Hottest Women in Sports

Swin Cash

Sue Bird

Today's sport for hottest women in sports is fittingly basketball and the two that I have always thought were hot are the two UCONN womens basketball stars Bird and Cash.

Greatest Season of All-Time

This week's new installment of my favorite greatest season of all-time brings us to number 11 on my board with a sport that has yet to be mentioned and if it wasn't for me not being fan of this sport this achievement might be higher on the list. Number 11....

The great Bobby Orr playing for the Boston Bruins in the 1969-1970 season at the tender age of 21 he really revolutionized the defensive position on the ice. At that time his 87 assists set an NHL record and his 120 points were six shy of the record and became the only defenseman to lead the NHL in points. The Hall of Famer also became the only player to win all four major awards...the Hart (MVP), the Ross (scoring), the Norris (top defenseman), and the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP). Orr also led the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup in 29 years with his season ending with perhaps the most famous goal in league history with the game-winning goal in game 4 of the Finals when he was sent airborne after (pictured below). Orr statistically is one of the best hockey players in the history of the game.

East Bracket

With St. Patrick's Day today, I get to enjoy a nice day off from work and sit around the house drinking Irish beer all day and doing some random picks on my NCAA Bracket sheet. Like my fellow blogger over at Badchoicemilk I will be doing my regional picks online since most of the people that I work with don't even follow college basketball so someone running a Bracket Pool is totally out of the question. With the East Bracket I am hearing and reading more and more experts saying this is the most competitive bracket, I am not seeing it. The East was the easiest to fill out for me the only problem I had was when I got to the Elite Eight game. I gotta say this I am really not thrilled with the committee putting Washington State as a 4 seed, as well as screwing Tennessee over and putting Butler at a 7 seed. Since you can barely see my picks above here is the rundown. I really don't feel the UNC will have any problems this first weekend. Arkansas is all done after their run in the SEC tournament so I got Indiana beating them pretty convincingly. George Mason will not be a Cinderella this year playing Notre Dame, and I really like Winthrop to beat Washington St, both teams matchup very well. Louisville will get by Boise St. then St. Josephs to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. It would be easy for me to put my upset special during the Butler/Tennesse matchup in the second round but I will stay with the favorite. Three out of the 4 teams I picked to go to the Final Four before the season started are in the East bracket with UNC, Tennessee, and Washington St. While I like the way the Tarheels have been playing I am going to go with my sexy pick at the beginning of the year and put Tennessee having the toughest road and get to the Final Four by beating Louisville then UNC in one weekend!

Sports News From Connecticut

This past week there has been some very interesting news locally for my hometown of Meriden, CT. The pictures say it all!

Unbelievably, my close friends from my hometown are squaring off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the Georgetown Hoyas and their coach Pablo Valentin face Chris Garland and the UMBC Retrievers. I can't even express the joy I have to see these two buddies of mine getting the opportunity to advance in the Tournament against one another. Today is a great day for the cities of Wallingford and Meriden to have another battle for bragging rights this coming weekend.

As for the first battle from the neighboring towns of Meriden and Wallingford, the Maloney Spartans won the Basketballl Class L state title over the Lyman Hall Trojans. Both teams with great stories going into the game with the Spartans looking for state title redemption after the championship loss a year ago, and the Trojans turning around after a 1-19 season just a year ago. From what I understand from the people in attendance it was a very great game to watch. One thing that I can honestly say is that many people I have been around have mixed feeling for coach Howie Hewitt both in basketball and baseball. But, finally with so many chances with so many great teams that he has coached in both sports, he can finally say that he has won a state championship. So I say congrats Howie, now would you finally retire!!!

Finally, yes folks the picture above is your next football Assistant coach at Wilcox Tech. My alma mater which has had it's first football program for the past few years is bringing in a kid who really knows his football, if you don't believe me just ask him he'll tell you. His name is Maynard Lumbra aka Mif, who has been coaching Meriden Raiders for what seems like a lifetime and will continue to do so while coaching the Indians of Wilcox. All I know is that this Mif kid has been putting down the playing calling of coaches on Thanksgiving Day games since I knew him, now finally he is that much closer to having other "know it alls" do the same to him. So congrats Mif on the job, good luck and bring my Indians to dominance, well at least to a couple of victories.

Fantasy Baseball Preview

Well it's that time of year and even though I am a little early, I figure that I would be the nice guy that I am and help out my fellow fantasy baseball general managers and give my little preview. I do have a draft this Sunday night so this week I really have been crunching the numbers and talking to my Dad about the possible top prospects that we might see this year. I will not be giving all of my secrets so to say that this is going to be simple is an understatement. Basically I will be giving you my Studs/Duds/and Sleepers for each position with the outfielders getting 3 each. For those of you that are in the same fantasy leagues as me well, your welcome! And by some chance you finish ahead of me this year, I don't want money nor do I want your respect...all I want is a thank you and that is all! On to the fantasy baseball preview!!!

catcher
STUD- Victor Martinez...Will be listed as a catcher but will play first which will help his numbers.

DUD- Paul Lo Duca...Has been missing almost the whole spring training, this guy is all done.
SLEEPER- Geovany Soto...This kid is really a star in the making. All-Star in a year or less.

1st base
STUD- Ryan Howard...The best young kid in the game and plays in HR friendly Philly.
DUD- Dmitri Young...Depth on the Nationals roster hurts, but so does his box this offseason.
SLEEPER- Nick Swisher...New team with a better lineup, not much better but better.

2nd base
STUD- Chase Utley...not really that difficult to figure this out, best keeper in all FBLs.
DUD- Jeff Kent...Never liked him, but this year I really feel his stats falling to the basement.
SLEEPER- Howie Kendrick...With a year under his belt this kid has way to much potential.

3rd base
STUD- Alex Rodriguez...Not hard. Also really love Miguel Cabrera and David Wright this year.
DUD- Chipper Jones...So he might have a descent year, but I think it will be a huge injury year.
SLEEPER- Troy Glaus...Batting behind Pujols will help. Mitchell report redemption year!

shortstop
STUD- Jose Reyes...He does everything statistically except helping in the WHIP category.
DUD- Julio Lugo...I can't stand this guy and his stats won't be better this season either.
SLEEPER- Edgar Renteria...No matter where he hits in this lineup this year, the numbers will be there.

outfield
STUD- Matt Holliday...Best outfielder in the game, good thing that defense doesn't count.
STUD- Carl Crawford...The nation will really get to know this kid once he leaves Tampa.
STUD- Alfonso Soriano...Is a consistent 30/20 man with the potential for 40/40.
DUD- Hideki Matsui...Trust me the guy only hits doubles, and I think the 162 GS is taking its toll.
DUD- Jose Guillen...Leaves a good thing in Seattle to go to Kansas City, not buying him.
DUD- Mike Cameron...You might think that he can regenerate his career now in MIL, you are wrong.
SLEEPER- Adam Dunn...Power hitting with a nice lineup in front of him in a contract year.
SLEEPER- Delmon Young...Will prove to everyone that he is going to be a stud in the making.
SLEEPER- Manny Ramirez...Ok, hear me out. Hasn't been the same guy the last 2 years, but this year he'll finish as a top 5 outfielder.

starting pitcher

STUD- Jake Peavy...You know what your going to get out of this guy year after year.

DUD- Rich Harden...As the ace of the staff will have a frustrating year with no run support.

SLEEPER- Francisco Liriano...You'll be taking a chance if you pick him early, but he worth it late.

closer

STUD- Jonathan Papelbon...Will be out there for the 9th at least 3 times a week no matter the score.

DUD- Rafael Soriano...The Braves will give him two weeks, if he not there yet he'll be demoted.

SLEEPER- B.J. Ryan...Back throwing gas this spring training, faster recovery then once thought.

Deez' College Basketball Power Rankings

As of this moment we are 27 hours til Selection Sunday, where the smaller schools will know who they get their shot at against RPI's top conference teams, and hopes of bubble schools entering the dance either fade or are granted. Usually by about this time the past couple of weeks I have been giving you my top 20 teams in college basketball, but today I am going to try something different. Since it is way to hard or easy to figure out what bubble teams will be getting in or not, I'll be giving you my fearless prediction of whos going to be the top seeds in each region. Remember this is as of 3:00 pm Saturday afternoon with still conference games still to be finished. By the way I welcome all of you to my poll on the right hand side for this years Player of the Year.

EAST REGION

1. North Carolina

2. Wisconsin

3. Xavier

4. UCONN

WEST REGION

1. UCLA

2. Georgetown

3. Texas

4. Butler

SOUTH REGION

1. Memphis

2. Duke

3. Louisville

4. Michigan St.

MIDWEST

1. Tennessee

2. Kansas

3. Stanford

4. Notre Dame

Hottest Women in Sports

I came across this girl about 2 weeks ago from another blogger. Her name is Allison Stokke and she is a member of the University of California Track and Field team. A pole vaulter, Stokke's team photos are being sold by the university but are now found on the internet when you search her. This got me to thinking who are the hottest female athletes in their respected sports. Over the next couple of weeks I'll give you the hottest females in their sports. This weeks lone recipient is Stokke for Track and Field.

The Big East Tournament

I took the day off today because I wanted to get in some me time and watch some more Championship week basketball with the bigger conferences in full swing in their own conference tournaments. Yesterday I got to see three great Big East games with 3 top seeded teams all going down. Being from New England, and not a fan of a Big East team I got a chance to just enjoy this great and traditional tournament over the years. So many memories I have of this tournament from either great games, to great performances, to watching rising stars before my eyes, to almost being arrested after coming home from Madison Square Garden after watching the entire first round games. Here's just a sample of my memories of the Big East Tournament:


GERRY MCNAMARA LEADS CUSE IN 2006
In the '06 tourney Gerry McNamara led the underdog Syracuse Orangemen to win the Big East Tournament as a 9 seed. McNamara was absolutely incredible, hitting the game winning three pointer in the first round to beat Cincinnati, tied the game in regulation with a three in the closing seconds verses top seeded UCONN and beat them in overtime, hit 5 threes in the second half including one with less than a minute left to beat Georgetown, and finally gave 'cuse the championship by scoring 14 and dishing out 6 assists verse Pittsburgh. All four victories for the Orangemen were decided by less than 4 points. This was one of if not the best single performance I have ever seen in a single tournament.

UCONN/GEORGETOWN CHAMPIONSHIP IN 1996
My senior year of high school. Not a Georgetown fan, not even close to being a UCONN fan but I can remember who I was with and where I was watching this Big East Championship game. Ray Allen verses Allen Iverson. This great rivalry was a must see matchup of two teams not just competing for bragging rights but for a conference title and a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. Iverson was held in check for most of the game and was stuck in foul trouble but the tournament MVP Victor Page picked up the slack and kept the Hoyas in the game throughout. But, it wasn't enough when Ray Allen's double-clutching shot driving in the lane went in for the game winner with seconds left.

KERRY KITTLES TOURNAMENT IN 1995
Kerry Kittles was a star for the Villanova Wildcats but nobody knew about him or the Cats until the tail end to the Big East regular season. Kittles, a junior that year, put on a show for the ages in the Big East Tournament averages more than 20 points in each game blowing out the opposition. In the championship verses UCONN, though the stats were unavailable for me, I remember him leaving the game with about a minute left to a standing ovation from the Madison Square Garden crowd. He was really an incredible college basketball player that most people tend to forget about.

FITTING THE DESCRIPTION IN DARIEN IN 2000
How we ended up in Darien was one thing that I would rather not talk about. Leaving Darien would be something that I will remember forever, for I think of this moment every time the 1st round begins in the Big East Tournament. 7 of us made the trip to Madison Square Garden to watch all of the 1st round games. By the time we finally got to the Garden, we not only were a mess from a certain thing that I'll never do again, but I really vaguely remember any of the action during all the games. We didn't finally somber up until the very last game of the day and when we finally got the balls to ask someone at the subway how the hell to get to back to Darien we were in for a very long night. It took us what seemed forever to finally get to our cars from the train station and when we finally got out of the parking lot and driving around to find route 15 we got lost again. This time I was alittle more coherent, so I saw a cop on the side of the road and ask him where route 15 was. Before we knew it our two cars were surrounded by the police and we were held their for at least 2 hours with what the Darien police called fitting the description of men in the parking lot of the train station, breaking into the cars. I remember being an absolute prick to one of the officers that I really thought that they were going to arrest us on being punk ass Meriden kids in Darien. I must have repeated myself about why we were there and where we were that day at least a dozen times. What finally happened was that they found that no cars were broken into at the station and they wanted to just check my trunk and then they would let us leave. I told the lead officer that I didn't have to open my trunk, but I knew that I had nothing to hide but 3 empty thirty packs inside. So I went ahead and opened the trunk and began to laugh and said to the officer, "Oh my! Is it illegal to have empty cans of beer in my trunk?". The officer was so pissed that he just said, "Dennis, get the hell out of my town!" We didn't get home until at least 2 in the morning and to this day I really believe that they kept us there that night because we were from Meriden. Little did the officer know that we did have something illegal that night...in our left over brownies!

Arrested

Dawn Wells, 69, who was the actress that played Mary Ann on the sit-com "Gilligan's Island" was arrested after police pulled her over after a surprise birthday party, and allegedly found marijuana in her car. Police recovered 4 half-smoked joints inside the car during the investigation. The actress pleaded guilty to one count of reckless driving and was sentenced a month ago to 5 days in jail and fined $410. I was a big fan of the show as a kid and even though Tina Louise's character of "Ginger" was the always the girl everyone wanted. "Mary Ann" had the girl next door look working in her favor, and for that reason I was a bigger fan of hers than Gingers.

Could Connecticut Take 3??!

Yes, that head line is correct. Yes, it is possible. And yes we all know UCONN is one of the teams, but there are two teams Connecticut may start dancing about and they're not Yale or CCSU or any other Blue colored school in CT. No, they both bare the color Red...The Sacred Heart Pioneers and the Hartford Hawks both earned births to their respective conference championship games on Sunday while in the process of having the opportunity to make their first Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament birth.

The Pioneers will pack their home gym, The William Pitt gymnasium (the place where I dry heaved many mornings during footballl conditioning practice) on Wednesday Night at 7pm to be shown on ESPN2. Don't be confused with what ESPN says....they game will be in Fairfield. Look for Drew Shubik to play a huge role for the Pioneers after scoring 13 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing out six assists to lead the #3 seeded Sacred Heart University men's basketball team to a 55-49 win over #2 seed Wagner College in the Northeast Conference semifinals. Sacred Heart also features 4 state of Connecticut players in sophomore Ryan Litke (Windsor, CT/Windsor)9.2 ppg., sophmore Chauncey Hardy (Middletown, CT/Xavier)10.2 ppg, red-shirt senior Luke Granato (Rocky Hill, CT/Northwest Catholic)6.2 ppg, and senior Gene Pettway (Bridgeport, CT/Harding)4.6 ppg. Among the notables not in attendence, SHU football's all-time leading scorer Tim Redican.

The Hartford Hawks look to capture the America East Championship and earn the automatic bid on Saturday 12:00 at UMBC. The Hawks escaped Boston University on Sunday to advance to the finals, their first ever. Hartford features New Britian, Ct. standout Brian Glowiak, 4.5 ppg. and Clint Kuban from Bethel. The game will be played at UMBC, which is the University of Maryland in Baltimore County.

Deez' College Basketball Power Rankings

The snow is starting to fade, the wind is picking up, small Division 1 schools are starting to get televised, and the drama is building. It really must be March. With Cornell being the only school to capture a NCAA birth winning the Ivy League title the other night and three more conference titles games today, we are really starting to move along to build a field of 65. This will be my final power ranking of the college basketball season as next week I give you my field. On to the final rankings going into the final regular season weekend.

1. UNC - Ty Lawson will play this time vs. Duke. Will it matter? Regular season ACC title on the line tonight.

2. UCLA - Won their 3rd straight conference title last night with some help from the referees.

3. Memphis - Shouldn't lose another game until the NCAAs, don't bother trying to check them out before hand television hates C-USA.

4. Tennessee - They haven't looked to good since the Memphis game. Shooting 36% since then doesn't help.

5. Kansas - I think that Bill Self forgot that there isn't a BCS system in college basketball after the killing of Texas Tech.

6. Duke - Their shooting woes are starting to disappear. Will see tonite if UNC can make them adjust their offense.

7. Texas - Still have the regular season title chance with a win vs. Bryron Eaton and Oklahoma St. Saturday.

8. Stanford - Still a very dangerous team that could easily get a 2 seed. The lopez brothers are for real.

9. Louisville - Like I said last week, the Cardinals are primed for the post season. Winners of 9 straight.

10. GTown - Roy Hibbert must play huge to get after Louisville and win the reg. season conference title.

11. Xavier - Loss at St. Joe's was hurtful, especially since if they won out they would have locked a top seed in tourney.

12. Wisconsin - One of the best executing teams in the nation on both sides of the ball.

13. Butler - Advanced to the Horizon semi's last Wednesday. Just want to keep momentum for the bigger tourney.

14. Notre Dame - I changed my mind, Luke Harangody is the Big East Player of the Year.

15. UCONN - Being swept by Providence for the year hurts their confidence. They still have time to make it up.

16. Michigan St. - The routing of Indiana was ridiculous. Neitzel is the key to their success the remainder of the year.

17. Vanderbilt - Winners of 8 of their last 9 with Alabama left on the schedule. Don't be surprised if they win their league tourney.

18. Indiana - Nice bounce back game against Minnesota Wednesday after the thrashing from Michigan State.

19. Gonzaga - Winners of 7 straight going into postseason play. Be ready for another showdown with St. Marys soon.

20. Purdue - With an easy game verses Michigan on Sunday. They really need to prep for the Big Ten tourney to prove their a top seed.

Tobacco Road Rivalry

Even though the game is just a preparation for the ACC Tournament, and the NCAA tourney it's still the best rivalry in sports. I am a Michigan fan, and as much as the Ohio State rivalry is huge for all sports, football more so; this basketball rivalry is legendary and I really can't remember the last time I miss one of these special games. 9:00 p.m. Saturday night, don't miss it!

Greatest Season of All-Time

It's been a while but I am back with my top 20 favorite greatest season of all-time before the turn of the century. Baseball is our nation's past time so I will keep it with baseball this week and get right to it.

The man I am going to write about today didn't win the League MVP award that season, nor did his team even make the playoffs. What he did do is something that still hasn't been done since he did it in 1941. At the age of 22, Ted Williams did something that to this day is so remarkable that I really don't think that this could ever be done again. He was the last player to hit the elusive .400! In fact it was .406! For those of you that never heard the story, going into the last day of the regular season Williams' average was sitting at .39955, which of course rounds up to .400. He was asked if he wanted to sit the doubleheader and get his name stitched with the .400 mark but he said, "No, I want to play!". Well anyhow, he went 6 for 8 for the day and finished with a .406 average. As I mentioned earlier he didn't win the AL MVP Award that season which went to Joe DiMaggio, though it is hard to see how. Williams led the league also in homeruns, runs scored, and slugging percentage; missing the Triple Crown by 5 RBI to Joe D. DiMaggio and the New York Yankees did win the Pennant that year while the Red Sox finished in second, but Williams was unstoppable against the Bronx Bombers that year hitting .471 in 22 games. Also, his .553 on-base-percentage was the best ever until Barry Bonds broke it in 2004. This in my opinion is such a great season that it was difficult for me to keep this out of the top 10. There will never ever be a hitter like Williams, that's what made him so special!

Another One Retires

When I finally got word today on ESPN radio that Warren Sapp was announcing his retirement the same day of Brett Favre's retirement press conference I really thought that that was odd, even for Sapp. Throughout his 13 year career Sapp was always in front of the microphone and getting some type of attention for something and he chose to do this quietly was shocking. I won't spend much time with this but Sapp certainly had his ups and downs in the NFL. The downs which more people tend to remember are his bumping of an official in 2003, 3 personal fouls that led to an ejection this past season, and of course the never forgetting late hit on Green Bay's Chad Clifton in 2002. I always thought of Sapp as the most dominating player at the Defensive Tackle position I have ever seen. Sapp finished with 96 1/2 sacks at a position that usually puts you on your butt being in the trenches of the middle. Though, he sure needs to repair his image during his retirement from the game, Sapp in my opinion will be joining Favre on the potium of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 5 years.

Bubble Watchin'

I won't say I told you so about the Maryland/Clemson game on Sunday night, but...I TOLD YOU SO!!! What a great game! And, after Clemson's dramatic 20 point comeback in College Park they, in my opinion, are a lock now to get into the NCAA tourney. While other teams like West Virginia (beat Pittsburgh) and Ohio State (beat Purdue) are doing their job by winning big games late in the year to impress the committee, others aren't doing such a good job. As of today, March 6th, I am giving you my bubble watch of some popular teams that I believe are in or out. Don't be shy to voice your opinion on these teams.

SYRACUSE - Well, the committee can't say that the Orangemen didn't have a tough enough schedule this year. But, they will say that their quality of wins have gone south as they have only won 2 of their last 7 games. Cuse will have to beat Marquette at home Saturday as well as I believe at least 2 wins in the Big East Tournament. As of right now Cuse is out in my book, but you never know with ranking 12th in strength of schedule in the nation and a couple of wins in their conference tourney...well, the committee has done some crazier things in the past.

OHIO STATE - The Buckeyes finally got a quality win verses Purdue the other night but was that enough. They are 1-9 verses the RPI's top 50. 1-9!!! Their quality non-conference wins are against Syracuse and Florida both who might not even get in. As much as I want to see the Big Ten get more teams in, it's not going to happen for the Buckeyes. They have Michigan State at home and could possibly face them again in the quarters of the Big Ten tourney. Sorry Ohio State fans not going to happen.

KANSAS STATE - Finally stopped their losing streak at 4 against Colorado Tuesday. Of the big non-conference games ND, Oregon, George Mason, Xavier, and Cal; Cal was the only team that they beat. It never hurts beating Kansas and with a win verses Iowa State Saturday they will finish third in the Big 12 and a first round bye in the Big 12 tourney. Today I would say no, but I think that they will win Saturday and their first game in the conference tourney and if they do that they are sure to get in.

USC - With Cal tonight and Stanford on Saturday both at home, all they need to do is win one of these games to get in. One of the RPI's best conference is the Pac-10 and to not invite the league's 4th place team would be a crime. The Trojans don't have to may quality wins but playing in this conference is not easy. Their best non-conference wins come against Oklahoma, Miami (OH), and Southern Illinois. If they could have pulled out the four point losses to Kansas or Memphis we wouldn't be having any conversation. Today the Trojans are in and it won't hurt pulling out a game or two before the season is over.

ARIZONA - The toughest team to talk about at this moment in time. Only 16-12 with the nation's #1 strength of schedule. 7-9 in the Pac-10 and 10-10 against the RPI's top 100 as of today. With Oregon and Oregon State still left on the regular season schedule they must, must win both games to seal a spot. One loss to either of these teams and the Wildcats are done. Their best non-conference wins are against Texas A&M, Houston, and UNLV. And A&M isn't really helping them out with that right now. Zona is in today but like I said 1 loss before the conference tourney and their on to the NITs.

KENTUCKY - Unfortunately I was telling the Pitbull that I hate Kentucky more and more everyday. I even went as far as saying at this point in time I hate Kentucky more than UCONN. I was reading their resume and I gotta say that they still have a chance but I really don't know how. Their side is that they are 11-4 in the SEC that is currently third place overall in the conference. Winners of five of their last six and could of pulled off the Tennessee game if it was for them folding in the end. Now my side, they have no quality wins on their non-conference schedule, unless of course you want to say that Stony Brook and Florida International were good wins. That's it they lost to UAB at home, San Diego at home, and let's not forget the great Gardner-Webb team that embarrassed them at home. They also lost to Houston, Indiana, and Louisville when Louisville wasn't that healthy yet. Sorry I am kicking them to the curb will have to impress me in their conference tourney but I doubt I will be impressed.

This Day in Sports

For the next thirty years of my life I will never ever forget the day of March 4th. This day marks the day that the great Brett Favre after 17 years will be retiring from the game of football after one of the greatest seasons of his career. All season Favre reminded us of how special he truly was in his younger years and made us all believers again of his talents. My brother Billy, who is a Green Bay Packers fan, but a Brett Favre fan first will sorely miss the future Hall of Famer and I really don't know how he can cope with continuing to be a Packers fan. Favre was always a true American hero in the eyes of many. He was always looked as a hard working blue-collar guy with faults like the rest of us and over coming those negatives. I really had no thought that he would retire after this season, but that is Favre. He left on his terms when people thought that he was done he proved us wrong by coming back and when we thought that he had a couple more seasons left in him he packs it in. Now I believe that the Green Bay Packers have a long road ahead of them, it's never the next guy or the second guy that comes in to replace a legend that works, it's usually like the third. Aaron Rodgers is certainly not the guy in my eyes but he showed some signs last year when he came in for Favre in the Dallas Cowboys game. Favre you were one in a million and certainly will be missed on the field.

Another reason to remember this today is that this is the day 18 years ago when the late great Hank Gathers, of Loyola Marymount University, died on the basketball court verses the University of Portland in the West Coast Conference Tournament semi-finals. Subsequently, the remainder of the tournament was canceled and the NCAA rewarded Loyola Marymount with a tournament birth for winning the regular season conference title, they ended up being an 11th seed. On a positive note for that season for the Lions the rest of that season, the team came together with Bo Kimble and made a run to the Elite Eight and lost to the eventual national champ in UNLV. Kimble, a close friend of Gathers, tributed to him during the tournament by shooting his first foul shot in each game left handed. Gathers who was a right handed shooter, could not make his foul shots righty so he started to try doing it lefty and was more successful at it so he stuck to it. Kimble, also a righty, made all his left handed free throws that he shot in the tourney. Even at the age of 12 at the time of his death, I still remember watching the game on television when he collapsed, watching LMU's magically ride to the Elite Eight, and I still get goose bumps to this day when I see clips of Kimble shooting lefty in the NCAAs. Dying at the young age of 23, Gathers was considered at the time as one of the more dominating players in college basketball during his tenure.

Deez' College Basketball Power Rankings

I didn't even get a chance to put Tennessee in my #1 ranking this because they went to Vanderbilt and in my opinion were playing Vandy's game throughout and though the score indicates otherwise they just flat out got outplayed. By the way, ask the Pitbull I picked the upset before gametime. I will give you my rankings today since tomorrow is opening day for spring soccer and your boy is getting some OT so who knows when I'll get out of that. The power rankings this week have nothing against the big time games coming up this weekend that have consequences for the losers. My key matchup this week is the Clemson/Maryland game, though I believe that both teams should be invited. Clemson has a weak schedule but is 8-5 in the ACC with only 1 other loss, while Maryland has a tougher schedule, beat tougher teams but has 11 losses. Both teams by some standards are still on the bubble. Both teams matchup very well and I think that this one will be won in the final minute. Must see matchup! On to the rankings!!!

1. UNC - Would not be in this top spot, and I know that I have mentioned this before, without the play of Hansbrough.

2. Memphis - As we found out watching him Sat. night, Derrick Rose will be their for only one year...enjoy him Memphis.

3. UCLA - Winners of 4 straight with finishing it off against Arizona, Stanford, and California.

4. Tennessee - When they get down they are at times very turnover friendly, or a team on the warpath.

5. Texas - 8 straight wins and should finish with 3 more, that gives them a number 1 seed.

6. Duke - If they are going to go into a shooting slump they might as well do it now than later.

7. Kansas - Just 5-3 in their last eight and have Kansas State coming to town on Saturday.

8. Xavier - 5 players average double digits in points with the leader being the sixth man.

9. Stanford - Doesn't get any easier with the final 3 games with Washington St. Sat., and road games at UCLA and USC.

10. Louisville - It really does make a difference when your healthy. The Cardinals look ready for postseason play.

11. Wisconsin - Winners of 5 straight and should finish with 2 losses in the conference.

12. GTown - Rematch with Louisville on the final regular season game could mean the 1 seed in conference play.

13. Indiana - The Dan Dakich era has begun as he is looking to pull a Steve Fisher in the tourney.

14. Vanderbilt - The inside/outside game of A.J. Ogilvy and Shan Foster is really something to watch.

15. UCONN - Must keep momentum against the lesser teams this week going into the Big East tourney.

16. Purdue - People keep sleeping on them again after the Indiana loss, the Big Ten tourney should be fun.

17. Notre Dame - Only Big East losses were to nationally ranked BE teams. Harangody is a freak, 40 points vs. Louisville.

18. Butler - Will still win the Horizon and be a threat in the NCAAs despite the loss to Drake.

19. Marquette - The 5th Big East team to make my list and well deserving with 5 straight conference wins, GTown up next.

20. Michigan St. - It's hard to find the 20th in this slot, so I picked them just because they have Indiana on Sunday.

College Baseball Preview

Since there is not a whole lot of coverage of college baseball until the announcement of the teams that qualified for there Regional Tournament, today I give you a little taste at what is shaping up in NCAA baseball this year. Here's a little of what some of the power conferences are looking like as well as who to look for in Omaha this summer. Enjoy!

PAC-10

The Pac-10 is very top heavy this year with the pre-season polls having 3 teams in the top 10. #1 Arizona is back looking to take control of the conference early on and advance to the CWS for the first time since '04 with All-Americans, pitcher Preston Guilmet and an offensive beast 1st basemen C.J. Ziegler. The UCLA squad with a pre-season #3 rank and 5th in recruiting this year. The Bruins are looking to improve on their Super Regional appearance last season a first for this team not know for baseball. Also, looking to be a threat this season are '07 Pac-10 champs Arizona State, led by last years Pac-10 Player of the Year and Pac-10 Triple Crown winner Brett Wallace. And of course like most of the baseball world, like to forget about are the quiet two-time defending champs from Oregon State. Ranked 12th in the pre-season polls the Beavers are looking to make history again in the CWS. I like Arizona State to take the conference again this season and Arizona to have a shot in the Super Regionals, I must have forgot about Oregon State like everyone else!

SEC

Ole Miss looks to be easily taking this conference this season with their two top pitchers that are both ranked in the top 10 of the nations best in RHP Cody Setterwhite and RHP Lance Lynn. Both are projected to be early 1st round picks in this years draft. With Ole Miss is of course Vanderbilt, who are always in the talks as the best team in the SEC. #3 Vandy has the #1 prospect playing for them in 3B Pedro Alvarez, he hits like Albert Puhols and plays third like Brooks Robinson. South Carolina are the late season favorites to go to the CWS this season who went to the title game in '02. Junior Justin Smok is the offensive threat for the Gamecocks who has just recently hit his 41st home run and is now tied for 7th in school history...yeah, he's a junior! I went an saw Florida play yesterday in Gainesville and wasn't too impressed but I did enjoy the fact that they swing the bats aggressively, which is consistent throughout the conference. Vandy was my favorite to sneak by Ole Miss this year but an injury to Alvarez yesterday could put him out for at least 6 weeks so look for Ole Miss to take an early conference lead and hold it for the season.

ACC

The same teams with the same colors you'll see in early June, with North Carolina being the early conference favorite and ranking 4th in the polls. The Tarheels are back again and get use to keep seeing them in the CWS because they are back with a very good young pitching staff. #9 Miami, you usually always get to see in Omaha, wasn't there last year but quite possibly has the best offensive team they ever had. They have the best 3,4,5 hitters in the nation in 2B Jemile Weeks (Rickie's brother), OF Dennis Raber, and 1B Yonder Alonso. I looking forward to seeing Weeks play this season, with a lot of scouts saying that he is as good if not better than his brother. The middle of the pack teams I like is Virginia and Clemson this season. The Cavaliers are led by All-American pitcher Jacob Thompson, but the loss of 5 players to the MLB Draft could hurt. To make up for the tough losses they brought in 16 quality frosh playing with a nice core of vets. The Tigers will have to endure some tough times early with having the nations toughest schedule on their side and starting plenty of sophomores, but I honestly believe this will be very benificial as the season goes on. UNC should win the conference but I really like Miami to go far in the CWS.

BIG 12

Getting the opportunity to see one of the nations best in Missouri this week put a bad taste in my mouth about this suppose elite conference. The Tigers are led by All-American Aaron Crow that is the ace of a very deep pitching staff. Baylor surprised a lot of readers by sneaking up to 13th in the Pre-season polls. But, little does everyone know that Baylor is returning a full squad of experienced players with 8 of them being lettermen pitchers including top pro prospect, closer Nick Cassavechia. The team with the most CWS appearance is back to an elite as Texas has two 1st team All-American outfielders in Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell. Oklahoma State did some great recruiting this season as well, getting lucky with the transfer of catcher Luis Flores leaving Houston for the Cowboys. Flores was a Freshman All-American is '06 and is already showing signs of stardom behind the plate in this early season. The Big 12 is always deep and with teams Nebraska and Texas A&M being in the middle of the pack this makes for a fun finish for the conference winner. As I said I wasn't too impressed with Missouri and their bats so I am going to go with Texas to win the conference and advance to the CWS again this year.

OTHERS

The Big Ten has nobody but Michigan for the third consecutive year as the Wolverines look to improve on their Super Regional Finals and get to the CWS for the first time since '84. As always the Big West is led by Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton with LBS being the early conference favorite. Having gotten the chance to already see a Conference USA team play in Central Florida it should be a fun conference season with the early favorites being #15 Rice and #18 Tulane, with East Carolina and UCF balancing out the rest. San Diego and their #17 ranking is the highest in school history and should handle the WCC with the #1 prospect pitcher in Brian Matusz. I like Tony Gwynn to lead a surprising San Diego State team to the Mountain West Conference title and a hopeful in the Super Regionals. Wichita State is the heavy favorite in the Missouri Valley again this year and CWS hopeful this year.

It should be another great year in college baseball hopefully I will get to see more games live since television just isn't in the books for college baseball until June. On to my fearless picks for the College World Series...

Losers Bracket Final - UNC vs. Ole Miss

Winners Bracket winner - Miami

Championship - UNC vs. Miami

Champs - Miami

Will vs. Bill

Weekend Review

With so much going on as far as the world in sports and the Oscars this weekend, it was pretty busy and your fingers got a work out changing channels on the remote. First things first, college basketball Saturday was outstanding! We had some upsets and teams that needed victories getting them and some that needed them and were cut down. I'll get right to it with the 1/2 game between Tennessee and Memphis. There are a couple of things that I got out of that game that really never thought about. Both teams are way too physical! When I coached at the high school level you want and drive your kids to be as physical as possible but it seems to me that both teams aren't disciplined enough with their physicality. If they go into the tournament and end up with a very happy whistled referee trio they could be in big trouble. Only thing going on their side if this occurs is that they are very deep. Which brings me to my next point foul shooting! They showed a stat during the game with the past NCAA champs that shot under 65 percent from the line and their were few to say the least. Both teams are terrible foul shooting teams and in the tourney you have to make your foul shots late because teams will try to prolong the game since it could be their last. Finally I realized that Tennessee is the best "team" in the nation. I put team in quotations because that is exactly what they are. They don't need Chris Lofton to have a good night to win because on any given night one of the 9 players that coach Bruce Pearl puts in the game can step up and get it done.

The Oscars were forgettable to say the least. Jon Stewart was funny at times but was going a little overboard trying to be too funny. Like my colleague over at BadChoiceMilk said there were really no surprises this Oscars which made it kind of boring to get into after the announcement of the winners to listen to their acceptance speeches. I admit most of the movies that were in the major categories I haven't seen yet because Netflix is getting on my nerves and I have to wait for them but the Oscars just didn't have that spunk that it usually has. One thing I did notice was that Jack Nicholson is a star among the stars. Jack says that he has been to least 20 Oscars and even with him not having any movies or roles up for an award the Academy still wants him there sitting in the front row with his glasses...amazing!

Finally, on Monday I went with my father to my first Division 1 college baseball game between #5 nationally ranked Missouri Tigers coming to Florida and facing UCF. It was very, very entertaining to say the least! The up and coming UCF Golden Knights had their highs and lows during the game and in the end they made a great comeback in the final inning to pull of the upset. Down four runs in the last inning the Knights came back scoring 5 runs with no outs to pull off the upset. The ball field, which was getting filled during the course of the game by the student body went crazy when the final run crossed the plate. The Knights have started the season off strong with a 4-0 record thus far as they are in the decent not tough C-USA with the only strong teams being Rice and Tulane to deal with. In the crowd for the game and standing about 20 feet behind me was former UCF football standout and Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who was decked out with UCF gear looking like he just went through a workout. He wasn't getting much attention until the idiot announcer said over the loud speaker that he was in attendance and was asked to wave. After that their was no way he could enjoy the game as he was mobbed by fans, so he left early. Overall though it was nice to get a chance to see a nationally ranked team play, who in my opinion really wasn't that impressive. Later on in The Nutz, I will give you a little College Baseball Preview for those of you that aren't that interested now but want to know who they might see in Omaha in June.