Oscar Night

The only part of Oscar Night that I pay any real attention to is the Red Carpet. After that and the opening monologue (I thought Jon Stewart was good tonight), I flip back and forth between other programs. I'd rather watch Gonzaga than the Oscars, but that's just me. I don't really care who won for Best Short Film or Best Makeup. Tell me who won the big categories and I'm good. The Oscars give out too many awards and the Grammys give out too few. The Grammys are now just one big concert. The Golden Globes get it right, they give out awards during their program that the common person cares about. Again, that's just me. But here are my top 3 from the Red Carpet:

• Keira Knightley. I liked her in a ponytail and her necklace was gorgeous
• Jessica Alba. She looked golden in her gold dress.
• Reese Witherspoon. Very classy and stylish.

One other thing, is there anything left on Dolly Parton that's real??? I think if you want to scare people, build a roller coaster that goes through a tunnel and at the end of the tunnel in the dark, reveal a picture of Dolly Parton and have her singing. Now that would be scary.

But I'm not interested in everyone's political statements at the end of their speeches or hearing them thank their agent or legal team. I just want to see what everyone is wearing, hear some good comedy, find out who won and go on with my life.

Alright, let's talk hoops, Selection Sunday is just a week away:

• Florida 79, Kentucky 64. It's nice when you can make shots: Florida 52%, Kentucky 38% (25% from 3). Kentucky is in the NCAA tournament, but I don't think they'll survive the 1st weekend, in fact they may not survive the 1st round. The key to Florida is their defense. They have great balance offensively, but can they guard people.
• Villanova 92, Syracuse 82. At least Syracuse played hard, but Villanova is too good. It was nice to see Gerry McNamara play a great last game at the Dome (29 points), but Syracuse is a definite out unless they win the Big East tourney. Villanova will be a #1 seed, something I didn't think they could accomplish without Curtis Sumpter.
• Ohio St. 76, Purdue 57. Ohio St. won their first outright Big 10 title since the days of Mark Baker, Jimmy Jackson, Jamaal Brown, Chris Jent, Perry Carter, and Treg Lee. If they win the Big 10 tourney, they could get a #1 seed.
• In the America East, Vermont continued their upset run, knocking off 2 seed Binghamton. They will travel to Albany for the championship game on Saturday.
• In the Patriot League, it will be 1 vs. 2, a rematch of last year's title game as this time Holy Cross will travel to Bucknell. Holy Cross owned this league until Bucknell knocked them off last year at Holy Cross. Now, Bucknell is king of the hill and Holy Cross wants to retake it. This championship game should be a great one, it is on Friday.
• In the Northeast Conference, it will be 1 vs. 3 as 3 seed Monmouth knocked off 2 seed Central Connecticut St. to earn a spot in the final vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Wed. night.
• Florida St. 67, the other Miami 64. One more win Free Shoes University and you're in.
• Southern Illinois 59, Bradley 46. I don't know if it was bad offense or great defense, but SIU took control in the 2nd half, only allowing Bradley to get as close as 6 late. Jamal Tatum knocked down some jumpers for SIU, which is a bonus, and Randall Falker played like a man possessed at both ends. Again, I think the Valley will get 4 teams in, but all of these teams need to find some offense or they'll all be out in the 1st round. The whole run the shot clock down to 5 and heave a 3 thing doesn't always work.
• Davidson 80, UT-Chattanooga 55. Davidson is going dancing again after getting a lights out performance from Brendan Winters. He scored 33 points on 13/21 shooting, 6/10 from 3. Davidson is very efficient on offense and can shoot the ball. They are well-coached and aren't afraid of playing the big boys, they play a very tough non-conference schedule. Whoever draws them will have their hands full.
• In the Colonial, Hofstra beat George Mason 58-49, now guaranteeing the Colonial 2 bids, 3 possibly if Hofstra were to beat UNC Wilimington in the championship game. In effect, Hofstra has knocked someone out of the tournament. In fact, they've also put GMU back on the bubble, although I think they'll still get in. Hofstra is one of the hottest teams in the country and are now 24-5, so this wasn't a bad loss. Hofstra held GMU to 33% shooting and only 16 2nd half points. The Colonial title game is tomorrow night.
• Texas 72, Oklahoma 48. The Texas that blew out Kansas showed up, as well as the Daniel Gibson from last year. 22 points on 8/15 shooting, he's starting to play as he did last year at the end of the year. Oklahoma will go as far as Terrell Everett and Michael Neal take them. They have to make perimeter shots to complement Taj Gray and Casey Bookout inside. Texas has gotten a nice lift from AJ Abrams off the bench the last couple of games.
• In the MAAC, St. Peter's upset top-seed Manhattan to advance to the championship game vs. Iona. St. Peter's possesses one of the top scorers in the nation, Keydren Clark. He scored 29 tonight and has more than 3,000 in his career.
• Gonzaga survived their West Coast Conference semifinal, beating San Diego in overtime 97-92. The tournament is being played on their home floor and credit to San Diego, they pushed them to the limit but didn't have enough gas in the tank to pull off the upset. Gonzaga received a bye into the semifinals; this was San Diego's 3rd game in 3 nights. Gonzaga was also the beneficiary of questionable officiating, shooting almost 3 times as many free throws as San Diego. Gonzaga still can't guard anybody (their big people are as slow as molasses) and they don't rebound their defensive board. Now with JP Batista a little banged up, they're in some trouble for the NCAA tournament. Saying that, Gonzaga is as deep as anyone in the country and they are as good offensively as anyone, but you've gotta stop somebody sometime.
• And Northmont knocked off top-seed Fairmont to win their 4th sectional title in school history. The T-Bolts will go for their 1st ever district title Saturday vs. Cincinnati Princeton. Congratulations boys.

Whew, and the week's just starting.