The producer of the UConn-Florida game was enamored with Ashley Elsey, the mother of UConn freshman Liam McNeeley. I'm not here to comment on her attractiveness. The internet picked up that ball and ran with it describing her with a four letter acronym that I will not repeat (we keep is classy and PG13 around here). What I want to point out is that Liam's mom is one of several matriarchs who ruled the hardwood in their day. Ashley Elsey, who is 6 feet tall, played for Rice; she graduated in 1996.

I mentioned that Cooper Flagg's mother, Kelly, played for Maine. Kelly Bowman was a 5'11" swing player for the University of Maine, graduating in 1999. She was team captain her senior year, when the Black Bears upset Stanford. One of her teammates was 6'4" Stacey Porrini, a prolific scorer and team captain in 1997. Porrini graduated with a degree in education and taught first grade for many years in her hometown of Bristol, Connecticut. There she met and married Bill Clingan. They had two kids, Donovan and Olivia. Donovan Clingan grew to 7'2" and led UConn to the last two national championships (he's currently with the Trailblazers). Stacey Porrini Clingan didn't see either one. She died of breast cancer in 2018. Donovan wore number 32, his mother's number, while at UConn.

Cooper Flagg is a terrific talent, clearly the top player in the world who isn't already in the NBA. But we need to slow down on characterizing every standout as a "generational talent". Is Flagg better than any draft picks both this year and last? Yes, by a good margin. How about 2023? Record scratch. There we have the most recent "generational" talent, Victor Wembanyama. Who you got, Flagg or Wemby? Yea, I'm going with the 7'3" kid with elite guard skills too. I won't go year by year, but a generation is 20-30 years. The lower end of that range also includes Jokić. The upper end encompasses LeBron. And Steph. And Durant. And Duncan. And how many other guys who are better than Flagg? 50? More? Noting this takes nothing away from Flagg. It's just a little reality check in this hyperbolic world we live in. Anti-Stephen A. Smith? I can play that role.

Other top NBA prospects include athletic combo guards that we have highlighted this tourney: VJ Edgecombe (Baylor), Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma) and Tre Johnson (Texas). All pass the eye test, as far as I am concerned. If your NBA team ends up with one of them, be happy. [Editor's Note: Edgecombe's first name is Valdez. He was born and raised in Bimini Bahamas, moving to Florida to play high school ball for one of the basketball factories. The list of NBA players from the Bahamas is long, including DeAndre Ayton, Buddy Hield, Mychal Thompson and Rick Fox. Back to the Notes]

Maryland's Derik Queen probably helped his draft stock more than anyone with his tourney performance. 27 points and hitting three 3-pointers against Florida will do that. He needs to get serious about playing defense, but a solid prospect.

A couple of Flagg's teammates are also in the Top 10 of the mock drafts. Kon Knueppel is projected to go around tenth, which is the perfect spot for him. He has good size (6'6") and his shot is pure. A team could do worse than Corey Kispert 2.0. I am not, however, sold on Khaman Maluach. He's huge, has the wing span of a condor; there's no lob he can't corral. That said, has he shot a single jumper this tourney? This season, he shot a total of sixteen 3-pointers; he hit four. That's not going to get it done in the Association.

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Some Will Forte fans out there! Several of you sent in favorite sketches. The one about the spelling bee didn't work for me. But Isaac passed along one about college basketball, and it's hilarious! The host was Peyton Manning who holds up his end of the sketch. As a founding member of #TeamTom, I have to admit that Peyton has won the post-playing era. And it isn't close. The SNL sketch is worth a click.