My hometown team plays tonight against Oklahoma State but I just don't care who wins. These guys aren't student-athletes, most of them. Their only relationship to the campus is as a playground when they aren't on the court. Gotta have some buildings to rifle or coeds to date-rape after a bad game.
I remember going to class with Rudy Tomjonavitch at Michigan, who was a first team All-American while taking as many hours as the rest of his class. Same went for others back then, no matter how good they were in their sports. Mark Spitz: another good example but heck, the wimp only took home seven golds in 1972.
Most of the Arizona players are with us only as long as they have to be. And god only knows what they take as far as classes.
Sorry, but I would rather watch a tape of my old college heroes, Kareem, Jerry West, The Big "O", John Havlicek, Larry Bird etc. if I had them to play. They came out of school smarter and played a lot better, too.
Modern "players" wouldn't know a fundamental (like having enough common sense to pass through a press rather than dribble) if you whacked them over the head with it. Not to mention the inability to spell complex words like "team."
No matter. AZ will not be in the final four. I hope Duke makes it. It is one of the few schools left with authentic student-athletes. But as for who wins it all, I care not. Far too many of these stars have the talent to make up for their bigness on court by acting small off it.
But gee, if the Lakers could only play defense on court like they did in a Denver courtroom.....
Jerry Newport