Item!  We all know of the “Dharma Initiative” and are learning more about it each week – but what I want to know about is the “Greg Initiative” – I wonder what that island is like?

 

Item!  After broadcasting two games last night with Jay Bilas and Sean McDonough I wonder how many gin and tonics The Raft had to drink just to get the sounds of their insipid chatter out of his head.  At one point Bilas advocated taking the Big East Tournament down to 8 teams, of course in Jay’s mind the NCAA Tourney should be one team – Duke, just Duke playing Duke, that we can dispense with the nonsense of these lesser teams that think they’re as good or better than Duke.

 

Item!  I don’t know if corndogs were the first food on a stick but for my money they’re the best food on a stick.

 

Item!  One more from the Big East last night, man am I’m glad that Devendorf never showed up in East Lansing and I still think Boeheim is the kind of guy that yells at a waiter for cold soup.

 

Item!  Hey gang, if you’re going to see one movie this year make it The Pink Panther 2.

 

Item!  Dick Vitale will be doing ACC Tournament games this week, at least when Vitale works the ACC all the other things he talks about besides the actual game occurring in front of him might have a chance of being in the same building at some point during the day.

 

Item!  I think America began to slide down hill when we all got electronic pencil sharpeners – we lost touch with the feel of the blades on the pencil and let the machines take over, it was the first step…

 

Item!  The bubble has burst for Notre Dame, Georgetown, Cincinnati – I like one of these teams so my heart isn’t too broken but the joy of not having to be subjected to more Notre Dame b.s. is pretty overwhelming right now – I’m as happy as Digger Phelps is sad.

 

Item!  Louie Anderson’s Las Vegas Comedy Show is top shelf entertainment – the FAT COMEDIAN is back – I repeat the FAT COMEDIAN is back

 

And now on to the BTT:

 

Indiana (11): plays Penn State late this afternoon – I expect the Hoosiers will play hard and give Penn State a tough game but PSU knows the Big Dance is on the line and will outlast IU.  You can count me among the many that think IU will be back sooner rather than later under Tom Crean but even he didn’t think this year would be as bad as it was so that will likely delay the process by at least a year.  

 

Iowa (10): plays Michigan this afternoon.  Man I sure hope the Hawkeye Nation travels well to Indy and supports their Hawks as they battle the rodents that piss on themselves.  I’m not sure that Lickliter is a BT caliber coach or that his style of play will work over the course of a major conference season (especially when you can’t recruit – gee if it weren’t for Beeline he’d be my John L. Smith of BT hoops nominee) – anyway I’ll be rooting for the Hawks to pull one out today and put Beeline and his boys were they naturally belong, the NIT.  Side note, does the Iowa Dance Team travel to the BTT – now that is a team with talent and one superstar.

 

Northwestern (9): plays Minnesota at noon.  This is the first BTT play-in game (at least for Minny) – the Cats have been so close this year – so damn close.  A win here helps them but I don’t think MSU will be in a mood to give them a second win.  In reality NU’s season rests on two games – home loses to Purdue and Illinois – win those and they’d be dancing no matter what happens versus Minny – but as they say if my aunt had….she’d be my uncle.  Hopefully, the Cats can build on a strong showing in the NIT and make a tourney run next year.

 

Minnesota (8): plays NU at noon.  It’s simple for my favorite non-MSU associated coach in the Big Ten and his team – beat NU and you’re dance card is punched.  A good season for Minny but to erase that um home loss from the Committee’s mind they need this one against NU – they don’t match-up well against MSU in the quarters but Digger Phelps keeps saying it hard to beat a team three times – well here’s hoping Minny is to MSU this year what Wisconsin was to MSU in 2000.

 

Michigan (7): plays Iowa this afternoon.  GO HAWKS! The skunkbears and their program are the biggest cheats in the history of college hoops and the whole program belongs in jail but the NIT will do for now. 

 

Penn State (6): plays IU late this afternoon.  Every dolt on the BTN (that means you Timmy Doyle) picked the Lions as their sleeper BTT team – well here’s a newsflash if you stop Battle or either Cornley or Pringle (how’s the library Stanley?) the Nitany Lions are pretty average – painfully average.  That said I think they beat IU and punch their ticket for sure – I’d be real surprised if they hang with Purdue, the Boilers seem to have their number this year.

 

Ohio State (5): plays Wisconsin tomorrow.  I think they’re in – so beating Bucky Badger is icing on the cake – c’mon Thad do it for all the little hot dog things out there.

 

Wisconsin (4) plays Ohio State tomorrow.  In the best of all worlds the team bus never makes it to Conseco, the players all end up on the Lost island and Bo Ryan is sent directly to the 5^th Circle of Hell – that rat faced jerk belongs with the wrathful in the River Styx…okay, I guess that’s even a little harsh for Bo – here’s to them losing and possibly being bounced to the NIT but Bo’s pal and deal partner Mephistopheles probably has already arranged for them to be in the Big Dance.

 

Pudue (3): plays PSU/IU winner tomorrow.  I think Purdue is the second best team in the league and makes it to the BTT Final – moving up in seeding along the way.  Brokeback Hummel (eat it Rosenberg) seems healthy and ready to go.

 

Illinois (2): plays Iowa/um winner tomorrow.  Illinois doesn’t score much but neither do the teams they play – I think, despite or maybe inspite of their inferior LIR program, the Fightin’s will make it to the semi’s but I give the Boilers the edge playing in their home state.

 

Michigan State (1): plays Minny/NU winner tomorrow.  MSU is clearly the best team in the conference – but no one seems to think they’ll win the BTT.  The Spartans have been hit and miss in BTTs of the past but this team is focused and healthy – and that’s bad news for the rest of the Big Ten and NCAA field.  I’m sure Uncle Eddie and has traveling band of whistle blowers won’t make it easy but the Spartans are my pick (big surprise) for the BTT crown – it should be a fun tournament, enjoy it and see you on Selection Sunday.

 Now that Michigan State has clinched a share of the Big Ten title like most Michigan State fans I have been overcome by a profound sense of relief. Not being able to close out the Big Ten in 03 and 04 to Wisconsin had given Spartan fans a sort of psychosis. It was reinforced last season in the Big Ten tournament when the last 10 minutes of that semi final game turned into a Wisconsin free throw parade. If Michigan State had failed to clinch on Sunday at Illinois (which is another place that they have had trouble winning in the past mostly because of Dee Brown) it would have been a very tense environment around that program.  That win should allow them to play Purdue on Sunday without the weight of the world on their shoulders, and go into the Big Ten tournament as the #1 seed relaxed and focused.

 

While Michigan State has been realigning the Big Ten and returning to their rightful place in the hierarchy of that conference the Western Michigan Broncos have fallen from the rank of contender in the MAC and are now on the list of also rans. The fall has been swift since big man Joe Reitz moved on to the Baltimore Ravens. His presence has been missed badly as Western’s frontcourt has deteriorated into a league wide joke. The lack of intensity in pursuing rebounds has become the calling card of this team.  They are dead last in the MAC in rebounding margin and field goal pct. That is a poisonous combination that has ensured defeats in many close games this season. All everything G David Kool has played very well at times this season, and is probably an all conference performer. However without any supporting cast his outstanding junior season has been a waste. If some of these Freshman bigs don’t grow up this off season the only Mr. Basketball ever to attend Western Michigan is going to graduate without a conference championship, or a post season appearance. That would be an incredible waste.

 

While things are looking bleak in Kalamazoo bronco fans can always take solace in the fact that their program is still in better shape than Eastern’s. Eastern Michigan is just flat out bad. The coaching staff is overmatched. There are some decent players on this team but one gets the feeling when watching them labor through countless anemic performances that they are better individually than they are collectively. This in my mind speaks to the inability of the coaching staff to put players in a position to be successful. It is my opinion that a change in the leadership of this program is necessary, but this a cash strapped University is barely able to finance its athletic programs as it is so a buyout is probably out of the question (especially since they just bought out the football coach in December).  My guess is that Charles Ramsey makes it back for one more season with a healthy Carlos Medlock available in what will be a make or break year for him. He might be able to squeeze out an above .500 season and save his job, but long term there is no way that he gets EMU back to the level Ben Braun had them at in the late 90’s.

 

Here is a list and brief synopsis of my February games that helped me to the above conclusions:

 

2/3 Akron @ Eastern Michigan: A late 3 pointer by Will Cooper helped get Eastern get above that oh so important 40 pt. mark in this  78-41 blowout of blowouts. The only mildly interesting thing about this contest was watching LeBron’s former high school coach Keith Dambrot stomp up and down the sidelines and yelling during free throw attempts. After the departure of Dan Dakich from Bowling Green and Jay Smith from Central Michigan I have been trying to determine who the biggest tool in the MAC is. Well congratulations Keith Dambrot you now hold that distinction.

 

2/15 Buffalo @ Eastern Michigan: EMU battled well in this game against the top team in the Mid American Conference but never seriously threatened. This spark of life they showed against the Bulls was lead by some tough defense by Tyler Jones and big post play by Brandon Bowdry who for one game at least resisted the urge to drift outside and take bad jumpers. Bowdry’s 11pt. 9 reb. day was nice but ultimately the offensively challenged Eagles had nowhere to go when they needed big bucket to cut into Buffalo’s comfortable lead and lost this one 58-49. The Convo was graced by the presence of Mr. Ed Hightower who stayed in town after the Michigan game to officiate this one. He was frequently out of position, used improper mechanics, and made some head scratching calls against both teams. He was slightly less animated without the TV cameras though.

 

2/21 Eastern Illinois @ Western Michigan:  As part of ESPN’s Bracketbuster weekend the Broncos hosted a bottom feeder from the OVC,  and gave one away on their home floor 59-57. It is a rare occurrence for the Broncos to actually outrebound an opponent, but on this day they did by a double digit margin (39-29) unfortunately they were only able to shoot 30% from the field and came up just short at the end of the game. Coach Hawkins was T’d up early in the second half allowing EIU to open up a 6 pt. lead once they made both free throws and scored on the ensuing possession. Nice going Hawk your T was the difference in this one.

 

2/25 Iowa @ Michigan State: This was my first trip to Breslin in awhile so I was just happy to be there and look the place over again.  It was a sleep walking performance for the Spartans who never got their transition game going in this 62-54 win. Delvon Roe had his best game as a Spartan with 16 hard earned points, and Korie Lucious set his career high as well with 12. These two freshmen showed a brief flash of what they are capable of, and it was enough on this night to beat a bad Iowa team. They are going to need more in March from everyone else if this is going to be a special season.

 

2/28 Western Michigan @ Toledo: Toledo gets a nice home crowd for a team that has only won 4 games this season…well make that five games as the nose dive that is WMU’s 08-09 season continues. Despite a furious late rally that saw them close a 10 point to lead to one with 4 seconds left the Broncos feel short in this one 63-62. They were not able to secure the rebound of a missed free throw attempt with 4.8 seconds remaining even though Toledo had no one but the shooter to compete for the board. Another frustrating loss in a frustrating season. The 9-19 Broncos close out the season with back to back home games against division rivals Ball State and Central Michigan at home, lets hope they play with some pride. Either way though this is going to be a 20 loss season for WMU.