Quick Thoughts For The Day

It was laundry night in the West household, so thoughts for the day are brief and random, since I spent the bulk of the evening ensuring that I would have underwear to wear for the next two days. Here’s today’s quick thoughts:

1) The NCAA tournament performance of each of the teams from Wisconsin that were involved summed up the seasons of each team more accurately than I could have scripted. Consider the following:

Wisconsin: Started off slow, hit adversity, and fell apart down the stretch. The Arizona game was just all of the patch-work finally coming completely undone. Next year should provide a clean slate for everyone, and a lot more players to work with.

Marquette: The game against Alabama was a great measuring stick of where Marquette is at. That is to say that they’re fairly good, and they play with plenty of emotion, but they’re not quite at that next level yet. Big man or no big man (and right now, it’s looking like the latter), this is a team that’s going to be very, very good over the next two years. You could just see it coming in this game.

UWM: The Panthers were the only of the Wisconsin schools to win a game in the state tournament, which is appropriate, since over the last few games of the season, they were playing the best basketball of any of the state’s teams. Their second round exit was similarly appropriate, since while they were good, they weren’t quite as good as last year.

2) Of all of the possible times to lose my Wichita State t-shirt, why did it need to happen this weekend? When will I ever be able to again legitimately wear a t-shirt supporting the Shockers? Here’s hoping a scouring of my apartment will allow me to show my Wichita State love tomorrow night. Though to be fair, even if I find the shirt, I won't be showing as much love as this guy (see the third fan down).

3) In tonight’s battle of Adam Morrison’s bad mustache and Jordan Farmar’s pretty-boy goatee, I’m taking Morrison. Always take the dirty guy.

4) Speaking of pretty boy vs. dirty guy matchups, I’ll be interested to see Texas vs. West Virginia tonight, if for no other reason than I’m not sure if Brad Buckman will even be willing to touch Kevin Pittsnogle.

5) Looks like I may not get around to my comments from the high school tournament last weekend, so I’ll just reiterate from last year perhaps my favorite aspect of the tournament. While the basketball teams that make it to state all have to win a series of challenging games, the dance teams from all of the schools just sort of tag along with the team, regardless of skill level. So you’re never quite sure until they hit the floor whether you’re going to see an award-winning dance team or a rhythm-less group of teenage girls that just want to head back to their seats.

6) I finally got to see the ending to this week’s edition of Knight School (Side note–thanks to emailers that let me know what happened. Normally I’d berate people for giving away an ending that I hadn’t seen, but given that the only thing I really missed was Knight announcing the cuts, the info was appreciated.). Good ending, though it was sad to see the two little guys go. Although, Arvin went out on a typically annoying note when the final shot of him was leaving the locker room without a shirt on. I’m not expecting top-level decorum from college athlete-hopefuls, but is it too much to ask that you actually get dressed before leaving the practice center?

7) I’m not sure how the Indiana situation is shaking out, but I do know one thing–the Hoosiers not hiring Steve Alford is the best move that they could have made. Even if they eventually crash and burn with Randy Wittman, at least that failure is a little tougher to see coming. Meanwhile, Alford should jump at that Missouri job if it’s offered to him. Steve Alford can’t follow a lot of people effectively, but Quin Snyder is a guy that I think he can perform better than.