Spring imitates summer as the Royals finish the first week of spring training at 1-3 (that faint hiss you heard was the last vestiges of unrealistic, wholesome, almost child-like optimism leaking out of the midwest) while the billion dollar Cubs are 0-3. Nothing that can't be cured when Jason Marquis rounds into form. The Heat may get D-Wade back, and NHL is rolling towards the playoffs. Sunday night's clash of the west's top two seeds delivered large on the Intensity-and-Excitement-O'-Meter. But the weekend was all about college hoops, with teams playing themselves in and out of the tourney, and blood spilled (literally and poetically) across courts nationwide.
1) How Freakin' Good is Kevin Durant? And Kansas?: Maybe if Durant, like OSU's Greg Oden, looked like he was 38 and straight out of a short-shorts 1980s NBA highlight package instead of the thin, babyfaced kid he is, the debate over this year's NBA #1 would be different. But for a half in Lawrence, he absolutely torched the Jayhawks. 25 points from everywhere on the court as UT built a 12 point lead at halftime. Then, because college sports rock, KU came out of the locker room sharper than Ken Jennings, ripped off a huge run, and took the lead. Durant turns an ankle at the 11 minute mark and isn't the same guy, Texas can't recover, and KU wins 90-86. By the way, the Jayhawks are now the country's #2 team.
2) Maybe Rip Hamilton Can Loan Him a Mask: Sunday in Chapel Hill, Duke looked a lot more like the team that dropped out of the Top 25 around Valentine's Day than the 14th ranked team in the nation, losing to North Carolina 86-72. It was a sludgy game without fireworks until UNC's Tyler Hansbrough took a wicked elbow from Duke's Gerald Henderson with 14.5, and bled like a cheesy horror movie back to the locker room. That led to some fun Coach K vs. Roy Williams "Starters shouldn't have been out there!" talk, the likes of which we haven't seen since Isiah Thomas unleashed Mardy Collins on J.R. Smith.
3) Busted Busters: While Hansbrough left a few pints on the hardwood, the at large tourney hopes of the Colonial Athletic Association basically bled out. Those of you itching to become this year's office genius by penciling in Drexel to the Sweet 16 may end up disappointed. The Dragons lost in the CAA semis to top seeded Virginia Commonwealth, 63-56, meaning their impressive slate of non-conference road wins (St. Joe's, Syracuse, Villanova) will get them plenty of love from the NIT selection committee. As for Old Dominion, they were spanked by George Mason (remember them?), 79-63, and at 24-8 will likely join Drexel in the lil' tourney, despite a November win at Georgetown. Mason may have softened the Big Dance selection committee's hearts a little with last year's Final Four run... but not enough to help these slayed giant killers. Is it too late to jump on the Winthrop bandwagon?
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