Thought the Horns did a nice job of reasserting their gameplan when the Cardinal closed the margin to one. Stanford had managed to seize the momentum pretty effectively in the second half when their continued good boardwork got supplemented with better shooting and more aggressive penetration/passing. However, some of that seemed to be from Texas taking a more lassez-faire approach there for about four minutes. Coach Barnes took care of that with a good timeout or two and a switch to a more aggressive man-to-man.
As for the second game.....Memphis reincarnates Phi Slamma Jamma late in the first half and all someone can say is that they "looked suprisingly tough"?! All kidding aside, going into the game the Tiger fans were pretty encouraged that MSU was the perfect match-up for their team....smaller guards, more turnover prone team, and a frontcourt lacking the Tigers' size, strength and speed. All they claimed to fear was Sparti's more respected, reputable coach, Tom Izzo.
It was a great night to be at Reliant. The Fiat horn they're using is a bit annoying, but they've done the best they could with a football stadium....(subliminal message--THE TICKETS ARE TOO F'ING EXPENSIVE!). The Horn fans (easily 85% of the crowd) made some solid noise, but the fans are so far away from the court that I'm not sure how much the players "feel" it....if that makes sense....like they would at Erwin or Hofheinz, the latter in particular (when it's full like it was at the UofH/Memphis game). The baseline stands, for example, were at least 50, if not 60 feet from the basket. The fans' seats were about 30 or so feet away on the sidecourts. Per usual, the press tables took up most of that area.
Stanford's band played some whack tunes, man....Our House in the Middle of the Street, Radar of Love, We like the Bump. It was off the wall and oddly refreshing; they do perform and have a good time, ala the other scatter band, the beloved MOB here in Houston. We looked at their Stanford Dollies dancing and wondered if they had to import those girls. I mean, it can't be all that easy to find 1500 Board Score types willing to sport white gloves, dance in skimpy costumes and shamelessly exploit their feminine attributes for the mere satisfaction of loathful men....how'd I do there, feminists among us?
THE TREE was unique, but the hype over his/her (its?) reputation left me somewhat disappointed....less than what I expected. If there are any Cardinal fans among us, perhaps you can advise me if THE TREE has been cut, so to speak, in terms of the outrageous behavior we've been lead to believe is standard for him.
The last minute of the first half of the Tiger-Spartan game was the most awe-inspiring sixty second of basketball I've ever witnessed, which includes a lot of Rocket playoff games, Maverick playoff games and SWC/Big 12 games....not to mention Memphis Tiger games. It looked more NBA than college, so the purist in me was offended, but the OH, MY GOD in me was MORE than overwhelmed.
I must have received 127 text messages from my Horn and Tiger buds, as well as some of my disinterested friends (the gamblers). Most common question? "Do you still have those four tickets you wanted to sell me earlier this week?" Most common statement: "Nice call on THIS one, Vitale!"
A closing question.....just how big can Verne Lundquist get? Is he battling something besides Ninfa's happy hour access?
