Basketball Weekend

Weather has turned more March like over the weekend....after 24 hours of rain, it's now cloudy and windy with cooler, albeit more normal, temperatures. I spent most of yesterday watching College Basketball Tournament action on the tube....something I rarely do, at least in long stretches....however, so far the watching has been worth it.

Duke, Ohio State, and Ohio University, have all made the "Dance"(The 65 teams in the NCAA Tournament)....OSU and Duke play this afternoon for their respective tournament titles, The Blue Devils is the ACC, and Buckeyes in the Big Ten. Meanwhile Ohio University, home of my old stomping grounds, in Athens, Ohio, came in ranked #9 in the weak MAC....but The Bobcats battled through higher seeded teams, and finally dispatched #3 Akron in Overtime last night to clinch a spot....I'm sure their run will be short in the NCAA, but what the Hell? They made it....Ohio State and Duke, regardless of what happens today, will secure a #1 or #2 Tournament Seed, and both have a shot at getting to Indianapolis for the Final 4. I have been a Duke Basketball fan for 25 years, and of course OSU and Ohio University are right there with them....so the tournament that begins this Thursday, will have my attention. Thursday? Heck, that's the scheduled date of my first baseball scrimmage to umpire, weather permitting of course. The season is indeed changing for the better.

Meanwhile on the High School Basketball wars....the boys ended the District play yesterday. My Alam Mater, Celina High School, came away with a 1 point win over Western Buckeye League rival Elida...the Elida Bulldogs had come back from 16 points down in the 3rd quarter a month ago to defeat Celina's Bulldogs by 67-66...this time around in the District final in Division 2, Celina won by 1, 54-53 on a last second shot. The Celina win was it's first District Title since they were a "Big School" Class AA in 1973-74. Dropping down a class form the current large school D1(Ohio has 4 classes in Basketball), to D2 finally paid off for Celina.....it will be a tough Regional, but everything from here on out has to be considered "gravy" for the local kids.

Lima Central Catholic in D3 and Fort Recovery in D4 also move on to Regional action...meanwhile on the Girls side, Minster and Fort Loramie(the wife's old school) despite being 3 miles apart, played in different Regionals and both make the State Finals in D4, with a chance, if they win their openers, to meet in the State Title game next Saturday.

So, that has been my weekend, that and breakfast out with Patricia and Anissa yesterday, along with a little grocery shopping....Hey! The Duke vs Georgia Tech game is about to start...back later!

Logos-It's been a good weekend for basketball teams that I follow....Duke, Ohio State, Ohio University, and the Celina Bulldogs.