The Double Bonus: Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight Recap!

It’s the Double Bonus Podcast! Today John S and Tim are recapping the Regional Semis and Finals: They’re discussing more Harrellson/Zoubek comparisons, the pantheon of Duke Sweet 16 losses, the unfair maligning of Jimmer Fredette, the genius of Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart, and, most importantly, the Elite Eight run by the Gonzaga women. Click here to listen to the sweet sounds of the Double Bonus!

Monday Medley

What we read while jokingly telling Billy Donovan he outcoached us:

• Some absolute gangbusters college basketball journalism in the wake of a riveting weekend (and this is before seeing what the scribes have to say about VCU). The best of the bunch might be Luke Winn’s behind-the-scenes look at Butler, which includes yet another quote that makes everyone — us included — swoon over Brad Stevens: “Stevens stood on the court on Saturday night and someone asked him if what the Bulldogs just accomplished was unbelievable. ‘Believable is a better term,’ he said. ‘It’s a more positive term, it makes you live life a little bit better, it makes you a bit more thankful for the opportunities and take advantage of them.’”

• We also really liked Bob Kravitz’s take on the Bulldogs at the Indy Star and Les Carpenter’s at Rivals.com.

• This piece on Bill Self’s likability may not be welcome in Lawrence anytime soon.

• Kyle Whelliston takes down the RPI! The fight is not lost! (We wonder if Kyle’s head is going to explode with a mid-major national semifinal on Saturday.)

• A friend of the blog over at The Sports Angle bids farewell to Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith far more eloquently than we can…at least at this point. Meanwhile, we assume that Duke only lost to Arizona on Thursday so Coach K could end the season on a nice round number…

• Nice writeup of Tim’s favorite basketball stats hound, Ken Pomeroy.

• Bryan Caplan defends the deserving-undeserving poor distinction.

• We forget if we gave the official thumbs-up to Quickish already, but if not, here it is. Best thing to have open during Tourney games or really any sporting event.

• What we’ve all been waiting for: an Asperger’s comedy troupe!

• The NY Times looks at the styles of David Stern and Roger Goodell, and why Stern will win his lockout and Goodell won’t. More good stuff on the NFL lockout from, of all places, the literary magazine n + 1.

• We read stuff not about sports, too! We loved The Hooded Utilitarian‘s Victorian take on The Wire, although you could’ve probably seen that coming.

• Trey Parker and Matt Stone have a new show, The Book of Mormon, opening on Broadway. While some will certainly be offended, the South Park duo has apparently mellowed out over the years.

• Remarkable first-hand account of being trapped in Libya from a quartet of Times journalists.

• Will Leitch tries to cheer up Josh and Tim.

• Trivia question: Who died first, Elizabeth Taylor or the author of her obituary?

The Double Bonus: Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight Preview!

Tim and John S are back to break down the second weekend of the 2011 NCAA Tournament! Today they’re discussing which really is the most exciting weekend of the year, whether or not Josh Harrellson is this year’s Brian Zoubek, the possibility of an NCAA Tournament Redemption Island, the dominance of the VCU Rams, and the last decade of Wisconsin Badger basketball. Oh, and they also give their picks for the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight. Click here for the magical elixir that is the Double Bonus podcast!

The Double Bonus: First Weekend Reaction Episode

Tim and John S are back for another installment of the Double Bonus Podcast! Their audio issues are slightly improved from last time, so you can actually hear them discuss how poorly their picks faired, how well the refs did, how unfairly maligned the Big East has been, and much more in a reaction the all the craziness of the first weekend. Click here to listen and all your hopes and dreams will come true!

Monday Medley

What we read while Sunday came afterwards…

• Think newspaper design is dead? Check out these fantastic presentations of the NCAA Tournament bracket, ranging from a terrific takeoff on Facebook to a traditional yearbook-themed design. Other highlights from what is always one of the best weeks in college basketball journalism: Princeton alum Sean Gregory’s retrospective on the Tigers’ memorable upset of UCLA in 1996 (chock full of inside info), Joe Posnanski’s breakdown of Texas’ terrible timeout, a New York Times profile of Gus Johnson, Matt Norlander’s story on Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall and his family, and Tim Layden’s look at that little title game played last season.

• If you somehow missed Jalen Rose’s comments about Duke from the Fab Five documentary, here is the response from Grant Hill, as well as one from Michael Wilbon and another from Jason Whitlock.

• We might have found ourselves a new favorite punter.

• One of our favorite comedians is taking a dramatic turn on Broadway, and one of his costars calls out Hollywood in this interview with Vulture.

• On a sober note, the New York Times’ Peter Wynn Kirby addresses Japan’s nuclear problems through the lens of the nation’s cinematic obsession with nuclear-themed horror films.

• A former Oxford University Press editor offers advice to book authors seeking to be published.

• Richard Posner and Gary Becker on the value of a college degree.

• An oral history of The Strokes, up to their newest album, Angles.

The Double Bonus: First Weekend Episode

Tim and John S are back for another episode of The Double Bonus Podcast! Today they’re going over their suspiciously (and, for Tim, ominously) similar NCAA Tournament picks. The trendy upsets heading into this first weekend are Belmont over Wisconsin, Oakland over Texas, and Missouri over Cincinnati. Will Tim or John be on any of these bandwagons? Will they add a few of their own? And will anyone even hear Tim over his exceptionally poor audio quality? All those questions will be answered:  Click here and listen to their full breakdown of this year’s bracket!

The Double Bonus: First Four Picks

#16 UNC-Asheville v. #16 Arkansas-Little Rock

TIM: I’ve never been to Little Rock, but Asheville’s a heck of a town. I’ve never been there either, but I knew someone from there, and they were pretty cool. Also, UALR was a .500 team in a down year for the Sun Belt.

JOHN: How dare you insult the Sun Belt?! I’m going to pick UALR for three reasons: 1) To be different. 2) I don’t like picking any UNC, no matter where it’s located. 3) Bill Clinton.

The Double Bonus: The Selection Sunday Episode!

Tim and John S are back again! Today they’re discussing last night’s bracket announcements, and the Selection Committee has sent Tim into an existentialist tailspin that has him wondering if the world’s events can ever be anything other than random. Also discussed: the value (or lack thereof) of RPI, the meaning of the phrase “First Round,” the four #1 seeds, and which first weekend matchups they’re the most excited for. Click here and listen to the Selection Sunday episode!

Monday Medley

What we read while Seth Greenberg wondered what he did…

• Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, who played a character of the same name on The Wire, was arrested on drug charges. David Simon issued a response criticizing America’s absurd “War on Drugs.”

• We continue our new Monday Medley tradition of linking to profiles of great college basketball analysts!

• Shortly after The New York Times Magazine profiled him, Baylor’s Perry Jones was suspended by the NCAA. The move was questioned by many.

• Nate Silver wants you to pick against Notre Dame.

• Parks & Recreation was part of PaleyFest 2011, put on by the excellent Paley Center.

• Who wouldn’t watch CNBC if Gus Johnson were reporting on the Dow?

• Rand Paul is no faint-hearted libertarian.

• Will future generations understand The Simpsons? And should we care?

• More DFW stuff: After an excerpt from The Pale King appeared in The New Yorker, The Howling Fantods compared the excerpt to an earlier reading given by Wallace. Meanwhile, some are wondering if people are trying cash in on the author’s death.

• Is the film industry fundamentally broken?

• A recent episode of 30 Rock dealt with the issue of women in comedy, which has led some to wonder what Liz Lemon means to feminism. Meanwhile, Molly Lambert breaks down how to be a woman in a boys’ club. (I’ll bet you never expected a whole women’s issues bullet point in an Monday Medley!)

• An interview with an NPI favorite comedian, in which the nature of comedy is debated. Also, he balances out that whole feminism point with his on-stage misogyny.

• For the creative scorekeeper in you…

• Have you been wondering why Tim hasn’t been recapping this season of Survivor? Well, hopefully this can tide you over….

In Search of 68, Selection Sunday Style!

As you can see, I don’t think the Ohio State-Penn State game means too much seed-wise. I think the Nittany Lions are in regardless of the outcome, and thus I can present, hours earlier than usual, the final bracket!

	NEWARK	SAN ANTONIO	NEW ORLEANS	ANAHEIM
1	Ohio State	Kansas	Pittsburgh	Duke
2	Notre Dame	Connecticut	UNC	San Diego State
3	Florida	Texas	Louisville	Syracuse
4	Kentucky	Wisconsin	Purdue	BYU
5	Saint John’s	West Virginia	Texas A&M	Arizona
6	Cincinnati	Vanderbilt	Kansas State	Xavier
7	Temple	UNLV	UCLA	Georgetown
8	George Mason	Washington	Old Dominion	Missouri
9	Florida State	Tennessee	Gonzaga	Marquette
10	Michigan	Michigan State	Richmond	Utah State
11	Saint Mary’s	Clemson	Villanova	Illinois
12	Butler	Colorado v. Penn State	Virginia Tech v. Georgia	Belmont
13	Princeton	Morehead State	Memphis	Oakland
14	Wofford	Indiana State	Long Island	Akron
15	Saint Peter’s	Boston Univ.	Bucknell	Northern Colorado
16	Hampton v. Alabama State	UC-Santa Barbara	UT-San Antonio v. Arkansas-Little Rock	UNC-Asheville

Last Five In: Illinois, Colorado, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Georgia

Last Five Out: Alabama, USC, UAB, Harvard, Missouri State