Christmas Eve Scouting Report on Santa, 2010 Edition

It has become a Drive and Dish tradition to write a scouting report on Santa Claus every Christmas Eve. Just as millions of people around the world spend Christmas Eve tending to time-honored practices like having dinner with family, watching "A Christmas Story," attending midnight Christmas services, and staying up late in hope of catching a glimpse of Santa coming down the chimney, Drive and Dish faithfully publishes our Santa scouting report every December 24th. Unfortunately, if this year and last are any indication, it's also becoming something of a Drive and Dish tradition to be too crunched for time to write out a fresh in-depth scouting report every year, and to instead offer a two or three paragraph long update before linking to our 2008 scouting report. But we can get away with it in the case of Santa Claus, because everybody already knows all about Santa's game. Think about it: Do coaches have to write new scouting reports on Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade every year? Did they have to write new scouting reports on Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird every year? Of course not! All-world superstars are pretty easy to scout -- when you're as great as all those guys, the whole world knows your game inside and out. More importantly, they know that you're the man, and that nobody is likely to stop you.

Scouting Santa isn't really much different. What's left to say that the whole world doesn't already know? Santa is old and fat, but he can still get off the ground with the best of them (thanks to his sleigh and reindeer). And since he's still able to traverse the entire globe in the course of a mere evening, it's safe to say that age and girth haven't cost him so much as a step of his much-hyped other-worldly quickness. His famous range is still there too -- from his North Pole home-base, he somehow manages to drop presents into homes on every continent. And the jolly old elf still dishes out more assists than anyone else ... if you need proof, just take a look at the goodies he dropped off under your Christmas tree, or in the stockings hanging on your mantle!

Like Grant Hill, Santa has been doing what he does for ages, but he just keeps on getting it done year after year. What Santa plans to do tonight is no great secret; he's been doing his thing for years, and he'll almost certainly be successful in doing it again this year. But those who crave more of our award-winning insight into Santa's game can read our in-depth scouting report on Santa here.

For those looking for a history of St. Nicholas, the above link (our 2008 scouting report) contains several links to historical information on St. Nick. Our 2007 scouting report took license with the history of St. Nicholas and developed a narrative that followed the man through his transformation from church father, saint and Bishop of Myra to "man-myth-legend" of European and American St. Nick/Father Christmas//Sinterklaas traditions. Finally, this 2009 book documents the historical St. Nicholas through his transformation from Bishop of Myra to Santa Claus.

Oh, and as Santa will, no doubt, say again tonight,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

2010 Illinois High School Football Championships

Thanksgiving weekend is a big deal for high school students in Illinois: in addition to the traditional festivities associated with the holiday, Thanksgiving weekend is when the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) holds the state high school football championships. Drive and Dish doesn't usually cover high school football, but this year the IHSA football championships are worth mentioning because of the relatively limited success of Chicago-area Catholic schools, which have drawn significant ire over the years for "dominating" high school football in Illinois.

The results of Thanksgiving weekend's IHSA football championships are as follows:

8A: Maine South 28
Mount Carmel 7 [Chicago Tribune Photos]

7A: Wheaton Warrenville South 28
Lake Zurich 17 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

6A: Rockford Boylan 48
Marmion 19 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

5A: Montini 34
Chatham Glenwood 21 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

4A: Rochester 24
Rock Island Alleman 7 [Chicago Tribune Photos ]

3A: Illini West 22
Stillman Valley 20

2A: Sterling Newman 48
Maroa-Forsyth 7

1A: Lena-Winslow 47
Tuscola 14

Frequently Heard Complaint: "Those damned Catholic schools have an unfair advantage!"

Historically, several Chicago-area Catholic high schools -- including quite a few members of the Chicago Catholic League (CCL) -- have fielded powerhouse football programs. Many of those programs have won multiple state championships. Longtime football power Joliet Catholic has won the most state championships of any school in Illinois: since the 1974 inception of the IHSA, the Hilltoppers have taken home an impressive thirteen state titles. Fellow longtime football power Chicago Mount Carmel has won ten. Providence Catholic emerged as a football power in the 1990's (it had previously been known as a basketball and baseball power), and has now won nine state football titles (all having come after 1987). And aside from the aforementioned "big three," many other Chicago-area Catholic football powers have won football championships over the last 20-30 years. Those schools include Chicago St. Rita, Chicago Brother Rice, Loyola Academy, Carmel (Mundelein), Gordon Tech, Bishop McNamara (Kankakee) and the now-defunct Driscoll Catholic (Addison).

Much of the animosity toward Chicago-area Catholic high schools comes from the fact that as private institutions, Catholic schools' enrollments are not limited by the boundaries of school districts (as public schools' enrollments are). Thus, since Catholic schools are able to attract students from several school districts, the perception exists that the Catholic schools have an unfair advantage because they have a larger pool from which to draw athletic talent. That argument is not entirely without merit, but it can't sufficiently account for for all the Catholic schools' football success. Plenty of public schools draw also students from multiple towns. And most of those public schools have significantly larger enrollments than any Catholic high school. As it happens, most Catholic schools have relatively small enrollments. So while they may be unconfined by the boundaries of school districts, they're not actually "stealing" that many students away from the public schools, if for no other reason than the fact that they don't enroll that many students in the first place. And while Catholic schools don't limit their enrollment to practicing Catholics, relatively few of their students come from non-Catholic families. Thus, with a few exceptions, the talent pool from which the Catholic schools draw tends to be more or less limited to Catholic students (this is especially the case in the suburbs: Mt. Carmel has historically attracted more non-Catholics than most of its Catholic League rivals).

Critics of the Catholic schools also overlook the fairly obvious fact that although Catholic schools with strong football traditions can be something of a draw for matriculating freshmen who intend to participate in high school football, that doesn't automatically equate to a scenario in which Catholic schools sweep up all the good football players. There's a lot of development that has to take place from ages 13 to 18 in order for an 8th grader to grow into a successful varsity high school football player. There's simply no guarantee that a kid who, as an 8th grader, looks like he could possibly become a good football player someday will actually become one in high school. And since nearly all Catholic schools have restrictive transfer policies, they're generally limited to students who matriculate from junior high schools and middle schools. In other words, the Catholic high schools are not poaching football players from other high schools' football programs (as is often implied by the Catholic schools' detractors). It's instructive to remember that if the Catholic schools have good football players -- which many of them obviously do -- those players have developed within the schools' football programs.

Just as the Catholic schools' detractors usually overlook the fact that Catholic schools aren't the only high schools that draw students from multiple municipalities, they also frequently overlook the fact that nearly as many public football powerhouses win multiple state championships (especially in suburban Chicago) as Catholic powerhouses which do the same. A few Catholic schools -- namely, Joliet Catholic, Mt. Carmel, Providence, St. Rita, Bishop McNamara and Montini -- are responsible for much of the perception that Catholic schools dominate IHSA football. But public schools like Wheaton Warrenville South (which won the 7A state title in 2009 and 2010), Maine South (which won 8A this year), Downers Grove North, Downers Grove South, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Lincoln Way East (Frankfort), Hinsdale Central, Homewood-Flossmoor and Oak Lawn Richards have won multiple state championships and field powerhouse football teams year after year.

Talent alone doesn't win championships. A number of elements need to be present in order for a school to have a successful football program, and the power programs all have them in place. Coaching plays an enormous role in the power programs' success. Not surprisingly, schools that have good coaches tend to have good teams. And good coaches who stay at their schools for a number of years tend to build winning football programs. Moreover, the athletic culture at schools that have sustained success for a number of years on the football field usually creates an environment that promotes more winning: athletic success tends to breed athletic success. Most of the traditional high school football powers -- whether public or private -- exhibit the kind of athletic culture that allows them to field class after class of self-starter student-athletes: athletes in state's most successful high school football programs expect to play for state championships, and they dedicate themselves to doing what it takes to achieve their goals.

Frequently Heard Complaint: "Those damned Chicago Catholic schools cheat win all their championships!"

The most ludicrous claim made by the Catholic school detractors is that the Catholic schools cheat by paying players and their families to get them to enroll. This allegation is especially persistent in downstate Illinois, where Chicago -- and just about everything associated with it -- is generally reviled. People actually think that Catholic schools in Chicagoland pay students from all over the country to play for them, just so that they can win IHSA football state championships. Seriously. This allegation was, at one time, especially popular on the football message board at the old Illini Board (now known as Scout.com's Inside Illini), although it's also occasionally been voiced by a prominent on-air personality at Chicago's top-rated sports talk radio station, the Score 670 AM (Chicagoan and Homewood-Flossmoor H.S. alum Laurence Holmes). The claim is that Mt. Carmel, Joliet Catholic and Providence have rosters that are stocked with players from football breeding grounds like Florida, Texas and California.

Aside from being preposterously absurd, this claim is (and has always been) abjectly false. Chicagoland Catholic schools do not pay students, or students' families, to play football, and they most certainly don't bring players in from out of the Chicago region, much less bring them in from Florida, Texas and California. To illustrate how ridiculous that claim is, consider the following: even if the Catholic schools were inclined to cheat in player procurement, there would be little reason for them to recruit players from outside of the Chicago area. Chicagoland, after all, is itself something of a hotbed for football talent. Why would Catholic schools, which are notorious for operating on VERY tight budgets, go to all the trouble and expense of bringing players in from sunbelt states when there are plenty of talented athletes in Chicagoland? What kinds of recruiting and travel budgets would the Catholic schools need to wield in order for them to scour southern and southwestern states for upcoming football talent? And what kinds of "sweeteners" would they have to offer in order to convince kids and their families to leave their lives in Florida, Texas and California and start over in Chicagoland?

The idea that Chicago Catholic schools travel to Florida, Texas and California to procure players -- or even could afford to if they wanted to -- is so ridiculous that it's almost not even worth bothering to refute. Yet the rumor persists. Thus, as long as people on internet message boards, in downstate, small town diners and on sports radio talk shows complain about the unfair advantage that those "cheating" Catholic schools have because they bring players in from all over the country, the rumor must be refuted. What's more, if downstaters who like to traffic in conspiracy theories about Chicago-area Catholic schools improperly recruiting players are truly sincere in their distaste for high school football programs that illegally recruit players, they might do well to turn their attention to their own back yard.

Anticipated Indignant Objection: "How can you say that Catholic schools didn't dominate this year when a bunch of them played for state championships!?!"

So you say, we're off-base with our argument that it was a relatively quiet year for Catholic schools in the IHSA playoffs because five Catholic schools played for state championships this past weekend in Champaign. How can we hold our position? The easy/quick answer is that nobody's complaining about Catholic school domination this year, so you know that Catholic schools didn't do that well. But that's probably a bit trite. It's true that several Catholic high schools did play for 2010 state championships, but aside from Montini Academy's (Lombard) championship in class 5A, no catholic school from Chicagoland won a state title. Chicago Mount Carmel -- one of the usual targets of anti-Chicago Catholic school ire, and the school that produced past and present NFL stars like Donovan McNabb, Matt Cushing, Simeon Rice and Greg McMurtry -- came up short against North Suburban (Park Ridge) public powerhouse Maine South (perhaps best known for producing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) in 8A. Rockford Boylan hammered Marmion Academy to take home the 6A championship, but despite being Catholic, Boylan's Rockford location makes it immune to the argument that Chicago-area Catholic schools win all the state titles. Rockford is still decidedly not part of Chicagoland, no matter how far to the northwest the suburbs continue to sprawl.

The same applies to tiny Sterling Newman High School, which won the class 2A state title. Newman is a Catholic school, but rural Sterling is a long way from Chicago, both geographically and culturally.

Rock Island Alleman lost to Rochester in class 4A. Alleman is a small Catholic school on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities -- it sits atop a hill overlooking the Mississippi River Valley, right across the river from Davenport, Iowa. Alleman's Rock Island campus is slightly over 150 miles west of Chicago. The Quad Cities cannot go "toe-to-toe" with the Chicago area when it comes to producing IHSA champions, but that doesn't change the fact that the Quad Cities area has produced many good football teams over the years, as there's a strong high school football tradition in that part of the state. Rock Island, Moline and East Moline have traditionally field strong football programs, even though they rarely have the opportunity play for state championships. Alleman has also had some good teams through the years, but with the school's small enrollment, the football program is a long way off from being a dominant football power that can seriously challenge Chicago area Catholic schools on an annual basis.

So in the wake of Thanksgiving weekend 2010, the anti-Catholic school contingent is keeping a low profile, for Catholic schools from Chicagoland failed to dominate this year's addition of the IHSA football playoffs. Montini's state title in class 5A notwithstanding, Chicago-area Catholic schools were relatively quiet in '10. Sure, Mt. Carmel was the runner-up in 8A, and that's certainly nothing to disregard. But the old wives' tale that public schools don't have a fighting chance in the IHSA football playoffs because the unscrupulous, "cheating" Chicago-area Catholic schools dominate high school football in Illinois appears to have been put to rest over Thanksgiving weekend.

At least for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

Drive and Dish has been on summer/post basketball season hiatus since the '10 Final Four. As a result, we haven't posted anything since April. There are a few posts from the spring and summer that we started but didn't finish which currently reside in the Drive and Dish "drafts" file. Even though they're quite dated by now, it's possible -- maybe even likely -- that they'll eventually be posted, particularly in the case of draft posts that deal with interesting or important issues which we'd like to have in our archives for future reference. In the mean time, we'll try to weigh in with some thoughts about college (and possibly NBA) basketball on a semi-regular basis .

Last year we ran a special Thanksgiving post that had utterly no content related to basketball, but which contained a brief rundown on the history of the holiday and an exclusive hour-long (plus), up-to-the-minute house music DJ mix by Drive and Dish contributor/editor Trashtalk Superstar. We don't have a new house mix to offer this year (although stay tuned -- more mixes could make their way to Drive and Dish in the not-too-distant future), but we do offer the following: our sincere wishes of a happy and blessed Thanksgiving to all our readers and their extended families.

Duke Wins 4th National Championship

Add another National Championship banner to the three that currently hang from the rafters of Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last night, Duke captured the 2010 NCAA men's basketball National Championship by beating "Cinderella" upstart Butler 61-59 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. All four of the Blue Devils' National Championships have come under the stewardship of head men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Congratulations to Duke and to Coach Krzyzewski.

Drive and Dish picked Duke to cut down the nets in our 2010 NCAA Tournament Bracket. Duke seems like the obvious pick now, but when the brackets came out, Kansas and Kentucky were the popular choices to win it all. We, however, were never big believers in either of the schools whose are known by a combination of "K's" and "U's" -- UK and KU (Kentucky and Kansas), respectively.

On a side note, last night's Championship game served as something of a reunion for the Drive and Dish founders. We had a good time at the game. And as it happens, we sat in the vicinity of the ex-Duke players' seating section at Lucas Oil Stadium, so Duke super-fan Mark Buckets got to rub shoulders with some of his boyhood heroes. Strangely enough, Mark Buckets also got into an epic stare-down with Orlando Magic back up point guard Jason "White Chocolate" Williams. White Chocolate attended the game with his Magic teammate, former Duke All American shooting guard J.J. Redick. Apparently, White Chocolate didn't appreciate it when Buckets laughed at him for posing and trying to look "hard" (the Drive and Dish brain-trust disagreed over whether or not he successfully pulled off looking "hard," but we agreed that he looked a lot like post-90's, Nu-Metal-era Vanilla Ice). At one point, it almost seemed like an altercation was about to ensue between Buckets and J.Will.

It was kind of ridiculous.

Fortunately, nothing happened, because if it had, we would have been kicked out of the game for sure.

Funny stuff, though.

The following are pictures that the Drive and Dish cameras snapped at the game:


Photos © 2010 Trashtalk Superstar/Drive and Dish

Final Four Picks

Today marks the start of the Final Four in Indianapolis, and like just about everybody else, our official 2010 NCAA Tournament bracket didn't hold up particularly well (view our bracket below).



Only two of our four Final Four picks -- Duke and West Virginia -- will take the floor in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium. On a positive note, we were correct when we predicted that a team from the much maligned (actually habitually maligned) Big Ten Conference would confound the college basketball "experts" by making it to the Final Four. The problem is, we didn't pick the right Big Ten team: we had Ohio State losing to Duke in the National Championship game, but Michigan State is the only Big Ten team to be a Final Four participant.

On the bright side, Duke was our pick to win the National Championship. And they look like the team that's most likely to cut the nets down after winning the Championship game Monday night. West Virginia is a very good team, but we expect Duke to pick the Mountaineers' 1-3-1 zone apart.

Finally, although it should come as no shock to anyone, Butler is the Final Four team that surprised us the most by advancing to Indianapolis (we thought the only trip Butler would take to Indianapolis would be a to return to their Indianapolis campus after getting knocked out of the Tournament by Xavier). When filling out our bracket, we toyed with the idea of picking dark horse Xavier to advance to the Final Four from Butler's regional. But in the end, we chickened out and chose Syracuse instead because we thought the Orange had significant match up advantages over all their potential opponents (despite having a strong suspicion that the 'Cuse was overrated, and would be knocked out early in the Tournament). We knew that Butler was a very good team, but we never considered them to be a serious Final Four contender.

Oh how wrong we were.

But enough of the bracket talk, it's time to get down to "brass tacks." Here's what we expect to see in tonight's games:

Michigan State vs. Butler

We expect Butler to give Michigan State all it can handle for thirty minutes. We anticipate a very close game as the buzzer signals halftime (quite possibly a tie; definitely not much more than a four point lead for either team). And we think Butler will come out strong early in the second half. But at some point, we expect Michigan State's size, strength and speed to wear Butler down (particularly on the interior). Even though Michigan State lost All Big Ten point guard Kalin Lucas to a season ending injury early in the Tournament, we think Butler's back court will struggle with the Spartans' quick and aggressive guards. Butler's guards have committed more turnovers in the Tournament than one would expect from an elite level team, and if Butler big man Matt Howard gets in foul trouble, it will likely be very difficult for the Bulldogs to stay in the game.

In the end, we expect Michigan State to put the game away in the second half and to advance to Monday night's National Championship game.

Duke vs. West Virginia

As evident by our choice of Duke to win the National Championship, we expect Duke to beat West Virginia and exact some measure of revenge for the Mountaineers' big Sweet Sixteen upset win over what was a very highly touted Duke team in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Additional Thoughts

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo gets more out of his teams than any other coach in major college basketball. The Spartans don't attract top tier talent on an annual basis. They get good players, but they'll never beat North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Syracuse, Georgetown, etc. in a battle for elite recruits. But Izzo finds good players who fit his system -- augmented with the occasional elite level recruit -- and who stay in school for three or four years. Izzo has now taken six different Michigan State teams to the Final Four since taking over as head coach in the 1995-96 season.

So has Tom Izzo proven himself to be the best coach in college basketball? That's debatable, but with one National Championship under his belt, he trails Duke's Mike Krzyzewski by two Championships. Despite the fact that prior to this year, his recent teams haven't lived up to their hype in the post season, Coach K is still generally thought of as the top coach in the game. This Final Four has to be particularly sweet for for Krzyzewski, given the fact that his teams' recent Tournament flame-outs have caused him to come under increased scrutiny. For rumors of Coach K's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Duke is two games shy of handing Krzyzewski his fourth National Championship.

A potential face off between Michigan State and Duke in the Championship game would pit two of the best coaches, if not the two best coaches, in the college game against each other. That would be fun to watch.

As for Butler's young coach Brad Stevens, he's definitely a rising star. His teams feed off his calm sideline demeanor and his analytical approach to the game. We don't think his Butler Bulldogs will knock off Izzo's Michigan State Spartans, but with a Final Four already under his belt at just 33 years of age, his future is obviously quite bright.

On a side note, in a past life, our own Trashtalk Superstar crossed paths with Coach Stevens one summer in the mid/late 90's, when both were college students and small college basketball players. Trashtalk was around 21 years of age at the time -- which would have made Stevens about 19 -- and although he didn't know Coach Stevens particularly well, he recalls hearing Stevens sing "Laid" by the British shoegazer band James during basketball warm ups. Trashtalk doesn't remember much about Stevens, but does recall thinking it was "really gay" to sing a James song -- especially one that talks about dressing up in women's clothes and playing around with gender roles -- before a basketball game.

Not that it's terribly significant, it's just one of those dumb things that sticks in one's memory.

Drive and Dish 2010 NCAA Tournament Picks

Drive and Dish has been very quiet this year. Blogging about college basketball has taken a back seat to other more pressing matters. Mark Buckets retired from basketball blogging shortly after Duke was upset by West Virginia in 2008 (long time readers may recall that Mr. Buckets' live blog of that game ended abruptly around halftime ... when it became obvious that the Blue Devils were in store for a long day), and the once verbose Trashtalk Superstar -- who kept Drive and Dish afloat from the 2008 Elite Eight through the 2009 National Championship game -- has been uncharacteristically quiet as of late.

But we still have readers who occasionally stop by to get our take on the ins and outs of college basketball. So the least we can do is reprise the time honored Drive and Dish tradition (more here) of releasing our hand-written NCAA Tournament brackets on the eve of the Tournament's Thursday tip off (we missed the Wednesday night deadline this year; our brackets will have to suffice as last minute Thursday morning arrivals).

Drive and Dish attempted to contact Mark Buckets in hopes of soliciting a special, one-time, freelance guest bracket from our former Atlantic Coast Conference/Mountain West Conference/College Basketball Trivia Senior Editor. Mr. Buckets failed to respond to our request. It is believed that Buckets -- known to be a phenomenally devoted Duke fan -- may now be living in Northern Wisconsin's North Woods or in the the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, possibly in a van down by the river (although some retired detectives who specialize in profiling have suggested that he may be traveling by backpack through Southeastern Europe, dancing the nights away while rollin' on ecstasy in Ibiza, or hiking through the indigenous villages of the Amazon basin in search of ayahuasca-induced elevated consciousness).

Long story short: we have no bracket from Mark Buckets. But, in order to make up for Mr. Buckets' missing bracket, Trashtalk Superstar was instructed to fill out both an NCAA Tournament bracket and an NIT bracket. The NIT bracket should carry added currency with readers who are fans of the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Thus, without further ado, we present the official 2010 Drive and Dish NCAA Tournament Bracket, and the official 2010 Drive and Dish NIT bracket (click to enlarge):

2010 NCAA Tournament




2010 N.I.T.



Notes:

1.) Kentucky is the most talented team in the Tournament. Normally, when determining our picks to win the National Championship, we look for teams that have more than one likely future NBA player on their rosters. As a general rule, teams that win NCAA Championships feature at least a couple sure fire NBA first round draft picks. And with DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and John Wall, Kentucky has three future first round draft picks. But Cousins and Wall are Freshmen. With a few notable exceptions, Freshmen almost never lead their teams to National Championships (that's why it was such a big deal when Carmello Anthony led Syracuse to the 2003 National Championship as a Freshman).

Kentucky clearly has enough talent to win the National Championship, but we think that the Wildcats' youth and inexperience -- particularly at point guard, where John Wall's jaw-dropping talent won't make up for his lack of NCAA Tournament experience (point guard is the most important position on the court in college basketball: he handles the ball more than anyone else, he's responsible for initiating his teams' offensive plays, and he's expected to make good decisions and exhibit leadership) -- will prove to be their downfall.

2.) Kansas is the popular pick to win the Tournament. Everybody and their grandmother picked the Jayhawks to win their bracket. But while Kansas is talented, we're just not sold on them. We see them as perhaps the most vulnerable of the 1 seeds. It's not widely known, but Kansas has some major holes, and they don't always play with the sense of urgency one would expect from a Championship caliber team. In our opinion, Kansas won't make it to the Final Four, let alone win the National Championship.

Why? For starters, their lineup isn't nearly as well balanced as that of the Kansas team that one the 2008 National Championship. Senior Sherron Collins is a tremendous point guard -- he's tough, talented and experienced -- but he's diminutive, and his back court running mates aren't versatile enough to make up for the defensive match up problems that his lack of height present. Seven foot center Cole Aldrich is a load. No doubt about it. But Kansas isn't particularly strong at the 3 or 4. So the Jayhawks' front line goes as Aldrich goes. If he gets in foul trouble, Kansas will be in perilous shape. And with tough, physical teams like Final Four contenders Michigan State and Ohio State in their regional, Kansas probably has the toughest road to the Final Four of any 1 seed.

We picked Ohio State to beat Kansas and win the Midwest region (where Kansas is the No. 1 seed), but we wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Michigan State beats Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen. In fact, we debated long and hard -- and actually favored Head Coach Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans before being scared off by MSU star point guard Kalin Lucas' questionable health -- before eventually settling on KU in that game.

But despite having picked Kansas over Michigan State, we have a sneaking suspicion that Izzo's Spartans will put Kansas away before they get the chance to get knocked off by Ohio State.

Oh, and by the way, we wouldn't be completely stunned if Northern Iowa does the unthinkable and upsets Kansas in the second round. Most of the country has no idea how good Northern Iowa is. They ran away with the Missouri Valley Conference, and while the Valley only got one team into the Tournament, it's a much better conference than most people realize. We expect Northern Iowa to give Kansas a run for its money before the Jayhawks' combination of superior size, athleticism and depth eventually wears them down.

3.) The Big East conference is over hyped and overrated, but it's still probably the best conference in men's college basketball, if for no other reason than the sheer volume -- the conference has sixteen member institutions -- of good teams in that league.

4.) Old Dominion is a potential Cinderella. We have them beating Notre Dame and Baylor to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. That may be a bit of a stretch, but don't sleep on the Monarchs from ODU.

5.) The Big Ten is underrated yet again. Like clockwork, each year the experts talk endlessly about how weak the Big Ten is. And like clockwork, each year more Big Ten teams advance deep into the Tournament than expected (there's almost always a Big Ten team in the Final Four). It will happen again this year.

6.) We thought that Duke was over hyped and overrated all season long. And until we began to fill out our Tournament Brackets, we thought Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils would struggle to advance beyond the Sweet Sixteen. But after scanning the bracket and considering how Duke would match up at each position against their potential Tournament opponents, we think they have the clearest road to the Final Four.

And Duke has the requisite combination of talent (two or more likely future NBA players? -- check . . . it's close, but it's still a check) and experience to be in prime position to cut the nets down on April 5.

Only One ACC Team In the Top 25

For the first time in over thirty years, only one team from the Atlantic Coast Conference is ranked in college basketball's AP Top 25. In the rankings that were released today (rankings are released every Monday during basketball season), fifth-ranked Duke is the lone representative of the vaunted ACC.

One year after winning its second NCAA National Championship in five years, North Carolina (14-12 overall, 3-8 ACC) has endured its worst season since Roy Williams became head coach (Williams succeeded Matt Doherty after Doherty's teams finished 8-20 in the 2001-02 season, and 19-16 in the 2002-03 season respectively). Wake Forest and Clemson began the season with much fanfare from the national media, but those teams have failed to live up to the lofty expectations that were placed upon them (which comes as no surprise to the Drive and Dish staff). Georgia Tech looked very good early in ACC play, and they had an impressive win over Duke in January. But they've fallen off as of late.

So Duke stands as the only ranked team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The ACC has not suffered for lack of media attention over the last ten to fifteen years. But despite North Carolina's recent 5 year mini dynasty in college basketball, the ACC has been in a quiet downturn in the last few years.

As for today's updated AP Top 25, aside from the aforementioned No. 5 Duke from the ACC, the rest of the top 10 is made up of three teams from the Big East (No. 4 Syracuse, No. 7 Villanova and No. 8 West Virginia), two teams from the Big Twelve (No. 1 Kansas and No. 6 Kansas State), two teams from the always maligned Big Ten (No. 3 Purdue and No. 9 Ohio State), one team from the SEC (No. 2 Kentucky) and one team from the non-BCS Mountain West conference (No. 10 New Mexico).

AP Top 25:

Ranking	Record	Pts	Pvs
1. Kansas (61)	26-1	1,621	1
2. Kentucky (4)	26-1	1,559	2
3. Purdue	23-3	1,470	4
4. Syracuse	25-2	1,455	5
5. Duke	23-4	1,323	6
6. Kansas St.	22-4	1,302	7
7. Villanova	22-4	1,189	3
8. West Virginia	21-5	1,183	8
9. Ohio St.	21-7	1,097	9
10. New Mexico	25-3	997	12
11. Georgetown	18-7	846	10
12. Pittsburgh	21-6	806	19
13. BYU	25-3	795	16
14. Michigan St.	21-7	794	11
15. Butler	25-4	673	18
16. Vanderbilt	20-6	599	17
17. Wisconsin	20-7	528	14
18. Gonzaga	22-5	506	13
19. Tennessee	20-6	480	20
20. Temple	22-5	452	21
21. Texas	21-6	445	15
22. Texas A&M	19-7	225	24
23. Richmond	22-6	202	25
24. Baylor	20-6	147	22
25. N. Iowa	24-3	128	--

Others receiving votes: UTEP 86, Virginia Tech 76, Maryland 57, Missouri 17, Illinois 14, Xavier 13, Marquette 11, Louisville 9, Mississippi St. 5, Oklahoma St. 4, Utah St. 4, Cornell 2, Murray St. 2, Wake Forest 2, Clemson 1.

Vintage NBA Trash Talk

Yours truly blogs here at Drive and Dish under the somewhat ignoble moniker "Trash Talk Superstar." The moniker came about in part because my original/official moniker, "Have Jump Shot Will Travel" -- which is a fairly accurate description of me -- is too long and isn't sufficiently catchy (blame the "suits" in the Drive and Dish marketing department with their graphs and flow charts).

But the moniker was appropriate in the early days of this blog. My then-blog partner, Mark Buckets, wrote fairly straightforward posts from the standpoint of the hardcore college basketball fan, and I contributed with a combination of straight basketball analysis and highly pointed (maybe even contentious and swaggering) commentary. I was, therefore, a pretty good trash talker. And people took notice ... often by calling me a douche bag or an asshat in the comments sections (which, by the way, I welcomed wholeheartedly -- being controversial certainly didn't prevent this blog from attracting eyeballs).

But some time after crossing over the threshold of the "Big 3-0," I started to mature, or at least tire of, the snarky, sarcastic, flame-throwing writing style that proliferates on sports blogs. So I started writing in more professional, almost newspaper-style prose. And I stopped talking trash.

Yet fret not, loyal Drive and Dish readers: although I'm older and my sensibilities are (arguably) more mature than they were in the early days of this blog, I can still enjoy the occasional exchange of verbal jabs. What's more, my trash talking skills are as sharp as ever -- I just refrain from utilizing them on this blog. Furthermore, I remain one of the foremost authorities on the art of trash talking on the North American continent. As such, it's my view that while there's a lot of decent trash talk out there today, the best trash talkers who ever lived roamed the NBA hardwood from the the mid 1980's to the early/mid 90's. That was the golden era of trash talking in the NBA, if you will. The following old school video, titled "NBA Freedom of Speech," offers an excellent snapshot of the legendary trash talk that flourished in the league during that time period (bonus: Dick Versace makes an appearance in the video, and Vinny Del Negro plays the "I'm Italian: I got family 'connections', if you know what I mean" card):

Update:

It appears that Youtube has removed the video. Too bad. It was reel to reel of vintage 80's and early 90's NBA footage. It really doesn't get much better than that. Oh well, it was great while it lasted.

Scouting Santa

Drive and Dish has a Christmas Eve tradition of posting detailed scouting reports on Santa Claus. This year, our advance scouting team has been either crunched for time or under the weather and, as a result, hasn't had the occasion to write up a current scouting report on the jolly old elf. So we'll have to refer all who are looking for the inside scoop on Santa to last year's scouting report.

But for those looking for a history of St. Nicholas, our 2008 scouting report contained several links to historical information on St. Nick (our 2007 scouting report took license with the history of St. Nicholas and developed a narrative that followed the man through his transformation from church father, saint and Bishop of Myra to "man-myth-legend" of European and American St. Nick/Father Christmas//Sinterklaas traditions. Finally, a new book documents the historical St. Nicholas through his transformation from Bishop of Myra to Santa Claus.

Bradley Upsets Struggling Illinois

The Illinois Fighting Illini don't have much to be thankful about after taking part in the Las Vegas Invitational Thanksgiving tournament. Illinois entered the weekend ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25, but after suffering back-to-back upset losses to the unranked Utah Utes and Bradley Braves in the Invitational, they'll soon be joining the ranks of the unranked themselves.

As for Bradley, Saturday night's 72-68 win over Illinois will be one to savor for some time. In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Bradley upset Kansas and Pittsburgh and earned a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. And although Saturday's early season, neutral court, tournament win over in-state rival Illinois doesn't carry quite the weight of their upset wins in the '06 NCAA Tournament, it is, nevertheless, almost every bit as sweet for everyone involved with Bradley basketball (players, coaches, alumni, fans, athletic department staff, university administrators, etc.).

Bradley University is a Missouri Valley Conference institution with a rich basketball history. Bradley is located in Peoria, IL, approximately 85 miles from the Urbana, IL, campus of Big Ten basketball powerhouse Illinois. But although both teams represent basketball crazed schools from central Illinois, Bradley and Illinois rarely face each other on the basketball court (Bradley's last win over Illinois came in 1974). Thus, while a win over a nationally ranked opponent from a major conference would be a big win for mid-major Bradley in any circumstance, beating No. 20 Illinois gives Bradley bragging rights over a powerhouse program from down the road which effectively serves as its college basketball "big brother."

That said, there's no question that Illinois is struggling. They return three starters from a team that lost in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, but they start two freshmen in the back court. And although they cruised to easy wins over lower level Division I opponents to start the season, Illinois hadn't played a serious opponent until the weekend. Against Utah, the Illini blew a 16 point second half lead and lost the game in its final seconds. The following night, they came out flat against Bradley. Illinois coach Bruce Weber recounted in a post game interview that during his pregame talk, he told his players that Bradley would be the best team they had faced thus far in the 2009/10 season. But Weber said that players "rolled their eyes" at the statement. Against a Bradley team that wanted nothing more than to cut the legs out from under their in-state "big brother," the Illini players' collective disinterest was a recipe for disaster.

Illinois needs to regroup quickly. They play at Clemson on Wednesday in the made-for-ESPN ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Clemson is an experienced, athletic team. An upset of Clemson would likely go a long way in c0mpensating for the bad weekend in Las Vegas. Illinois must truly hope that what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.

But that shouldn't take anything away from Bradley. It was a monumental win for the Braves. Bradley people will probably never forget how sweet it was to take down the big, bad Illini (even if they had to travel to Las Vegas to do so). At the very least, Bradley has major bragging rights in the heart of the state of Illinois. But if Illinois eventually gets their ship in order and proves to be a good team that merely experienced some early season, Thanksgiving tournament growing pains, Bradley's win over the Illini could help position them (and/or position other Missouri Valley teams -- remember, conference RPI is one of many factors which the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee weighs when selecting the NCAA Tournament field) nicely for post season consideration.

(Photo: Bradley's Milos Knezevic drives past Illinois' Dominique Keller -- AP/Laura Rauch).

Happy Thanksgiving

Drive and Dish would like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all our readers. It's become a Thanksgiving tradition to spend the afternoon watching the moribund Detroit Lions lose another game (it doesn't matter what year it is, the Lions are always terrible), but we ask the following question: why waste the day watching bad NFL games when there's lots of good college basketball on television?

Well, whatever your sports viewing inclinations, it's always a good idea to take inventory of, and give thanks for, the things for which you are grateful (even if you're a Lions fan). Happy Thanksgiving.

(Image: the first Thanksgiving-1621).

Is the Hadron Collider Being Sabotaged By Time Travelers?

When the Hadron Collider was under construction, there were many people who warned that running the Collider could cause the world, or even the universe, to blow up. Since its completion, the Collider has been plagued by setbacks that have kept it from being fully operational. Now Time Magazine reports that two highly regarded physicists have a theory as to why the Hadron Collider has had so many problems: the physicists think that time travelers may be sabotaging the Collider.

The most recent setback was a bizarre event in which a bird shut the Collider down by dropping a baguette into the Collider from from its beak. But the physicists think that maybe it occurred for a reason:

While most scientists would write off the event as a freak accident, two esteemed physicists have formulated a theory that suggests an alternative explanation: perhaps a time-traveling bird was sent from the future to sabotage the experiment. Bech Nielsen of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto, Japan, have published several papers over the past year arguing that the CERN experiment may be the latest in a series of physics research projects whose purposes are so unacceptable to the universe that they are doomed to fail, subverted by the future.

Wow. Not sure what else to say. But it's amazing that physicists are actually proposing a theory as seemingly outlandish as time travelers sabotaging the Hadron Collider. It's equally amazing that the opponents of the theory didn't dismiss it out of hand, but rather, made scientific arguments to rebut it.

You'd expect other physicists to laugh the time traveling bird theory out of hand as being absurd. Yet they didn't. Even though they don't agree with the theory, they apparently don't automatically dismiss the concept of time travel (or even of time traveling birds). It must be because they're (apparently) theoretical physicists. It's been my experience that theoretical physicists are a special breed.

But they're also the guys who push the game forward.

The Johns Hopkins News-Letter has more.

Happy Halloween.

The entire staff here at Drive and Dish would like to wish Happy Halloween to all of our readers (err, well, that would be the entire staff minus Atlantic Coast Conference Editor Emeritus and former roving reporter Mark Buckets -- he started drinking early, and he's already way too drunk to speak, or in this case text, intelligibly).

(Picture: Drive and Dish/Trashtalk Superstar).

New Continental Basketball League to Begin Play in April 2010

Via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The Continental Basketball League announced Friday that they will kick off their first season in April, 2010.

The CBL will join the minor league basketball landscape and will feature a minimum of seven teams. According to the release, 14 teams have submitted applications for membership.

The league champion will be determined through a single-elimination tournament in June...

The league has yet to announce locations and details involving scheduling, rules and regulations.

Investment, Suicide Scandal Schocks Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israeli Basketball

Former Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club manager Moni Fanan (pictured above) committed suicide last week. It now appears that Fanan checked himself out just as the proverbial "other shoe" was set to drop. USA Today reports:

Authorities suspect Moni Fanan was running a multimillion dollar investment scheme for some of Israel's top sports figures, and that he was deep in debt. The scandal has overshadowed the opening of Israel's basketball season this week and tarnished Maccabi Tel Aviv, the most successful team in the country's history.

Huge losses, estimated at more than $20 million, are now believed to have driven Fanan to hang himself in his Tel Aviv apartment last week.

Top players are believed to have lost millions of dollars in shady investments, tax authorities have raided Maccabi's offices, and there are even suspicions that referees in charge of Maccabi games had invested with Fanan.

Maccabi spokesman Nitzan Ferraro denied any wrongdoing inside the club and said team officials were cooperating with the authorities. "We have nothing to hide," he said.

Maccabi has dominated Israeli basketball for decades, winning 38 of the past 40 league titles. Its budget dwarfs that of all its competitors, and it has grown into a European powerhouse. Last week, Maccabi toured the U.S. for a series of exhibition games against NBA teams.

For years, Fanan was the face of Maccabi to the Israeli public, holding a position that ranged from bench coach to logistics manager to chief troubleshooter for his players.

During his 16-year tenure, the team won 15 league titles and three European championships. His son, Regev, was a backup for five years.

Fanan was particularly popular with the team's dozens of foreign players, some of whom went on to play in the NBA. But last year, he was forced to step down and give up his small stake in Maccabi, after a falling out with other team executives.

Since Fanan's death, Israeli newspapers have reported that he ran a private banking network in which he invested large sums of money for his players, opposing coaches and league referees in return for promises of double-digit returns.

The Israeli media have given the story nonstop coverage, saying Fanan's murky financial dealings were well known among team officials. Most of the reports have cited players speaking anonymously, since many were invested with Fanan and could be charged with tax evasion for their earnings.

One former player, Doron Jamchi, broke the wall of silence over the weekend when he told Israel's Channel 2 TV that "everyone on the team knew."

Israeli tax authorities this week raided Maccabi's main office, confiscating boxes of documents. The team's former coach, Tzvika Sherf, and two ex-stars, Nadav Henefeld and Oded Katash, have been questioned. Tax Authority spokeswoman Idit Lev-Zerehia confirmed the agency is looking into possible tax evasion and money laundering.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is, far and away, the most successful professional basketball club in Israel. As of late, they've battled Olympiakos Greece for superiority in Euro League basketball. They've also been known to pay players better than any other Euro League team. Perhaps not surprisingly, they've become a destination for American players who head overseas (it also doesn't hurt that English is widely spoken in Israel--American players don't experience as much of a culture clash in Israel as they do in many European countries).

Recently, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned from a trip to the United States in which they played exhibition games against several NBA teams. Maccabi made news while playing the Knicks in Madison Square Garden when head coach Pini Gershon got ejected from the game after being called for his second technical foul. Gershon refused to leave the sidelines, despite his ejection. His antics caused play to be delayed for nearly ten minutes. Even more bizarrely, a rabbi ran on to the court and attempted to persuade the referees to allow Gershon continue coaching (pictured below).

In 2005 (October 15, 2005), Maccabi Tel Aviv made news for beating the NBA's Toronto Raptors.

Division III Adds All Star game to 2010 Final Four

The 2010 NCAA Division III Final Four will include an all star game. The game will be sponsored by the NABC and will tip off three hours prior to the Division III Championship game on March 20.

According to D3 hoops.com, "plans are for two teams of 10 players apiece to be named. At least one spot on each team will be set aside for players from teams who lose in the national semifinals the previous evening, the teams who normally would play in the third-place game. "

"Creepy" College Mascots

Life magazine has a problem with several college basketball mascots (which is news to us, since nobody here at Drive and Dish was aware that Life magazine still existed). Namely, Life thinks the mascots in question are "creepy."

Before Drive and Dish weighs in with our take on Life's list of "creepy" mascots, we offer the following disclaimer: it has long been our official position that the adjective "creepy" is overused and annoying (not to mention nebulous). Make no mistake, calling someone "creepy" is a power play. It's a tactic primarily employed by females who are attempting to shame males into modifying their behavior. And it's effective. The prospect of being called "creepy" is usually enough to prompt guys to jump through hoops in order to prove to their female accusers that they are not, in fact, "creepy." And that's why, in recent years, use of the word "creepy" has all but become the de facto means by which girls assert their power over guys.

Worse yet, when used as a "shaming word," it has no objective meaning. "Creepy" is a subjective term which can be utilized to describe almost anything its user wishes:

"OMG!!! That guy is totally looking at me! He's totally checking me out! OMG! That guy is sooo creepy!!!"

"OMG!!! I'm a hot girl, and I'm interested in that cute guy, but he totally doesn't notice me. WTF!?! What's wrong with him!?! He's must be gay. Or maybe he's a little wussy boy who's intimidated by me and doesn't have the balls to approach me. He's like, sooo creepy!!!"

"OMG!!! That guy's such a dirtbag! He's like, a total player! He doesn't care about any girls. He's just all about, like, ya know, getting in girls' pants. What a creepy dirtbag!!!"

"OMG!!! That guy is such a total geek! He has, like, NO game at all! I'm sure he never gets any ass. And he probably doesn't even care, cause he probably just goes back to his room and plays World of Warcraft! OMG!! He's such a L-O-S-E-R! He's totally creepy!!!

"OMG!!! That guy held a door open for me. He probably just wants to get in my pants! OMG!! He's sooo creepy!!!"

"OMG!!! That guy didn't hold the door open for me. That's sooo rude. Who the hell does he think he is? He's sooo creepy!!!"

Females accuse males of being "creepy" so often, and for so many disparate reasons, that the word has begun to lose much of its meaning. Insofar as "creepy" means whatever the person using it wants it to mean, it's become the ultimate post-modern adjective. But even with its diluted meaning, "creepy" remains an enormously powerful tool, as it conveys sinister (and often sexually predatory) overtones.

So it's not without at least a bit of trepidation that Drive and Dish entertains the notion of Life Magazine's list of the "creepiest" college mascots. Having said that, several of the mascots strike us as being, indeed, pretty damn creepy. Our thoughts:

1. The Stanford tree is undeniably wacked out. Life Magazine opines that it seems to have been inspired by a bad acid trip. Yours truly isn't exactly a big hallucinogenic drug user, but senior Drive and Dish editors have conferred with lower level Drive and Dish employees who are, in fact, big hallucinogenic drug users, and the consensus among the Drive and Dish acid eaters is that the Stanford tree does, in fact, seem to be inspired by a bad acid trip.

Worse yet, the current incarnation of the Stanford tree bears even less of a resemblance to an actual tree than its previous incarnations. At least the old Stanford tree (circa 1996-98) was actually green -- the new tree looks like it's supposed to depict five unrolled condoms stacked on top of each other, topped off with a Cowichan warrior's headdress.

And the 1980's boat shoes with black socks just add insult to injury.

There's no doubt about it -- anyone (Stanford student, alumni, or otherwise) who's willing to admit to liking the Stanford tree has probably just smoked a few trees.

2. The Oklahoma State Cowboy (known as "Pistol Pete") looks like the Burger King's long lost brother/cousin. Life can't be easy for a rough and tumble Oklahoma cowboy; I wonder if he knows that he's related to royalty. He might want to tell the Burger King to send some $$ his way.

Worse yet, Oklahoma State has no claim on the nickname "Pistol Pete." "Pistol Pete" was the nickname of Pete Maravich, who was one of the greatest and most iconic -- arguably the greatest and the most iconic -- college basketball players of all time. Pete Maravich was a three time NCAA All American who, forty years after his final season as a collegian, remains college basketball's all time leading scorer. In his three collegiate seasons (1968-70), he amassed 3,667 points and averaged an astonishing 44.2 points per game. What's more, Maravich played long before the advent of the three point shot in college basketball. It's been estimated, based on footage of Maravich's old games, that if the three point shot had existed, he would have averaged more than 57 points per game.

More on Pete Maravich here, here and here.

So it's not surprising that a college basketball mascot would use the nickname "Pistol Pete." It is, however, surprising that Oklahoma State's mascot uses the nickname.

The original "Pistol Pete" played at LSU.

3. Louisiana-Lafayette's mascot looks too much like Carrot Top to be taken seriously (well, to the extent that college mascots can be taken seriously).

4. Why does the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi mascot dress in traditional Hawaiian garb?

Corpus Christi, TX, is a coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, Corpus Christi has palm trees and an ocean, but other than the fact that both are warm weather locales situated on large bodies of salt water, the Texas Gulf Coast has almost nothing in common with Hawaii.

Growing up, my paternal grandparents lived near the Texas Gulf Coast. I spent countless hours in my grandfather's boat, fishing in the Gulf. I like the Texas Gulf Coast. But let's face it: the Gulf Coast isn't exactly a haven for surfers, and Texas isn't known for hula dancers in grass skirts. Thus, the grass skirt clad, Tiki themed TAMU-Corpus Christi mascot doesn't really make sense.

5. Austin Peay's "Governor" mascot may be "creepy," but the school's student body chant -- "Let's go Peay!" (pronounced "pee") -- stands alone in its genius.

6. The UConn Husky looks like a furry.

(Photo of the Stanford tree: courtesy of Life Magazine).

Former NBA Forward Horace Grant Wins Arbitration Case vs. Mutual Fund

Add former Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Lakers forward Horace Grant to the list of investors who got burned by exposure to collateralized debt obligations tied to residential mortgages. Fortunately for Grant, he won an arbitration case against case against a mutual fund he claimed misrepresented the risk levels of the bond funds it sold him. Morgan Keegan & Co. of Memphis, TN, has been ordered to pay Grant $1.46 million for losses incurred via his position in funds heavily invested in the aforementioned collateralized debt obligations.

Summer Break Winding Down

Drive and Dish has been more or less silent for the last two or three months. Our dearth of blogging activity has not been entirely by choice. Drive and Dish's Atlantic Coast Conference/Tobacco Road bureau chief, Mark Buckets, has retired from sports blogging, and the last several months have been particularly taxing and challenging for the sole remaining full time Drive and Dish writer, yours truly, Have Jumpshot Will Travel (a.k.a. Trashtalk Superstar).

From late February to the conclusion of college basketball in early April (roughly the point at which I began to be abnormally crunched for time), I did my best to continue dishing out basketball commentary. Unfortunately, our NCAA Tournament and Final Four coverage was considerably less extensive than it had been in previous years. And after North Carolina carted their fifth NCAA National Championship trophy back to Chapel Hill, Drive and Dish went into a late spring/early summer period of hibernation (yeah, spring/summer is a strange time to hibernate, but -- quick, somebody tell Al Gore -- it has been an unusually chilly summer in Chicagoland).

By necessity, I've had to spend an unusually large chunk of the spring and summer on the road (hey, things can get hectic when you're running from the authorities). At first, I managed to knock out several blog posts from airports and hotel rooms. But as my schedule became more tight, my blogging productivity ultimately dwindled.

But take heart, loyal Drive and Dish readers: in the coming weeks, Drive and Dish will return to it's normal summer level of blogging activity (which roughly amounts to a blog post or two per week). And once we pocket the millions in federal set asides that the Stimulus Package allocated for bloggers with Blogspot and Wordpress sports blogs, we should be going full tilt, with both barrels blazing!

In the meantime, you can check out Drive and Dish's thoughts/ramblings in 140 characters or less at Twitter.

Sooner Legend, Longtime NBA Player Wayman Tisdale Dies at 44

Former University of Oklahoma star, longtime NBA veteran forward and accomplished jazz guitarist Wayman Tisdale died Friday morning. He was 44.

Tisdale played 12 seasons in the NBA and averaged 15.3 points for his career. He was a member of the U.S. team that captured the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

In 2007, Tisdale was diagnosed with bone cancer. His right leg was amputated in August, 2008.

The Indiana Pacers drafted Wayman Tisdale out of Oklahoma in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft. The 6'9" Tisdale played with the Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns before retiring in 1997. Tisdale released his debut jazz album, "Power Forward," in 1995, while a member of the Suns (where he played from the 1994-95 season until 1997). "Power Forward" rose to No. 4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart. Tisdale's career as a jazz musician took off when his basketball career came to an end. He was one of the most successful musicians in the contemporary jazz scene up until his death.

RIP Wayman Tisdale.

Associated Press video: here.