A Funny thing happened to the Arizona Wildcats mens basketball team in Indianapolis this weekend. The favorites to win the NCAA Division-I title ran into a red-hot Michigan squad in the semifinals and in losing ruined what was left of many brackets. The ‘Cats were dominated in the early going by the Wolverines and never recovered so there is no joy in Tucson this week.
On the other hand, Michigan overcame a sluggish first half in the finals against UConn to down the Huskies 69-63 and claim the school’s first national title since 1989. In what won’t go down as one of the great games in NCAA tournament history, the Wolverines made only 2 of 15 three point shots (UConn made only 9 of 33) but converted 25 of 28 foul shots including 20 in a row to return to Ann Arbor with the hardware and never-ending versions of “The Victors’, the champions of not only the West but the entire country. On the other side of the court, now UConn coach Dan Hurley can finally get a new suit and replace the tattered one he wore throughout the season. The suit’s good luck charm finally ran out!
The Lady Bruins of UCLA took home the National Championship trophy in the Womens D-I tournament with a convincing rout of South Carolina Sunday afternoon. Some of the inequities in womens basketball showed up as this year’s Final Four contestants were the same as last year’s with UConn and Texas also participating. The difference between the four and the rest of the field was evident as only UCLA’s 70-58 regional final win over Duke was somewhat competitive as the other three regional final victories were by wide margins.
Just like in the mens game the transfer portal and NIL (name, image, and likeness) allowances have contributed to an ever-widening disparity in the womens game. Every one of the four womens finalists were heavily stocked with transfers as the “rich continued to get richer”. Don’t get me wrong, the level of talent displayed is tremendous but the odds of the so-called Cinderella stories by mid-major schools are shrinking each year.
Geno Auriemma lost a lot of my, along with others, respect for his actions following his team’s loss in the semi-finals to South Carolina. With the Lady Huskies 54-game winning streak coming to a crushing halt Auriemma not only disrespected the SC coaching staff but also the Carolina players as he stormed off the court without shaking hands in the traditional post-game lines. Had to have an impact on the Carolina players, who, after completely outplaying the favored Huskies, were denied the chance to interact with one of the game’s true legends.
Congratulations are in order to Tri-Village graduate Layne Sarver and his Gannon University teammates on winning the NCAA Division II national championship this weekend. The Golden Knights claimed the title in overwhelming Lander by a 84-61 count and taking the trophy home to Erie, PA. The 6’6” Sarver contributed six points to the win and averaged almost nine points per game this season as the Knights went 34-3. Here’s a trivia question—what other Darke County native was also an important piece of another D-II national mens basketball championship?
An article from the Washington Post states that “Boomers” are the real iPad babies. Social media use among those 65 and older has grown from 11% in 2010 to 45% in 2021, while time spent on YouTube nearly doubled from 2023 to 2025! Their children and grandchildren are starting to notice and becoming worried that their parents are “slipping quietly into screen addiction” that keeps them couch-bound and isolated.
I’m not really that tied into the iPad but after checking the usage for a few days on both my phone and tablet realized that I spent over an hour on average for a few days! Emails, texts, Facebook, and Google all added up to an amount of time I’m not proud to admit. Some can be attributed to writing, among other things, this column while other times are a result of looking up Information on various topics and the on-line Dayton Daily News. Throw in a few minutes here and there with the camera and photos (it’s amazing how many pictures stack up in the albums over time!) and you start to pile up the minutes!
Here’s something that caught my interest, even though it really doesn’t have any significant meaning to my life or anyone else’s! Ever wonder how, when a cat falls off of something, it always rights itself in mid-air? Japanese researchers have now partly solved the mystery (must have been a slow day in the lab!).
A recent study shows that the upper part of a cat’s spine is extremely flexible, capable of twisting a full 360 degrees, while the vertebrae of the lower spine are stiffer and heavier. Thus, when dropped upside down, cats turn their front half first, getting the head right side up, then twist the rest of their body to follow. Plus they have cat-like reflexes! Rest easy, cat lovers, the test was conducted from three feet off the floor onto a padded mat. Just something I thought you should know!
Greenville’s Tom Holzapfel averaged over eleven points per game as the 1982-83 Wright State Raiders won the D-II title to end the season at 28-4. The 6’5” sharpshooter held the GHS career scoring record for many years, averaging 27.1 ppg his senior year of 1977-78. And that was without the three-point shot!
“Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece of that KitKat Bar”. Evidently, thieves have a sweet tooth, as it’s been reported that over 12 tons (413,793 bars) of KitKat candy vanished last week after leaving a factory in Central Italy bound for Poland. KitKat is the official chocolate bar of Europe’s Formula One Racing, with the stolen version resembling F1 race cars. This is no laughing matter as freight theft is a growing concern around the world; according to the American Trucking Association, stolen freight shipments cost the American economy up to $35 Billion per year. The fate of the pilfered candy is known only Twix the thieves and potential buyers! Have a great week!
