ACC Post Season

The ACC is 7-1 in the NCAA Tournament after three rounds. There has been so much talk this year about how bad the ACC has been. There is no doubt with Wake and State and Georgia Tech that bottom three were not very good. However, the top four are showing to be just as good as any other conference in the land.

What adds fuel to the fire that the ACC is still the best is that the middle teams in the ACC are 4-2 in the NIT. Virginia Tech has given credence to the NCAA Selection Committee losing in the second round of the NIT so the NCAA doesn’t look all that bad leaving them out.

Last night both Duke and North Carolina women advanced in the NCAA tournament. If I were in a women’s bracket I surely would have Connecticut, Tennessee, Baylor and Stanford as my final four. In order for the women’s tournament to ever get into an emotional pitch to the nation like the men’s tournament do, they have got to get to the point where sub regional and regional are played on neutral courts. If Duke was not playing at home last night they never would have beaten Marist on a neutral court in say Philadelphia. The way it is now those final four picks I have made above are hard to beat on their home floor. You know the way it works. Play the games where the people will pay to see it.

Bruce Pearl was fired yesterday as head basketball coach at Tennessee mens team. There are certain coaches that leave a bloody trail every step of their coaching career where they can’t play by the rules. I must say the Athletic Director at Tennessee has done the right thing getting rid of a cheater. The question now is will the AD survive without the Alumni getting him fired. I would hope any fan base would rather play by the rules and then win over letting a little cheating go because we are now winning.

I watch the Knicks-Celtics 4th quarter last night on NBA TV. The Knicks over the last 10 years have not been a very good franchise in the NBA after they let Isaiah Thomas run them into the ground. Donnie Walsh a Carolina grad is trying to bring them back to past NBA glory. He has brought in Carmelo Anthony who is a scorer and likes to play on one end of the court. Since Anthony has been with the Knicks they are 7-9. The Denver Nuggets the team Anthony left are 10-4. You be the judge of who won that trade.

Anthony just does not make anyone else on the court a better player. Denver has improved with his departure. This past weekend Anthony pulled a Scottie Pippen and sat by himself during a time out instead of listening to what those in the game were doing. If I owned an NBA team and just before trade deadline I had a chance to get him or a no name, I would take the no name player.

I saw in the paper over the weekend that Betsy Braswell a senior at Northern Nash has committed to play softball at Wingate College next year. We hope to have Betsy and the Knights softball team on the Stretchlon Sports show in a softball game as the spring goes on.

This Friday night we will be doing the Rocky Mount-Tarboro Softball game for TV. RM and Tarboro play Thursday at Tarboro and return Friday to Rocky Mount. This is probably the Lady Gryphons best chance this season to break their three year losing streak. I hope they can end the streak Thursday but if not we will be there Friday as they try again.