College Basketball Connections

As I was getting this site set up and WordPress installed, I had the Butler – Villanova college basketball game on in the background. Butler won 74-66 on the strength of an 18-0 run late in the second half.

As you may know, I am a Butler grad. So I’m pretty pleased about Butler’s success this season. Amazing to think Butler just beat the defending national champion on their home court late in the season, handing Villanova their first home loss in the last four seasons.

I ‘m sure my brother Phi Mark Minner had a fun time on the call of Butler’s win on Butler radio.  A big, late-season, come-from-behind win on the road for the team for whom you do the play-by-play, is a game you long remember as a play-by-play announcer.

Another of my former colleagues had a big call tonight, too. As I write this, FS1 is replaying the highlights of Syracuse’s last-second win over Duke, overlaid   with the Syracuse radio call by Matt Park, with whom I broadcast in the Southern League a while back.

Not be outdone, the college basketball team I lived and died with as a kid, DePaul, won a big game on the road tonight, too. Billy Garrett, Jr. hit a pair of free throws with less than a second left as the Blue Demons beat Georgetown 67-65, dealing a big blow to the Hoyas NCAA Toournament hopes.

Although I’ve watched very little sports most of the winter while celebrating the Cubs’ World Series win, the March Madness juices are starting to flow.