HOUSTON (TX) --
It figures.
“FTS” arrived at George Bush International Airport in Houston the morning
after that exhilarating NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game between Villanova and North Carolina at NRG Stadium. Kinda glad to see that VU won, as Dayton has a lot more in common with the Wildcats than they do with the Tar Heels. Lotsa sad-faced, blue-clad Carolina fans wandering thru the airport on their way home.
Here for the WorkforceNEXT Spring Summit, a trade show serving the North American energy HR market. Be back in town again next week for the AFPM HR Conference -- different show, same target audience. WFN is being held at the Royal Sonesta, which just happens to be the Villanova team hotel, so as you can imagine there were lotsa smiling (if slightly hungover) faces in the lobby as I checked in.
Since there were no more hoops to be watched here in Houston, the easy decision was to play them instead. Headed to River Oaks Park in the fashionable section of Houston of the same name and even tho it is close by, the traffic here is a friggin’ nightmare. Played with a guy who grew up in Ann Arbor and some high school kids from nearby Lamar HS and didn’t last long in the 82 degree heat.
While Texas is renowned for its BBQ, if you ever find yourself in this part of the world, you simply must partake of Torchy’s Tacos. You can thank me later. Here is a list of their locations:
http://torchystacos.com/locations/
Their slogan says it all:
**** good tacos
Elsewhere in college hoops:
-- Speaking of the NCAA Championship Game, Tom Archdeacon of
The DDN and Coach
Don Donoher take a fond look back to that magical time 49 years ago when The University of Dayton Flyers faced the UCLA Bruins for all of the marbles:
http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/new...=ddn_skip_stub
I’m on record as stating that the picture of Dan Obravac winning the tip vs. then-Lew Alcindor had as much to do with my deciding to attend UD as anything.
-- So, the UD Men’s Hoops program would be worth $80.6 million on the open market, according to
The Wall Street Journal:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much...rth-1459459516
-- Really nice interview with
Chris Wright, courtesy of
EuroBasket.com:
http://www.eurobasket.com/Germany/ne...To-Steph-Curry
-- “The way too early Top 25” courtesy of
The Sporting News does not include the Dayton Flyers:
http://www.sportingnews.com/list/470...medium=twitter
Neither does
ESPN.com:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...p-25-2016-2017
On the other hand, Jon Rothstein of
CBS Sports picks UD as his #16 team for next season:
http://cbsprt.co/1RYqO1r
NBC Sports has the Red and Blue slotted for #22 in the upcoming campaign:
http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.c...season-top-25/
CBS and NBC might have more than a passing interest in ranking the Flyers, as their respective cable sports networks are the primary carriers of Atlantic 10 basketball. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
-- Jeff Goodman of
ESPN.com is the unofficial keeper of the ever-growing “Transfer List” and the total may exceed 700 malcontents this year:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...-transfer-list
-- What’s wrong with Ohio State basketball? You mean beside the fact that 4/5 of their heralded freshman recruiting class can be found on Goodman’s list?
http://www.landgrantholyland.com/201...-big-questions
Is it just me or is Thad Matta looking more like Larry Bird every day?
-- Mark Adams AKA “The Hometown Coach” has found his voice and, as always, it is a positive one:
https://www.facebook.com/enthusiadam...06476816293871
-- I’ll say this for Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono: how many guys do you know with a six syllable surname? Can you imagine
Bucky Bockhorn trying to pronounce that for a whole game?
-- Ken Pomeroy looks at the impact that the move to the :30 shot clock had on college hoops this season:
http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/web...ond_shot_clock
-- The late-game full court press is the most dangerous place in college basketball, according to
The Wall Street Journal:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-most...all-1459205100
-- This may be the sneakiest play in the history of hoops, pretty much the basketball equivalent of baseball’s hidden ball trick (which would be hard to pull off with a basketball, no?):
http://deadspin.com/marcelo-huertas-...m_content=link
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com