Rain Rain Go Away

The rain has come down hard all day long here in the D. It's warm, temperatures in the 50s as we speak, but the wind's blowing, the rain's coming down, it's not pretty. And when the rain comes down, the many potholes fill up with water, making the daily commute more like the daily hydroplane. The water just sits on the road, it doesn't drain quickly. Add to that the loose asphalt/blacktop/dirt on the road and your car has no chance. The loose material mixes in with the rain and covers your window, making it difficult to see. The weather is supposed to stay warm through the weekend, which had me thinking about golfing, but it's supposed to rain most of the weekend also, so I think it would be a waste trying to golf. But I'm starting to get the fever. I'm working on getting rid of my quick snap hook that's found a way into my swing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to get rid of this, I'm going to fire my hips through quicker, keeping my hands back and chasing. My slice goes further than my hook, so I'm ok with slicing at first until I get the kinks worked out.

Ok, time for some hoops quick-hitters, gonna keep it short and sweet since there were a lot of games today:

• Syracuse is probably in the NCAAs after their wins over Cincinnati and UConn. UConn shot 30% from the floor even with 20 offensive rebounds, not good. I think they'll be seeing more zone. Gerry McNamara's play should've never been questioned, I'd want him on my team. Meanwhile, UC and Seton Hall are left waiting. UC has the higher RPI and better resume, but the Hall just beat UC a week ago and had a better conference record. I think UC gets in and Seton Hall doesn't, my opinion, with the deciding factor being UC's better strength of schedule.
• I said earlier that George Washington's question mark was playing in a half-court game. Well, they played the ultimate half-court team, Temple, and lost. Granted, Pops Mensah-Bonsu was still out with injury and he will help in the NCAA tourney, but it should be a concern. GW is probably now a 5 seed in the NCAAs.
• I think Florida St. is out after losing to Wake Forest, who finished last in the ACC. FSU came up one win short of the 20 win mark and had no quality road wins. GW's loss which guarantees the Atlantic 10 2 teams may have knocked the Noles out.
• I think Michigan is in, but probably one of the last 4-5 teams in now after their 1st round loss to Minnesota in the Big 10. Minnesota isn't nearly as big and athletic as Michigan, yet UofM's frontcourt players only scored 22 points. Michigan will get in over Florida St. since the Big 10 was tougher.
• I said all year Xavier had NCAA talent and was a big disappointment, to me, this year. Well with GW's loss and X's win over Charlotte tonight, it's their A-10 tournament to lose, being played in Cincinnati.
• Great 2nd half comeback by Pittsburgh over West Virginia tonight. All 5 Pitt starters were in double figures, a far contrast from West Virginia, who got 22 from Pittsnogle, 10 from Gansey, and that's it. West Virginia relies so much on the 3 (33 of their 53 attempts were 3s) it's hard to know what will happen with them in the tournament. One thing's for sure, they've struggled against the top teams in the Big East.
• California is probably in with their win over USC tonight in the Pac 10 quarterfinals. But if they can win tomorrow over Washington (most likely), they'll be a lock as they hit the 20 win mark.
• Last night, 2 teams played their way in. Monmouth beat Fairleigh Dickinson to win the Northeast, and Montana beat Northern Arizona to win the Big Sky, both teams winning in the others' gyms. Fairleigh Dickinson is a good team, but they fell asleep at various points in the game. They jumped out to a nice lead, let Monmouth back in it, went on a run to end the 1st half, came out flat in the 2nd way, and pretty much played flat the rest of the way. The last 8 seconds exemplified how the game went. FDU was in control, up 1, shooting the 1 and 1, they were in control. Well, they missed the front end of the 1 and 1, Monmouth got the rebound, went the length of the floor, drove by 2 guys standing still and got a layup with 2 sec. left. How do you let a guy go 70 feet untouched for a layup??? What a way to lose an NCAA bid, on your home floor nevertheless.
• And Miami saw their season end tonight at the hands of their arch-nemesis, the OU Bobcats 73-58. Miami's 2 weaknesses all year were committing too many turnovers and failure to stop dribble penetration and OU exploited them tonight. Miami ends up 18-10, 14-4 in the MAC, which in the end exceeded my expectations, but it's always disappointing not making it to the Dance, especially when OU has ended Miami's season 3 of the last 4 years.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but when I went to church on Sunday, I was greeted by one of the most wonderful sounds. As you walked in, the local Brownie troop was there and in unison said, "Good morning." It was the cutest thing, I said thank you and smiled. The little things people.

TGIF tomorrow, which means rest, yessss.