The Double Bonus: NCAA Championship Review

You’ve heard the podcasts; you’ve read the liveblogs (if you haven’t read the liveblogs, do so now). Now listen as John S and Tim break down the final game of the 2011 college basketball season. Today they’re discussing the atrocious title game, the disappointments of 2011, the permanence of parity, and the gradual effects of early entry. Click here to listen to the final Double Bonus podcast of the 2011 season!

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: 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!

The Double Bonus: Duke Wins!

Tim and John S collected themselves after last night’s brilliant National Championship to bring you this special National Championship Edition of The Double Bonus:

TIM: So John, are we allowed to breathe now?

JOHN S: I guess you can. I still haven’t. That game was the most nerve-wracking, heart-wrenching, emotionally draining game I’ve ever watched as a Duke fan. It unfolded almost like a nightmare. Butler was doing to Duke exactly what it had been doing to teams all Tournament long: Staying close and then holding them without a field goal in the final minutes. It looked like it was setting up perfectly for a Butler comeback, with Nolan Smith, our best player throughout the Tournament, and Kyle Singler, our best player in the Final Four, each clunking shots off the front of the rim, setting up not one but TWO attempts at the game-winner by Butler’s star.

And I, like so many others, thought they were both going in when they left Gordon Hayward’s hands….

Talkin’ Final Four: Butler vs. Michigan State

John S: Alright, Tim, it’s Final Four time. I don’t know how we manage during the two weeks before the Super Bowl, because just having two more basketball free days really chills my excitement for the Final Four. An up-for-grabs game between two very likable teams that not many people saw getting this far, though, is a great way to start the weekend. But, this game is going to be UGLY. Neither of these teams plays a very fast game, particularly now that Kalin Lucas is gone, and each of them likes to keep the game low-scoring. Matt Howard, Butler’s leading rebounder who is going to be counted on to hang with Michigan State’s great rebounders, seems to start the game with three fouls. Butler managed to beat Syracuse and Kansas State by getting them to take bad shots, but the Bulldogs themselves haven’t shot particularly well either. So this game may not be the most aesthetically pleasing of the Tournament. My question to you: Will it be ugly exciting, or ugly boring?

Tim: Well, if you run down the games these two teams have played in the Tournament so far, it’s hard not to envision this being ugly exciting. Michigan State won its four games by a total of 13 points–which I think is the fewest ever for a Final Four team. After its first-round win over UTEP, Butler’s last three games have come down to the final minute. I have no doubt in my mind that this game is going to be close.

John S Picks The Thursday Games

1. Syracuse vs. 5. Butler

Original Pick: Syracuse over Vanderbilt

What I’ve Learned: Syracuse continues to be the best team in country when it plays well, making me continue to regret my decision to pick Kansas to win it all. With that said, this team has been thin all year, and they are even thinner without Arinze Onuaku.

I’ve been dead wrong, though, on Butler—the only 5-seed I picked to lose in the first round. Ever since a somewhat slow start, people who were high on the Bulldogs before the season—like Tim!—have let them fly under the radar, ignoring the fact that the last time this team lost was before Christmas. Matt Howard and Gordon Hayward are a dynamic pairing, and I can see them giving the Orange a serious run. In the end, though, I’ll go with favorite.

The Pick: Syracuse

Get to Know the Sweet 16

I understand your issues. You loved watching the exciting first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, but you’ve used up all your little tidbits of info, like “Murray State has won a lot of games this season.” So, to prep you for Thursday and beyond, here’s all you need to know about the Sweet 16.

9. Northern Iowa Panthers

Conference: Missouri Valley

Location: Cedar Falls, IA

How they got here: def. UNLV 69-66; def. Kansas 69-67

Biggest reason they got here: Ali Farokhmenesh took and made the ballsiest shot in the Tournament since T.J. Sorrentine buried Syracuse in 2005. Oh, and Xavier Henry missed that big free throw.

Last trip to Sweet 16: Never.

A great and recent Tournament game: Umm…did you watch on Saturday?

Tim’s favorite player in UNI history is: Current reserve Lucas O’Rear. You rarely see the combination of a great name, a shamrock tattoo, and mutton chops.

In Tim’s original bracket, the Panthers lasted until: Selection Sunday! I had them going out to UNLV.

You should root for Northern Iowa because: It’s Northern Iowa. QED.

Did you know? Northern Iowa has played eight games in the NCAA Tournament in its history. All eight have been decided by five or fewer points.

Were you aware? If you lined up the rosters of all 16 teams remaining in the Tournament and were told to pick which one comes from Iowa, 96% of people would correctly select the Panthers.

Fun Fact! Ben Jacobson is the best-looking coach in the Sweet 16.

John and Tim Pick the West Bracket

Andy will lead a couple Raut-ins...

1 Syracuse vs. 16 Vermont

Tim: Behind Sorrentine, Coppenrath, and the surprising contributions of Germane Mopa-Njiala, the Catamounts will shock the world and the fourth seeded Orange in the 2005 NCAA Tournament!

John: Wouldn’t it be amazing if that happened again?

Tim: And if Gus Johnson called it again…

Tim’s Pick: Syracuse

John’s Pick: Syracuse

It’s College Basketball Season!

As we draw toward the unexciting close of what can only be described as a woeful college football season, it’s high time we shifted our sights to the only flawless sport left in America: college basketball. Oh sure, the naysayers point out a deterioration in the quality of play, the untenability of the one-and-done rule, and recruiters’ blatant disregard for the rules.

But college basketball is the only sport that manages to maintain a meaningful regular season and an exciting postseason (and doesn’t kill its players, ruling out the NFL). It’s played in the loudest environments in the country and has been, for most of the last decade, the most intriguing sport to watch on an everyday basis.*

*Little-celebrated fact: Thanks to really low ratings (and, you know, its lockout), the NHL wasn’t renewed on ESPN in the middle of the decade, freeing up time every night of the week for college basketball on the Worldwide Leader.

Here are the six best storylines of the 2009-2010 season: