Fin

So there are folks like @rushthecourt and @ballinisahabit who have been covering college hoops proficiently and professionally. I have been honored to call them along with several others "blog mates" even though I'm not as technically knowledgeable and my modus operandi has always been to be as stupid silly as possible when talking about basketball. I remember during Bracket Busters week many years ago I was watching the Memphis/Louisville game. All Darius Washington had to do is make his foul shots and the Tigers would be in the Tournament. When Washington missed his final shot and broke down on the court I wanted to talk to someone, anyone about it. That got me started blogging. A few years later I approached some bloggers to do a weekly blogpoll. I only expected about 5 of them to participate but imagine my surprise when over 20 bloggers signed up. Then advertisers started e-mailing and began PAYING me for my blog. Then other bloggers began asking me questions and inviting me out to events. Then With Leather mentioned me, then Sports Illustrated came calling... Those were the heydays of my blogging experience and I thought (and wished) that it would never end.

Well, I guess all things good and bad do come to an end. So it is with some sadness I announce that I will not be continuing this endeavor going forward. There are a few reasons for this:

1) Work. For those who don't know I work in the Finance/Investment arena and the way the market has been and with my new responsibilities of managing even more money my work life has become all consuming.

2) 11 month old son. He's been kicking my ass. The time I do not spend at work is devoted to him. We can always sit down and watch college hoops but there is a big difference between watching and writing. As soon as my laptop is out he takes it and jumps on it. I don't know how other bloggers with kids can do it.

3) General malaise. I just don't have the same passion to write anymore, probably due to the first two issues.

So what I found out is that Twitter is more convenient for me to comment on basketball (or football or politics or cooking). That is where I will be found from now on. I may post here occasionally but don't expect it.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me throughout the years, like my West Coast posse! It's been real, it's been fun. And...

GO AZTECS

ESPN Releases College Basketball Schedule

Oh yes, we are getting closer and closer to the start of college hoops, citizens. Behold the power of the 2011-2012 TV schedule!

The one thing we immediately zoomed in on was this...

Baylor is returning some strong ballers (Scott Drew, Quincy Miller). And don't forget Perry Jones who easily compares to Kawhi Leonard. This will be a "show me" game for all the doubters who think the Aztecs will fall off this season.

We're one of them.

So in 30 days it'll be time to buckle up. Also, that is when we will start posting on a more regular basis. But in the meantime, who else is excited about the Alabama/LSU football game on November 5th?

The Chinese don't like Blacks anyway

What started as a friendly game of basketball between the Georgetown Hoyas and China's Bayi Rockets turned real ugly real fast as a full scale riot erupted on the court:

A woman sitting in the Georgetown fan section directly behind the bench implored Chinese police to try to calm the situation, saying someone was going to get hurt. The Chinese police had been watching the tensions escalate to the point of physical confrontations but made no attempts to break up any of the fights taking place on the court.

Well, you know what we always say... Don't go to foreign countries.

Grand Theft Laptop

College students love them some laptops. They go all luchini if there is one nearby that they can get their grubby little hands on. Case in point:

UCLA men's basketball player Jerime Anderson has been suspended indefinitely following his arrest Tuesday evening. Anderson, a senior point guard, was arrested on campus by University Police and was charged with gankin' a laptop.

Not too good for coach Ben Howland who loses his best 3 point shooter for an undetermined period of time.


This is it (what)...

I Before We and Drunk Cooking

So two things came to mind today while we wait for this horrible, horrible college basketball off season to end. The first is a question that comes up again and again on the blog and our Twitter Feed:

Why do you use the term "we" all the time? Isn't it just you writing? Are you schizophrenic?

Well, no. We think. Actually it goes like this; Yes, I (Gabby) write about 95% of the stuff on the Blog and Twitter. But I have friends who help me. So if I am using the term "we" that means that whatever it is that I am saying was a collaborative thought or expression. If I am using the word "I" that means it was solely me who came up with whatever crap that I am spewing.

The second thing was an overdue introduction to our audience on someone who we have been watching and laughing ourselves silly over:

This is Hannah Hart, proprietor of My Drunk Kitchen. She adeptly combines two things I love to do, cooking and drankin' to hilarious effect. Before Baby M2M was born I use to do this a lot. But Baby M2M does not allow me the quiet time necessary to nurse a hangover so I stopped. Plus Mrs. M2M says that it would be good for my health to stop too. But Hannah has taken up the slack for me. So check her out, citizens. You'll be glad you did.

Also, I do have to say that since I stopped drankin' and cooking my meals have been a whole lot more tasty. I guess that is another benefit of sorts.

Carry on.

But who is the captain?

We totally stole this from SB Nation but it was too good not to share. Can you guess what Lions coach Schwartz is saying?

We think the conversation started like this:

Schwartz: "Where's the fudge?"
Voice in headphones: "Where's the fudge... What?"
Schwartz (pictured above): "Where's the fudge, captain?!"

Hey, we all like fudge. What? You think he said "what the fuck happened?" Naw, he's not that type of person.

CBS lets Gus Johnson go

Yes, this makes total sense. Terminate the contract of your most popular college basketball play by play man. Seriously, the universally acknowledged MOST POPULAR college basketball broadcast personality. Let go of the guy that college football fans wish would call THEIR games. Just disregard the man that SINGLEHANDEDLY puts the excitement into March Madness. The man that guarantees a boost in ratings for the games he calls. Really CBS? Really?

REALLY?!

Hey, at least we still have Jim Nantz, right?

Follow us LIVE during the NFL Draft tonight!

We will be tweeting real time reactions during the 76th Annual National Football League Selection Meeting, otherwise known as the Draft bay-bee.

Follow us on Twitter @March2Madness

The fun starts at 8 pm EDT. Let the snark commence.

Oh no they didn't

The Feds are interviewing San Diego State basketball players because they knew the names of the University of San Diego players who liked to get high and gamble on sports. The shit has Just... Gotten... Real... Yo.

Thankfully it looks like just minor inquiry to build their case against USD. None of the Aztecs were directly or indirectly involved so we can calm down somewhat. Please don't tarnish our one glimmering season!

Pimping 101

Those Catholic basketball players in San Diego done did some shit that would make Dr. Dre proud. If you didn't hear the news then allow us to lay out what happened in lyrical form...

The sun went down when we hit Old Town
on our way to F Street, with Mary Jane in da back seat
Checkin our rearview, cause broke homies they will do
jack moves, attack fools b-ballers smack fools
Tried to set us up for that Zaga game
Fuck around and we could give up a minus 17 thang
but USD don't represent no losin points
My man Brandon Johnson hit dat three to flush da joint
so on, and so on, our bets let us roll on
We be slangin that weed so we can get our stroll on
Didn't nobody wanna be in da mix; now everybody
be at our games cause they know we got da fuckin fix
Shave dat point? Shave dat point?
That's how we make coin and you know you want to join, fool
But we ain't slippin with da dollas we kickin
While our book keep rakin and Gaslamp hoes keep fakin we'll be
Rollin back up Linda Vista, With everybody sayin

Florida players steal cars

Have you not heard of Drive Time?

University of Florida forwards Erik Murphy and Cody Larson probably enjoyed themselves during the spring football game but walking there and back sucked. So they decided to rectify that situation:

"The Gators were arrested early Sunday morning after allegedly attempting to break into a car in St. Augustine. Both were charged with felony third-degree burglary"

However, they needed someone to look for cops so they kept it all in the family by grabbing someone else from the team:

"Josh Adel, a team manager, was charged with principal to burglary after police said he served as the lookout."

Coach Donovan has suspended both indefinitely.

Coach of the Year!

San Diego State's Steve Fisher has been named the 2011 Naismith Men's Basketball College Coach of the Year. Thank you for a wonderful season we will be telling our children about for years to come.

Go Aztecs!

Welcome to the off season of the dream

Image above is enhanced while you listen to this.

Now begins the most dreaded part of the year where there is no more college basketball left. The sadness of this consumes us. We will try and past the time with other ventures, like paying attention to our significant others. Also, this blog will downshift from the hyperactive multiple daily posts to occasional posts about our second loves like cooking, politics and college football. We will resume full power basketball operations in November.

You can still follow us on our "world famous" Twitter feed as well where the 140 character snark will probably continue uninterrupted. So be safe out there and Mahalo.


Aw, buck up. It's only 7 months...

A collegiate obituary for Jacob Pullen

Throughout this season the one thing we have always noticed about the ubiquitous Kansas State guard was his role as peacekeeper between coach Frank Martin and the other players. There were countless times we saw Martin rip apart one of his guys only to have Pullen walk over, pull the kid aside and put his arm on his shoulder, seemingly saying "It's ok, you know what to do so lets do it." Also, the number of times we saw Martin rip Pullen directly? Zero.

The gang over at Rush The Court have always been strong admirers of Pullen. We just wanted to throw our two cent worth in. You'll be missed, Jacob.

A cheater prevails

UConn 53 - Butler 41

Well this should ease the glaring light of Jim Calhoun's apparent lack of internal controls. This game was UGLY, with both teams unable to make shots. C'mon, you guys need to make shots! Anyways, finally in the second half Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb suddenly got his grove back and prevented the score from being a lot lower. Butler's Matt Howard tried to keep his team in it but none of his shots were going in (reference above). At one point we predicted the final score to be 41-40. Guess we weren't that far off. So the University of Connecticut are your 2011 NCAA Basketball champs and now we can begin the whole "Will Calhoun retire?" meme.

Some sights from the NC game...


Happy Husky fans.


Bulldog players during the final seconds of the game.


Matt Howard's parents. Sad.


Net cutting!




At the March to Madness HQ.

Shaka Smart will leave Virginia Commonwealth

VCU's Athletic Director said "We're going to keep him. We will be proactive about it." But the cold hard numbers say otherwise. Take a gander -

Top NCAA Division 1A basketball coaching salaries



Bottom NCAA Division 1A basketball coaching salaries



See that highlighted name? That's coach Smart, citizens. The amount of money VCU would need to come up with just to be competitive with the current market value of coaches with his credentials would be enormous. And VCU is no University of Richmond when it comes to fundraising. To be quite frank, the Rams don't have the horses for this. The only way coach Smart returns is if he has some sense of loyalty to the program (and he wants an even bigger payday next year).

A final ode to the VCU Rams

We were the trendy ones here!
Sitting in the locker room
Surrounded by my players
The media hasn't left
But my head is pounding
It's already UConn's turn
But the stink of our game
Are still stuck in my shirt
How we played was fading
In the light of the scoreboard
How we shot was bullshit
We played the pussy way
And I guess I'll never find out
Which one of you
Allowed this shit
VCU has failed
and now Richmond must fall
Richmond must fall

Oh my gawd!

Connecticut 56 - Kentucky 55

Ok, we are going to say it. Kemba Walker is a better player than Jimmer Fredette. This is simply because Walker has guided his time to the title game and without him they would have lost in either the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. BYU with Jimmer lost in the Sweet 16. There's your proof.

This game was a typical Kentucky comes out and smacks you in the mouth, Kemba Walker wills UConn back in the game with some clutch plays, Kentucky cannot make the final shot because of Walker's antics. And so the stage is set for Butler/UConn. Right now we have no clue who we think will win.

The end of the road for the Commonwealth

Butler 70 - VCU 62

We predicted this one. At first it seemed that Butler tried to play the Rams game and were failing miserably. But then the Bulldogs returned to what they know best; grinding it out and doing damage in the paint. The most amazing stat to this game was that Butler held VCU to 36% three point shooting while VCU allowed Butler to increase their 3 point shooting to 36%. Chew on that.

Bulldog coach Stevens is the Stephen Hawking of college basketball.

Charles Barkley said something intelligent

We have railed against the One-And-Done rule countless times. And throughout this tournament we have made our opinion of Sir Charles known.

But amazingly enough we are both in complete agreement that this 1 year removed from high school rule is killing both college and pro basketball. You have to hear what Barkley says about this.

Yes, we are agreeing with the "great blow job" dude. What has this world come to...