March Madness speeds into its second week and once again, Sports Illustrated is NCAA Tournament-centric with BYU’s Jimmer Fredette on the cover. Let’s take a look at what’s inside this week’s issue which has some very interesting stories. As usual, SI tells what bonus material is available in the tablet issues.
Baylor Women’s Basketball Could Win It All This Year and For Years to Come
Lesson Learned: Buck Showalter Takes a Closer Look at All His Years In Baseball
LaMarcus Aldridge: Perhaps The NBA’s Best Two-Way Player
College Football Spring Practice: A Time-Honored Tradition That Changed The Game Forever
Tablet-Exclusive Story: Christian Laettner’s Shot Heard Round The World(NEW YORK – March 23, 2010) – If the first weekend of the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was an indication of how the rest will play out, we are in for an incredible month of March. The first two rounds brought amazing game-winning shots, questionable officiating and memorable names. In the March 28, 2011, issue of Sports Illustrated—available today—senior writer Tim Layden (@SITimLayden) says that although the operation of the tournament is run down to a science, it’s the lack of predictability that makes make it enticing every year.
Layden writes: “It is a model of order and efficiency that might produce a predictable and uninteresting tournament, except for this: the games are played, coached and officiated by human beings whose very unpredictability in the crucible of the one-and-done Big Dance—especially the first weekend—becomes the soul of the event.”
Layden also mentions how the NCAA Tournament brings new faces—such as PG Joey Rodriguez, who has led VCU to three straight tournament wins and the Sweet 16; and Marquette coach Buzz Williams who has spent time at nine different colleges since 1990— to the national spotlight. It has moments that will live on long after the tournament is done, both good (a game winning three-pointer from Morehead State’s Demonte Harper to beat Louisville) and bad (Pittsburgh forward Nasir Robinson’s inexplicable foul on Butler’s Matt Howard). To read the full story click here.
Also on the Tablet: Watch every men’s tournament game by downloading the free March Madness on Demand App. For up-to-the-minute game photos, download the free Sports Illustrated Front Row App on Flipboard.
TOWERING POWER – L. JON WERTHEIM
Baylor University women’s basketball has a great chance to win its second national championship in six years and become a powerhouse for years to come. Senior writer L. Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim) says much of the Bears’ success falls on the shoulders of its star player, 6’8” center Brittney Griner. The tallest women’s player in the NCAA, Griner is blessed with an 88-inch wingspan and is one of the best athletes in the women’s game today. She is also the first female player to ever have dunked in the half-court set.
Calling her a great player is stating the obvious, as Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey says, “Look, this is a once-in-a-lifetime player, I mean, she plays above the rim.” To read the full story click here.
BUCK TO THE FUTURE – TOM VERDUCCI
Last season, the Baltimore Orioles were at a paltry .305 winning percentage before new manage Buck Showalter arrived midseason. After that, the team played.596 ball, making them one of the most interesting story lines heading into the 2011 season. Senior writer Tom Verducci spent time with Showalter to see how much he is enjoying himself at Spring Training in Sarasota, FL.
Showalter—who has had successful runs in three previous stops in New York, Arizona and Texas—realizes this could be his last chance to do what he loves: teach baseball players the way the game is suppose to be played. Showalter is efficient and provides concepts that many veterans have never even heard about. Said 14-year veteran first baseman Derek Lee: “The other day, I learned something about staying out of a double play in a first-and-third situation I never had heard before.” To read the full story click here.
Also on the Tablet: Sports Illustrated examines four pervious midseason coaching changes in Major League Baseball that were as widely successful as the Buck Showalter hiring last year.
YOU CAN COUNT ON HIM – CHRIS MANNIX
LaMarcus Aldridge, who is in his fifth season with the Portland Trailblazers, is becoming one of the best two-way players in the NBA. This season, he is averaging career highs in points, rebounds and steals while matching career highs in assists and blocked shots. Says Blazers coach Nate McMillan: “In our league most players play either offense or defense, you can’t find many players who can dominate at both ends. LaMarcus can.”
Aldridge has always brought his best effort to everything he has done including the biggest challenge of his life. Staff writer Chris Mannix (@chrismannixsi) details how Aldridge dealt with the news of his mother, Georgia, being diagnosed with cancer. Aldridge has always been the rock of the family and is the influence his mother needs to keep on fighting. To read the full story click here.
Also on the Tablet: Chris Mannix breaks down his NBA “All-Underrated Team”.
REBUILD, RECHARGE, RENEW – LARS ANDERSON
Since it began in 1889, spring practice for college football teams has been a chance to forget about the past and look ahead to the future. Players are discovered and coaches see how their team will handle the upcoming fall season. As senior writer Lars Anderson describes the scene at LSU, this is as important of a building block as any that will occur during the season.
Retired Florida State coach Bobby Bowden recalled a spring practice that he spent with legendary coach Bear Bryant in 1960, when he was in his second season at Howard College: “Looking back, that day was the single most important one in my 56 years of coaching. I took everything that I saw from Bryant and applied it to what I was going to do as a head coach.” To read the full story click here.
Also on the Tablet: Sports Illustrated slide show from 2011 spring practices.
SCORECARD – GEORGE DOHRMANN/PETER KING
Senior writers George Dohrmann (@georgedohrmann) and Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) take a look at two historic athletes whose lives are beginning to go in opposite directions. Dohrmann chronicles the upcoming Barry Bonds trial as he depicts how both the prosecution and defense will approach their cases while Peter King spent a day with Michael Vick and Tony Dungy at the Avon Park Correctional Institute where Vick gave a motivational speech to many of the prisoners.
When Vick was asked by one prisoner what he would have done different, his response was “nothing”. Said Vick, “I mean, make some better choices. But I needed time to change. Everything happens for a reason.” For the full Peter King story click here. For the full George Dohrmann story, click here.
TABLET EXCLUSIVE: THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD – ALEXANDER WOLFF
On March 28, 1992, one of the greatest college basketball games was ever played between the Duke Blue Devils and Kentucky Wildcats which ended on a last second game-winning shot from Duke’s star forward Christian Laettner. In a tablet-exclusive, senior writer Alexander Wolff‘s article from December 28, 1992 is reused as it looks back at the closing minutes of an intense contest at the Philadelphia Spectrum. Wolff talks with the players, coaches, referees and announcers involved in the game to gain perspective on what was going through their heads, as well as touching base with fans and former players from each program about how the game played out for them.
Also on the Tablet: Video of the Laettner’s game-winning shot. Alex Wolff discusses the incredible interviews he conducted for his 1992 story in a podcast interview with media writer Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch).
THIS WEEK’S FACES IN THE CROWD
Waverly Neer (Russiaville, IND) – Indoor Track & Field Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL) – Basketball
Elizabeth Williams (Virginia Beach, VA) – Basketball Ty Timphony (Covington, LA) – Powerlifting
Natalie Goodman (O’Fallon, IL) – Bowling Ethan Settlemires (Kossuth, MS) – Shooting
That is all.
