Monday Digest

I frequently make fun of Dan Bonner's prediction of 9 ACC teams making the NCAA tourney. Well, now Seth Davis has made a very similarly silly prediction: 8 teams out of the Pac-10. Now that's just silly and this is a west-coast priority (*cough* bias *cough*) blog! There's no way all three of these teams make the NCAA tourney: Cal, Stanford and Washington. Cal has to re-prove itself without DeVon Hardin, Washington has to show they can win conference games, and Stanford is going to be judged as both Dr Jerkyl and Mr Hyde ...

The Virginia Tech Coca Cola commercial works! They now managed to beat North Carolina in an almost instant-classic game (It was selected as Game of the Week by ESPN Classic, shown at 6amPT/9amET on ESPN-Classic every Sunday morning). If you are a Hokies fan, make sure you follow the instructions in the Coke commercial and your team will remain undefeated!

Because of the above, CSTV may have to find another TV analyst for their March Madness TV coverage. Seth Greenberg is going to be busy this March!

Two is not always better than one. A couple of teammate pairs in high-school have failed to live up to their very high expectations in college. Remember Joe Crawford and Malik Hairston of Detroit Rennaissance? They were rated very high, but it's only now in their Junior year that they are starting to live up to their hype/potential. The same thing may be happening to Philly teammates Wayne Ellington (rated best HS shooting guard in 2006), and Gerald Henderson. Both are doing okay, but they are not living up to their high rating. Perhaps having two really good players together on the wing makes them look a lot better than they actually are? Something for all the basketball analyst to ...analyze!

Coach K Watch: "You become a leader by making lay-ups". I thought that was one of the prerequisites for being a basketball player even on a Division 3 team!

Great on-going feature by the Three Point Club, a weekly magazine show looking at SEC basketball: Each week they are giving us an insight into the world of Officials. Yes, the Refs, and the Umpires (Vampires), everyone's favorite Zebras! It's Awesome Baby! (Okay, I've overdone the Vitalisms)

"Send it in Jerome!", was featured in ESPN's Gameday at the Zoo in Oakland (Pitt's home court)

Who said free throw defense does not exist? If you want proof, watch the last few seconds of the Stanford at Virgina game. Washington (the player) played great free throw defense. I kid you not! Watch and believe...

Nicely done ESPN feature on Fathers & Sons on the Ewings and the Thompsons at Georgetown.

Jay Bilas got dunked on once again, this time by Aaron Gray

Pitino tries to revitalize his team, so he goes back to his Providence days, a smaller run and gun team, with T-Will (Terrence Williams) playing the 4 spot. According to Pitino he leared all the plays for the 4 spot in just 75 minutes. But who will play the Billy Donovan role? And something non-hardcore Louisville fans may not know: Chris Current was home-schooled. And one more thing: Rumor has it Derrick Caracter is back on campus. More on this later...

Creative feature by Rick Majerus and Dave O'Brien: Dollhouse Analysis. I think Rick Majerus thought the dollhouse was made of Gingerbread and couldn't wait to take a bite ;-)

Thad Matta was coaching injured (back problems), but that hasn't stopped him

UConn managed to win the Doug Wiggins Invitational, this time on the court. Ouch!

GQ segment: Degrading moment for Verne Lindquist according to him: Doing the Hot Bod voice-over commercials during the games. Well, perhaps even more so for Hot Bod having a very mature gentleman advertise something sexy for college-age buyers. Speaking of which, I wonder how many people would actually buy HotBod products if they knew that they are actually made by the same company who makes cheap/generic fragrances.

Karma segment Is it Karma, Yin and Yang, Nirvana? Case in point Maryland: Their men's team beat the only undefeated team in the country, while at the same time, their women's team lost their undefeated status.

Conspiracy Theory Segment: Has anyone seen Gonzaga's Derek Raivio and AND1's "The Professor" in the same room at the same time? Well, anyone??? .... I thought not!

Prep Hoops segment: Derrick Rose is featured in this week's episode of Sports Stars of Tomorrow. Make sure you catch next's week's episode where they will unvailed their first 2007 Top 25 (teams) and look at some of the top prep players. For more details, check their website