Derrick Williams is the best player in college basketball...and here is the dunk vs. Duke

Sweet 16 Picks: Day 2

I don't want to brag or anything but did I fucking nail that shit last night or what? 4 and fucking 0 with my picks. It's always nice to hit a 4 team parlay too. Last night I was pretty confident with my picks because I had a good feel for the matchups. Tonight I'm not so positive. I'm not saying these picks suck but don't expect perfection yet again. I'm not going to lie to you like Jim Tressel.

Marquette(+5) vs North Carolina
I don't know what to make of either one of these teams. One day North Carolina looks like a legit National Championship contender then the next day they are struggling by turning over the ball way too many times like a monkey trying to fuck a wet football. Marquette also plays relentless defense so I can see the more talented Tar Heels turning it over 20 plus times tonight. Harrison Barnes has slowly turned himself into a top 5 player in the college game and should put up stud numbers tonight. My gut is telling me to take Marquette with the straight up upset but my brain is saying North Carolina finds a way to win this game with a clutch shot at the end. The ACC always has at least one team in the Final 4 and with FSU being the only other one alive I got to take Roy Williams as the favorite to get there.

Prediction: North Carolina 73 Marquette 71

Ohio State (-6.5) vs Kentucky
I picked Ohio State to win the championship with my bracket and I see little reason to jump off that bandwagon after the first two rounds where they clobbered the opposition. The Buckeyes are playing great team ball and their athleticism is even better than Kentucky. If Kentucky still had Wall and Cousins this would be an epic battle. Unfortunately they don't. I see a blowout.

Prediction: Ohio State 88 Kentucky 72

Kansas vs Richmond (+10.5)
I've won money all year betting on Kansas and for the most part they usually cover their spreads no matter how big. But for some reason 10.5 points seems too big to me. Kansas is obviously the better team. No question. But I can see Richmond giving them a game especially since this will be head coach Chris Mooney's last game before he goes to coach Georgia Tech next season. Oops the cat is out of the bag. Yes, Mooney will be GT's next coach. It will be announced next week. Anywho I'm going on gut here and say it's a game that Kansas controls with the Morris twins down low in the paint but the Spiders fight and crawl their way to a decent finish.

Prediction: Kansas 77 Richmond 70

VCU (+4) vs FSU
The Semenholes vs the team everybody thought shouldn't have gotten in. VCU has been playing with a chip on their shoulder and has straight up dominated big conference powers Georgetown and Purdue to get to the Sweet 16. FSU has also been dominant thanks to the nation's best defense and beat the holy shit out of Notre Dame in the second round. These teams are pretty much evenly matched. At this point I'm thinking VCU is this year's George Mason. They won't make it to the Final 4 because Kansas is too good but they will sneak by FSU tonight. I like them as the dog. A 12 seed getting to the Elite 8 is a hell of an accomplishment.

Prediction: VCU 66 FSU 65

I'm bacccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk

What's up everyone? Don't say it, I already know you missed me. I guess the depression that sets in between football and baseball is real. I've been in a hole the last couple of months and finally found a way out with spring training and spring football.

AP Photo

First things first, there is a current NFL lockout. Who cares?!?! All this talk of labor disputes is killing me. Owners make a ton of money, players make a ton of money, someone figure out how to best share that money and move on. Football needs the American public more than the American public needs football. Someone somewhere has to understand that athletes and owners make money off of fans. Without the public, there is no salary, period. Do what's right by the consumers who "buy the product that is the NFL". A mediator makes sense, now listen to the mediator.


Let's talk spring baseball...
The Braves look good, period. I plan on having a further breakdown of the Minor/Beachy decision later, but how could you go wrong? The Braves pitching staff, inclusive of the bullpen, is the best in baseball. I know about the Phillies, the Giants, the Red Sox, and I simply don't care. I'll take Hudson, Hanson, Lowe, Jurrjens (healthy), and a combo of Minor/Beachy/Teheran/Delgado/Vizcaino (get the point?) as my starting rotation as quickly as I'd take anyone. Combine that with a bullpen that looks downright scary with Venters, Moylan, and Kimbrel and it's going to be a hell of a season.

The revamped offense, with Freddie "The Jackalope" Freeman, a full year of Heyward healthy, McClouth playing like, well Nate McClouth, Chipper driving the ball, McCann being McCann, Prado getting on base, and Dan "The Man" Uggla looks like a scary combination of lefty and righty batters, all with pop, all with on base ability, and all looking healthier than they have looked in a while. I couldn't be more excited.

Sure, the Braves have some questions, but the Phillies better watch out. The East isn't theirs for the taking this season. Let's keep up with our responsibility and fill up the Ted this year. Our boys are back and looking good! Let's Go Bravos!

In honor of my return, here's some Diddy comin atcha'

Jim Tressel might be in deeper shit than we previously thought

Jim Tressel's coaching career at Ohio State might soon be over. We already know Tressel has been suspended for the first 5 games of the 2011 season and fined $250,000 for failing to report numerous violations with his players to Ohio State's compliance department and the NCAA. Now there is word that Tressel has lied again about not sharing that information with anybody else acccording to BuckeyeExtra.com.

When Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel learned last spring that some of his current players were in trouble, he shared the information with someone he thought could help his star quarterback even though he said he didn't tell his bosses.

Tressel forwarded the information to Ted Sarniak, a mentor to Terrelle Pryor, after the coach received emails warning that Pryor and at least one other player had sold memorabilia to a local tattoo-parlor owner who was under federal investigation for drug trafficking, multiple sources have confirmed to The Dispatch.

Sarniak, 67, is a prominent businessman in Pryor's hometown of Jeannette, Pa. He befriended the quarterback years ago and accompanied him on recruiting trips to Ohio State and other universities.

During a news conference on March 8 to announce NCAA ethics violations by Tressel, the coach said he kept the information to himself to protect the confidentiality of the federal investigation and for the safety of his players.

But Tressel also nodded his head and said "um-hmm" when asked whether he had forwarded the emails to anyone.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith quickly intervened to prevent Tressel from answering that question about the matter currently under investigation by the NCAA.

Say it isn't so Sweatervest! The giant ball of lies continues to build up for Tressel. All Tressel had to do was report what he knew to Ohio State and the NCAA and he would be in the clear. Sure the players would have gotten suspended for a stupid rule to begin with but at least Tressel would have done the right thing. As the head coach it's his job to report these things he finds out if anything to cover his own ass. What I'm starting to wonder is if he told his athletic director Smith? I'm thinking he did and Smith told him to keep it on the hush and hush and hope the story goes away. But what we do know is Tressel has setup a pattern of lies in which he basically will have a hard time recovering from.

At this point I think there is no turning back for Tressel and Ohio State. The scrutiny is too much and the media is not going to stop asking questions nor should they since Tressel continues to lie about what he knew. The truth is Tressel is in deep shit with no exit strategy. If the University wishes to avoid a "Pete Carroll" they are going to either have to be honest with Tressel answering all questions that are reasonable or straight up fire him. Tressel knowingly lied to the NCAA and played players who were ineligible last season. The coverup as it unravels is something no coach can survive.

At this point I think the possibility of Ohio native and former Ohio State assistant coach Urban Meyer getting back to college football in Columbus in 2012 is becoming more a formality.