Durham – The Cows 🐄 that we like to watch roam the Hillside off our back deck thankfully belong to someone else but we miss them just the same.
Today at Noon, its back to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a round 2 NCAA Women’s Basketball 🏀 tournament game between #2 Duke University and #10 University of Oregon. The #10 seed is relevant because at the end of Round 1 Chalk finished 28-4.
Two #7’s and two #8’s were the lone seeded in the Top 32 that didn’t make it to the second round which begins today. Unlike the Men’s game, where chalk is a rarity, the Women’s tournament is dependent upon getting the seeds right.
Yesterday afternoon in Chapel Hill was a terrific example as both #3 UNC and #6 West Virginia won their games in front of a sold out Carmichael Arena. Oregon State put up a first half fight with the Tar Heels, playing them to 26-24, before UNC opened the second half on fire 🔥.
The Ladies play on Monday this week and do so to have a stand alone day of National TV 📺 coverage. UNC and WVA will pack the house 🏠 where by comparison, Oregon State versus West Virginia on a work day in Chapel Hill would not do the same. The Women’s tournament has to play the opening rounds on Campus and then have the Home teams take care of business.
Mission accomplished as the Home team went 16-0 in the first round. Duke, Notre Dame and North Carolina State each landed one of the Sweet 16 Host sites and the league has six of its eight teams still playing. By comparison, the Men are down to just Duke University.
Cameron Indoor would be a little light in regards to attendance today if Lehigh University had tripped up the Blue Devils. As it is, the Men are playing at 2:45 over in Raleigh (20 miles between buildings) so they will be a house divided anyway. Here’s hoping that Connecticut needs six overtimes to beat the Florida men in the opener so that the transition from one building to the other can be a little easier.
The stops ✋ in the three week journey into Atlantic Coast Conference post season Basketball 🏀 ends today in regards to the in person part. Greensboro for the Women’s ACC was followed by Charlotte for the Men’s ACC and then it was on to Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill for the Opening rounds of the Big Dance 💃. Hopefully both the Duke teams will prevail today and then be joined by UNC and North Carolina State tomorrow. Maybe even Notre Dame can join the Sweet 16??? Louisville and Florida State will have to pull off upsets 😡 to continue playing next weekend.
The beauty of the Women’s tournament in regards to the ACC is that the success won’t lead to the winning teams lining up to sue themselves out of the league as was the case with Football. Travis Osborne reached out yesterday after he realized we were in Carmichael, cheering on his Tar Heels and noted that the Ram 🐏 was smiling.
Yes, the Ladies have N.I.L $$$ and the transfer portal but the game still feels the same to me. The majority of the players remain with their Schools 🏫 which makes it a bit easier to follow them.
It’s been fun to see 👀 so much of it one last time, for sure but with that said I am ready to get back to the before mentioned Cows 🐄.
Dakota Walls is currently working on a new look for his stock car 🚗 this season and Pink will be playing a role in it! Looking for to seeing 👀 the finished product shortly.
Vickey Ritchie has been incredibly busy the past two days and that will continue today as our Special Olympics Basketball 🏀 Coach will be holding a Basketball camp today. This will be Day 3 of 3 in a busy, busy stretch and we are looking forward to getting back together with her ahead of the trip to Lexington coming up soon.
We will wrap this up with a sneak peak look at a busy Monday as six Cavalier teams will return to action 🎬
Four Soccer ⚽️ teams and two Softball teams will take to the Pitch and the Diamond 💎 so there will be ample opportunity to shout out – Go Cavaliers!
Have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌
A.S.P.N on The Hill 