Lots and lots and lots of OTs and big shots down the stretch yesterday. Murray State’s shot to win against Vandy was big, insomuch as it was a smaller school topping a high-seeded big dog.

But I was particularly a fan of Wake Forest’s win last night. It was an 8-9 matchup, which is always good for some close battles.

And it went to OT. An OT in which Texas scored the first eight points, and it seemed like the Longhorns were on their way to advancing to the round of 32. But Wake Forest hung tight. They crawled back the way you have to crawl back in these types of games: hitting shots, hitting free throws, playing tough D and getting some luck.

Luck in the form of the other team choking at the line, and then capitalizing on it.

Here’s how they pulled it out in the end, on the back of Ishmael Smith:

After a stint in the backup role to Matt Schaub down in Houston last season, Rex Grossman is now a member of the Redskins.

And via the Washington Post, he’s saying things like this:

“That’s my goal. I want to start in this league at some point [again] and get back there and play,” said Grossman, who is participating in the offseason conditioning program at the complex.

“Every quarterback that plays in the NFL wants to start. … I definitely think I can. I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself. Hopefully, this is a steppingstone to the second half of my career.”

Grossman says they haven’t discussed his role yet. Jason Campbell isn’t just going to hand over the keys. And during his stint with the Bears, he certainly didn’t scream Reliable Starting Quarterback.

Yet, Grossman was vilified during his tenure in Chicago, and with this fanbase so starved for a franchise QB, the guy probably got it worse than he should have. He deserves a second chance. This is America, people.

And who knows: With a new coaching regime headed by Mike Shanahan — and remember, Mike’s son, Kyle, is the offensive coordinator and worked with Grossman in Houston — stranger things have certainly happened.

Like the Bears trading for a franchise QB and him underwhelming like crazy in his first season.

I have yet to fill out a bracket. I have about an hour left if I want to do one.

Sure, I could fill one out in about 10 minutes. Sure, I could tie myself emotionally to Old Dominion, hoping they’ll upset Notre Dame — then rip my hair out when they don’t.

Further: Duke has the easiest region. So I would feel dumb not putting them into the Final Four. But I don’t want to root for Duke. So why would I pick a team to advance deep into the Tournament and root for them to win, even when I don’t want them to win? The same thing applies to Kentucky for me. And if I do pick against them and they make it to the Final Four, then I just get angry.

It’s a head vs. heart sort of thing. Go with my head so I can try and win the pool, but not root for what my heart is telling me to root for. Now I suppose I could just pick based on what teams I like. But that would be dumb.

If that was the case, next time Indiana makes the dance — crosses fingers — I’d pick them to win it all.

Yet, I will admit that filling out a bracket is what makes you tune into random games and have more of a  rooting interest. As I type this, I’m thinking I should probably hop to it right now, so that today’s games have more value and meaning for me.

Keep reading →

… and Kane and Toews even got speaking lines!

It almost makes me want to watch Leno. Almost.

Via: The Pat Down Blog

UPDATE: See comments. I forgot one very important thing here.

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Let’s face the facts: The Bulls, as it stands right now, are probably going to be the odd team out in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

They’ve lost eight straight. They’ve given up over 100 points in 11 consecutive games, something that hasn’t happened since 1986. I would have never thought this was possible before this season, but the loss of Joakim Noah in the middle has really hurt this team’s defense.

But here’s the positive spin on this downfall: a lottery pick. If the season ended today, the Bulls would have the 11th-worst record in the league, meaning if the odds fall where they should, the Bulls would have the 11th pick in the draft.

Wow.

The Bulls getting into the playoffs was supposed to be the sell to all the big-name free agents: “Look how good our team is and look at the cap space we have to sign you!” They were supposed to be the team that had the best on-court talent to couple with one of the superstars; this was a great selling point.

And, well, that’s still true: This team is better than the Knicks, Nets, Heat, Wizards and Clippers (arguably) on paper right now. But injuries have killed them down the stretch.

The situation is the Bulls won’t make the playoffs not because their talent couldn’t get it done, but because their talent got injured down the stretch. That’s a big difference.

If a free agent can realize this and see that the Bulls might be able to pick up someone with some promise with that early pick, the Bulls might actually be better positioned to attract a free agent than before, because they’re only adding to the talent base.

Does this make sense?

Stacey King may be a bit of a homer — or rather, a lot of a homer — but there’s no denying his little “OH STOP ITs” and “GET OUT THE WAYs” and “DID YOU NOT GET THE MEMOs”  are positively awesome.

And Derrick Rose has provided many moments for King to bust these out this year during broadcasts, none finer than Rose’s dunk over Goran Dragic.

So it’s only fitting that NewTone re-mixed all King’s vocal quirks from said dunk into this guy:

HT: BDL/CBC

For real. Now that Jerry Wainwright has been fired and interim head coach Tracy Webster will not be retained for next season, DePaul is void of a head coach.

So they’ve done the only logical thing. They’ve posted the job opening online:

The steps to navigate to this listing, via Tremendous Upside Potential:

1) Go to DePaul.edu
2) Click on ‘Employment’
3) Click on ‘Staff Positions’
4) Click on ‘Applicants: Career Opportunities’
5) Type in ‘coach’ in the keyword box and hit search.

Men’s basketball coach is the fourth job down. It was posted on March 3. Easy as that.

Let me know how it goes, guys.