That son of a bitch

That son of a bitch gannon left at halftime

How do you not punch

How do you not punch that green guy in the face if you're next to him? Also rich gannon is sitting in our section. Holla.

Utah State is Great Great Great

I know I said I wouldn’t be blogging at all while I was in Utah, but, much like when I say I’m going to write something short and go on for paragraphs and paragraphs, this stupid blog is like some sort of drug to me. I’m like the Joker in that gay cowboy movie, “I don’t know how to quit you.”

I attended the big Utah State vs. LA Tech game on Saturday and it was a good ole time. I wrote about the game I attended last year, and most of that still stands. The arena is still really cool. It’s still like 50% students so it is still very loud and, especially compared to the exhibition I saw last year, very rowdy for a conference game. And the girls are still absolutely amazing looking. I seriously can’t get over it. Imagine that girl above and her like-level of hotness friends, and then imagine an entire arena full of them, and you’ll start to get the idea.

As for the game, it was a good one which is really all I wanted. The Aggies pulled it out 60-52 to go to 23-1 on the season, and gave me a pretty good idea of what they are capable of - and they are definitely able to pull an upset come March. Right now the Aggies are projected as an 11 seed by ESPN, and with a pretty easy schedule left - the only game remaining that Ken Pomeroy gives them less than a 68% chance of winning is their Bracket Buster game against St Marys, and now the Gaels are without Pat Mills - I don't see them falling too far from there. They are an extremely efficient team (26th in offensive efficiency and 4th in effective field goal percentage) and use the three pointer to their advantage, shooting 39% as a team (21st nationally) and have four or five different guys who can hit.

Additionally, the have some good size up front, with three guys 6-7 or bigger playing regularly, a luxury a lot of smaller conference teams don't have. What this all means is pretty much that they are a very real danger to a team who doesn't defend the three pointer well and relies on their size a lot. Oklahoma would do well to hope the Aggies aren't in their bracket. The Sooners are horrible against the three pointer (231st in the country) and rely a lot on Blake Griffin. Not saying Utah State could stop him, but they at least have the size and ability to make him work hard, and if he's off they can score points with anybody and could knock them off. It could happen.

The other interesting thing I saw in the game was deserving of the rare, "Unknown Awesome Player Alert" and goes to LA Tech forward/center Magnum Rolle. Rolle was #18 on the Rivals 150 when he came out in 2005, but ended up transferring to Louisiana Tech due to playing time concerns. He's averaging 12 and 7 with two blocks per game this year, his first at LA Tech, and throws in two blocks a game to go with it. He is incredibly athletic, and was definitely the best player on the court during the game I attended, even after getting hurt going for a crazy dunk the likes of which hasn't been seen since Rico Tucker hurt his knee, getting hit in the head and falling hard on the floor.

After a brief trip to the locker room he returned to the game and helped the Bulldogs get back into it. He has a very nice touch out to about fifteen feet, has an excellent touch passing for a big man, and is a commanding presence in the paint, both on offense or defense. He actually didn't put up great numbers in the last game, just eight points and five boards with four blocks, but it was easy to see why he was ranked as the 18th best player in his high school class. He has one season left, so if they can get some talent in to put around him, next season could be a good one.

I'm back tomorrow evening, and will be in attendance at the Gopher game, hopefully witnessing a twenty point destruction of the hated Hoosiers.

The return of The Hoff....

WWWWWWW is in Mormonville searching for a 2nd wife so I was asked to write a recap of the game. The gophers kept it close all game but they weren't able to break the game open due to Nolen's abortion of a game. He had several horrendous turnovers and missed the front end of a crucial 1 an 1 down the stretch.

We dominated in the paint and from beyond the arc. We also got to witness The Return of the Hoff. That brilliant bastard hit 6 from downtown including an and 1 when Turner hacked him after release. This is a picture of the Hoff after the game. As you can see he has a smile on his face and a hottie under his arm. He no longer has that nervous anxious I'm dying of cancer look. Congrats to the Hoff for getting off the snide. Hopefully he is able to tap into that hot shooting for the rest of the year.

Moving on... The gophs ended up losing on the road by 6. They were 3 pt underdogs so this wasn't all that suprising. They seemed to recover well after the terrible MSU performance. Overall they played well and as expected(except for Nolen). DJ had 12 pts, 10 rebs, 2 stls and 3 blks. If you had a player of the game award for the losing team it would be a split decision between Hoff and DJ.

Fortunately for the gophers the schedule eases up a bit and they should have 3 fairly winnable games out of the next four. IU comes to the Barn (W), at PSU (W), at MU (toss up) and NU at home (W). Winning 3 of the next 4 would be huge and gurantee at least a .500 league winning percentage. I also think 9 wins gets us in to the tourney. If we don't get 3 wins in that stretch the final 3 games does not present a lot of opportunity. We play Sconi and Mich at home and travel to Ill. Lets hope we knock out 3 wins in the next 4 games.

WWWWWW good luck wife hunting.

Bubble Watch is Here

No, not my own Bubble Watch, but ESPN's version.

Since I love reading it and debating it, and mostly to get the live blog of the Worst Game of All-Time^TM off the top, I'm posting it here.

Want a Preview? The Gophers fall into the "Should be in" category in the Big Ten along with Illinois, Purdue, and Ohio State, with Michigan State being the only lock for the conference.

Minnesota [17-4 (6-4), RPI: 24, SOS: 52] Minnesota fans have to be laughing at their Kentucky counterparts, many of whom couldn't wait to chase coach Tubby Smith out of town. The Gophers are 6-4 in the Big Ten after getting routed by 29 points at Michigan State on Wednesday night. Minnesota still might need only one more signature victory to secure an at-large bid. A victory over Louisville carries a lot of weight, along with wins over Ohio State, Penn State and Illinois.

And with that, I'm out of here and likely won't be posting while I'm in Utah - although anything is possible. Hopefully Sidler, Snake, Optimator, Snacks, and Dawger can keep things interesting while I'm gone. And Dawg, make sure and post a recap of the Ohio State game since I won't be able to watch it.

Gophers/Sparty Tivo Blog (RETITLED: Oof)

Currently sitting here at 7:38pm, watching Indiana get their first win and waiting for the Gopher game to start. Currently here with Mrs. W, Old Man W, and Grandma W, although two of three are shopping for baby clothes online. Going to fast forward to get to the game now, and we'll see how long this lasts. Rest assured, I will finish this game at some point tonight, no matter how late it is.

Also I'm drinking.

Vodka/Cranberry with Lime.

- Game on. 18:55 left, 3-0 Michigan State. I consider this an excellent sign since it wouldn't really have surprised me if they were down 10 already.

- This is going to be a long game. Especially if the Spartans keep getting o-boards like they just did.

- Shot clock violation. Let's go ahead and call this one. I think I'll watch the end of the Cuse game instead.

- Ok, I couldn't change the channel. You know what blows my mind? How come we don't hear more about the Japanese interment camps in WW2? That was a pretty dark period. I'm kidding, nobody cares. What really blows my mind is how I'm watching the Gophers play at Michigan State and believe they can win, although that belief is quickly waning; 8-0 Sparty.

- I just noticed Suton is playing, bummer. And the best Gopher in history got completely outmuscled for a Spartan offensive rebounding, leading to another Summers three pointer. Let's seriously go ahead and call this one. I can't believe I thought they were vulnerable, when really they were just pissed off. 13-1, and it's not nearly that close.

- Carter in, and takes it aggressively to the hole, something nobody was doing then draws a charge and seems really, really fired up. Maybe he's what they need today.

- Carter O-board after a DJ missed three - won't someone please tell him not to take that shot? And then a big steal. Wow for Carter. I award him five out of five stars thus far.

- I'm now live, and doing my own Live Blog whilst chatting with From the Barn on his live blog. Man this shit is bananas.

- Mrs. W and Grandma are doing some weirdo geography quiz, and somehow Tunisia came up and Mrs. W said, "That's where they filmed Star Wars." I love her more right now then pretty much ever. Meanwhile Michigan State continues to basically completely outplay the Gophers in everyway. I have no idea how the Gophers are only down 11.

- This is like watching the Gopher vs. Illinois game, only if it was opposite day. Meanwhile Old Man W is constantly complaining about the refs, as only old people can truly do. It's like a work of art at this point.

- Awful.

- Really? I mean, Really?

- I feel sick.

- Tubby Smith = worst coach ever? This is a complete embarrassment. So let me get this straight, the Gophers have it out of bounds under their basket, and turn it over, leading to the Spartans having it out of bounds under their basket, and they get a layup? Wow, if you could sum up this entire game (season?) in one sequence, that's it.

- Grandma W. doing a geography quiz online, "Where's Texas?"

- This sucks. It's not very fun doing this right now. Everything that could go wrong, is going wrong. Combine that with shitty play and a shitty gameplan, and I am having trouble coming up with reasons to keep watching. Jesus Christ, it's 42-16 at half. Kill me. Did Monson ever lose by this much?

- I'm not watching anymore. This is horrible.

Rodney/Royce Game Review (+ quick MSU Game preview)

Because Rodney Williams and Royce White are so important to the future of the program, and because they just played each other last night, I'm going to take a couple of comments I received on the game from commenters and promote them into an actual post.

First, from Dawger:

The game was like walking into a scene from Dangerours Minds. I think Coolio may have also been playing over the loud speakers. The place was packed to the rafters with many shady characters. Those character's included a 9.5:1 lefty to righty ratio. Not kidding. The list also featured Trent Tucker, Sid Hartman, Flip Saunders and the coach from Colorado State University who was wearing his gay green CSU sweat shirt. The guy looked like a complete slob and had zero chance of landing any recruit.

Baby Dawger (BD)and Lil Lil Snake (LLS)were on their best behavior. This was probably because they were very much out of their element and paralyzed with fear.

The gym was buzzing with anticipation to see all of the showcased talent. Warm ups were particularly interesting as Rodney and Royce were putting on dunking clinics on their perspective ends.

While watching the warm ups you could see that Cooper would be in trouble as Hopkins was taller at every position.

Rodney won Snake over on the opening tip, when he jumped about 14ft into the air and slapped the ball to the baseline. That would be Rodney's lone highlight of the first half. I would disagree with anonymous that Rodney's jumper needs work. He has great form and unbelieveable lift. He tends to use fade away's when its not necessary but that is easily changed.

Royce was unbelieveable in the first half. His defense was smothering and he was great at jumping into passing lanes for steals. He was simply unstoppable on offense. He is 6'8", solid and quick. Great ball handling and court vision. He was able to get to the rim whenever he wanted. The crowd gave him an "Overrated" chant after he missed a free throw and on the next play he went right around Rodney (who was giving up quite a bit of size) and slammed one home to silence the crowd.

Hopkins is stacked and has a few players to keep an eye on in the future. Particularly #23 who was a sophmore. This kid was a beast on the glass and very athletic.

Anyhow we left at half-time and missed Rodney's dunking highlight reel in the 2nd half. Maybe next time. I believe both will be very exciting to watch next year. I don't see either one rotting away on the bench as long as they come ready to play defense. Both are far too talented to keep on the shelf.

and secondly from an anonymous commenter,

4000 or so people at the cooper vs hopkins game tonight. Hopkins rolls, RW dominates the game offensively (tenacious rebounder, tremendous low post game, great handle) big ten ready right now!

RWJR has NBA athleticism right now, but has alot to work on prior to becoming an asset at the next level! suspect jumper, more than suspect handle, and lack of interest on D. But can't wait to see what tubby molds him into!

going to be fun next year!

Sounds awesome. I think everyone, except for the donkeys who think Royce will singlehandedly bring the program to its knees swift bird style, can agree that it's going to be very entertaining to watch these do wear the gold & maroon (and white).

As far as tonight's game, who would have thought the Gophers would be playing for a share of first place? Without the Gopher performance in the Illinois game, I wouldn't give them a chance, but that was one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen, and that kind of defense will always give you a chance.

With the Spartans reeling a bit and with back-to-back losses and home, not to mention no Raymar Morgan and a banged up (and maybe out) Goran Suton tonight, things may be lining up for Minnesota to grab a huge victory.

IF Nolen can control Kalin Lucas, IF the Gophers can keep keep Chris Allen from getting off from three, IF Ralph Sampson continues his journey to become the greatest Gopher ever, and IF Al Nolen can play smart and under control, yet aggressive, the Gophers can win this game. All that being said, I can't bring myself to pick a Gopher team to actually win in East Lansing, I just can't. Michigan State 64, Minnesota 60.

I apologize for the lack of a more substantial preview and no picture, but I'm getting bombarded at work like the fat nerd playing bombardment in gym class (save your fat nerd jokes). If you're looking for more, check From the Barn and The Daily Gopher. Those d-bags are much smarter than me anyway.

Quick Hitters

A few quick notes

1. The college KG, JaJuan Johnson of Purdue, is freaking awesome. I have a feeling I would be writing him up in the who was awesome section of the weekend review, but I'm heading to Utah for the week and likely won't have a computer and even less access to sports and internet since I'll have to spend most of my time with Mrs. W's insane family so I probably won't get to a weekend review. Anyway, that dude is definitely the next Hakim Warrick who was the next Kevin Garnett, and he lit up the Buckeyes tonight for a career high 30 points on 10-16 shooting in their overtime loss (sans Hummel). One of the most impressive things, and they pointed this out on the ESPN broadcast too, is that when he gets the ball in the paint he doesn't dribble like so many other big guys do, giving the double-team extra time to get there - and his very nice turnaround jumper too, of course. He can still disappear at times, which is partially his teammates' fault, but look out for this kid the next two years.

2. Hey Lady at the Gym (yes, I joined a gym), are you seriously going to sit there on the Elliptical machine and have a ten minute conversation on your cell phone? And then, five minutes later, make another call and have another ten minute conversation? I don't even know where to begin. Who brings a cellphone with them into the gym? Unless you're the go to surgeon for the president or Sam Jacobson's pot dealer his senior year, you can go 30 minutes unattached from your cellular telephone device. Not to mention that having a ten minute conversation in close quarters with other people should be grounds for a beat down. Hey, jackasses around the world, if you need to talk on the phone for more than 30 seconds, LEAVE THE GOD DAMNED ROOM. This goes for personal or professional, in public or even in your own home. It's just good manners. And lastly, if you're on the phone 20 of your 25 minutes on a machine, you probably should just give up, stay home, watch the Biggest Loser and eat bon-bons. And you're ugly.

3. If the Twins trade Delmon Young for Jarrod Washburn I quit. I will absolutely quit. I will never go to another game, I will never watch another game, I will never read about another game. I will burn my Twins hat (but I'll keep my Jason Kubel shirt). I will start a blog called billsmithisastupidjerkfaceloser.com. Why would you give up on Delmon Young already? I mean, I get why, actually, but to trade him for Washburn? If you're going to give up and trade him, get something of more value come back, but Washburn? He'll be 35 this year. He hasn't had a WHIP under 1.26 since 2002, and last year topped out at 1.46, a career worst and equal to Boof Bonser's numbers last year. His K rate is down, his walk rate is up, and he's a flyball pitcher who'd be throwing in the Metrodome. He has articles written about him called, "Is Washburn Washed Up?" Honest to god, if they trade Delmon Young for him, I'm done.

4. Speaking of the Twins, please just sign Joe Crede already. Give him something like $4-$5 million with another half mil in incentives for a year. If it doesn't work out, you're just out the $5 million, no big whoop. If it does, you'll lose him but maybe Luke Hughes will be ready the next season or another option will present itself. Third base needs to be upgraded, and time is running out.

5. UCONN stomped an awesome Louisville team in Louisville. I think they're my new pick to win the whole shebang.

6. Lastly, I just want to say that Wonderbaby can now give high fives on demand, and also, for the first time today, was able to put a ball in a hoop (not an actual hoop, but a hooped shape container - shut up, still counts)

Weekend Review

Weird week. Hasheem Thabeet had a triple double and DeJuan Blair went for a rare 20/20. Tennessee bounced back to grab a win they desperately needed while Michigan and Georgetown continue to suck. LSU is suddenly looking like they might be the class of the SEC while Baylor is suddenly looking irrelevant. Michigan State lost again at home, this time to a Penn State team that’s starting to make some NCAA tournament noise. I rented season one of 30 Rock after never having seen it, and it is completely brilliant. And it’s basically impossible to place Wake Forest this week, since the win over #1 Duke would put them in the Awesome category, but the Saturday loss to Georgia Tech, giving the Jackets their first ACC victory, definitely puts them in the sucks category. So we’ll just call it neutral.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Marquette. Holy crap are these guys good. This week the Golden Eagles again went 2-0, taking down two sinking ships in Georgetown and Notre Dame, and looked damn good doing it, beating the Irish on the road and taking down G-Town despite allowing them to shoot 56% by forcing 17 turnovers and outrebounding the Hoyas 31-26 despite being undersized. It doesn’t much matter if you’re undersized when you have three guys who can go for 20 at any time, which Lazar Haywood, Jerel McNeal, and Wes Matthews all did against the Hoyas. Add in one of the top point guards in the country in Dominic James, and these guys have some serious weapons, the biggest reason why they now 8-0 in the Big East. Their biggest hurdle, now that they’ve shown they can handle bigger opponents, is their lack of depth. They count on those four listed above to play over 30 minutes a game, with nobody else playing more than 20. Against the Hoyas, the big four accounted for all but 12 of the team’s 94 points. Even if nobody else steps up in the tourney, they can go a long way, but if somebody does, look the hell out.

2. Denis Clemente. I know you’ve never heard of him, but luckily for you I know who he is and he was awesome on Saturday against Texas, leading Kansas State to an improbable 85-81 victory in OT – in Texas no less. Clemente played for Miami (FL) right out of high school for two seasons before transferring to K-State to play for Bob Huggins – Surprise! Now Clemente is stuck on a crappy K-State team, but the win over the Longhorns was huge and he led the way scoring a ridiculous 44 points on 13-25 shooting (including 6-6 from three) and 12-12 from the line, helping overcome a horrid statline from a guy I used to like, KSU’s point guard Jake Pullen who shot 1-13 and topped it off with 7 turnovers. The 44 point explosion comes out of nowhere for Clemente, whose career high before Saturday was 24 points, and he had only reached 20 three times in his 2+ year college career. More evidence of the unexpectedocity of this? He had never before had double-digit field goal makes (he had 13 on Sat.) and had only taken as many as 20 shots once (25). He set career highs for free throws made and attempted (12-12), and three pointers made with six. Despite being just a career 32% three point shooter he made all six of is attempts on Saturday, and went 12-12 from the line despite his season average of just 2 attempts per game. Just a stunning display all around. This would be like Damian Johnson scoring 40 – not just because of the points, but because of the attempts as well. Very bizarro-world.

3. Providence. Yes, the Friars got blown out of the water by UCONN on Saturday, but this week has to be considered a success for Providence. At the beginning of the week, they were 5-2 in the Big East but were generally considered a fraud. The five Big East wins were against the dregs of the conference: DePaul, St Johns, Seton Hall, and Cincinnati twice. There was nothing in the non-conference profile to suggest this was a good team, their best win being over a now-looking terrible Rhode Island team, and an 0-3 record against good teams (Baylor, Boston College, and St. Mary’s). This week was a big one, with Syracuse coming to Providence and then the trip to UCONN, it would be the opportunity for the Friars to prove themselves, and they did, winning over Syracuse earlier in the week 100-94 and hanging with UCONN for a half (34-38). With an incredibly balanced attack (7 players average between 9.2 and 13.4 points) and double-double machine Geoff McDermott on board (five this year, third in his career amongst active Big East players) the Friars look like they might be dancing. They still get to play Rutgers twice and South Florida once, if they can win those three and steal another one, could the committee really keep a 10-8 Big East team at home?

4. Utah State. Losing a guy like Jaycee Carroll, who led the team in scoring the previous two seasons and was 2nd the two before that, not to mention playing over 30 minutes a game all four years, would usually leave a team with a tough road ahead, but not for the Aggies, who are a surprising 9-0 in the WAC right now. After beating top WAC competition Nevada this week, then following it up with a win at Fresno State, the Aggies are again the class of the WAC, and may be creeping on into at-large consideration if they fall in the WAC tournament. Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley have both improved from last year, and give Utah State a very solid front line. I also may be attending this Saturday's Utah State v. La Tech game, so that makes them extra awesome.

5. The Super Bowl. Bets aside, all I really wanted was a good, entertaining game and we certainly got that. Congrats to the Steelers and Mike Tomlin on the win, and especially to Santonio Holmes for that great, great catch to win the game. Entertaining to the last, especially when Theory needed the half to end on 4, and the Cards had first and goal looking to win him the money and then this happened, "NO! No!........Go! Go!" And to all you people who laugh way too hard at the commercials, I'm going to kill every single one of you. RELAX.


WHO SUCKED

1. Phil Mickelson. Since our golf guy seemingly has been chased away from this site, I guess it falls on me to give the golf news, and Mr. Mickelson certainly fits in the Sucked column. Making his 2009 debut this week at the FBR Open, Phil didn’t even make it to the weekend, shooting a 76 and a 73 and missing the cut by seven shots at +7 en route to finishing in 121st place. Surprising as it is that Phil missed a cut, the fact that it comes at the FBR is extra weird. The tournament is played at the TPC of Scottsdale, which is Phil’s home course after coming out of Arizona State, and he is the leading money-winner in the tournament’s history, and finished in second place last year. Then again, he’s now missed the cut here two out of the last three years, so perhaps whatever magic this course held for him has been used up.

2. Notre Dame. It’s starting to seem a bit redundant putting the Irish here week after week, but they just keep earning it. This week they went 0-2 again, losing a backbreaker to at home to Marquette and on the road against Pitt. The loss against Marquette isn’t exactly shameful, the Eagles are undefeated in league play and are ranked #8 in the country, but when you’re reeling and in the midst of a three game losing streak, you need to hold serve at home if you consider yourself the class of the conference. Similarly, the loss at Pitt normally wouldn’t even warrant a mention, but the Irish came out of halftime with a six point lead, then turned the ball over on their first three possessions, gave up a layup on a three pointer when McAlarney refused to even make an attempt to get through a screen to guard Fields, and before you could blink the Panthers had scored the first ten points of the half and cruised to a 93-80 victory and dropping Notre Dame to a suddenly desperate 3-6 in conference play. Things don’t get easier, as their next three games are at Cincinnati, at UCLA, and then home against Louisville. It opens up a bit after that, with four straight games against unranked teams, but things are looking tough. The non-conference results aren’t that special, but they do have a win over Texas. Suddenly the Irish are scrambling to get in the tournament, rather than playing for a high seed.

3. Kentucky. Coming into the week the Wildcats were ranked #24, were sitting at 5-0 in the SEC, and at 16-4 confidence was high. Suddenly, things aren’t so rosy, as UK went 0-2 this week, losing on the road at Ole Miss (1-4 previously in the SEC) and on Saturday at home to the suddenly streaking South Carolina. Against the Rebels Kentucky couldn’t overcome poor shooting by Jodie Meeks, who was just 4-15 from the floor and a 42-32 rebounding deficit, despite a great game by the suddenly all but forgotten Patrick Patterson, who put up 24 and 7 rebs. Then against the Gamecocks Patterson had another monster game (28 and 8), and the team as a whole shot 51%, but a poor shooting game once again from Meeks (5-12) and 19 second half points for USC’s Devan Downey led to the Wildcats dropping a winnable game at home on a last second Downey jumper. Is this just a minor hiccup for UK in an otherwise stellar season, or are teams figuring out if you can control Meeks, you can win the game?

4. Arizona State. The Sun Devils looked to be possibly be the class of the Pac 10, perhaps above even UCLA, with a 5-2 conference record, a win over UCLA at Pauley, and a national ranking of 14; then this week happened. Welcoming the Washington schools into town, ASU should have come out with a split and probably a sweep, but instead ended up getting swept themselves. The loss to Washington State comes as the bigger shock, since the Cougars have just three wins in the conference, against Stanford and the two shitty Oregon schools. The loss to Washington isn’t nearly as big a shock, since the Huskies are one of the top teams in the conference, but since the WSU game came first the Sun Devils knew they needed this one. Worried? Nope, any team with James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph is still in good shape, but I wouldn’t have thought they’d drop an entire weekend to the Washington teams. Side note: Mychal’s son Klay Thompson is looking pretty damn good, putting up a career high 28 against Arizona State (which he, of course, then followed up with 8 points on 3-13 vs. Arizona)

5. Wisconsin. I’ve sort of been trying to keep from putting the Badgers here, due to my own bias, but at this point I think it’s pretty much impossible to avoid after Bucky lost to Northwestern on Saturday to run their losing streak to six straight games and pretty much wipe out their 3-0 start as well as any hope to get to the NCAA tournament. Like I called, the Badgers are at the bottom of the Big Ten (ninth to be exact) sitting at 3-6 and ahead of just Iowa and Indiana. Their inability to win on the road (1-4 in the Big Ten, 2-6 overall) and loss of home invincibility (2-2 in the conference at Kohl) have mainly come about by a shocking loss of defensive toughness and/or ability. This season, the Badgers rank 107th in the country in defensive efficiency (including 309th in turning the opponent over), putting them 8th in the Big Ten in that category. This follows seasons where they ranked 2nd and 6th in D-efficiency. And they haven’t just fallen off, they’re overall terrible. Northwestern shot 57% against them and earlier in the week Purdue nearly broke 60% (59.5%) and Illinois shot 50% the week before that. As a matter a fact, the Badgers have only held two of their nine Big Ten opponents to under 40% shooting, and none since January 7th. For Wisconsin, a team where if you broke 40% shooting the last several years you had a pretty good night. This team has now become total garbage, and is completely and totally unsalvageable. The should probably disband the team, and probably the entire university. Then go ahead and put walls around the state, so that none of the morons from the state can ever escape – or put them on an island like in that movie with Ray Liotta.

Super Bowl Bets

In case you're curious:

OVER 47 Total Points
Arizona +3.5 (pays 1.5-1)
Warner will NOT throw an INT (pays 1.7-1)
Warner OVER 260.5 passing yards
Roethlisberger UNDER 1.5 passing TDs
JJ Arrington WILL score a TD (pays 3.5-1)
T. Hightower UNDER 9.5 receiving yards
W. Parker OVER 0.5 receiving yards
T. Hightower OVER 6.5 rushing attempts
Mewelde Moore OVER 15.5 rushing yards
A. Boldin -6 receiving yards vs. S. Holmes
Boldin OVER 5.5 catches
Boldin OVER 68.5 rec. yards
L. Fitz OVER 6.5 catches
Boldin to win MVP (pays 15-1)
Coin toss will be heads
No team will score 3 straight times - xtra pts don't count (pays 1.5-1)
1st half total points -6.5 vs. Kevin Garnett points
Ray Allen three pointers made -0.5 vs. Warner TDs + INTs
Cardinals total points -0.5 vs. largest lead in Celtics/Wolves game
Boldin rec. yards +14.5 vs. Michigan State total points
Cardinals to win (pays 2-1)
National Anthem length OVER 2 minutes, 3 seconds