Ned.....Ryerson!!!!!!

Opening Thoughts: If you are looking to talk politics, sorry this isn't the place. Second, the only good thing about Groundhog Day is the Bill Murray movie. Of course the groundhog saw his shadow, there are six weeks left until the first official day of spring.

I got one of those chain emails today, so I'll humor you all by answering some of the questions:

• I'm named after my dad, his name is Martin, just like me.
• I don't wish on stars, sorry.
• I think the last time I cried was when I watched "Love Actually" before Christmas.
• My favorite lunch meat is bologna, add cheese and mayo and I'm in heaven.
• My birthday is June 21st, the first day of summer.
• I really don't think I have an embarassing CD, but I do have Vanilla Ice, New Kids On The Block, and MC Hammer on my playlist.
• My nicknames are Martini, Marty McFly, and Mart-in!!!!! (like the TV show)
• My favorite ice cream flavor is Cookies N Cream.
• Shoe size is 13, favorite color is red
• My least favorite thing about myself is that I take things too seriously sometimes.
• The first thing I notice about the opposite sex is a girl's smile, followed closely by hair, eyes, and overall body.
• Favorite foods are cheeseburgers, shrimp, any form of pasta
• Favorite sounds: the quiet of Montana, the roar of any football/basketball crowd, the swish after you drain a jump shot
• Furthest I've been from home: Arizona or Montana, whichever is further, I think Montana is a little further away.

All right, time to get serious, let's talk hoops:

• Indiana 68, Penn St. 63. This would've been a disastrous loss for Indiana, but they held on for the W. The bad news: Bracey Wright left the game with an ankle injury. The really bad news: Indiana plays at Illinois on Sunday.
• UConn 81, Villanova 76. This was more of a must win for UConn, because they hadn't beaten anyone noteworthy up to this point. For Nova, Curtis Sumpter struggled against the bigger UConn frontcourt, only scoring 4 and the Cats only shot 39% from the floor. Rashard Anderson got it going off the bench for UConn, scoring 21.
• Georgia Tech 64, Florida St. 61. Another near disaster for a bubble team, but Will Bynum's 3 got Tech off the hook tonight. Jarret Jack, 2/6, 5 points just doesn't cut it.
• Louisville 77, Cincinnati 70. Look up slugfest in the dictionary and you find this game. UC hung in, but poor foul shooting in the 2nd half did the Bearcats in, despite Louisville having to go down the stretch without Francisco Garcia. In fact, Garcia was a non-factor the whole 2nd half, but Taequon Dean and Juan Palacios picked up the slack, with Palacios putting the game on ice with a 30-footer off the glass that put the Cards up 7 with just under 2 minutes to play. UC only made 20/31 from the line, and Jihad Muhammad and Armein Kirkland combined to shoot 3/19 and score 12 points.
  
• Virginia Tech 73, Miami 63. This might have been an elimination game as the Hokies stay in the top half of the ACC with the win.
• Providence 98, Virginia 79. The NIT looms for both of these teams, but Providence's Donnie McGrath made 9/9 from 3 point range, which tied the NCAA record for 3 point field goals without a miss.
• Georgetown 61, Seton Hall 51. I got my first look at the Hoyas tonight and I think they're an NCAA team. They're not the greatest, by no means offensively, but they are long, athletic, and can guard people. John Thompson III has that program back on the rise.
• Oklahoma 69, Texas A&M 65. A&M ran out to a 25-8 lead on the Sooners' home floor, but the Sooners got it back to 2 at the half, then outgutted the Aggies in the 2nd half to win a tight one. Billy Gillespie, like Thompson has his program on the rise as well, as the Aggies were going for their first win in Norman EVER!!! Taj Gray and Drew Lavender were sensational in the 2nd half, answering every Aggie challenge helping the Sooners stay in the Big 12 race.
• Wake Forest 92, Duke 89. This game was going the way I thought it would. Wake had too much depth, guarded tougher than normal, got Duke in foul trouble and were wearing them out. However, in the last 4 minutes, J.J. Redick almost brought the Devils back single-handedly, scoring 15 points, hitting bomb after bomb, getting Duke as close as 1 with 2.2 seconds left. Taron Downey hit 2 free throws, but somehow Wake let Redick take the inbounds and allowed him to let a 40 footer go that almost went in. I admit I was hoping it would go in because it would've been one of the more improbable comebacks I've ever seen. Wake should've won this game by at least 10, but they're lacking a certain toughness that shows up in their lack of consistent defensive intensity and a consistent attitude in putting teams away. Wake shot 46% from the floor, won the glass 42-35, and only committed 7 turnovers. But, Duke shot 49%, including 13/24 from 3. Wake may be the worst team I've ever seen at defending the 3. When tourney comes time, no matter how good you are offensively, the points are harder to come by and you must play defense.
• Iowa's season basically went out the window today when Pierre Pierce was kicked off the team. I lost track on how many second chances he got. Just last week, he was playing like the Big 10 player of the year. Now, he's just another wasted talent.
• I'm very excited that little Grinnell College will be on ESPN2 Thursday night. Grinnell is a Division 3 school that shoots around 60-70 3s a game!!!! It should be very entertaining as the average more than 100 points a game.
• Other big games tomorrow night: Miami at Toledo (Redhawks try to stay #1 in the MAC and improve their NCAA at-large chances), NC State at North Carolina (a Wolfpack win increases their NCAA chances by a lot), St. Mary's at Gonzaga (the rematch that will most likely determine the WCC regular season champ),

That's all I've got tonight, see you tomorrow.