Do I Love the Tourney?

March 16, 2002

Okay, so maybe I was wrong. Maybe it’s the upsets. Or the kids. Or the surprises, and I’m not talking who wins or how. But by the end of day three I see more reasons I love this tournament.

 

There are the kids. It’s Creighton’s Terrell Taylor on a mission to eliminate Florida. And even more, it’s the post-game press conference. It’s seeing a young man who really is just a kid who wants to be like Mike.

 

It’s watching Quinn Snyder, looking so young you think he really should still be playing for Krzykrzyvski at Duke, take his Missouri Tigers to the Sweet 16.

 

It’s discovering that Bob Knight, of all people, could teach Billy Donovan a thing or two about losing gracefully. Do you think Billy has figured out yet that if he just had effectively taught his players what to do when they had trouble inbounding at crunch time, they’d be through to the second round? Perhaps he was too busy greasing up to look like Pitino to figure out how to coach like him.