NCAA tourney article

[bob miller <bob@mymenus.com>]

Interesting exerpts of article by Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe about the
NCAA tourney:
http://www.boston.com

"Now this may come as a surprise to the whiners, moaners and naysayers who
have spent all season declaring that college basketball just ain't what it
used to be because of the troubling premature defections to the NBA, but we
are in the midst of yet another great NCAA tournament. Of course, it would
have been nice if the 1997 tournament included Allen Iverson, Shareef
Abdur-Rahim, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Stephon Marbury and the rest of the
early entries from the last couple of years, but it doesn't, and there's
nothing we can do about it.

"Ever heard of Andre Woolridge? Probably not. Woolridge plays for Iowa and
he is as good as any point guard in America, only you don't know that
because he doesn't have the benefit of Jacque Vaughn's PR machine. I knew
who Woolridge was in name only. I had not watched more than a snippet of
Iowa basketball this season, and all I knew about this kid is that Bob
Knight was quoted as saying that Woolridge was, in his judgment, the MVP of
the Big Ten.

"Now I know why. Andre Woolridge can Capital P, Play. Against Virginia he
had 26 points and zero turnovers. He was listed for four turnovers against
the Kentucky press, but he torched the Wildcats for 29 points as Iowa took
the Wildcats to the wire. He has a pro body, he can handle the ball, he has
extraordinary court vision, and he has all the shooting range you'd want. I
didn't find my mind drifting into thoughts of Iverson or Marbury as long as
Woolridge was on the floor.

"No stars, huh? I just had the immense good fortune to be covering the West
Regional, and all I know is that I saw a lot of kids who can play some
basketball. I saw Danya Abrams and Scoonie Penn from Boston College. I saw
high lottery pick Ron Mercer from Kentucky. I saw Rashid Bey of St.
Joseph's (``As good as any point guard we've ever played'' - BC coach Jim
O'Brien). I saw a St. Joe's freshman guard named Arthur ``Yah'' Davis, a
superb talent I fully expect to see in the NBA someday. I saw an Iowa
junior forward named Ryan Bowen attack the glass for 16 rebounds against
Virginia and eight more against Kentucky, and in so doing draw warm words
of praise from Rick Pitino. I saw an extraordinary long-range shooter from
Valparaiso named Bryce Drew nail six consecutive 3-pointers against BC in
as amazing a downtown shooting exhibition as I've seen since Frankie
Johnson almost won a playoff game against the Celtics with a barrage of
ICBMs back in 1982."