Kansas wins 3rd National Championship

Congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks, winner of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship over the Memphis Tigers. The question now becomes will Kansas pony up the money that it is going to take to keep Bill Self from returning to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University. Rumors suggest that Oklahoma State is willing to offer a signing bonus of up to $6 million. Bill Self could not be in a better negotiating position, having just won his first national championship and Kansas' first championship in 20 years.

I do not begrudge any one returning to their alma mater to coach, in fact I applaud it. I just hope that Bill Self will not hold Kansas hostage and that college basketball does not see a repeat of the Michigan, LSU, West Virginia mess that college football gave us this past winter.

The Selection Committee Got It Right!

The NCAA Selection Committee apparently got it right when they only selected four teams from the ACC. Clemson, a five seed, lost to Villanova in the first round. Duke and Miami both lost in the second round. The only team from the ACC to make it into the "Sweet 16" is North Carolina. Carolina will face Washington State, a four seed, in Charlotte on Thursday.

Duke being beat by West Virginia was certainly a surprise. The Bluedevils had a 5 point lead at the halftime break. Apparently their legs failed them down the stretch because they could not manage to hit their jump shots. Everyone knows how imperative for Duke's shots to fall, especially from behind the three point line. Duke's inability to knock down shots from the outside and lack of size inside and on the boards, made for an uphill battle ultimately leading to an early exit to the tournament.

Another North Carolina surprise was Davidson. The Wildcats defeated Gonzaga and came from a 17 point second half deficit to defeat the Georgetown Hoyas. Stephen Curry, a sophomore, has now scored 100 points in his last three NCAA tournament games. Davidson will face Wisconsin on Friday.

Interim Coach Finally Siezes The Opportunity

With the exit of Rich Rodriquez to Michigan, it was thought that West Virginia would be hard pressed to compete with Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. It was widely thought that with the uncertainty of the coaching staff at West Virginia, would the assistant coaches have the opportunity to stay at West Virginia, would some of them have an opportunity to follow Rodriquez to Michigan, or worse yet would some of the coaches be left without a job. With the assistant coaches having so much "up in the air," how could they possibly prepare a team like Oklahoma?

Not only did they prepare for Oklahoma, but they won. And won convincingly! The coaching staff put their team, the kids that they recruited and the University first (much like Rodriquez claimed to do last year when he turned down the Alabama job to stay "home" at West Virginia). And in a classy move by the University, Bill Stewart will be named the Head Coach this morning. Coach Stewart is the only interim head coach (that I am aware of) to capitalize on their opportunity and lead their team to a bowl game victory. Fortunately, Bill Stewart is getting rewarded for his efforts. Congratulations to Coach Stewart and the rest of the Mountaineer coaching staff!