My Week that Was - March 23

Outside our window. 3/20/24 dwm

 The weekend was quiet, which was what I had hoped. After a workout, shower, and getting something to eat, I picked up supplies for the office and dropped them off before getting my car cleaned and heading home. 

 After that, the day was spent signing May birthday cards, writing a blog, and watching several basketball games. I enjoy championship week as teams play for a title and admission to the NCAA tournament. 

 Wisconsin played well in the Big Ten tournament, making it to the title game and punching its ticket for the 2024 tournament.

 In addition to the basketball and signing cards, over the weekend we finalized accommodations for our fall trip, and watched Oppenheimer.  That's a good weekend. 

 Monday I printed my bracket and spent time picking the games. It's for fun and gives me something to write on over the next three weekends.  I'm pulling for Wisconsin, Drake, and Marquette - beyond those three teams, I'm rooting for good games and upsets.

Our work team interviewed two potential database providers Tuesday. Both are promising and would represent steps into the 21st century for our technology. I'm convinced that we'll be OK with whichever company we choose.  Our next step is reviewing notes from the virtual meetings and deciding if we need more information before moving forward.

Wednesday was the end of my work week. I spent the day on the east campus. Most days are a mix of appointments and working in my office. If I feel cooped up in the office, I'll walk across campus to check the mail or make a delivery. I've learned through the years that invariably I'll run into at least one, if not more, residents that turn into meaningful conversations or at least sharing pleasantries.

That anecdotal memory was validated, when I ran into two different people who wanted to start a monthly gift or arrange a visit. I had another conversation with a third person on that trip. As I walked back to the office, I thought, 'that's why I get out of the office!'

Thursday and Friday are traditionally days off for me to watch the opening two rounds of the NCAA tournament.  It started when we lived in Pierre, South Dakota in 1987. Just two years earlier the field doubled from 32 to 64. In Pierre, I worked at KELO-TV as a reporter-photographer. Part of my watching tradition was getting a quart-size malt from Zesto's Ice Cream stand.

Our station's owner also owned the cable systems and one of my benefits was free cable. That meant I could watch the opening weekend on ESPN. I wasn't able to watch every year, there were a few times I didn't have enough vacation time, but I haven't missed many. 

The second game of the tournament matched a 6-seed against an 11-seed, Brigham Young University versus Duquesne, a school in Pittsburgh making its first appearance since 1977. It's the kind of game that makes the tourney exciting.  

There were other upsets Thursday. The biggest was 14-seed Oakland taking down 3-seed Kentucky. They advanced to play North Carolina State Saturday. N.C. State had to win their conference tournament to be in the tournament, they won their opener and have a real shot at playing next week!

Drake lost to Washington State after having a lead late in their Thursday night game. The Cougars had a bit more than the Bulldogs brought; it was the difference. 

Thursday night into Friday morning, we received the snow we were supposed to get. Forecasts estimated up to five inches around Madison. It was a heavy, wet snow with a lot of melting - I doubt we got more than two inches here and the snow on pavement melted before the day was out. Fresh snow looks nice.

Same tree with icing. 3/22/24 dwm

Marquette won their game Friday. They were behind at the half but came out fast after intermission to pull away for the win. As a second seed, it was a game they were supposed to win, they'll play a surprising Colorado team on Sunday.

The games on Thursday and Friday come in waves of four games. The first round of games start at staggered times to keep the games from ending at the same time. That doesn't always work and if a couple games go longer than usual, the late games, scheduled to start between 8:30 and 9:15 pm CDT, start even later. I was hoping Wisconsin's late game wouldn't start much later than intended. 

Most of Friday's games didn't go down to the wire but two did and their game clocks were almost synchronized. Colorado held off higher-seed Florida 102 - 100 and Yale, from the Ivy League, pulled the biggest shock with a two point win over Auburn, 78-76. It was fun to watch both teams, even though I didn't pick them.

12-seed James Madison ran roughshod over #5 Wisconsin in their first round game Friday night. They were faster and played much better defense,  The Dukes turned the Badgers over and over again running us out of the gym. In the second half, Wisconsin got as close as 6 but promptly fell behind double-digits.

It's hard to figure out what Wisconsin team this was, the team that jumped out to a great start this season reaching #6 in the polls or the gang that couldn't shoot straight and looked rattled when the opponent was faster than us or threw something at us we didn't recognize.

The most frustrating thing to watch were the occasions when we forgot what worked. They played their best when they moved the ball around and worked it inside the lane before kicking it out for a three-point attempt.  When the ball stopped moving, we were in trouble.

The effort was there. This team worked hard and their taste of success showed their potential. On the other hand, the 8 losses in 11 games and result in Brooklyn last night indicate this team will have to look and act a lot different to achieve different results.

Congratulations to James Madison University. They hustled across the court, demonstrating they could play with a Power-5 conference team. It will be interesting to see how they do against Duke Sunday afternoon.

Marquette is left to carry the banner from here, I got interested in Marquette when they won the NCAA tournament in 1977. If it can't be Bucky or Drake, why not the Golden Eagles.

I enjoy watching a lot of basketball, so if an under-performing team is my biggest problem, I have a blessed life indeed.  Have a great week!