Saturday's Shots

Duke bias in the ACC? No way! On a totally unrelated note the Zebras apologize for giving the game to Duke by giving them an extra 1.5 seconds to run their winning play. Jay Bilas continues to slide into homer mode. First off by defending the officials giving Duke an extra 1.5 seconds and then by defending his friend and teammate Tommy Amaker. So many Dookies, not enough TVs for them!

Meanwhile North Carolina "owned" the Silver Fox on his own home court (without Brandan Wright and Ginyard even!). It is now obvious that Lute Olson has worn out his starting five by playing them a lot of minutes even in the "cupcake games" early in the season, and not trusting his bench after the meltdown in Game 1 of the season at Virginia. What he needs to do is start Jordan Hill for defense and rebounding, and bring Budinger or McClellan or M-Will off the bench for an offensive spark and Dillon for a defensive spark. He is a Hall of Famer, he is supposed to be able to figure out something as simple as that! And how about those Tar Heels? If they continue to progress and listen to Roy Williams they will be scary by Tourney Time. Remember the 2005 Championship team made great strides during the season after buying into Roy's system and they won it all. Ad Watch: Roy's "Coke Habbit" aired once again during the CBS broadcast...

Congratulations to Jim Boeheim for coaching his 1,000th game today!

Also congratulations to the King of Philly, D2 coach Herb Magee, about to become the winningest men's basketball coach in Division 2 (at Philadelphia University) by surpassing "Big House Gaines". He was featured on this week's edition of the critically acclaimed "Hawk Talk", the only basketball coach's show that barely talks about basketball even though it has Phil Martelli and his side-kick, Mr Bracketology, Joe Lunardi. Hawk Talk is shown nationally CSTV, usually on Fridays.

If you are a fan of Bracketology make sure you tape/record/watch the Hot List on ESPN-News every Monday and Friday. It features a segment with Joe Lunardi at some point during the three-hour show.

Attention message board writers, bloggers and other critics: According to Rick Pitino, you are unsuccessful people criticising successful people. Pitino also crossed into TMI territory while recalling getting a job offer from Boeheim on his wedding night. (you have to watch his coach's show to find out). As if Rick Pitino didn't get enough PR, he is featured in the latest edition of CSTV's 30-minute profile/documentary called "One to One". The episode will debut on Sunday night on CSTV and will repeat a few more times after. Check local listings...

Which one of the touted freshmen would be the first to get a triple double? It wasn't Greg Oden, no, it wasn't Spencer Hawes, or Brandan Wright or Kevin Durant or Robin Lopez. It was Brook Lopez, who missed the start of the season with an injury. But he was the first one to get a triple double on points, rebounds and 12 blocks against USC. 12 of Stanford's 19 blocks. Block party! Here come the Lopez twins!. Brook was supposed to be the more refined offensively, while Robin was the most refined defensively.

New Drinking Game: Every time Hubert Davis says outstanding drink a shot. And by drink don't get me wrong, I mean water, or green tea or milk or orange juice or vitamin water. If you want to splurge, how about some Perrier? :-)

Meanwhile in the Big 12 Bill Self is throwing Joan Collins style fits when asked why his team is struggling to blow out opponents despite having an NBA roster. And Ricardo Patton is yet another example of why a coach should not stay at the same place unless they go to the Final Four or win national championships. Reporterdly he has already cleared out his office. Riley Wallace of Hawaii and Pete Gillen of Virginia are also recent examples of staying too long (or long enough for the wolves to come out).

According to Andy Katz Greg Oden may return next year, depending on how well he and his team does this year. According to Katz, Oden wants to leave college after he has become a dominant player and he is able to use both hands without problem. But this is late January. Things usually change in March, and they change once again as we get closer to the NBA draft...