could be ahead so they don't let some of the petty fan based crap get to them. Refreshing when you think about it.
The SBN Tourney Hub: Day one of the SBN Tourney Hub was a great success with Rakes of Mallow in the early session and Card Chronicle holding down the evening session.
Todays line up is as follows:
- Early Session Session Burnt Orange Nation
- Afternoon Session Carolina March
- Evening Session Addicted to Quack
Catch ya later!