This Regional Should Be Called the Frozen Four

News, notes, buzzer beaters, loud horns, barometric readings and NCAA wind-chill factors while thinking how terrific it is upstate New York should receive a thorough dusting of snow just in time for the holidays (Easter).

News item: NCAA holds East Regional in Syracuse.

Second thought: Dear diary: Nearly did not make it to Friday’s second-round games staged on polar icecap. Held over in Chicago on Thursday after white-out storm cancels flight into Syracuse. Many thanks to Admiral Byrd for landing us safely in time for Friday games. Have seen more falling snow in two days here than 23 at recent Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

High temperature Friday was 23 degrees. Folks here call it “lake-effect” snow. Supposed to taper off sometime around July 4. Yesterday stopped to admire ice sculpture outside Carrier Dome. Soon realized it was a Maryland guard, frozen in his tracks on his way to practice. Was thinking they should rename arena “Carrier Nome.”

Used to think John Wooden was best basketball coach of all time. Now convinced it is Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim. Any guy who can get to two national title games recruiting players to an ice rink is tops in my book.

Brilliant move for NCAA to stage a regional during “Black Ice” season.

Thinking: if frostbite is prerequisite for landing future NCAA bids, look for proposals next year from Billings, Mont., Anchorage, Alaska, and Bangor, Maine.

Funny thing happened during Friday’s second regional semifinal game. Public address man announced time for Sunday’s regional final had been set for 5:10 p.m.

Crowd booed so loudly I thought Tonya Harding had just walked in.

Fans booing a start time? Word was folks were outraged at having to venture out of their homes at night.

Only in Syracuse. Only in spring.

News item: Steve Lavin leads UCLA to another Sweet 16 appearance.

Second thought: It’s not easy being Lavin. To paraphrase those sound-bite, Hollywood-driven analogies he likes to feed the national press:

It’s like Groundhog Day, Mutiny on the Bounty, Dial M for Murder. It’s the theater of the absurd. It’s like Lazarus, pulling rabbits out of a hat. It’s like The Fugitive and I’m the one-armed man. It’s like the Brady Bunch and I’m Jan. It’s The Caine Mutiny and I’m Bogart. It’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it’s the Comeback Kid, the Cincinnati Kid, it’s Jason Kidd, it’s Jason in Friday the 13th.

Of course, for those of us who watch this yo-yo drama play out every winter and spring at the Westwood Playhouse, it’s always going to be “Same Time Next Year.”

News item: Oklahoma guard Hollis Price sticks negative newspaper article in his shoe to inspire him against Arizona.

Second thought: Steve Lavin, recently listed at 6 feet 7 in the UCLA program, has also taken to stuffing negative news clips in his shoes.

News item: ESPN’s Dick Vitale says after Indiana upsets Duke that Hoosier Coach Mike Davis has done a “solid” job replacing Bob Knight.

Second thought: Solid? Counting Saturday’s win over Kent State, Davis has won twice as many NCAA tournament games this year, four, than Knight has chalked up in his last seven tournaments. Knight was 2-6 in his last six years at Indiana and is 0-1 at Texas Tech.

Solid? Never has a compliment rung so hollow, and been so revealing, especially emanating from the mouth of the hyperbolic Vitale, a man who thinks everyone and everything in college hoops is “super-duper-diaper dandy.”

Vitale was clearly in a tough journalistic spot. He made the comments in the emotional and immediate aftermath of Indiana’s dramatic one-point victory over Duke. Not only had Davis and Indiana upended Vitale’s favorite team, any praiseworthy statements about Indiana would have to be made in the context of Knight, another hallowed figure.

Before the game, Davis complained about what it’s been like following Knight: “The ghost will never go away,” Davis said.

Davis’ point was that a lot of people, on and off camera, don’t want to give up the ghost.

To his credit, on a later edition, upon reflection, Vitale upgraded Davis’ performance from “solid” to “fantastic.”

For sure, what Davis has done this year has been at least as “solid” as what Knight accomplished at Texas Tech.

News item: Federal indictment alleges former Michigan booster Ed Martin gave more than $600,000 to former Wolverine basketball players.

Second thought: If convicted, some legal experts think Martin could receive a sentence of Fab Five-to-10 in the local penitentiary.

News item: As academic institution, Michigan fancies itself as “Harvard of the Midwest.”

Second thought: No word yet whether school is considering a new motto, “Gomorrah of the Great Lakes.”

News item: According to reports, 24 of the 65 schools in NCAA tournament have zero graduation rate for players dating back to freshman class of 1994.

Second thought: Terrific. And all this time during the tournament I’ve been doing what I’ve been told by NCAA officials and addressing all the players as “student-athletes.”

News item: Missouri loses to Oklahoma in West Regional final.

Second thought: I thought down the stretch it looked flat, listless and lacking continuity and texture. Missouri? No, Coach Quin Snyder’s hair.

News item: Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno suspends player five games after DUI charge.

Second thought: Paterno told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I don’t want to be ruthless, but I don’t want to be toothless.” Paterno isn’t just blowing smoke. At age 75, dental hygiene is a legitimate concern.

News item: Salt Lake City Olympics savior Mitt Romney announces he’ll run for governor of Massachusetts.

Second thought: Wow, have to say this completely caught me off guard. I thought for certain Romney would retreat from the public eye after the Games and lead a quiet life of introspection and contemplation. Using the Olympics as a springboard to political office? Nope, sorry, didn’t see that one coming.