Brittney Griner Is Back

 ESPN is blessing us with 24 uninterrupted hours of college basketball today. Schools like Louisville and Kansas St. are among those in action. Michigan St. coach Tom Izzo will also be featured in a game against South Carolina as he continues celebrating his decision not to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers.

 At 6 pm eastern, I'm ditching the men's action to watch ESPN2's clash between the top two ranked teams in college women's basketball. Brittney Griner leads Baylor to Connecticut to battle Maya Moore's Huskies who are riding a 79 game winning streak. At 6'8", Griner is the most awe inspiring dominant player in women's basketball. She dunks in games and is capable of a points-rebounds-blocks triple-double on any given night. 

 Baylor's last loss was to UConn in last year's NCAA tournament. Tina Charles battled the 6'8" Griner for the Huskies last year, but she's now in the WNBA. Tonight, 6'5" freshman Stefanie Dolson will try to contain the Baylor center.

 Here's to Griner getting a triple double, 2 dunks and a streak-busting win over UConn and Geno Auriemma this evening. 

Sue Bird's Game Winner Over Phoenix

 Sue Bird hit a game winning 3 point dagger with 2.8 seconds left, capping a 15 point run, and giving her Seattle Storm a playoff series win over the reigning champion Phoenix Mercury. The Storm had been down by as many as 19 points. They were led in scoring by Swin Cash with 23 points. Diana Taurasi led the Mercury with 28 points. 

 Bird, Cash and Taurasi are all products of Geno Auriemma's UConn program which boasted five women between the two rosters.  

  LeBron James tweeted, "Wow what a shot by Sue Bird!! Bang bang," immediately after the game.

 Kerry Rhodes, safety for the Arizona Cardinals tweeted, "That was a great game big shot from sue bird but these women can play man!! WNBA is real and should be respected."

 NFL players and the reigning NBA MVP are watching womens' hoops on a Sunday afternoon and amped after the game. The Storm are fun to watch. Three time MVP Lauren Jackson, Swin Cash & Sue Bird are their big three answer to LeBron's Miami Heat and they play fantastic basketball together. They haven't lost a home game all year, setting a WNBA record. 

 The Storm have already advanced to the WNBA Finals before the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Liberty and the Atlanta Dream have even started.

 If you want to see basketball teamwork & heart at a high level, don't sleep on Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm. 

    

Geno Krzyzewski

What a Mad March.

In the Men's tournament there were upsets from Day 1. St. Mary's, Ohio, Northern Iowa and the kings of the new breed Butler put on exciting runs that had us believing in the little guy-

-until the Empire struck back in the form of Darth Krzyzewski and his stormtroopers of Duke. The devilish brood dashed the dreams of 15 young men and a nation who believed in them.

On the Women's side, we were treated to the emergence of rising new 6'8" Baylor phenom Brittney Griner. She broke the shot blocking record in 4 games. She missed a triple double by 1 rebound against Duke. 

Griner is a gentle giant who played the role of David against the Goliath of Women's hoops, UConn and their coach Darth Auriemma. 

Again, the stormtroopers rose to the occasion by crushing Brittney before toying with and destroying Stanford to win the title.

Krzyzewski & Auriemma.

 2 coaches who are only liked by their players and possibly their own families. 

2 programs who are only liked by their alum and bandwagon frontrunners.

2 empires whose smug arrogance & abrasive demeanor make the deep freeze look like a tanning bed.

There are rumors that the new owner of the Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, will offer Darth Krzyzewski between $12-15 million to leave Duke and bring his ruthlessness to New Jersey. That's mostly good news because it instantly makes Duke more Jawa than Stormtrooper. Also, it likely means that Coach K will be on his way to becoming another college coaching Daedalus who fails in the NBA like Rick Pitino and Tim Floyd before him. 

Darth Auriemma recently said that the only job that would get him to leave UConn would be the Duke men's team gig. If Coach K takes the Jersey Bait, we might witness crash and burn number 2 when Auriemma's techniques fail to win the recruits Duke is accustomed to, leading to a collapse like Notre Dame football.

Here's hoping Krzyzewski takes the Nets job and Auriemma fulfills his prophesy, both to disastrous results.

May the Force of the Basketball Gods be with us until the empire is effaced.