The day began at 8:15 with a rousing edition of “Rocky Top,” by what I assume was the Tennessee band.
They were playing right outside the window of our hotel room. Normally this would not be the ideal way to wake up.
It is passable, however, for first-round Friday of the NCAA — Texas A&M and K-State win? How does that happen? K-State hammered a USC team with a better coach and a better defense. They’ll have the opportunity to beat a better coach and a better defense again on Saturday when they face Bo Ryan and Wisconsin.
If you are the secretary that had Belmont beating Duke, you almost ruled the world. The Bruins believed they could beat the Blue Devils for about 39 and a half minutes. The last 30 seconds the Bruins played like they knew Duke should be moving on.
There are a lot of Tennessee fans here. I’ve had the chance to cover Bruce Pearl a couple of times in the past three years at the NCAA. He’s one of the best coaches in the country. I mean on the short list. Probably not five or six guys better in America today. He’s intense, has a very likable personality and you can tell there’s nothing else he would rather be doing than coaching basketball.
That’s refreshing after seeing a lot of coaches get bogged down in the periphery of their profession
Now off to eat the banana pudding we got to go from Dreamland BBQ. Catch you later.
