Tobacco Road Report

by David

We at TRR love this time of year, but it can take a toll. So much basketball to watch over these last few weeks of the season can leave one with a headache. Friday night I went to a high school game as preparation for a long weekend of hoops action, little did I understand how it would take a toll on me.

Saturday started fine with a little Georgetown-Pitt action. It was a good game, though I questioned whether either team really wanted to win it until the very end. Obviously BC-Clemson was in here as well. That game had much the same feel: Neither team could decide what to do until BC decided they had to win this one. The tale of two halves idea will be a recurring theme here.

Oh, I forgot LSU-Florida. That one confused the heck out of me. Florida isn't even on cruise control right now, they just flat out are not playing. After jumping around from game to game throughout the day I had to settle on an evening game. I picked Indiana-Michigan State, not because it looked like a great game; let's face it, it was the equivalent of the bar closing and I needed to find some action. Man did this turn out to be basketball beer-goggling!

My thoughts here are the following: each team took a turn being completely incompetent for a half. MSU could not get the offense going in the first half with a combination of crazy self-made turnovers and those generated by the IU defense. Indiana couldn't get much going and had a ten point lead at the half. Then in the second half IU decided to look like a bad CYO team and run an offense conceived by the Little Sisters of the Poor. It felt like my brain was trying to get out of my skull and scream at the screen. "Set a pick!" "Put your hands up on defense!" It was incredible.

Sunday arrives and I still feel dirty for having watched that Big 10(11) game. Man it was bad. So then we start on the Sunday games. I was rebounding, I know but I had to do something. I looked to Duke-St. John's as a first real recovery (I told you it was a hangover, I got up late). Whoops! 34-10 at the half in NY!!! If IU looked like the Little Sisters of the Poor St. John's looked like Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle. You almost have to work at it to be that inept. This was helpful as comic relief, I guess. Seriously the most exciting part of the game was when they showed Lou Carneseca in the crowd.

This is exciting for two reasons: 1) I thought he was dead. Seriously, the Red Storm have so fallen off the college basketball map that I never hear about them or Lou ever; 2) He was not wearing his trademark sweater which I thought had been surgically attached to him.

That's how boring this game was. I was surprised to see the Storm's coach from the pre-PC Redmen era.

I was all set for Ohio St. and Wisconsin. Man the Big Ten is just a bad date these days. The game was up and down the court ineptness, including the announcing. I sent my kid out of the room when Brian Butch hurt his arm. I Tivoed that bad boy to see what happened. My wife looked at it and said, "Eaagh!!! That looks bad." She then bashed the announcers for talking about how Butch landed on his elbow. His elbow was injured but it was the way he landed on his wrist that made it look like his whole arm below his elbow pop out. Anyway the game progresses, again with no one wanting to play to win. Seriously, with Butch out of the lineup OSU should have murdered them on the inside. Instead they really struggle to get Oden into the game.

I may need to swear of the Big 10(11) conference for a bit.

That gets us to the UNC-Maryland game. A pretty exciting game for a change this weekend. Up and down action and my kid screaming as the Heels miss over half their free throws. He lover the Terps so I let him watch it. Just when UNC looks to be hitting their stride they go and lose in a relatively unexpected and creative way.

Anyway I also watched some of the Arizona-Arizona State game to see Herb Sendek's team come up short against Lute Olson. I tell you now, I keep hearing about the Pac-10 wanting respect. For what? Every year there are a few good teams in the Pac-10, but it rotates as to which teams will really play like champions. This year the only one is UCLA. Tell me about Washington, Oregon, Washington State and Arizona all you want but I am not sold on any of them yet.

Here it is Monday and I got to get my body back in shape for the stetch run ACC games. Is there a hangover remover for basketball overconsumption?