THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

It's hump day....

We're hearing it's going to be the best and the biggest women's hockey game in history. Thursday, it's the Gold Medal skate to the finals for the USA women, up against the Canadiens. Both teams have had their wins in games against each other. Team Canada was solid in the late Fall and early Winter. But Team USA is red hot now. This will be must see TV. Make sure you find it on whichever NBC outlet televises it.

I don't know what Yancy Gates did to incur Mick Cronin's wrath. But you can't leave your most dominant inside presence on the bench for the final seven minutes of regulation and all of overtime in a game you absolutely have to win to get into the NCAA Tournament. Marquette should send Mick a giant 'thank you' card for that one.

It's all about seeding now for Xavier. If the Muskies win out, I think they can snag a seven seed in the NCAA's. Joe Lundardi, from ESPN, had an interesting observation about this team. He told me that teams will key on Jordan Crawford in the tournament because Crawford is the only threat the Muskies have. But Lunardi was quick to add, in most NCAA Tournament games, it all comes down to the final three minutes, when most teams have only one 'go to guy'. And the Muskies have Crawford.

I'm glad the Reds signed Jonny Gomes. But honestly, I'm hoping that either Todd Frazier or Chris Heisey has a the kind of spring training camp that makes it impossible for the Reds to send them back to the minors. Gomes didn't attract a lot of interest in the off season (he was holding out for a major league deal which the Reds finally gave to him) because teams didn't know if the 2010 Jonny Gomes would be able to replicate what he did in 280 at bats in 2009. Personally, I think he will. But I'd sure like to see Heisey or Frazier make it a tough call for Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker.

Check out my latest podcast on www.kenbroo.com. My guest this time on The Broo View Podcast is Wes Bunting, from the nationalfootballpost.com. Wes is the college football guhru at NFP and has an inside look at this week's NFL Combine. You can find this current episode on the front page of my web site.