Thursday, March 23, 2006
For those of you who know me well, you know that this is normally one of my favorite times of the year. Why? Sixty-three games of the greatest sport crammed into three weekends. It's a veritable orgy of finger rolls and buzzer beaters, alley-oops and cinderella stories. And normally I'm all about it.But this year that's not the case.
You see, I have three teams I root for in the college basketball world: the University of Louisville Cardinals, and the Notre Dame Men's and Women's teams. Of those three teams, only one remains in post-season play (Louisville).
To be honest, all three teams were pretty mediocre this year. I actually stopped keeping up with the ND Women's team about two thirds of the way through the season; not because I was angry with them for being mediocre, but because I ran out of time and energy to keep up with them and both men's teams. It's kind of a shame, too, since it seems from the stats and awards that Megan Duffy (aka, "Tiger Teeth") had a great senior year. It's just too the team as a whole was having as great of a year. They finished the regular season on a three game winning streak with a record of 18-10. They made it to the second round of the Big East Tournament by beating South Florida, but ended up losing to arch-rival Connecticut for the second time this year. Then, in a lack-luster performance they fell in the first round of the NCAAs to red-headed stepchild Boston College. Final record: 19-12.
The Irish men had probably the most frustrating season of any team in Division I-A ball. They had 10 losses in the regular season by a combined total of 31 points. They played in four regular season overtime games, two of which were double overtimes. The season wasn't all bad tidings, though. Chris Quinn became the leader that he could never be with that ball-hog Chris Thomas on the court, and Torin Francis finally stepped up and became the big man at the post he should have been his sophomore year. The team eked out a bid to the Big East Tournament, but faired no better than during the regular season, losing a close game to Georgetown. An NCAA bid was out of the question, but the NIT extended an invitation to the not-so-lucky Irish. As a five seed, Notre Dame beat Vanderbilt in the first round, but ended their season in a way that seemed only fitting: losing to Michigan on a buzzer-beater three pointer in double overtime. Final record,
The Cardinals came into this season with a high ranking thanks to last year's Final Four berth, but it did not last for long. After playing a brutally easy out-of-conference schedule, Louisville entered gruelling Big East play for the first time. They started conference play with a paultry 2-6 record and were soon bottom-feeding for a Big East tournament bid. Despite a close loss to UConn in the season closer, wins over old C-USA foes Marquette and DePaul ensured a trip to Madison Square Gardens. The Cardinals came out extremely sluggish against Pitt and soon accumulated a 28-point deficit. The clawed back in the second half and with under a minute to go were only down by three. That would be as close as they got, however, as they watched their NCAA berth fly away. The NIT was more than happy to invite the Cardinals to come play and ranked them as a one seed. So far Louisville has wins over Deleware St., Clemson and Missouri St., and will face rival Cincinnati in the semi-finals next week. The Cards lost a lot of great players last year, so it's not surprising to see all the makings of a rebuilding season evidence themselves in the statistics. The team is getting better and will be a force to be reckoned with next year. The only thing sad about this season is that Taquan Dean is a senior. The kid is all heart and gives 100% every game; he deserves better than a 12-loss season on his way out. Let's hope he can at least get an NIT championship in there.
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