![\"Houston](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/thumbnail_IMG_6068-e1744741281835.jpg\")
<\/a>Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson on the right, with his assistant coach (and son) on the left. Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one at the top of this article.<\/p><\/div>\n
But, since the NBA<\/em>\u00a0postseason actually begins tonight, I figured that I have to buck-up and get the college stuff out of the way right now.<\/p>\n As usual, I, of course, watched every second of the tournament. Trust me, on the days of sixteen games each, I had little sleep. I spent one of those weeks totally exhausted, and stayed in the house for two weeks straight.<\/p>\n And, also of course, I took copious notes each and every day. I pared them down here, so what follows are the highlights.<\/p>\n So first of all, let me congratulate the Florida Gators on beating the Houston Cougars for the Championship. I used to hate the Gators when they beat my UCLA Bruins about eighteen years ago, but I have to admit, even though I was almost desperate for the Auburn Tigers to win this year, as soon as I saw the Gators, and guard Walter Clayton, Jr.<\/strong>* in particular, play their first game this tourney, I told Mr. X, \u201cI don\u2019t see anyone beating them this year.\u201d You know I love being right, but I would have still rathered any of the other three teams in the Final Four being the victor. Oh well. (Even though Houston was one of the top four teams, they were ranked the last of those.)<\/p>\n Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n *By the way, early on in my notes, I wrote, \u201cWalter Clayton, Jr. is the new Steph Curry! I was half asleep when I first saw what he can do, but he woke me right up. Truly amazing.\u201d And then later I wrote, \u201cThis is why I watch\u2014to discover Walter Clayton, Jr.\u00a0 (Even though I detested the Gators back in 2007 when they beat my UCLA Bruins.)\u201d<\/p>\n Veteran coach Rick Pitino, whose team had already lost, comforting his granddaughter when the team headed by her dad, (his son,) was losing a day later. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n But that\u2019s the nature of March Madness; sixty-seven of the sixty-eight teams are going to wind-up miserable. I just wish that they could all remember the happiness along the journey, not just the misery when they inevitably lose.\u00a0(Mr. X added, \u201cAnd the longer you\u2019re in it, the more it hurts.\u201d Exactly.)<\/p>\n Now here are some of my happier thoughts:<\/p>\n Every year, some very unexpected person emerges from March Madness as the star. And it\u2019s rarely a player or coach. For example, in 2018, it was Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the now-one-hundred-and-five-year-old Chaplain for the Loyola-Chicago team. She\u2019s adorable, and is the most universally-beloved person I\u2019ve ever seen. And she\u2019s still\u00a0working!!<\/p>\n Well, this\u00a0year\u2019s star is Amir \u201cAura\u201d Khan<\/strong>, the student manager of the McNeese State University team. He leads the guys out of the locker room and onto the court carrying a boombox. and everyone loves him! He\u2019s the only student manager who even has an NIL deal with a few companies, which means he gets paid for companies using his \u201cname, likeness, and image.\u201d<\/p>\n The McNeese team led by their student manager, Amir \u201cAura\u201d Khan. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n The tournament started-off on a few good notes. The first was Charles Barkley<\/strong>\u2019s college, Auburn, was the overall #1 in the tournament! I\u2019m still so happy for him! (But then they lost in the Final Four, which he was actually a very good sport about. I\u00a0was not\u2014I seriously wanted them to win!)<\/p>\n And then the tourney started off with a great game right away, one that came down to literally the last second, and was won with a baseball pass to the scorer!<\/p>\n I became a fan of Johni Broome<\/strong> of Auburn. But I hate that he\u2019s pronouncing his name, which should just be pronounced \u201cJohnnie,\u201d as \u201cJa-nI.\u201d Even worse is that studio host Ernie Johnson<\/strong>, who should know better, was pronouncing it \u201cJa-nI-a.\u201d What???<\/p>\n Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Sion James<\/strong> of Duke and Marcus Caldwell<\/strong> from Wisconsin should definitely become announcers, commentators, or analysts when they\u2019re done playing. They speak beautifully! And Sion was the most well-spoken young man in the tourney! You know how much I love that!<\/p>\n A couple of the grateful UCSD guys after their loss! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Speaking of good guys, I love that Milos Uzan<\/strong> from Houston, (who is planning to enter this year\u2019s NBA Draft,) said, \u201cExcuse me\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d when he didn\u2019t understand the interviewer, instead of the usual \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n The UCSanDiego players are the nicest losers ever!\u00a0 They almost won their first and only game, and then lost at the very last second, but they all still smiled and hugged each other. Those are guys who were grateful to just make the tourney in their first year of eligibility. And the smile never left their coach\u2019s face, either, from start to finish. That\u2019s a great group of guys.<\/p>\n Bennett Stirtz’s baby skin! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Drake\u2019s Bennett Stirtz<\/strong> has the skin of a baby! If he doesn\u2019t go pro, he should become a dermatologist or facialist because patients will think he really knows how to take care of his skin!<\/p>\n Memphis coach Penny Hardaway<\/strong> looks the same as he did when he first played pro ball\u2026thirty years ago!!! I used to watch him\u00a0on the Orlando Magic with two of my guy friends who loved him sooo much that they put a doll of him, (called \u201cLittle Penny,\u201d) in front of the TV each time, for luck! Along with a giant toy penny<\/em>, of course.<\/p>\n Penny Hardaway. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n A star of Memphis has the odd moniker, Dain Dainja<\/strong>. How do parents choose to give their kid just about the same first name as his last? Oysh. It\u2019s even worse for a guy on the Texas Tech team\u2014Federiko Federiko<\/strong>! (That\u2019s not a typo.) Actually, I once knew a guy named \u201cJohn\u201d who introduced me to his brother, \u201cJon.\u201d And George Foreman (who passed away on the second day of this tournament, right after I had written this paragraph,) named all five of his sons \u201cGeorge Edward Foreman,\u201d the same as\u2026himself.\u00a0 Some parents are just weird.<\/p>\n I love this: Analyst Clark Kellogg<\/strong> said about Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope<\/strong>, who also went to med school, \u201cA phenomenal portfolio of experiences.\u201d What a great term! It made me think that all of my<\/em>\u00a0crazy situations can be bundled together into that same title. I hate borrowing other people\u2019s words when I have so many of my own, but this one is so good that I just might have to at some point!<\/p>\n (L-R) Ernie Johnson, Clark Kellogg, and Kenny Smith. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Host of the studio shows, Ernie Johnson, said of the shortest-in-height team, \u201cShoot low, boys\u2014they’re riding Shetland ponies,\u201d which only Clark Kellogg, (and I<\/em>, of course,) understood the humor of. I even had to explain it to Mr. X, (who usually gets odd statements,) at least ten times. I had never heard that expression before myself, but figured it out in a nano-second, and laughed along with the guys when Ernie explained it to them. (For the nesceints out there, \u201cShoot low, boys\u2014they’re riding Shetland ponies\u201d is a quote from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid<\/em>. It wasn\u2019t meant humorously; Sundance said it literally. It\u2019s since become used to mean shorter people.)<\/p>\n Just one example of a player rocking MY old style of pairing two different-colored sneaks! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n I\u2019m still wondering how Arizona was allowed to have so many players??? Isn\u2019t the team number regulated by the NCAA and other college entities? Each one cannot just decide for themselves willy-nilly! So what\u2019s up with that?<\/p>\n At this point in the tourney, I was also amazed that so many players were copying my iconic old school look of rocking two different color sneakers! I know that these young guys could not have seen me doing it back then, but perhaps their parents told them about my famous and much-talked-about unique fashion.<\/p>\n Analyst, and former player, Kenny Smith<\/strong>, gave a great lesson about \u201cfinding the seams\u201d on the ball, for maximum shooting effectiveness. That\u2019s\u00a0what I always used to teach my nephew, but I didn\u2019t know how to do it as well as Kenny did.<\/p>\n The Richardson<\/strong> men\u2014dad Jason<\/strong>, who was in the NBA, and his son, Michigan State\u2019s Jase<\/strong>\u2014are so adorbs! I love a father who\u2019s more famous than his son, but the son is everything to him. Jason is so much prouder to be Jase\u2019s dad than be famous himself.<\/p>\n The shells in Rueben Chinyelu’s hair. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n How is Rueben Chinyelu<\/strong> of Florida allowed to wear shell beads in the front of his braids? I know players are not allowed to wear jewelry<\/em>\u00a0because it could be dangerous to them and<\/em> everyone else on the court, so how is a decorative hair accessory\u00a0allowed?<\/p>\n Of a player on the BYU team, the play-by-play guy,\u00a0Brian Anderson<\/strong>, said, \u201cHe\u2019s 6\u20196\u201d and looks like a mini-Charles Barkley.\u201d His on-air partner, Jim Jackson<\/strong>, added, \u201cHe may be short of stature, but not of heart.\u201d Are they kidding??? They think that 6\u20196\u2019 is short<\/em>?! It\u2019s not even short for a basketball<\/em>\u00a0player!<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t had time to watch many commercials, but the ATT one about the former Villanova team, now mostly Knicks, actually makes me cry. Every time I see it!<\/p>\n I like Florida coach Todd Golden<\/strong>\u2014he sounds like just a regular guy, so basic and honest.<\/p>\n Zvonimir and Tomislav Ivisic. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Zvonimir Ivisic<\/strong> from Arkansas and his twin brother, Tomislav<\/strong>, who plays for Illinois, pronounce their last names differently! That sounds so crazy, but Mr. X also has a Croatian last name, and he and his father pronounce it differently because Mr. X American-izes it, while his father was actually from<\/em>\u00a0the old country, so he used the original pronunciation. But it\u2019s amusing for brothers<\/em>\u00a0to do that, especially when they\u2019re the same age<\/em>!<\/p>\n I absolutely adored that all four #1 teams made it to the Final Four this year! That has happened only once before, in 2008. (If you don\u2019t know how the NCAA tourney works, there are four groups of teams, seeded 1-16. And they\u2019re all chosen and ranked by a Selection Committee, which looks like geniuses this year! So there are a quartet of #1s, and even those<\/em> are ranked. There\u2019s an overall<\/em> #1\u2014which was Auburn this year\u2014down to the fourth-ranked #1. And the tournament usually features several upsets, which is one of the reasons it\u2019s March Madness.)<\/p>\n This was only the 2nd time in history that all four #1s made it to the Final Four! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Another interesting aspect of this year\u2019s Final Four was that two of the coaches were\u2026Jewish! When does that<\/em> ever happen?! And Auburn\u2019s Bruce Pearl<\/strong> and Florida\u2019s Todd Golden not only knew each other, but have worked together twice before.<\/p>\n After the Gators won their penultimate game to get into the Final, sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson<\/strong> asked the celebratory team, \u201cYou lost in the first round last year, what\u2019s different?,\u201d to which Walter Clayton, Jr. replied, \u201cWe all just love each other.\u201d But<\/em>, the real<\/em> difference is that last year\u2026they didn\u2019t have him<\/em>!!!<\/p>\n Duke player Kon Knueppel as a kid at the 2015 Championship game with Coach K then of Duke walking in the background! Photo (off TV) by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n I really wish that all the broadcasters would stop mispronouncing so many names!!! For example, Duke player Kon Knueppel<\/strong>\u2019s last name is clearly \u201cknUppel,\u201d not the \u201cknIpple\u201d they all say!!!<\/p>\n When Houston beat Duke in the Final Four, color commentator, (and two-time Champion with Duke back in the day,) Grant Hill<\/strong> said it was \u201cone of the most impressive comebacks I’ve ever seen.” That’s what I was thinking\u2014through my tears.<\/p>\n I cannot believe that anyone<\/em> beat Duke, (with their very young projected-to-be-the-#1-draft-pick, Cooper Flagg<\/strong>,) in general, especially after them being up by twelve! But Houston went on an 11-1 run at the end, and did just that.<\/p>\n And then Houston lost in the Championship game.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>