Sweet Revenge

Opening thoughts: I enjoyed my first Jungle Jim's experience. It's a very entertaining store, with a singing Elvis tiger, actual live fish in the seafood section and lots of props. It was a good way to start the day. I'm very excited to be going home for the weekend. It will give me a chance to rest up and get some work done and be ready for the tough 3 week stretch that will lead in to Spring Break.

Time for the hoops, where a couple of teams were looking for payback:

• Louisville 64, Marquette 61. Earlier in the year at Louisville, the Cards beat a Travis Diener-less team by 47. Tonight, it looked like the Golden Eagles would exact some revenge, leading by 11 with 4 minutes to go. But the Cards, led by Francisco Garcia scored the last 14, including a 3 by the man himself with 3 seconds left to win the game. The play of the game was Marquette freshman Ryan Amoroso inexplicably pushing down Otis George after the first of 2 free throws by UL's Larry O'Bannon. This gave UL 4 points in one trip with under a minute to go, which tied the game setting the stage for Garcia. Louisville was sleep-walking through this game, until their offense got going late, which sparks their defense. The Cards need to play with a more consistent effort at both ends. The difference between tonight and the blowout loss vs. Memphis was Garcia stepped up and the defense played well enough to keep UL in the game. Marquette is heading to the NIT as they drop to 5-7 in CUSA.
• Virginia Tech 67, Duke 65. The Hokies got their revenge in front of a racuous home crowd, answering every Duke challenge in the 2nd half. Just a month ago in Cameron, Duke beat Tech by 35. Tonight, the Hokies came ready to play, outrebounding the Devils by an astounding 45-27 margin. No one on Duke could guard Carlos Dixon, and how about the inspired play of football player, walk-on Jeff King? This game is a perfect example of how vulnerable Duke is when they don't play their best game. Duke can beat the really good teams, but they can lose to the mediocre ones as well. Tech is now 6-6 in the ACC, which now gives the conference 8 contenders for the NCAA tournament. If Tech can complete the sweep of Miami this weekend, they put themselves in a good position to get in.
• Arkansas Little-Rock 55, Western Kentucky 53. The two teams are now tied for first in the Sun Belt East.
• Arizona St. 75, Oregon St. 73. The Beavers become another example of a team falling off the bubble just as they got on. Of course, watch them pull the upset at Arizona this weekend to get back on.
• Stanford 71, USC 62. Stanford is 8-5 in the Pac10, and with UCLA currently ahead at Cal (which would put them at 8-6), UCLA at Stanford becomes an elimination game this weekend. Although, both teams still might get in because unbelievably, the Pac10 ranks 2nd, yes 2nd in overall conference strength.

Ok, since I'll be gone beginning tomorrow and won't post again until Monday night, I'm going to go ahead and give quick previews of all the big games this weekend:

• Wichita St. at Miami. The first Bracket Buster game of the day sees both teams needing a win to keep their at-large hopes alive. This especially applies to the Shockers after losing their last 2 Valley games. Can the Hawks slow the Shockers down and match their toughness, and can the Shockers get their confidence back. Miami still hasn't lost at home this year.
• Illinois at Iowa. Some people think the Illini will slip here. It is an early tip, 11am local time, but without Pierre Pierce, the Hawks will need a career day from Jeff Horner to pull the upset.
• Iowa St. at Kansas. The Cyclones are one of the hottest teams around, winning 6 in a row to get in the NCAA tourney upset. Unfortunately, they'll be catching an angry Kansas team steaming after their road loss at Texas Tech on Monday.
• Vermont at Nevada. Nevada is in, but Vermont is on the bubble despite their Top 20 RPI. The nation gets to see Taylor Coppenrath, but someone else besides he and T.J. Sorrentine will have to step up if Vermont is going to win. Nevada is very balanced and is always tough to beat in Reno.
• Florida at LSU. LSU would be definitely back in if they can knock off the Gators. Both teams need to start showing some consistency. The SEC is not one of the Top 5 conferences in America according to the RPI currently, can you believe that??? Well, I can.
• South Carolina at Alabama. Can the Gamecocks keep it going after knocking off Kentucky? The Tide are awfully tough to beat at home.
• Texas Tech at Oklahoma St. The Red Raiders would be Team of the Week in the USA if they can pull this win off after beating Kansas Monday night. Watch out for the Cowboys, they seem to be getting it together at just the right time.
• UAB at Cincinnati. A must win for the Blazers, especially after losing at home to East Carolina. A home loss would give the Bearcats 5 losses in conference play, and put them in the kind of precarious spot teams like Georgia Tech enjoy right now. Should be in, but on the edge when they shouldn't be.
• Ohio St. at Minnesota. Must, must, must, must win for the Gophers. They must finish ahead of the Bucks in the Big10 to get back in the NCAA picture. You can't let a team barred from postseason play finish ahead of you.
• Syracuse at Boston College. Are the Eagles for real and is Syracuse a Final 4 contender. Both questions will be answered tonight, especially Syracuse's because they're too talented to be struggling the way they are.
• Miami at Virginia Tech. An elimination game in the ACC. Loser won't make the NCAA Tournament.
• Mississippi St. at Kentucky. Both teams need wins after losing games this week. With a loss, the Bulldogs would be 6-6 in the weak SEC, which is not NCAA tournament material.
• UTEP at Pacific. The country needs to stay up and see how good this Pacific team really is. If UTEP can somehow pull this game out, it puts them in the NCAAs if they win out and at least make it to the WAC finals.

Sunday

• Pittsburgh at Villanova. The Panthers can solidify, at least in my mind, their place as the best team in the Big East if they can slow down the Nova offense.
• UCLA at Stanford. Mentioned above, possible elimination game in the Pac10.
• Wake Forest at Duke. If Wake wins, they're in the drivers' seat for a #1 seed. Duke is trying to avoid losing 3 in a row, when has that last happened????

Tonight began the 54th edition of Survivor (it seems like it at least). The field of 20 was whittled to 18 when the last two people not picked to be on a tribe let go. This included Wanda, the singing English teacher, who in no disrespect to her, everyone, including the country was glad to see go so they wouldn't have to hear her sing for the rest of the show. Then, Jolanda, who won the role as a tribe captain in the swim to the island, was voted off after her team lost due to her decision to try and grab everything in an obstacle course race when all they needed was flint to build a fire.

In the Apprentice, Michael was fired (finally!) after the collegians lost to the high schoolers, again. The collegians' mobile spa came up just short to the high schoolers' open casting call, which means the collegians still have only won one task (ironically, Michael was the project manager for that one). Michael was the scapegoat for a team that has no creativity whatsoever, and is made up of too many lawyers. The only thing they have going on for them is Erin, who's attractive and witty.

Everyone have a great President's Day weekend, see you on Monday.