16 Apr 5 - "Houston, We Have A Classic!" (POSTSEASON)
Volume XX, No. 22 - 16 Apr 5: POSTSEASON
"Houston, We Have A Classic!"
It's an age-old question: Can you really go all the way to the NCAA title just shooting jump shots? This year's [W2]Oklahoma team made you want to believe -- one of the top teams and having two of the top individuals shooting from three-point range. But, once again, the answer came back a resounding "No!" The Sooners' best chance to win against [S2]Villanova in the first semifinal was to make the game offense versus offense; instead, it was defense versus defense ... and a mismatch for the Wildcats at that. The Wildcats shot 71 percent from the floor (including 11-for-18 on three-pointers) while the Sooners were 32 percent (including 6-for-27 on threes). tJosh Hart(23p4a8r;10/12fg) operated just below the superstar level all season so it has been hard to appreciate his consistently solid play; bBuddy Hield(9p7r;4/12fg) couldn't even get open enough to take a high volume of shots. 'Nova totally dominated OK 95-51.
Once the Sooners couldn't make any dent coming out of the blocks in the second half, the emotional collapse after that surge was tough to watch. When you have one prominent leader and he can't get going it can stifle the psyches of all the supporting players who are used to following his lead. Emotion works both ways -- a high can carry you to perform at a level no one else can match; but a low can shut you down to where you can't perform even to your own normal standard.
In the second semifinal, not even the vaunted [M10]Syracuse zone could slow down [E1]North Carolina, but at least it was able to shut down the Tar Heels from outside ... in the first half, anyway (0-for-12 on three-pointers); but superior size works even against the Orange as UNC led 39-28 at the half. A 10-0 run gave 'Cuse hope, closing to 50-57 midway through the second half; but Tar Heels hit some key threes (4-for-5 down the stretch) and handled the Orange (when [M1]Virginia couldn't last week) and kept enough of a lead not to allow the game to get into endplay territory. bTrevor Cooney(22p5r)'s late flurry couldn't overcome 4-for-13 free throw-shooting as UNC eventually cruised 83-66.
There was an argument to be made on paper that ([S1]Kansas be damned) [S2]Villanova and [E1]North Carolina were the top two teams in college basketball for the year; and the quality of the Final certainly would back up that claim. Who would control the tempo was a big question -- once again, the Wildcats were able to make it a station-to-station, halfcourt game as the Tar Heels had no transition game whatsoever. Which team would be able to take advantage of the size mismatches was huge: 'Nova's switching defense left UNC with a lot of "Big-on-Little" mismatches in the paint; but the Tar Heels couldn't get the ball inside nearly enough (as fBrice Johnson only had 14p8r). UNC had a chance to get a working margin at the end of the first half with a breakaway should-have-been layup to put them up 9 points; but, instead, a miss and a 'Nova jumper cut the lead to just 39-34 at the break. 'Nova looked to be pulling away, up 67-57 with just 3 minutes left when UNC made a crucial 7-0 run to turn game into an endplay, finally tying things up at 74-74 with just :05 seconds left on pPaige's double-clutched clutch three-pointer. But with that much time left, it was a tough ask to prevent such a quality executing team as the Wildcats from getting off a shot or at least some free throws -- but who expected a Stephen Curry-depth game-winning three pointer from gKris Jenkins for a 77-74 Villanova win?
North Carolina stayed in the game with excellent shooting from the perimeter (11-for-17 on three-pointers, especially from pMarcus Paige[21p6a5r;4/7 3s] and gJoel Berry[20p;4/4 3s]); but Villanova was just tougher-minded and executed better on offense (58 percent shooting) and defense ("only" 43 percent shooting for the Tar Heels). Reserve gPhil Booth(20p0a) stepped up for the Wildcats; gJenkins(14p;GW3) and tJosh Hart(12p8r) were solid; but it was "Mr. Villanova", gRyan Arcidiacono(16p2a), who was awarded the Most Outstanding Player.
What more to say about ONE OF THE GREATEST NCAA FINAL GAMES EVER!? High-quality. Both teams had chances to pull away only to have the opponent claw its way back into it. And two spectacularly clutch three-pointers from each team! The bitterest way to lose on the one hand and the most joyous way to win on the other! An unparalleled finish. Can't remember a better one -- gMichael Jordan's game-winning jumper as a freshman in 1982 was followed by gFred Brown's bonehead turnover pass to fJames Worthy; gDereck Whittenburg's airball three-point attempt turned into fLorenzo Charles' catch-and-slam "They won it! ... on the dunk!" fluke play in 1983. This was great execution on the final play from both teams. Just when you thought gMarcus Paige was about to go down in history for North Carolina; instead, it was gKris Jenkins who did so for Villanova. As one announcer put it: "He'll never have to buy another cheesesteak in Philadelphia for the rest of his life!" SPECTACULAR!!! (Like gKeith Smart stealing the moment from all-time Hoosier gSteve Alford for Indiana in 1987; now gKris Jenkins is the ultimate hero who'll be remembered forever as much as MOP gRyan Arcidiacono.)
Who walks away from Houston feeling worse about things: 44-point losers [W2]Oklahoma
or buzzer-beater losers [E1]North Carolina? My goodness, what a tournament for Villanova defensively: they shut down fPerry Ellis(4p5r;1/5fg) and bBuddy Hield(9p7r;4/12fg), and "limited" fBrice Johnson to 14p8r;6/10fg. For the Villanova program (and coach Jay Wright), this year's run (even just making the Final Four, frankly) is redemption and the culmination of a three-year stretch when the Wildcats have been an elite-seeded B-Major-champion bust in the NCAA tournament (Round of 32 finishes the past two years).
For the third-straight year, a B-Major conference has placed two teams into the Final Four -- (BIG 10/Wisconsin and Michigan State last year, SEC/Kentucky and Florida in 2014). The Mega-ACC had 7 teams go 19-7 (including three cases of beating one another: [M10]Syracuse over [M1]Virginia as well as [E1]North Carolina over both [E6]Notre Dame and [M10]Syracuse) -- (last year, 6 teams went 17-5 with one self-knockout). Clearly, the top half of the league is a formidable force in the postseason. [S2]Villanova's title run helped push the 9-4 BIG EAST back in front of the ACC as the #2-rated league overall for the season (behind the 9-7 BIG 12). The 7-7 BIG 10 couldn't place any team past the Sweet 16. The 4-7 PAC-12 was a disappointment as well. The 3-3 SEC did manage one Sweet 16 team. Neither Mid-Major league could get a team past the second round: ATLANTIC 10 went 2-3 while the AMERICAN went 1-4. The 1BCs managed a Sweet 16 team thanks to the 2-1 "1BC" WEST COAST and had a very healthy Round 1 with eight 32-Splash wins (albeit two wins came from the 3-2 "1BC" MISSOURI VALLEY). The BM leagues were favored with their also-ran teams getting the Bubble at-large bids over should-have-been 1BC Anti-Spoilers, but only one of those 1BC upsetters was a Jack Dawson team (CUSA/[M15]Middle Tennessee).
In the NIT, Mid-Major also-ran A10[5]/[e4]George Washington routed the competition in New York. In the semis, the Colonials handled the physical defense of "1BC" MWC/[w2]San Diego State and ended up with an "easy" rout (65-46) while should-have-been 1BC/Anti-Spoiler HORIZ/[s1]Valparaiso blew a 16-point lead, but hung on in an endplay to edge "1BC" [n2]BYU (72-70). In the final, GW pulled away from Valpo (76-60 behind Most Valuable Player fTyler Cavanaugh).
In the CBI, the Championship Series couldn't have been closer. 1BC OVC/[eB1]Morehead State (which had claimed two of the three road wins in the entire draw) won Game 1 (@86-83 as cLyonell Gaines[27p14r] dueled Tyron Criswell[31p]). Slumming "1BC" MWC[4b]/[wA1]Nevada bounced back in Game 2, winning @77-68 (behind 26p from tD.J. Fenner). The rubber Game 3 went into overtime before Nev prevailed (@85-82[OT] behind Most Valuable Player cTyron Criswell[21p11r;13/15ft]).
In the CIT, IVY[3]/[1b]Columbia parlayed its fourth-straight home game into a @73-67 win over [1a]BIGW/UC-Irvine (playing its fourth-straight road game) led by Most Valuable Player gMaodo Lo. It's only the second postseason tournament crown ever for the IVY LEAGUE -- (Princeton [led by gBrian Taylor] won the NIT in 1975.)
In the inaugural VEGAS-16 tournament at the MANDALAY BAY, CUSA[3c]/Old Dominion routed two teams from higher rated leagues: OVC/Tennesee Tech (75-59) and BIGW/UC-Santa Barbara (64-49) while HORIZ/Oakland did the same: routing COLON/Towson (90-72) and SOCON/East Tennessee State (104-81) as 5-9 pKhalil Felder averaged 28p9a5r in two games. The final went down to the final possession as ODU got off to an early lead and hung on to beat Oak (68-67 led by Most Valuable Player Trey Freeman[24p]).
Can't say that the year-end results represented any long-term trend for College Basketball. The high quality of the Final (and of many of the high-profile matchups) in this year's NCAA tournament can be attributed to the 30-second clock. For the regular season, the rule change can probably also be credited (blamed) with higher possession games (of lower quality blowouts) and fewer 1BC upsets.
The NCAA draw favored B-Major also-rans over 1BC Anti-Spoilers while the NIT draw was thin with only 4 MM teams and a whopping 18 1BCs (including 3 teams from the MM-turned-1BC MWC and WCC). It's MM champ, [e4]A10/George Washington went 5-0 only facing one BM team along the way (also-ran [e2]SEC/Florida). The CBI had no BM teams for the first time. The CIT is now nearly exclusively a 1BC event, but couldn't even fill out a 32-draw this year -- its champ not only got a second-round bye but also played all of its games at home. The all-1BC V16 couldn't fill its hoped-for 16-team draw and settled for 8 teams.
- - - - - -
Senior stars led their teams this season as neither Graduate Transfer holdovers nor Golden Child newcomers were able to get past the Sweet 16 this year. Villanova finally delivered on its three-year run of greatness with a national title. The BIG 12 (1 Final Four team, 3 Sweet 16s teams, 4 preseason tournament crowns) and the BIG EAST (National Champ, 4 pre-crowns) finished as the two top-rated conferences for the season as a whole (thanks to their depth top-to-bottom); the top half of the Mega-ACC (Runner-Up, 2 Final Fours, 4 Elite 8s, 6 Sweet 16s, 7 pre-crowns) is more accomplished than any entire league but the bottom half drags its overall rating down to the third spot; the PAC-12 (1 Elite 8, 1 pre-crown) was a postseason disappointment; the BIG 10 (3 Sweet 16s, 3 pre-crowns) had good depth while the SEC (1 Sweet 16, 1 pre-crown) didn't. The actual Mid-Majors came up rather empty -- AMERICAN (2.3 pre-crowns), ATLANTIC 10 (NIT champ) -- while the demoted MM-to-1BCs WEST COAST (1 Sweet 16, NIT semi) and MOUNTAIN WEST (NIT semi, CBI champ) still made noise. Traditional 1BCs HORIZON (NIT runner-up), IVY (NCAA Splash, CIT champ) and CONFERENCE USA (NCAA Splash, V16 champ)
had noteworthy campaigns.
Kansas/Bill Self pushed their streak to TWELVE-STRAIGHT BIG 12 TITLES while Gonzaga/Mark Few made it FIFTEEN OUT OF SIXTEEN WEST COAST TITLES. Wichita State's backcourt of pFred Van Vleet and bRon Baker ended their careers as one of the greatest Mid-Major duos ever. Stephen F. Austin/(tThomas Walkup) capped off three-straight TiTo crowns with a second 32-Splash win.
Player Of The Year came down to a pick'em between xDenzel Valentine(Michigan State) (whose team went bust in Round 1) and runner-up bBuddy Hield(Oklahoma) (who was able to get his team through to the Final Four). This year's best GT, bDamion Lee(Louisville), didn't get the chance to showcase his skills in the postseason. This year's best GC, xBen Simmons(LSU), couldn't even get his team into the postseason. Coach Of The Year Chris Mack(Xavier) created a surprise juggernaut (that went bust in the NCAAs).
No all-time team, player or coach on display this time around ... but, for sure, one of the greatest championship games (and certainly one of the most thrilling finishes we've ever seen).
- - - - - -
Due to health problems right at the start of the season, I got a a month behind in writing this year's weekly columns and never got caught up. (The last month of columns were written anachronistically [after the season was over] in as faithful a way as possible as to how I would have perceived things at the proper concurrent time.)
Thankfully, the Hoops Contest ran smoothly. [Congratulations to this year's winner: Kevin Cuskley of Rumson, NJ, who beat a field of 138 contestants.]
Next year, it's the Road To Phoenix!
-- Ron
"Houston, We Have A Classic!"
It's an age-old question: Can you really go all the way to the NCAA title just shooting jump shots? This year's [W2]Oklahoma team made you want to believe -- one of the top teams and having two of the top individuals shooting from three-point range. But, once again, the answer came back a resounding "No!" The Sooners' best chance to win against [S2]Villanova in the first semifinal was to make the game offense versus offense; instead, it was defense versus defense ... and a mismatch for the Wildcats at that. The Wildcats shot 71 percent from the floor (including 11-for-18 on three-pointers) while the Sooners were 32 percent (including 6-for-27 on threes). tJosh Hart(23p4a8r;10/12fg) operated just below the superstar level all season so it has been hard to appreciate his consistently solid play; bBuddy Hield(9p7r;4/12fg) couldn't even get open enough to take a high volume of shots. 'Nova totally dominated OK 95-51.
Once the Sooners couldn't make any dent coming out of the blocks in the second half, the emotional collapse after that surge was tough to watch. When you have one prominent leader and he can't get going it can stifle the psyches of all the supporting players who are used to following his lead. Emotion works both ways -- a high can carry you to perform at a level no one else can match; but a low can shut you down to where you can't perform even to your own normal standard.
In the second semifinal, not even the vaunted [M10]Syracuse zone could slow down [E1]North Carolina, but at least it was able to shut down the Tar Heels from outside ... in the first half, anyway (0-for-12 on three-pointers); but superior size works even against the Orange as UNC led 39-28 at the half. A 10-0 run gave 'Cuse hope, closing to 50-57 midway through the second half; but Tar Heels hit some key threes (4-for-5 down the stretch) and handled the Orange (when [M1]Virginia couldn't last week) and kept enough of a lead not to allow the game to get into endplay territory. bTrevor Cooney(22p5r)'s late flurry couldn't overcome 4-for-13 free throw-shooting as UNC eventually cruised 83-66.
There was an argument to be made on paper that ([S1]Kansas be damned) [S2]Villanova and [E1]North Carolina were the top two teams in college basketball for the year; and the quality of the Final certainly would back up that claim. Who would control the tempo was a big question -- once again, the Wildcats were able to make it a station-to-station, halfcourt game as the Tar Heels had no transition game whatsoever. Which team would be able to take advantage of the size mismatches was huge: 'Nova's switching defense left UNC with a lot of "Big-on-Little" mismatches in the paint; but the Tar Heels couldn't get the ball inside nearly enough (as fBrice Johnson only had 14p8r). UNC had a chance to get a working margin at the end of the first half with a breakaway should-have-been layup to put them up 9 points; but, instead, a miss and a 'Nova jumper cut the lead to just 39-34 at the break. 'Nova looked to be pulling away, up 67-57 with just 3 minutes left when UNC made a crucial 7-0 run to turn game into an endplay, finally tying things up at 74-74 with just :05 seconds left on pPaige's double-clutched clutch three-pointer. But with that much time left, it was a tough ask to prevent such a quality executing team as the Wildcats from getting off a shot or at least some free throws -- but who expected a Stephen Curry-depth game-winning three pointer from gKris Jenkins for a 77-74 Villanova win?
North Carolina stayed in the game with excellent shooting from the perimeter (11-for-17 on three-pointers, especially from pMarcus Paige[21p6a5r;4/7 3s] and gJoel Berry[20p;4/4 3s]); but Villanova was just tougher-minded and executed better on offense (58 percent shooting) and defense ("only" 43 percent shooting for the Tar Heels). Reserve gPhil Booth(20p0a) stepped up for the Wildcats; gJenkins(14p;GW3) and tJosh Hart(12p8r) were solid; but it was "Mr. Villanova", gRyan Arcidiacono(16p2a), who was awarded the Most Outstanding Player.
What more to say about ONE OF THE GREATEST NCAA FINAL GAMES EVER!? High-quality. Both teams had chances to pull away only to have the opponent claw its way back into it. And two spectacularly clutch three-pointers from each team! The bitterest way to lose on the one hand and the most joyous way to win on the other! An unparalleled finish. Can't remember a better one -- gMichael Jordan's game-winning jumper as a freshman in 1982 was followed by gFred Brown's bonehead turnover pass to fJames Worthy; gDereck Whittenburg's airball three-point attempt turned into fLorenzo Charles' catch-and-slam "They won it! ... on the dunk!" fluke play in 1983. This was great execution on the final play from both teams. Just when you thought gMarcus Paige was about to go down in history for North Carolina; instead, it was gKris Jenkins who did so for Villanova. As one announcer put it: "He'll never have to buy another cheesesteak in Philadelphia for the rest of his life!" SPECTACULAR!!! (Like gKeith Smart stealing the moment from all-time Hoosier gSteve Alford for Indiana in 1987; now gKris Jenkins is the ultimate hero who'll be remembered forever as much as MOP gRyan Arcidiacono.)
Who walks away from Houston feeling worse about things: 44-point losers [W2]Oklahoma
or buzzer-beater losers [E1]North Carolina? My goodness, what a tournament for Villanova defensively: they shut down fPerry Ellis(4p5r;1/5fg) and bBuddy Hield(9p7r;4/12fg), and "limited" fBrice Johnson to 14p8r;6/10fg. For the Villanova program (and coach Jay Wright), this year's run (even just making the Final Four, frankly) is redemption and the culmination of a three-year stretch when the Wildcats have been an elite-seeded B-Major-champion bust in the NCAA tournament (Round of 32 finishes the past two years).
For the third-straight year, a B-Major conference has placed two teams into the Final Four -- (BIG 10/Wisconsin and Michigan State last year, SEC/Kentucky and Florida in 2014). The Mega-ACC had 7 teams go 19-7 (including three cases of beating one another: [M10]Syracuse over [M1]Virginia as well as [E1]North Carolina over both [E6]Notre Dame and [M10]Syracuse) -- (last year, 6 teams went 17-5 with one self-knockout). Clearly, the top half of the league is a formidable force in the postseason. [S2]Villanova's title run helped push the 9-4 BIG EAST back in front of the ACC as the #2-rated league overall for the season (behind the 9-7 BIG 12). The 7-7 BIG 10 couldn't place any team past the Sweet 16. The 4-7 PAC-12 was a disappointment as well. The 3-3 SEC did manage one Sweet 16 team. Neither Mid-Major league could get a team past the second round: ATLANTIC 10 went 2-3 while the AMERICAN went 1-4. The 1BCs managed a Sweet 16 team thanks to the 2-1 "1BC" WEST COAST and had a very healthy Round 1 with eight 32-Splash wins (albeit two wins came from the 3-2 "1BC" MISSOURI VALLEY). The BM leagues were favored with their also-ran teams getting the Bubble at-large bids over should-have-been 1BC Anti-Spoilers, but only one of those 1BC upsetters was a Jack Dawson team (CUSA/[M15]Middle Tennessee).
In the NIT, Mid-Major also-ran A10[5]/[e4]George Washington routed the competition in New York. In the semis, the Colonials handled the physical defense of "1BC" MWC/[w2]San Diego State and ended up with an "easy" rout (65-46) while should-have-been 1BC/Anti-Spoiler HORIZ/[s1]Valparaiso blew a 16-point lead, but hung on in an endplay to edge "1BC" [n2]BYU (72-70). In the final, GW pulled away from Valpo (76-60 behind Most Valuable Player fTyler Cavanaugh).
In the CBI, the Championship Series couldn't have been closer. 1BC OVC/[eB1]Morehead State (which had claimed two of the three road wins in the entire draw) won Game 1 (@86-83 as cLyonell Gaines[27p14r] dueled Tyron Criswell[31p]). Slumming "1BC" MWC[4b]/[wA1]Nevada bounced back in Game 2, winning @77-68 (behind 26p from tD.J. Fenner). The rubber Game 3 went into overtime before Nev prevailed (@85-82[OT] behind Most Valuable Player cTyron Criswell[21p11r;13/15ft]).
In the CIT, IVY[3]/[1b]Columbia parlayed its fourth-straight home game into a @73-67 win over [1a]BIGW/UC-Irvine (playing its fourth-straight road game) led by Most Valuable Player gMaodo Lo. It's only the second postseason tournament crown ever for the IVY LEAGUE -- (Princeton [led by gBrian Taylor] won the NIT in 1975.)
In the inaugural VEGAS-16 tournament at the MANDALAY BAY, CUSA[3c]/Old Dominion routed two teams from higher rated leagues: OVC/Tennesee Tech (75-59) and BIGW/UC-Santa Barbara (64-49) while HORIZ/Oakland did the same: routing COLON/Towson (90-72) and SOCON/East Tennessee State (104-81) as 5-9 pKhalil Felder averaged 28p9a5r in two games. The final went down to the final possession as ODU got off to an early lead and hung on to beat Oak (68-67 led by Most Valuable Player Trey Freeman[24p]).
Can't say that the year-end results represented any long-term trend for College Basketball. The high quality of the Final (and of many of the high-profile matchups) in this year's NCAA tournament can be attributed to the 30-second clock. For the regular season, the rule change can probably also be credited (blamed) with higher possession games (of lower quality blowouts) and fewer 1BC upsets.
The NCAA draw favored B-Major also-rans over 1BC Anti-Spoilers while the NIT draw was thin with only 4 MM teams and a whopping 18 1BCs (including 3 teams from the MM-turned-1BC MWC and WCC). It's MM champ, [e4]A10/George Washington went 5-0 only facing one BM team along the way (also-ran [e2]SEC/Florida). The CBI had no BM teams for the first time. The CIT is now nearly exclusively a 1BC event, but couldn't even fill out a 32-draw this year -- its champ not only got a second-round bye but also played all of its games at home. The all-1BC V16 couldn't fill its hoped-for 16-team draw and settled for 8 teams.
- - - - - -
Senior stars led their teams this season as neither Graduate Transfer holdovers nor Golden Child newcomers were able to get past the Sweet 16 this year. Villanova finally delivered on its three-year run of greatness with a national title. The BIG 12 (1 Final Four team, 3 Sweet 16s teams, 4 preseason tournament crowns) and the BIG EAST (National Champ, 4 pre-crowns) finished as the two top-rated conferences for the season as a whole (thanks to their depth top-to-bottom); the top half of the Mega-ACC (Runner-Up, 2 Final Fours, 4 Elite 8s, 6 Sweet 16s, 7 pre-crowns) is more accomplished than any entire league but the bottom half drags its overall rating down to the third spot; the PAC-12 (1 Elite 8, 1 pre-crown) was a postseason disappointment; the BIG 10 (3 Sweet 16s, 3 pre-crowns) had good depth while the SEC (1 Sweet 16, 1 pre-crown) didn't. The actual Mid-Majors came up rather empty -- AMERICAN (2.3 pre-crowns), ATLANTIC 10 (NIT champ) -- while the demoted MM-to-1BCs WEST COAST (1 Sweet 16, NIT semi) and MOUNTAIN WEST (NIT semi, CBI champ) still made noise. Traditional 1BCs HORIZON (NIT runner-up), IVY (NCAA Splash, CIT champ) and CONFERENCE USA (NCAA Splash, V16 champ)
had noteworthy campaigns.
Kansas/Bill Self pushed their streak to TWELVE-STRAIGHT BIG 12 TITLES while Gonzaga/Mark Few made it FIFTEEN OUT OF SIXTEEN WEST COAST TITLES. Wichita State's backcourt of pFred Van Vleet and bRon Baker ended their careers as one of the greatest Mid-Major duos ever. Stephen F. Austin/(tThomas Walkup) capped off three-straight TiTo crowns with a second 32-Splash win.
Player Of The Year came down to a pick'em between xDenzel Valentine(Michigan State) (whose team went bust in Round 1) and runner-up bBuddy Hield(Oklahoma) (who was able to get his team through to the Final Four). This year's best GT, bDamion Lee(Louisville), didn't get the chance to showcase his skills in the postseason. This year's best GC, xBen Simmons(LSU), couldn't even get his team into the postseason. Coach Of The Year Chris Mack(Xavier) created a surprise juggernaut (that went bust in the NCAAs).
No all-time team, player or coach on display this time around ... but, for sure, one of the greatest championship games (and certainly one of the most thrilling finishes we've ever seen).
- - - - - -
Due to health problems right at the start of the season, I got a a month behind in writing this year's weekly columns and never got caught up. (The last month of columns were written anachronistically [after the season was over] in as faithful a way as possible as to how I would have perceived things at the proper concurrent time.)
Thankfully, the Hoops Contest ran smoothly. [Congratulations to this year's winner: Kevin Cuskley of Rumson, NJ, who beat a field of 138 contestants.]
Next year, it's the Road To Phoenix!
-- Ron
posted by Ron @ Wednesday, July 20, 2016
