Gang, it's Friday and that means Mailbag. Thanks as always for the questions and the support. We're planning on posting NCAA tournament updates throughout the afternoon again today if you're interested. Thoughts and/or suggestions are welcomed.
Here we go...
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt yells to her team during their NCAA Mideast Regional second -round game against Virginia, Monday, March 24, 2003, in Knoxville, Tenn. Behind is assistant coach Holly Warlick. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)FROM STEELERFAN
Hey Five at 10:
As far as the Over-rated/Under-rated challenge is concerned: I'll have to go with Pats as the most over-rated #1 seed and the Jets as the best wild-card team. What do I win?
Question of the week: Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma decide to meet in a blind alley in Indianapolis to settle The Feud once and for all: Who taps out? (Hair-pullling and eye-gouging allowed.)
SteelerFan has been a friend of the show from the start and gets the benefit of the doubt on his flawed overrated/underrated challenge guesses. The 5-at-10 has zero problem translating the game over to the NFL or any other sport, but c'mon man, we're six weeks after the Super Bowl, which was won by the Packers - who were the 6th and final seed in the NFC. By definition they are the most successful, underrated team in recent memory. So as far as prizes, SteelerFan, um, we'll get back to you.
As for the Question of the Week, well, the 5-at-10 loves, Loves, LOVES the idea about Pat and Geno settling 'The Feud' the old-fashioned way.
Holy Sweet Mother of the Nature Boy Ric Flair, a Summitt-Auriemma toe-to-toe would be off the charts - and of course eye-gouging and hair-pulling would be allowed.
The 5-at-10 sets it up like this:
First, there is no tap out. This is a loser-leaves-town cage match.
Second, the Vegas line would likely open at even, move quickly with New England money to make Geno a 3-to-1 favorite before a large bet or three is placed from the Pilot Inc. corporate headquarters. Line would close with Geno as a 3-to-2 pick.
Geno would start quickly, but he better be prepared to go the distance, because Pat will not quit.
After withstanding the early assault, Pat starts to smile throughout the middle rounds. Her quiet confidence starts to overwhelm Geno and the change from her usual steely stare to a sarcastic smile leaves Geno dazed and confused.
Summitt wins late on KO - and before they unlock the cage, Pat pulls out a pair of clippers and shaves Geno's head.
FROM JUNKIE
This was in Wednesday's 5-at-10, but you wrote: "Just about every other lesson in life can be adapted by quoting one of the seven faces on the Mount Rushmore of movie wisdom: Crash Davis, Mr. Miyagi, Irwin Fletcher (and/or Ty Webb since it's the same face), Eric "Otter" Straton, Hi McDunnough, Vito Corleone and Norman Dale"
The question is how do you rank them?
Great question, Junkie.
First off, know that the 5-at-10 spent entirely too much time thinking about this.
So here's the much-changed, oft-juggled order, 1 through 7 of the Mount Rushmore of movie wisdom with the added bonus of the 5-at-10's top pearl's of life advice from each (note: this may not be the best or most famous quote from the character or the movie, but in our opinion the most wise):
Vito Corleone - "You can act like a man."
Crash Davis - "You be cocky and arrogant, even when you're getting beat. That's the secret. You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance."
Mr. Miyagi - "In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope to hold up pants."
Norman Dale - "Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team - no one more important that the other." (Well, until Jimmy Chitwoods shows up and then, everyone else is tied for second. "I'll make it.")
Hi McDunnough - TIE between "And this here's the TV. Two hours a day, either educational or football, so you don't ruin your appreciation of the finer things." AND "There's what's right and there's what's right and never the twain shall meet." H.I. may be the most underrated movie sage of all time. Just sayin'.
Irwin Fletcher (Ty Webb) - "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to pull rank on you. I didn't want to have to do this. I'm with the Mattress Police. There are no tags on these mattresses." (It's Chevy Chase's face, so we get a bonus quote from Ty Webb: "Be the ball Danny.")
Eric "Otter" Stratton - "Flounder, you can't spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You messed up... you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it! Maybe we can help."
Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl yells to his team during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)FROM SHOELESS VOL
Enjoyed your article (Thursday)!
1) Mike Hamilton made an excellent hire in Bruce Pearl!
2) Basketball is now relevent at Tennessee.
3) Attendance averages 19,000-20,000 per game.
4) BB revenues are up.
5) NCAA tournament appearances are the norm, not the exception.
Pearl lied, got caught, has paid a dear price so far! My expectations from the NCAA are two years probation and the loss of one scholarship for two years. Not a major penalty. Pearl will be placed on double-secret probation. He should retain his job and over time all will be forgiven.
Let's not forget that Hamilton also hired the jackel Lane Kiffin who also hired Orgeron, who we all know was bad news!!
I believe that Mike Hamilton is the one who should be let go (if anyone).
This probably is a situation that the new UT President needs to get envolved with.
The timing of Mike Hamilton's statements (Wednesday) were extremely inappropriate and uncalled for!
ShoelessVol,
The 5-at-10 thinks if Pearl stays in Knoxville, the penalties will be a little more harsh than two years probation, a lost scholarship and double-secret probation (thank you, Dean Wormer). More likely it'll be something along the lines of Pearl getting up to a year suspension and a possible year away from the Dance for the program.
That said, SV, you were far from alone in your displeasure about the timing of Mike Hamilton's remarks.
Either there's some sort of ill-advised master plan behind the Big Orange curtain, or this entire scenario has been bungled beyond comprehension.
Mike Hamilton is a nice guy and a good man, but it's hard to find the cause or an explanation for dropping this P.R. bomb 48 hours before the NCAA tournament. Whether you feel Bruce Pearl needs to be fired or not for his NCAA transgressions, this is an insult to the players, the kids that have worked all year to get to the Dance and now have to rehash all this again.
TFP ace columnist Mark Wiedmer nailed it this morning with THIS COLUMN
The 5-at-10 thought three months ago that Pearl and Hamilton would survive this scenario. Unless Hamilton acted on marching orders from someone in a powerful Orange chair, it's now 50-50 on both Pearl's and Hamilton's future in Knoxville.
Chuck SmithFROM CELTICVOL
I know this is a couple of weeks old but did you happen to catch the weird, strange, bizarre press conference that Chuck Smith held in Knoxville explaining why he left UT? Sheesh.
C-Vol,
Just saw the highlights, but it was strange. Maybe it was one of those racin' deals, you know when guys are going 200 mph and then you just get to pushin' and shovin' and the next thing you know, you're in the wall.
The 5-at-10 had heard that there was some tension between Vols DC Justin Wilcox and Smith over the last year, but that hardly explains the angst in Smith's press conference.
One of the most plausible explanations we've heard was that Derek Dooley and Chuck Smith may have had too much history together. They have been longtime friends and they grew up in Athens, Ga., and went to Clarke Central High School. (Side story, the 5-at-10's alma mater Campbell High School made the state football playoffs in 1984 and went to Clarke Central. As an eighth-grader, the 5-at-10 made the trip to watch the big game and we thought our guys were ready. About an hour before the kickoff, our guys are stretching and what-not and here come the Gladiators, all of them. It felt, they had 1,354 guys in uniform. In retrospect, that must have been something like what Custer felt. Anyhoo.)
Some times working with friends in great; sometimes working with friends does not work for the business or the friendship.
Kansas State's Curtis Kelly, left, falls back after trying to get a shot off as Utah State's Brady Jardine (22), Tyler Newbold (24) and Morgan Grim (21) look on during a Southeast Regional NCAA college basketball tournament second round game Thursday, March 17, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. Kansas State's Shane Southwell (1) looks on at left. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)FROM BRACKETBUSTED
Other than my tournament sheet, who were the winners and losers from Day 1 of the tournament?
BB,
If you're bracket is anything like the 5-at-10's (which will be graded - OUCH - and reposted around noon), well, we're going to have to find a new pool on Monday that let's us pick the NCAA field of 32.
Anyhoo, here are the winners and losers from Thursday:
WINNERS
Richmond coach Chris Mooney - Huge win for the Spiders yesterday, knocking off Vandy. Great day to be a Richmond supporter, but you better enjoy it Johnny Spiders Fan, because Mooney's stock is sky-rocketing. Georgia Tech are you watching this.
Morehead State's Kenneth Faried and Terrance Hill - These two were huge in the upset of Louisville. Faried had his 28th double-double of the season with 12 points and 17 rebounds; Hill picked a fine time for a career-high 23 points (unless of course you have UofL in you bracket, then Hill's timing kinda stunk).
College hoops in general - After much hand-wringing (most of needed, mind you), the first session of the first day of March Madness was awesome in its awesomeness. The first five games were decided by a total of 15 points Thursday and that was with West Virginia's 84-76 win over Clemson. Plus, Charles Barkley was outstanding.
TruTV - Think of all the exposure that the tournament generated for the network Thursday. Be honest, you didn't know what channel TruTV was before the tournament, did you? Neither did the 5-at-10. (Although, some of those TruTV commercials almost assure that the 5-at-10 will not be back. Did we see a promo for a reality show about Hardcore Pawn, where we see the "behind the scenes" action at pawn shops? No thanks.)
BigBearzzz - Loyal friend of the show who apparently has some very good friends who were hitting him up with NCAA tournament updates all day yesterday. Nice.
LOSERS
Rick Pitino, Louisville - Who saw this coming? Well, the 5-at-10 did, as a matter of fact and don't say you weren't warned. Here's what the 5-at-10 said in late February. Here's what we wrote:
The 5-at-10 dubbed Louisville as the prototype for the team that will wreck your bracket. The Cardinals' mixed bag was present Sunday. Louisville beat No. 6 Pitt in overtime on Sunday; the Cardinals also lost Rakeem Buckles to a knee injury. Good and bad, up and down, Hello and goodbye... Ladies and Gentlemen, you're Louisville Cardinals.
Jim Tressel, Ohio State - The 5-at-10 knows it's not hoops, but we need to get this out there. Sure he "volunteered" to add three games to his suspension so now the coach that covered up his players' violations has the same penalty that the players are facing. The NCAA needs to leave no doubt about the level of seriousness of the violations that involve coverups and/or lying. If Dez Bryant got almost a full season for lying to the NCAA about something that was not a violation, well, Tressel figures to be in line for at least that much, right? Plus, if Bruce Pearl is ousted at Tennessee, then Tressel becomes NCAA public enemy No. 1.
Enjoy the weekend and until Monday.