General

Shanoff’s WUC: How Can You NOT Root For Red?

Mar 25, 2010, 12:22 PM UTC

Today’s Calls: Kentucky vs. Cornell, Syracuse vs. Butler, West Virginia vs. Washington, Kansas State vs. Xavier, Urban Meyer vs. the Orlando Sentinel, Donovan McNabb vs. the Rams, MLB vs. LCS, MLS vs. World Cup, Nets vs. Infamy, Rex Ryan vs. HBO and More.â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: I want Cornell to beat Kentucky. You want Cornell to beat Kentucky. We all want Cornell to beat Kentucky.â†µ

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â†µBut will Cornell beat Kentucky?â†µ

â†µâ†µThat’s like saying last week that you want Northern Iowa to beat Kansas, then asking will they beat Kansas?â†µ

â†µâ†µJust like UNI, it will take a perfect storm: Cornell has to shoot as well as they did against Wisconsin. They have to slow down Kentucky’s pace. They have to hope for some foul trouble for UK’s bigs.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd, if Kentucky’s loss to Tennessee earlier this season is any indication, they have to dare Kentucky to beat them with the 3 -- then hope the Wildcats can’t adjust to the Carrier Dome’s depth.â†µ

â†µâ†µDome-court advantage is the X-factor that I find most intriguing: Cornell has played at Syracuse plenty of times before; for this Kentucky crew, it’s a first-time experience.â†µ

â†µâ†µSo Cornell hits its shots. Kentucky doesn’t. The Cats fall behind -- and can’t speed up the game. Their four NBA-bound freshmen start to freak out a little bit. Cornell’s seniors calmly stick to the plan. ...â†µ

â†µâ†µI go back to this: If Northern Iowa can beat Kansas, then Cornell can beat Kentucky.â†µ

â†µâ†µThat’s what we’re all hoping, at least. â†µ

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â†µLooking at tonight's regional semifinals...â†µ
â†µ(Picks in all-caps)â†µ

â†µâ†µWest @ Salt Lake Cityâ†µ
â†µSYRACUSE vs. Butler (7:07 p.m. ET): The Orange’s man in the middle, Arinze Onuaku, will miss yet another game. But the ‘Cuse is playing so well right now that they don’t seem to miss him all that much.â†µ

â†µâ†µKansas St. vs. XAVIER (9:37 p.m. ET): The X-Men showed they can beat the gritty teams when they knocked off Pitt last weekend, and they come no grittier than Frank Martin’s Wildcats. I have Xavier on my bracket; I’ll stick with it.â†µ

â†µâ†µEast @ Syracuseâ†µ
â†µWEST VIRGINIA vs. Washington (7:27 p.m. ET): The ‘Eers will miss Truck Bryant, particularly at the pace Washington will try to push. And this is the part of the Tournament where Huggins usually folds. Still. ...â†µ

â†µâ†µKENTUCKY vs. Cornell (9:57 p.m. ET): This reminds me more of the George Mason-Florida game from the 2006 Final Four (UF’s frontcourt depth overwhelmed GMU) than the George Mason-UConn upset from the 2006 regional final.â†µ

â†µâ†µCFB: The glare remains at Florida. Was Urban Meyer right or wrong to rip the Orlando Sentinel beat reporter for quoting Deonte Thompson saying seemingly dismissive things about Tim Tebow? Neither: The reporter was just doing his job; Meyer, always calculating, was simply doing his. No one said things had to be cozy, for either side. â†µ

â†µâ†µNFL Draft: It’s a strange draft this year, in that the most popular and intriguing player in the draft pool -- Tim Tebow -- won’t go until Round 2. (That Tebow would slip through Round 2 is inconceivable.â†µ

â†µâ†µMcNabb to the Rams? Seems to get debunked every other hour, but just because a GM denies a trade rumor doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening. Obfuscation and deception are part of the job description.â†µ

â†µâ†µNFL Overtime Reform: I couldn’t care less that the coaches are unhappy with the change -- or how the change happened. In fact, that the coaches are unhappy confirms that this rule-change is a great idea.â†µ

â†µâ†µNets Watch: Win No. 8! The marketing-savvy Nets management should recognize that breaking the record makes this team special. Tying it merely makes it memorable -- but avoiding it simply makes it pathetically bad.â†µ

â†µâ†µMLB: Don’t say MLB never did anything for you to “innovate” -- they eliminated the off-day between Games 4 and 5 of the LCS playoff round. Now, about expanding instant replay. ...â†µ

â†µâ†µMLS Season Opens: Last season was a breakthrough, if only because of the success of the inaugural season of the Seattle Sounders and the improbable MLS Cup run by Real SLC (coincidentally, in front of 90K fans in ... Seattle.) MLS must leverage the larger fan interest in soccer -- via the World Cup -- back into its league.â†µ

â†µâ†µNIT Mania: Not only does the Atlantic 10 have Xavier in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, but also last night they put TWO teams into the NIT semifinals: Dayton (over Illinois) and Rhode Island (over Va. Tech). Get ready, NYC!â†µ

â†µâ†µCBB Coaching Carousel: UTEP’s Tony Barbee gets hired by Auburn, and it’s a good match for both -- he steps up into the SEC; Auburn gets the coach of one of the best mid-major programs in the country.â†µ

â†µâ†µPop Culture: Rex Ryan + HBO “Hard Knocks” = The most must-see football show of the fall.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: “I suppose the best thing he could do would be open up and just let you guys [the media] shoot at him.” -- Arnold Palmer, a guy who knows a thing or two about cultivating a public image, about Tiger Woods.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd Palmer is exactly right. Beyond just getting back on the course, all Tiger has to do is let the media punch themselves out in one marathon media tour. That’s all he ever had to do. Golf media WANTS to love him. The fans WANT to love him. Only Tiger is making this difficult on himself, not the rest of us.â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/danshanoff. â†µ

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