Sixth Year Seniors

Nebraska turns Oklahoma City into a home court, and goes from a lifetime without an NCAA tournament win to the Sweet 16. They meet fellow Big 10 Iowa, which defeats the two-time champs Florida. No. 1s Duke, Arizona and Michigan survive and advance. If there's a Cinderella, it's #11 play-in Texas with an easy road through the first week.

Does anyone want top four seeds in the NCAA tournament? Losses abound this weekend in the big conferences. Meanwhile small conference champs are punching tickets and looming as public favorites as 12 and 13 seeds. Queens, High Point, Northern Iowa: Get your Cinderellas now! Plus, the Miami OH magical season finishes without a loss.

Duke beats Michigan, but there were other Evil Empires lurking this weekend. Arizona and Houston also tangle, as the top four teams meet in February. Coaching tirades in Kansas State and Green Bay, with one losing his job. Bill self says what's not going on with Darryn Peterson, but doesn't explain what is going on. Huge blow for Texas Tech, losing All-American JT Toppin. And, of course, Olympic wrap ups.

Fans need to figuring out this court-storming thing, somewhere between Portland and Chapel Hill. Maybe Minnesota has it right. But three times in one season? All that and much more college hoops, plus Olympics and Super Bowl thoughts.

Freshmen lit up the college basketball scoreboard this weekend. Miami OH gave us yet another heart-stopping victory. Unbeaten Nebraska and #1 Michigan are hidden on Peacock. Alabama's hiding a pro in plain sight. And Doctor Bradley is back on his fourth team in five years.

Top teams sleepwalking through the break find the going tough. Michigan shocked by Wisconsin, Duke troubled by Louisville, Auburn celebration cut short by a fingertip, Kansas can't buy a victory. Who still needs a logo win? Oh, and there's that football game between Basketball School Indiana and The Team That Shouldn't Be In The Playoffs.

As college basketball turns to the new year, we find more Cinderellas. NCAA-ineligible St. Thomas could wreck the Summit. Akron leads an improving MAC. Yale is a strong favorite in the Ivy. UC San Diego and UC Irvine might be at-large contenders in the Big West. St. Mary's and New Mexico try to prevent leaving teams from winning their conference titles. And finals participants Florida and Houston are quietly still threats for the national title.

The first round of the football playoffs was totally unnecessary. Luckily, there was basketball. Vandy and Miami OH remain unbeaten, which is more than Duke could do. Plus, one more Guaranteed Winner on a quarterfinal football matchup for entertainment purposes only during the holidays.

We do it better than the bowl committees. Georgia Tech and Vandy headlines the non-playoff bowls. But we also find jewels with some Texas-on-Texas violence, a worthy opponent for Penn State, and a bowl that could become the next advertising star like the Pop-Tart Bowl. And we even liked two bowls enough to leave them alone.

The Coaching Carousel may be stupid, but the Playoff Carousel could be even stupider. How about the Chaos Theory when James Madison gets upset and UNLV makes the playoffs? It exists! More likely, the committee has to choose between Alabama, Notre Dame and Miami for two at-large spots. And two more Mortgage Plays for entertainment purposes only.

On the shank of Thanksgiving, we're thankful for basketball championships first thing in the morning, college football after the Thanksgiving meal and one more Mortgage Play on Saturday night.

A different perspective on the John Beam killing, Red Panda overshadowing ESPN's NBA halftime, a bit of basketball, and a Mortgage Play in an important American Conference game.