Send it in Jerome!!!!!!

Opening Thought: Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of one of the greatest calls in college basketball history. January 25th, 1988, Providence at Pittsburgh. Jerome Lane takes a pass and flies in from the right wing for a one-hand jam that breaks the glass and the rim of the backboard. After which, Bill Raftery followed with the classic one-liner, "Send it in, Jerome!!!!!"

Dial M for Moron: Today, it was me. After working 3 hours on a homework assignment that's due tomorrow, I forgot to save it. So 3 more hours was spent typing it up again, which cost me some major chill time. You will find that I am not hesitant to put myself on the moron list because I definitely have those moments.

The game/match of the night was Serena Williams/Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open semifinals. Sharapova rolled in the first set 6-2, but couldn't put Serena away when she had the chance in the second and 3rd set. Serena came back to win 7-5, 8-6 in a performance that impressed me. Her tennis wasn't the cleanest, but finally, she showed some heart and determination while not making excuses about the crowd or the line calls during the match.

Now for the hoops:

• Maryland 75, Duke 66. When people were talking about Duke/Maryland being the premier rivalry in the ACC, I laughed. I'm no longer laughing because Maryland had no business winning this game with their recent performance. When a team wins a game they shouldn't, that creates a rivalry. Duke did not play with the same intensity and focus they played with on their Florida road trip. They certainly didn't shoot the ball well either, 34%??? Maryland wanted this game more, evidenced by their 43-37 rebounding edge and Ekene Ibekwe finally showing up in a big game, scoring 15 points. Duke isn't good enough to sleepwalk through a game and tonight proved it.
• Louisville 99, Marquette 52. A healthy Louisville + an injured Travis Diener = trouble for Marquette. If Louisville can actually stay healthy for once into March, look out.
• Miami 85, Western Michigan 60. This is not a misprint. Miami hasn't lost at home, but the margin shouldn't have been this big. The Redhawks were on fire, shooting 58% from the floor and making 11/19 3s. With numbers like that, you're unbeatable, especially when you add a 38-26 rebounding edge that came against a more supposedly physical team. At first, it appeared the MAC West was stronger. Lately, it seems to be the opposite.
  
• Fordham 54, Temple 47. All I hear is, "Temple is so good, watch out for Temple...." So to all of those people out there, what happened? Temple beat Fordham by 32 just 2 weeks ago!!!!
  
• UW-Milwaukee 73, Purdue 68. Sadly enough, this would've been an upset if Purdue would've won, even though it was a home game for the Boilers. Gene Keady started his farewell tour one year too late.
• Villanova 65, Notre Dame 60. It's one thing to knock off a top 5 team, but it's another to string back-to-back wins together against 2 good teams. Nova is playing their way into the Tourney. Only 11 points from Curtis Sumpter and the Cats still found a way to win. Chris Thomas needs to do better than 4/14 from the floor for the Irish.
• Miami 69, Clemson 65. The U right now would make the NCAA Tournament.
• Boston College 78, Providence 75. Still unbeaten, and I still haven't seen them play. Providence is a tough place to play and to go in and shoot 51% from the floor and get to the foul line 26 times is impressive.
• Northwestern 75, Iowa 74. Oops. Iowa is trying their darndest to be on the bubble for the next 6 weeks. Iowa/Indiana is an early bubble game.
• Minnesota 70, Indiana 65. It's amazing the Hoosiers only lost by 5 while only making 2/17 3s. The game at Iowa is now huge, both teams desperately need it for their postseason hoops.

I didn't get to watch American Idol tonight, I was eating dinner finally at 8:30ish. I haven't had a week like this in awhile, busy 24/7. Hopefully it subsides a little bit soon, but I guess I should expect this, I am in graduate school.