NC State won five games in five days to win the ACC tournament. The heater continued into the tournament as they thoroughly outplayed Texas Tech. Ben Middlebrooks came off the bench and scored a career-high 21 points. Fan favorite DJ Burns (who needs a better nickname than Big 30) tallied 16. I fear for the life of the Oakland "bigs" when they try to post up that guy on Saturday.

Tre Mitchell, Adou Thiero and John Calipari are all from greater Pittsburgh, the host city for Kentucky's first round contest. Jack Grollke and Oakland runied their homecoming. Jack freaking Golke. 10 freaking 3-pointers. From a guy who was playing DIII ball two years ago. He didn't do it alone. Trey Townsend lit us up for 17 and 12. He was a beast inside at 6'6". He was guarded by three legit 7-footers, who collectively scored 10 points. And let Townsend do whatever he wanted in the post.

My team hit a bunch of 3-pointers in a row down the stretch to make it a game. Every time we had an opportunity to take charge, we did something stupid. So. Many. Stupid. Turnovers. Antonio Reeves had 27. He deserves to be an All-American. Reed Sheppard had 3. A terrible game to end his college career (ditto DJ Wagner).

The disastrous UK game was followed by our SEC rival playing, wait for it, St freaking Peter's. Couldn't they both lose?

I'm actually fine with the Vols making a run. The Dalton Knecht story (which we'll get to, I promise) is worth delving into. I don't think I've ever seen a player blow up like him.

Tennessee's Robin to Dalton Knecht's Batman is their point guard, Zakai Zeigler, the SEC defensive player of the year. His brother, Armoni, is an off guard for St Peter's. They did not guard one another. Different positions and Armoni is much taller (6'4" vs 5'9"). At the press conference on Wednesday, the brothers came out firing. They were joking. I think.

Said Zakai: “To clear the air, he’s never beat me one-on-one. He’s not even close in the series at all. And he’s not even close in his scores. I would say everything he does, I do a little bit better, except for athleticism and height. That’s the only two things that he has better than me, athleticism and height. Everything else, I do better times probably about five."

Armoni shot back: “I’m more athletic than him and he’s a midget — what is he, 5-7, 5-6?’’

Pre-game, the two embraced at half court. Armoni walked over to press row, saying "That is my big brother. He means everything to me. That is my heart. That is my world. I love him to death."

[Editor's Note: The Zeiglers are from Amityville, NY. When I was a little kid The Amityville Horror book, which claimed to be a true haunted house story, was popular. I checked it out of the library; it scared the crap out of me. Wonder what I would think of it now? Back to the Notes.]

No upset in this night game. Not even close. Tennessee was superior from the jump, leading 46-20 at the half. Zakai has 11 points and 10 assists. Dalton Knecht poured in 23 and then sat for most of the second half. Tennesee by 34. Armoni played 16 minutes and did not score.

St Peter's run two years ago was all the way to the Elite 8. Tennessee has never been to an Elite 8. True story.

Epic fail in a late afternoon game. Nevada was cruising to the upset of 7-seed Dayton, up 17 with 7:14 to go. Steve Alford’s team, who had been the aggressors all game, went passive. Dayton flipped the script, tying the game with 2:45 to go. Dayton’s Nate Santos woke up down the stretch, powering for a layup and hitting a couple big free throws. Nevada was completely out of sync, committing a critical turnover with 15 seconds remaining. (A cross-over dribble in a crowded paint not the best idea). A couple Dayton free throws put them up three. Nevada got two decent looks from deep with time running out, but neither was from one of their shooters and neither was close. Dayton ended the game on a 24-4 run. Daron Holmes with 18 and 9 to lead the comeback.

Nevada is coached by Indiana hoops legend Steve Alford, who led the Hoosiers to the 1987 title. Alford has been a journeyman coach, with stops at Manchester, Southwest Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and now Nevada. He's won 683 games over a 33-year coaching career, which ranks 45th all-time right behind John Wooden.

6-seed South Carolina was no match for Oregon's Jermain Couisnard. This represents a twist of fate since Couisnard played four years for South Carolina. There was a coaching change and, according to Couisnard, there was no communication from new coach Lamont Paris. So, he took his extra covid year of eligibility and headed to Eugene. Lamont Paris will be seeing Jermain Couisnard in his nightmares. The East Chicago, IN native went off for 40 points against the Gamecocks, the most ever for an Oregon player in a NCAA tournament game. Couisnard is know for driving and finishing through contact. He was also hot from downtown today, nailing 5 of 9 from deep (6 assists too). Memorable day for Couisnard, whose Grandmother saw him play a college game live for the first time.

Oregon coach Dana Altman matches up with his former employer, Creighton, on Saturday.

The first game of the tourney featured a familiar face, Tom Izzo. His Spartans haven’t seemed so relevant in recent years, but this is their 26th straight tournament appearance (!) and they made the Final 4 just five years ago. This is not a vintage Izzo team (this was only their 20th win of the season), but they managed to lead Mississippi State wire to wire winning going away. This was an 8-9 matchup, so barely an upset. And MSU had a losing record in the SEC this season. But a win’s a win, and a 9 taking out an 8 counts as an upset.

I did not see Duquesne over BYU coming. Obviously, since I spent lunch writing over 350 words on BYU coach Mark Pope!

You know who did see Duquesne coming? 13 people in our bracket pool who picked the upset, including AJ who picked them to win it all!! We'll see how that pick plays out. But props for the audacity.

It looked like Duquesne was going to run away with this one, leading by 14 with 17 minutes to go. The Cougars would no go quietly, steadily chipping into the lead eventually knotting the score at 60 with 1:45 to go. The Dukes made the plays (and a bunch of free throws) down the stretch to take home a 4-point win.

An uber physical game that produced some bruises and one bloody nose. At the start of the second half, two players fought for a rebound and ended up wrestling aggressively on the floor. The ref decided to break things up and ended up rolling on the floor as well (he looked kinda dazed when things settled down).

Mark Pope was the starting center on the 1996 Kentucky national championship team, which was among the best to ever play the game. Mark Pope is a genuinely intriguing guy. He spent his first two college years at Washington, where he earned Pac-10 freshman of the year. He then transferred to a Kentucky team that Rick Pitino had built into a juggernaut. That’s not hyperbole. Future NBA players on the 1996 national title UK team included Antoine Walker, Derek Anderson, Tony Delk, Ron Mercer, Walter McCarty, Nazr Mohammed, Jeff Sheppard (Reed’s Dad), Wayne Turner. And Mark Pope, who went on to play for the Pacers, Bucks and Nuggets. 

Pope’s wife, Lee Anne, is the daughter of former Utah basketball coach Lynn Archibald, who died of cancer at age 51. Lee Anne Archibald Pope was David Letterman’s personal assistant when her brother set her up with Mark Pope, who was then playing for the Indiana Pacers. Lee Anne wondered how that match up was going to work since she lived in NYC. Her brother was insistent “I don’t know, but this dude is the male version of you”. After a whirlwind romance, the two married in 1999. Mark finished his playing career in 2005. Improbably, he then enrolled at the Columbia University medical school. Not sure if that’s more surprising or the fact that he quit after three years even though he was only months away from an Ivy League medical degree.

Maybe the most shocking thing of all is that he left school to take a low paying assistant coach job with Mark Fox at Georgia. Lee Anne was supportive even though she knew from her family’s experience how brutal the coaching game can be. They haven’t looked back. Mark Pope, a practicing Mormon, eventually ended up as head coach at Utah Valley before landing the top job at BYU in 2019. Lee Anne is heavily involved with the team, which she describes as having the best locker room in America. BYU is not your typical team; most of the players are married and several have small children. The Pope family includes four athletic girls.

Matt Norlander from CBS Sports asked all the coaches in the tournament to name their favorite band/artist. I didn’t know a bunch of them, all of which turned out to be Christian acts. To each their own, but I found that surprising. Mark Pope, father of four girls, picked Taylor Swift. I’m sure he hears various Eras on a loop at home, but might that drive one up wall day after day? (Perhaps I’m projecting here). Calipari proclaimed affection for his buddy Drake, but I know for a fact that he has Train on heavy rotation (my source is one of my colleagues, who happens to be his daughter). Will Wade and Bill Self both sided with Earth, Wind & Fire. They must attend a lot of wedding receptions. Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 (!) were mentioned repeatedly. Not sure that’s the PC pick. Dan Hurely went with Pearl Jam, a solid choice (although I’m more of a Soundgarden guy myself). Two coaches you’ve never heard of picked Kentuckian Chris Stapleton (respect). Some country acts, some rappers.

This got me thinking about what I would say. Being a stats guy, I turned to Apple Music which keeps track of my listening habits. In 2023, Peter Gabriel and Roxy Music were in my top five. I saw them both live last year, so that tracks. Gabriel took the top spot with 2,277 minutes of listening (nearly 38 hours!). The Beatles and David Bowie also in the top 5. But I can’t take my eyes off the band in the number 2 slot. I have nothing against them, particularly, but I can assure you that I did not click on a single Coldplay song in Apple Music last year or ever. I use the Station feature a lot, but the algorithm directed me to the British soft rockers for a total of over 19 hours?! And I barely noticed? I need to rethink some life choices. And so does Colgate coach Matt Langel, who proudly proclaimed Coldplay as his favorite group. [Editor’s note: Langel and I don’t share the same music preferences but it turns out that we have the same birthday. We will be celebrating on November 21 with Goldie Hawn, Michael Strahan, Björk and Tony Aikman. What were we talking about? Oh yea, basketball! Back to the Notes.]

By the way, Indiana State scored 101 in their victory over SMU in the NIT. Slightly more entertaining than the 14 Virginia put up in the first half of their NCAA game? The Hoos failed to score over the final 9:20 minutes of the first half. Brutal. Tony Bennett is apparently comtemplating a change in style of play. Ya think? No one with NBA aspirations would want to play in that system. With the very notable exception of the NCAA title five years ago, Virginia has massively under-achieved in the post-season for a decade. On balance, Virginia demonstrates pretty clearly that defense alone does not win championships.