SportsShooter.com - OT-Best tournament ever; and there's more to come.

	Indiana \| IN \| USA \| Posted: 1:51 AM on 04.06.10
	->> Matt Howard of Butler went to the same high school I did and the town is very proud of the way he played and the way he conducts himself on the court. He's got a great, supportive family too. He'll be back for his senior year.

Sean D. Elliot, Photographer, Photo Editor

	Norwich \| CT \| USA \| Posted: 11:24 AM on 04.06.10
	->> Phil, I hope you are right about tonight's game ... I can't imagine Stanford will be a Jeanette Pohlen coast-to-coast race from the win in the final seconds ... but close enough that the UConn starters have to be on the floor until the buzzer would be good enough for me.

Chuck Liddy, Photographer

	Durham \| NC \| USA \| Posted: 12:15 PM on 04.06.10
	->> jeff, I gotta agree with kevin. if you don't like college basketball you'd better get your pulse checked.....8)

Robert Scheer, Photographer

	Indianapolis \| IN \| USA \| Posted: 12:35 PM on 04.06.10
	->> Ditto, ditto, ditto. I've never been in a more electrically charged basketball game. When that last shot clanked off the rim, the gasp gave me chills. The commentary I've seen has nailed it. One champion, two winners. Off to the post tourney celebration at Hinkle in a bit. . . If Butler had won, they would have had a six-mile parade from campus to downtown.

Phil Hawkins, Photographer

	Fresno \| ca \| usa \| Posted: 4:31 PM on 04.06.10
	->> ...and Indianapolis would have had a party in the streets that makes Chapel Hill's Franklin Street look like a little girl's tea party. I will never forget the day I pulled into Indy on a Sat. night in 1976 and people were throwing toilet paper, screaming, running through the streets, and found out later that Carmel High School had just won the state high school championship.

Jeff Lewis, Photographer

Long Beach | CA | USA | Posted: 6:10 PM on 04.06.10

->> I guess here in LA, I am spoiled by the pro game and the elite athletes that play. Honestly, I have never really been a college basketball fan and here in LA with the Lakers, Clippers, UCLA basketball, and USC basketball, its hard to pull for a college team when the team changes every year and one of the pro teams win championships.

UCLA and USC lose top freshman and sophomore players every year to the NBA to the point that UCLA could hardly win a game this season and USC is on probation for the OJ Mayo situation. The Lakers have had their lineup intact for several years now. Except for a player here and there, they are pretty much the same team every year and they win championships.

UCLA would probably have won several championships if Kevin Love, Jordan Farmar, Trevor Ariza, Darren Collison, etc., would have stayed but they all leave, and with that goes my little love I had for the college game.

I do like college football though. Football players are too small to come out of HS to play pro football and there is a three year rule keeping them in college. Same rule in college baseball. In baseball, you need to choose weather you are going pro out of HS or if you are going to play your minimum three years at a school. Why can't there be the same rule with college basketball?

..... I did notice Duke started three seniors and two juniors. Probably why they won. The team has been together for at least three seasons.

.......4 freshmen and 9 sophomores is almost 20% of the NBA draft. The 22 that were seniors last year is just over a 33% of the draft where 20 years ago, that number was at around 80-90%. Most of the 4,000 D1 athletes in college basketball never have a remote chance of making it to the NBA because there are only 60 draft slots available and only 450 player slots in the NBA.

Who is the next college Lou Alcindor, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robinson, Walt Hazzard, Bill Walton, James Worthy, Patrick Ewing, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson, Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Manning, etc.? I guarantee you he will not be a senior and probably will come out of the NCAA as a freshman or sophomore.

Jeff

J.J. Alcantara, Student/Intern

Baton Rouge | LA | USA | Posted: 6:51 PM on 04.06.10

->> Jeff,

College basketball is one of the most fun sports to watch and is probably my favorite sport to shoot.

But I do agree in that I dislike the one-and-done rule. It's not because I think it's ruining the college game (because I don't), but mainly because there won't be the UCLA-like dynasties anymore. The college game will forever be missing the Alcindors, Waltons or the Pistol Petes.

In the future, however, the college game may see a drop in talent if more high school players follow the footsteps of Brandon Jennings —> play in Europe for a year, get drafted and play in the pros. With Jennings' success, it could happen, but I can't say for certain. In addition to that, IF it does happen, the NBA could be affected if more players sign with Euro leagues then get stuck there (like Rubio); then those teams have wasted a draft pick — though it's not like the T-Wolves are going to miss another point guard.

But that's my $0.02/conspiracy.

Robert Scheer, Photographer

Indianapolis | IN | USA | Posted: 9:28 PM on 04.06.10

->> Jeff, I hear you. But I have to say, it's all about location. North Carolina and Kansas residents know what I'm talking about.

Until I moved to Indiana in '98, I really couldn't care less about college or high school basketball. I can't dribble or shoot to save my life, but the sport gets into your bones here. Sure the Colts are the biggest pro thing going, but the heart of Indiana was/is/always will be basketball.

After covering big schools in Northern California for a few years, the first prep game I shot in Indiana just blew me away. The skill of the kids here is freaky, and the average fan here understands the game on a profound level. Early-season high school match ups can get crowds well into the thousands.

From the last days of Bob Knight, to Purdue's great ladies teams a few years back, to Greg Oden's Lawrence North back to back to back state titles, to Butler's rise to prominence, it's been a fun ride.

http://tinyurl.com/y9blxsh

Eileen Blass, Photographer

	xxxxx \| xx \| USA \| Posted: 9:51 PM on 04.06.10
	->> I've never covered a more amazing basketball game....It was basketball nirvana.

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