March Perfection
A tradition unlike any other…well, actually TOB assumes this tradition is held by many groups of people. The Masters? No, getting together with a bunch of college buddies and going on a bender while watching college basketball! TOB and company made our way to the lovely town of Kansas City, MO last weekend for the kickoff of MM. Why Kansas City? Why indeed. If you happen to be looking to get out on a random trip to Kansas City, Taps on Main seems to always have a beer on tap that is out of season, so they are basically giving it away ($0.20/oz). Or, if you’re full white trash, go with the 16 oz Busch Lite cans for $3! For quality Mexican with a totally clean environment, hit up Z-Tecca. Check the reviews, only the one stars, for further details. What’s done is done, let’s move on.
It should be noted that although they both fell on a Thursday this year, St. Patrick’s Day and Thanksgiving are not BOTH floating holidays. Only one is always on a Thursday, we will see come next November if TOB’s lady can remember which one…
Great mix of upsets (sad to see Calipari out so early, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, classic Big 10 collapses left and right), and the blue bloods (Kansas, Duke, UNC). Yet another year where the Big 10 was maybe the best regular season conference, but couldn’t get a team to the Elite 8. Good to hear Cofi is coming back to Illinois for that sick $750k NIL deal, maybe they can make the second weekend with him in his senior year. He’ll probably get another year for COVID or something, hell, let’s make a career out of some of these guys in College. Does Scotty Reynolds still play for Nova?
With the second weekend wrapping up, TOB wants to break down the coming black hole that is facing college basketball: Legendary Coaches to Love or Hate
Coaches We’ve Lost Since 2010
Roy Williams
Coack K
Jim Calhoun
Lon Kruger
Barry Alvarez
Jim Boeheim
Rick Pitino (basically sexed his way to being an outcast)
Tom Izzo (Has to be getting close – he’s 67)
Bob Huggins (Age: 69 – nice)
It’s entirely possible that as a prisoner of the moment, TOB thinks this is a big loss, though these things run in cycles and this all happened back in the 80’s too, right before these guys all got famous. ESPN, and others seem to be writing similar columns (less quality columns, TOB can assure you, please do not look for them). Or, the new generation of coaches are more like the new generation of people, much less likely to find a job, work there for 35 years, and get a gold watch upon retirement (gold is so outdated these days anyway, TOB pines for a Bitcoin watch). Coaches who could take the mantle, but are probably a little too far on the other side of their career:
John Calipari: Classic villain, pioneered the one and done, just has that classic scumbag look (started by Rick Pitino, perfected by John C). Teams are always exciting with HIGH end talent, and seem to disappoint in the tournament. Given how many players Coach Cal has put into the NBA, it’s shocking he only has 1 National Title. Or maybe it’s not, they only get 25ish games to gel, often seeming to lose to teams full of juniors and seniors (St. Peters…really?!?). Age: 63
Jay Wright: Classic “can’t get over the hump” guy, until he did. Twice. And he may get there again this year, having already punched his ticket to the Final Four. Age: 60
Mark Few: Currently the classic “can’t get over the hump” guy. Made several Final Four’s and becoming a good NBA player destination lately (go Chet!). Needs a title to validate all he’s done. He’s the closest to a Coach K type to this point (build up a small program into a powerhouse, don’t leave for a bigger school to chase the $$$). Age: 59
Bill Self: Success everywhere he’s been, including a National Title…14 years ago. Always has a great team (seem to be a 1 or 2 seed every year), but can’t seem to win the big one anymore. Already hated by the entire state of Illinois (which includes TOB’s in-laws, so that’s pretty sweet) because he left for KU. Sometimes you have to know who you are, U of I. TOB is a moderately successful, decent looking guy, not a bad catch; however, if TOB’s special lady leaves for a Hemsworth, I think I’ll just be happy for the time we had together. Plus, it’s been nearly 20 years, let’s move on. Age: 59
Our possible next batch of guys that could become Heros/Villains:
Scott Drew: Waco has something going, and this time it’s not full on rape allegations or Jesus 2.0. Winning last year was big for the Bears; following it up with a #1 seed this year validated their success. The Big 12 is ripe for a team to take the mantle from Kansas, Baylor could be that team. Drew is just old enough to stick around, but young enough to have another 15ish years of success before retirement. Age: 51
Tony Bennett: Won a title after the worst loss in NCAA history. Team plays a pretty boring brand of basketball, but they have had good success with his high pressure defensive scheme. Primed to take over the ACC if they can just get a few athletes (Miami can’t get them ALL, can they??). Age: 52
Mick Cronin: After good success at Cincinnati, Mick took the big job at UCLA and is quickly establishing himself as a good tourney coach (mixed regular season results, but who pays attention to that aside from Andy Katz). PAC-12 has quite a few of these guys, could lead to a UNC/Duke rivalry with our next candidate. Age: 50
Andy Enfield: Dunk U (Florida Gulf Coast) broke TOB’s bracket several years back, and it made Andy Enfield about $50,000,000. Would it kill him to throw a few buck to the website? High profile program – check. Smokeshow wife – check. Laid back attitude versus Mick Cronin’s loose cannon personality – check. UCLA and USC already hate each other, hopefully the coaches do too. Age: 52
There are others, some that either can’t get over the hump, or are a little too early to tell: Matt Painter, Brad Underwood, Hubert Davis, Chris Beard, Juwon Howard. Anyone else I’m missing? Sorry not sorry.
Well, that’s it. Baseball is right around the corner, maybe TOB will start doing some research for that…probably not…won’t keep me from pumping out trash!
-Tonyonball
