Higher Post: Time to Laugh, Think and Cry
...and let's tip this Women's Champions Classic!
Congregation, please stand up….
…and take some time for the greats
I want to start this week with a welcome in Jimmy V Week. This is always a special week because, not only is there fantastic hoops scheduled, but we get a chance to see Jimmy V.’s fanatastic famous ESPY speech. If you have never watched this all the way through, please stop now and do that. This can wait. It will be hard not to have tears at the end - which is a good thing, since by Jimmy’s definition of a ‘full day’ you will be one-third the way there.
I am proud to be a monthly donor to the V Foundation. In this holiday season, please remember give where you can, whether it be the V Foundation, your local youth program, or any cause you hold close. We are good. Let’s share with others.
Back to his ‘full day’, Jimmy V says you need to 3 things every day:
Number 1 is ‘laugh’ You should laugh every day. Number 2 is is ‘think’. You should spend some time in thought. And number 3 is you should have your emotions move to tears. Could be happiness or joy. Think about it, if you laugh, you think, and you cry, that is a full day. That is a heck of day. If you do that 7 days a week, you’re gonna have something special. - Jimmy V.
In honor of Jimmy V, for this week’s newsletter, we will do just that.
Laugh: Now Hiring! Bracketologists with experience in…football?
If it were to happen, it would go something like this…
CoB Reception: Hey Joe?
Joe Lunardi: What’s up?
CoB Reception: Call for you. It’s Football. They want to understand what this Bracketology thing is.
Joe Lunardi: Tell them to read my book. I’m busy watching the SEC annihilate the ACC!
You might have heard the news, but college football has a bracket - a real bracket, like more than a final 4! We don’t get into to too much college football here. We don’t need to. That everyone else’s job.
However, where there are brackets, there is Bracketology, and that is something we know about.
This week, the College Football Playoff Committee released its first 16-team 12-team bracket as they get ready for their ‘Selection Sunday’ and boy did this feel familiar. There were debates and criticisms about what the committee got right, what the committee got wrong, Committee chairs going on ESPN to defend their work, and many coaches from big name schools/conferences complaining about how bogus the seedings are and how ‘x’ team being included over ‘y’ team is unfair to certain multi-billion dollar mega conferences.
The best has to be Old Miss coach Lane Kiffin who went off on X (formally, a better social media tool) about the ACC?!?
Hmm, that sounds familiar... like in every low table major basketball coach who is 2-6 in Quad 1 wins, talking about how they should be Dancing because they once beat Duke at home, then you would be correct. Welcome to your Selection Sunday, friends!
The best part of about Lane Kiffin’s ‘X’ is that he was called out by many respectable sports journalists, like the always fantastic Nicole Auerbach from NBC Sports for attacking the ACC when it was actually Alabama, from his own conference, that stole the last spot.
Let’s be honest, I don't really ‘football’. That’s not my flavor of Gatorade. But, I’m not here to criticize. I’m here to commiserate. We feel ya buddy. As a practicing Bracketologist (Certified and Ordained) I know a good whine brewed from sour grapes when it taste it. So, welcome to the party, gang of the gridiron! As we say in Massachusetts, “fetchyazabeeah”?
Lastly, a HUGE CoB ‘Player of the Game’ to ESPN for using Minnie Riperton’s ‘Les Fleurs’, a song about 60’s ‘flower power’ (the antithesis of war) for the music for its College Football Playoffs promos!
The song is a gem and Minnie Riperton is a national treasure. Anyone responsible for bringing Maya Rudolph into this world is a hero in my playbook and always gets my automatic bid. Go Defense.
Think: Not your father’s ACC
The ACC, the high standard of basketball conferences, took such a tumble in this season’s SEC/ACC Challenge, I thought I was watching the SEC/AAC Challenge.
On the Men’s side, the SEC won with a final score of 14-2, with only #9 Duke over #2 Auburn; and Clemson over #4 Kentucky as the victors. Both games were on the ACC home courts, btw.
There has been a lot of chatter early into the Bracketology season about a possible 12 SEC teams making it into The Dance on Selection Sunday, but it’s early - the pundits say. However, these results show the SEC is for real -and- the ACC needs some work before going into the Holy Month.
As 10 of the Top 25 teams are from either the SEC or the ACC, you can expect some shifting around in the rankings, with #2 Auburn, #4 Kentucky, along with #18 Pitt, and #20 UNC expecting to drop. UNC is now 4-4 on the season, so expect them to fall out of the 25 and the #FireHubert chants to start, which isn’t fair since none of the losses are bad losses. its just that you need to take a couple of those to prove yourself.
Crazy is all the other movement coming in the 25 after this week, since #1 Kansas, #2 Auburn, #4 Kentucky, #6 Marquette, #9 Purdue, #11 Wisconsin, #14 Cinci, #18 Pitt (2x) and #19 Illinois all dropped games.
Meanwhile, the ACC Women faired better than the men, losing the overall Challenge 10-6, with Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, #16 UNC, NC State, all winning. But, the gems of the tourney have to be #5 LSU coming back over Stanford (yup, ACC. You are not used to it either) and #10 Notre Dame over #4 Texas with both games going to overtime to solidify their victories. - but, as you can guess, more on that ND/Texas game below.
Cry: The Legend of Lou
The basketball world lost a legend this week. Long time St. John’s and Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca passed away last week at the age of 99, just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday.
Lou was New York in and out. He was born here, he played here in high school and college (St John’s) and coached here. He coached at his alma mater for a total of 31 years; 7 as an assistant, the rest as the head coach divided over 2 stints (1965-1970, 1973-1992) with a quick stop as the coach of the ABA’s New York Nets in the middle.
During his time at St. John’s, he was instrumental working with Dave Gavitt to found the original Big East conference, which really put northeastern college hoops on the map keeping the talent rich NYC recruits back home instead of going south to ACC/SEC schools.
This was summed up well by former Notre Dame coach Mike Brey:
It’s the holiday season, so break out your best ‘interesting’ sweater and give a Lou tribute! Thank you, Lou. RIP.
We Got Next: Games to watch this week (all times EST)
Men’s Games: Don’t look now, but URI is undefeated. Look out for old rivals and early conference foes to run this week.
Providence at Rhode Island (Saturday 12/7, Noon, CBSSN)
#11 Wisconsin at #5 Marquette (Saturday 12/7. 1:30p. FOX)
#4 Kentucky at #7 Gonzaga (Saturday 12/7, 10p ESPN2)
#9 Duke at Louisville (Sunday 12/8, 6p ACCNet)
#11 Wisconsin at #19 Illinois (Tuesday 12/10, 10p Peacock)
#6 Iowa State at Iowa (Thursday 12/11, 7:30p FS1)
Women’s Games: The Inaugural Women’s Champions Classic leads matchups on this week, plus some cross-state rivals, early conference play, and a whole bunch of Hannah time!
Rhode Island vs Harvard (Saturday 12/7. 2p. ESPN+) - Don’t sleep on the Crimson.
Tennessee vs #17 Iowa (Saturday 12/7, 7p. FOX) #HannahWatch
#22 Louisville at #2 UConn (Saturday 12/7, 9p FOX)
#10 Notre Dame at Syracuse (Sunday 12/8, 12p ACCnet) #HannahWatch
#21 Illinois at #12 Ohio State (Sunday 12/8, 4p, B1GNet)
Massachusetts at Boston College (Weds. 12/11, 11a, ACCN) - This is just personal!
#20 Iowa State at #17 Iowa (Weds. 12/11, 9p, FS1) #HannahWatch
#2 UConn at #10 Notre Dame (Thursday 12/12, 7p, ESPN) #HannahWatch
Keeping up with the Hannahs
Two of my favorite players are not only incredibly fun to watch…but are both named Hannah! I dedicate this section to them. We try and keep up with them during a pivotal season!
Hannah Stuelke (Junior / Forward / Iowa):
Not much to report from the Hawkeye Hannahland this past week as Iowa has had a nice break following a successful 2-win Cancun trip. The Hawkeyes are now 8-0 on the season and have moved up the rankings to #17.
But TODAY IS THE DAY! The inaugural Women’s Champions Classic tips-off tonight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and CoB will be in attendance and we cannot wait!
First up, the Iowa Hawkeyes take on a resurgent Tennessee program. Over the past few seasons, The Lady Vols have stumbled a bit under high expectations, but after a coaching change that brought in Marshall’s Kim Caldwell, they are climbing to the Summit again! Currently undefeated at 6-0, the Lady Vols have not been tested hard yet with blowouts over Samford, UT Martin, Middle Tennessee, Liberty and W. Carolina. They did take down Florida State this week by 2 in the ACC/SEC Challenge…and they did so in the light blue jerseys. Fabulous.
Hey, I thought this was about Hannah? How do they match up? Tennessee is powered by strong guard play, so expect to see Stuelke more using her speed and height to play outside defense and guard the perimeter but expect her to go more down low on offense along with Addy O’Grady to own that paint. This is going to be a super fun matchup, especially if Iowas guard rotation start doing their thing. Hannah should rack up some points, or assists (or both)
Someone will have to go home with a loss, but not before going to Junior’s for an old fashioned egg cream (they are really good and there is no egg in it.). Welcome to Brooklyn.
Up Next (all times EST):
Saturday 12/7 - #22 Iowa vs. Tennessee: 7p, FOX
Wednesday 12/11 -#22 Iowa vs. #15 Iowa State, 9p FS1
Hannah Hidalgo (Sophomore / Guard / Notre Dame):
Hannah’s back. Notre Dame is back. Balance has been restored.
The Irish were unlucky last week in Grand Cayman, dropping both games they played in. First to TCU, a game that seemed like status quo in the first half, shutting down Hailey Van Lith, but watched a different HVL come out after the half. HVL put the team on her back and shut down the Irish on both ends. The next day, taking on Utah, they seem to lack that Guinness Gusto they had shown all season. Whether it be fatigue, or the come down after beating Juju Watkins and the #2 Trojans on national TV, is anyone’s guess.
However, back at home and on the national stage against a ranked team (#4 Texas) the Irish came out fighting. This game was close throughout, with 10 lead changes, even going to overtime, where the Irish went on a 12-2 run to seal the win.
Hidalgo lead the team in points at 30, but it was a full team effort with both Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron each scoring 18. This team was fast and in-sync with each other just as we had seen all season other than during the Cayman Classic.
This is the middle of the Irish ‘Old Big East Classic’ gauntlet as they take on a struggling Syracuse team, on Sunday, in an early in-conference ACC match-up. In conference, records don’t matter. These teams know each other. That’s why we play the games.
Then, on Thursday, they welcome the ‘Paige Bueckers Eras Tour’ in South Bend and take on undefeated UConn - one night only and tickets are a premium! I’m feel I have to watch that in an ND supporters bar. Good thing thing I live in NYC.
Up Next (all times EST):
Tomorrow - #10 Notre Dame at Syracuse: Noon EST., ACCNet
Thursday 12/11 - #10 Notre Dame vs. #2 UConn: 7p EST., ESPN
Five Touches: Passing around the hoops world
Halftime Life Adjustments: Don’t look now, but Harvard’s women’s team is potent. The team is lead by Harmoni Turner, who is also using her leadership to set an example off the court by starting a nonprofit to help young girls overcoming abuse.
Learn from the Best: Tara VanDerveer’s may have retired from the court, but not from teaching basketball as her newly launched Stanford Masterclass in the beautiful game is already at capacity. I’m on the waitlist. Please, I need ACC credits.
It must be the NIL deal: Why exactly did former ESPN’s NBA Insider Adrian “Woj” Wojnarowski leave $7.3M on the table to go work for his alma mater, Saint Bonaventure University? SI’s Chris Mannix does a deep dive.
Martinis by the Bay: The Golden State Valkyries held their expansion draft, taking Aces’ Kate Martin and 7 international players to start building its first roster. No surprise since GS Coach Natalie Nakase was Becky Hammon’s assistant and coached Martin in her rookie year. This leads too…
…and finally - Dang, they are fast: The Raygun Store, a print shop based out of Iowa, with locations around Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and Illinois, etc., is known for for making amazing (and best selling) t-shirts for the local college teams like Iowa, ISU, Creighton, etc. Their designs are simple, distinctive and fun. Like the “The Martinis - Kate Martin Fan Club” or the famous “Happy Like Hannah” (which I will be sporting tonight) has put out there new (and brilliant) ‘Golden Kate Martin’ shirt after former Hawkeye Kate Martin was drafted by Golden State. Magnificent! #ChefsKiss.
Extracurricular Reading: Sometimes we all need a T.O.
Fools Gold: I love baseball, so like most people, I loath the idea of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s new Golden At-Bat idea. This is not a rule tweak, this a gimmick added in to solve a problem that didn’t exist. Why not just go full Bananas?
Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Book Sells a Reported 814k Copies in Two Days: Amazing, but I’m saving my money the ‘Paige Bueckers’ Eras Tour’ sneakers when those drop.
Wait, what is the FIFA Club World Cup? Do we need another soccer tourney? Oh, it’s in the US this year? I’m in! Where is what you need to know about the tourney.
I guess I might need a pilgrimage for CoB expansion in the land down under: Australia is banning social media for people under 16.
Final Seconds:
Ok friends, remember to do 3 things every day. Laugh, Think and Cry. If you do that, you will have a full day. Love and Buckets to you all. Give hugs not fouls.
Always live One Shining Moment at a time. Never be boring.