On The Road Again

Tomorrow, bright and early, I'm off to Detroit again, this time to get fingerprinted up at the Fed. After that, I should be all set to start work next Tuesday. Unfortunately, my bro is back at school so I will be in the car by myself all day tomorrow. I'll drive 3.5 hours, get fingerprinted, then drive 3.5 hours back. I don't mind driving, but tomorrow, well, I'll be glad to get out of the car.

Well, the playoff experience for the Bengals and Southwest Ohio ended as quickly as it started. Carson Palmer's unfortunate knee injury was a sign of things to come as Pittsburgh and Mr. Roethlisberger prevailed. Jon Kitna played his heart out, but he's no Carson Palmer. I don't think it was a cheap shot, it appeared the defender was trying to stop his momentum but couldn't. I don't think it would've mattered anyway, the Bengals still can't play defense. Roethlisberger was brilliant, 14/19 208 yards, 3 TDs and no mistakes. Now, Pittsburgh travels to Indianapolis where I think their season will end.

Here are some basketball thoughts from the weekend:
Duke 82, Wake Forest 64. This game wasn't televised locally due to hockey, so I missed another outstanding performance by JJ Redick. Duke led 48-39 at the half, but saw their lead cut to 5. That's when they played some defense; Wake only scored 25 points in the 2nd half. Duke is becoming scary good. The super freshmen, Paulus and McRoberts are getting better and DeMarcus Nelson returned after missing several weeks with an injury. Duke hosts Maryland in the renewal of their rivalry Wednesday. It'll be interesting to see how Maryland plays after slipping in Miami Saturday.

Villanova played a bigger version of themselves and lost for the first time Sunday. West Virginia came from 15 down in Philly and matched the Cats shot for shot. Villanova can give up points. They're not a great defensive team because of their lack of size. They'll create turnovers with their pressure and they'll be in the right position, but they're susceptible to teams who can match up with them, aka West Virginia.

Staying in the Big East, we'll find out how improved Cincinnati is tomorrow night when they play at UConn. Cincinnati came from behind at Marquette, a team that handled UConn in Milwaukee. UC is not very deep, which doesn't bode well for them at UConn. UConn will only continue to get better with Marcus Williams in the lineup. Hopefully I'm home in time to catch it.

I'm not surprised Iowa beat Illinois. Illinois isn't very good offensively, especially when Dee Brown has an off night. The real surprise was Michigan St.'s performance today in Madison. Losing at Wisconsin wasn't a surprise; losing by 19 points was a surprise. Add that Brian Butch had 6 times as many points as Paul Davis and this one was a headscratcher. The best team in the Big 10 may be Indiana. What a great comeback at home to beat the Buckeyes on Saturday. Killingsworth was his usual self, but the Indiana perimeter players came up big, hitting 10/21 3s. Indiana travels to Michigan St. and hosts Illinois this week.

Miami sits atop the MAC East after surviving Eastern Michigan in overtime. The tough nonconference schedule is paying off as the Hawks did not fold yesterday vs. Eastern or Tuesday in their last second win at Northern Illinois.

Then there are the Dayton Flyers who have lost 5 in a row for the first time in 9 years. The hometown fans are not happy to say the least.

So there are 3 unbeatens left: Duke, Pittsburgh and Florida. Obviously, Florida a surprise, but they are extremely talented. They have 5 guys who are averaging at least 12 points a game led by Corey Brewer who is the go-to guy. They probably won't be tested until their trip to Tennessee in a couple of weeks. They're the best SEC team I've seen, although how will Kentucky respond to the return of Randolph Morris. Pittsburgh is getting good leadership from Carl Krauser, but outside of home wins over Wisconsin and Notre Dame, they haven't played anybody. A trip to Louisville looms next Sunday.

If you want an idea how unpredictable college hoops is right now, 12 of the top 25 lost at some point this past week.

Talk to you all later.