The Links

Nessa Devil to start the mourning.... Meet Tennis' newest hottie.... The damn Somalia pirates are know shooting at our helicopters.... Governor Sanford refuses to leave.... R.I.P. Dominick Dunne.... Bob Dylan will now release a Christmas album.... A bear was on the lose in a skate park.... More Lock Ness Monster conspiracy's.... Megan Fox to be the next Catwomen in the Batman sequel?

Billy Gillispie arrested for DUI. Again (Deadspin)

Maria Sharapova and her new haircut (Big League Screw)

Meet the newest UFC Octogon girl Natasha Wicks (Fanhouse)

Ohio St. actually does the classy thing for once (Midwest Sports Fans)

Ben Roethlisberger's accuser is kind of crazy (PFT)

It's going to be a mess in Philly for Vick's debut (Philly Inquirer)

Rick Pitino needs to shut up (Lexington Herald-Leader)

UFC 102 preview and predictions (Camel Clutch Blog)

The Giants ruin a perfectly good rant (McCovey Chronicles)

Chewing gum can be dangerous (SSReporters)

Here's video from Billy Gillispie's arrest

The Links

Sara Jean Underwood for your viewing pleasure.... Will John Calipari become the next Kentucky coach?.... Tiger Woods had a day yesterday.... Ryan Moats accepts Officer Powell's apology.... R.I.P. Lou Saban.... Seth Curry, Stephen's younger brother, has transferred to Duke, NO!!!!!!!!

- Jack Edwards is back (Awful Announcing)

- Worst of the weekend in the NBA (Basketbawful)

- Pitino suggests Kentucky looks at one of their native sons (Online Sports Guy)

- Missouri needs to pay Mike Anderson a top salary (KC Star)

- Even though they lost, Louisville still had an historic season (Courier-Journal)

- Michigan St. is headed back to the Final 4, their 5Th in 11 years (Detroit News)

- Blake Griffin wasn't enough for North Carolina (The Oklahoman)

- Why wouldn't Calipari leave Memphis for Kentucky (Commercial-Appeal)

- LeBron and Cleveland have their eyes on the best record in the league (Cleveland.com)

- Once again, Michigan St. shows how good they are (Indy Star)

Elite 8 Live Blog

Yesterday was sure exciting. Let's hope today is even better. We play the final two games to see who are the other teams to complete the Final Four.

Should be losts of fun. Louisville, Michigan St. starts us off. And North Carolina, Oklahoma finishes off the weekend.

Enjoy the games and feel free to leave your comments:

The Links

Wow! There was some great action in last nights games. The Villanova, Pittsburgh game video is at the bottom. That's all you need to see. The Missouri, UConn game too was exciting. UConn won, but they needed everything they had to beat Missouri. Let's hope today's games are just as exciting.

Megan Fox is a great way to start another college basketball mourning....

- Villanova is going back to the final 4 (Fire Andy Reid Now!)

- Even Jay Mariotti said last night's Nova-Pitt game was an 'classic' (Fanhouse)

- Anthony Grant is good fit Alabama, but Mike Anderson would have been better (AL.com)

- Sherron Collins should stay at Kansas, if he gets some help (KC Star)

- The Stanford women are headed to the Elite 8, again (SF Chronicle)

- There is a lot of similarities between this Nova team and the 85' team (Philly.com)

- Louisville should win, but Michigan St. won't go down without a fight (Detroit News)

- Jeff Capel was destined for greatness (The Oklahoman)

- A late collapse cost Pittsburgh a trip to the final 4 (Post-Gazette)

- It's time for Louisville to finish what they started (Courier-Journal)

Here is one of the best finishes in college basketball history:

Day 2: Sweet 16 Live Blog

Well we have already seen a coach fired today. Last night saw Duke get destroyed, and Pitt's tubby point guard Levance Fields become a hero. But we move on to the next 4 Sweet 16 games, to see who advances to the Elite 8. It should be a fun set of games. As always feel free to leave your comments.

Here is tonight's schedule and announcers, courtesy of Awful Announcing:
Louisville vs. Arizona (Indianapolis, 7pm)- Gus Johnson, Len Elmore
Oklahoma vs. Syracuse (Memphis, 7:30pm)- Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg
Kansas vs. Michigan State (Indianapolis, 9:30pm)- Gus Johnson, Len Elmore
North Carolina vs. Gonzaga (Memphis, 10pm)- Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg

My local affiliate is showing the Arizona, Louisivlle game and the UNC, Gonzaga game. But I am sure I will be flexed sometime during the night. Enjoy the games:

Breakdown of Today's Sweet 16 Games

Last night was an eventful one. Villanova made the whole country proud by giving Duke an ass-kicking. UConn ran away from Purdue. Levance Fields looks like he should be playing at the local YMCA, but he was clutch last night for Pitt. And Missouri's "40 minutes of hell" ran Memphis out of the gym. Today's games should also be as great.

Louisville vs. Arizona
Where/Time: Indianapolis, IN/7PM EST
Announcers: GUJO and Elmore
Cinderella?: I still refuse to call Arizona an Cinderella team. Yes, they are a 12 seed, but they play in a big-time conference in the Pac-10. They underachieved all season long, and they were given a favorable seed in the Midwest.
The Zone is Key: Louisville has to run their zone presser defense perfectly. They rotate four guards in-and-out of the game to keep their players fresh. They will have to keep the presser on Arizona to get the win.
My pick: If Louisville can keep the presser on Arizona guard Nic Wise all game long, they will beat Arizona. The Wildcats offense revolves around Wise and his ability to make plays. If the Cardinals stop Wise they will win.

Oklahoma vs. Syracuse
Where/Time: Memphis, TN/ 7:30PM EST
Announcers: Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg
Can the 2-3 zone stop Griffin?: Syracuse and Jim Boeheim have perfected the 2-3 zone. And it will be key to stop Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. They will have to double-team Griffin and force the other Oklahoma players to make plays.
Warren could be the key: Oklahoma's Willie Warren has to have a major role for the Sooners tonight. He is their best outside threat with the way he can penetrate to the hoop and his outside shot. He will have to keep the presser off of Griffin.
My pick: I like Syracuse in this game. Oklahoma doesn't have a real threat at point. While Syracuse has one of the best point guards in Johnnie Flynn. Syracuse's offense revolves around him and he is the best right now at penetrating to the hoop and kicking the ball out to their great shooters in Andy Ruatins and Eric Devendorf.

Kansas vs. Michigan St.
Where/Time: Indianapolis, IN/9:30PM EST
Announcers: GUJO and Elmore
Sutton vs. Aldrich: We have a classic match up between big men in this game. Kansas' Cole Aldrich versus Michigan St.'s Goran Sutton. Whoever wins the match up between these two, their team will win.
Collins is key: Sherron Collins has to play under control for Kansas. There are times when he plays out of control and Kansas will lose. Their offense revolves around him playing in control and distributing the ball.
My pick: I like Michigan St. in this game. They have more depth that can slow down both Collins and Aldrich. Kalin Lucas and Travis Walton are big time players that will be too much for the Jayhawks to guard.

Gonzaga vs. North Carolina
Where/Time: Memphis, TN/ 10PM EST
Announcers: Nantz and Kellogg
Lawson's big toe?: The health of Ty Lawson is still a huge concern for North Carolina. He was huge for them against LSU, but they will need a healthy Lawson to beat Gonzaga. He will have to defend Jeremy Pargo, who likes to drive down the lane for the basket.
Heytvelt vs. UNC: Whoever is guarding Josh Heytvelt will have a huge challenge. Heytvelt is athletic and strong in the middle for Gonzaga.
My pick: This was the hardest game to choose. Gonzaga has great scorers and UNC has depth. I have to go with UNC because they can bring Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, and Larry Drew off the bench. UNC's depth will be a huge factor in this game.

All these games have the potential to be great. I expect all these games, except the Arizona, Louisville game, to be close.

It should be a fun night, and once again we will be live blogging the games.

The Mourning After: NCAA Tournament Round 2 Observations

Round 2 finally gave us some excitement. Sure there was really no upsets, and no I won't call Arizona a Cinderella, but there were some edge of your seat finishes.

Like the ending of the Marquette, Missouri game. In the final seconds of the game a Missouri player was fouled which lead to an injury. Missouri used a "pinch" free throw shooter to take the lead.

Then Lazar Hayward became infamous. Down by two with 5.5 seconds left Hayward was in charge of inbounding the ball. Missouri went with their usual full-court press and Hayward hesitated and stepped on the line. He turned the ball over to Missouri erasing Marquette's shot at a last-second shot.

Hayward I am sure is taking a beating from the entire state of Wisconsin right now. But it wasn't all his fault. Missouri was using a stingy full-court defense that wasn't going to allow anything by. Also making a shot in 5.5 seconds is tougher than it looks. For every Christian Laettner and Bryce Drew there is one guy who takes a last-second shot and either airball's it or the ball clanks off the rim. Just ask VCU's Eric Maynor about it.

Hayward did make a crucial mistake, but the odd were against Marquette from even tieing that game.

Here are some more observations:

- Here's an interesting fact. Xavier, who is coached by Sean Miller, will face Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16. Why is this important? Because Miller was the person who passed the ball to Jerome Lane who promptly slammed the ball and broke the backboard. Bill Raftery then unleashed the famous "Send it in, Jerome!"

- The referee's screwed up by not recognizing Western Kentucky coach trying to call a timeout during their game with Gonzaga. The Zags took the lead with 0.9 seconds left, giving the Hilltoppers a chance. W. Kentucky coach Ken McDonald was calling for the timeout but the refs didn't recognize it, and W. Kentucky lost the game. Granted they probably wouldn't have scored 0.9 seconds you have to give them a chance.

- Siena probably put up the toughest fight of the weekend. After beating Ohio St. in two overtimes, they took Louisville down to the wire. If it wasn't for Terrance Williams, Louisville would have lost that game.

- Ty Lawson wins the toughest player of the NCAA tournament so far. Lawson, who is fighting a painful toe injury, was the key reason why the Tar Heels beat LSU on Saturday.

- Why does Oklahoma allow their star player Blake Griffin to get beat up in their games? They allowed Texas to knock him out silly. They allowed a Morgan St. player to give him an armbar. They allowed Michigan players to play Hack-a-Shaq on him. They do nothing about it. I am not saying Griffin needs to respond, because he doesn't. But someone else on that team needs to get some payback for all the cheap shots Griffin has had to take.

- It took almost two games, but Eric Devendorf of Syracuse finally profiled a shot. After Arizona St. was getting closer to Syracuse in the game, Devendorf hit a three to extend the lead. Then Devendorf hit another three to basically put the game out of reach. For his last three Devendorf went all douche with it, and profiled the shot. He can't go the entire tournament without profiling a shot. Wait until he has to face Blake Griffin in the Sweet 16.

- Have to love Duke going crazy after their win over Texas. They realize they play for Duke right? They have been to the Sweet 16 before. But I'd guess I would go crazy too if I haven't been to the Sweet 16 since 2006.

While there really isn't any Cinderella teams in the Sweet 16, and no Arizona doesn't count, there are some great match ups. We should have another fun weekend, with the action kicking off on Thursday.

The Links: NCAA Tournament Edition

Blake Lively is what we needed to start the NCAA first round.

- Allison Abbott is not a fan of March Madness (Fire Andy Reid Now!)

- Tubby Smith and Minnesota are glad to be back in the tournament (Rivals)

- The ladies of Louisville (Busted Coverage)

- Here's the Al McGuire dance to start you off (Searching for Billy Edelin)

- Todd Bozeman's past and present are in Kansas City (SF Chronicle)

- UCLA might not last long in the tournament, but USC will (LA Times)

- VCU and Eric Maynor have some unfinished business in the tournament (NY Times)

- Why does the Big Ten receive so much hatred (Indianapolis Star)

- Cal St.-Northdridge basketball team sure has gotten into trouble with the law (Newsday)

- Has Gonzaga gone from overachievers to underachievers? (Seattle Times)

- Michigan is looking just to get out of the 1St. round, Michigan St. is looking to reach the final four (Detroit News)

- Michael Jordan's son Jeff Jordan is playing in the NCAA tournament for Illinois (The Oregonian)

- Everyone is jumping on the Memphis bandwagon now (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)

- Luke Nevill's career at Utah (Salt Lake Tribune)

- Louisville should be the favorite in the tournament (Louisville Courier-Journal)