Cup O' Jones : Back-to-Back Edition

Look at T-Will making the cover of SI two weeks in a row. The Luke Winn story is floating around the internet...

- As expected, T-Will was snubbed for BIG EAST Player of the Year in favor of UCONN's Hasheem Thabeet and PITT's DeJuan Blair. Both players are very worthy of the award along with Williams. However, if you can't settle on just one, why not pick 3? Why not include Marquette's Jerel McNeal and Notre Dame's Luke Harangody and just make up a whole POY team? Players are going to feel snubbed regardless of who the media picks. However, picking co-POY's is a complete cop-out and the wrong way to go about it. There are never co-Final 4 MOP's or co-NBA Finals MVP's (with 1 exception). This co-MVP crap needs to be left for All-Star games. The powers that be need to come up with some sort of tie-breaker system. All this being said, this slight doesn't take anything away from what T-Will has done this year and I'm sure he could really care less.

- DePaul pulled off a huge upset over Cincinnati and look to keep the ball rolling against Providence today with the winner facing the Cards tomorrow at NOON. The Cincy win could have been a fluke for a team that went winless in the regular season over, but a win against Providence would be a story. As much as I would like seeing the Demons' Dar Tucker show off another dunk from his repertoire when the Cards have a 30 point lead, Cincy was free-falling , so I'm thinking Wikiki Efejuku and the Friars will take care of business. And i know thaths not how you spell his name.

- Someone asked me if I'd rather see UCONN or PITT in the finals - in the case we make it. I said neither (wishful thinking) but It's clear they want a piece of UCONN. Every other loss in conference has been avenged in some way, but not the Huskies loss. It is obvious that the Cards would like to avenge their three straight losses in the BET to PITT. However, their victory over the Panthers was a product of two things: the Freedom Hall crowd and DeJuan Blair's foul trouble. One of those they definitely can't count on and the other is very much up in the air. If the Cards don't have those two factors, they never come back and beat PITT. Also, it is hard to think a team in the top 3 consistently all year (UCONN) could lose to one team 3 times. I say I'd rather have UCONN. Man, this weekend in Madison Square Garden is going to have a NCAA regional/Final Four feel to it.

- This whole "Are we a #1 or #2?" argument is almost a mute point. Either way, the Cards are going to have the least difficult run of most teams. They will have their own 4-team pod as close to home as possible for first and second round games, most likely Dayton. In the Cards' championship years of 1980 & 1986 they were a #2 seed. Also, if we are a #1, it will more than likely come with getting shipped out west for the regionals where Cards fans would have trouble traveling. A dream scenario would be to be paired with either Oklahoma or Memphis as the other top seed in the Midwest regional. First and second round games played in Dayton. Regionals at Lucas Oil Stadium. I don't even think they would need to hop on a plane for either. Two things I don't want to happen: Being in the same region as Carolina or the East with UCONN.

- TC's favorite school, Cleveland St., upset Butler to win the Horizon league title. Last time CSU made the tournament : 1986. Which is ironically the last time the Cards had this good of a shot to win the title. Coinscidence?

- The Lady Cards were absolutely throttled by the juggernaut that is the UCONN women's team last night in the BIG EAST championship, 75-36. Jeff Walz' team enters the tourney with only 4 losses and a #5 ranking. Two of those losses were too UCONN by 30+. That is just ridiculous and unfair that the Huskies are that much better than everyone. Maya Moore showed why she is going to be National Player of the Year, scoring 28 points and grabbing 5 rebounds on 10-13 from the field.

- Oh, Spring practice (aka "Krag's Last Stand") began over the weekend and absolutely no one seemed to care. I am not going to put myself through the horror of covering this team until the basketball season is over. I'm having too much fun watching a well-coached team with players that have improved to sour it over the debacle Jurich and Krag have created. At least this time next year we'll be talking about Tommy Tuberville or Jon Gruden's first days at Spring practice as Cardinal coach.

Starting 5

1. Dana O'Neil - ESPN.com - A Look at a Blue-Blood on the Bubble (one or two sentences can not describe how awesome this article is. Ms. O'Neil spends four days with he UK program and chronicles it in this critcal piece.)
2. Graham Hays - ESPN.com - Bingham Brings Calm to Cards (always overshadowed by the best woman to ever lace them up for the Cards, Angel McCoughtry, Candyce gets her just due in the national spotlight)
3. Steve DiMeglio - USA Today - At 19, McIlroy brings a different buzz, potential heir apparent (Is it just me or do you see this guy ending up like John Daly or David Duval? He might be as good as Tiger was at 19, but does he have the work ethic?)
4. Adam Himmelbach - NY Times - First Impressions Can Create Unrealistic Expectations for Recruits (Attention: Whatever you do, don't let this article find the hands of one Billy Clyde Gillispie - it could ruin our plan)
5. Chris Low - ESPN.com - A Peek into Recruiting with South Carolina's Jeffrey (Lane Kiffin is at it again, this time telling a recruit he'd be "pumping gas" if he signed with the Cocks. Some say it's immoral and low, I say it's awesome - wish our coach would do that. AGH)