Tuesday, March 17, 2009

22 Days of Basketball

The NIT is underway and the first game on the schedule Davidson knocks off South Carolina to start 22 straight days of Basketball.

Yes, between now and April seventh there will either be men's or women's basketball on TV every night.

What does it say about the Southeastern conference that a ten conference win team in South Carolina is handled rather easily by Davidson at South Carolina. Curry made his points but at the last count I saw had seven turnovers and yet they handle South Carolina.

In case you haven't already heard Gryphon baseball was postponed until Wednesday at 5.00pm at South Granville, wet grounds.

This means that the Gryphons have two straight days of ball as they have a home game scheduled for Thursday against Roanoke Rapids.

It's the stretch run for the Carolina Hurricanes as they have ten games to play and are in a fight for a playoff spot. Unlike last year where they had a playoff position until the last day, this year they have been just out of the playoff picture but have played rather well lately. They hold down the last playoff spot but by only a single point over two teams.

The round ball Charlotte Bobcats are a scant one game out of the playoffs. If they pull it off it will be the first for the Bobcats. They have 14 games to play and are breathing down the neck of two teams for eighth spot while two teams are nudging at their heels.

Rumors are floating that New England wants Julius Peppers from Carolina for a second round pick. If I understand the Franchise player rule the only way they can get him from Carolina is for two 1st round draft picks.

Tonight I will leave you with a stat that you probably didn't know. Dick Vitale joined ESPN in 1980 and there is no telling how many games he has done for ESPN, but did you know he has never done an NCAA tournament game.

CBS and Billy Packer have had control of the NCAA tournament since 1978. I know a lot of you folks hated Billy Packer but I think he is the best color basketball analyst of all time.

Packer not only did the ACC games back in the 70's but he became the executive producer for CBS coverage of basketball and you can thank him for the rivalry games that are now part of college basketball.

I really miss him on the games. I really like Mike Gminski now that Packer is gone.