It is lunchtime somewhere. So, welcome back to the lunch hour read of the Meat & Three. Every weekday I dive into a big picture topic and three things to get you through a quarantine spring. 

Today I am really missing the Final Four. So, like what seems to be the case here in the Meat & Three, I went down memory lane for some of my favorite moments in college basketball's biggest party. There's a great HBO doc you should stream and of course, the Ty Freeman picture of the day. 

THE MEAT: SURE MISS YOU, FINAL FOUR 

I’m sitting on my patio and the birds that serve as the soundtrack for the Master’s golf tournament are chirping louder than usual. It’s a beautiful Friday morning in north Metro Atlanta. 

We should all be waking up with hangovers today. 

The Final Four was set to be here in my hometown of Atlanta. The weather is perfect, truly perfect. I’ve seen more people on walks than I have clouds in the sky this week. This weekend is what we’ve dreamt of as a host city for college basketball’s biggest party. But here we are. 

I, like every college hoops head, love the Final Four. I’ve been to plenty. Some as a fan. Some as a writer. Some as a kid just trying to make it. Some as a brother. Some as a son. Some as a player with his coach. 

If you don’t mind, I’m going to roll out my favorite memories from the week that we won’t have in 2020. 

• The first Final Four I went to was in Indianapolis, the best city for the annual party in my opinion. I drove up with my brother, Kevin, his college roommate Stephen Cox and their college coach Cory Baldwin.Every hoop head has had this experience like we did in Indy. No one in our traveling party had secured a hotel room, thinking someone else reserved a place to stay. Nope. Not a one. Neither did 12 or so of our soon-to-be closest friends. So, we piled somewhere in the space of 12 to 15 dudes into a room with two queen beds. For three days. We talk about basketball being a fraternity and for that Final Four, we pledged hard. 
• Literally turned around and trucked over pop singer Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees and Jessica Simpson fame. I hit him so hard, he fell to the ground (at least he does in my stories I tell at the Final Four). Lachey was cool as heck, dusting himself off and calling me something endearing like “Big Man” or something. Nicest guy I’ve ever knocked over. 
• There was that one time we went to a Hooters at the Final Four (the 20s are a special era in a man’s life) and I shared a table with Everclear singer Art Alexakis. He wasn’t quite sure why there were so many basketball fans at a Hooters. We talked about Portland and how underwhelming the wings were. Cool guy. 
• I lent my laptop to a friend of mine, Daniel Searl, so he could use it to write a story for his media outlet that is based in Spain. I’m not exactly sure what happened to his but I lending my machine to him to write about the Final Four wasn’t a big deal. Except it was when I tried to get back into my laptop the day later. Señor Searl changed my settings of the computer to Spanish. Gracias for that, Daniel. 
• My parents won an all-expense paid trip to Indy for the Final Four in 2006. They were excited to go to the Circle City and experience the madness their two oldest boys did for a living. Mom & Pops Young took it all in. That was so much fun to watch play out. They’ve never been back to a Final Four. 
• That same trip, my parents, my brother and I sprinted through downtown Indy as a tornado was ripping through the city. That 4.78 40 speed has never returned for me either. 
• That same trip my brother, Kevin, and I climbed every step of the RCA Dome to the top row of the 400 level (whatever the highest level was in that building) and watched the semi-finals. And by watch I mean we squinted. Little did we know what kind of journey was ahead of us in this game we love. 

THE NOTE

We’ve been actively updating the college bound lists for some of the states in the South. I’d encourage you to have a look. 

If we’ve missed anyone and need to include a player in these lists, please email me jyoung@hoopseen.com with the player’s name, school and the college they are headed to. 

Alabama
Florida 
Georgia 
North Carolina
South Carolina 

Thanks! 

THE STREAM 

During the down time, there is no better time to learn and understand the history of college basketball. The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels were one of the teams that drew me in. 

I grew up in metro Dallas. My school played against Larry Johnson and as a youngster I was enamored by this dude. He was just different. So, when LJ popped up at UNLV, I was hooked, too. 

UNLV was one of those teams that you just had to watch when they came on CBS on Saturdays. This hour-long HBO documentary dives deep into the program and coach Jerry Tarkanian from 1973 to 1992. 

THE TY FREEMAN PHOTO OF THE DAY