The NCAA Week Two Update

And they tell us it’s just a game.

For gamblers everywhere, this is the week when you’ve already lost all of your money, the week after you attempted to demonstrate your expertise by telling everyone how Old Dominion was going to beat Michigan State, the week you realized that a nine-year old was leading your brother’s NCAA office pool. But hey, at least you can still enjoy the games.

That is, until you realize that the referees are going to kill your team with a stupid phantom traveling call.

All right, enough with my gripes. Let’s get to the highlights from a four-day clinic in exciting basketball, as at least eight of the 12 games were in doubt with five minutes left to go, three games ended up decided by one point, two games went to overtime, and the last game went to double overtime. What’s really sad is that someone out there will claim the NBA is more exciting. They're probably smoking the same stuff as referee Tom O'Neill.

Our memorable moments of the weekend, as delivered (mostly) from Las Vegas:

10. The ending of the Louisville-West Virginia game in overtime. Louisville’s up eight points, about to end the miracle run of the Mountaineers. West Virginia misses a three, Louisville grabs the rebound, and Louisville’s Brandon Jenkins breaks downcourt alone for a spectacular dunk that would cap the contest… except he misses the dunk. This is made funnier by the fact that the spread on the game was 8.5 points, which means that millions of gamblers promptly tried to rip their hair out. We know -- we watched them.

9. The West Virginia fan who held up the sign “You’ve Been Pittsnogled” during the aforementioned Louisville-WVU game. Best sign of the weekend, and a verb that needs to be added to the English language.

8. The Coach K Amex commercial, which should be Pittsnogled. I’m not saying Duke is on TV too often, but I hear CBS is looking at a reality show where girls date J.J. Redick and Coach K decides whether they should make it to the next show. Next week’s episode: one of the girls calls J.J. a choke artist, then outplays him in a game on one-on-one, but loses when the ref calls her for a foul after Coach K glares at the ref. Of course, this is better than most of what appears on reality TV.

7. Illinois’ stirring comeback win over Arizona on Saturday night. 15 points down late in the game, essentially on their home court, the best team in the nation all season finally faced true adversity and fought back to win. Granted, two teams that feature orange prominently in their color schemes gave everyone a headache, but it was still fun to watch. And hey, Bill Murray hanging out at the game is always a plus – it would have been better if he’d brought along Chevy Chase and the Dalai Lama, but you can’t have everything.

6. Arizona’s Salim Stoudamire beating Oklahoma State with a gorgeous jumper in the forgotten classic of the Sweet Sixteen, a game which ended with last year’s OSU hero, John Lucas, barely missing a game-winning try. And yet another game with both teams featuring orange – maybe the NCAA should force every team to have orange in its color scheme, if we’re going to get games like this.

5. Yours truly being proven prescient… from last week’s recap:

This year’s entry into the Cinderella pantheon is the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which ripped Alabama and held off Boston College in the space of three days, which of course guarantees that head coach Bruce Pearl is receiving job offers from other schools when he goes to pick up the paper at the end of his driveway this week. Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s other prize is a date with No. 1 Illinois in Chicago. We hope they enjoy Michigan Avenue.

Illinos 77, UWM 63. Bruce Pearl is now the coach at the University at Tennessee. And I heard the Panthers enjoyed the shopping on Michigan Avenue.

4. North Carolina 67, Villanova 66, thanks in part to a phantom traveling call whistled by referee Tom O’Neill on Wildcat guard Allen Ray with 9 second left. I don’t care what Bill Raftery thinks – that wasn’t traveling unless you’re from North Carolina, and even then, you should be saying it with an embarrassed half-smile. Heck, UNC fans should be experts on players never traveling – didn’t Michael Jordan play there?

3. Hall of Fame level coaches screwing up. First, you had Lute Olsen at Arizona, whose team failed to get off a quality shot in overtime while trailing Illinois by one. That was bad enough. But then, Tubby Smith of Kentucky, another coach with a national title on his resume, watched his team fail to get off a shot in overtime against Michigan State with the game tied. Did someone forget to tell these guys a berth in the Final Four was on the line? See, this is why Coach K gets Amex commercials – his colleagues in the college game can’t even figure out a way to get a quality shot off in the last ten seconds.

2. The collective gagging sound, followed by a gasp of relief, from ACC fans on Friday night. First, Wisconsin stomped NC State with a comeback win, then Michigan State stunned Duke, then UNC barely survived Villanova. We know the ACC dominated the ACC-Big Ten Challenge early this season, but if UNC falls to Michigan State or Illinois, ACC fans might want to start taking the Big 10 seriously. Meanwhile, we Big East fans will shut up... unless Louisville wins the national title, in which case our conference will open next season with the last three national champions.

1. Michigan State-Kentucky on Sunday night, one of the five greatest college basketball games you’ll ever see. It had everything: taut throughout, back and forth action, moments of redemption, a last-second shot, a refereeing controversy, second-guessing of a coach… and Ashley Judd in the stands. Hey, she beats Bill Murray anytime.