A Hazy Slate of Games

Well, it was my birthday this past weekend, as well as the birthday of a close friend, not to mention my mother’s birthday as well, so there was a lot of celebrating, and less basketball viewing than normal. I would like to thank the schedule-makers from the Big Ten for giving me a Wisconsin-Illinois game on my big day. I was hoping that Bo Ryan would give me a big win for the birthday, but it was not to be. Illinois is just too good. I’d break things down for you, but other than the standard comments about how the Badgers can’t shoot free throws, Dee Brown is really good foul shooter, Illinois defended Mike Wilkinson well and Nick Smith is goofy looking, I can’t add to much on this one that wouldn’t be better covered elsewhere. I haven’t actually checked yet, but if you’re looking for good game commentary, you can probably check out two of my faves, Big Ten Wonk and Illini Wonk. Like I said, I haven’t checked out either one yet, but both of these guys are far more reliable than me with the updates, and usually have some insightful and entertaining commentary.

Beyond that, I saw a high school game on Friday night—Tosa East at Brookfield East. Brookfield got down early, and was never totally able to fight back. The Spartans also ran a zone defense as well as I’ve seen in a long time, and had a point guard (I want to say it was Jeff Smith) who did as good a job defending Jerry Smith (who had one of the more pedestrian games I’ve seen him have this year) as I’ve seen all season when Brookfield either came out of its zone, or a matchup was required in the zone. Other than an unfortunate seating choice that placed me and my friend directly in front of about 40 screaching grade school girls who would later perform the halftime show, it was a solid evening, and as with most Friday night high school games, it ended early enough for me to pursue other social opportunities later on.

In other high school news, Marquette lost to West Allis Central this weekend. Marquette was minus its two best players, but nonetheless, it’s proving to be a perplexing year for a Hilltopper squad that I figured to be a big-time player in the state this year. Of course, as far as I know, both everyone should be healthy and ready to go by playoff time, making Marquette likely the toughest 5-seed in the state, in the always ridiculous Milwaukee Sectional #8, which is almost as entertaining as the state tournament for me.

And I attempted to watch North Carolina-UConn yesterday afternoon, but seeing as I had been out until 3am the prior evening for the birthday, one can readily guess why I was unable to sit through the game and needed to return to bed. Indeed, that same reason is responsible for my lack of comprehensive update yesterday evening. And for any of you lucky enough to check here on Sunday, it’s also the reason for my one paragraph of misspelled words that probably had nothing to do with basketball (I personally was too embarrassed to recount what I might have written). I really need to stay away from the computer after I’ve been drinking.

As for the week, I’m likely in tonight for Big Monday, tomorrow night should take me to the Waukesha North-Waukesha South showdown for title of best in Waukesha (though this fails to consider both Waukesha West and Catholic Memorial, which I suppose is a minor oversight on my part), Wednesday and Thursday have televised Wisconsin and Marquette games (and a possible trip downtown for some UWM action) and Friday offers a brand new slate of high school games. As always, this schedule is subject to change, based on my whims.