I wish I was in the land of cotton! – Well, not on a permanent basis, but I did have a great initial visit to Oxford, Mississippi for the Ole Miss/Florida game. The result was not good for Andy Kennedy and the home team as the loss probably ended their tournament dream. It was great to reconnect with him. I believe Kennedy will get the job done there and he was very proud of their brand new practice facility which should drive recruiting success. Had a great time touring Oxford inTim Brando’s tricked out van. ( It puts the Griswold’s ride to shame- check it out on G Tube!) Had an awesome time after the game. Got the inside tour at William Faulkner’s house named Rowan Oak. Saw the phone where he accepted the call informing him of his Nobel Prize for Literature! Then went to The Library for a libation (Thanks, Dess, for the hospitality!) and then on to Taylor Grocery for the best catfish on the planet. Timmy B tried to eat his body weight in fried catfish!
Then it was on to Durham for the Virginia Tech game.My day started at 5:30am in Oxford, taking a car to Memphis to catch a delayed flight to Durham, arriving at the hotel at 2:00pm, doing the game and finally driving my rental back to Charlotte afterwards and collapsing in bed at 12:30 am!!Long day, long sentence- must be channeling Faulkner! Duke’s offense was on ice for 30 minutes but Singler and Smith came alive in the end to give Duke the win. I must admit that I get spoiled by the atmosphere in Cameron- the crowd understood the importance of the game and were in full throat.
And the Silver medal goes to… I don’t agree with Carolina’s decision to don silver uniforms and shoes for their game against FSU. I completely understand the celebration of 100 years of Carolina basketball but disagree with the celebration of an anniversary of a shoe brand.Why provide more ammo in a season gone sideways? The marketing and celebration of a shoe should have been handled by Nike.
G-man goes to Washington- While I’m not Mr. Smith, I will be calling the Notre Dame/ Georgetown game this Saturday @ Noon on CBS in our nation’s capitol. Mike Brey must absorb the loss of All-American candidate Luke Harangody and his 25 point average. They are coming off a very impressive home win against Pitt on Wednesday. They must be patient in defending Georgetown’s offense and not give up easy baskets. John Thompson III has done a terrific job with the Hoya’s and figures to get them back to the NCAA tournament after missing last year. They are a year older and a much more mature team. They like to feed off their crowd and are not afraid to play uptempo.The offense goes through center Greg Monroe and guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman are very explosive.This game will have serious tournament implications for both teams.
Sunday Night Hoops- Speaking of serious tournament implications, Clemson @ FSU will be critical to both. Clemson has been shooting the 3 better lately, but have to prove to the selection committee they can win on the road.The Tiger’s are 1-5 in conference away from Littlejohn and desperately need a quality ACC road win.Trevor Booker is having an all league season but the key is the health of Demontez Stitt. Their record with him healthy is dramatically better than when he is sub-par. The Noles solidified a spot in the Big Dance with a win at Carolina on Wednesday. They are now 20-7 overall and 9-5 in the ACC. Barring a total collapse, they should be a part of March Madness. Look for Chris Singleton and Soloman Alibi to vie for Defensive player of the year. The insertion of Michael Snaer into the starting lineup has given them a boost.Should be a very intense game between two defensive-minded teams!
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