Today's High 5 - NCAA Hoops Edition

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Countdown from the one sporting event that never, ever disappoints ...

5. As I said all along, my beloved Marquette Golden Warrior Eagles -- a.k.a. The Gold -- were shoo-ins for the Sweet Sixteen.

OK, so I was worried -- really, really worried -- that they'd lose their tourney opener to Xavier. Once the lads got past that one, though, I had a strange, unexplainable confidence heading into the Syracuse game. And boy, did the Warrior Eagles play well down the stretch Sunday night.

Makes me so proud, I'm thinking about flying to Milwaukee just to enjoy dollar pitchers at The Gym and then snarf down a bowl of Real Chili with extra oyster crackers!!

4. Thanks, CBS, for not hogging the whole tournament (and thereby doing half a job).

I really enjoyed the way the opening weekend was spread over four networks, letting every fan watch every minute of every game we wanted to watch.

Added bonus: With TNT/TBS in the picture, it meant we got treated to the broadcast team of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr.

Marv simply is the best hoops play-by-play man in history and, when he's not being a terrible NBA GM, Kerr is a talented analyst.

Yesssss!

3. The clock snafu at the end of the Carolina-Washington game and a questionable 5-second call against Texas notwithstanding, it's been a strong tournament for the refs.

They have made several outstanding no-calls on late blocked shots and totally nailed the crazy end of Butler's win over Pitt by calling fouls that absolutely had to be called despite the general (and erroneous) belief that "you don't make those calls in the final seconds."

There. I said it. We rail at the refs when they stink, so they should get one of these (I'm doing the thumbs-up sign) when they excel.

2. Marquette and UConn are the only survivors of the 11 Big East teams that began the tournament, and lots of folks are whining about how overrated the conference is.

Look, nine of the 11 were absolute locks, and one of the other two teams -- mine -- now is one of the last 16 standing. Losing NCAA tourney games, most by slim margins, proves little about the strength of a conference as a whole.

I mean, Virginia Commonwealth beat both Georgetown and Purdue, so that means what? The Colonial is better than the Big East and Big Ten? And if BYU beats Florida and San Diego State defeats UConn in the regionals, it means the Mountain West is better than both the SEC and the Big East?

A few years ago, when all those Missouri Valley teams advanced, did it mean that conference suddenly had surpassed the ACC? Or last year, did Butler's amazing run mean the Horizon was the second-best league in the land?

You don't have to answer those rhetorical questions.

While we're on the Big East ... I'll admit I enjoyed Notre Dame getting spanked by Florida State. And I'm not especially surprised it happened. Marquette killed the Irish once this season and had them in trouble before blowing a lead in losing their other matchup.

All you do is put long, quick athletes on Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis, take away their 3-point shooting and force someone else to beat you. Meanwhile, you force Hansbrough and Abromaitis to defend on the other end.

And faster than you can say "green beer is stupid," Irish eyes ain't smiling.

One of my pet peeves during my time at Marquette was that so many of my Catholic friends (which meant just about all of my MU friends) hated ND basketball but loved ND football.

Feh. If you're a Warrior (or Golden Eagle, Hilltopper, Avalanche or even The Gold) , you don't root for Notre Effin Dame. Period.

1. So now my boys move on to face my new state team, North Carolina. I have to admit that "concern" isn't a strong enough word to describe my feeling about the matchup.

The Tar Heels are a little loose with the ball and they take a lot of dumb shots, but they are so athletic, so talented and so well-coached, they of course will be huge favorites over my 11th-seeded Golden Warrior Eagles.

Hey, I look at it this way: Carolina barely beat Washington, which a year ago barely beat Marquette in the tourney. Ipso fatso, we are due (and destined) for victory.

Or something like that.
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Only BCS format can save sucky NCAA hoops tourney

NCAA pooh-bahs had better fix the way they crown their men's basketball champion, because, as usual, the tournament has been a horrible bore.

Overtimes, one-point games, stunning upsets, wild finishes, stirring storylines ... yawn ... wake me when it's over, OK?

Obviously, NCAA honchos should have adopted the always-thrilling BCS model, declared Kansas and Kentucky the two best teams in the land, had the Jayhawks and Wildcats wait 4 or 5 weeks until they meet in an overhyped mythical title game, and let all the other teams play in dozens of glorious basket-"bowl" games.

After all, that formula always produces such a satisfying conclusion to the college football season, right?

And while they're at it, they can tell their basketball programs to stop scheduling games against quality opponents before conference play begins. In football, the best teams spend September fattening up on Cupcake U - yummy morsels for the every-game-counts crowd.

It's hard to beat Florida vs. Central Eastern State College for none of the marbles, I always say.

Clearly, following the NCAA basketball tournament model could never work in football.

I mean, who would want to see the best teams from a cross-section of the country go at it round-by-round until a legitimate champion gets crowned?

Cutler to Broncos: Take that!

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The List

Five observations out of the Bears' make-believe victory over the Broncos:

5. Mark Anderson got a sack. Devin Hester had a game-changing punt return. Brian Urlacher and the first-string defense never let the Broncos near the end zone. You know, if Rex Grossman had shown up and thrown five interceptions, I'd have thought it was 2006 all over again.

4. When you refer to former All-Pro left tackle Orlando Pace, make sure you accentuate the former. Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil made Pace look like a statue. Repeatedly.

3. With jilted Denverites expressing their hatred for Jay Cutler, it was an unusually fun make-believe game. For a half, anyway. As soon as Lovie Smith pulled Cutler, it was time to watch True Blood. So I'll have to take your word for it if you tell me Caleb Hanie is the next Dan Marino.

2. Before leaving with a boo-boo, Kyle Orton didn't look half bad. He should grow back the beard, though.

1. Even though he temporarily cost the Bears a TD by throwing the ball late and behind his receiver on his one deep pass, and even though he risked interceptions by trying to force a few he shouldn't have, Cutler was impressive. He handled the pressure of his return to Denver well, eventually silencing the fans who were taunting him. The 2-minute drill he led was a thing of beauty. He was nimble both in and out of the pocket. And he spread the ball around nicely. Perhaps equally important for the Bears: When Dumervil delivered a late (but not damaging) hit on Cutler, the QB's teammates had his back.

The Bald Truth

Cutler and most other players worth watching probably won't play more than one series in Thursday's final make-believe game. So the Bears, of course, plan to refund every ticket-holder's money.

Of course.

The Quote

"You saw Jay Cutler and Greg Olsen hooking up ... and these two guys are buddies. Greg Olsen just recently married, and it's a threesome ..." - Cris Collinsworth

With four months to go, folks, this is the leader in the clubhouse as quote of the year.

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Like pretty much everybody else with an IQ higher than a stapler, I knew Collinsworth would be better than John Madden. I just didn't realize how much better until I heard him in action with Al Michaels.

You know, I actually might be able to watch some Sunday Night Football this season.

Kentucky has tradition - but not the best job

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Sunday's final four:

1. Why, why, why on earth would Tom Izzo, John Calipari, Billy Donovan or any other coach who already has built a top-tier program be even the least bit interested in going to Kentucky now that another good coach has been driven away from Bluegrass country?

Izzo is back in the Final Four with Michigan State, which for the last decade has established itself as the premier program in the Big Ten and one of the very best in the country - far better than Kentucky, in fact.

Calipari is worshipped in Memphis, where he is king of Conference USA and where he successfully recruits some of the very best players in the land.  According to several ratings services, he is bringing the No. 1 class of 2009 to Memphis. At Kentucky, the alums and other hard-core fans probably would expect him to do better than No. 1. Who needs it?

Donovan has won two national titles at Florida and continues to bring top talent to Gainesville, where he is revered for having already given the thumbs down to Kentucky once.

As a bonus - a huge, enormous, gigandulous bonus - none of these guys faces the kind of scrutiny and pressure in his current job as he would at Kentucky. As an extra bonus, all are paid the same kind of outrageous salaries they'd get from the Bluegrass boyz.

There are a handful of traditional powerhouse programs and Kentucky is one of them. (Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana and UCLA also leap to mind.) But I'd say that many others, including Michigan State, Memphis and UConn, have pulled alongside - and, in many cases, surpassed - those traditional powers. 

Funny thing about tradition in sports: It guarantees nothing. Just ask the Cowboys how much tradition has been worth on the playing field the last few years. New traditions get established all the time in sports; witness the Red Sox now being clutch winners while the Yankees have become chokers.

Tom Crean left Marquette for Indiana, saying it was a slam-dunk decision because "Indiana is Indiana." Well, Indiana hasn't been Indiana for awhile now, including Bobby Knight's last half-dozen years there, and Marquette - thanks in great part to Crean - has surpassed Indiana by miles. Crean is counting on tradition helping him recruit better players to Indiana than he did to Marquette, but most ratings services say his Marquette replacement, Buzz Williams, will be bringing in a group as good as or better than Crean will to Hoosierland.

Of course, once upon an Al McGuire time, Marquette was one of those traditional powerhouses. 

Yes, Kentucky has tradition out the ying-yang. But so do many other places where the pressure isn't so great a coach feels like killing himself 50 times a year. There are too many other fantastic schools at which a coach can win big without putting himself through the torture.

2. Saturday's Villanova-Pitt game was so good, I found myself actually cheering several plays - something I very rarely do because I'm more of a detached appreciator of excellence than I am of a fan. I must admit: It was pretty darn fun.

3. As usual, the "experts" couldn't stop talking about the distractions facing UConn after word of possible NCAA recruiting violations surfaced before the weekend. Ridiculous. Why would UConn players be even the slightest bit distracted by this? Turns out, they weren't, as the Huskies took down Purdue and Missouri to get to the Final Four.

4. In honor of  Tiger Woods officially being back, it's time to take a mulligan on my Final Four picks. What other choice do I have, since I managed to go a sterling 0-for-4?

As much as I appreciate Izzo's Spartans, UConn can play whatever game Michigan State wants to play - and play it just a tad better. On the other side of the bracket, I'm going with the upset: Villanova's tough, talented perimeter players, augmented by vastly underrated Dante Cunningham, making Carolina blue.

And in the all-Big East title game ... UConn 80, 'Nova 74.

Call your bookies and pull out those wallets, folks. I mean, I haven't steered you wrong yet!

Safer travels

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The Bald Truth

Good news, hoops fans: NBA honchos are talking about making traveling rules less restrictive because the game has "evolved."

Oh, absolutely. Just the other day, I was thinking that pro basketball players need an invitation to take more steps every time they drive to the basket. 

The referees' current interpretation of the rule - allowing approximately four steps, a couple of "crab dribbles" and a jump stop or three - is positively obsolete.

I mean, why not just let them use hovercraft?

Knockout? More Like Bludgeoning

If you've yet to see Jon Stewart's total annihilation of CNBC Financial Clown Jim Cramer, do yourself a favor and check it out.

http://blog.indecisionforever.com/2009/03/13/jon-stewart-and-jim-cramer-the-extended-daily-show-interview/

I actually almost felt sorry for Cramer.

Almost.

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Wait ... I think I found somebody even more valuable than injured Marquette point guard Dominic James.

Chester Frazier!

Once the object of abject scorn in Illini Land, the senior guard has become the beloved leader of a surprise team. And now Illinois is absolutely lost without him as he deals with his mysterious hand injury.

It's as if all of Illini Land would like to shout in unison:

"We're sorry, Chester! We take back everything we ever called you! Just please, please, pretty please come back before the NCAAs!"