March Madness...sort of

OK, here is the deal. It is a beautiful day. One shining moment. The memories come rushing in on my feelings of the NCAA tournament. It is a wonderful event. I will watch, and I will enjoy. But, I will NOT offer predictions of the games because predictions suggest I have some idea of what might happen based on hours of research and hundreds of games viewed.

I have not conducted hours of research on the NCAA tournament.
I have not watched hundreds of games this season. Maybe 10.

Therefore, no predictions from me.

But, a few educated picks are ok, right? Educated on how good these programs have been in passed years, not this year, since I really haven’t watched this year.

Final 8 teams:

Duke, Iowa – Memphis, UCLA – Illinois, Michigan State – Villanova, Florida

Final 4

Duke – Memphis – Florida – Illinois

Champ

Duke over Illinois

Now, before you commend my great job, please note I have Duke winning it all pretty much every year since 1986.

Mavs win in Houston …

The Mavericks won for the fifth time in six games, moving to 51-14 to keep pace with the San Antonio Spurs in the race for the best record in the Western Conference.
More important, they are hanging tough while missing four key players for the second game in a row.

"Rawle Marshall's contributions were big," Johnson said. "He's a rookie, and you never know what he'll do in the next game. Right now, nobody knows his name. Let's keep it that way."

Marshall finished with 12 points and a couple of important steals. His play has led the Mavericks to cool on the idea of bringing in another player unless they get a roster exception, for which they have not yet applied.

More likely, Marshall will continue to get his chances.

stat of the day …

Tuesday's 91-87 come-from-behind victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers was nothing new for the Mavericks.

It marked the sixth time this season that the Mavs rallied and won a game after trailing by 17 or more points. But it's not one of those trends Avery Johnson is fond of repeating.

"Hopefully, we won't be in that situation much more this season," Johnson said. "Again, it shows that there's no quit in our team, and that's a good thing.
"You don't want to be down, but if you're in that situation there's something that you can refer back to in your memory to say that we've come back before."

All Credit to Billy Gillispie …Whoop…

Out for a run last Sunday, Texas A&M's men's basketball coach started reminiscing about a local radio appearance he made not long after he was hired. His interview over, he had tuned in to hear what the hosts had to say.

"Man, that guy looks like he's convinced he's going to win here," one of them marveled. "I've been around here for a long time – I don't know if he knows what he's up against."

No NCAA Tournament appearances since 1987. No Big 12 victories the previous season. Apathetic fans. Locker rooms Gillispie calls "the worst I've seen in Division I basketball."

"A lot of people had that thought process," Gillispie said, as if they were the crazy ones, not him.

Then again, you can claim anything you want when it's Selection Sunday and your team's name just appeared in a bracket.

At a school where 20-loss seasons were a regular occurrence, Gillispie has surpassed 20 wins in each of his two years. The craziest assertion he's making these days is that his coaching methods aren't different than anyone else's.

DMN Sportssay Blog has the Keyshawn parting shots …

“I gotta get a QB. I’ve never really had that guy. I’ve gotta get that guy for one time. I had Brad [Johnson] and we went to the Super Bowl, which was wonderful. So there are some interesting teams that could possibly be courting me. I haven’t heard from anybody. It’s only been a day and my cell phone is off so I haven’t heard from anybody. There are a few interesting QBs like the Eagles QB and you’ve got Trent Green, you’ve got Hasselback, you’ve got Tom Brady. Those are some pretty good QBs to be involved with. You’ve got Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith would be a hell of a receiver to play opposite of.”

More from Matt Mosely’s mailbag …

Hockey Night in Canada is as big as Hockey gets. It was a great day when Directv started carrying it a few years back. Well, after the Stars when in Vancouver the other night, Mike Modano was featured on After Hours …and if you like Mike, it is worth the viewing…Some funny stuff including video of Mike falling out of his stretcher after the famous Messier hit…

look for pink sticks this weekend in the NHL …

Some NHL players will be in the pink this weekend on the ice.

In a tribute to hockey moms and to raise awareness of breast cancer, hockey players such as Tie Domi, Mats Sundin, Steve Yzerman, Sidney Crosby and Ed Belfour will use pink sticks during games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Chatham Daily News reported Wednesday.

Equipment manufacturer TPS Hockey is spending an estimated $50,000 for the initiative, which sprouted in the Gretzky family home in Brantford, Ont., shortly after the death of Wayne Gretzky's mother, Phyllis.

"It's a tribute to hockey moms," said Brad Janson, TPS' director of pro hockey.
Janson said the deaths of Phyllis Gretzky to lung cancer, and TPS' new owner Paul Walker's sister to breast cancer motivated the charitable effort.

Diop, Diop Song….

Cavs media is on to this Diop sensation …and 1920’s reporter guy pub…

There was some snickering coming from Cleveland and beyond in August, when the Dallas Mavericks signed DeSagana Diop to a three-year, $7 million contract.

From his ex-teammates, media members and certainly fans who watched Diop through four years of injuries and letdowns. The Mavs, loaded with talent, have been known to toss lots of billionaire owner Mark Cuban's good money after bad. To those who had seen Diop for four years, it looked like another example.

But after long being underwhelming, an ultra-slim and expectation-free Diop showed up for duty this season and now all the laughter is coming from the Lone Star State.
Not only is Diop playing the best ball of his career, but also he's become a key player on a championship-caliber team.

It's the sort of impact the Cavaliers had dreamed of when they drafted him with the No. 8 overall pick in 2001.

Diop's numbers don't look astounding: 2.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game after averaging 1.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 193 games in his career with the Cavs. But he's averaging 1.7 blocks and giving the Mavs a big and active defensive presence. Early in the season, he even worked his way into the starting lineup, and the Mavs have gone 24-4 since.
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This question to LeBron James came from a Dallas radio ``reporter'' before Tuesday's game: ``Champ, champ, what's the key to hitting on all sixes tonight and making the boys from big D yell applesauce?'' LeBron: ``I have no idea what you're talking about, boss.''

Dallas Trumps Houston On Enticing Gay Tourists…

Yesterday, we showed a mock draft that had the Cowboys grabbing Florida WR Chad Jackson at #18. Here is some video for you to soak in:

Video 1 …

Video 2 …

In the “things only interesting to Bob, and yet he insists to put it on the blog” category, here is a list of the 1999 NHL Draft 1st round. The other night we started discussing the Sedin Draft where the Canucks grabbed the Sedin twins at #2 and #3 in the draft. You will notice that aside from the Sedin twins, there are almost no players of consequence in the first round. Martin Havlat in the late stages to Ottawa is about it…