Fun Fact Friday: The Madness

October 12, 2012. The official start of the basketball season. Today marks the first day that college teams can hold practice, most choosing for a "Midnight" Madness type of event. Up in Central New York, the 'Cuse figured if its not at midnight, why call it Midnight Madness? They opted for Orange Madness, which brings us to our first installment of #FunFactFriday.

Jasmine and Scoop prior to Madness (Post Standard)

This year's Orange Madness will be hosted by none other than, the Human Momentum Killer himself (nickname given by reader JaLil), Scoop Jardine. The fun fact comes here. Scoop's co-host is his girlfriend, Jasmine Jordan. Jasmine is a sophomore at Syracuse, and the daughter of some guy named Michael Jordan. And this is probably the only time Scoop's name will be used in the same sentence as MJ's (Although there were rumors back in August that Scoop was getting an invite to the Bobcats preseason camp - but a longer than expected recovery from a foot injury puts Scoop back at the Dome, instead of in Charlotte). Jasmine said she was asked to co-host the event by The First Lady of SU Basketball, Juli Boeheim. If Juli called you, you'd do whatever she asked as well.

Onto some other Midnight madness notes:

-Jimmy B is 10 wins away from 900, and 13 wins away from passing Bob Knight on the all-time wins list.

-Seth Greenberg thinks Syracuse's weakness this year is not having a "city" guard like Pearl Washington, Adrian Autry, or Dion Waiters. Brandon Triche, Jamesville-Dewitt (NY) and Michael Carter-Williams, Hamilton (MA) are all offended. Seth also thinks he should still be coaching at Virgnia Tech, though.

-Indiana opted for the televised day time practice with drills and Tom Crean pacing around the court chirping compliments and instructions faster than he chews his gum. No crowds, no smoke machines, no freshmen doing ballet numbers (UNC did this). The Hoosiers are ranked as high as #1 in some preseason polls and return ALL of their starters. They also have a guy named Maurice Creek on their team. Mo Creek, anyone?

-ESPN has placed their talent all over the map to report live from Midnight Madnesses. Syracuse got the short end of the stick with Dino Gaudio, while UNC and Pitt were the big winners with Doris Burke and Bill Raftery, respectively. Since Syracuse beat Pitt in football last week, they should have won the rights to have Raftery in town for the Madness.

-Kentucky's madness started with them raising their 2012 National Championship banner to the rafters. Reports out of Rupp Arena is that they are leaving the ladder out, since they will have to vacate that win within the next year or two. #tooeasy  Kentucky also has two players with Kid 'N Play type boxes, stud recruit, questionably eligible Nerlens Noel and transfer PG from NC State, Ryan Harrow.

-Andy Katz has Louisville ranked #1 in his preseason poll. Whatever that means.

-This is the final Midnight Madness for Pitt and Syracuse in the Big East. Next season the 'Cuse will be in the ACC House. Oh my god, oh my god. #RIPBigEast

Return of the Onions

What happens when you are on an airplane for four and half hours, need a break from doing your "real" job (thank you wifi on Southwest!), and start seeing some tweets about college basketball media day? You rededicate yourself to your college basketball blog, that's what you do!

And then you go and post this song to get it stuck in everyone's head - throwback to high school anyone?



By the way, did you know that the Return of the Mack official video has 8,996,280 views on youtube? I have no bearing on whether or not this is super high or average. As reference, This is How We Do It by Montell Jordan has just over 9 million views, while Thong Song has over 17 mllion views. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you work The Thong Song into a college basketball blog post.

Now, onto more pertinent information regarding some college hoops. Here are a few stories we are following (not breaking).

Sunk my aircraft carrier? Our beloved Syracuse Orange were set to square off against San Diego State on November 9th on the retired USS Midway aircraft carrier flight deck, which is docked in San Diego. This would be the second straight year a basketball game was being played on a aircraft carrier (last year it was UNC and Michigan State).
As of this morning, it looks like this game is in limbo. Apparently the fan fest, concert, and other tomfoolery around the event are all being canceled because the inability to find a national sponsor. Interesting since the game is just over a month away. I'm sure Ron Burgundy and Champ Kind will have more details as this story breaks.
It would be ironic if the game does get canceled though. Syracuse, who gets a bad rap for not playing outside the state of NY until January most seasons, tries to not only go across the country to play again, but they aren't even playing the game on land. Maybe its just not meant to be. Stay at the Dome, Jimmy B.

SI.com

Jabari Parker: The top ranked player in high school hoops since LeBron James happens to reside and play in Daily Onions backyard on the south side of Chicago. The Simeon High School (same as Derrick Rose) senior has narrowed down his list to five schools. Unfortunately for those fans of in-state schools, DePaul and Illinois are nowhere to be found. According to ESPN recruiting folks, Simeon coach Robert Smith said DePaul was the toughest school for Jabari to leave off the list. Wonder if Oliver Purnell and company can use that in their recruiting pitch..."We were #6 on Jabari's list!!"

The top 5 for Jabari looks like this (in no particular order): Stanford, Michigan State, Duke, BYU and Florida (no Kentucky, thank goodness...Calipari did get the Harrison twin brothers yesterday though, both ranked in the top 5 of the class of 2013). Parker and his family are Mormons, so that explains BYU. From all accounts, Jabari is a great kid all around, (check out this article on him from Sports Illustrated) including the classroom, to go along with his basketball ability. Would be pretty cool to see him go to a BYU or Stanford. My early prediction that doesn't mean a damn thing, Michigan State. I'm basing this on Tom Izzo make a couple of extra trips to Chicago during the season last year, just to sit court side and make eye contact with Jabari.

Butler heading East: You didn't think we were going to get through our first post of 2012-13 without mentioning Onions favorite Butler and Brad Stevens did you? Well the Dawgs are on their way to the Atlantic 10 this season. Stevens and company were at the Jay-Z Center in Brooklyn today for the conference media day. Butler has some high expectations this season (despite being picked to finish 6th in the league), after missing the NCAA tournament last year. They bring everyone important back except Ronald Nored (graduation) and Chrishawn Hopkins (dismissed from team). They also add 6-6 freshman guard Kellen Dunham (2-time All-State player in Indiana), as well as senior Rotnei Clark, who transferred from Arkansas. Clark is said to be one of the best shooters in the country. As he'll soon find out, the measurements in Hinkle Fieldhouse are the same as his court back at home ("10 feet........15 feet").

Happy Birthday! Shout out to Daily Onions loyal reader, my dad. He's celebrating his birthday today (October 5th) poolside or green-side down in Florida. Appreciate all the support, whether it was while I was on the basketball court, on the blogosphere, or life in general. Enjoy!

Swimming and Kicking at NCAA Tourney Open Practices

Prior to the Sweet 16 and Final 4 games, the NCAA hosts "open practices" to the public, where you can come in and watch the teams on the court for an hour or so. Don't expect to see what the team's gameplan will be, though. You mostly get lots of shooting drills, lots of fancy dunks in layup lines, maybe see the team run through a few sets, and barely see the coaches or players break a sweat. With that said, its cool for the fans to get a behind the scenes look at some top programs in the country.

The highlight of the open practice is the half-court shootout to end practice. All teams do it differently. It could be a nonchalant group of guys chucking it up from center court. Others will have two teams to see who can make more shots in a certain amount of time. During the season, Butler's basketball team (and you thought you wouldn't see them in a NCAA tourney post), finishes their day of game walk thru on the road with assistant coaches, radio guys, trainers, etc shooting from half court, with the players watching. Practice isn't officially over until someone makes it. Brad Stevens became a bit superstitious when he realized that when a certain staff member made it, the team would play poorly. Prior to the UIC game, that person wasn't allowed to shoot, and Butler won a few hours later.

Back to the Sweet 16 open practices. Two great videos below. The first is Marquette's head coach, Buzz Williams (who we have in the Final Four), sinking a half court shot and then doing his best Michael Phelps impersonation.

The next video doesn't come on a half court shot, but still pretty impressive. Syracuse walk-on Brandon Reese, who is listed at 5-11 (on two phone books), goes up for an alley-oop (impressive that he can get up that high), can't quite throw it down, but uses his foot to put the ball through the hoop. Check it out.


Less than nine hours away until the Sweet 16 tips off. In no particular order, here are our picks for the next round of games: Syracuse over Wisconsin (sending Bo Ryan to vacation in South Jersey), Michigan State over Louisville, Ohio State over Cincy, Marquette over Florida. Big East sends 2 of 4 teams to the Elite 8. Tomorrow night, we got Baylor over Xavier, UNC over Ohio, Kentucky over Indiana and Kansas over NC State. Yes, you can call us Chalky White.

(videos courtesy of muathletics and fizzfirst on youtube)

Wolverines, Cats and Hoyas....Oh my

Three games to comment on from last night: In-state battle between Michigan and Michigan State in Ann Arbor; Kentucky Rolls again and records fall; Hoyas win on the road.

#20 Michigan 60 - #9 Michigan State 59: That's two straight road losses for The Fighting Izzos (Northwestern over the weekend and Michigan last night). Freshman Trey Burke led the way for Michigan with 20 points and the assist to Stu Douglass (Stu-pac, Stu-manji) on his game winning bucket with 36 seconds left. Another cool part of this game, seeing Denard Robinson go nuts in the student section (video posted by mgodisney).



#2 Kentucky 86 - Arkansas 63: As expected, blowout city in Lexington. Freshman Anthony Davis had 27 points and 7 block shots. With five minutes left in the first half, Davis blocked his 84th shot of the year, which breaks the school record for blocks in a season (remember Davis blocked the game winning attempt by UNC's John Henson back in December). Oh, and Kentucky still has 12 regular season games left. At least we don't have to worry about Davis breaking his own record next season, because he'll most likely be wearing a Washington Wizards jersey.

Daily Onions was basically on the G'town bench last night (#22 Photos)

#10 Georgetown 83 - DePaul 75: Winning games on the road is never easy in conference play, regardless the opponent. Georgetown led for the majority of the game last night in the suburbs of Chicago, but DePaul would never quite go away. The Hoyas were without guard Markel Starks who had the stomach bug, and you could tell something was missing. Georgetown didn't handle DePaul's pressure that well and had 18 turnovers as a team. Freshman Otto Porter (how did he not go to Syracuse with a name like that) had 15 rebounds, but also turned the ball over 5 times and looked pretty shaky against pressure. Luckily, Georgetown has the a senior that can step up. Jason Clark had a career high 31 points, including 5 3 pointers. Should be a good battle between the Hoyas and the Orange in the Carrier Dome on February 8th.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Weekend in College Basketball

The Good: I feel like this section should be entitled "The Great" or "The Unbelievable", because that's exactly what the Indiana-Kentucky game was. We predicted on Friday that IU would keep it close, but eventually UK would pull it out for a victory. Well IU did more than keep it close, and when they were down 2 (thanks to Doron Lamb only making 1 of 2 free throws) with 5 seconds to play, IU placed itself back in the national basketball picture.



A few things to note in this video:

• Check out Tom Crean's reaction at the 23 second mark. Hey Tom, you just had your biggest win at IU. We know you are a super hyper passionate guy. I get trying to act like you've been there before, but a smile would have been nice.
• Great court storming by the IU student section at Assembly Hall. Nice work on a very worthy storm.
• Nice job by ESPN's Dan Shulman staying quiet and letting the moment breathe. I'm guessing they had to unplug Dick Vitale's mic to keep him quiet at this time.
• Is there any camera shot cooler than the wide angle where you get to the see the entire stadium, arena, etc explode at the same time?
• A few thoughts on the game - best way to beat Kentucky is to get Anthony Davis in foul trouble, make some outside shots, and hope Terrance Jones is allergic to the basketball for the majority of the game.
• Its obvious Kentucky had a foul to give, and you know Calipari told his team to get one early. His young team didn't execute, and his first reaction to the made 3, was wondering why his team didn't foul (at about the 1:58 mark).

Other goodness from Saturday - Syracuse remains unbeaten by taking care of business with George Washington. Bottom line, GW isn't very good, and the Orange jumped on them right away and never looked back. That's what good teams are supposed to do. Thanks to a couple of loses elsewhere, Syracuse should be #1 in the new polls.

The Bad: We won't necessarily saw this is bad, but rather unfortunate. It was unfortunate that Jared Sullinger wasn't able to play at Kansas on Saturday. The Jayhawks ended up winning, but OSU was right there most of the game. If Sullinger is healthy, I think OSU wins. KU's Thomas Robinson continues to impress. He was 7-9 from the field, 7-8 from the line, 7 rebounds and 21 points.

The Ugly: To say that the end of the Xavier - Cincinnati was ugly would be a huge understatement. As bad as the scene was with punches being thrown, sucker punches being landed and bodies trying to be stomped on, the post game comments from Xavier's Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons were almost just as worse.




This video doesn't show Holloway's comments, but he basically said that his own team had a bunch of "gangstas" in the locker room (he clarified by saying, not thugs, but gangstas). He then went on to say that he had no regrets for anything that happened, and that's what you want to see in the XU-Cincy rivalry. Not sure if Holloway and Lyons have a nickname yet, but it should be Dumb and Dumber.

On Saturday, everyone gave credit to Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin for his post game comments. Here's some of the best:

“We represent an institution of higher learning. It’s way more important than basketball games. I made everybody take their jersey off and they will put it on again until they have a full understanding of where they go to school and what the university stands for and how luck they are to even be there let alone have a scholarship. Because there’s a whole lot of kids that can’t pay for college and don’t get to go to school....

......they are all sitting in there (the locker room) with no jersey on. Some of them I physically took them off........

.....We talk all the time, toughness is doing the right thing in life. That is what we talk about. If that is the case, you are being provoked, this or that, true toughness, you walk away from it. You take your ass whipping and you go home and you get better."

Cronin talked the talk on Saturday, but he along with the University and the Big East did not walk the walk on Sunday when handing out punishment. The fact that Yancy Gates, who connected on a sucker punch, threw numerous other punches and could barely be restrained, was suspended a total of 6 games is absolutely ludicrous. After the game Cronin talked about not knowing who would even be on the team anymore (you have to think he was referencing Gates), to now having one of his best players only miss the next 6 games, and only one of those being on the Big East conference schedule.

In my opinion, 10 games would have been acceptable, 15 games would have probably be right on, and being kicked off the team would not be out of the question. Six games? Six lousy out of conference games doesn't send a message. Cronin said he was embarrassed after the game. Well he should be embarrassed by what he thinks is an acceptable punishment.

Holloway will get one game, while Lyons gets two games for their role in the brawl, but mostly for their post game comments. Both of these suspensions are probably a bit light at well. It's obvious Holloway and Lyons didn't "get it" after the game. Let's hope they do, sooner rather than later.

+1: Since we don't want to end on such a sour note, let's give you a bonus video from the weekend. One of the coolest traditions in college basketball comes from Taylor University and their annual "Silent Night". Spend the next 3:27 watching this video. It's worth it.

Workin' for the Weekend

Now that we have the Loverboy hit in your head for the rest of the day, let's talk about the evolution of workin' for the weekend (also if you get the chance to check out the video for this song - its all kinds of amazing).

When we first got out of college and started in the "real world", we weren't used to working 8-9 hour days, 5 days a week, every week. We were coming off our last semester of college, or if we were lucky, a summer following college graduation. Working for the weekend meant we needed the the weekend to sleep in, go out at night and make questionable decisions, all mostly for a good story to tell our buddies.

Sullinger probable for match up with KU

As we grow up, working for the weekend has been given new meaning. Adult things like wedding planning, kids (don't worry, First Lady and I are not expecting a little one any time soon), trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond (Frank Ricard knew what he was talking about) and other domesticated related things make up the weekend activities. One thing that stays consistent though, is looking forward hanging on the couch, watching the big games of any given weekend (yes, I know this is going to change when little ones are around - that's why naps and DVR were invented). I might start listing "Strategically scheduling my weekend plans around games I want to watch" as a skill on my resume.

This weekend, which will be sprinkled with holiday festivities, wedding checklists, laundry and grocery shopping, will also feature some can't miss college hoops games.

Crean and IU fired up for UK on Saturday

Saturday kicks off with #2 Ohio State at #13 Kansas. An asterisk next to this game as it could be short all of its star power if Jared Sullinger's back spasms keep him sidelined. Let's hope he plays since he'll be matched up with Kansas's Thomas Robinson in the post. Sullinger and Robinson considered two of the best big men in the country. Don't forget about Aaron Craft and William Buford for the Buckeyes, and Tyshon Taylor, Elijah Johnson and an annoying "Rock Chalk" chant for the Jayhawks.
Daily Onions pick: If Sullinger plays, we like OSU. No Sullinger, gotta go Kansas.

That game should be getting over just as #1 Kentucky travels to Assembly Hall to take on undefeated Indiana. Interesting matchup here. Arguably the best team in the land going up against arguably one of the greatest traditional basketball programs in the land. One program has been in the Top 5 consistently the last few years, the other team hasn't sniffed the NCAA tournament in years. Both coaches are two of the most energetic and passionate you'll see roaming the sidelines, with one a favorite of Daily Onions (Crean), the other not so much (Calipari). Saturday's game marks the first true road game for Kentucky and their young freshmen. Indiana's best win this year is either home against a young Butler team, or on the road at North Carolina State. If IU pulls it out, they'll join the Top 25, and will have a huge resume win for March.
Daily Onions pick: IU keeps it close, but UK wins.

Order of Onions for the Hoyas

Before we get into last night's action, let's talk about Onions. Bill Raftery coined the phrase for when players come up with big time shots down the stretch. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, better than a classic Raftery "ONIONS" call. We can talk all about his other phrases and made up words that Raftery goes to throughout a game, but Onions is what we all want. Here is one of our favorite examples of an classic Onions call from last year's NCAA tournament.



Since it's Friday, here's another CLASSIC Raftery call, along w/ Gus Johnson. I wish we had a camera on what Gus and Bill looked like as they were doing this. I mean you have a couple of Onions calls from Raftery, you have Gus going nuts, even letting out a "Larry Bird" (where'd that come from), and you get a lot of weird noises.
                                                    

Anyway, back to current day. To follow up the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, last night kicked off the two day Big East-SEC Challenge. While tonight's games between Syracuse and Florida, and Louisville and Vanderbilt will get most of the hype, a few of last night's games had some classic finishes. Before we get to that, let it be known that Kentucky put a spanking on St. John's behind the ridiculous 15-15-8 (blocks) line from super frosh Anthony Davis. Providence got one back for the Big East with their nine point win over South Carolina.

The two exciting finishes featured Ole Miss getting a running layup in the final seconds of the game to break a tie and defeat DePaul in the suburbs of Chicago.

The best game of the evening was between unranked Georgetown and #12 Alabama, in Tuscaloosa. Bama used a 10-0 run in the final minutes to take a 55-54 lead with 12 seconds to play in the game. In a perfect world, Raftery would have been calling this game, but he wasn't. Regardless, Hollis Thompson w/ an order of Onions for the Hoyas.

This is a huge victory for the Hoyas, who have now knocked off Memphis and Alabama early on this season. Expect G'town to join the Top 25 next week.

Heavyweight Week - Top Ten Matchups Highlight College Basketball

If last week was "Feast Week," according to ESPN's marketing department, because of the great games/lineup in the Maui Invitational (along with that whole Thanksgiving holiday thing), then Daily Onions is dubbing this week "Heavyweight Week." Think about it, the only suitable follow up to a week of feasting, is a week of being a heavyweight.

Actually, "Heavyweight Week" references the all the Top 10 match ups that we have this week. Last night's hyped up game (no, not Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan), featured #2 Ohio State vs. #4 Duke. Not sure we can even say Duke was there though. After dropping behind the Buckeyes 11-0 to start the game, the Blue Devils were able to get back into the game to make it close halfway through the first half. From that point on, it was ALL (and I mean all) Ohio State. A few thoughts from the game:

-Austin Rivers crossover.....oh my. Quickest since.....Iverson? D. Rose? Man, that thing is impressive. He's got a decent jumper too. With that said, let's remember, Rivers has only played 7 college basketball games. Still lots to be learned.

Aaron Craft arguably the best PG in the country (Pic: US Presswire/SI.com)

-Sullinger, Buford, Craft and.....Deshaun Thomas (who?): We all knew Ohio State would depend on their big three of Sullinger, Buford and Craft. We rode the Buckeyes hard last year, and then Sullinger and mostly Buford pulled the disappearing act in their Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky.  These two (Sullinger 21, Buford 17) along with Craft (17 and 8 assists) were on top of their games on Tuesday night, and it was a bit of a coming out party for sophomore Deshaun Thomas. Check out the 6-7 swingman's line: 8-12 from the field, 2-4 from 3, 18 points and 5 rebounds. Thomas now averaging 12 points a game on the season. He'll be key for the Buckeyes, who try to replace the scoring of David Lighty and  Jon Diebler.

-I think I heard Dick Vitale cheating on Duke a bit, as he praised Sullinger and Buford throughout the night.

-LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were in attendance for the big game as well. LeBron was comfortable being there, since there isn't a 4th quarter in college basketball games (heyoooooo).

-One more thought on Duke: They are really going to miss Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Rivers is the only player on that team can create his own shot, and he isn't really a distributor yet. Curry is deadly from outside, but Ryan Kelly, the Plumlees, etc shouldn't really scare people.

With last night's game being a bit of a dud. We'll hope the rest of the marquee match ups live up to the hype.

Tonight: #9 Wisconsin vs. #5 UNC - The Tar Heels were anointed the head and shoulders favorite coming into this season, but have been knocked off their pedestal after a loss to UNLV in Vegas over the weekend. Harrison Barnes has a slightly injured ankle coming into tonight's game. UNC's Kendall Marshall is one of the best PG's in the country (from a getting teammates involved standpoint), but is a liability on defense. It will be interesting to see if he can match up with Wisconsin's preseason All-American Jordan Taylor. Daily Onions is a fan of freshman P.J. Hairston (McDonald's All-American last year), who leads the team in 3-point percentage and can get to the rim as well. We also like what we saw from junior guard Dexter Strickland against UNLV. Look for him to be a spark for the Heels tonight.

Friday: #4 Syracuse vs. #10 Florida - By far the toughest test for the Orange thus far this season. They needed to comeback wins in NYC last week to beat Virginia Tech and Stanford. Besides those games, they've handled the likes of Colgate, Eastern Michigan, Albany, Manhattan, etc. Will be interesting to see what Jim Boeheim does with Rakeem Christmas, Michael Carter Williams, and even James Sutherland. In tight games w/ Tech and Stanford, Boeheim tightened his rotation (as we've seen over the years) to 7 guys (Joseph, Scoop, Waiters, Triche, Fair, Fab, and Keita). Florida, whose only defeat this year was a seven point loss at Ohio State (ask Duke if its tough to play there). Last year, many people thought the Gators were a year away from being a contender. Well, now we're here. Keep your eye on freshman Bradley Beal, who hit 5 three pointers last time out. Throw in Kenny Boynton in the backcourt, the Gators will be ready to chomp (too easy) on the 'Cuse 2-3 zone.

UK's Davis (Kentucky.com)

Saturday: #5 UNC vs. #1 Kentucky - UNC took a little air out of this matchup after losing to UNLV. A loss tonight to Wisconsin would raise even more questions about Roy Williams' squad. Kentucky once again is stacked with freshman. Their starting five, which includes three freshmen, all average in double figures. Anthony Davis, from Chicago, might be the number 1 pick in the NBA Draft next year. Sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb (leading the team in scoring this year) add some experience for the Cats this season, who have already beaten Kansas by ten two weeks ago. Before they get UNC, Kentucky hosts St. John's on Thursday.

Daily Onions picks for Heavyweight Week: UNC over Wisconsin, Cuse over Florida and Kentucky over UNC.

***Now you can get Daily Onions posts delivered to your email inbox! In the upper right hand corner, type in your email address and a new blog entry will be emailed to you once it is posted. Thanks for reading! *** 

College Basketball is Back! (Kind of)

A wise man once said, "I don't know if it will make any change, but I figure its time for me to start playing ball." That wise man was Jimmy Chitwood. And in the spirit of Jimmy, Hoosiers and basketball, Daily Onions doesn't know if it will make any change, but we figure its time for us to start writing about basketball.

Check out video of Jimmy Chitwood Gettin' Back into the Game

With the official kickoff of college basketball season (practices at least) tonight with "Midnight Madness", Daily Onions takes a look at what's on tap for the upcoming season:

1. Preseason Rankings!! We actually wrote about how stupid preseason rankings were last year in December after Harrison Barnes, a preseason 1st Team All-American before he even put on the baby blue Tar Heel uniform, struggled out of the gate, and UConn, the eventual National Champion catapulted to #9 a few weeks into the season, after being left out of the Top 25 preseason poll. This season's Top 5 Preseason Poll looks like this:

• UNC: Harrison Barnes, Kyler Zeller, John Henson, Kyle Marshall all return. That should be enough. Throw in two McDonald All-Americans....the early favorite to win it all and run the table.  
• Kentucky: Terrence Jones surprised everyone and came back to school, along with Doron Lamb (the 2nd best Lamb in college bball), and Darius Miller. Coach Cal, the snake oil salesman, also brings in the two of the best freshman in the country in Anthony Davis (Chicago) and Michael Gilchrist (NJ). Good combo of NJ and Chicago there.
• UConn: The Defending Champs bring back Jeremy Lamb, the little brother of Daily Onions loyal reader, Ramy. He joins one of our favorite big man underclassmen from last year, Alex Oriakhi, along with Shabazz Nappier, Roscoe Smith, and Tyler "White" Olander. Stud newcomer Andre Drummond will help as well.
• Syracuse: Oh, no (Cuse is in the House). High expectations for the Orange this year? That can't be good for the Cuse faithful. Everyone's favorite PG to hate, Scoop Jardine is back to run the show. All reports say that Scoop had a great summer at various camps and a stint w/ Team USA. Let's hope he learned how to be smart with the ball. The Cuse also returns Kris Joseph, who was picked as a 1st Team All-American. And that's right there is why we talk about how preseason rankings don't mean anything. We love Joseph, but a 1st Team All-American?!? Prove me wrong, Kris. Rounding things out for the Cuse are Brandon Triche, CJ Fair (Daily Onions Favorite), Dion Waiters (hopefully with a new attitude), Fab Melo, Baye Moussa Keita, James Southerland, Mookie Jones, Andy Rautins, Otis Hill.......right, you get it. The Orange return a lot. They also bring in 2 McDonalds All-Americans in Rakeem Christmas (lots of puns coming your way) and Michael Carter Williams. Trevor Cooney is another frosh, who folks are hoping can light the Dome up from outside.
• Ohio State University: No THE this year for OSU. Since we picked them to win it all, and they decided to bounce in the Sweet 16, you get no love from Daily Onions....for now. Once we see that large backside of Jared Sullinger (he actually slimmed down, though), I'm sure we'll rekindle the love. William Buford and Aaron Craft important returners for the Buckeyes.
• Duke: Yes, we can count. Duke is #6. Quick thought on the Blue Devils. They have arguably the best freshman in Austin Rivers, they return guards Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, and now have three, yes THREE Plumlee brothers (not that that means anything). We are very excited to see Austin Rivers play. When we saw him at the McDonald's All-American game, we called him "Steph Curry with a little more pop".....whatever that means.

2. Basketball: Yep, it's that simple. The fact that basketball will be played is a huge thing to look forward to. With no NBA season in sight, the youngsters will have center stage, and that will be awesome. Throw in the fact that the greatest basketball conference ever assembled, The Big East, will be playing one of its final seasons (could be final, could have one or two more) as the dominant conference, culminating with the basketball orgy that is the Big East Tournament in March. Man, are we going to miss that tournament.

3. Road Trippin': While the schedule Gods did not grace us with a Big E Hoops Weekend Round 2 scenario, Daily Onions is planning on hitting the road to catch lots of games in person this season. We'll catch the Cuse at Notre Dame in January, we are taking a trip to see Brad Stevens and Hinkle Field House for a Butler game, we'll see what Big East teams roll through the Windy City to play DePaul, and will be sure to catch some Big Ten action up in Evanston. In short, we love college basketball, and we can wait to watch it....as I am sure that goes for the First Lady of Daily Onions as well.

With that said, in order to live up to our Jimmy Chitwood promise, we'll be posting weekly leading up to the start of the season, and then will get things going a bit more from there. We are only 9 posts away from 100, so we'll be sure to have a HUGE celebration commemorating some of our favorites from the first 100, and previewing what the second hundred have in store.

Thanks for reading, and here's to a great college basketball season.

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Who Wore it Better: Final Four Edition

Daily Onions takes a shot at the always fun US Weekly game, "Who Wore It Better?" Obviously all of our questions will be Final Four related:

• Who Wore it Better: Young Coach: Brad Stevens or Shaka Smart?
• Who Wore it Better: Dirty Coach: John Calipari or Jim Calhoun?
• Who Wore it Better: Tournament Game-winning shots: Brandon Knight or Matt Howard?
• Who Wore It Better: Freshman Making a Difference: Jeremy Lamb or Kentucky's Young'ns?
• Who Wore It Better: Dogs: Bulldogs or Huskies?
• Who Wore It Better: Lamb: Deron (UK) or Jeremy (UConn)
• Who Wore It Better: Potential Uncreative Headline: Butler Did It Again or Yes UConn or Top Cats/Blue Heaven or Insert Shaka/Cinderella/VC-Whew headline?

Daily Onions Answers/Predictions: Stevens, Calipari, Knight, Jeremy, Bulldogs, Jeremy, Nobody Wins on this one. We'll check back this weekend with a breakdown of the results.

McDonald's All-American Game Nuggets

I know earlier this week I spent some time talking about bad headlines, but how can you resist the nuggets and McDonald's connection. It's like trying to resist a McDonald's breakfast sandwich when you are hungover...tough to do.

With the game being played at the United Center, Daily Onions was able to earn a media credential for the evening, which allowed us a media room pre-game meal (boy, have we missed these!), the ability to rub shoulders with Doc Rivers, and also chat with players after the 40-minutes of action. Here are some news, notes and thoughts from the evening.

From a college conference perspective, the SEC cleans up having seven players in the game, thanks to that slick salesman Mr. Calipari. Kentucky has 4 of the 7 SEC players in the game, including game MVP and New Jersey native Michael Gilchrist. We won't get into the fact that World Wide Wes was at the McDonald's practices rocking the UK gear (not shady at all). The Big East and the ACC each had five players, the Big Ten claims four, while the Big 12 has two and Conference USA has one.

Duke had three players in the game including the high school player of the year Austin Rivers. We (along with the rest of the hoard of media) had the opportunity to chat with Austin after the game. As impressive as he is on the court - compare him to Stephen Curry with a little more pop - he is just the same off the court. Well-spoken kid, who says the right things and just gets it. Not surprised since he has been around elite athletes his entire life. In addition to Doc, Austin's older brother plays hoops at IU, while his sister was a volleyball player at Florida. If Kyrie Irving ends up staying at Duke, the Blue Devils automatically have the best backcourt in the country. Even if Irving leaves, Rivers will be able to step right in and make an impact from Day 1.

Carter-Williams and Christmas headed to the Cuse (Syracuse.com)

Speaking of the Blue Devils, they'll now have THREE Plumlee brothers on the roster. Mason and Miles' younger brother Marshall will be joining them next year. The Dukies also get Quinn Cook, a 6-0 guard out of Oak Hill Academy.

Let's get on to more important, Orange colored things, as in Syracuse. Two members of the East squad are headed to CNY next season. Rakeem Christmas (Philadelphia), who is listed at 6-10, didn't look that big on the court during the game. However, standing next to him afterwards definitely gave us a crick in the neck. He looks to have the potential to be a solid man in the middle, despite only getting one bucket (a 12-ft jumper). He doesn't have a ton of weight (235 lbs in your program) on  him right now but looks to have a pretty athletic build and a long wingspan. Will he be able to replace I'm Sorry Rick Jackson next year? Probably not, but in two years could be a double-double guy in the Big East. We also have a soft spot in our heart for him now, as he showed us a lot of love with a handshake into a half hug, when he learned of the 'Cuse connection. Can't wait for Christmas in Syracuse (heyoooo).

The other player to head to the Salt City is Michael Cater-Williams (from Mass.). First thing that stood out about MCW was the 'S' shaved into the back of his head. Nice. The second thing that stood out was the fact that he was swimming in his uniform. He's listed at 6-5, 175. I think its probably closer to 6-3, 135. Syracuse will need to put him on the 40 meals per week once he steps on campus. No disrespect to the skinny kids. Daily Onions was once just as skinny and Cuse helped us bulk up freshman year (15?). MCW won the skills competition at on Monday night and will be a slasher/shooter coming off the bench next year. We LOVED the fact that he took a charge...in an All-Star game! We've taken a charge in a scrimmage at a summer camp played on tennis courts, so we like the effort. With Scoop, Triche, Waiters, Fair, Mookie (?), and Joseph playing the 2 and 3 positions, MCW may take some time to see the court next season. In the long run though, a McDonald's All-American is a McDonald's All-American.

Diced Onions: Final Four and then some

I was going to write a much more in-depth post about the Final Four, the teams, the coaches, the upsets, the Madness, etc. Instead the First Lady and I watched Frontline on PBS, and their story about how much money is made during March Madness, and how the athletes saw zero of that. This turned into an hour conversation in the Daily Onions office about whether or not student-athletes should get paid, how they would get paid, why coaches are overpaid, why does the NCAA have such a big yearly budget, jersey sales, video game sales and so on and so on. If you ever thought about banging your head against the wall for an hour, don't do it. Just have a conversation with your significant other about all the things wrong with the NCAA.

The craziest thing is, I don't totally agree with fact that student-athletes don't get compensated for all the money that is being brought in thanks to college athletics. It's tough to come up with an argument for why they aren't, except the fact that the NCAA is about student-athletes, and they don't play students, but instead they are giving students the opportunity to get a free education (which is what the NCAA President said over and over and over...)  From the bottom of my heart, I really wish that was true, but it isn't. This is a topic that Daily Onions could talk about for 3 months straight, and I don't even know if we'd come up with a solution or a perfect argument at that point. The First Lady may have summed things up the best by saying this: "You don't have to have a vast knowledge of college sports, to know right from wrong." She is probably right. There is exploitation in college sports (mostly football and basketball), and we all know that. Will the NCAA ever change its rules, probably not....allowing many "fun" conversations between couples down the road.

Enough about that, let's get into some Final Four random thoughts:

-During the season, I thought I wanted to name my first born Jimmer, but now I am thinking it might be Butler. How can you not LOVE the Butler Bulldogs basketball program? We are currently reading the book Underdawgs, which is the story of last year's team's run to the National Championship game. Lots of good tidbits on coach Brad Stevens (Daily Onions crush), the recruitment of Shelvin Mack, Gordon Hayward and Ronald Nored, and more info that we'll probably include in a post in the near future entitled, "Everything I ever needed to know in life, I learned from the Butler Basketball Program." Stay tuned.

-If Shaka Smart was in a lineup next to five other current college point guards, would the untrained eye be able to point out which person was the college coach? Probably not. Throw in how he looked and how he worked the crowd at the pep rally on Sunday night when the teamed returned to campus, Smart could have easily been plugged into the role of emcee at a block party coming to a university near you. Looks aside, we obviously commend the job Shaka has done in the past two weeks. As far as where he'll be next year, we doubt it includes the letters VCU. Our guess is N.C. State. Will he be able to gain some ground on Duke and UNC? Probably not right away, but after how far he's brought VCU in the last two weeks, you never know.

-In case you didn't know, it's "Random Early '90s College Basketball Players Get Head Coaching Jobs" week. First, Cuonzo Martin goes to Tennessee (yes, we know he was a head coach at Mizzou State). We remember Cuonzo as the sidekick to the Big Dog at Purdue back in the early 90s. Then today, THE Monmouth University of New Jersey go and hire Vanderbilt assistant and former UNC Tarheel, King Rice. For those of you that don't remember Rice, we don't blame you. Fortunately, Daily Onions was blessed with a ridiculous and random (and sometimes stupid) memory, so we remember Rice playing along side of Rick Fox and Co. back in the day. No word on whether or not NC State is looking to hire Chris Corchiani for the head job (they aren't, because Chris now works in real estate). If things don't work out with Matt Painer for Missouri, they can always give Anthony Peeler a call (he's actually an assistant at D-2 Virginia Union). Ok, that's enough for now, but plenty of seats still open on the coaching carousel, so more jokes to come.

A few questions to ponder looking ahead to this weekend:
-If UConn wins two games this weekend, capping off an unbelievable month of basketball (11 wins in a row between the Big East and NCAA Tournament), does Jim Calhoun walk away? Close to turning 69 years old, Calhoun's got some suspension time looming next year due to some NCAA violations, as well as some scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions over the next three years. Kemba will be gone after this season, and Jeremy Lamb might not be too far behind, draining the Huskies of their top talents. Why not go out on top now?

-When Daily Onions celebrates its 5th birthday in December of 2015, will Kentucky still have its 2011 NCAA Final Four banner still hanging in Rupp Arena? I think its a legit question considering Coach Cal's track record (even though he didn't know anything). Also, is UK's Josh Harrellson the biggest goon in college basketball since......? I'm not even sure who the last goon in the college game was, but we bet Harrellson will give him a run for his money. As a Daily Onions loyal reader pointed out over the weekend after Harrellson chucked the ball at Jared Sullinger's chest, "O'Doyle Rules!"

-We knew we'd have some bad headlines this week with Butler returning to the Final Four. Creative reporters and editors brushed off "The Butler Did It" and figured out ways to incorporate that into the leads of stories throughout the weekend. Now we get to go to Houston for the Final 4. Spare us the, "Houston, we have a problem" headlines. We know there aren't any 1 or 2 seeds left in the tournament. That's not a problem, and even if it was a problem, that's not a creative headline. Give us something better. And can we stop the potential VCU-UConn matchup leading to Shaka-Conn headlines now? Ok good. Oh, and if Connecticut does win, please keep the "Yes, UConn" headlines to yourself. Thanks.

More Final Four thoughts coming later this week.

16 Sweet Things To Look Forward To: Part 2

Before we get into the next eight things on our list....let's have a moment of silence for Jimmer's college career (moment). We thank you Jimmer, it was a blast. Now we are excited about the MoMo Jones era (errr, weekend of the season). Florida, UConn, Butler (and Brad Stevens) and Arizona are still standing. We still have 3 of our 4 Final 4 teams still alive (thanks, Duke), so we're still in the running for predicting the National Champion. Now let's look ahead to tonight's action, and reasons 9-16 we like the Sweet 16.

9. Shaka...Gone? Will tonight's game be the final game of the season for the Rams, and coach Shaka Smart? Shaka was already on the "hot, young, up and coming coach" list this season, and victories over Georgetown and Purdue may have hoisted him to the top. With openings at Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, and Monmouth (hi Ram!), there is a good chance Shaka will be gone from VCU once they are eliminated.

10. College Basketball Capital of the World: Apparently it is Richmond, Virginia. Two schools that are just six miles away from each other, both double-digit seeds, both pulled a few upsets and both are in the Sweet 16. Oh and both will probably be looking for a new head coach after the season, as Richmond's Chris Mooney is also on the aforementioned coaches list at which bigger schools will start taking a look.


11. Two down, Two to go: As you all know, we picked THE Ohio State University to go to the Final Four back in December. Well, they've won their first two tournament games, and need to win two more for our prediction to come true. They got a young Kentucky team tonight in....NEW JERRRSEEEY. A classic match up for Daily Onions, since it includes one of our favorites this season (OSU), as well as one of our favorites to dislike (UK).

12. Kentucky and Calipari: As you all know, we aren't the biggest fan of Coach Calipari. We never have trusted his young squad, as they have struggled on the road during the season, and went home early last season thanks to a more disciplined, more mature West Virginia team. We also don't trust Coach Cal. Even a six page article in Sports Illustrated basically defending Calipari couldn't really change our opinion. Bottom line, he's taken two different schools to the Final Four, and both of those schools have had those trips revoked. Now Cal claims he knew nothing about the violations (maybe true), but where there is smoke there is fire. If Kentucky ends up winning two more games, will it even matter? Half his team will be gone in a few months, and who knows what potential violations are down the road.

13: Big East Pride: Not only are the Marquette Golden Eagles one of two Big East teams left standings, but they also sport the pair of shorts we are most likely to purchase on Eastbay. Gold or light blue, take your pick, you can't lose. Shorts aside, is anyone else a tad scared of Marquette right now? They are playing inspired ball for Coach Buzz, aka Coach Streetwise....."maybe on the way out" (Chicago joke). They play hard, they are athletic, they are physical, and they will most likely give UNC everything they can handle.


14. Rock Chalk: Apparently Kansas didn't get the memo that the Southwest Region is Cinderella's castle. The team's left in that region are seeded 10, 11, and 12. Oh yeah, and the Jayhawks are 1. That means one of two things. Kansas either has a very good shot at making the Final 4, or they are in trouble and are the next top seed to take a tumble.


15. Gus vs. Raftery: This is a match up where no one wins. Its bad enough this is the final weekend of the season that we'll get to hear these two vocal geniuses, but we don't even get them on separate nights. At least on Saturday, the games are staggered so we'll be able to enjoy the final 40 minutes uninterrupted, of both Gus and Raftery. That makes us want to put our lingerie on the deck (what?).

16. ONIONS! After Friday's games we'll have the first set of standings for the Show Us Your Onions competition. We lost Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pitt last weekend, and waved goodbye to Duke and San Diego State last night. Yep, we projected Duke in the Final 4. We were wrong. Tomorrow we'll be able to see who's been right, and who's been wrong, and who has the nicest Onions thus far.

Day 3 of the Madness: Party Foul

There were eight games on the schedule yesterday and the majority of them did not disappoint. We'll start with the games that weren't as close, and work our way to one of the most bizarre finishes in college basketball tournament history.

Teach Me How To Jimmer: We are betting that there are going to be a lot of babies named Jimmer popping up in about 9 months. The Cougs are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1981 after having no problems with Gonzaga, winning 89-67. Jimmer dropped 34, which means he is averaging a healthy 33 ppg so far this tournament. Now the Cougs will face Florida (who took out UCLA 73-65), in New Orleans. Make sure you brush up on that Honor Code boys.

Kentucky Split: The young Wildcats were able to avenge the school's loss to West Virginia in last year's tournament, beating the Mountaineers 71-63. The problem that hurt the 'Eers all year long was true once again on Saturday - no go-to, crunch time scorer. We miss you Da'Sean Butler. The other Kentucky squad still playing wasn't as lucky, as Morehead St.'s season came to an end at the hands of Richmond. The Spiders, the #12 seed in the Southwest, now await the winner of Kansas-Illinois.

Aztecs, Huskies and Badgers, Oh my: The Fighting Dunphies gave #2 San Diego State all they could handle yesterday, as the Aztecs eeked out a 7 point win in double overtime over Temple. SDSU now faces Kemba and the Huskies in the Sweet 16. UConn disposed of fellow Big East member, Cincinnati. SDSU has a slight advantage, as the game will be played in Anaheim. Meanwhile, Bo Ryan isn't quite ready to vacation in South Jersey just yet. His Wisconsin Badgers ended Jacob Pullen's college career, despite the Beard putting up 38 points. Coach Frank Martin's scowl took over the final few seconds of the game, as he didn't look too pleased with a few of his player's non-execution of a final play - that seemed to be NOT drawn up for Pullen.

Doin' the But: On Thursday, Butler won their game with a put back basket by Matt Howard as time expired. On Saturday, as the Bulldogs took on #1 Pitt, it was the final seconds that once again dictated who won the game. In what was one of the most bizarre endings ever, Butler took the lead with 2 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Gilbert Brown was fouled by Shelvin Mack (it was the right call). Brown at the free throw line, shooting 2, down 1, with .9 seconds left. He makes the first. Tie game. The second, clanks off the iron and Howard pulls down the board. For some reason, Pitt's Nasir Robinson fouls (it was the right call) Howard with .2 seconds left. Howard makes the first, misses the second on purpose, Butler is back in the Sweet 16 and Pitt is back to the Steel City early, once again.

Daily Onions, who normally is in the camp of "let them play" when it comes to officiating, completely agrees with both of the calls made at the end of the game. Officials you are off the hook. The way Pitt handled the late game situation is a teachable moment for basketball players and coaches of all ages. With .9 seconds left, and a tie game, why even risk the possibility for a foul on the rebound. I don't have a problem with Jamie Dixon keeping players on the lane, as this gives Brown a more "normal" look at the foul line (if normal exists at this situation in the game). But you need to be 100% clear with your players to not commit a foul on the potential miss (as Gilbert Brown said after the game - all I needed to do was make the 2nd shot and we wouldn't be having this conversation). Robinson also admitted that is was an awful mistake and that he's been playing basketball for way too long to know better than that. Robinson's foul didn't even look accidental, as he clearly grabbed and hung on to Howard's arm. A bizzare mental lapse by Robinson. It's unfortunate that the game had to end under these circumstances. Mack is lucky he is off the hook for his last second mistake. Unfortunately for Brown and Robinson, this one is going to sting for a while.

Day 1 of The Madness: Best Afternoon Ever?

As long as you weren't stuck in a hole yesterday for the first four hours of the tournament, you know it was arguably one of, if not the, best start to the tournament ever. Of the first five games, four of them were decided in the final 5 seconds, and had a score differential of two points or less.

First, it was the Butler doing it, making sure they weren't going home after Round 1, with their right place, right time put back by Matt Howard as time expired. Bulldogs 60 - ODU 58. Then it was Morehead taking down Rick Pitino (low blow? whoops, nevermind), with a 3 pointer in the final seconds to win 62-61. Best part of this game....we had our first "ONIONS" call from Raftery, and boy was it a good one.This was also the first game where people started ripping up their brackets.

In the battle for Pennsylvania bragging rights, Temple nails a step through jumper with .4 seconds left, to make sure that Penn State remains only a football school. Then, we all hoped that the Princeton Fundamentals would take down Kentucky. With the game tied and 3 seconds left, freshman Brandon Knight made his first bucket of the game, giving the Wildcats a win. Definition survive and advance. One more close game in the afternoon session saw the Spiders of Richmond taking down Vanderbilt. 12 - 5 upset anyone?

To the night games we go, Florida, UConn and BYU take care of business as expected. Jimmer goes off for 32 points, as expected. Belmont hung around with Wisconsin for half of the game, but the Badgers eventually pulled away to win by 14.

In the 6-11 games with Big East teams, it was a split. Cincy sent Mizzou home with a convincing win, and as predicted in this space, the experience of Gonzaga was too much for the upstart Johnnies. We did whiff on the Utah State-K-State game, as well as the UCLA-Michigan State game, although the Bruins did everything possible to try and blow a 23-point lead.

A couple of games we are looking forward to on Saturday: Huggins vs. Calipari and the youth/athleticism of Kentucky against the grind it out physicality of WVU. We'll have a Big East match up of UConn and Cincy, and an upset special with #13 Morehead St. and #12 Richmond. Last but not least, we have Butler taking on Pitt. Bulldogs find ways to win games in March, but will they be able to continue that streak against the physical Panthers.

Show Us Your Onions Update: Thanks to the 30+ entries that we received for the first annual competition. At first glance, we have a few folks that lost some of their onions with the Michigan State and Louisville losses. A complete breakdown of all the Onions will come later in the weekend, so you can see who you are matched up against.

Daily Onions is headed to watch some hoops live and in person today in Chicago. This will mark the first time we've been to an NCAA Tournament game since 2003, when....you know, a certain team cut down the nets in New Orleans. Onions!

Five Day Forecast

True or False: Two weeks from today conference tournaments will be underway. (True)
True or False: 17 days from today is Selection Sunday. (True)
True or False: Three weeks from today (Thursday 2/24), the Maaaadness will be in full swing (minus the first 4 play in games on that Tuesday). (True)
True or False: We are not excited. (False - see, you always have to throw a false in there to keep people honest)

With that in mind, Daily Onions needs to make sure we have clear eyes (and full hearts) leading into the month of March. That's why Daily Onions (along with the First Lady) will be taking a brief trip to "Camp David" (aka Florida), for some R and R. The blog will most likely be quiet until next Tuesday, unless Jimmer scores 100 in a game, Jim Boeheim invites the local media and all Big East officials over to his house for dinner, or CBS/Turner announces that the team of Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery will be announcing the Final 4.

Before we go though, we want to give you a heads up on everything you should be paying attention to over the next five days (in chronological order).

Thursday

-NBA Trade Deadline - 3pm ET: We've already had two blockbuster deals this week with Carmelo coming to NY (27 points in his debut Wednesday night, as predicted by Daily Onions) and Deron Williams heading to.......'New Jersey' (SNL Governor Patterson voice). East Coast! Guaranteed there will be some lower level deals made on Thursday, but not sure there is enough movable firepower for another "Boom Goes the Dynamite" deal.

-Miami Heat at Chicago Bulls: A possible Eastern Conference Championship preview at the United Center. Two MVP candidates in Lebron and Derrick Rose. Joakim Noah in his second game back after missing 30 games with an injury. TNT in the building. In the words of 1991 Dunk Contest Commentator Magic, "It's gonna get exciting!" Bulls need a win after dropping one at Toronto on Wednesday night.

Guaranteed: Huggy will have his boys fired up for Pitt (AP)

-Backyard Brawlers: West Virginia at the Oakland Zoo. WVU is coming off a nice win over Notre Dame, while Pitt is coming off loss at St. John's. Odds are Pitt gets a W here, but if WVU is to pull another upset, good news is their fans won't be able to storm the court.

Saturday (I feel like Ahmad Rashad during "Rewind" on Inside Stuff)

-Your Mother's a Hoya: Syracuse at G-town, where the Orange will try to avenge an earlier home loss. Hmm, that's sounds familiar. Hoyas PG Chris Wright injured his wrist in Wednesday's loss to Cincy. Could be trouble in G-town.

Jimmer has played well on the road this year

-Jimmer Mania: In the most anticipated MWC game since....the last time the Cougs played San Diego State, #7 BYU travels to the Saint Diego (discovered by the Germans) to take on the fourth ranked Aztecs. Unfortunately, Gus Johnson won't be on the call for CBS, but this is the second game of a triple-header, so there should be signs of Raftery and Gus throughout the afternoon. Pretty crazy that one of these teams could be a #1 seed come tournament team, and both should be at worst a top 3 in a region.

-Cats and the Gators: And the silver spoon (too much?). Kentucky hosts Florida in the third game on CBS this afternoon. Luckily the Cats are at home. They lost AGAIN on the road in SEC play on Wednesday night (by 1 pt at Arkansas). Remember how Daily Onions has been telling you all along that UK can't win tight games? Make sure you keep listening. For what its worth - Kudos to CBS for a great lineup today. If you aren't on vacation, there is no reason you shouldn't be on your couch from 12pm-6 pm EST to watch these three games.

Sunday

-Three games tickle our fancy today. Pitt at Louisville (fun Big East game at the Yum); Purdue at Michigan State (Are the Spartans going to be hitting their March stride?); Maryland at UNC (Tarheels need to take care of business at home. Their final two games are at FSU and home against the Dukies).

-Bracketology: No, not with Lunardi. We're talking Accenture Match Play Golf. Who is your Final Four (hope it doesn't include Tiger). Final Day of play wraps up today, and should serve as a good primer for what a bracket of 64 looks like.

Big Monday

-Notre Dame hosts Villanova in the first game. Wildcats could use a victory, and a win on the road at Notre Dame would be a nice way to wind down the conference schedule. In game two, K-State will try to pull off another upset on Big Monday (beat Kansas two weeks ago). This time will be a little tougher, as they'll be on the road in Austin......Austin, Massachusetts.


That's all you need to know for the next five days. Now make sure you pay attention to what happens. There will be a quiz on Tuesday.

The Weekend That Was

Same ole Song and Dance: The majority of the weekend could have been easily predicted because it seems like it was the same ole story in a lot of instances. For example:
-Kentucky loses a close conference game on the road, 81-77 to Vanderbilt. The Wildcats have lost five of their six conference road games. Luckily they only have two more.
-Syracuse proves to be one of the most inconsistent teams in the country. In their four point loss at Louisville, the Orange went from being up 7 with five minutes left in the half, to being down 10 at the half, to being down 20 just five minutes into the second half, to fighting all the way back to draw within three points with 1:30 to play.
-Pitt proves itself once again as the team to beat in the Big East. Without one of their best players (Ashton Gibbs), the Panthers went on the road and beat Villanova, 57-54. Pitt now has a two game lead in the conference, ahead of Notre Dame (the only team that's beat Pitt in conference).
-Jimmer shoots, scores and BYU wins. This time it was the Cougs over Utah 72-59. Jimmer had 23 points, including a stretch of 12 straight in the second half.
-Random fact from the Big East that probably doesn't mean much: UConn, Syracuse and Villanova are a combined 2-7 in their last 9 games.

Bo Knows South Jersey; the beach is that way

NBD: No Big Deal for the acronym challenged. That's what Daily Onions is saying about THE Ohio State University's first loss of the season at Wisconsin. Yes, the Buckeyes did have a 15-point melt away at the Kohl Center, which might cause some concern. But let's be real. No college team has run the table in 35 years. A few losses in the regular season will probably do more good than harm. Also, the Badgers play VERY well at home and Ohio State won't play in a hostile environment like that come mid-March.

Best Quote of the Weekend: After knocking off number one OSU, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan was asked where this win ranked in his career. Ryan answered by saying that he'd evaluate the win in 20 years when he is retired and vacationing on the shores of Southern New Jersey. For those of you that don't know, that is the birthplace of Daily Onions. So yeah, we live where Bo Ryan vacations.  I wonder if he watches Jersey Shore?

The Association: A few thoughts from the pro game.
-Its safe to say the Celtics > Heat. With Paul Pierce scoring 1 point....yes, like one free throw (he went 0-10 from the field), Boston was still able to beat the Heat for the third time this season. No matter who earns the top seed in the East, a trip to the NBA Finals still goes through Bean Town.

DC coaching up the Young-sters on the Sixers

-It's a Dougie Revolution in Philadelphia. I'll admit that I was not high on the Doug Collins hire for the Sixers this off season. But DC is coaching the boys up. Many coaches and other sources around the league are saying that the Sixers are playing as hard as anyone every night they step on the floor. Its starting to show on the scoreboard, as the Sixers took down the Spurs, who own the best record in the league, on Friday night. They followed that up with a "Taking Care of Business" 20 point win at Minnesota the next night. Those noises you hear in New York are not only "We Want Melo" chants, but also groans that the Sixers are just a game and a half back of the Knicks for the 6 seed.
-If you had February 12th in the "DeMarcus Cousins will get in an altercation with a teammate" pool, you win! The ticking time bomb finally went off over the weekend and got into things with teammate Donte Greene (Cuse alum), because Greene didn't pass him the ball on the final play of a 2 point loss on Saturday night. Waaaah, Waaaah. Grow up, DeMarcus (Without Cousins, the Kings snapped a 5-game losing streak on the road in Phoenix).
-Bo Ryan isn't the only coach with a soft spot for Jersey. Pacers interim coach, Frank Vogel, a South Jersey native, is now 7-1 since taking over the team two weeks ago. They are also currently the 8th seed in the East.
-Random fact from the NBA that probably doesn't mean much: Indiana fired Jim O'Brien two weeks ago after a loss to the Chicago Bulls. Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz stepped down on Thursday, after a loss to...the Chicago Bulls. This week the Bulls have the Bobcats (already replaced a coach this season) and the Spurs (Pop ain't goin' nowhere), so the coaches are safe.

Not Exactly Street Legal

With the recent rumors/allegations/stories of Jets QB Mark Sanchez having a relationship with a 17-year old girl, we got thinking about some of the underclassmen in college basketball the Daily Onions has a "crush" on (you see the connection, right? A little weird, bit of a stretch, yes...but just go with it). The requirements for our list include the player being a freshman or sophomore, and that's about it. Let's get to it:

The Well-Known: These four individuals have been talked about in Daily Onions previously.

Jared Sullinger - Freshman - THE Ohio State University: We've said it before and we'll say it again. Sullinger is close to a lock for Big Ten player of the year, and is at least in the conversation for National Player of the Year. He is a very important reason that the Buckeyes are one of our Final Four teams as of now.

Barnes and UNC are back on track

Terrence Jones - Freshman - University of Kentucky: Athletic player with lots of different tools - can score inside and outside, can rebound (11 last night, including 5 on the offensive glass, block shots (4 last night). He loves to take a few dribbles and spin when he drives, and teams are starting to pick up on that, so he'll need to add something else to his repertoire (yes, I just said repertoire).
Tobias Harris - Freshman - University of Tennessee: As we mentioned yesterday, Harris spurned Syracuse for Tennessee. He's got a great basketball body at 6-8, 225 - and is averaging a solid 14 and 7 this season. Projected to be a late first rounder, let's hope he's on our favorite sophomore list next year, and not riding the pine in the Association.
Harrison Barnes - Freshman - University of North Carolina: We felt a little bad for Harrison, since he was named to a preseason 1st Team All-American without playing a college game. He had a very slow start, which made that honor even more puzzling. But he, and UNC, has started put things together as they are 7-1 in the conference. BIG test for Harrison and Co. tonight at Cameron Indoor.

Sneaky: These players aren't going to wow you every game (maybe a play here and that as you'll see), but they do the little things, fill up the stat sheets in a lot of different areas and are players most coaches would love to have as their supporting cast.

Dominic Cheek - Sophomore - Villanova University: Despite playing for one of the biggest rivals of my alma mater, Cheek is a Jersey kid (St. Anthony's) that played for Bob Hurley Sr., so you know he plays hard. He can knock down the open shot, can defend and will do the dirty work for you.
Alex Oriakhi - Sophomore - UConn: Jeez, another player from a rival school. The man in the middle for UConn isn't quite raw, I'd say medium rare. He's a big body and has some nice moves and a nice touch around the basket (averages 10 and 8 this season). Should aspire to be the next Rick Jackson.
CJ Fair - Freshman - Syracuse University: Finally, someone in Orange. For those Cuse fans out there, Fair is Josh Pace 2.0. His coming out party was his performance at Pitt when Kris Joseph was out. Since then, when given the opportunity, he's been a spark off the bench. He's what you'd call a glue guy.

Aaron is "Crafty" (heyooo) with the ball for the Bucks

Aaron Craft - Freshman - THE Ohio State University: You can book Craft as an extra in the Hoosiers remake as well (Central Casting: Craft and Sheehey are both white with buzzcuts. Sullinger, Lighty, Diebler, Lauderdale, and Buford are the names most people know, but Craft is starting to make a name for himself at the point position. He comes off the bench, runs the team, makes a few defenders look stupid here and there, and goes about his business. The Buckeyes only go seven deep, so he is an important piece off the bench.
Will Sheehey - Freshman - Indiana University: An under recruited swingman from Florida, Sheehey puts the myth that "white men can't jump" to rest. Don't believe me - check this out. Blake Griffin watched this clip and was impressed. If they were remaking the film Hoosiers, Sheehey could be one of the players. Tom Crean has Sheehey and the rest of the squad playing hard as heck, and they've had some decent wins in the last two weeks (Illinois, Minnesota).

In Name Only: These three deserve to be at least mentioned on this list. To be quite honest though, because of their west coast location (woo hoo East Coast Bias!!!), Daily Onions hasn't been able to see many of their games. Instead of just rehashing their stats of the web, we'll just leave it as a mentioning of their names. In case you get stuck at a dinner party discussing the best underclassman in the country - make sure you mention these three.

Perry Jones - Freshman - Baylor University - Projected as the a top 3 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Jordan Hamilton - Sophomore - Texas - Has the Longhorns as a potential 1 seed in the tourney.
Derrick Williams - Sophomore - Arizona - Best player in the Pac-10, potential top 3 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

The Weekend That Was

-We'll start the weekend recap with a look at the Big East, which had a couple of close calls, mixed in with some easy Ws. Sanity seems to be restored in the Salt City (that's Syracuse for you non-orange folk) as the Cuse is back on a two-game win streak with a walk-on-in-the-game win at South Florida. Next up for the Orange, their biggest rival, Georgetown (your mother's a Hoya). Villanova took care of business with a W over WVU, while Pitt beat Cincy easily.  In other news, ranked teams UConn, Louisville and Georgetown all squeeeaked by lesser opponents (Seton Hall, DePaul, Providence) winning by a combined 8 points. Oh, and on Sunday, #8 Notre Dame (at home) was up by 3 with 30 seconds left against Rutgers, before winning by 7. Just your run of the mill weekend in the Big East. For those of you that think the Big Ten is a better conference than the Big East, grow up.

-Speaking of the Big Ten, Daily Onions will continue THE love fest for THE Ohio State University. While the Bucks are in the hardest stretch of their schedule, they easily won on the road in Minnesota on Saturday, 82-69. They now have a week to prepare for their toughest match-up yet, in Madison against #14 Wiscaaaaansin.

-Speaking of tough road games, Kentucky knows a thing or two about that. Last Tuesday, the Wildcats lost a heart breaker to Ole Miss by two. They followed that up with a another two point loss at Florida. That marks the third time Kentucky has gone on the road in the SEC and lost by two (at Alabama three weeks ago, as well). Throw in a loss at Georgia in early January, and the Cats are 1-4 on the road in conference play. You know what type of teams lose close road games? Young and Inexperienced teams. As we said back in December, that will be the Wildcats biggest weakness this year (experience), and that's why we won't be picking them to go far in the tournament.

-Speaking of the SEC, Alabama is 7-1 in conference! We are talking about the basketball team, not football team. They won in OT at Tennessee on Saturday night, beat Kentucky, and their only loss came at Arkansas. Thursday night they go on the road once again to take on #24 Vanderbilt. Will the Tide continue to Roll?

The Weekend that Was

Kemba was kept in check for only so long. (AP)

-Kemba Walker reads Daily Onions! Or at least that's what I am telling myself, after he went out and willed UConn to a win on the road at Texas. Using my post last week as bulletin board material, Kemba was 8-27 shooting and he scored 22 points, including this ridiculous shot as the shot clock was expiring at the end of the game. He also hit the game winner in overtime and grabbed 9 rebounds. Big time win for the Huskies, and they get Rutgers and DePaul next.

-Georgetown continues to baffle me. I want to like the Hoyas and possibly pick them as a team to go deep into the tournament, but late game situations have been killing them of late.  Despite having an experienced PG in Chris Wright, the Hoyas turned it over on their final four possessions of the game against West Virginia. For the game, Wright had 5 turnovers and 2 assists...not really what you are looking for from your floor general. G'town drops to 1-3 in the Big East and now has to host Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. On the flip side, huge with a capital U, win for the Mountaineers. Exactly what they needed after dropping two of their first three conference games.

-University of Kentucky fans took out their frustration on the Enes Kanter decision on a New York Times writer, and then watched their team lose on the road to Georgia, 77-70. Hey UK fans, your team might be young and immature, doesn't mean you have to be.

-As predicted on Friday, Villanova knocked Cincinnati from the unbeaten list. Other notable results from the weekend: Penn State knocked off Michigan State, Colorado beat 8th ranked Missouri, Notre Dame beat St. Johns, Kansas needed overtime to win in Ann Arbor, and UCF dropped their first game of the season at Houston.

-Coming tomorrow: Daily Onions starts to breakdown the games that are a part of the upcoming Big E Hoops Weekend.