by Bill Turner
It’s Final-Four time in New Orleans, and Bourbon Street should be the happening place this weekend, the bourbon notwithstanding.
This year we’ll have two teams from Kentucky, a Big-East team, a Big-Ten team, a Big-Twelve team, two #2 seeds, and a SEC squad. This looks more like an Elite-8, but trust me, I got it right. It’s only four.
People have been asking me to predict the winner, so I’ll give it a shot. My sentimental favorite is clearly Louisville. Former Hidden Valley standout Luke Hancock is sitting out a transfer year after leaving George Mason, but he is a Rick Pitino favorite for next year.
I covered Luke during his years at Hidden Valley, and his mom has told me she’ll hook me up with passes next year. Sounds good to me; nothing I like better than some Cardinal basketball, and a couple of mint-juleps at Churchill Downs to watch the ponies run. Now, if I can get the Star-Sentinel to throw in a plane ticket and a room at the Hilton (both doubtful) I’ll be covering ole Luke again for our local readers.
My overall favorite is Kentucky. They look way too dominant to me, unless the statistics catch up with them. I’m a numbers guy, so here’s the rub- Kentucky shot almost 94.6% percent from the free throw line in their win over Indiana. If things, as numbers usually do, average out, the chickens may come home to roost. Should the Wildcats lay an egg at the charity stripe, look for an upset.
On the “I-told-you-so” front, the ACC quietly bowed out when N.C. State and UNC were eliminated over the weekend.
You’ve got to like Wolfpack head coach, Mark Gottfried, who pulled off the masterful turnaround of State in just one year. Not a lot of excuses from Gottfried on needing ten years to get a recruiting class in order. And, the Wolfpack came very close to sending Kansas back to the Land of Oz.
Want some inside scoop on ACC basketball, and specifically, UVA?
Cavalier Head Coach Tony Bennett will be the guest speaker at the April 16th meeting of the Roanoke Valley Sports Club. Non-members are welcome to attend, and can obtain more information by calling Dave Ross at 293-3548. Bennett will offer a Q&A session after speaking, so come prepared. Meetings start with a 5:45 social, with dinner to follow.
Now, to the bulging mailbag, where last week’s insight into Peeping Toms brought out some unexpected comments from the readers:
From Violet in Covington: I thought you missed the mark saying Peeping Toms were a victimless crime. We had one years ago, and the culprit removed the window screen, peeped through the blinds, then reached in and stole my husband’s cuff links and upper plate off the nightstand.
From Fred in Roanoke: I heard about a Peeping Tom so bold that after not seeing anyone actually climbed in the window. He wandered into another room and went out that window when someone heard him. The fool got caught because he jumped into a window well.
From Anonymous: Never jump to conclusions on the possibility of a Tom. My husband and I were lying in bed watching TV one night when I noticed the curtains moving. I quietly slipped my husband a note saying “I think there’s a Peeping Tom outside our window.” He got up, slipped outside with a baseball bat, but found nobody. Turned out it was a snake under the curtains.
Well, there you have it. See you next week. Keep the comments coming to: [email protected]