It's not uncommon for success in the NCAA basketball tournament to bring about exciting new opportunities for coaches. Cinderella rides to places deep in the tournament have stamped a number of guys who have gone on to great success after using the tournament as a platform to announce their arrival.

     Rick Pitino taking Providence to the final four led to gigs; well, just about everywhere from the Boston Celtics, the Kentucky Wildcats and his current spot in Louisville, where he once again sits poised to win a collegiate title.

     UM's Jim Larranaga guided Cinderella George Mason to final four status and turned away many bigger opportunities before he eventually found his way to South Florida several years later.

     Guys like Shaka Smart of Virginia Commonwealth and Brad Stevens of Butler are currently at the top of virtually every list of openings that occur on the college level, having taken improbable candidates to the final four.

     But, perhaps, and maybe fittingly so, no coach has gone further while coming from nowhere than Andy Enfield of Florida Gulf Coast, this year's darling who, after winning two tournament games, saw their coach land a million dollar a year deal at USC. The man with the multimillion dollar business touch and model wife may have made the single biggest meteoric rise in tournament history, making this year's event one of the greatest rags to riches stories ever.

      It's finally over.

     The Miami Heat's streak of victories, the one that captured the imagination’s of the basketball world, hit a brick wall in Chicago this week and was snapped like a wishbone at 27.

     You had to love a couple of things about the quest to establish the all time record for consecutive NBA wins. The 71-72 Lakers set the bar at 33 in a row, and nobody has come as close as the Heat by a wide margin.

     Not only did we get a great look back at an exciting era in basketball history, but, suddenly, late regular season games were taking on new meaning. The Chicago game was actually a big deal. It was a big deal here, a big deal there, and a big deal around the basketball world.

     Dreadful regular season propositions, involving a team that has already wrapped up most of its impending playoff scenarios became international sporting events, viewed with interest the world over.

     That in and of itself is an accomplishment of Naismithian proportions.

Thanks Miami Heat.

   Who would have thunk it.....Florida, a state where most people wouldn't be able to indentify a basketball from a large grapefruit, is suddenly the hoops capital of the universe.

   Its one thing to see Billy Donovan's Gators slip into the sweet 16 and remind you of the back to back championships he brought back to the state a few years ago, but, to have not one, but two huge Cinderella rides accompany Sunshine State teams into the hallowed ground of college basketball is beyond comprehension.

     Jim Larranaga's UM squad managed to survive a late scare from Illinois and continue it's improbable run through the ACC regular season and tournament championship. However, even that has been eclipsed by Florida Gulf Coast, who has come from nowhere to make it a trio of Florida teams in the prestigious round of 16.

     Suddenly, Florida is college basketball Nirvana.........Stay tuned, Cinderella rides again this week.