Elite Thoughts

After an NCAA Tournament where upsets reigned, the results of the regionals were pretty unsurprising.
Duke, Connecticut and Oklahoma State were the best three teams in their respective regions and Georgia Tech was a solid team all season. For all the talk about parity in college basketball, four of the best teams in college basketball will head to San Antonio and all have a good chance of winning. And yes, that includes Georgia Tech. Don’t forget they’ve beaten both Duke and Connecticut this season.
Some thoughts on the regionals:

- It’s good to see that it’s not only ACC refs that give Duke all the calls. Those fourth and fifth fouls called on Xavier’s Anthony Myles were an absolute joke. On his so-called fourth foul Myles was battling inside with Shelden Williams, who according to my count had been in the key for five seconds. Then, no more than 30 seconds later, Myles got his fifth foul on a “push” while going up for a rebound. Replays showed that Myles barely touched Shelden Williams. The fourth foul was awful. The fifth should never have happened because Myles shouldn’t have been in the game. Regardless, the game changed after that.

- If Seth Davis were a member of the Jackson family, he’d be Tito.

- I wonder is Chris Duhon’s ribs are alright. Do you remember when he hurt them against Maryland in the ACC Tournament final? Well, he seemed pretty shaken up. He stayed on the floor for five minutes, so he must have been in pain. He ended up playing the rest of the game. He’s a tough kid.
But interestingly enough, since that day I haven’t heard anything about the injury. CBS definitely hasn’t mentioned it in their coverage and neither has ESPN.
I guess he’s doing OK. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain when he’s playing. Occasionally he’ll wince when its obvious that the camera is on him, like when he goes to the bench or hits a free throw. But when he’s driving to the hoop, passing up a three-point opportunity or having a rebound fall into his hands, he seems fine.
You would think that CBS might give us an update to see if he’s OK. After all, what else is Bonnie Bernstein good for. Instead, this under-reported story is a mystery to fans everywhere. Shame on you Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery for not mentioning Duhon’s ribs ONCE during the two games you covered this weekend.
People around the country need to know if Chris Duhon is playing hurt. If we don’t, we’ll never know how good a person he is and how much he means to his Duke team and how tough he is.
I mean, B.J. Elder tried to play on a severely sprained ankle, a day after Illinois guard Dee Brown stayed on the court despite severe cramping in his legs. Announcers mentioned those injuries a good two or three times during the game.
But Duhon bruised his ribs two weeks ago! And there was NO MENTION of it. It’s crazy I say.

- Oklahoma State’s John Lucas III is getting all the press for hitting the go-ahead shot against St. Joe’s. But Tony Allen is the real reason why the Cowboys are making their first trip to the Final Four since 1995.

- If Duke wins the National Championship every sportswriter and talking head will compare Luol Deng to Carmelo Anthony. When it comes to basketball ability, that might not be a bad comparison. But in terms of leading their teams to an NCAA Championship, the two aren’t even in the same league.
Carmelo was the MVP on a pretty good Syracuse team. Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara are good players, but it was Anthony that put the team on his back en route to their first National Championship. Without Anthony, Syracuse doesn’t make the Sweet 16 last year.
Deng is third, maybe fourth, most important player on Duke’s team. Without Deng, Duke still would have been a #1 seed in the Tournament and probably still would have made it to the Final Four.
If Duke wins two more games, Anthony and Deng will have two things in common: they will be freshman who started on a National Championship team. The only difference is, Carmelo was the reason his team won, while Deng is just another piece of Coach K’s puzzle.

- If Mike Krzyzewski were the coach of the Harlem Globetrotters, he’d still bitch at the refs.

Check back tomorrow for an entry that probably will surprise you.