Point Beach Presence in the Sweet 16

If you have no interest whatsoever in the NCAA Basketball Tournament then you’ve likely have had enough of hearing about “March Madness.”  However for those of us that do love this 3-week odyssey I can only tell you that the first few days were indeed maddening.

Amazing upsets, incredible buzzer-beaters, tears of joy and sadness. It’s what makes this an annual obsession for college basketball fans and even those who only care because they filled out a bracket.  The field of 68 teams is down to 16 and features favorites like Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia and surprise teams like Gonzaga, Syracuse and Wisconsin.

Notre Dame is in the Sweet 16 thanks to a last-second victory over Stephen F. Austin and the Fighting Irish will play Wisconsin on Friday in Philadelphia.  That will likely mean sophomore guard Matt Farrell will be busy trying to fill ticket requests for family and friends for the short trip to Philly.  Farrell who led Point Beach to the Shore Conference Tournament title in 2014, has started the last two games for Notre Dame and Sunday played 31 minutes while contributing 8 points and 4 assists in front of a very friendly crowd in Brooklyn.

His former Garnett Gulls teammate did not fare as well as Dom Uhl’s Iowa Hawkeyes lost to Villanova also at the Barclay’s Center.  Uhl scored 3 points in ten minutes of action coming off the bench.

By the way after spending the weekend watching basketball while fighting this chest cold I have memorized commercials for Southwest Airlines, Northwestern Mutual, Capital One and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Speaking of basketball and I am for the second straight year Shore Conference teams will meet in the title game of the girls Tournament of Champions.  Tonight at the Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton defending champion Manasquan takes on a St. John Vianney team that has beaten them three times this season including last month in the Shore Conference Tournament finals.

Also tonight Monmouth University continues its run in the NIT when the Hawks host George Washington at 7 p.m. and a Hawks win would send them into the quarterfinals where they would welcome the University of Florida to West Long Branch on Wednesday night.