St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli was impressed with Stanford’s trees, twins Jason and Jarron Collins, who stand a combined 13 feet 10 inches. But Martelli wasn’t impressed with the Stanford “Tree”–the goofiest mascot left in the NCAA field.
“They have a tree,” he said. “What do you put down for activities: `I was a tree.’ How do you put that on a resume? And that guy got into Stanford?”
Hmm coach? It’s not a guy. It’s a female student from England.
Leave it to the NCAA to set up a potential UCLA-Southern Calk matchup in the East Regional in Philadelphia while making Beltway neighbors Georgetown and Maryland play in the West Regional in Anaheim. . . . North Carolina’s loss to Penn State in the South’s second round was the fifth consecutive Sunday defeat for the Tar Heels. . . . Kentucky’s Saul Smith wasn’t at all surprised by Tayshaun Prince’s 31-point outburst against Iowa in the second round, a performance that included 6-for-8 shooting from three-point range.
“He can shoot from half court,” Smith said. “A game of H-O-R-S-E is no fun with him.” Prince leads NCAA tourney scorers with 29 points per game.
What’s up with Temple, you ask? Thirteen turnovers in two games, that’s what. . . . Kansas is 24-3 with sophomore forward Drew Gooden in the lineup. . . . Stanford is 30-2, tying a record for victories in a season. The 1998 Final Four team went 30-5. Stanford is 18-0 away from Palo Alto and 7-0 on neutral courts. . . . Stanford is 0-2 against Cincinnati, but the schools haven’t met since Jan. 2, 1970. . . . Stanford set a school NCAA record with 89 points against North Carolina-Greensboro in the first round and broke it 48 hours later with 90 points against St. Joseph’s. . . . Southern Cal’s run to the Sweet Sixteen has evoked memories of the Trojans’ 1954 Final Four team, coached by one of the great names in hoops history–Forrest Twogood, a 1929 graduate of Iowa.
