William & Mary notch school’s 1st NCAA tourney victory in First Four https://thescore.com/wcbk/news/3247095
There’s finally NCAA Tournament joy for the folks in Williamsburg ! Our long time friend, Bill “Pappy ” Meade is a proud graduate 🎓 of W & M and we are Happy for Pappy as the school 🏫 waited over 75 years to earn a bid to either the Men’s or Women’s Basketball 🏀 tournament.
Not only did they finally earn a Bid, they won the #16 play in game, their fifth straight victory !
Day 1 had a 9,10,11 and 12 advance but its difficult to call a 9 over an 8 an upset.
25-7 is the two day tally and each of the Top 16 seeds are still in place. The very definition of Chalk.
The only true glaring issue is that for the first time in 50 years, the Atlantic Coast Conference is already down to just one team after Clemson (5), Louisville (8) and North Carolina (11) have each been eliminated.
The S.E.C went 8-6 with their record 14 teams in the tournament. Ole Miss took care of UNC in the only head to head match-up.
2-3 versus 8-6 is only separated by 1.5 games but 8-1 looks pretty bleak.
Big 10 only received 8 bids but they set a new record with 8-0 !
Getting to hang out with Slick Watts while we both watched his Son, Donald Watts back when he played at the University of Washington. Watts was such a joy to hang out with back then and now has a grandson playing College hoops out West.
Xavier of New Orleans was the starting point and then it was the Los Angeles Lakers and the Seattle Super Sonics. Watts was always the life of any party and had a kind word for anyone that crossed his path.
Watts started his own business to stay busy once his National Basketball Association 🏀 career ended but always found time to be courtside at Hec Ed when Donald and the Huskies were playing.
Quick recap :
SEATTLE — Donald “Slick” Watts, a fan favorite for the SuperSonics and later a beloved teacher and coach in Seattle, has died. He was 73. Watts’ son Donald, who played for Washington, announced his father’s death Saturday on social media, writing: “You did so much for so many of us.
Men’s Basketball 🏀 :
Duke gets #1 seed in Raleigh and waits until Friday so Coop and Maliq both have an extra day to recover.
Louisville gets good and bad news. Bad news is they dropped to an #8 seed but the good news is they open in Lexington, Kentucky (75 miles from home). 2nd round would be #1 overall Auburn.
Clemson (#5) is heading up to Providence, Rhode Island and will face McNeese State in its opener. Dreaded 5-12 match up.
North Carolina is still playing !! They will head over to Dayton, Ohio for a Tuesday play-in game for an #11 seed with San Diego State.
Men’s N.I.T – SMU, Stanford and Georgia Tech each accepted Bids.
Pittsburgh, Wake and Florida State each had winning records and were eligible.
Year one of four is in the books 📚 for Carroll County High School Alum Alyssa Ervin.
Elon University was knocked out of its league tournament up in Washington DC and appears to have finished up at 15-15. We cannot rule out a post season bid to a lesser event but it seems unlikely.
Ervin appeared in 22 of the teams 30 games and reached double figures twice. A season high 24 minutes played netted a season high 12 points versus College of Charleston and Ervin dropped 10 points at Virginia Tech early in the season.
62 points scored across 22 games, left our Freshman averaging 2.82 points on the season. Looking forward to three more seasons of College Basketball 🏀 for Ervin !
