Item! Snow is all the rage these days and is fast becoming a political tool – I of course have known the political applications of snow ever since I whitewashed those two Romney Petition Canvassers who knocked on my door one dreary February day.

Item! It seems that Kentucky knows no sense of decency. After Calipari and his hired guns stole one from Mississippi State the locals took exception and kindly offered “Coach” Cal and his troops some post-game refreshments. I should point out that a lot of the Bulldogs’ ire was directed at UK’s lowest paid staff for the day – the officials. I mean c’mon guys if you’re going to tank a game for Kentucky at least be subtle about it – two successive phantom foul calls and then a non-call on a clear goaltend isn’t really hiding your show cards, now is it? Of course, the difference between Rick Stansbury and Calipari is night and day – Calipari plays Wall and Cousins who smart money would wager have not seen the inside of a classroom since November and Coach Stansbury benches his leading scorer for the night because of his attitude in practice. One coach will do whatever is necessary to win a game and the other will do whatever is necessary to build a young man. The difference is striking but not surprising.

Item! I was once told that the United States Military forbids the use of blue ink pens – well here’s hoping that this exclusionary and miss-guided policy will fall to the wayside along with “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Blue ink users want to be free to serve their country in the open and with multiple colors on one piece of paper.

Item! There hasn’t been much talk of coaches on the hot seat yet this season. I’d imagine that chatter will pick-up as the season draws closer to its conclusion. But I’d like to throw a few early hats into the ring – We have the two perennial contenders from the Big East: Norm Roberts at St Johns and Bobby Gonzalez at Seton Hall. And then there’s Doc Sadler at Nebraska and of course Ernie Kent at Oregon (which begs the question: how much good money can Phil Knight put after bad at OU Hoops?). Locally, I really do not see how Charles Ramsey at EMU can keep his job barring a run to the MAC Tourney Title (or the Athletic Department can’t afford to buy him out). So, in my mind the next logical question becomes will one of these openings work for Mark Montgomery to continue the Izzo/Heathcote coaching tree? My guess is yes and I would be really surprised if Monty isn’t running his own program come April or May.

Item! I really think I could be an Olympic Curler.

Item! Steve Lavin has fast become my second favorite basketball analyst – no one will ever un-seat Bill Raftery – I especially enjoy his graphics that have 5-7 points regarding a particular issue in college basketball. Last night he highlighted the 7 issues facing freshman as they transition to the college game. Number 7 was “Hootin’ with the Owls” as too much late night partying is not a good idea for the young kids trying to hoop.

Item! I wonder how much money the inventor of Post-It Notes made? After inventing something like that do you just walk away from the inventing game figuring you’ve peeked or do you re-double your inventing efforts trying to top the previous invention? I know my good ideas usually come in groups of threes.

Item! Purdue at Ohio State tonight. I predict a win for the Buckeyes, it will be tight but I just don’t think Purdue has anyone to stop Evan Turner (but who does?). Although OSU’s lack of depth could hurt them down the stretch, in this game it shouldn’t matter too much. It should be a good game and I wouldn’t be surprised if Moore and Turner go shot for shot for a couple of minutes. Looking forward to some Wednesday night hoops! And remember I’ll be back by Saturday with a look at the OSU@MSU game on Sunday.

Item! I guess they’ve been playing the NIT and all these other tournaments (CBI, CIPT) all along, man it sure would be great if they put those games on TV, wait you say they have, well then why haven’t I been watching, oh that’s right – no one cares.

Item! I don’t have any long-winded self-indulgent letters to issue to entire cities but I will only add this about our recent experiences in Philadelphia: “Well, it didn’t look like a two-horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly.”

Item! I don’t have much hope for Purdue tonight against UConn. The Boilers’ only hope is that all the distractions facing UConn will take them off their games and they can sneak an upset. Otherwise, it’ll be a long night for the kids from West Laffy. Also, does anyone think the NCAA will really come down hard on UConn after the reports from Yahoo.com Sports? I’m still waiting for USC football to get the death penalty after my man Dan Wetzel’s expose on Reggie Bush’s cash money allstar experience with the men from Troy.

Item! Even if you’re very thirsty it’s never a good idea to try and take a drink from a power washer hose.

Item! In the other Sweet 16 games tonight, I look for Pitt over the X (but close); Nova over Duke (hey did you know that Corey Fisher, or Fish as my boy from Nova likes to call him, is the D’Angelo Barksdale of D-1 hoops? ESPN.com has a story all about it). And my upset special look for Mizzou over Memphis tonight.

Item! For my money it doesn’t get much better than the UCLA Dance Team – Hello girls!

Item! It looks like Anthony Grant the coach of VCU is headed to Alabama, nice pick up by the Tide. But I’m sure that Coach Grant will miss the enthusiasm of VCU’s Pep Band and it’s Fearless leader.

VCU Pep Band Leader

Item! I think MSU will beat KU tomorrow – just a hunch but I think the Spartans are ready to play and send a message. I like the Suton on Aldrich, Walton on Collins, Morgan on Morris (x2), and Kalin on Morningstar or Taylor or Reed match-ups for State. Roe and Green will be key in how they respond to Aldrich and either of the Morrises when they’re on the floor. The match-up that concerns me for State is Mario Little, once again the play of either Summers or Allen will be key. MSU is exponentially better when one of these two is scoring – if both are, good night nurse, get the tickets for the D.

Item! The irony is too rich to ignore that Nick Cage is in a movie titled “Knowing.”

Item! In Friday’s other Sweet 16 games I look for the ‘Ville over ‘Zona, UNC over the Zags and Oklahoma over Syracuse. In case you’re keeping track at home that’s an Elite 8 of UNC v Oklahoma, Pitt v. Nova, UConn v. Mizzu & Louisville v. MSU

Item! And finally a fond farewell to Billy Gillespie – we only knew thee but for a moment in a time.

It does save us from constant blathering on ESPN about 1 seeds and other nonsense. Lunardi still has MSU in the 6th spot on his S-curve with the 2 in the Midwest – I’ll take that. Now for the game no-one cares about…

Ohio State (5) v. Purdue (3):

Without a doubt these two teams have played the best offensive basketball in Indy this weekend. Evan Turner is pretty damn good – It’ll be interesting to see if he heads off to the Association this off season – but so too are Buford and Mullens. Hummel and the Purdue offense is clicking. I think Purdue will outlast OSU and has the defensive advantage. So, I’ll go with Purdue on paper but OSU is playing like a team on a mission. I just think Purdue has the edge in terms of depth and defense.

Pick: PURDUE

BTW, here’s hoping we get some more EdTV today – Ed loves watching Ed watching Ed watching Ed watching Ed…. it’s Ed to infinity! I mean the man loves attention.

OSU seems to have saved it’s Big Dance dreams with the win over Wisconsin yesterday (developments in the A-10, Big 12 & MWC Tourneys have made the bubble teams start to sweat – In the Big Ten PSU, Minny, um & Wisconsin will have a nervous Sunday) – MSU just outlasted Minny, as I posted yesterday it wasn’t pretty but in March you win and don’t worry about style points – despite what the yutzs in the ESPN studio may say about seeding – but I’ll talk more about seeding in tomorrow’s preview when we have most of the conference tournaments final results in hand – for now let’s all agree that Jimmy’s hero Digger Phelps is just a giant homer douche and move on.

Today’s game should be another slugfest, it won’t be pretty both teams like to bang and scrap but if you like Big Ten hoops it will be a great game. Evan Turner meet Travis Walton – on the defensive side that’s the key match-up for MSU. For MSU to win Suton and Raymar need to have better games – G had his way with the young Mullens in MSU’s prior to victories and that will need to continue. Raymar usually plays well against his home state’s team so I expect his performance will improve. Roe and Lauderdale should be a good match-up (and Day-Day Green and Quise and the Dunk Police when they’re subbed in). If Mullens is playing well against G don’t be surprised to see ID – Idunk Iblock – get some minutes. Diebler will challenge MSU’s tough perimeter defense and I have no doubt he’ll get some good looks today. The last time these teams played Durrell Summers went off – here’s to hoping he can do it again.

It will be a battle but I think MSU is set for a March roll and they will outlast the Buckeyes and move onto Sunday (then we can let the seeding talk commence).

Pick: MICHIGAN STATE

Purdue (3) v. Illinois (2):

Both of these teams played well last night – but both will face tougher competition in each other today. Purdue had a bit of an offensive re-awakening last night and Illinois ground Michigan into the floor. Illinois is historically the toughest out in the BTT and they seem to be upholding that tradition without Chester Frazier’s services – it will be interesting to see how his absence plays out today. For Illinois Mike Davis is again the key and Hummel is the spark plug for Purdue. The match-up to watch will be Johnson versus Tisdale in the low post, two very skilled young big men playing against each with a trip to BTT Finals on the line – who could ask for anything more? In the end I give the edge to Purdue due to Frazier’s absence but the Illini swept the season series so it’s hard to get really excited about that pick. Should be a good defensive Big Ten battle – if ESPN doesn’t like that they can eat my shorts.

Pick: PURDUE

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.