March 2 - Hoosiers Buzzed at the Buzzer

Its hard to imagine a team suffering a more painful loss then Indiana did last night in Madison. The Hoosiers, coming in with a three game winning streak, had to win last night in order to make the NCAAs. Despite this urgency, the Hoosiers did not play well for the first 30 minutes and found themselves down ten with ten minutes to go. But instead of going down meekly, the offensively-challenged Hoosiers began clawing away and finally grabbed the lead with 64 seconds remaining. After a couple of Wisconsin free throws, Indiana tied the game with 26 seconds to go. It looked like the game was headed to overtime when a last second Badger shot bounced out, but Alando Tucker was there for the putback as time expired. Tucker's shot was Wisconsin's first field goal in nine minutes, but it was enough to sink Indiana's NCAA tourney hopes. Mike Davis had been hoping to parley a couple of wins this week over Michigan State and Wisconsin into a tourney bid, but that went by the wayside the moment Tucker got free for his last second chippy. Nonetheless, Davis has a developing star in D.J White and if Bracey Wright returns for his final season, Indiana should be a lock for the tourney next year. Davis better hope that turns out to be the case or he will be relocating next Spring.

Jim Calhoun is going for this 700th win tonight and when he clears this barrier, he will gain entry into a fraternity of six current coaches who have amassed such a total. The others are Bobby Knight, Coach K, Jim Boeheim, Lute Olsen, Eddie Sutton and John Cheney. Congratulations are definitely in order for a guy who has built a terrific program in the sticks of the nutmeg state. When Calhoun took over in 1986, UCONN was the definition of mediocrity within the Big East, but within four years, Calhoun had the Huskies playing for a spot in the Final Four. With all the success Calhoun has had in recent years, its easy to forget that he once was criticized as a guy who couldn't win in a big spot. This reputation was really sparked in 1994 when Calhoun took a loaded Donyell Marshall led-team into the tourney but lost an overtime heartbreaker to Florida. Calhoun went on to suffer tough regional final losses in 1995 and 1998, before he was able to exercise his demons by beating Duke in the 1999 NCAA Finals. When Calhoun picked up his second championship last year, he cemented his entry into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Paul Allen finally pulled the plug on Maurice Cheeks today but does the Microsoft Mogul really think this move is going to make a difference to the beleagured Blazers? Granted, the team is sliding into oblivion, but this isn't Cheeks fault. The personnel on this team is very average and that is being pretty generous. Zach Randolph is a nice player, but Shareef and Darius Miles are garbage and its crazy to think the Blazers are going to compete with Damon Stoudamire, Nick Van Exel and Derek Anderson in the backcourt. This organization has imported a number of problems in recent years and it deserves what it gets. This is unfortunate since the Blazers were really one of the great franchises in the league since the days of Walton, Mo Lucas and Bobby Gross. I feel Portland's downfall can be traced back to game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals when the Blazers blew a 15 point fourth quarter lead to the Lakers. That team was a couple shots away from a World Championship and its been downhill ever since. Granted, the Blazers fielded good teams in 01, 02 and 03, but their window closed back in 2000 and it looks like they have now bottomed out. Its time for Paul Allen to admit defeat and sell this team to an ownership group that is committed to restoring this once proud franchise.

Here is a message for those baseball teams who are counting on free agency to improve their pitching staffs next year - you are out of luck. As it stands right now, the 2006 free agent pitching market looks woefully thin. With Tim Hudson signing an extension with Atlanta, the top pitchers available next winter figure to be guys like A.J. Burnett and Tim Penny. That is not a whole lot to get excited about. Making matters worse is the fact that a lot of the young guns due for free agency in 2007 and beyond are signing long term deals. Johan Santana already took himself off the market and now there is talk that Ben Sheets is about to do the same. While this past year's crop wasn't anything to get too excited about, it sure beats what lies ahead. The message here is if you want to improve your staff over the next two years, you better find the solution from within. And don't even think about trying to snag Burnett next year since he is likely to command about $50 million from the Yankees as they search to find a replacement for their broken down 42 year-old lefty.

Are the Patriots playing with fire? In the past week, the Patriots released Troy Brown , Ty Law and Roman Pfieffer in a series of moves that will free up about $16 million dollars in salary cap relief. None of these moves should come as a surprise since each player was due big money and the Pats have proven over the years that they will not overpay anybody and especially those who are slowing down. But the New England success story has always been premised on great team chemistry and one has to wonder if that chemistry has been upset with these moves. Law wasn't necessarily the most popular guy on the team but Brown and Pfeiffer were considered locker room leaders and their absence could be felt, especially if Teddy Bruschi can't go in September. Bruschi is the undisputed leader of this team, and if Teddy, Pfeiffer and Brown aren't on board to show the way, there is a chance this team becomes a bit more selfish and individualistic. This is probably a bit of a longshot since Belichek, Brady and 25 players who have won multiple championships are still around, but it is an issue to keep an eye on. I think the Pats probably realize this and that is why there is a decent shot Brown will be re-signed for a million plus after he tests free agency. The Sportsaholic hopes he comes to his senses because it won't be pretty to see Brown run out the string with a team like Minnesota or Cincy.

It amazes me that it took Gary Sheffield 16 months to figure out he screwed himself when he agreed to forego interest on a ton of deferred money he is owed. Before Gary negotiates his next contract, I think it would be wise for him to take a basic economics course at CCNY. Had he done this prior, perhaps Gary would have known that inflation tends to eat away at the value of a dollar as time goes by. Listen Sheff, you negotiated this contract and you signed it so there is nobody to blame but yourself. You didn't want to pay Boras a five percent representation fee and now you are facing the consequences. But look on the bright side - so long as real interest rates stay below what you would have had to pay an agent, you are probably better off.

I know the team is a bit banged up right now, but look at that team that started for the Sacramento Kings last night. Mike Bibby and Cutino Mobley in the backcourt, with Corliss Williamson, Brian Skinner and Kenny Thomas up front. It makes me wonder whether coach Rick Adelman is going to treat his new Philly arrivals like a hockey line where they all have to play together at the same time. "Hey Skinner, your line is up!" Unfortunately for Adelman, the line he inherited doesn't exactly conjure up memories of Gretzky, Kurri and Anderson. The strange thing about last night is the King's great frontcourt triumverate actually played pretty well, led by Brian Skinner's 16 rebounds. They weren't up against much, but they were presentable. Nonetheless, the Kings got run off the court by the lowly Bobcats and my guess is that if the Kings had to run that same lineup out for the season's final 24 games, they would win no more then 9.

Did anyone notice that yesterday's game between the Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies was played at two o'clock in the afternoon? Has Memphis gone the way of MLB and started scheduling businessman specials? It turns out that was not the case. The game was bumped up five hours so 4000 elementary school kids participating in the city's "read to achieve" program could attend the game. The program is intended to get kids to read while they are at home, but I got to wonder whether a ticket to a Golden State game is much of a reward. Leave it to the Grizzlies to plug these kids with tickets to one of the five worst games on the schedule. Word has it that as part of the program, Duke grad Shane Battier tried to wean Stromile Swift of comic books by enrolling the forward in a Harry Potter book club.