Walking on Broken Glass

Opening thought: One of the great war movies of all time, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" was on tonight. It is a historical recount of the bombing of Pearl Harbor that was made in the early 70s. This is 100,000 times better than the movie "Pearl Harbor" Disney made a couple of years ago with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. If you like history, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" is awesome; if you want your yuppie guppie story, than waste 3 hours of your time with "Pearl Harbor". "Pearl Harbor" falls well short of telling the real story, instead going into a madeup love story about two friends, who in reality, all they had to do with each other was they were flying partners at Pearl. Next time Disney, if you're going to tell history, do it right and don't mess up people's minds on what actually happened.

Dial M for Moron: This is a tie tonight. The people who live upstairs are up for this on a daily basis, but they win tonight for making all kinds of noise while probably drunk. They did their best to come down through the ceiling, hoping that I would catch them. If that were to happen, they would probably be disappointed. The other goes to a University of Cincinnati basketball fan. Now I'm sure all UC people aren't dumb, but this guy doesn't give me much hope. He held up a sign, "YOU CAN'T SPELL SHOEMAKER WITHOUT MEEKER!" (Shoemaker is the name of the basketball arena, Meeker is one of the bball players). Last time I checked, Shoemaker falls one E short.

Bring on the hoops:

• Villanova 94, Rutgers 61. I guess Rutgers didn't receive their wakeup call this morning. The Cats shot 64% from the floor, led by Allen Ray's 21. Unless Villanova goes in the tank, they're a solid NCAA team.
• North Carolina 110, Virginia 76. Carolina led by as much as 50 in this one!!!! And to think it could've been worse because Rashad McCants only scored 5 points, well below his average. UNC should rise to #2 in the polls this week.
• Florida 80, South Carolina 72. Florida is hanging around in the SEC East, just one game behind Kentucky. With Matt Walsh getting healthier by the day, the Gators are one to be reckoned with, if Anthony Roberson keeps playing unselfishly.
• East Carolina 54, Charlotte 51. One of the big surpises of the day, the 49ers were held to 32% shooting as they struggled throughout. Charlotte is talented, but undisciplined. How do Brandon Plavich and Martin Iti only get 14 shots between the two of them???? I don't like inconsistent teams like Charlotte, they can play much better but usually waste what they have.
• Washington St. 70, Arizona 63. Definitely the shocker of the day. Just two days after a well-earned win over Washington, the Cats give up 70 points on their home floor to the Cougars, one of the lowest scoring teams in basketball. Add to the fact WSU hadn't beaten Arizona in 19 years and this becomes a real head scratcher. Channing Frye only got 7 shot attempts on the post, that number must be doubled at the very least for Arizona to be successful.
• Illinois 89, Minnesota 66. Tuesday night, Illinois at Michigan St. I liked the throwback uniforms the Illini sported today, I hope they keep them.
• Kentucky 68, Arkansas 67. This one was tight throughout. Kentucky was definitely the better team, but Arkansas never quit and had a shot to win at the end. Stan Heath is doing a good job turning his program around, they are a year, maybe two away from being really good. Kentucky shot 57% from the floor on the road, definitely their best effort, which is encouraging if you're a Big Blue fan. However, they turned the ball over 19 times and gave up 19 offensive rebounds, which is not very encouraging. The thing UK has going for them is their depth. They're young, but they will never wear down. However, their experienced players need to play better, specifically Chuck Hayes and Patrick Sparks.
• Iowa St. 74, Oklahoma 66. Ames is a tough place to play, and the Sooners found that out the hard way. ISU shot 47% from the floor and forced the Sooners to try 26 3s. OU is a solid perimeter shooting team, but they like to go inside-out to generate their outside shooting. 26 3s are too many for the Sooners to be successful.
• Wake Forest 94, Miami 82. This game was tight for about 30 minutes until the Deacons pulled away. Wake's best defense was their offense in this one, shooting an astounding 61% from the floor. They shot better from the floor than from the foul line (59%). But, they still allowed The U to shoot 46% from the floor, and 52% from 3. Those aren't good numbers.
• Iowa 72, Indiana 57. It's still painful to watch Indiana play basketball. 39% shooting, 2/14 from 3, 16 turnovers, and only 11 assists will not win you many games. Pierre Pierce was the Big 10 player of the year for the night, leading the Hawkeyes with 25. Patrick Ewing Jr. is one of the most overrated college basketball players in the country. He does nothing for the Hoosiers.
  
• Pittsburgh 76, Syracuse 69. I believe the Cuse led 25-10 with 9 minutes left in the 1st half. Then, Pitt found the John Deere sized hole in the middle of the Syracuse zone and took it from there. The Cuse played soft tonight as Pitt took it to them, especially on the boards, winning that battle 36-25. Chevy Troutman was unstoppable inside, with 18 points and 9 rebounds, and Pitt actually showed some resemblance of a perimeter game, making 9/24 3s. Syracuse needs more consistency from Josh Pace, who only had 2 points tonight. The Cuse needs someone to be that third scorer for them to help Warrick and McNamara.
  
• Wichita State 78, Illinois State 72. If the Shockers and the Redhawks keep winning, they may face each other on Bracket Buster Saturday. Anyway, whoever WSU plays that Saturday, I will be tuning in.
• Boston College 64, Georgetown 49. Another game I was wrong about, I thought the Hoyas would pull the upset tonight. Craig Smith and Jared Dudley combined for 33 points, and the Eagles held their opponents to 39% shooting. They are now the lone unbeaten in the Big East.
• UW-Green Bay 76, UW-Milwaukee 72. Game on in the Horizon League, because these two are now tied at the top.
• Kansas 90, Texas 65. Finally, one I hit on the nose!!!! Texas just doesn't have the horses, literally (down to 8 scholarship players) to hang with someone like KU. The Jayhawks are now playing with more energy and urgency, a dangerous combination for anyone facing them soon. 27 points for Wayne Simien, 50% shooting, 9/19 3s: that's what you need to do KU to go all the way. Don't forget about your big man.

Tomorrow, with Kent St.'s loss at Toledo, Akron/Miami tomorrow afternoon is now for outright 1st in the MAC East. Sadly enough, I won't be there as I have more work to do. The other intriguing games tomorrow are: UConn at Notre Dame (must win for the Irish), Georgia Tech at Maryland (2 hottest teams in the ACC), and Virginia Tech at Duke (are the Hokies for real and how will Duke bounce back?).

Tomorrow, the serious preparation for the first exam of the semester begins, along with hopefully finishing the assignment that I worked on for 4 1/2 hours and still didn't finish.