Coach K “looked for someone to hug”…. and crusty ol’ Bo went really crusty as confetti descended from the roof of The Lucas Barn in Eeeeevil Indiana. Meanwhile along quaint Franklin Street, beleaguered TruBlues clung desperately to their suddenly very very important Helms Thing….. The Argument for Greatest Coach Ever raged along 15-501, but not in Storrs CT.
I appreciate the teeth-clenched resolve of those hardy Nutmeg Staters that want to declare Gino Auriemma “the greatest coach ever because……”. Just as I accept that there were people who actually watched his mighty Huskyette juggernaut win their fortiteenth consecutive “girls basketball championship”. I exercised my control of the remote to not do so. Yet another Tradition like no other at our house.
Back in November I noted my continually fading interest in college basketball highlighted by my unfamiliarity with area players and coaches. I don’t advocate my situation for anyone else. I appreciate that for many of you your ardor for the sport burns as white-hot as ever. Having a fervent interest in some on-going activity can be very healthy. It is probably still at unhealthy levels for some.
I still can’t name five total players from either UNC or NCState’s teams this season. I had never heard of Justis Winslow a month ago….. nor Grayson Allen. Some national pundit predict Allen will be Duke’s next Laettner, Redick Hate-magnet. That is comforting I suppose.
That Grayson Allen does look a little like Ted Cruz is hoot-erific beyond words. Its not like “those goofy Duke people” ever lack some contrived faux-foolishness to get constipated about. Plus, there’s a nasty rumor that Allen “IS A CHRISTIAN”! That will really piss off both UNC and Duke loonies.
Of course I watched the final few games and was caught up in the high drama. That Eeeeevil Calipari lost in the semis completely changed the dynamics of the whole shebang. There was the Temporary Return of White Kids for whatever that was worth.
Speaking of “white kid”, when Duke caught their Noose-perp (actually a lasso-perp) but refused to divulge his ethnicity (the Do-Rag Rule) that whole UPROAR subsided really really quickly. The local media ran from that story like scalded dogs. Funny how that happened, huh. Will Duke EVER get one of their contrived racist things right?
Without Eeeevil Calipari suddenly we had How Truly Great Is Coach K to debate. That was ironic considering that a month earlier just eight miles from K’s Legendary Lair, there was the Formal Deification of Dean. Anyone wish to speculate if anyone who attended Dean’s Deification got caught up in this recent How Great Is Coach K hysteria. Not hardly.
When Duke won its fourth NatChamp I speculated on what that meant for UNC’s “Helms Thing”. Now that Duke has Five (all under K) the significance of “the Helms Thing” becomes HUGE. Lets not even get into whether any of UNC’s five “modern era” banners might be imperiled as has been much-discussed in recent years.
If the NCAA ever decides anything relative to The Great Unpleasantness, the likelihood that one or more banners might be imperiled seems unlikely based on previous NCAA rulings but trying to second-guess the NCAA is a fool’s errand.
Suppose the NCAA did revoke UNC’s 2005 title, does that mean UNC HAS TO take down a banner in its own building? If they didn’t, would a special ops squad of NCAA goons mount an attack on Dean’s Dome to do the deed? Would Chancellor Chihuahua stand resolutely at the front door blocking their path? That offers some interesting photo op possibilities.
More fascinating than # of banners and the Helms Thing is this tsunami of speculation that Coach K is now The Greatest College Basketball Coach EVER! To most fans across the country of a certain age that conflicts with John Wooden and his ten titles all in the pre-Big Dance Era. That Coach K “only” has five to Wooden’s ten seems a no-brainer by simply math.
K-fans, of course, have their own set of sabremetrics to refute the 10 v 5 issue.
Eight miles down 15-501, when Durham morphs into Chapel Hill, Wooden doesn’t even enter the equation. Dean trumps K for all the reasons convoluted and otherwise that he, Dean, always will trump K even if K wins five more.
I suspect B’rer Chansky is mulling over a treatise debunking any mention of K in the same paragraph as “Dean” for a bevy of reasons, all of which will resonate very well with his 27514 audience.
Then, of course, there are the Lance Thomas Bling theorists and the Myron Piggie people on top of the “because he (K) cusses and looks like a rat and dyes his hair…. and did we mention he cusses…..?”
Hating Coach K is as much a permanent fixture on picturesque Franklin Street as “the flower ladies”, The Intimate Bookstore, The Varsity Theater and Jeff’s Campus Confectionary. ….. Oops, most of those Franklin Street traditions are gone. Will “Hating Coach K” also dissipate? No, because its 2015 and sports is all about “hating” and that’s how it is.
Speaking of dubious traditions….. wasn’t Instant Replay at courtside going to resolve “the blame the refs” crutch for losing fans. So much for that, huh. I couldn’t tell if Winslow’s fingertip touched the ball or not, but I wasn’t a goggle-eyed partisan for either team. Apparently that his fingertip did / did not graze the ball was OBVIOUS to everyone else in America.
My question when “the refs are incompetent / crooked / on the take / et al” becomes the national debate is what is The Ultimate Solution? Fire’em all and hire new ones? And “the new ones” come from where…… “fan monkey boards” maybe. Bring in East German judges who aren’t intimidated by Coach K? Spend twenty more minutes reviewing replays during the last five minutes? Howsabout American Idol-style fan voting on every close call ???
The only recommendation I’ve ever thought made sense is a national officiating pool rather than each conference having their own bunch who do develop a familiarity with certain coaches and programs. Rule interpretation should not be a regional prerogative. The quick knee-jerk that there are refs who “are in the pocket of Coach _______” has always seemed lame to me. Duke fans claimed that was the case with Dean. UNC fans claim that about K. State fans, of course, claim it for both.
NOTHING is ever going to take “Blame The Refs” out of the fan’s arsenal for alibing a loss.
It’s Masters Week. Without googling….. can you name ten current pro golfers not named Tiger or Rory? I can’t but I will still be watching come Sunday afternoon.
MLB Opening Day was this week. …….. YIPPEEE!
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