UNC Asheville won its conference tournament and will probably be a 15 or 16 seed. San Diego State, Baylor and Creighton will obviously get in, plus the other SEC teams in the field. Could be some more; Fordham is 24-7 and finished second in the A-10, so a tourney title wouldn’t be a huge shock, although VCU is favored. Bradley almost made it but lost to Drake in the Valley championship yesterday.
I remember Texas Coach Abe Lemons, after the Longhorns lost a game in Fayetteville, saying something to the effect that he felt the Longhorns really won and Arkansas lost because at least his team got to leave town. I’m hardly a fan of Texas, and am a fan of Fayetteville, but have to admit Lemons was pretty funny. Like when after a losing streak he started his coaches’ show in a closed coffin, opened the door, jumped up, and said “We ain’t dead yet!”.
What is all this leading to? I feel UNC-Asheville is a winner either way, they advance in the tourney or they get to go back to Asheville, one of my favorite places. And it’s not just my opinion, in the book “The Geography of Bliss”, a writer goes all over the world seeking the key to happiness, winds up in Asheville of all places, and declares it the happiest place on Earth.
And as far as coach’s quotes, and for something more germane to the Razorbacks, who knows what will happen in the SEC and NCAA tournaments, but to quote Nolan, “not all sickness is death”.