Just got back from my cruise to the Bahamas and I’m ready to roll.  Championship Week is just about over, so let’s get to the week that was, the week ahead, and things that peaked my interest in the second ever installment of, For The Win

SCOTT JACOBS

05.

UConn! What a show Kemba Walker put on during the Big East Championships.  Smashing the record for points in a tournament, Walker, a budding superstar (and possible one and done) scored 130 points in 5 games, as the Huskies became the first team in the history of the conference tournament format to pull off 5 wins in 5 days.  Of course, this probably means they’ll get a high seed and then get bounced in the first round from being gassed (ala: Syracuse and Jerry McNamara of a few years ago).  But that Syracuse team didn’t have Walker, and UConn is tourney tested (they also won the Maui Invitational) so depending on their draw, they could be my pick to make a big time run.

San Diego State! Finally, the Aztecs hurdled over the one team that they could not beat in the regular season:  BYU.  San Diego State, needing a big time win to add to it’s resume finally got it over the Cougs, who have fell from grace since suspending one of their players for pre-marital sex.  Thought to be a possible one seed, BYU may end up a 3 or a 4.  But Jimmer Fredettte makes anything possible for BYU.  His 52 on Friday was brilliant to knock out New Mexico, but a rough shooting night on Saturday did in BYU’s chances.

Washington! Look, I get that the Pac10 is not the power it has been in years past, but what a game Arizona and the Huskies put on at Staples Center on the ugliest looking court of any conference tournament.  Washington’s  Isaiah Thomas’ fadeway jumper as time expired in the first OT gave the Huskies their second straight Pac10 tourney crown.  It was the first over-time game in the title game’s history and it was a thriller at that.  That’s how you want these games to finish, because they’re supposed to pit that conference’s two best teams against each other.  Washington may not be great, but this kid Thomas has ice in his veins.  Look out for him in the tourney as the Huskies could surprise some folks.

Princeton! On Yale’s home court in a winner take all one game playoff between the Ivies, the Tigers beat Harvard on an absolutely beautiful buzzer beater.  Douglas Davis’ fantastic fake, bought him just enough time to shoot the game winner as he was falling sideways, and Princeton claimed their 24th Ivy League title.  As for Harvard, well they still have a shot to get into the dance for the first time since 1946, but boy o boy, what a way to lose.  Both schools are smart enough to know that this was a classic!

04.

I shouldn’t be bothered by this, because quite frankly the NCAA tourney expanding to 68 teams is not that big of a difference, but there’s something that just doesn’t sit right with me calling next week’s real first round games ‘the Second Round.’  Look I get that the NCAA wants to really make these ‘play-in games’ (because that’s exactly what they are, ‘play in games’) matter, but c’mon, everyone knows that the first round truly starts on Thursday at noon.  That’s how it’s always been since I can remember and that’s the way it should be.  Watching Virginia Tech play Colorado so that they can get plotted into the real first round just doesn’t sound right.

03.

Hockey!  Last week we honed in on the Western Conference playoffs race in the NHL, and how close it was teams 3-10.  Well this week, if you can believe it, it’s even closer.  About a dozen games remain on each team’s schedules, and even though San Jose has cemented a 4 point cushion on the 3 seed, seeds 4-11 are currently separated by just 5 points.

4. Dallas          82 pts
5. Chicago      82 pts
6. L.A.             81  pts
7. Phoenix    81  pts
8. Calgary      81 pts
9. Nashville   80 pts
10. Anaheim 79 pts
11. Minnesota 77 pts

We’ll be back next week to update you on all the action.

02.

Charlie Sheen!  Because the man is crazy.  After going on UStream and doing more bashing and idiotic rambling, CBS finally decided to pull the plug on Sheen’s reign of terror over Two and a Half Men.  But this story isn’t over.  Not by a long shot.  Sheen responded by filing a $100 million lawsuit against the network and then called co-star Jon Cryer a troll, amongst other things.  Cryer who had kept his mouth shut through all of this, responded to Sheen’s rant through a pair of talk shows, showing how much of a class act he truly is.  Take a look:

On Conan:

On Ellen:

01

The Lockout.  What, like you thought number one could be anything else?  Roger Goodell is officially making a dollar, the players have officially been locked out, and the NFLPA has decertified.  The mediators have been replaced by lawyers, lots of lawyers, and you know who really loses most in all of this?  The fans!  If it wasn’t for us, there would be no millionaires in the league.  We buy the hats, tickets, programs, and we foot the bill for these absurdly expensive palaces for our teams to play in.  And our reward is a stinkin’ lockout?  Most ironic was the timing.  While Japan was recovering from a vicious Earthquake that shoke their world to the core, and literally moved the Earth 8 feet, the NFL Player reps and bigwigs sat in a room and managed to accomplish nothing.  Now it’s a war of words and an ugly battle is likely to ensue.  Just how long the lockout will last is anyone’s guess but they’re a ways away from figuring out how to split that $1 billion.  So we want to know: how long will this lockout last?  Vote on the right side.

Photo: Getty

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