I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em.

Jim Valvano

TSN – ‘That’s not a call you make at the end of the game’: Nurse on the controversial play

Phil has a question:

Have you seen a more brutal call.

Who got the spunk in the Nurse family.

Over the course of the game, UConn was called for 18 fouls compared to Iowa’s nine. That discrepancy helped play a role in the outcome as the Hawkeyes connected on 10-of-14 free throws, while the Huskies made just 3-of-4.

Sports Illustrated – Zach Koons – Dejected Geno Auriemma Reacts to Illegal Screen Call at End of UConn–Iowa

Sports Illustrated -Zach Koons – UConn Legends Devastated by ‘Terrible’ Foul Call Late in Loss to Iowa

Sports Illustrated – Tom Dierberger – LeBron James Furious With Refs Over Controversial Call at End of Iowa–UConn Showdown

Phil has a question:

Did The Northern Lights get in that refs eyes.

ESPN – Andrea Adelson – South Carolina dominates NC State to make NCAA women’s final

Front Office Sports – Ben Portnoy – Growth of NCAA Tournament seems inevitable, but many opinions and options still remain mixed

All that we don’t know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.

Philip Roth

ESPN – Women’s Final Four predictions: Can Gamecocks win title?

ESPN – Men’s Final Four 2024: Storylines, picks, predictions

The Wolfpack tweeted a photo of the setup inside the stadium and once again it looks like the best seats will be watching from your couch.

Sports Illustrated – Andy Nesbitt – College Hoops Fans Roasted the NCAA After Seeing the Men’s Final Four Court in Arizona

The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get.

Jerry Tarkanian

1, 2, 3, 4

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

Lou Holtz

New York Times – Talya Minsberg – The Secret to Caitlin Clark’s Shooting Power

The goal is to make practice more difficult, physically/mentally, than anything your players will face during a game.

Bob Knight

ESPN – Women’s Final Four predictions: Can Gamecocks win title?

ESPN – Men’s Final Four 2024: Storylines, picks, predictions

Sports Illustrated – Tom Dierberger – UConn Men’s Basketball Faces Travel Issues En Route to Final Four in Phoenix

Don’t tell your problems to people: eighty percent don’t care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.

Lou Holtz

Phil has a question:

Why didn’t they fly their own airline

Don’t Call Me Shirley

Sometimes Phil Just Gotta Give Into The Urge

I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em.

Jim Valvano

ESPN – AP – NC State’s DJ Burns has ‘zero’ interest in playing football

New York Times – Eduardo Medina – Welcome to Raleigh, the New Epicenter of College Basketball

Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.

Jim Valvano

ESPN – Joe Lunardi – Men’s Bracketology: 2024 NCAA Tournament

CBS Sports – Bracketology

Sargent Preston of the Yukon

Fire

I’m On Fire

The Shooting of Dan McGrew

By Robert W. Service

A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;

The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;

Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,

And watching his luck was his light-o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou.

When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and the glare,

There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear.

He looked like a man with a foot in the grave and scarcely the strength of a louse,

Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar, and he called for drinks for the house.

There was none could place the stranger’s face, though we searched ourselves for a clue;

But we drank his health, and the last to drink was Dangerous Dan McGrew.

There’s men that somehow just grip your eyes, and hold them hard like a spell;

And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell;

With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done,

As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one.

Then I got to figgering who he was, and wondering what he’d do,

And I turned my head — and there watching him was the lady that’s known as Lou.

His eyes went rubbering round the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze,

Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze.

The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool,

So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool.

In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;

Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands — my God! but that man could play.

Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,

And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;

With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,

A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;

While high overhead, green, yellow and red, the North Lights swept in bars? —

Then you’ve a hunch what the music meant. . . hunger and night and the stars.

And hunger not of the belly kind, that’s banished with bacon and beans,

But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means;

For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above;

But oh! so cramful of cosy joy, and crowned with a woman’s love —

A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true —

(God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge, — the lady that’s known as Lou.)

Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear;

But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear;

That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil’s lie;

That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die.

‘Twas the crowning cry of a heart’s despair, and it thrilled you through and through —

“I guess I’ll make it a spread misere”, said Dangerous Dan McGrew.

The music almost died away … then it burst like a pent-up flood;

And it seemed to say, “Repay, repay,” and my eyes were blind with blood.

The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash,

And the lust awoke to kill, to kill … then the music stopped with a crash,

And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way;

In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;

Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm,

And “Boys,” says he, “you don’t know me, and none of you care a damn;

But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I’ll bet my poke they’re true,

That one of you is a hound of hell. . .and that one is Dan McGrew.”

Then I ducked my head, and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark,

And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark.

Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew,

While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that’s known as Lou.

These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know.

They say that the stranger was crazed with “hooch,” and I’m not denying it’s so.

I’m not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two —

The woman that kissed him and — pinched his poke — was the lady that’s known as Lou.

Sports Illustrated – Pat Forde – Everyone Is to Blame for Slowly Killing College Sports

Blame Brett

The Wolfpack tweeted a photo of the setup inside the stadium and once again it looks like the best seats will be watching from your couch.

Sports Illustrated – Andy Nesbitt – College Hoops Fans Roasted the NCAA After Seeing the Men’s Final Four Court in Arizona

The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get.

Jerry Tarkanian

1, 2, 3, 4

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

Lou Holtz

New York Times – Talya Minsberg – The Secret to Caitlin Clark’s Shooting Power

The goal is to make practice more difficult, physically/mentally, than anything your players will face during a game.

Bob Knight

ESPN – Women’s Final Four predictions: Can Gamecocks win title?

ESPN – Men’s Final Four 2024: Storylines, picks, predictions

Sports Illustrated – Tom Dierberger – UConn Men’s Basketball Faces Travel Issues En Route to Final Four in Phoenix

Don’t tell your problems to people: eighty percent don’t care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.

Lou Holtz

Phil has a question:

Why didn’t they fly their own airline

Don’t Call Me Shirley

Sometimes Phil Just Gotta Give Into The Urge

I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em.

Jim Valvano

ESPN – AP – NC State’s DJ Burns has ‘zero’ interest in playing football

New York Times – Eduardo Medina – Welcome to Raleigh, the New Epicenter of College Basketball

Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.

Jim Valvano

ESPN – Ryan McGee – 2024 Final Four: NC State’s magical March and why we love the game

The Score – AP – Purdue’s Edey leads finalists for Wooden Award

Sports Business Journal – Women’s Final Four set with Iowa, UConn wins

International Journal Of Sports Physical Therapy -Holly Silvers-Granelli – Why Female Athletes Injure Their ACL’s More Frequently? What can we do to mitigate their risk?

The two ingredients for success in basketball are playing hard and playing intelligently.

Pete Carril

Front Office Sports – David Rumsey – Clark, Hawkeyes Advance to Final Four: ESPN Wins Big, Too

ESPN – Michael Voepel – Caitlin Clark leads Iowa win in LSU rematch to reach Final Four

The Score – AP – Clark drops 41 to help Iowa take rematch vs. LSU

I’m a lot better coach when I have really good players.

Chuck Daly

ESPN – Alexa Philippou – Paige Bueckers leads UConn to Final Four with win over USC

Los Angeles Times – Thuc Nhi Nguyen – Paige Bueckers and UConn end magical season for JuJu Watkins and USC

ESPN – AP – No. 3 UConn back in Final Four with tight win over No. 1 USC

ESPN – Andrea Adelson – A love letter to basketball, by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins

The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.

Bill Russell

The Ringer – Kevin O’Connor – Eleven NBA Observations on the NCAA Tournament, Zach Edey, and Draft Sleepers

The Ringer – Stephen Ruiz – The Winners and Losers of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight

The Athletic – Mike Puleo – Men’s NCAA Tournament Final Four schedule set: UConn to battle Alabama in late slot

ESPN – Adam Teicher – NC State ousts Duke for first Final Four trip since 1983 title

Sports Illustrated – Ryan Phillips – DJ Burns and NC State Take Down Duke, Continue Magical Run

We want men here, not just players. Players are a dime a dozen.

Tom Izzo

The Score – No. 11 NC State shocks Duke to tie lowest seed ever in Final Four

Invisible Touch

ESPN – Myron Medcalf – Purdue buries ’23 loss, into Final Four behind Zach Edey’s 40

Sports Illustrated – Liam McKeone – Zach Edey Refused to Lose, Carried Purdue to the Final Four

The Athletic – Kyle Tucker – How ‘unguardable’ DJ Burns became NC State’s March Madness hero

The Athletic – Ben Pickman – Caitlin Clark’s precision passing carries Iowa to Elite Eight: ‘She loves to be Mahomes’

ESPN – Jeff Borzello – UConn romps back into Final Four with blowout of Illinois

Bad shooters are always open.

Pete Carril

The Score – -Matthew Winick, Chicco Nacion – 4 eye-popping stats from UConn’s throttling of Illinois

Sports Illustrated – Ryan Phillips – UConn Ran Right Over Illinois

ESPN – Paolo Uggetti – Alabama finds 3-point touch, tops Clemson for 1st Final Four

The Athletic – Brian Hamilton – How Nate Oats found the formula to lead Alabama to its first Final Four

The only important statistic is the final score.

Bill Russell

ESPN – How to fill out a men’s March Madness 2024 bracket

ESPN – Men’s Tournament Challenge

ESPN – Women’s Tournament Challenge

NCAA – Bracket Challenge

CBS – Men’s Bracket Challenge

Look at you, scrolling all the way down here. Well done!

Assuming our math is correct, we’re down to a mere eight teams that have not been mentioned. If you’re a fan of Arizona, UConn, Creighton, Duke, Houston, Kentucky, Purdue or Tennessee, congratulations! Your team made the grade.

And if you’re a coach or player with one of these eight teams, remember one thing. There’s a streak on the line here. This is not about you. Go out there and make this storied feature look smart one more time.

ESPN – John Gasaway – The 354 teams that won’t win the 2024 national title — and the eight that could

Phil has a Question:

Does UNLV not owe the legacy of Jerry Tarkanian and the Running Rebels a better basketball program.

Rebel, Rebel

The Ringer – Kevin O’Connor – The Ringer’s 2024 NBA Draft Guide

ESPN – Andrea Adelson – Hailey Van Lith says negative LSU comments fueled by racism

Phil has a question:

If your coach is using an article to give your team an edge, why bitch about the article.

Why is it racism when a reporter calls a bunch of self admitted and proud about it loud mouth trash talkers a bunch of loud mouthed trash talkers.

Did Fred Shero ever complain about the Broad Street Bullies being called the Broad Street Bullies.

Los Angeles Times – Ben Bolch – Commentary: UCLA-LSU is America’s sweethearts vs. its basketball villains

Phil has a question:

When a newspaper like the Los Angeles Rimes capitulates to a loud mouth hot dogging grandstanding banshee like coach kim, don’t you just encourage more loud mouths.

ESPN – Myron Medcalf – Zach Edey: Final Four bid more important than 2nd Wooden Award

Front Office Sports – Margaret Fleming – Cinderella Runs Are Great in the Moment. Then Things Can Get Messy

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

Defense is one man guarding the ball and four others helping him.

Mike Krzyzewski

The Athletic – Brian Hamilton, Brendan Marks, CJ Moore, Dana O’Neil, Brendan Quinn, Kyle Tucker and more – What happened in the NCAA Men’s Tournament Sweet 16

I always laugh when people ask me about rebounding techniques. I’ve got a technique It’s called just go get the damn ball.

Charles Barkley

The Athletic – DJ Moore – NC State upsets Marquette, continues magical tournament run to Elite Eight

Sports Illustrated – Ryan Phillips – NC State’s Improbable Run Evokes Memories of 1983

The Athletic – Chris Vannini – No. 11 seed? No matter, NC State looks worthy of Elite Eight after Marquette win

Dixie Chicken

You don’t need great skill to be a tough rebounder; being a rebounder is all about effort, determination, and physicality.

Mike Malone

The Athletic – Brendan Quinn – Gonzaga made Zach Edey angry. He got even by leading Purdue to the Elite Eight

TSN – AP – Purdue, Edey net big Sweet 16 win over Gonzaga

Sports Illustrated – Kyle Koster – Purdue Is So Much More Than Just Zach Edey

ESPN – March Madness 2024: Reseeding the men’s Elite Eight

Deacon Blues

The Score – Dane Belbeck, Chicco Nacion, Matthew Winick – Top takeaways from the Sweet 16

The Athletic -C.J. Moore – Duke’s defense squeezes Houston in Sweet 16 as Blue Devils start to rewrite the narrative

1. Be on time.
2. Never criticize a teammate.
3. Never use profanity.

John Wooden

Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad

ESPN – Men’s March Madness 2024: Sweet 16 tournament takeaways

Positioning, anticipation and technique create quickness. Therefore, you can always get quicker.

Don Meyer

Be quick without hurrying.

John Wooden

The Score – Alabama stops UNC to reach 1st Elite Eight in 20 years

The Score – Chico Nacion – By the numbers: UConn’s incredible tourney dominance

The Score – Clemson upsets Arizona to reach 1st Elite Eight since 1980

All really successful coaches have a system.

Jim Valvano

The Ringer – Bryan Curtis – Ladies and Gentlemen, Ian Eagle

Sports Illustrated – Liam McKeone – Caitlin Clark Can’t Stop Breaking Records

The Conversation – Nwakerendu Waboso and Taylor McKee – March Madness: The stars of women’s NCAA basketball face high expectations as the sport grows

ESPN – Neil Paine – March Madness Heat Index: Who could make a run in both Sweet 16s?

ESPN – Joe Lunardi: Sweet 16 thoughts, and the awful taste Kentucky left us with

Sports Business Journal – Austin Karp – Men’s NCAA Tournament sees record viewership through Saturday games

Sports Illustrated – Ryan Phillips – Five Takeaways From the First Weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament

Sports Illustrated – Kyle Koster – NCAA Tournament Television Ratings Off to Strong Start

ESPN – Myron Medcalf – March Madness 2024: Reseeding the men’s tournament Sweet 16

The Ringer – Cousin Sal Iacono – NCAA Tournament Update, NBA Play of the Day, and 2024 MLB Best Bets

The Ringer – Stephen Ruiz – Winners and Losers of the NCAA Tournament’s First Round

The Score – Dane Belbeck, Chicco Nacion, Matthew Winick – 1 takeaway from each of Sunday’s games

The Score – No. 1 Houston wins epic OT affair over No. 9 Texas A&M

Sports Illustrated – Ryan Phillips – Hard-Working NC State Marches Into Sweet 16

ESPN – Brooke Pryor – North Carolina State continues run, downs Oakland in OT

Phil has a question:

With Kelce retiring might the Eagles draft Burns Jr. as a centre.

ESPN – Men’s March Madness 2024: second-round tournament takeaways

A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players “see” situations before they happen so they can be prepared.

Dr. Jack Ramsay

The Score – Dane Belbeck, Chicco Nacion, Matthew Winick – 1 takeaway from each of Saturday’s NCAA games

The Ringer – Seerat – Sohi – The Caitlin Clark Phenomenon

ESPN – March Madness 2024: Reseeding the men’s round of 32

ESPN – Men’s March Madness 2024: First-round tournament takeaways

Front Office Sports – Amanda Christovich – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Inside the Big East’s Bizarre Online Subculture

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Duke is an ugly word in Kentucky. Nothing in the world compares to the joy of beating those hateful swine from Duke.

Hunter S. Thompson

Sports Illustrated – Ryan Phillips – Yale Pulls Off Massive Upset After Late Auburn Collapse

The Score – Dane Belbeck, Chicco Nacion, Matthew Winick – 1 takeaway from each of Friday’s NCAA tourney games

Sports Illustrated – Stephen Douglas – Would Kentucky Really Be Better Off Firing John Calipari?

TSN – Edey makes history in big win over Grambling State on Friday

ESPN – Ben Baby – Zach Edey, Purdue rebound from 2023 exit, roll past Grambling

SportsNet – Oren Weisfeld – Why Canadians can’t make as much money as Americans in NCAA

ESPN – John Weinfuss – Samford’s Bucky McMillan ‘not faulting’ refs in loss to Kansas

Phil has a question:

Isn’t part of being a superior referee knowing when to put the whistle away.

ESPN – Men’s March Madness 2024: First-round tournament updates

Phil has a question:

Has 11 – 6 replaced 12 – 5 as the upset bracket.

ESPN – What another NCAA tournament first-round exit means for Kentucky and Calipari

March is a month without mercy for rabid basketball fans. There is no such thing as a ‘gentleman gambler’ when the Big Dance rolls around. All sheep will be fleeced, all fools will be punished severely… There are no Rules when the deal goes down in the final weeks of March. Even your good friends will turn into monsters.

Hunter S. Thompson

The Score – Dane Belbeck, Chicco Nacion, Matthew Winick – 1 takeaway from each of Thursday’s NCAA games

ESPN – Wright Thompson – Caitlin Clark and Iowa find peace in the process

ADU – The Future Of College Athletics With NCAA President Charlie Baker

The Athletic – Brian Hamilton – Terrence Shannon Jr. has been charged with rape. He’s also leading Illinois into the NCAA Tournament

Phil has a question:

If you feel that Shannon shouldn’t be playing then what about the fat fucking orange blob who keeps begging the stupid MAGAsshats for more money to pay his legal bills.

Doesn’t the NCAA have a code of conduct similar to the NHL. NFL, NBA, MLB et cetera or are they too busy still investigating Jerry Tarkanian.

The only important statistic is the final score.

Bill Russell

What type of teammates do you want to play with? Be that teammate yourself.

John Calipari

Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.

Bill Belichick

The Ringer – J Kyle Mann – Predicting the Breakout Heroes of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament

ESPN – Ryan Hockensmith – How one fan came close to a perfect March Madness bracket

The Ringer – Nick Friedell – What Really Happened to Markelle Fultz

Sports Illustrated – Kevin Seeeney and Par Forde – March Madness Brackets: Expert Predictions for the 2024 Men’s NCAA Tournament

The Ringer – Steven Ruiz – The 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament Bracket Breakdown: The Best Picks for Each Region