THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

For a Friday, this has been a hectic day all over the Tri-State sports map. Let's start with the quickly degenerating situation at Indiana, where now, apparently, some of the IU players may boycott if Kelvin Sampson is fired. The Indianpolis Star has the story.

But here's the take from cbssports.com basketball writer, Craig Parrish, which hits the nail on the head with his take.

Meantime, down in the fun and sun, no major news out of the Reds, but more buzz from the hiring of Dusty Baker. USA Today offered this story on the Reds in Friday's edition.

Can UC continue its magic on the road this Saturday? I don't it. Georgetown is the real deal and playing that team anywhere, let alone DC, is a daunting task. Still, I see an NIT bid for the Bearcats after this season is over. And for Mick Cronin, that's getting it done.

Xavier should beat Dayton Sunday. The Flyers have been fading lately. But anytime you catch them in the UD Arena, it's a tough deal. But Xavier's defense lately has been kiler. The Muskies held Duquesne to 48 points Thursday night, exactly 22 under the Dukes' average.

The Bengals and the rest of the NFL teams are in Indianpolis this weekend for the annual scouting combine. Dennis Dillon, the talented writer for The Sporting News wrote this story about the Bengals new defensive coordinator, Mike Zimmer.

If the Bengals don't draft defense, exclusively in this April's draft, they're out of their collective minds.

Finally, a shout out to our ECHL franchise, the Cincinnati Cyclones, who have now won 13 in a row and are home tonight and Saturday night at the US Bank Arena. This is a team with a legit shot to win its league championship. There's only one thing wrong with this team: where it plays. If Cincinnatians have said anything about local sports in the last 30 years, its that they don't want to drive downtown to watch anything unless its Bengals or Reds. For whatever reason, US Bank Arena offers no appeal. It's where franchises go to die. The Cyclones are the latest artisitc hit and box office flop. Attendance has been better since the team lowered ticket prices to $8. But I wouldn't be surprised to see the team leave after this season. Very sad.

I'm talking sports this Sunday, as always on 700 WLW, from 9AM until Noon. Among my guests will be Dustin Dow, from the Cincinnati Enquirer. We'll get into some serious college hoops talk. John Donovan, the talented writer from SI.com will join me from Spring Training. And we'll get knee deep in the hoopla from Indiana University with the sports director of the WTHR-TV NBC affiliate in that town, Dave Calabro. You can listen online, should you like, at www.700wlw.com and on XM Radio Channel 173.

Sunday night at 11:35, it's another rousing edition of Sports Rock! on Cincinnati's channel 5. Among our guests will be former Bengals defensive back, Eric Thomas and "Wildman Walker", the local legend from WEBN's Dawn Patrol.

And, check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com. I'll have a new "Broo View Podcast" posted on the front page Saturday morning!

Have a great weekend!