Jerod Haase ruins Brackets: Round 1 of the UNC Coaching Tree

Jerod Haase ruined my bracket yesterday when the UAB Blazers upset the three seed Iowa State Cyclones to advance to the round of thirty two. Haase, the former North Carolina Tar Heels assistant coach, is in his second year as head coach of the Blazers. This was his first tournament game.

The Blazers are also part of the Conference USA basketball conference which I criticized by calling it a weaker conference and a possible distraction for the Charlotte 49ers in hiring a new coach. Naturally the Blazers would then go and knock out one of my Final Four teams.

Why does anyone pick against UAB in the first place? The Blazers have a colorful NCAA Tournament history which includes a win against number one seed Kentucky in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. The coach who engineered that win, Mike Anderson. The same Mike Anderson who is now waiting for the Tar Heels with his Arkansas Razorbacks. The world is a small place.

Larry Brown

The other member of the North Carolina coaching tree who coached yesterday was Larry Brown. Brown faced a former team, which is just normal for Larry Brown. Brown’s SMU Mustangs played the UCLA Bruins. Brown once coached the Bruins to the Tournament final.

UCLA had gotten a lot of flak for being in the Tournament at all, and they should have been motivated to play. They were and they beat SMU on the last shot of the game, a three pointer that was ruled a goaltend by the officials. Goaltending is not a reviewable call unlike determining whether a shot is a two or a three. That is how Larry Brown’s first trip back to the tournament ended, a one point loss to a former team.