What a long week

Opening thought: I'm tired. I'm so tired, I almost forgot to do this tonight, but I'm ready.

It's Friday night which means a preview of tomorrow's big games:

• Notre Dame at Pittsburgh. A road win here for the Irish cements their place in the NCAAs. Can they match the physical toughness of the Panthers??? It will be an interesting contrast of styles. Can the fluid, high-octane Irish offense score on the tough, aggressive Pitt defense?
• Syracuse at Villanova. Syracuse may not be playing much zone in this one, especially if the Wildcats continue their hot shooting from outside. The Cuse need to start tightening up their zone and show some consistency on offense if they're going to make a Final 4 run. Curtis Sumpter vs. Hakim Warrick should be an interesting matchup.
  
• Wisconsin at Illinois. Illinois won't lose at home, period. The Badgers will keep it close, especially if they decide to change defenses as Indiana and Michigan have done lately. I just don't see the Illini losing at home.
• Cincinnati at DePaul. The loser is out of the Conference USA title race. DePaul needs to prove they can beat someone noteworthy, while the Bearcats need to prove they can do it on the road.
• Vermont at Boston U. Vermont sews up the regular season America East title with a win.
  
• Miami at Ohio. The rivalry renews in Athens as the Bobcats try to avenge their tough loss in Oxford earlier this year. If Miami wins, it would be their 8th straight, strengthening their hold on the regular-season title. OU needs to win to stay in position for a chance at the 3 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
• Virginia Commonwealth at Old Dominion. I get a chance to look at the Monarchs and see if they are capable of a first-round upset in the NCAAs if they make it. They go against the only conference opponent to beat them thus far.
• Oklahoma St. at Texas A&M. An Aggie win gets them to 5-5 in the conference and gives them a legitimate shot at making the NCAAs. A .500 record in the Big 12 will get you in this year.
• Arizona at UCLA. If the Bruins don't win this game, they'll likely have to make a run in the Pac10 tourney to get in the NCAAs. Pauley Pavillion should be rockin for this one.
• Duke at Maryland. The Terps are firmly back in the field if they can sweep the regular-season series with Duke. Duke put a lot into their win against Carolina this week. How much will they have left Saturday night?
• Nevada at UTEP. This is a battle for 1st in the WAC. The loser will most likely have to win the WAC tourney to get in the NCAAs. What a great season for Nevada, especially after losing their coach and 2 best players that led them to the Sweet 16 last year. Then, starting out the year getting pounded at Kansas and coming back to lead the WAC is quite an achievement for this team.
  
• Pacific at Utah St. If Pacific wins, they will probably finish the Big West regular season unbeaten and have a clear road to the Big West finals where they would play Utah St. most likely. Right now, they're in as an at-large.

Phil Mickelson shot a 2nd round 67 to lead Pebble Beach by 4. Karl Malone has decided to retire from the NBA after scoring more than 36,000 points. He and John Stockton made the pick-and-roll an art form, but failed to win a championship, even after going to the Lakers last year. I was never a big fan of Karl Malone and still am not. He helped make the NBA the 1on1 league it is today with his many isolation play jump shots where he'd be lucky to shoot 40% on a given night. Some of his comments also weren't very professional, from his feelings about Magic Johnson playing after he contracted AIDS to Kobe Bryant's personal life. He didn't do much for me.

I'm off to bed after I watch the Oprah rerun at 1:35. Why do you ask? Because Lance Armstrong will be on, that's why!