Archive for April 3rd, 2012

WATERCOOLER CHAT: NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, CLIPPERS ON A ROLL

BASKETBALL

In college basketball, it was the National Championship between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Kansas Jayhawks — two of the most storied programs in college basketball history.  Prior to the game, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis won the big one, the Naismith award for best college basketball player in America. And Kansas coach Bill Self won the award for coach of the year.  Everybody expected Kentucky to get this far, but the Jayhawks, a team that prides themselves on comebacks was ready to stand in the way.  Kentucky coach John Calipari has had a very successful college coaching career (and recruiting career), but has never won the big one.  So how would it turn out?

Kentucky jumped out to a very big lead early.  Kansas simply couldn’t do anything against the mighty Wildcats.  Anthony Davis only had 6 points on the night, but also posted an alarming 16 rebounds and 6 blocks.  This kid is going to be a beast in the NBA.  Kentucky led at halftime 41-27.  And everybody knows you simply can’t fall behind by 14 points to a team as powerful as Kentucky.

Things remained the same in the first part of the second half, but then something weird happened.  Kansas started to come back.  Thomas Robinson exploded for the Jayhawks, putting up 18 points and grabbing 17 rebounds of his own.  Additionally, Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor started working his magic, scoring 19 points and running circles around the Wildcats.  And suddenly, it looked like Kentucky was going to let this game get away from them.  Kansas even cut the lead to 5 points with under 5 minutes to go — and fans were going crazy!  But, in the end, Kentucky was just too much.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had an amazing block in the end to kill Kansas’ momentum, and give Kentucky their first title under coach John Calipari.  Once again, Kentucky is hoisting the trophy high.  Congratulations to the young Kentucky team.

And in the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers hit a skid after the all-star break.  They appeared to be in disarray, and many blamed their coach Vinny Del Negro.  He appeared to have lost the team’s attention.  But now, the Clips have won 5 in a row, and hoped to make it 6 when they visited Dallas to take on the defending champions.  And it was as if Dallas didn’t even show up.  The Clippers came into town and simply had their way with the Mavs.  Randy Foye was the man for the Clippers, putting up 28 points in a night where the Clippers re-established themselves as a threat in the West.  There’s also a rumor that Chauncey Billups has been the one really coaching this team from the bench.

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