So, after a weekend of good basketball, the Final Four - in New Orleans - is now set. Obviously, the big story about the Final Four is the Bluegrass battle, Kentucky vs. Louisville, which will be one of the national semifinals on Saturday. I'll get to that in a moment but first...is my thoughts on the Saints bounty situation.
As everyone who follows the NFL probably knows by now, the big office came down hard on the New Orleans Saints. Sean Payton was suspended from coaching for a whole year (rumors over the weekend had him landing at FOX for studio work during games), Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for eight games, a top Saints assistant coach was suspended for six games and to top it all off, the creator of the bounty system, Gregg Williams (now with the Rams) was suspended indefinitely. Also, the Saints lost second round draft picks in future drafts.
This is clearly a case where the cover-up is worse than the crime itself. The thing about this is, the NFL found out the Saints were doing this bounty thing beforehand and told them to stop it and the Saints said they would - and they kept right on doing it.
It's one thing to deliberately try to hurt players, much less some of the game's elite quarterbacks (reportedly, star QBs like Cam Newton, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers were targeted at one time or another), but it's another thing to out and out lie to the league office. The league office made that clear when handing down suspensions.
There is no death penalty in the NFL like there is in college, but this is as close to the death penalty as you are ever going to see in professional football - this is staggering. Losing a head coach, a general manager, a top assistant coach AND high draft picks in future drafts is almost like losing everything. If I were the Saints, I would grt down on my knees and beg Drew Brees to stay - because really, does he even want to be stuck in that mess now?
Moving on to the Final Four, also to be hold in New Orleans. I'll get to Kentucky and Louisville in just a second, but first want to acknowledge the job Bill Self has done at Kansas this year - which I think is getting highly underrated coming into this Final Four.
I don't think even Kansas fans expected the Jayhawks to be in the Final Four this year and this surprise run must gnaw at Missouri fans immensely. Missouri thought they got over when they won their last ever Big 12 tournament - and then they go into the NCAA tournament and lose to a 15 seed, while Kansas wins three hard fought games and goes right to the Final Four. Sure, Kansas had a favorable draw, but beating North Carolina - again - to get to the Final Four is still a major accomplishment.
Now, about this Louisville vs. Kentucky game. You want to talk about a pressure cooker, and, well Kentucky is in it right now. They are the prohibitive favorite to win this tournament in most parts of the country that watch college basketball, and if they come up short Monday night, that's going to br bad.
Now imagine if they don't even get to Monday, and Louisville beats them and plays for the title themselves. That is going to be ten times worse - to be beaten by a coach and school that a lot of Kentucky fans look their noses down on, and by a Louisville team that isn't expected to be there.
I expect Kentucky to win the game, but if Louisville finds a way to pull the upset, there's no telling how Kentucky fans will react. And there's one little other intangible: Kentucky and Louisville fans, together, on Bourbon Street. That is a combustbile environment.
Either way, it's got to be one of the biggest Louisville/Kentucky games ever.
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