Duke returns to the Final Four

Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer were awful in the first half Friday night against Purdue, but Kyle Singler was terrific. Against Baylor it was the exact opposite, except it lasted the entire game. Singler went 0-10, and had just 5 points, but Smith and Scheyer combined for 49 and made 9 three pointers as Duke advanced to the Final Four for the 11th time under Coach K, the first since 2004. Singler picked up 2 early fouls, which took him out of his rythm, and spent most of the day guarding LaceDarius Dunn, but Duke still found a way.

There were over 47 thousand fans in Reliant Stadium, and most of them were wearing green and gold. Even with the crowd against them, the Devils were able to hang around, even when it looked like all the momentum was with the home team, most notably at the end of the first half. This isn't an overly talented Duke team, but it is a tough team, mentally and physically, much tougher than I think anyone realized going into this tournament. They hung around, almost waiting for Baylor to give them a chance to take control, and when the Bears did in the last 3 minutes, they took advantage.

Going into the final TV timeout there was 3:36 left, and Baylor led 61-60. At that point Duke went on a 12-1 run in 2 minutes and 16 seconds. A game that looked like a white knuckler that would come down to the final possession had fans filing for the exits with over a minute to go. Baylor let the moment get to them, Duke did not.

Rebounding was the key, especially late. Josh Lomers, who was so good against Omar Samhan Friday night played just 9 minutes and fouled out early. Thats a big reason why Duke had 19 offensive rebounds. So many of those big buckets in the last 3 minutes for Duke came off of offensive rebounds. You have to think if Lomers is in the game, that probably doesn't happen.

Here are the postgame press conferences for each team:

Duke

Baylor

Lakers coast after big 2nd quarter

The Rockets looked great in the first quarter, and actually led 34-27, but the 2nd was a Saint Mary's like disaster. The Lakers went on a 20-0 run and outscored the Rockets 35-11, and pretty much coasted the rest of the way. The only reason it was an 8 point game was because the Rockets outscored LA 32-20 in the 4th. Phil Jackson said he wasn't happy with the win because of the 4th quarter, but they were up 20 going into it, so I'm assuming he was pleased with the balance of the game.

Kobe only had 17 points, and most were on jumpers. He only took 2 shots in the paint, and he missed them both. He only took 3 free throws, but he really didn't need to do that much because Pau Gasol was dominating. He had 30 points and 8 boards. Derek Fisher as well as I've seen him play in a couple of years. Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown also shot the ball well, which has to be an encouraging sign for the Lakers. Sasha Vujacic did not play.

The Rockets had a lot of guys in street clothes as Battier, Martin, Andersen, and Jeffries didn't play. Jermaine Taylor was impressive in his first career start, and Kobe Bryant was also impressed with his aggressiveness. Jordan Hill was also productive once again. You can hear what Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol had to say after the game.

Kobe Bryant

Pau Gasol

Phil Jackson

While the kids rested the soap opera came to town

The traveling circus known as the Lakers is in town tonight to play the Rockets who are down to about 8 healthy players... and Hilton Armstrong. The Rockets have had a brutal week, and it doesn't help that Shane Battier and Kevin Martin will be out once again. The Rockets have 11 games out and are 6 back in the loss column for the 8 seed, so they are basically playing out the string.

The Lakers have a cloud over them right now, and its not like they are playing poorly, there is just a lot of outside stuff going on with them right now. You have Phil Jackson talking about leaving after the season, Kobe is angry about his contract, Ron Artest is saying that Trevor Ariza is a better fit with the Lakers, and Andrew Bynum is hurt. Hey, nobody said repeating is easy.

I'll be tweeting during the game @AdamSpolane, but one thing I will tell you now is Jermaine Taylor will start for the Rockets.

Final thoughts from Reliant Stadium

Here are some final thoughts I have from the South Regional Semifinals, and also some thoughts looking ahead to Sunday's final between Duke and Baylor:

Saint Mary's vs Baylor

• I think Baylor won that game the second they came out of the tunnel and saw the crowd. You could just see on their faces how big a lift that was. Baylor isn't used to the enormous crowds being in their favor.

• Josh Lomers was sensational defensively, and was even better on the glass with 6 offensive rebounds.

• Fred Ellis, Quincy Acy, and A.J. Walton combined to shoot 9-12 for 21 points off the bench for Baylor.

• The Baylor bench came into today's game accounting for just over 5% of the Bear's offense, they accounted for almost a third of it against Saint Mary's.

• Omar Samhan is not an NBA player. He has good touch around the basket, but he's not athletic enough. There is no way he is 6-11 either.

• An NBA team should give Ben Allen a look. Ya, he's got to get stronger/tougher, but he can really shoot the ball and he's legit 6-11.

• Dumbest question of the day came from a reporter asking the Saint Mary's players if it was a moral victory winning the second half.

Purdue vs Duke

• This Purdue team reminded me a lot of the Rockets last season after Yao got hurt. They just didn't have enough offense to finish what would've been a shocking upset.

• Purdue was awful on the boards. I never thought I would see this Duke team out rebound someone by 23. Even more shocking that the team they did it to was Purdue.

• For as bad as Scheyer and Nolan Smith were in the first half, they were as good in the 2nd.

• Kyle Singler saved Duke with the first half he played.

• Speaking of Singler, if I'm an NBA team picking at the end of the first round why wouldn't I pick him? He does too many things well, and he's 6-8, not 6-2.

• I don't think people will realize how big a loss Chris Kramer will be for Purdue until Big 10 play starts in January.

Duke vs Baylor

• Duke should wear the road jersey's because this will be a road game. Baylor could fans could top the 50,000 mark, plus all the alums of other Texas schools that will be in attendance will be rooting hard for Baylor as well.

• The Lomers/Zoubek matchup is incredibly intriguing.

• Should be interesting to see how Baylor changes its defense. Duke gets most of its points from the perimeter as opposed to SMC which got a lot of points from the paint.

• Duke needs to slow this game down. They don't have the athletes to matchup with Baylor.

Duke press conference

Here is the Duke press conference after the Devils beat Purdue. Again sorry for no picture, but to make up for it, early on in the press conference Coach K jumps all over a reporter when he was questioning Singler and Scheyer. Your welcome.

The good stuff occurs at 3:35

Purdue press conference

Here is the Purdue press conference after their loss to Duke. Sorry I forgot to take a picture during it:

Baylor press conference

Here is Baylor's press conference after beating Saint Mary's:

Saint Mary's press conference

Here is Saint Mary's press conference after their loss to Baylor:

Kramer's gone wild

Chris Kramer took a very hard fall a few minutes, and during the ensuing timeout Chris Kramer's family decided to come down from their seats and berate the officals. Both his mother, father, and brother were loudly cursing at the officials. His brother called one of them a pussy. A few minutes later Kraer's mother was yelling at a fan. Classy crew.

Notes on Purdue

In going through the Purdue game notes the following nuggets caught my interest:

• The Boilermakers are 4-2 all-time vs Duke.

• Purdue has won 12 straight first round NCAA Tournament games.

• Purdue’s 29 wins tied for the school record.

• Purdue has won over 100 games the last 4 seasons. That is the first time that has happened. The previous mark which they did twice in the 90’s. They have won 103 coming into tonight’s game.

• The Boilermakers have beaten 4 top-10 teams this season. Duke is ranked #3 coming into tonight.

• Purdue is holding opponents to under 39% shooting the last 15 games.

Notes on Duke

In going through the Duke game notes the following nuggets caught my interest:

• Duke is making its 11^th Sweet 16 appearance in the last 13 years. They didn’t make it in 2007 or ’08.

• Miles and Mason Plumlee’s mother played at Purdue.

• Duke is 26-1 when leading at halftime.

• Duke is 2-6 in its last 8 Regional Semifinals. Both wins resulted in Final Four appearances.

• Duke is 2-4 all time in NCAA games played in Texas.

• Former Duke players are combining to make over $82 million in the NBA this season, the most in the nation.

Follow me on Twitter @AdamSpolane

Instead of blog posts, I will be posting updates, anecdotes, and oberservations from the South Regional Semifinals.

http://twitter.com/AdamSpolane

Notes on Baylor

In going through the Baylor game notes the following nuggets caught my interest:

• This is the first Sweet 16 that Baylor has ever made, but they have been to 2 Final Fours (1948 and 1950).

• Since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985 there have only been 3 father/son coaching duos to reach the Sweet 16- John Thompson/John Thompson III, Dick Bennett/Tony Bennett, Homer Drew/Scott Drew.

• Baylor is 3-5 against teams from the West Coast Conference.

• Baylor is playing Saint Mary’s for the first time. This marks the 13^th time Baylor is playing a team for the first time in the last two seasons. They are 11-1 the previous 12 games.

• Baylor has lost 7 games this season, none by more than 7 points.

Notes on St. Mary's

In going through the Saint Mary’s game notes the following nuggets caught my interest:

• The Gael’s are 3-13 all-time against teams from the Big 12, they have lost their last 8.

• Head coach Randy Bennett is 0-3 against Big 12 teams.

• Ben Allen has scored in double figures 19 of the Gael’s 33 games. They have won all 19 games

• The Saint Mary’s starters have accounted for 82.7% of its offense.
  
  
• In its two tournament games, Saint Mary’s starters have scored 146 of 155 points (94.2%).
  
  
• Saint Mary’s 28 wins is tied for the school record, so a win tonight would break the school record.

Live from the South Regional

They have just begun letting fans into Reliant Stadium as we get ready for the South Regional Semifinals. Game 1 will be Baylor/Saint Mary's and it will be followed by Duke/Purdue.

I like both Baylor and Duke tonight. I think that Baylor's size will cause problems for Samham and could get him in foul trouble. I know he played through it against Nova. I also think the crowd could be an advantage. This is going to be a big Baylor crowd tonight, and it will be larger Sunday if Baylor moves on. I don't think Purdue will be able to score enough points against Duke. I know they play great defense, but Chris Kramer can't shutdown Scheyer/Singer/Smith by himself.

It really is too bad that A&M couldn't beat Purdue, otherwise this place would really be a madhouse with A&M and Baylor fans. As you can tell, the setup is quite strange with the elevated floor placed at the 50 yard line. They have actually put stands in with seats over the actual Reliant Stadium seats on the lower level.

I should be able to blog throughout both games. I might have a lull in the beginning of the Duke/Purdue game, but I will keep you posted.

Kansas State/BYU Postgame press conferences

I know its late, but I thought I would post the press conferences from after the KState/BYU game from Saturday night. The KState press conference with Frank Martin and Jacob Pullen was pretty entertaining. I'll be honest, I didn't get to see much of this game because I was finishing up my postgame work for the KU/NIU game, but from what I did see, I was impressed with KState. I thought they played outstanding defense, especially on Jimmer Fredette.

Kansas State

BYU

Northern Iowa shocks the world

The odds on favorite to win the tournament won't even make it to the second week, as Kansas was upset by Northern Iowa. I thought Northern Iowa would be able to keep it close, but I didn't think they would actually win the game. Its not like they shot lights out, just 40% from the field and 35% from 3, but they defended well, and didn't turn the ball over, they had only 9. Its a gutsy team that is led by a group of gutsy seniors, including Ali Farokhmanesh who is emerging as a star in this tournament.

You feel bad for Kansas, they just couldn't get over the hump and take a lead to grab momentum. They led 2-0 when they scored on their first possession, they never led again. Northern Iowa was able to make enough plays at the right times to hang on.

Here are the press conferences from each team:

Northern Iowa

Kansas

Live: Northern Iowa/Kansas 2nd half

Here is the thread for the 2nd half of KU/NIU:

Kansas starts the half with a bucket and a stop. Aldrich makes plays on both ends. They need to go back to him.

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Marcus Morris called for an offensive foul, his 3rd. No complaints from the KU crowd. Eglseder gives NIU a 10 point lead, Collins misses a 3 at the other end.

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Good start to the half for NIU. They get to the first media timeout and extend its lead by 2 points. The Northern Iowa second unit has been the unsung hero of this game.

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After a Henry 3 to cut it to 7, KU plays great D and forces a 3 at the end of the shot clock, but can't get the rebound. Lead back to 9. NIU hasn't let Kansas go on any runs.

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NIU is 20-0 when scoring more than 60 points. They have 61.

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5-0 run for NIU. They lead by 12 with 12:31 left. Warm up the shredders for a few million brackets .

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Good timeout by NIU coach Ben Jacobson after KU scores 4 straight to cut it to 8. By the way, Jacobson is 39, and has a .674 win pct in 4 seasons at NIU.

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After the timeout, Kerwin Dunham hits a bucket and gets fouled. Again, every time it looks like Kansas is going to go on a big run, NIU makes something happen.

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Cole Aldrich comes off limping. Looked like he came down on his ankle funny under the basket.

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NIU misses another open 3, but again, Lucas O'Rear gets another offensive rebound. Northern Iowa is now in the bonus with a 7-point lead. 6:54 left.

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NIU has scored 2 points in the last 4:30. Lead down to 5, closest its been in this half.

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Major onions by soph Johnny Moran for UNI. Knocks down a 3 to get the lead back to 6, Panthers get a stop on the other end. The lead by 6 with the ball at the last media timeout.

Live: Northern Iowa/Kansas first half

Jordan Eglseder scores on NIU's first 2 trips down, but not in the paint. Hit a 3, and a long 2. Now Ahelegbhe draws a foul slashing inside and makes both free throws. Great start for the Panthers.

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Johnny Moran knocks down a 3 for NIU, 10-2 Panthers. Timeout Kansas, they are off to a slow start for the second straight game, although today they are playing a team that can actually beat them. Key stat to remember- NIU hasn't lost this season when scoring more than 60 points. They are 1/6 of the way there in 2 1/2 minutes.

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Tyrel Reed checks in for KU, he hit 4 threes against Lehigh.

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17-12 NIU going into the second media timeout. KU has been whistled for 6 fouls, NIU 0. The Kansas crowd, and radio crew, which is right in front of me are not happy. Ben Jacobson was able to sit Eglseder for about 5 minutes. Big key right now is that he has 0 fouls. All 6 Kansas fouls have been called on different players.

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Loudest ovation of the night comes on the first foul called against NIU. 2nd and 3rd calls come shortly after to equally as loud ovations. Its Kansas vs the officials. Jayhawks down by just 3.

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8:46 left, NIU hasn't scored since the 11:45 mark.

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Reed hits his 2nd 3. Ben Jacobson imploring Faroukmanesh to stay with him. Eglseder comes back and hits his 2nd 3 of the night, and 3rd all season. Not sure if that was in the game plan.

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Panthers 6/9 from 3. Faroukmanesh is 3/3. They lead by 7.

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Faroukmanesh hits another jumper. Panthers up 9. Timeout Kansas. They are doing everything better than Kansas.

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Northern Iowa leads by 8 at halftime. Kansas letting the officials distract them. Sherron Collins wouldn't leave the floor after the buzzer, instead choosing to jaw at an official, should've been T'd up. A perfect half for Northern Iowa, they have a decent sized lead, and nobody is in foul trouble. Ben Jacobson was also able to use his normal rotation, so only 2 players had to play for more than 11 minutes in the first half. Kansas will get the ball to start the half after a late jump ball. Jump ball with 3 seconds left gave NIU the ball, but they were unable to get off a shot, a bit of a break for KU. During the second half I will blog in a different post.

#1 Kansas vs #9 Northern Iowa

I'm at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City for KU/NIU and later KState/BYU. I'm going to blog live during the first game, and will try to do so late in the second game. I think Northern Iowa can play with Kansas and keep it close especially if Kansas defends the way it did Thursday against Lehigh. I think the keys for the Panthers will be Jordan Eglseder holding his own down low against Cole Aldrich, and Kwadzo Ahelegbe has got to stay out of foul trouble. He is really the only threat NIU has to penetrate inside, he has got to be able to do this so KU isn't able to take away the 3-point line.

This is basically going to be a Kansas home game even though Northern Iowa traveled pretty well. I don't believe that the arena will be sold out. I don't think they sold the top half of the upper deck behind each basket. Thursday the full sections in the upper deck behind the basket were empty. The weather is awful here. 30 degrees and snowing. I took a picture with my Iphone, but I am unable to load in on here right now.

Round 1 conference winners and losers

Here are my winners and loser from the first round of the tournament by conference:

Winners:

• Big 10- Went 4-1, the only team to lose was 11 seeded Minnesota. Wasn't always pretty, but they got it done. Went 5-2 in the first round last year. Second straight year with 4 teams in the second round.

• Big 12- Went 5-2, although the 2 losses (Texas and OK State) were disappointing. The conference has a great chance to make up 25% of the Sweet 16.

• West Coast Conference- 8th seeded Gonzaga and and 10th seeded Saint Mary's both won rather easily. Saint Mary's proving that the WCC is more than just Gonzaga.

• Mountain West- Ya, I know they were just 2-2, but their 2 best teams (New Mexico and BYU) won after losing early in the conference tournament last week, and the 3 and 4 teams (San Diego St and UNLV) lost by 3. A good showing by the conference, which has been average in recent years. The conference has never won more than 2 games before, and 4 teams is the most its ever had.

• Ivy League- Hard to believe a team from the Ivy wins in the tournament and its not Princeton or Penn.

• Ohio Valley- Murray State is the first OVC non play-in win since 1989.

• MAC- Just think, if the 9th best team (Ohio) in the conference can slaughter the Big East Tourney runner-up, what could teams 1-8 do in Big East?

Losers:

• Big East- Fortunately Syracuse, West Virginia, and Pitt played well, but losing half of its 8 teams is inexcusable.

• SEC- Went 2-2, lost 4th seeded Vandy, and 6th seeded Tennessee was almost taken to overtime by SD State.

• Atlantic 10- Got 3 teams in the tournament seeded 7th and higher, lost 2 of them, both were clobbered by mid-majors (Richmond by Saint Mary's, Temple by Cornell).

• WAC- Went 0-2. They are now just 2-10 in the last 6 tournaments. Both wins by Nevada.

• Conference USA- Lost both games they played by double digits. CUSA has not had a team other than Memphis win a tourney game since 2005 when UAB, Louisville, and Cincinnati won games, the last 2 teams are now in the Big East.

Live from Oklahoma City

Welcome to the NCAA Tournament. I'm covering the games this weekend in Oklahoma City where today I'll see BYU/Florida followed by North Texas/Kansas State. Then tonight it will be UNLV/Northern Iowa followed by Kansas/Leigh. BYU/Florida will open the tournament, so all eyes will be on the Ford Center, at least for about 5 minutes.

Florida is playing in its first tournament game since winning back-to-back titles in '06 and '07, BYU is just glad they don't have to play Texas A&M in the first round. The player to watch in this game is BYU's Jimmer Fredette, who Billy Dovovan said is more dangerous than John Wall.

In game 2 North Texas, who is basically playing about 2 hours away from its campus in Denton, Texas will try and become the 5th 15 seed to win a tournament game, as they will take on Kansas State. Right now Leigh is shooting around as we are a little over an hour away from tip off of the first game. I will try and post press conference audio from all 4 games, likely won't be able to blog during games, at least the day session. I will be doing updates on WFAN starting at 12:20 eastern time, every 20 minutes during the afternoon games. Those updates will also be on the YES Network.

South Region Picks

Here are my picks for the South Region
By the way, my championship game is Kansas over West Virginia

East Region Picks

Here are my picks for the East region:

West Region Picks

Here are my picks for the West Region (By the way, I have BYU beating Xavier in the Sweet 16):

Midwest Region Picks

Here are my picks for the Midwest region:

Brooks/Martin/Scola snap Nuggets win streak

The Rockets have had a Big 3 on a few occasions over the last 15 years. There was the Olajuwon/Barkley/Drexler team, the Olajuwon/Barkley/Pippen team, then a decade later it was Yao/McGrady/Artest, and now you have the Martin/Brooks/Scola version of the big 3 who helped lead the Rockets to a 125-123 win over Denver. The 3 combined for 83 points and were instrumental in overcoming an 11 point 4th quarter deficit. The Rockets are on their biggest win streak since December, and the new big 3 have been sensational, and its only a matter of time before Martin and Brooks are talked about as being one of the best back courts in the NBA. Here is postgame reaction from what was a very entertaining game:

Rockets head coach Rick Adelman

Rockets guard Aaron Brooks

Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups

Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony

Stan Van Gundy beats Clippers by 26, then rips them

On the night the Clippers severed ties with Mike Dunleavy they lost to the Magic by 26 points. Of course, after the game Stan Van Gundy was asked about the Dunleavy situation, and of course he answered. (from espnlosangeles.com)

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said after Tuesday's game that he always respected Dunleavy as a coach and thought it was unfair to pin the blame solely on Dunleavy given the Clippers' losing history.

"It's just hard to comment on anything another organization does because you don't know why or how, and multiply that about 10 with the Clippers," Van Gundy said, drawing laughs.

"No knock on Kim or anybody else, but they haven't exactly taken off since the coaching change," Van Gundy added.

In fact, the Clippers are just 4-11 since Dunleavy stepped down as head coach. Dunleavy was stunned at the news, and hadn't actually heard from the Clippers. He said he left a message with Donald Sterling, but hadn't heard back yet, which makes me wonder sometimes if Al Davis and Donald Sterling are the same person. You can say what you want about Dunleavy, but lets remember, under his tenure the Clippers were a game away from going to the Western Conference Finals, and even though they haven't had any success since, Dunleavy set themselves up with a good core, and a lot of cap room this summer. It would've been nice to see Dunleavy have a chance to see it through, but whoever takes that job is going to walk into a very good situation.

De Niro to play Lombardi in ESPN film

Robert De Niro has signed onto to play Vince Lombardi in an upcoming movie about the legendary coach that will be produced by ESPN Films. From the ESPN release:

The story's narrative arc spans from 1959 when Lombardi was given his first opportunity to be an NFL head coach, taking over the small-town Packers, then the worst team in the NFL, and runs through his transformation of a group of young, talented but undisciplined losers into five-time NFL champions. Also, the story highlights the long-standing rivalry that existed between Lombardi and legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, both of whom were assistants on the New York Giants team that lost the 1958 NFL Championship game.

I think the aspect of the Lombardi/Landry rivalry is the most appealing aspect of what this movie could bring. However, it sounds like it would make for a better documentary than a movie, but I guess having De Niro attached could make for a good movie, and ESPN Films has done an excellent job with the 30 for 30 series, so I have high hopes that this could be good as well. This news also allows me to post a fine speech by an Academy Award winner who also played a football coach not too long ago.

By the way, along with Pacino, my favorite actors as football coaches are as follows:

1. Denzel Washington (Herman Boone- Remember the Titans)

2. John Voight (Bud Kilmer- Varsity Blues)

3. Rick Moranis (Danny O'Shea- Little Giants)

4. Billy Bob Thornton (Gary Gaines- Friday Night Lights)

5. Gene Hackman (Jimmy McGinty- The Replacements)

Actors I'd like to see play a football coach

1. Samuel L. Jackson

2. Kiefer Sutherland

3. James Gandolfini

4. Anyone else who is a good yeller

Cleveland should've done what Oklahoma City did

More than a year before he would become a free agent, Kevin Durant is already talking about signing a max contract to stay in Oklahoma City. Not just a 3-year extension like Lebron James signed, the full 5 years, and he is willing to do this even though his Thunder team hasn't played in a playoff game. He doesn't want to do this because Oklahoma City is such an exciting place to live, or because it is where he is from. He wants to stay there because he sees a good team being build around him, but not just a good team, a good young team. A group of guys that he can envision playing with for a decade, not a bunch of veterans who are a decade older then him. Sam Presti build a team through the draft. He partnered Durant with young guys who are his age that he can relate too. This is where the Cavs went wrong.

After drafting Lebron, Cleveland was very panicky. They have been worried about losing him since the day they drafted him. Instead of actually building a team around him, they plugged in a bunch of veterans who have been interchangeable the last 5 years. They overpaid guys like Larry Hughes because they thought that would keep Lebron happy. The Cavs have won and have won a lot, but they really haven't built anything. The problem is that Cleveland has done nothing through the draft. James was drafted in 2003, in the '04-'07 drafts the only player they took that is still with the team is Daniel Gibson. When you grow up with a team and mature as a team it makes you want to remain with that team. Durant is growing up with guys like Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook, guys who the Thunder drafted.

I'm not saying that Lebron is going to leave Cleveland, and if he does it might have to do more with him then the actual team, but you have to wonder if things would be different had the Cavs taken Al Jefferson or Josh Smith instead of Luke Jackson with the 10th pick in the 2004 draft. Would Lebron have been willing to sign a max deal instead of a 3-year extension at the same point in his career as Durant is in now if the Cavs would have built through the draft instead of free agency.

What a 96-team tournament would like

The Houston Chronicle put together a bracket of what a 96-team tournament would like. Click on it to get a blown up version of the picture. All you have to do to know a 96-teamer would be a bad idea is to look at this bracket. That first round would be absolute torture. It would involve 32 games with 64 teams that will not win a national championship. It would be like having to watch the NIT.

One thing that it would do might sound like a good thing, but I don't think it really is. The tournament would become more competitive in the early rounds. I think that would ruin the first week of the tournament. In this bracket, Jackson State is the 24 seed in the midwest region. In a normal bracket they would be the 16 and take on Kansas, instead, they would play the 9 seed Wake Forest, and Kansas would take on the winner of Marshall and South Florida. The 1 vs 16 game would be ruined. We watch that game because we want to see the impossible upset. We want to see the 4 worst teams get their shots in at the 4 best teams, not the 4 best teams against 4 average teams who finished in the middle of the pack in their conferences. We still talk about when Princeton almost beat Georgetown in 1989, do you think that in 21 years from now we will talk about the time when South Florida almost beat Kansas? Of course not, there is nothing extraordinary about that.

I don't mind the tournament being expanded, but adding 31 teams is absurd. Start small and add 3 more teams, so you can have 4 play-in games to decide who the 16 seeds will be. This will not water the tournament down, and it will still add 3 more berths to teams who may actually deserve them. The argument being made by the coaches who are in favor of this are that there are 50 new D1 programs since the tournament last went through a major expansion. My question to those coaches is, How many of those programs really matter? Is Houston Baptist or Longwoods the reason why Connecticut isn't going to make the tournament this year?

What to watch for: Championship Week edition

Here is a list of things to watch for this week as we approach Selection Sunday

Mid Major Upsets

Butler and Gonzaga are tourney locks, and they play in typically 1 bid leagues, so if they don't win their conference championships the at large field will shrink a little. Gonzaga plays bubble team Saint Marys in the WCC championship. The Gaels were in this spot last season, but didn't get in, so its a good bet they will have to beat the Zags to make it. Butler plays Wright State, which has no chance to make it as an at large. Butler is playing at home, but they lost at home last season to Cleveland State, and have not won the Horizon League Tournament 2 of the last 3 years.

The do-or-die Pac 10 Tournament?

I don't think one of the 6 major conferences has ever been a one bid league, but there is a chance that the only bid that comes from the Pac 10 this season is its automatic bid to the team that win the conference tournament. I think that makes the Pac 10 one of the more interesting tournaments this week.

The Crazy SEC

In 2008, Georgia came out of nowhere to win the SEC Tournament, last year it was Mississippi State. Will it happen a third straight year? Its unlikely since the SEC is much better than it has been recently, but crazy stuff tends to happen down south.

How far could Kansas State fall?

KState was looking at a possible 1 seed, but lost to Kansas and Iowa State, and are now looking at a 2 seed. They will play the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State winner on Thursday, if they lose that game as well, is it possible the Wildcats could fall to a 3 seed?

Play-in game for Illinois?

Illinois isn't playing well right now, and they are right on the bubble. They play Wisconsin in their first game of the Big 10 tourney on Friday. Many people believe that they have to win that game, otherwise they could miss the tournament.

Can South Florida or Seton Hall make a run in NYC?

I think the top 8 teams from the Big East will get in, but I think they 9th and 10th place teams could get in if they can make a run in the Big East Tournament, and when I say run, I mean they need to get to at least the semis. By the way, if you are in the bottom half of the Big East, you have to win 5 games in 5 days in order to win that tournament. I don't think it will ever happen.

Can a Big 10 team be a 1 seed?

Kentucky, Kansas, and Syracuse have #1 seeds locked up. I think Duke should be the 4th right now, with Kansas State right behind them, but what if Duke and KState lose early in their tournaments. Is it possible one of the 3 Big 10 schools vaults ahead of them? Remember 1 thing about Michigan State and Ohio State- they went through bad stretches this season, but they were without Evan Turner and Kalin Lucas during the bad stretches. They are both back now, and the committee factors that stuff in. I think those teams could be seeded higher then people expect.

Listen to the Texas 5A Region 3 Semifinals

I will be broadcasting the Texas 5A Region tournament this weekend in Houston. The Semifinals are tonight, and the championship game will be tomorrow afternoon. Here is the schedule:

Bellaire vs Fort Bend Travis- 6:00

Strake Jesuit vs Fort Bend Bush- 7:45

The championship game will be at 2 tomorrow afternoon.

Bellaire is the #1 team in the state with 4 guys who have committed to division 1 schools including Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

The games will be broadcast online via the Texas Sports Radio Network

Carl Landry on beating the Rockets

"Chuck had a rough night." That was what Carl Landry said a few times as he was getting dressed before he met with reporters. In his first game against his old team, Landry has his best game with his new team, putting up his first double-double as a King. He went for 22 and 10, and drained 2 key free throws at the end of the game. Landry knocked down a 20 footer on the Kings first possession, and had a big smile on his face that you could see from across the gym as he ran to the other end of the floor towards the Rockets bench.

Landry got a big ovation as he was introduced before the game. He was a fan favorite because of his knack for making big plays, and for bouncing back from bizarre injuries. The Rockets played a tribute to Landry in the first quarter. The video showed all the reasons why Landry was well-liked, and as it ended Toyota Center erupted in its biggest cheer of the night. Here is what Landry had to say after beating his old team.

Kings 84 Rockets 81

The Rockets played a great game Monday night against Toronto, and a win against the Kings would've given them back-to-back wins for the first time in over two months. For as well as they played against the Raptors, they played that badly against the Kings, and showed why they are on the verge of missing the playoffs. I thought they were lazy on both sides. They settled for bad shots early in the shot clock, 22 of their shot attempts were 3's. Aaron Brooks took 13 of them, and made only 3. Monday night they had 33 assists on 41 made baskets, tonight they had just 13 on 30 made baskets.

Defensively, they played pretty well, especially Shane Battier, who had a career-high 7 blocks, and they held the Kings to 32% shooting, but Sacramento had 24 offensive rebounds, 24! The Kings took 23 more shots than the Rockets. Sometimes that sort of a stat can be deceiving because the team that takes fewer shots might have a big edge at the free throw line, not the case, the Rockets attempted just 6 more free throws. Both teams made 16 free throws, so in a game that came down to the wire, the Rockets missed 10 free throws. The Rockets are in a very easy stretch in their schedule.

They play 14 more games this month, only half are against teams that could make the playoffs. They trail Portland by 5 games, but by only 3 in the loss column. Getting Trevor Ariza and Kyle Lowry will help, but then Rick Adelman will have to work them into a team that has changed a lot since they got hurt, and he will have to decide which of his wing players (Battier, Martin, Ariza) start, and how to get Lowry on the floor with Aaron Brooks at the same time. Here is what the coaches had to say after the game:

Kings coach Paul Westphal

Rockets coach Rick Adelman

Welcome back Carl Landry

Here is the video of when Carl Landry was introduced to the Crowd at Toyota Center. As you will here, he got a big ovation from the crowd. The Rockets played a tribute video to Landry during the game's first timeout.

The Texas what-if game

Texas hired Mack Brown and Rick Barnes within four months of each other after John Mackovic was fired in November of 1997, and Tom Penders was fired in March of 1998. What-if Texas Athletic Director Deloss Dodds would have hired his #1 choice for each job?

To replace Mackovic, Dodds wanted then Northwestern head coach Gary Barnett. In 1995 and 96 Barnett won Big 10 titles, but wasn't interested in leaving. In 1997 the 'Cats were just 5-7, so people thought he might be ready to jet Evanston. Texas tried to get him, but he decided to stay, which set the tables for Dodds to hire Brown from North Carolina. Barnett would coach one more year at Northwestern, and then take the Colorado job. He left Colorado in scandal after 7 seasons. Ironically, he beat Texas in a Big 12 Championship game in 2001, which cost the Horns a chance to play Miami in the National Championship Game.

To replace Penders, Dodds wanted then Utah coach Rick Majerus, who was in the middle of a 6-year conference championship streak, and had just beaten the Simon/Bibby defending champion Arizona team, and the Jamison/Carter North Carolina team in consecutive games to get to the championship game where they lost to Kentucky. Majerus was thought of as the best coach in the country. He turned them down, and Dodds turned to Rick Barnes of Clemson. Majerus would spend 6 more seasons at Utah, but could not finish two of those seasons due to health problems. After leaving he went to ESPN for a few months, then in December of 2004 he took the USC head coach job. He resigned 5 days later and went back to ESPN. He is now the head coach at Saint Louis.

Is it time for Rick Barnes to go?

"We would love to win a national championship, but we're not obsessed with it because we're obsessed with these guys trying to live their NBA dream. What's happened to Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, T.J. Ford — I'd give up a national title for all of our guys to be able to live their dream."- Texas head coach Rick Barnes

Rick Barnes is taking some heat over that statement among UT people because he is making it sound like the goal of the Texas basketball program is to be a pipeline to the NBA. Not exactly the best message for the coach of a college basketball team to send, especially the coach of a basketball team that is in the midst of an epic collapse.

Barnes is in his 12th season at Texas, and you can't argue that he has done a great job in Austin. Before he got there, Texas was a perennial NCAA Tournament team, but never seeded highly, and the program wasn't considered to be elite, just solid. Not many stars were coming through Austin in the Tom Penders era. Penders team's were always just good enough to make the tournament in his 10 years at Texas, he made it 8 times, but they were almost always seeded 9 or lower. Despite, not being seeded very high, Texas always over-achieved in the tournament, rarely losing in the first round. Penders went 10-8 in the NCAA Tournament at Texas, but he was 7-7 in the Tournament as a lower seed, 3-1 as a higher seed.

Compare that with Barnes, who has had some great regular seasons at Texas, and has big-time recruiting classes, which Penders never did. However, Barnes has badly under-achieved in tournament play, in both the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament. He has not won either. The problem isn't necesary that he doesn't win these tournaments, its not exactly easy to do, but its how he loses. Here is Barnes' record in both Big 12 and NCAA Tournament play:

Big 12 Tournament

As Higher Seed: 14-7

As Lower Seed: 1-4

NCAA Tournament

As Higher Seed: 15-8

As Lower Seed: 1-3

Thats 15 times where Texas was upset in a postseason tournament. I believe that is like losing an NFL home playoff game. They have just 2 "upsets" in that span.

Now compare the Barnes record with Tom Izzo in the NCAA Tournament:

As Higher Seed: 23-3

As Lower Seed: 6-7

Same Seed: 0-1 (They were a 1 seed against #1 Duke in the 1999 Final Four)

I don't know if Texas should fire Barnes. He has made them into a team that can challenge for a #1 seed every year. The program is practically a farm club for the NBA, but with all that being said, in the first 11 years of the Barnes era, Texas has still only won 5 more NCAA Tournament games than Tom Penders did in 10 years. The question is, how long can Texas continue to under-achieve and be OK with it?

Should the NHL send players to 2014 Olympics?

Hockey is enjoying one of its biggest waves of positive press in a long time after the success that was the Olympic hockey tournament which saw huge TV numbers in both the United States and Canada. Yet, before the Olympics started, and even during, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman kept saying a decision had not yet been made about sending NHL players to the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. After the success of this year's tournament that would seem to be a horrible decision, but is it?

By sending NHL players to the Olympics the league had to have a break in its schedule for 2 weeks, that was with the Olympics in North America. Hell, the league scheduled games for the day after the Olympics ended. That will not be the case with the games in Eastern Europe in 4 years.

One of the biggest reasons the Hockey tournament was so successful was that the games could be shown live at reasonable hours in the USA, making it possible for more fans to watch games without having to awake at all hours of the night. That will not be the case in 2014. Sochi is 8 hours ahead of eastern time, so if they started the gold medal game at the same local time as they did in Vancouver (12:15 pm) you would be looking at the game starting at 4:15 am eastern time. I don't think NBC would be able to match the 26 million viewers they got for yesterday's game. Therein lies the problem with sending NHL players to Sochi in 2014. Is it really in the best interest of the NHL to interrupt its season 2-3 weeks to send its players halfway around the world to play in a tournament that very few people in the United States and Canada will be able to see?

What is the benefit that that? Was the NHL helped in anyway by sending its players to Torino in 2006? Did anyone actually watch a single hockey game in 2006? The NBA can afford to send its players to the Olympics because it doesn't interrupts its season, and the NBA is a global brand. That isn't the case with the NHL, it needs to master its brand in the United States before it can go international, and interrupting its season right in the middle for 2-3 weeks to send its best players to Russia is not going to help that brand.