Take a Drive to Detroit ...

Across the Pond:
BIG EAST Basketball Takes a Leisurely Drive to 8 Mile Road
NCAA Final Four in Detroit to have distinct Eastern Hoops Flavor

By Terry Lyons http://www.terrylyons.com

(”It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m going to make it anyway) Sometimes I just feel like Quittin’ I still might Why do I put up this fight? Why do I still write?”

BOSTON, Massachusetts – April 1– It happens every year during late March and April as springtime in the Hub brings out busloads of tourists who enjoy the finer points of one of the very best cities in all of the world.

Harvard Square was vibrant. The Back Bay was packed. Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market were jammed. Legal Seafood was dishin’ out the clam chowder and “Johnnie’s on the Side” in the West End hosted the Pitt alum, serving “Kettle Chips, alongside signature dishes like red flannel hash, thick pork chops, Portuguese kale soup and steaks.” The freedom trail was hopping. The quaint South End restaurants were serving brunch to capacity crowds while the North End Italian eateries, some with only eight or 10 tables with red checkered table cloths, were serving the homemade pasta and shrimp scampi.

There was a very unusual thing about the thousands of tourists invading Boston this weekend. Guess what? They all had Pennsylvania state driver’s licenses and many wore sweatshirts, warm-ups with scripted “Pitt” embroidered nicely into the 100% cotton or Long sleeve t-shirts with a huge letter “V” and caps that read ‘NOVA or PITT.

The Quaker State Championship, ahem, make that the NCAA East Regional Final, was held at TD Banknorth Garden tonight and the parting gift to the Villanova Wildcats (30-7) was an all expenses paid trip to Detroit, Michigan’s Ford Field for the NCAA Final Four for weekend of April 4-5-6th, 2009. Rarely does a regional final boast two teams from the same college conference, never mind from the same state in the union. Villanova earned the trip with an exciting 78-76 last second victory over Pittsburgh in a game that will be on ‘everybody’s’ Top 10 list amongst the very best games in collegiate basketball tournament history.

The stakes in college basketball are very high as the NCAA Tournament and the Final Four have become must watch, appointment viewing for American sports fans and an increasing global audience. Along with the NFL’s Super Bowl, MLB’s World Series, the Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500 and the NBA Finals, the championship for men’s college basketball has become an national pastime. Final Four Saturday, with two games pitting four NCAA teams with four tournament wins under their belts, is one of the very best days sport has to offer. Only the Breeders’ Cup in horse racing offers a better card on any given single day.

The interesting fact about the 2009 NCAA Final Four is that it has become somewhat of a “Mike Tranghese Invitational” – a moniker I am happy to tag on next week’s tournament in honor of the outgoing BIG EAST commissioner who had to be proud to see the Uconn Huskies punch a ticket to the tourney about 10 minutes before the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the Villanova Wildcats tipped it up here in Beantown. Then, in a game that will surely go down as one of the great collegiate basketball games of the ages, Eastern Regional champion Villanova joined their conference rival Uconn Huskies for the junket to Ford Field, a place where all the crazy car-makers convene for Detroit Lions NFL exhibition wins and regular season losses throughout the fall. It’s a place very near 8-Mile Road for you Eminem fans.

Uconn and ‘Nova BIG EAST rival Louisville fell to coach Tom Izzo’s dangerous Michigan State team while in earlier NCAA Sweet 16 action, perennial BIG EAST contender Syracuse failed to make it out of the regional semifinals when they lost to college player of the year and top NBA prospect Blake Griffin and his Oklahoma Sooners. (Which quickly brings out the quip that Griffin, after his sophomore year, will be headed to the NBA “Sooners” than “Laters.”)

FUN FACTS and NOTES: The NCAA Eastern Regional all-tournament team included: Sam Young (Pittsburgh), DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh), Dwayne Anderson (Villanova), Dante Cunningham (Villanova) and the Most Outstanding Player was Scottie Reynolds of Villanova. … The last time a single college conference sent three teams to the Final 4 was 1985 when the BIG EAST sent Villanova, Georgetown and St. John’s – along with Memphis State – to Rupp Arena in Lexington. That year, Villanova upset Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas in a thriller that many believe is the single greatest tournament game in NCAA history … The placement of two teams at the Final 4 from the same conference is actually quite common. It was last done in 2006 when the Southeastern conference sent eventual champion Florida and regional finalist LSU to the big dance. The feat was also accomplished by the BIG 10 when Illinois and Michigan State represented their powerhouse collection of schools in 2005 … Pittsburgh’s Sam Young played 38 of 40 minutes and scored 28 poionts on 10-of-17 shooting … On the flip-side, and the winning side, tourney MVP point guard Scottie Reynolds of Villanova shot 4-for11 from the field to score 15 points, one assist and four turnovers. … Villanova out-rebounded Pittsburgh 33-28 and Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon made special note of “ Villanova’s physical nature, experience, strength and their ability to play with amazing determination.”…

Do you think Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats might have a line to write on the dry erase board this coming week?

“Hit the burbs and all you see is a blur on 8-mile road.” – Lyrics in first paragraph of this column and the last by Eminem.

Team D in the House that Russ Built...

Across the Pond
By Terry Lyons


BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 26 – Villanova head coach Jay Wright calmly strolled the sideline of the TD Banknorth Garden on polished hardwood floor that looked rather odd. There was not a block of parquet to be found under Wright’s nicely polished shoes. When the talented young Villanova coach looked up to check the scoreboard, there were no banners in the rafters to frame his view and remind him of the history of the great game of basketball that was played a few hundred feet east towards Causeway Street.

The NCAA Eastern Regional Finals rolled into The Hub, and the event organizers tucked the Boston Celtics’ 17 NBA championship banners away in a drawer for the weekend, along with banners that honored Walter Brown, Red Auerbach and all of the legendary Celtics of yesteryear whose uniform numbers have been retired to the dusty rafters. They even put away two Stanley Cup banners earned by the NHL’s Boston Bruins, along with a slew of retired Bruins numbers, including Bobby Orr’s #4.

The TD Banknorth Garden was buzzing with basketball, but upon further review, the building’s iconic landmarks from the original Boston Garden were nowhere to be found. The American flag and the great red Maple Leaf of Canada looked a little lonely up there tonight and only a silver microphone, placed in honor of legendary broadcaster Johnny Most, remained on the building’s bright white halo.

One legendary Celtics’ trademark did remain on court when the featured game of the NCAA East Regional tipped-off at 9:57pm EDT tonight. When Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats took to the floor to play the class act of American collegiate basketball, the Duke Blue Devils, Wright tapped into the key ingredient of all Celtics’ teams past and present.

The Villanova Wildcats came out and played defense. They played team defense.

They played “bust your ass” and “force a shot clock violation” defense, and they played it against one of the most disciplined and lethal offensive teams in the world.

The ‘Cats held Duke to 28% field goal shooting in the first half, limiting the sharp-shooting Dukies to 7-of-25 from two-point land and a lowly 2-for-11 (18%) shooting from beyond the 3-point stripe. Had Duke not converted 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the first half, they would have been buried. Instead, the Duke Blue Devils stayed close and strode to the hallways at the half, down 26-23.

In the second half, Villanova came out strong and gained the respect of the 18,831 fans that jammed their way into the building to see a college double-header that could have easily been billed as the best in the land, a “Final Four” level tournament. As the second half clock ticked toward its final 10-minute stretch, the Philadelphia faithful stood and cheered “Let’s Go ‘Nova,” at the top of their lungs as the score read 51-40, Villanova. The team mascots dressed as ‘Cats and Devils with a blue dress on danced and bopped as the marching bands battled it out and refused to yield to the enthusiastic co-ed cheerleaders, flipping their pompoms in the air as they performed cartwheels and gymnastics tricks during each and every TV time out.

The Iron Dukes and Coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed a little concerned as the game inched towards its close. Coach K, who brought the USA back to the medal stand last summer in Beijing, recognized his fate in the “Sweet 16” round of the NCAAS. He was coaching a team who had been “D’d” out of the building. While his Duke team defense was impressive, it didn’t come with the same intensity that Villanova brought during each second of the game.

Duke’s second half shooting was limited to 9-of-35 for 26%, along with 3-of-16 or 19% shooting from 3-point land. When the numbers from each half were combined, Villanova held Duke to 16-60 FG shooting (27%) and 5-of-27 three-point shooting ((18.5%). Case closed. Game over. Villanove 77, Duke 54.

“We’re getting better this late in the season, and it’s fun to coach,” said Wright in the press room after the game. “We can see guys improving. We can see our team improving, and that’s exciting.”

“This team can continue to get better,” said Villanova point guard Scottie Reynolds, echoing his coach.

Villanova will need to take its game even one step further in order to beat Pittsburgh and advance to the Final Four. The Pitt Panthers squeaked by Xavier 60-55 in the other Eastern Regional Semifinal, setting up an exciting Big East matchup on Saturday and ensuring one of a possible four Big East Final Four participants. Louisville, Syracuse and UConn also remain alive in the tournament.

Pan Am ... or bust?

JULY 14 - Took a quick ride down to the Philly area on Friday to meet with the USA Basketball staff to help prepare for the upcoming USA Senior National Team training mini-camp, to be held in Las Vegas July 20-22.

The USA Basketball contingent was in Haverford, PA to prepare a team of top collegians for the Pan Am Games, which are now on-going in Rio, Brazil.

Here is a take on the try-out from CNN SI.com's Seth Davis:

Last weekend in Philadelphia, 30 of the top college basketball players in America came to Haverford College in hopes of becoming one of the lucky dozen who will get picked to play for the U.S. at the Pan American Games from July 25-29 in Brazil.

Think about that for a moment. Every one of those guys is the best or second-best player on his team. In high school, each was the best by a long shot. All their lives, they've been stars. Yet there they were, scrapping and clawing just to get a jersey. It was unfamiliar territory, to say the least.


"I can't even think the last time I had to fight like this," said Indiana senior forward D.J. White, who will enter next season as one of the favorites for Big Ten player of the year. "I made my varsity as a freshman in high school. The only other sport I played is baseball, and that was Little League, where everybody plays."

I had a slightly different take on the trip and two things jumped up:

1. I respect and agree with Georgetown's Roy Hibbert's decision to stay in college and play a fourth season of ball with the Hoyas. He needs to improve his game and grow stronger in order to be a top-notch NBA prospect. Even then, he will need some time and some very good coaching to make it at the NBA level.

2. The Pan Am Games team for the USA, which hasn't won a gold since 1983, will need to play at a very high level to attain that goal this summer. I really hope they can do it.

The college kids assembled at Haverford College, will need to gel as a team and will have to do that in short order. They will need bigtime play from the smaller guard corps and they will need to 'hit some shots.' Now there's a real news bulletin, eh? Villanova's Jay Wright will have his work cut out for him. However, he is a top notch coach and will get the team to play at its best.

I believe Jay IS a very good coach right now, and can be a GREAT coach as he gains more experience. If I were at the helm of an NBA team, I would consider him for a head coaching gig in a NY minute.