What a great and crazy weekend.

What a great and crazy weekend!!! I could blog about 10 things today!!! So I will take on a bunch of topics this week because so much has happened in 24 hrs. So let's get started.
Tonight is the finals of the NCAA tournament. Two teams are there that only 0.3% of the country predicted would be the match up. The two teams are vastly different but are the same in so many ways. Butler University is a "Mid Major" who has been building towards this moment over the past 5 years. They don't have a super star or a player who is a one and done guy. They play great defense. They have beaten Syracuse, Michigan St. and Kansas St. en route to this game and have not allowed a team to score more than 60 points in any games this tournament. This team plays together and does not care who is the hero. This team should be praised for what they stand for.
Their opponent is Duke University. Duke has been to 12 final fours and has a lineage of great teams and players and have won the National Championship 3 times under Coach K. This team is the only number 1 seed left in the tournament and have played great in this tournament. They can shoot the three, make free throws and defend. They have a couple blue chip players, but no one and done players. This team is unlike any of Coach K's great teams of years past. They rely on three players to score and the rest of the team must rebound and defend. If you give their guards an inch the will bury you with the three. Duke should win tonight by double digits.
The College basketball world should be excited for this game because this what the game needs. Kentucky, Kansas, and Syracuse ought to be ashamed of how they finished this season. Most of the country had them in the final four. Maybe Villanova too. Tonight's game pits two teams that have not sold out to their boosters or teams that have gotten caught up in the hype of winning at all costs. Duke used to get at least two or three top players a year. In the most recent McDonald's All American game I believe they only had 1 player committed to the school. Kids today want to go to a program where they can get to the league faster. Coach Cal seems to get all of those players. He is the premier recruiter in the land. He gets you on probation though, but schools don't care because of the money he generates. He built UMASS into a national program, only to see it destroyed these days. He Built Memphis and Memphis is about to get some sanctions put on them. Butler University probably does not have a first round player on their team and I certain they did not have any high school all- Americans there this season. Duke has refused to sell out as well. They have every excuse to sell out but I admire Coach K for sticking to what he knows. He says that coaching the Olympic team has made him a better coach. If he wins this title, most people will say that this is his best coaching job. I just don't want to see him crying on the floor. I have read his book and I have always felt that he was a great coach, just ran into bad match ups in the tournament.
So tonight while we are all watching of listening to this game,applaud for both teams. These kids are what is right with amateur athletics. I am all for people doing jobs just to get paid as long as it is honest and fair. Most of these kids will not be playing in the NBA any time soon. These are the young men that you want your daughter to marry some day. These are the future leaders of the country. These are the kids who go to class and get good grades and believe in themselves and the premise that hard work will get the results that you put into it. I hope that the game is an overtime thriller...