-So apparently Hasheem Thabeet is a big Scrabble player. Like Luke Wilson in Anchorman, I did not see that coming. He looks more like a Battleship guy to me. There is some precedence to this Scrabble/basketball connection, though. Back in high school, a bunch of guys from my team would play Scrabble before practices and games. It was a good time. Anyway, according to the article, Thabeet has trouble finding competition, which doesn't surprise me at all. Somehow I don't think that Stanley Roberts and Jeff Adrien are looking to break a pre-game mental sweat.
Hasheem Thabeet: immigrant, shot blocker, humanitarian, wordsmith-What the hell happened to Memphis? 102 points? Really? For the season, the Tigers gave up about 57 points a game. Granted, that's against a hodgepodge of Conference USA teams that would struggle to make the playoffs in the Fidelity House men's league, but it''s still an impressive number. I know Missouri was good, but they average about 81 points a game. For a team that supposedly takes pride in it's defense, what a dismal effort.
-Missouri has the second most wins in the tourney without a trip to the Final Four. The number one team? Sadly, the Eagles of Boston College.
-The Zags loss to UNC was brutal. Like I said before, I wouldn't have bet my life savings on a Zaga win, but I thought they'd put up a better fight than they did. I didn't get to see most of the second half because CBS switched to MSU-Kansas, but it seemed like every time Gonzaga got into any kind of rhythm the Tar Heels would come back with a score. UNC is great at that. One of the announcers mentioned it during the UNC-Oklahomah game: the Heels do a great job of getting the ball out and attacking after the other team scores. So while your team is celebrating, they're knocking down a three on the other end. They also shot a blistering 57.9% from three (11 of 19) and 52.9% from the field.
-Since I have no team left to support, I guess I'll just root for a MSU-Villanova final. Speaking of Nova, Jay Wright wins the award for best-dressed coach of the tournament. The man looks like he's attending a wedding reception night in and night out. You've got to respect that.
-Bill Raftery on Scotty Reynolds: "The thing about Reynolds is that even if he misses a couple, he's still gonna jack em up. He plays very positively." Translation: He's a chucker. Still, that last second shot is one of the best end-of game plays I've ever seen. A ton of credit should go to Dante Cunningham, who made the hook and ladder-esque pass to Reynolds. To have the state of mind and wherewithal to make a play like that under those conditions was extraordinarily clutch. It's reminiscent of the Bryce Drew shot, though obviously not as good.
-I wish Gus Johnson was announcing the Final Four. Clark Kellog is alright, but he really doesn't bring much to the table. He's knowledgeable, yeah, but he's about as interesting as a lecture on Keynesian economic theory. Anyway, check out some of Gus Johnson's memorable calls. The video is really grainy, but otherwise it's pretty sick.
-It was too bad to see Oklahoma go out the way they did. In my experience, whenever a team has a great year but gets blown out in their last game people tend to dwell on that one game. Look at the '85 Patriots. They had a solid season(ending the year at 14-6) which ended in the franchises' first Superbowl trip. No one remembers that, though. All anyone remembers is the 46-10 drubbing they took in their last game.
-Anyone who thinks Tyler Hansbrough is better than Blake Griffin is either a lunatic or doesn't understand the game of basketball. Griffin is a better rebounder. He's stronger, and he's much more dominant. The guy gets it done despite being the focus of every teams defense. Golden Boy is on a better team, clearly. He's a very good college player. But let's be honest, a good chunk of his points come from bullying guys in the post and using his size and physicality to just out muscle or outwork people. The man has the finesse of a field ox. There's no way in hell he'll be doing that in the NBA. For further proof of Hansbrough's sucktitude, see below.
-CORRECTION: In last week's post, I haphazardly mentioned that Eric Devendorf was the most annoying player in recent memory. Well, I was obviously a little loopy when I wrote that, because Joakim Noah outranks Devendorf in virtually every category on the aggravation scale. Ridicolously bad haircut? Check. Aggravating parent/sibling/wife/fan following at every game? Check. Elitist attitude and sense of entitlement? Check. General douchebaggery on and off the court? Check. I guess his obscure NBA career made me forget about him. My bad.
Noah is unsurpassed in his ability to infuriate fans, players, opposing coaches, infants, kittens, etc. 
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