Anybody Wanna Play Defense? Anybody?

Watching the NCAA Tournament it is unbelievable how time and time again the the teams allow their opponents to dribble down the floor and hit a big shot to tie the game or close the gap. (Worse yet, it is amazing how many of those game tying plays have come on layups).

Defense, kids. It is the other half of the game.

Seems like the only reason many of these "great games" have been interesting is because the teams don't know how to close it out.

People like to rip on the NBA for what they perceive to be a lack of defense, but watch those games in the final minutes and tell me how many easy buckets you see.

I guess we'll see if the Sweet 16 can identify any kids who know how to do more than play matador defense when it really matters.

Yep, Looks Like a Roof

Aerial coverage of indoor events is lame. Unless you're playing somewhere like New York or Chicago it all looks the same.

Xavier vs. OSU

You just knew that once Ohio State got it to overtime they weren't even going to allow Xavier to have a chance. How deflating.

Bo Doesn't Know

The big news in Badgerland today is that injured McDonald's All-American Brian Butch practiced with the team. Best part of all of this? Coach Bo Ryan really doesn't know much about it.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel NewsWatch blog:

The 6-foot-11 junior has been sidelined since he suffered a dislocated right elbow and associated fracture against Ohio State on Feb. 25. He still is not cleared to play, Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. Wednesday Ryan said Butch "was on the floor going up and down with the guys."

Did he shoot the ball? "I wouldn't go that far," Ryan said at the team's hotel. "I don't know how many times he shot the ball."

Fans will be able to judge for themselves this afternoon. The Badgers have a public practice from 2:15 p.m.-2:55 p.m. at the United Center and Ryan said Butch will participate.

Butch was given a timetable of 4 to 6 weeks for recovery. It has been 2 weeks since the injury and Ryan gave no indication of whether Butch's recovery is going quicker than expected.

"I have no idea of the time schedule that way," he said.

Butch was not available for comment.

Guy with a busted arm who could help your team in the tournament? -- yeah, you wouldn't keep track of his ability to shoot or handle the basketball.

Anybody else think Bo has been watching a lot of Hogan's Heroes on DVD lately? "I see nothing..."

The Dukies!

There will be a lot of explanations for why Duke didn't win, but let me break it down to something basic: they lost because they didn't stay true to who they are.

Duke's true colors are blue and white, yet the uniforms they wore in their losing effort had black in the piping and lettering. The use of black with Duke is forced and it looks awful.

Unnatural addition of black to your uniforms = suckiness. See, New York Knicks.

B-Ball Bloggin'

Rick Majerus is writing an entertaining March Madness blog for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Check it out here.

For those of you Wisconsinites scoring at home, that's two references to Culver's, one to Usinger's, one to Miller and one to Lipitor in the Majerus blog by my count.

Live Blog: What Is This an NBA All-Star Game?

Duke is out.

Now people are going to go on and on about that -- specifically what a great finish it was. That is bull!

NEITHER one of those teams played defense in their final offensive possession. Duke sprints down and gets an easy layup to tie (anyone care to put up a hand, kids?) and then the Dukies let VCU hit the game winning shot practically uncontested at the top of the key.

That's how these teams play it out?!? Don't believe the hype -- that was not a great finish, it was a pathetic one.

Live Blog: Wait...Don't Cut

CBS just cut away from the very close Duke game to go back to MSU-MU because there was an injury in the Duke game. The last thing I could hear the announcer say was "...he's bleeding from the eye," right before they cut back to garbage time in the Marquette-Michigan State game.

Bleeding from the eye?!? Isn't that the type of thing that they zoom in on and then show you replays from 27 different directions?

Live Blog: Time Running Out

The MSU-MU game has been slogging along with MSU holding a 13 point or so lead for pretty much the entire second half. There are just over two minutes left in the game.

Duke and VCU are currently tied. Let's see if CBS sicks with MSU-MU or switches away before the buzzer.

Live Blog: No 2's

At the half it is MSU 30, Marquette 18.

Marquette did not have a single two-point field goal the entire first half.

If your Izzo, shouldn't you be asking yourself why you aren't up by more? No points allowed for almost 10 minutes...no 2-pointers...

Live Blog: MSU vs. MU

Marquette just scored their first points of the game. A full :19 before the midway point of the first half. Yeah, that did take awhile (9 minutes and 41 seconds).

Welcome to the Big Ten, Marquette.