Monday, March 15, 2004
Fraschilla at his best
Rarely do I benefit from the experience of ESPN's coach/commentators. Steve Lavin is mediocre (at best) and out of place as an analyst. Fran Fraschilla's columns on ESPN often repeat hackneyed themes.Not today. Coach Fraschilla pens a great piece, "Waiting to see your name," in which he remembers what it feels like to be the head coach of a "bubble team" on Selection Sunday.
The column smacks of (naive) honesty...
Championship Week is also a time when coaches who are in the NCAA Tournament or who are on the "bubble" fill up sports radio talk shows all over the country. So, I talked with Hank in Miami, Mike in Portland, and, I even think, Billy Joe in Galveston. Anyone who wanted to hear my spin on why the Jaspers were worthy of an at-large bid got a piece of me at any hour of the day or night. I think it's called "spin."
...and admirable sentiment.
We caught a lot of heat, as did Bob Frederick and the NCAA Tournament committee, for our inclusion in the field. Various experts thought it was ludicrous that we were selected over teams from the various "power conferences." It didn't matter because we were off to Memphis.
A few days later, my Jaspers knock off Oklahoma in the first round. I remember walking down to the opposing bench to shake hands after the game with Kelvin Sampson, who has since become a good friend, and catching a glimpse of Frederick sitting courtside and instinctively winked at him. At the postgame press conference, I remember saying, "I guess the committee wasn't quite as dumb as everyone thought." For a mid-major school, this was our One Shining Moment.
