As if we needed another reason…
After the Louisville player dunks, check out the cheerleader who grabs the ball and throws it in the air. That’s all well and good if the buzzer had sounded — but the game wasn’t over yet. There was still 0.5 seconds remaining. Louisville was charged with a technical, and Pitt hit both free throws to cut the lead to three. Pitt had a chance at a half court heave that could have tied the game.
Dude was lucky it didn’t go in.
How many celebrities can you name?
Let’s take an early look at Jeff Sagarin’s college basketball ratings. I’ve found that his Predictor is a solid way to pick winners when it’s time to fill out my March Madness bracket. Over the past four years, when a team has at least a two-point advantage in Predictor, they are 156-42 (78.8%). When the difference between two teams is less than two points, the favorite is 27-24 (52.9%) over the same span.
Here’s a look at Sagarin’s top 10 teams in terms of overall rating, which is “a synthesis of the two diametrical opposites, ELO CHESS and PURE POINTS (PREDICTOR).”
As it stands, Ohio State, Kansas and Duke are favorites to make the Final Four because they are at least two-point Predictor favorites over everyone else in the field. This assumes that these three teams are in different regions, of course. The next highest team, Texas, would be a virtual toss-up with four teams: Pitt, Purdue, BYU and Washington.
You can see Sagarin’s full ratings here.
Currently, Joe Lunardi of ESPN has Duke, Ohio State, Texas and Pitt as the four #1 seeds, with Kansas as a #2 seed in Duke’s region. As it stands, Duke and Kansas would be a toss-up in the Southwest Regional Final.
Holy Family University basketball coach John O’Connor was suspended after footage from a practice showed that he collided with a player during a rebounding drill. It looks from the footage like the coach intentionally threw his shoulder into the player, knocking him to the ground.
The footage from practice starts at around the 1:05 mark…
MyFoxPhilly.com scored an interview with the suspended coach.
O’Connor says in the midst of a practice drill called “combat rebound.”
“Now obviously, they’re coming to get the ball at the same time I am, so, I instinctively grab it with both hands and kind of in what they call basketball terms, and I just kind of cleared my space.”
The blow apparently drew blood and sent the player to the floor, injuring his wrist. The coach kicked him out of practice.
O’Connor says that the players are coming to get the ball the same time he is, although if you watch the drill, the coach is generally not involved in getting the rebound. It looks to me like he was unhappy with the way the player went after the ball and decided to level a blow even though the kid wasn’t expecting it. Coaches are not involved in drills for this very reason.
Did he go too far? Absolutely. If a coach wants to demonstrate how to box out or how to contest a shot, fine, but laying a kid out with a shoulder is not the way to coach.
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