I don’t know if tonight is evidence that I am slinking into middle age, have a drinking problem, am a big basketball fan, am a beer afficianado, or some combination thereof. Today, you must understand, has been a good day. I got 8 hours of sleep last night. I played with my kids a good amount this morning in Indianapolis at my in-laws. Then, I left the kids with the in-laws (“Grandma and Grandpa” to Harper and Cole, of course.) I came home. My wife Amy and her sister Suzie, a couple of minor errands aside, left me to veg out, watch basketball, and nap a bit while they worked on a tiling project in the kitchen.
They decided to cap off the day by going to some sort of wine bar in Lafayette. I was invited, but declined. The I.U. game is on tonight. I don’t necessarily like their odds against UCLA, but it’s the Hoosiers, and they’re in the big dance. So, instead of going out with some lovely ladies on a night without the kids, I went out to the Village Bottle Shoppe in West Lafayette where they have an impressive selection of beer. (I opted for the Midwest Sampler which included some Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale from Three Floyds, Scotty Karate Scotch Ale from the Dark Horse Brewery, a double bock from Bells, and a few others I don’t recall off hand.) Looked at one way, it’s a guy opting to watch his team play in March Madness while drinking a couple of good beers. Looked at another way, it’s a guy turning down the company of women, and making excuses to drink alone. “Alcoholic” or “Regular Guy”: You Decide!
What is odd is that I was relatively indifferent to the tournament when it started this year. But then VCU beat Duke, and my Hoosiers made it past the first round. I have warm feelings for the Butler Bulldogs, and, hell, I even find myself in the odd position of wanting to see the Boilermakers do well.
All right, the IU game is about to start. I expect another stellar bit of commentary from James Brown. During the Gonzaga game, I don’t know how many times IU lost possession for some reason that wasn’t immediately clear to me but the commentators couldn’t be bothered to stop talking about something unrelated to the game in order to explain what happened.
Lowest point total at half time allowed by a NCAA team new record.UCLA holda Indiana to 13!!
IU is way over matched but it is a ugly game and both coaches preach defense so who knows what will happen.I look foward to the day when this program is not undersized in the post.Stemler who was brought here to be a three point specialist is just a terrible shooter but in the Gonzaga game and this game has managed to help out on defense and rebound but still can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
The end of this game sums up the IU season against good teams close but not good enough to win in the end.
All in all I consider the season a good one though considering that it is a transition year and the talent level on this team.IU has a long way to go to get back to elite status when you look at the talent level of Kansas,North Carolina,and Flordia.
Michigan fired Tommy Amaker today.
Why in the world, after watching Stemler screw up that inbounds pass twice, would they let him have a third go at it? Why?
It was a good day of basketball, outside of the IU game…excellent overtime games, and Butler gets to move on.
I share your feelings regarding Purdue…I usually pull for the Big Ten teams in general, but it takes some special circumstances to have me consider pulling for the Boilermakers. The lack of real upsets thus far have my underdog-loving senses all confused though.
Shame about those Miami Redskins…Redhawks…whatever. Thought they might beat Oregon, but alas, it was not to be. The curse of Joby Wright perpetuates itself.
Wow.
Free throws matter.
No kidding?
Definitely a shame about Miami (OH) — not least of which was that our local CBS affiliate aired the news instead of the Miami/Oregon game.
I’m disappointed that IU couldn’t pull it out, obviously, but, the anemic point total notwithstanding, I thought the Hoosiers played their guts out against a better team. I’d say Sampson can put his first year in the “success” column.
Guess that’s what makes March madness. It was a shame about Miami, but it brings back memories of when Ball State beat U of L in the 1990 tourney to go to the sweet 16. UNLV ultimately beat Ball State 69-67, that was the closest winning margin for UNLV in that entire tourney (I think, I am going from a 17 yr. old memory, I had graduated from BSU in 1982, and had been gone from BSU 8 years at that time so I could be wrong, I am a Ball State Alumni, so I could be prejudiced), I do remember the Ball State fans having a good time. Rick Majarus was head coach there then.
Unioncitynative, I can’t believe that was 17 years ago. I didn’t go to BSU but I lived in Delaware County during my high school years and followed those BSU teams closely. Your memory is pretty good, except for the detail that Rick Majerus left after the 1989 season. The 1990 Sweet 16 team was coached by Dick Hunsaker. The 1989 team was better in the regular season, and beat the crap out of Pitt in the NCAA tournament before losing a competitive game to eventual Final Four team Illinois.
As for the UNLV game, I remember sitting outside a gas station in northern Georgia (on the way to Florida for spring break) listening to the end of that game through the static. What is forgotten is that Loyola Marymount (a #11 seed or so) had already upset its way to the regional final, so if Ball State had managed to beat UNLV, they would have had an excellent chance to advance to the Final Four.
John M, Thanks for refreshing my memory. I had forgotten that Majerus had left BSU after the ’88-89 season. Seems like Majerus had taken BSU to the second round the year he left. It was great to see BSU get that far during those years.