Welcome To Tuesday....

Pete Rose says send Aaron Harang to the bullpen. Rose was one of my guests this past Sunday on 700 WLW Sunday Morning Sports Talk. Rose told me if the Cubs can do that with Carlos Zambrano (who incidentally tossed and inning and two thirds of relief in Monday night's Cubs win) then surely Harang can pull it off. Pete says it will give Harang a different view of the game, and maybe help him regain his confidence. Rose says Harang's big problem right now is he's not pitching with confidence, something every major league pitcher needs to be successful.

It's great to see that Ben Roethlisberger is acknowledging that being a lout in public (to say nothing about the way he's treating women) is a bad thing and is apologizing for his behavior in a Georgia bar. But honestly, I've heard that song and dance far too often from professional athletes. Roethlisberger needs to 'walk the walk'. And he needs to do that for a long time, like say the rest of his life. I believe he'll wind up with only a four game suspension, barring any other occurrence of sexual deviancy. I think that was commissioner Roger Goodell's plan all along, as the Steelers 'bye' after their fourth game this next season. Roethlisberger's rehabilitation aside, the issue for the team is finding a way to get through those four games without a complete disaster. The prospects of Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch running that offense should offer no comfort to any Steelers fan, not since the team refused to address its woeful offensive line in the latest draft. Nice first round pick. But this team needed to draft offensive line a lot more (just two picks total) than it did.

The NCAA will surely now expand from 65 to 68 teams. All it needs is the OK from its board of directors later this month. But here's the bigger issue: why even bother? All of that build up to the possibility of expansion and it's only three teams? That will solve nothing and certainly not end the debate about teams left out of the tournament. Once again, the answer to this question is the answer to every question in life: money. The NCAA got its television partners (CBS and TBS) to pony up a record $10.8 billion in a new 14 year agreement without losing the NIT, which the NCAA now operates. Had the tournament expanded to the rumored 96 teams, the NIT would have folded. Chances are, added more than three extra teams would not have significantly raised the rights fees. So the NCAA gets money on the front end of this deal from CBS and TBS and retains rights (and other TV fees) from the NIT. Win-Win for the NCAA, but for you and me? Not so much.

Read more about it in this article from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Later today, I'll have my latest Broo View Podcast posted on www.kenbroo.com. I'll have that entire Pete Rose interview, among some other tidbits. It should be posted right after you get back from lunch.

Good Monday Morning!

Opening Day in Cincinnati. Nothing like it anywhere, any place else. The Reds go 86-76 this season. You heard it here first.

It's also NCAA Championship night. Duke by 9, but that's just a guess. Maybe it's the last, great game in what until now has been America's greatest sports tournament

What would possess the NCAA to want to want to screw up the single best thing in sports. Why would it want to take its showcase, the field of 65 NCAA Tournament and turn it into a high school tournament?

I knew the answer to that before I even asked myself the question and you do too. It’s money. As we like to say on Sunday Morning Sports Talk, the answers to all of your questions in life is money. There are television dollars, from ESPN, Comcast, CBS, whomever that will pay the NCAA more money to televise more games and that’s why it’s going to happen.

You don’t think money drives the bus in sports? Why is the NFL going to play 17, maybe 18 regular season games? Money. The broadcast networks want more product so they’ll be able to charge more money to their clients so they can pay the exorbitant rights fees that they have to pay to televise the games.

Why are there no afternoon World Series games? Why do they start at 8:30 at night rather than two in the afternoon, or seven at night? Money. Prime time starts mean prime time advertising dollars.

Increase the teams that make the NCAA Tournament from 65 to 96, you get more product to televise and more money from advertisers, a large part of which can be flipped to the NCAA in rights fees.

The answer to everything in life is money, but even more so when you’re dealing with television.

Here’s what I’ve heard in the last week, maybe you have too. Coaches want more teams in because it’ll help them keep their jobs. Make the tournament, keep your job. Really? How ‘bout when the 96^th team in knocks off the 70^th team in. You think that’s going to help the coach with the 70^th team?

Coaches want this because it will give their players the great experience of playing in the NCAA Tournament. No it won’t. Because the experience won’t be the same. You wouldn’t be one of the select 65. You’d be one of close to a hundred. Bigger isn’t always better.

Tell that having a field of 95 wouldn’t render the regular season meaningless. Tell me how the regular season of Xavier basketball will be enhanced by an expansion to 95 NCAA Tournament teams? Do you honestly think any Xavier fan, let alone someone who just has a passing interest in that team, will be all engrossed in whether or not they can knock off Richmond twice in January? Not when an expanded field pretty much guarantees that six or seven Atlantic 10 teams would be locks to make the tournament.

I heard the bracketology guy, Joe Lunardi say this last week. If the field was 96 this year, 12 Big East teams would have made it. Wasn’t just a couple of years ago that only 12 made the Big East Tournament? The number 12 team in the Big East this season was Connecticut. It was 7-11 inside its conference. Teams that are four game below ‘500’ inside their own conference is going to make this a better tournament?

If you’re going to do that, why don’t you just become the Ohio High School Athletic Association and let every teams in?

I could point out that expanding the tournament would render post season conference tournaments meaningless….I’m not sure that such a bad thing actually. And all of the late February, early March talk of last four teams in, first four teams out, meaningless. My buddy Jerry Palm would have to fold his web site, collegerpi-dot-com. RPI numbers wouldn’t matter.

But here’s the real thing that tells you all you need to know about the hypocracy of expanding the tournament: more games means more time in the classroom missed, right? You play more games, you miss more classes. In fact, another good friend of this show, John Feinstein, did the math. A team could conceivably stay at one venue for a week, while it plays its way through the first and second round of a tournament. Is the NCAA OK with that, or does time away from class only matter when the discussion is about a playoff in Division One football?

So why all the upsets in the NCAA Tournament so far? I've heard a lot of talk about that this week. You know why? There are only about five dominant teams in college basketball anymore. Ten years ago, the number was probably around 12. 20 years ago, it was close to 20.

So why the fall off?

TV

TV is the great equalizer in everything. Has been and, in some form or another, always will be when it comes to sports. Ask any college coach when he's out recruiting what the two things a potential player is interested in. It's TV exposure and playing minutes. Everything else falls into the category 'also'.

20 years ago, even with ESPN, only a fraction of the games that're televised now actually made it onto the screen. You'd be lucky to see a half dozen games a week. Now how many games are televised? You can find a half dozen games on at the same time most weeknights, many more on weekends. The TV 'stick' that schools like Indiana, UCLA, North Carollina, UK and Duke could hold out with a carrot on the end back in the '80's and '90's is now something just about every Division I program can offer. 20 years ago, you would have been laughed at if you suggested that Pitt, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Xavier were elite Division I basketball programs. They got their games on television, if lucky, three or four times a year. Now, you can find just everyone of their games on the tube every season.

20 years ago, the elite basketball programs would over recruit a position. They could, because they were the big boys of college ball. So a player who could've started at Tulsa or South Florida or Butler would have taken a scholarship offer from North Carolina, or Maryland or Indiana because they were the elite programs, with their games televised all of the time. Not so anymore.

Now with three main ESPN channels and their various college exclusive packages, with conferences starting their own cable channels and with game available on-line, players who choose non traditional powers can be assured they will appear on some sort of broadcast.

TV exposure=playing minutes=programs that have surged to the top of college basketball in the last 20 years.

What's happening in college basketball today should be no surprise to anyone, when you look at how the dynamics have changed, just in the last 20 years

Late Sunday/Early Monday

Good Morning!

Good draw for the Xavier Musketeers. Minnesota was one of the last teams 'in' and it simply has no team speed. If Xavier doesn't win by 20, I'd be shocked. 20 point spreads are a lot in the NCAA Tournament. But a quick look at the match ups tells me that Minnesota will be over matched.

Kentucky's path to the Final 4 is brutal. But the Wildcats have John Wall and DeMarcus Coussins and there aren't a whole lot of teams in the tourney with a 1-2 punch like that.

UC's NIT route is interesting. I think they'll handle Weber State, and Dayton for that matter, should it get to that. The real intriguing match up will come in the third round, potentially UC against Illinois. I said this on Sports Rock Sunday night: if UC rebounds like it did against Louisville, UC can beat any team in this tournament. Sure, it has to put the ball in the basket better than what it's been doing. But defense and rebounding can carry a team a long way at this time of the year.

Now, to your Cincinnati Bengals...

They should’ve signed TO. It’s got nothing to do with the Bengals signing Antonio Bryant. I like that deal. But I’d have liked this past week a whole lot better if the Bengals had also signed Terrell Owens.

It may still happen. In fact, several NFL insiders were predicting as late as Friday that the Bengals would still make a deal with TO. Maybe not now, probably later than sooner. But the predictions were that the deal will get done.

Here’s why I want TO in Bengal stripes. He’s good. And a lot of Bengals wide receivers lately have been average, at best. Chad? He recommitted himself to football in 2009. What kind of numbers did he put up? Average. Not great. And now that he’s off dancing with the stars or bowling for towels or whatever else he’s doing to amuse himself, how much is he going to be thinking about making 2010 a killer year? Certainly not anytime before June.

Andre Caldwell? I like him. He’s got skills. But he’s a possession guy. I kept hearing all last season how he had burning speed when he played for the University of Florida. Really? Did he blow a piston between Gainesville and Cincinnati?

Quan Crosby? Please. If the Bengals somehow wind up with Mardy Gilyard, Crosby gone before September.

And we won’t even get into Jerome Simpson. You want to make yourself sick (not that I’m suggesting it as a hobby) but go take a look at the 2008 draft and see who the Bengals passed on to take Jumpin’ Jerome. DeShawn Jackson and Ray Rice to name just two.

When the Bengals parted ways with Levernius Coles (and I might add a wise maneuver there to cut your losses) and when Chris Henry died, it created two openings at wide receiver. And even with Antonio Bryant, the Bengals are still looking for that receiver who can stretch the field. At 37, TO would fill that need.

Now you’re saying, Ken, wait a minute. TO, the same guy who held the Philadelphia Eagles hostage, who flipped out in Dallas. TO, the man who put the ‘va’ in diva, this TO?

Yes.

Look, I don’t know if Carson Palmer is ever going to be the quarterback he was before he got Von Oelhoffen’d in that playoff game in 2006. Maybe he doesn’t either. But I do know this, the man had absolutely no one last season who could get open and go deep. No one. TO can do that.

The market for Owens right now is non-existent. You hear the Ravens may be interested. But then they trade for Anquan Bolden and sign Derrick Mason. The Oakland Raiders are supposedly kicking TO’s tires. He must be thrill with the thought of trying to catch what pass for passes from Jamarcus Russell. My guess is at some point, probably in late spring, TO will still be looking for work. Incidentally a lot of NFL free agents will be. There’s a lockout coming in 2011 and teams aren’t in any mood to dole out big money and long term contracts for players who’ll probably be on a picket line come Labor Day 2011.

So if Owens is still available in mid June, why not make another run at him.
He made six million last year. The Bengals could probably get him for three mil. In the NFL, to a franchise just valued at 953-million dollars, that’s chump change.

You think TO would be a distraction. You think maybe he’d be on Mike Brown’s driveway in October doing sit-ups? Check his track record. TO is a model citizen the first year he’s with any franchise. He was in Buffalo last year, with an offense as bad as the one here. Guy didn’t’ say boo.

The Bengals love to tease you. They think they’re being bold. They’ll bring in Larry Johnson at mid season. They gave Chris Henry chance after chance when the rest of the world screamed ‘what’? But honestly, this team hasn’t done anything bold since it traded up in the 1995 draft to get Ki Jana Carter with the number one overall pick. 1995, 15 years ago.


So my advice to the Bengals is to get bold again. It’s 2010 and it might be the last year of football until 2012. Your best players on offense, your quarterback and 85, appear to be on the back nine. You know you have to throw the ball to win. Antonio Bryant was a nice ‘get’. Now complete the puzzle. Signing TO may be seen as just adding another act to the circus. But it just might be the thing that takes you from a side show, to the main event.

Good Monday Morning

Xavier wins and plays on. Next up, a Sweet 16 meeting against Pittsburgh in Boston. Xavier will clearly have its hands full with Pitts inside game. But the Panthers have to be wary of the way the Xavier guards are playing. Dante Jackson, and to a lesser extent, Terrell Holloway have figured it out, just in time.

If I could have one thing on my NCAA Tournament team, it would be a good, solid point guard. Give me a guy to run the offense, you can have everything else. Centers, power forward, shooting guards, take them. Give me the guy who can set everything up.

You don’t think a good point guard is important? Ask Kentucky why it’s in the NIT. Although I like Michael Porter’s toughness. Talk to Mick Cronin.

It’s why Sean Miller has been all over Dante Jackson like a rash this season. Miller knows, he played the game. A good point guard takes care of the ball, finds the open man, makes the impossible pass, gets the ball inside. Distributes, as the coaches like to say.

Think of the great point guards in college basketball history. Gary Payton, Oregon State. Great defense great set up man, an All American.

Bobby Hurley. Where would Duke have been in 1992 without Bobby Hurley? The guy averaged over eight assists a game that season. Best player in the tournament in 1993.

Or Jason Kidd. You needed a pass to the open man? You don’t want anybody tossing it except Kidd. May have been the best passer in college basketball history.

Chirs Paul, Andre Miller, even Stephon Marbury…yeah that Stephon Marbury was a great point guard for one season at Georgia Tech.

So as I’m watching these games since Thursday, it’s no surprise that most of the teams that’ve won games have had great point guard play.

Did you watch the Sienna upset of Ohio State. I know it was one of those 8-9 games, but to me it was an upset. Did you watch Ronald Moore. Forget the three point heroics. Did you see how Moore passed the ball, worked the game? Controlled the Sienna offense. Six assists. Ronald Moore is tenth in the nation, sixth in the Tournament in assist to turnover ratio. And you know what? He’s been that good since his freshman season.

You don’t think a major difference in that game Friday night was how well Moore played and how lacking Ohio State is at the point?

Did you watch Cleveland State dismantle big bad Wake Forest? Did you watch point guard Cedric Jackson? This is the same kid who transferred out of St. John’s because he wasn’t getting enough playing time. That should tell you how bad St. John’s is and will be for awhile. Cedric Jackson against Wake Forest: 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. His ally-oop set ups were downright astounding.

You know why everyone who bleeds Carolina blue was holding their collective breath this week? Ty Law. Actually Ty Law’s big toe. As Law goes, so goes Carolina. He played through it Saturday. After missing three games with jammed toe, Law was back. 23 total points, 21 in the second half in the Heels win over LSU.

Put Ty Law on the UC team (after Mick Cronin falls off his couch in delirium) and the Bearcats are in the Tournament. Deonta Vaughn doesn’t have to bring the ball up court, just has to get open for shots. Yancy Gates gets the ball quicker, in better position and gets better shots. It’s that simple and that tough. Because, every coach in America is out looking for a guy who can play the point. Cashmere Wright? Let’s hope.

Look, I like big men. Coaches always say…and they’re right, you can’t coach size. But you also can’t get as much out of your big guy, if he can’t get the ball. Does Christian Laettner average over 21-a game in 1992 if Bobby Hurley isn’t averaging almost eight assists a night…and over 13 points. Sorry UK fan.

This year’s Tournament, like every other one in the history of the NCAA is about guards. You got a good one, you got a chance. You got two good ones, you’re playing past this weekend. But if you’ve got a good, solid point guard, who sees the court, knows the game, finds the open man, runs the offense….distributes? You’ll be playing a lot longer than that.

Just posted, my latest Broo View Podcast. This episode features an interview with Jerry Jones, not the Cowboys owner, the author and publisher of the NFL Draft Guide, "The Drugstore List". The topic: possible Bengals strategies in the upcoming draft.

16 NCAA Tournament games in the books. So a few observations. The only upset was Western Kentucky over Illinois. Butler put a scare in LSU and American simply ran out of gas or it would've sent Villanova packing. Other than that, only Memphis really had to sweat.

I hate 1 vs 16 games. Just hate them. They're always routs and neither team, nor the tournament really gets any thing out of them. I have a solution. What if the NCAA took the last 4 teams booted from the field of 64 and on the Tuesday before the Tournament begins, have the #16 seeds play the final four teams that were left out of the tourney? Two things would happen, I believe. One: a #16 seed might actually win a game in the tourney. Two: if one of the last four win these play-in games, it would make for a more compelling opening round game.

For example, Notre Dame didn't make the field. But, if the Irish were one of the last four 'out', they would get to play Morehead State with the winner going onto face a #1 seed in the first round of the Tournament. Would you rather see Morehead vs Louisville in the opening round? Or Louisville vs Notre Dame?

Here's another thought: give the automatic conference bid to the regular season champ. Use the conference tournament games to let the rest of those conferences build their tournament resume. Chance are, in the bigger conferences, the same teams would qualify. But in one or two bid conferences, the chances of the best teams getting left out of the NCAA Tournament are greater than, say, the ACC or Big East.

Sports Rock this Sunday night on WLWT in Cincinnati will feature an in studio interview with UC's versatile Connor Barwin, who ran a 4.47 40 yard dash in the pro workout day Thursday. Barwin, in some mock drafts, is a low first, high second round pick.

Here’s what I’ve taken away from the first round and a half of this NCAA Tournament. There are no great teams anymore in college basketball. None. I think it’s the one year rule, early entry, the fact that just about every team in the top six conferences plays on TV virtually every game…all of that are the reasons why there are no great teams. Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, they’re reputations, not greatness. Not anymore. The on court difference between a UCLA and say, a Villanova is one player. The difference between great and good is that razor thin.

You know, when I was a senior at Ohio, then known as Ohio University, we played UCLA in Pauley Pavilon. UCLA had Keith Wilks, Bill Walton and the wizard, John Wooden on the bench. We had Denny Rusch, Walter Luckett and a coach who’s nickname was Gentleman, Genntleman Jim Snyder on the bench. We had no shot of keeping this game within 20.

For the most part, in Division I basketball, those kind of days are gone. No team, like UCLA, is in any danger of going on an 88-game winning streak.

Want more proof that there are no great teams in college basketball anymore. Take a look at your bracket this morning. It was a mess before the second games of opening day.

This is important to understand, given where Xavier is this morning. Yes, it’s in the round of 16. It’s one win away from equaling the best NCAA Tournament run in school history. But what team still standing today has better guards than X? Are the inside players that UCLA, Stanford and Kansas have really that much better than Xavier’s? No. Which is why I believe there is not reason to believe that Xavier can’t make it to the Final 4. West Virginia is hot. So was Georgia. UCLA has talented big men, some with outstanding pedigree, so did Purdue. I’m not predicting Xavier will make the final four. Because to do that, would run against my theory that no great college teams are anywhere this morning. But I am says that the path to the final four is as wide open to Xavier today as it is to any other team.

Xavier is the right team, with the right combination of players are the right time in the game of college basketball. Terrific guards, good inside players, smart coach and a team that plays excellent defense. Not saying the final four is going to happen. But tell me today, what team has a better chance of getting to San Antonio, right now, than Xavier. I’ll tell you: no team.

We are exactly one week from opening day. One week from tomrrow, the games start to count. Bronson Arroyo was smacked around pretty good by the Astros Saturday. He says he’s not concernred. I am. Arroyo pitched a grand total of six innings before Saturday. He want six yesterday and gave up four runs, three earned.

What I’m more concerned about. And what I’d like to talk about today, is what’s going on in centerfield. Is there anyone around here who’s wondering exactly what the Reds smart guys are thinking about?

I have a theory. And I know there are a lot of people who think exactly the opposite. My theory is, you never trade someone who has the potential to win 162 games a year for you, for a guy who can potentially win a game for you once every five days. In other words, you never trade an everyday player for a pitcher. Unless that pitcher’s name is Greg Maddux and the year is 1995.

But I understand some of baseball’s smart guys don’t agree with that. And that’s OK. So when the Reds wanted to deal Josh Hamilton in the off season and they got the Rangers’ best pitching prospect, Edinson Volquoz, I said, OK, it opoens up a spot for Jay Bruce in the outfield. Sounds good to me. Well, where is the best prospect the Reds farm system has produced since Johnny Bench today? I’ll tell you where: on some back lot, on some water logged turf in Sarasota. The big club plays on the Big One this afternoon. Jay Bruce will be playing on a field with a chain link back stop..

Your opening day centerfielder will be Corey Patterson. The Reds traded away one of the top five outfield arms in baseball to open up a spot for Corey Patterson. Sounds like a plan to me!

And what, exactly did Jay Bruce do to lose his fight for a starting spot to Corey Patterson? He got hurt, missed five games with a sore leg. He only hit ‘262’. There is a theory now, that Jay Bruce will be a better corner outfielder than a centerfielder. I wonder if that theory has anything to do with Adam Dunn making 13-million in the final year of his contract and Ken Griffey, Junior, a year away from a team option 16-million dollar season?

Here’s what would have been the best path for the Reds to travel this spring with the man voted the best player in all of minor league baseball last season. Are you ready? Stand by. This is a radical concept that may need some thinking. Why not just begin the spring by telling Bruce: centerfield is your job this season. You have nothing else to prove by playing another inning of minor league baseball. Son, grab a bat, go up there and hit. The job is yours even if you fall flat on your face. We have that much faith in you and your talents. If I’m a major league baseball prospect and my manager or general manager told me that, I’d run through the left field wall for them.

Instead, what Jay Bruce was told was: go to Louisville. We’ll call you when we need you. Jay Bruce, the best prospect the Reds have developed since Johnny Bench, the best in over 40-years. Losing out in the battle for centerfield to Corey Patterson and Norris Hopper. Norris Hopper, who’s hitting ‘238’ this spring and has gotten on base a grand total of 28-percent of his at bats. A man still looking for his first major league home run.

Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volqoz. OK, fine, Marge Schott decimated the Reds scouting department so badly during her regime it couldn’t find a pitching prospect with a GPS. I understand it. But you open an outfield spot and give it to a combination of Patterson and Hopper? And you send the best player in all of minor league baseball back to the minors? 

Really?

I may be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. But I think this is a big mistake.

Check out my web site:  www.kenbroo.com

Good Morning!   Let the games begin.  For the record, Pitt, Kansas, UCLA and North Carolina are my final 4.  I think Xavier moves on with a win over Georgia today.  But I think Marquette KO's Kentucky.

Check out my latest Broo View Podcast.  It's on the front page of my web site:  www.kenbroo.com.   You'll hear comments from Xavier players and coaches on their first round match up.

Chad Johnson is shooting  his mouth off again.  Now, he's saying he'll not only skip voluntary workouts, Johnson is also not committing to playing for the Bengals this season.  Hmmmm, seems to me he's under contract in Cincinnati through 2011.  And now, the NFL Network says Chad's running buddy, TJ Houshmandzadeh may sit out the workouts too!  Check it out here.

Wonder how Marvin Lewis is going to handle all of this, when the voluntary workouts begin Monday.  I'm sure his 'spin machine' will be working in over drive.

The Reds had their one and only off day of spring training Wednesday.  When they reconvene, Dusty Baker and his staff will have some tough decisions to make.  Homer Bailey, Matt Belisle and Josh Fogg are all in a foot race for the fifth and final spot in the rotation.  Belisle may win by default, as Bailey, still a decent prospect despite his flat curve ball and shaky attitude, needs to pitch every fifth day.  A fifth starter in major league baseball pitches infrequently in the early season.  

The other big decision Baker has, is who's on first.  Not the Abbott and Costello bit, but rather who starts at first.  It appeared to be Joey Votto's  job to lose as camp opened.  It appears Votto has succeeded in losing it, with a poor hitting performance.  Veteran Scott Hatteberg, thought to be a bat off the bench, looks to have regained the job he held the past two seasons.  Hatteberg is sorching the ball.  Like Bailey, Votto needs to play consistently and won't, sitting on the bench watching Hatteberg.  Phenom centerfielder, Jay Bruce has just about punched his ticket to AAA.  So it now appears that the three most promising prospects in the Reds system, all given chances to win jobs at the major league level, have failed to do so.  Things could change in the final ten days of camp.  I wouldn't bet on it.

Rare is the team that can win a championship without struggling along the way. And such is the case in this NCAA Tournament with the Ohio State Buckyes. They entered the tourney the number one team in the USA and one of four number one seeds. Saturday, it almost came to a crashing halt.

Here they were, down nine to ninth seed Xavier, an upstart school from Cincinnati. Three minutes remained….when the Buckeyes got a wake up call. First, a three point shot by Jamar Butler…and then, Mike Conley Junior stole Xavier’s inbound pass.

Xavier would lead by three with nine seconds to play. But senior Justin Cage, playing the game of his life with 25-points on eight of eight shooting from the field…missed the back end of a 1-and-1. OSU got the rebound….actually, Conley did…and without calling time out streaked to forecourt where he found Ron Lewis. Lewis was playing the game of his life, 24 points…but three more were to come….with only two seconds to play.

That tied the game. But for all intents and purposes, Xavier was sunk. Zapped. Lewis could see it in their eyes.

In overtime, Xavier took a quick two point lead….but then Conley ripped off seven straight points. And Ohio State survived and moved on. Their coach, Thad Matta, left Xavier in a lurch three summers ago to take the Ohio State job. He knew, at the end of regulation, his team could be drained from having to play catch up the entire second half…or…Xavier could be stunned from being caught. I asked Matta how he kept his team from falling down the drain.
For his answers, head onto over to my web site www.kenbroo.com and click on the "Podcasts & More" section. Check out my latest "Broo View Podcast" for comments from Matta and OSU stars Mike Conley, Jr. and Ron Lewis.

Other observations from opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament? Stanford, Illinois and Arkansas proved their critics were right. Fast exits in lopsided losses showed none of the three belonged in this tournament.

Butler’s win over Maryland in the round of 32 has a lot of people thinking the Bulldogs are back to where they were in December.

And the easiest upset from the opening round to pick turned out to be Winthrop over Notre Dame. Just about every expert had that one.

My two champions from my two brackets remain Kansas and Memphis. We’ll see.