March Madness

In what has arguably been the wackiest and most unpredictable NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament ever the Final Four matchups for next weekend are set and surprising. In the second National Semifinal Saturday in Houston, Connecticut will face Kentucky and certainly they are two marquis programs with great history although neither seemed to be a serious National Championship contender earlier in the month. Some might forget that U.Conn was the 9th seeded team in the Big East Tournament just three weeks ago and Kentucky needed a last-second basket to beat Princeton in the opening round of the tournament.

Of course the other semifinal game is one nobody could have predicted as Butler will meet Virginia Commonwealth, who Sunday knocked off the last remaining #1 seed…Kansas. Butler making it to the Final Four for the second straight year would be the story of the tournament if not for VCU, who barely got into the field and had to play one of those “First Four” games just to get into the main draw.
But the Rams have knocked off USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas to become the real Cinderella of this year.

By the way if you are a Yankees fan you have to be rooting for Kentucky to win it all because it will likely mean a World Series celebration this season. When the Wildcats won National Titles in 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996 & 1998 the Yankees claimed World Series titles that same fall.

Great piece on legendary St. Anthony of Jersey City High School Basketball coach Bob Hurley last night on “60 minutes.” I met Coach Hurley in the late 80’s when he not only agreed to be a guest on a sports show I used to do but drove to the radio station for the one-hour appearance. He also brought three of his players at that time….son Bobby, Terry Dehere & Jerry Walker who would all go on to be college stars. I am sure there are many who downplay Hurley’s achievements at the tiny parochial school because of all the talent he’s had but if you saw the “60 minutes” piece you would probably come away feeling differently about the 63-year old Hall of Fame coach.

Lakewood High School will hold its 7th annual Athletic Hall of Fame banquet on Sunday, May 1 at Woodlake Country Club when 14 new members will be inducted
Including Darius Griffin, Dean & Milton Matthews, Robert Mayer, John Marshall, Tony Sepp and David Sauls. For tickets and more information you can contact Athletic Trainer Pat Halpin at the high school by calling (732) 905-3537. There are also details on the high school website.