Tag: Dick Vitale

Where in the world is Marcus Freeman: Kentucky Derby edition

The man really is everywhere

A quick search of “Marcus Freeman is everywhere” on Twitter shows that the Notre Dame head football coach certainly isn’t scared to get up and go.  One minute he’s in South Bend and the next he’s at the White House.  Whether its recruiting, doing public speaking, or something in-between, Freeman is certainly active.

During the first week of May, Notre Dame’s athletic webpage started a blog to track Freeman’s whereabouts (written by Katy Lonergan) as he is booked with events nationwide this month that aren’t directly related to on-the-field activities.

So far we’ve seen Freeman be the keynote speaker at a number of Notre Dame alumni group events, tour the Under Armour headquarters, and go fishing with his starting quarterback while in the south east.

Where was Freeman to start this weekend?  Well, things began in Florida to benefit an incredible charitable cause before ending at the 149th Kentucky Derby.  Check out the latest below.

Twitter reacts to Tyler Buchner entering transfer portal

What do you think of this potential loss for the Irish?

Notre Dame fans were stunned to learn backup quarterback [autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag] has decided to test the transfer portal. While Buchner left the possibility of returning to the Irish open, it’s worth questioning how realistic that is.

Once the announcement was made, Buchner immediately was connected to Alabama, in part due to Tommy Rees being the new offensive coordinator there. Sure enough, John Brice of FootballScoop.com confirmed Buchner will visit the Tide:

Taking away the fact Buchner might end up in Tuscaloosa, people still had their opinions about his possible departure. The natural thing to do was to take to Twitter and express those opinions. They ranged from logical to speculative to emotional, but many folks had something to say. Whatever you feel about this news, chances are your thoughts accurately are portrayed by at least one of the below tweets from people with varying connections to Notre Dame:

Dick Vitale criticizes Texas for delaying in hiring Rodney Terry

Dick Vitale goes too far in his criticism of Texas’ athletic department.

Dick Vitale is not impressed by Texas’ long wait to hire Rodney Terry. He tweeted as much in a strongly worded statement on the athletic department’s delay.

Lack of class by Texas athletic board. I can buy waiting until the end of the regular season on the status of ⁦Rodney Terry. However after winning ⁦the Big 12 conference title, he deserved a multi-year deal.

That’s one way to put it. Albeit, Vitale’s take on the situation is probably too strong given Terry’s lack of proven track record prior through ten seasons as a Division I head coach.

We discussed Terry as having proven himself by winning two NCAA Tournament games. Terry did just that in reaching the Sweet 16. However, prior to those wins he had yet to put together the postseason resume to command the coaching job. Winning Big 12 Tournament titles is great, but Shaka Smart did that, too.

Texas hired former head coach Chris Beard to bring in a proven commodity. In Beard, the Longhorns had a coach who had won games in the tournament that mattered. Now that Terry has advanced in tournament play, he is more than qualified to be the coach of the future.

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Q&A: Dickie V talks March Madness and Coors-icles

The charismatic college basketball commentator opened up about returning to the game.

College basketball and Dick Vitale go hand-in-hand. Like peanut butter and jelly. Peas and carrots. Ted Lasso and his mustac — OK, OK, I’ll stop.

As we all gear up for another exciting year of March Madness, we sat down with Vitale to talk about his cancer recovery journey, getting back to the game and his new endeavor with non-alcoholic Coors-icles. (Yes, that’s a real sentence.)

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Dick Vitale shocked by Rutgers basketball being snubbed by the NCAA Tournament: ‘Everyone thought they’d be in’

Dick Vitale was surprised to see Rutgers basketball snubbed by the NCAA Tournament.

Rutgers was a primetime snub according to Dick Vitale, the former college basketball coach and ESPN analyst surprised to see Rutgers not make the NCAA Tournament.

Rutgers, with a regular season record of 18-13 (10-10 Big Ten), won in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament (against bubble team Michigan) before losing by five points to eventual champion Purdue. Rutgers came into Sunday with a NET Ranking at No. 40, considerably better than several teams that were picked at-large by the NCAA Tournament.

And yet somehow, Rutgers was left out in the cold by the NCAA Tournament. In reacting to some snubs that didn’t make sense, Vitale on Sunday night said he doesn’t understand how North Carolina State made the NCAA Tournament over Clemson and Rutgers.

“Another team I thought, it has to be Heartbreak Hotel a little bit, because I think everybody thought they’d be in… out of the Big Ten – Rutgers,” Vitale said on ESPN on Sunday night.

“Rutgers beats Purdue at Purdue – not many people go there and do that. They had the other wins in terms of  Maryland and the other people in their conference. I thought that Rutgers possibly could have got it.”

Vitale was a former Rutgers basketball assistant from 1971-73 before moving to become a head coach at Detroit (and then in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons). Born in Passaic, N.J., Vitale is one of the most high-profile analysts in college basketball.

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Twitter pays tribute to Mike Brey after final game as Notre Dame coach

What would you like to say to the departing Irish coach?

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips presented [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] with a commemorative photo before Notre Dame’s conference tourney loss to Virginia Tech. Former Irish player [autotag]Jordan Cornette[/autotag], calling the game for ACC Network, did likewise.

It was the time for it to happen because there was a very good chance that this would be the Irish’s only appearance in the tournament, and it was. Although the Hokies were the team moving on, the significance of the Irish’s loss was not lost on college basketball fans.

No one knows where Brey will end up next, but it won’t feel the same regardless. He has become so synonymous with Notre Dame that people both part and not part of the Irish’s fan base took to Twitter after the game to express their appreciation for him. He deserves all the recognition he’s getting right now, not only for what he’s done as a coach but also for who he is as a person.

Here are only some of the tributes that have been tweeted out:

Twitter reacts to Olivia Miles’ game-winning buzzer beater

People understandably are thrilled with this shot.

The three things certain in life are death, taxes and Twitter going crazy whenever a basketball player beats the buzzer to win a game. [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] did just that against Louisville to give Notre Dame a 78-76 triumph in overtime. In case you missed the shot itself, here it is:

What can you say about Miles that hasn’t been said already? She is very good in every aspect of basketball, and clutch moments like this only add to the legend she’s building for herself in South Bend. The best part is she only is a sophomore, so she has more than enough time to create even more memories. Barring an unforeseen turn of events, she is destined for the Purcell Pavilion Ring of Honor.

If you don’t believe the hype surrounding Miles, just look at some of these tweets after her buzzer beater. More people are discovering her, and they are excited to know she exists:

How Twitter reacted to Gator Bowl: Irish side

Just guessing you’re very happy right now.

If a 100-yard pick-six wasn’t going to intimidate Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl, nothing would. After South Carolina’s O’Donnell Fortune picked off a [autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag] pass to tie the score on the aforementioned play, everything looked like it would come apart in the end. Instead, Buchner wrapped up game MVP honors with this 16-yard touchdown pass to [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag], giving the Irish a 45-38 they wouldn’t relinquish:

As soon as the Gamecocks turned it over on downs with the help of some dumb penalties on their part, Irish fans were ready to celebrate the program’s first bowl victory in three years. It punctuated a 9-4 season that will serve as a passing grade for [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag]’s first season at the helm. To end with that and a ranking in the final poll is a good year in anyone’s book. If you don’t believe that, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t, take a look at some of these postgame tweets from Irish fans:

Twitter reacts to Logan Diggs’ go-ahead touchdown in Gator Bowl

Pretty run.

It turned out [autotag]Braden Lenzy[/autotag] wasn’t content with a game-tying touchdown in the Gator Bowl. Apparently, getting in on a successful fake punt was necessary, too. Lenzy was on the receiving end of such a play, and he picked up 20 yards to keep Notre Dame’s first fourth-quarter drive alive. It was a bit of revenge for South Carolina pulling the same stunt in the first quarter and scoring a touchdown off of it.

While Lenzy didn’t score a touchdown on this particular fake punt, he did set one up. Three plays later, [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag] ran for a 39-yard score, his second of the game, to give the Irish a 38-31 lead, their first of the game:

If the Irish come away with a victory, that sequence will be one of many things the fan base looks back on. In fact, many members wanted to look back on it immediately, and you can see that through these tweets:

Twitter reacts to Tyler Buchner’s second touchdown of Gator Bowl

He did it again.

[autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag] must have a thing for scoring game-tying touchdowns. Doing it in the first quarter of the Gator Bowl to tie it at 7 was impressive. He did it again in the third quarter, this time to knot the score at 24.

Notre Dame hasn’t led in the game up to this point, but some offensive skills players contributed to the cause on its first scoring drive of the second half. A couple of nice runs by [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] and a 25-yard reception to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag] set the Irish up in the South Carolina red zone. They were in that red zone for exactly one play as Buchner scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, this one from 11 yards out:

We don’t know if the Irish will win this game, but we know Buchner will be a big reason if they do. We also know people were happy with this latest touchdown as evidenced by Twitter: