Seth Greenberg Has a Few Thoughts on Joe Lunardi
College Basketball, Media Gossip/Musings March 12th. 2008, 1:04pm
Two days ago, Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg took part in an over-the-phone interview on EPSN First Take (I know; I can’t believe I was watching it either). When the venerable Dana Jacobson informed Greenberg the Hokies were a bubble team currently on the outside of Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament, Greenberg proclaimed what most of America has known all along:
â€Who cares? You think Joe Lunardi knows the exact field? You think that his word is (gold) and they’re sitting there in Indianapolis going ‘Virginia Tech, they’re out now. We’re putting them out. We’re putting someone ahead of them.’ It’s all speculation.”
Keep in mind, this occurred while Lunardi sat in the same studio as Jacobson and partner Jay Crawford. And it didn’t stop, as Seth channeled his inner Stone Cold and managed to politely take a jab at a few more talking heads.
“Quite honestly, whether it’s Hubert Davis, Joe Lunardi, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas… they don’t really know! Everyone will say ‘Well he almost got the whole field, he only missed 2 or 3.’ Well you know what? Two or three is a lot because you can pick probably the first 30. If we’re not in (the tournament) today, so be it…
“You know, if you use Joe’s logic, we beat Wake Forest by 20, UAB lost to Memphis by 40 and they went from being one of the last 4 out to the last 4 in, so you go figure it out… You’re telling me a 1 point, at-the-buzzer loss to Clemson at Clemson on senior night and all of the sudden, we’re a bad team and we don’t even deserve consideration?â€
No one is saying Virginia Tech is a bad team, but Greenberg raises a good point: nobody knows what will happen, so people like Joe Lunardi should be minimized on television. If everyone knew what was coming, nobody would watch the tournament. It’s the exact reason people stopped watching Around the Horn years ago.
55 Responses to “Seth Greenberg Has a Few Thoughts on Joe Lunardi”
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March 12th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Greenberg is right but he is also a douchebag.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Seth Greenberg is my new hero, even if he looks in that picture like what I figure Mike Bibby will look like in 25 years.
Anybody who acts like they know who’s in and out and who the committee will select is full of shit.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
he is also a douchebag.
cbh49er, I have always wondered how this guy gets so much facetime. We were seeing and hearing about him even when he was at South Florida.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
What’s an ‘Around The Horn’?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Good for Seth Greenberg.
“Who cares?” That sentiment applies to about every ESPN analyst’s opinions, does it not?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Man, Lex Luthor put on a few pounds when he started coaching VT
March 12th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
fixed
March 12th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
yeah i didnt think this was TBL
March 12th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
this is why i hate the NCAA tourney.
i hate baseless speculation. its like the NFL draft but with a shitty sport and with a bunch of assholes saying shit about teams theyve probably never watched more than a highlight clip of. of all of them, i trust lunardi more than digger phelps and hubert. you think digger has ever watched a single game of Oral Roberts or Western Kentucky?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I love Seth Greenberg for these comments. He’s 100% correct. It’s all speculation. Lundardi has been ‘tracking the field’ since the BEGINNING OF THE SEASON and guess what? It means jack squat.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I like Virginia Tech, but you have to admit that the RPI of their opponents’ out of conference schedule in December was pretty weak.
/sarcasm
March 12th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I remember an April Fool’s day episode of Around the Horn where at the end they announced they had been cancelled. It ended up being a joke but I definitely thought it was true.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Fair time to bring up the time that photographer in Alaska … ran a weird pictorial spread on Greenberg’s daughter?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Jay…now that was funny. good impression too.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
cbh, we could only be so lucky
March 12th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
V Tech and Miami are in the ACC will get 5. S. Alabama can not get in the Sun Belt is awful. The SEC will probably only get 5 teams.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
You’re welcome, cbh.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I disagree, if Va Tech loses their opening round ACC game they won’t get in. South Alabama I think will, their resume is just as good as Gonzaga’s who everyone assumes is getting in.
\Dr. cbh49er
March 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I’m wondering whose ‘job’ is more worthless between Joe Lunardi and Todd McShay.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Haha, thanks Nick, you said it much better.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
J Style - have you been here?
S Alabama has as many top 50 wins as miami, and three more than VT. It didn’t play the schedule like those ACC guys, but went 1-3 vs. the SEC.
Just an opinion, but i dont think it’s nearly as open and shut as you say.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
mcshay. he just poaches from mel kiper and mike mayock.
lunardi at least appears to be giving some new insight.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
butler didnt look that impressive last night for a #10 ranked team
and people were giving me shit about liking memphis hahahahaha
butler is a joke
March 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
irish…cleveland state is an underrated team. they played a decently tough OOC schedule.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Patrick…Matthew Berry has the most useless job at ESPN
March 12th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Greenberg is an asshat. All the talking heads make predictions about whatever their ’specialty’ is and Greenberg was likely letting off a little steam because his team is on the bubble.
Gasp! Information I received from Lunardi!
March 12th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
my god. there are more of us out there. i’m getting a little misty. this is probably my favorite TBL post of 2008.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Did Dana Jacobsen react to this verbal beating of one of her colleagues by downing a bottle of Belvadere and saying “Fuck Hokies”?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
roman, you are dead on. anyone who casually plays fantasy sports could get most of the stuff right that “the talented mr. roto” gets right.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
@spencer- you been to that place called RAscals near Cleve State?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Jacobsen was too busy reading Amanda Beards advice on how to handle guys who call you a horse-face.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Why would ESPN minimize Lunardi?
Especially when coaches are obsessed with him and we’re talking about him right now
March 12th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Jake, you’re a smart man.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
If you hate baseless speculation why are you posting on blogs like this and how do you follow sports??? Why are you wasting your time if you hate speculating on whos in, whos best, who stinks, etc???
If you knew the outcome already whats the fun???
Every fan speculates. Its what makes the games and the sports fun.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
what’s lunardi’s track record, something like 94 percent correct the past five years?
sure it’s speculation, just like when greenberg used to go on tampa sports radio each week and talk about his sorry-assed team at south florida.
if lunardi is hitting at a 94 percent rate, i’d say that’s informed speculation. maybe greenberg should worry a bit more about his own team. nice of him to try to make lunardi a scapegoat than worry about why he couldn’t coach up va-tech into a tournament bid.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Isn’t this somewhat biting the hand that feeds you…without ESPN’s coverage and exposure of college basketball these guys wouldn’t be making half of what they do
Va Tech shouldn’t even be mentioned as a bubble team…with UNC Ashville’s loss I think they can proudly say they didn’t beat an NCAA team all season (unless someone from their conference wins their tournament)
March 12th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The veneration of Lunardi is completely insane. My favorite was a couple years ago, when on the Sunday morning SportCenter on the day the bracket was announced, they were asking Lunardi to talk about the “8-9 matchups” in his bracket and how he saw some of those games playing out. So they were asking him to talk about made-up matchups for a made-up bracket.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I haven’t seen a game this season other than those involving tOSU, and I could probably hit 85% fairly easily just by looking at standings. Is the extra 9% Lunardi hits valuable? Probably not, but it has us talking about it, so ESPN is doing something right.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
EM, that’s classic.
Jimmy, Greenberg is a douche but I would say he did a fine coaching job this year, no one expected Va Tech to even be in the discussion for an NCAA bid this year.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
The conference RPI of the ACC is #3. The Sun Belt is what 20? Miami beat VCU, Miss. St, Clemson, Va. Tech and oh yeah Duke a 2 seed. S. Ala beat Miss. St. as well but their only other quality win is over SanDiego who was not in until they won the WCC. It’s not like they ran the Sun Belt either if they went undefeated in conference (see Davidson) then they would be worth an at large but how much credit are we going to give a team whose most impressive performance might have been a three point loss to Vandy
March 12th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Joe Lunardi is Matthew Berry.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I would be impressed with 94% correct if he called this in December not the day of the selection show…
March 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Dana Jacobsen walked into a bar and the bartender asked hey…why the long face?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
thanks for bringing back the hotness of Coach Greenberg’s daughter. I will let her argue calls anyday!
March 12th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Lunardi dropped Wisconsin from a #2 to a #3 even though they’re on a seven game win streak and still have that win over Texas in their back pocket
March 12th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
irish…Rascal House Pizza with the bar in it? Of course I have. When I went to CSU before I transferred I used to get hammered there (underage of course) before I had my afternoon classes. $10 got you 3 shots and a slice of pizza.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Well to all ‘Cuse fans, my apologies. At least you will get to see the team at home a couple more times this year.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
@spencer- good times there
March 12th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
@spencer - Ever had the Texan Bellybuster from Rascal House? Now that is some good shit. Just moved to Chicago from E. 9th and Huron last June.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
no, ive never heard of it. whats on it? by the name it sounds badass tho.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
It is a gigantic rectangular BBQ chicken pizza. BBQ sauce is spicy and tons of different cheeses….gotta try it at least once.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
i love bbq chicken piza. ill give it a try at some point, i think theres a Rascal House a few blocks away from me.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I don’t know why it took America so long to add different sauces to a pizza instead of marinara but I for one am grateful that they did
March 12th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Greenberg is an asshole who teaches dirty basketball. He’s like Jim Grobe, only Grobe at least makes up for his tactics by being a super nice guy.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Seth’s the man!!!