Random Tuesday Thoughts

It’s been a busy time around the West household, so today I’d like to simply offer a hodgepodge of thoughts on a big basketball day:

1) Huge win for Marquette this past weekend, and I wish I had more thoughts about it, but at the game I got into full-on fan mode and stopped taking note of the entertaining things going on. So I’ll go rapid fire on this one: huge shooting day for Marquette; Luke Harangody’s a great player but needs to stop immediately looking towards the refs every time something doesn’t go exactly his way; nice to see Lawrence Blackledge play good minutes and likely confuse MU’s frontcourt situation even more; Tom Crean needs to adjust the lighting when he’s being taped for his pre-game speech, because he looked positively creepy in Saturday’s edition. I wish I had time to say more, but that’s Saturday in a nutshell.

2) If you’re going to end a winning streak like the one UWM had going, I guess losing at Butler is an acceptable way to do it. UWGB this weekend should be a heck of a game, and I’m guessing that tickets at the Resch Center will be readily available, since most Green Bay residents will likely be so distracted by the Packer game being played the next day that they’ll forget they even have a university with a basketball team in town.

3) I saw five minutes of a D-League game on TV recently and was totally disturbed by it. To begin with, the D-League has always pained me since it’s got the 24-second shot clock of the NBA, but lacks the guys with the extreme talent to actually get off decent shots within 24 seconds on a regular basis. But aside from the poor play, it’s truly depressing to watch former college stars play in near-empty arenas in places like Fort Wayne for next to no pay. I sure hope guys looking to make ill-fated jumps to the NBA are watching these games and thinking hard about them.

4) I wish I didn’t like watching Washington State and Gonzaga so much, because it hurts me every time I fall asleep during one of their games (which is most of the time).

5) Am I bitter that while I was clearly watching the Indiana-Illinois game on Sunday at the gym, the guy in front of me changed the channel to football without even asking? No, because it’s tough to be bitter at a guy who’s wearing a t-shirt two sizes too small for his gut, a headband, and a fanny-pack for his portable CD player. I can let the television transgression go, since he’s got bigger problems than rudeness.

6) I’ve got a bad feeling about the Wisconsin game tonight. And this one would hurt more than most, since most people aren’t even aware that Penn State is a much more legitimate foe than they’ve been in recent years.

7) It’s been way too long since I’ve been to a high school gym for a game, but I’m making my first trip tonight for the Brookfield Central-Tosa East game. I’d probably take a walkman into the Central gym tonight to simultaneously listen to the Milwaukee King-Milwaukee Washington game, too, if not for the fact that I would look like a complete tool doing so, and the radio waves probably wouldn’t reach the Central gym, anyway. It will be good to be back.

Back with more tomorrow or Thursday, depending on my ability to jot down some late-night thoughts after my back-to-back games tonight...