That was my question. At first I was thinking age, I'm not sure how old O'Connell is, but he certainly looks older than 30, and given that he's been around for awhile that can't possibly be true. Then I saw 31 next to Teddy V's name and I KNOW he's not 31 years old...Hell I think he worked his first Final Four almost 25 years ago.

Some sort of footnote. They are also numbers next to team names in another part of the article.

He drops so many names or teams in an article. That's his count. Nothing more.

Author's name is Pat Forde (pronounced "Forty") and the column is called Forde Minutes. Makes sense with the pronunciation guide. He puts a number next to each subject of his column, counting from 1-40 each time he writes. O'Connell was the 30th team or person he mentioned this week, while Valentine was 31st.

So?

So freaking what?

It's not unusual for high school officials to work a day job Friday, drive an hour to a double header, get home at 11:00 pm, then get up the next day and drive an hour to a 3:00 double header on Saturday.

Some commentators are overworked. And some couches are overworked by zealous fanboys.