Checkmate

Duke beats UNC

Sadly, I bowed to sports blogosphere peer pressure and tuned into the Duke-UNC game. Thankfully it was a good game for most of it. A back and forth, close game. It could have easily been game of the year.

Then it ended on a "what the heck" moment.

Carolina "iso"ed Raymond Felton. Which means he had the ball and the other four players cleared out to give him an open lane to drive through. (This is sometimes called the "NBA offense") Except that about the top of the 3 point arc with said open lane, when Felton could have gotten by the Dukie guarding him with one move, he picked up his dribble. Picked up his dribble! What the heck?! Great games should not end on a bonehead play.

Anyway, congrats to Duke

Tech hoops continues to roll

Texas Tech, meanwhile continues to roll. They are now the #23 in the coaches poll. Which is good because the last ranked team in either poll to be left out was in UNLV the early nineties, and that team was on a postseason ban.

I don't want to jinx it by talking about seeding now, for a program with Tech's history, you have to worry about getting in first.

Oh, the Raiders beat Baylor 83-67 at the United Spirit Arena.

Hockey season all but done

The NHL is now saying they need an agreement by this weekend to have any type of season. The players rejected the latest NHL offer, which would have gone with the players' luxury tax plan until salary conditions got too high, in which case the owners' salary cap plan would kick in.

The owners said to the players, "OK, we still want a salary cap, but we're willing to try your system to see if it works."
The players said, "Our way, right or wrong."

Bad move by the players. They should have accepted the agreement. Now there is no way they can win.

• If they get somehow get the old system back, the league will shrink and many of their union members will be out of jobs.
• If an impasse is declared, almost all union members are out of work.
• If they give in, their supporters are going to wonder what the hell they were doing all this time.
• No matter what happens, the players will never make the salaries they are making ever again.

Way to back yourselves into a corner, NHLPA.

Tomorrow: Four to Watch.