Finally, we can breathe.
I've been watching college basketball non-stop, it seems, for the past two weeks. I haven't been out of the house. I haven't seen a normal television show in two weeks.
I've gone through a half-dozen bags of potato chips, and I think my friends and I are slowly convincing Budweiser to boost its advertising spending in central Virginia.
And now, thanks to the mercy of the NCAA, I can take a week off and relax.
And reflect.
For instance, right now, I'm trying to figure out if Oklahoma really has a chance to upset the winner of Maryland/Kansas in the final Monday. I'm also still disappointed that Wesley Stokes doesn't get a chance to show off his hair in Atlanta.
Wait, didn't I just say I was going to take a week off? Think about things other than basketball? Maybe even see a lacrosse game?
Silly me. This is March.
Best and worst
So far, the tournament's best story, the one most likely to be turned into a critically acclaimed, Oscar-ready drama, is the life story of Kelvin Sampson, the coach who has Oklahoma in its first Final Four in 13 years.
Sampson doesn't come from a great coaching pedigree, like Roy Williams does. He wasn't a legend in his playing days, as Mike Davis and Gary Williams both were. Instead, he played at Pembroke State, which isn't even in the NCAA. He first coached at Montana Tech, which is best known today for being the best team in small-time college basketball, which means it isn't known at all.
Sampson also is an American Indian and has broken down barriers with his success. His dad, Ned, taught him how to play with toughness, a philosophy Kelvin Sampson has passed on to his players.
Ned Sampson currently is in a hospital in San Jose, Calif., recovering from emergency brain surgery. After Oklahoma beat Missouri on Saturday, the players went to visit the elder Sampson in the hospital to give him words of inspiration.
Hollywood, are you hearing this?
The worst story I've seen, though, is that of Gonzaga, the most major mid-major in the country. The Zags got jobbed on selection day; everybody knows that. But Coach Mark Few had his players thinking more about getting back at the selection committee than focusing on playing Wyoming in the first round.
The Zags came into the game whining and complaining about their seed, not focused on the game. They lost convincingly, even with most of America's college-basketball-educated public behind them.
Now, that same coach who turned the Gonzaga program from afterthought to Cinderella to American dream might be ditching the team to take the head job at Washington. Few spent a lot of his time at Gonzaga talking about how working at a mid-major lets you create a basketball "family" and how he wouldn't trade his hard-working players for some egotistical blue-chippers.
Talk about hypocrisy.
More cheers and jeers
The best performances so far in the tournament both came from the East region: Tayshaun Prince's 41 points against Tulsa and Caron Butler's 32 points on Sunday in the loss to Maryland.
The most surprising efforts? Jermaine Dearman's 31 points against Georgia to lead Southern Illinois into the round of 16 and the unconscious shooting of Dane Fife, Tom Coverdale and Co. that took Indiana into the Final Four.
The biggest dog of the tournament? Jason Williams, of course.
And the worst thing about this year's tournament, full of side plots, big upsets and memorable basketball?
It's almost over.
(Sam Le's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at sle@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
No. 4 Virginia softball knocked out of ACC Tournament by No. 5 Clemson
By Eleanor Lynch | 15 hours agoThe Cavaliers could not get things going on either side of the ball in their loss to the Tigers.
No. 5 seed women’s lacrosse wins big against LIU to open NCAA Tournament
By Peter Kratz | 23 hours agoThe Cavaliers outscored the Sharks 10-1 in the second quarter on their way to a crucial win.
How Morgan Schwab has helped continue the prestige of Virginia women’s lacrosse
By Peter Kratz | 2 days agoAs the Cavaliers approach the NCAA enactment , they will be relying on Schwab to make a run at a national title.
