Feb 18 - Virginia Tech - Basketball Power?

There were very few people a year ago who predicted Virginia Tech was going to enter the ACC and field a competive basketball team. The crowd looked pretty good in December when the Hokies were blown out by 34 against North Carolina. But since that time, the Hokies have done more then just compete. Duke found that out last night as the Hokies shocked the Devils in Blacksburgh. The Hokies are now 6-6 in conference and will most likely finish the year at no worse then 8-8. Pete Gillen - who coaches the other school in Virginia - certainly can't make such a claim. Its true that Virginia Tech has won an ungodly amount of close games this year and they could just as easily be 4-8 as 6-6. But that shouldn't mask the job that coach Seth Greenberg has done with this team. Duke, on the other hand, is reeling. They have lost three of their past five and it would have been four of five if North Carolina guard Ray Felton hadn't thrown last week's game in Durham. The Devils are a very ordinary team and I suspect that they are going to limp into the tourney. They still have Wake, Georgia Tech and UNC on their schedule and I wouldn't be surprsied if they lost all three. Coach K simply does not have enough players. Had Luol Deng returned to school, this team would be a real threat to win the whole enchilada, but with Deng in the NBA, I see Duke as a paper tiger. In fact, it will be interesting to see whether this squad can even make it to the regionals - something that is has done every year since 1998.

While Duke haters around the country are celebrating the Devils collapse, Gary Williams and his Terps are not amused. The Terps are in pretty good shape to get a tourney bid, but the cornerstone of their resume is a pair of wins over Duke. If Duke keeps losing, those wins are marginalized and the balance of Maryland's resume is a bit tame. I think this may be a moot point since Maryland has a pretty soft schedule coming in and should win three of its final four games. But if the Terps were to stumble, Duke's troubles could come into play.

Speaking of the tourney, I believe this is going to be the year when all those fans of the mid-majors get their wish. For years, fans of the MAC and the WAC and the MVC have complained that they have been shortchanged when the NCAA tournement selection committee sends out its invites to the dance. I personally think much to much time is wasted debating who gets the last at-large berths, but the fans of the mid-majors often have a right to bitch. Well this year, things may be a bit different. Traditioanlly, the big six conferences - Big East, Big-10, Big-12, ACC, SEC and Pac-10 - get somewhere in the neighborhood of 32 invites. However, based on where things stand right now - it looks like that number could be closer to 29 this year so long as selection committe maintains its integrity. For instance, it is likely that only 3 teams make it from the Pac-10 and four from the Big-10. Even the ACC, which is considered this year's top conference, is likely to get no more then five invites. Now the Big East may get an extra bid this year, but that still leaves a couple extra spots for the mid-majors. Billy Packer and the rest of those who mock the smaller conferences cannot be happy with this prospect.

How about my Bruins last night? In a must win game, UCLA got off to a quick start and never looked back. The Bruins were paced by Dijon Thompson, who had 23 points and 9 rebounds. Mustard is playing as well as anyone in the conference right now and deserves mention in a discussion of league MVP. The mustard man probably trails Ike Diogu and Salim Stoudamire at this point, but Thompson is closing fast and there are still five games to go. Aside from Thompson, the Bruins shot the ball well last night and played much better defense then they did the last time they faced Cal. The backcourt is stil turning the ball over too much, but all in all, it was a solid outing. Now its on to Stanford this Sunday where the Bruins can significantly improve their tourney prospects. I wouldn't say the Stanford game is a must win, but its pretty damn close. A win would move UCLA into third palce in the conference which is pretty damn important given the fact that the Pac-10 will probably get only three invties to the tourney this year. Stanford will be without leading scorer Dan Grunfeld on Sunday and the Bruins do have a history of playing well in Maples. With that said, I think the Bruins complete the Bay Area sweep.

The Tennessean reported yesterday that Steve McNair and the Titans have begun talks to restructure McNair's contract. My take - the Titans are in a box. I am sure they would like to have McNair back if he is healthy, but this guy hasn't been healthy in four years. Now if McNair is healthy, he is still a pretty impressive player, but the Titans got pretty good play from backup Bill Volek and there are significant cap issues as stake. McNair is due to make $7.5 million next year, but the Titans are talking about paying this out in a bonus that can be amortized over the next five years of McNair's contract. This will reduce his cap number by more then $5 million but it does incur a future liability. If 05 is McNair's last year, which some anticipate, this year's bonus gets accelerated and creates a big pool of dead money on next year's cap. So the Titans have to make a bet. They can take a chance with McNair, but it really doesn't make sense unless he can play past 05. As an alternative, they can simply release McNair now and go with Volek. That seems like the safer move considering McNair's medical history. The Titans have other cap issues and they aren't winning in 05 with or without McNair. I think its time for them to move on although I suspect the Titans do not agree.

It is being reported today that Auburn has inked coach Tommy Tuberville to a big fat seven year contract extension. Its amazing what an undefeated season can do for one's reputation. You think Auburn and its fans were thinking about a contract extension in 2003 when Tuberville's highly ranked team got smacked in its home opener against USC. The tigers went on lose four more games that year, before the season was salvaged with wins over Alabama and Wisconsin. How quickly people forget that Auburn was one of the great dissappointments in college football two years ago. I guess perfect seasons lead to forgiveness.

Well, its all-star weekend in the NBA and so its time to discuss whether this extravaganza is still relevant. Perhaps a better question is whether this game was ever relevant. Lets be frank, the NBA all-star game is only marginally better then the NFL Pro Bowl and that pretty much says it all. Back in the NBA's glory days, this game got a lot attention simply because there was very little television coverage of the NBA and so it gave fans a chance to see those players hidden in the league's hinterlands. I wasn't a big fan of the game back then but at least it had a sliver of purpose. Today, it has no purpose whatsoever. It is intended to entertain, but how entertaining is it to see a bunch of guys making uncontested dunks? Watching the all-star game is a bit like watching the Globetrotters and I can't tell you the last time I stopped channel surfing to catch 30 seconds of a trotters-generals game. Its a sad comment on the state of this game that I think it would be improved if Meadowlark started at forward for the West and Curly headed up the East. And if the game wasn't bad enough, how about the slam dunk and three point shooting contests? I actually consider it a character flaw if you claim to be entertained by such nonsense. You hear that Sports Guy, becasue I am talking to you! There are only so many ways to dunk a basketball and we saw the entire universe during the first three years of the contest. With that said, how come they have continued this charade? Spud Webb's final dunk in 1986 should have been the end of this contest. As for the three-point contest, it is marginally better then the dunk-off, but does anyone really care that some Croatian hit 4 out of the 5 money balls? In a nutshell, this game should be aborted. Like the NFL Pro Bowl, teams should be selected so we can debate the snubs, but that is where the nonsense should end. February is not exactly prime time for sports viewing, but it wouldn't be any worse if this long running series was cancelled.

As the NBA takes its mid-season break, its time to give out the mid-season awards. It seems the consensus MVP is Steve Nash and although I love being the contrarian, I have to go with Nash as well. The Suns were very average last year without Nash and I am being generous with that description. This year, the Suns are winning at twice the rate of last year, and that is not because they brought in Quentin Richardson. The addition of Nash has completely re-shaped this team and with that said, the Suns point guard is my pick over LaBron and Shaq. Rookie of the year is a no-brainer. Emeka Okafor has been tremendously consistent and has proven to be a much better offensive player then I thought. Dwight Howard has been good and is certainly one of the better eighteen year olds to enter the league, but Emeka has been better. At the break, the Suns are clearly the biggest surprise of the league while the biggest dissapointment is probably Minnesota by a hair over New York. The wolves are wallowing in mediocrity after being picked to be a contender out West while the Knicks had one of the worst months (January) in New York sports history. Joining them on that list are the Yankees from last October and any month in 1962 for the Metropolitans.


We are in the dog days of February so the viewing options this weekend are a bit sparse. The gear heads will be watching Daytona on Sunday, but you won't see me wasting three hours of my life on that spectacle. The same goes for the NBA all-star game, whose merits I have already discussed above. So that leaves me with a few college basketball games and one of my favorite golf tournaments of the year.

The big game this weekend is probably in Boston where Syracuse will square off with the Golden Eagles. Syracuse has not played great of late, having lost 3 of 5, but BC hasn't exactly been firing on all cylindars either. I think the Syracuse zone will give BC some trouble and I expect Syracuse to win this game. Down south, we have Mississippi State travelling to Lexington for a big matchup with Kentucky. MSU has been a bit of a dissapointment this year and they have been up and down for the past month, so this is a big test for the bulldogs. MSU is going to the tourney, but if they don't win Saturday, they are going to go as an eight or nine seed. Meanwhile, UK is coming off a loss and there are many like myself who are still a bit uncertain of this team. Unless I see something Saturday, I doubt I will make UK a cornerstone of my tourney pool. Staying in the SEC, South Carolina has a big game on Saturday at Bama. SC got themselves back in the tourney hunt with a win over Kentucky on Tuesday and a win over Bama would cap a terrific week for the Cocks. I don't see it happening. The tide should roll. On Sunday, there are a couple games worth noting. First, Pitt goes to Nova for a big intra-state battle. I am still not a beleiver in Nova's story although I will concede that they are a tourney team. I see Pitt pushing the Cats around on Sunday. The big ACC game on Sunday night has Wake going up against Duke in Durham. The Deacons have too much firepower for the Devils so I think Duke's slide will continue.

While there are some hoops this weekend, my attention Sunday will be on the Nissan Open. I have long considered this the jewel of the West Coast swing and perhaps Golf's fifth major. Other then Augusta and Pebble, there is just no other tour fixture better then Riviera. Unlike the gimmicky TPC courses, Riviera is old-school. And it has history. The course isn't nicknamed Hogan's Alley for nothing. Tiger will be aiming for his first win at Riviera this weekend which is odd since this is one of his regular stops. About my only problem with the Nissan is that its carried by ABC. I hate to say it but Curtis, Nick Faldo and Mike Tirico are a cut below the competition. Nantz, the king of the tower, takes Tirico 4 and 3 while Dan Hicks puts him away 2 and 1. Curtis isn't bad, but Johnny is through with him by 15 and Lanny takes him one up. The only thing good about having golf on ABC is that if it runs long, the station can always flip the playoff over to the deuce. As such, golf on ABC is "heidi-proof." (If you don't know what the Heidi game is - look it up)