Satan was Ohio State's trash-talking, show-boating wide receiver

Here's where most people would use the cliche "I hate to say I told you so..."
But I don't hate to say it. The Tarheels won; they deserved to win, and last night's game proved how overrated Ohio State is. Granted, being ranked #1 simulatneously in both basketball and football is nearly unprecedented, but some would argue that the basketball ranking was inflated due to nearly every poll counting OSU's chicks (or rather, Greg Oden) before they've hatched. We will most likely see the same thing happen next year with Oklahoma State when OJ Mayo follow Bob Huggins to his doom - a team's reputation being placed upon the as-yet unproved capability of one man. The whirlwind of press surrounding North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough and his pre-season celebrity is similar; however, Hansbrough has one complete season under his belt and helping lead his team to the tourney as a freshman is an accomplishment by anyone's standards, especially considreing the realtive weakness of Carolina's depth after losing Sean May & Co. to the NBA draft following their championship. Last night the Tarheels proved to be the better of the two freshly-minted squads in one of the best college basketball games this fan's ever seen. The pace was fast though not frantic (e.g. WVU and Wake Forest in their triple-overtime tourney game in 2004), and the points stayed within a close spread. I did miss most of the first half, but the rest of the game proved incredibly exciting, with both teams excelling on boh ends of the court. OSU displayed some fear of running to the basket, and it was this dependence on a perimeter game which cost them the victory because their three-point shooting slacked towards the end of the game in relation to the consistently sharp-shooter accuracy of their earlier shots. Carolina's strength within the paint overcame a late-game tendency to foul; at one point Hansbrough dropped in a 2-point rebound despite being triple-teamed.
Carolina's victory contributed to the ACC's 7th-straight dominance in the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge week, a winning streak which stretches back as many years as the Challenge itself. Bob Knight fans could interpret this as "The ACC was waiting for Knight to leave before challenging such a consistently excellent conference." Though that statement itself is logically spurious, it does lend credibility to those who stand by Knight despite several - alright, alright - lots of snafus, missteps, mistakes, and just downright shameful acts during his career. Knight will be able to shrug off some of the negativity this season when he ties or surpasses North Carolina's sainted Dean Smith in career wins. His time as the Hoosiers' helmsman has redeemed the legend from his unpardonable sin of graduating from Ohio State, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders will most likely reap the benefits of the decades of experience Knight gained at Indiana University.
Speaking of graduates from the Big Ten rivals, here's another tally mark for Michigan: Madonna apparently had a dance sholarship there. Go figure.

Renaissance Woman

It's time this blog pulled a Lazarus and was resurrected. "But, Lorin, why are you still alive? With Michigan's loss to Ohio State and not even making it to the championship game, Sinister Minister not even showing in the Derby, and the Democrats taking over the Senate, everyone figured you'd slit your wrists by now." But no, there is hope for a phoenix act after all, for Germans are harder to kill than cockroaches, and I am sulking in my room like a teenaged eye-liner wearing boy rather than rotting. This is my Obi Wan Kenobi: basketball season. I had hoped that the glorious resurrection would be tonight with Indiana ending Duke's 44-game non-conference home game streak, but Sampson's boys were too young. Going into Coach K Arena they played like a bunch of terrified freshmen, not coming up to the ball or jumping. When they hit puberty at halftime and finally grew some balls, their inability to make free-throws basically cost them the game. Some would argue that turnovers cost them the game; however, Duke had nearly as many turnovers as Indiana and if the Hoosiers had made 75% of their freethrow they would have more than covered the point deficit. Anyway, tomorrow is another day... indeed. The blessed Carolina Tarheels will take on (and take down!) the much-ballyhooed Ohio State Buckeyes... and the Wolverines will be avenged.


So maybe after this long absence there should be a rundown of the events of the beginning of Senior Year up til now. Here are some highlights:
- Kentucky Derby
- Seeing 3 Top-10 ranked basketball teams play last season (Duke, Memphis, WVU)
- Winning the Female Division Halloween Beer-Chugging Contest - dressed as Lara Croft, no less!
- OSU vs. Michigan (twice, Baby!)
- Moving from C-USA to ACC country
...And now it's time to dust off my Coach K voodoo doll.