Recapping Opening Weekend: A Sensational Saturday

Three overtime battles, with an incredible five of eight games decided by five points or less

Ron Lewis kicked off the party and it never stopped.

Lewis' clutch three with two seconds to go in regulation sent Ohio State to overtime versus Xavier, and propelled them to victory, 78-71. A collective sigh swept through Buckeye nation with Lewis' ice-water trifecta.

In overtime, the dynamic freshmen point guard Mike Conley Jr. carried the squad to victory without superstar Greg Oden. Oden fouled out in regulation; however, Conley Jr. dropped 11 points to keep the Buckeyes' national championship hopes and the Oden era alive at least one more game.

In the process, Ohio State extended their winning-streak to 19 games with their last lost coming all the back on Jan. 9th at then-No. 4 Wisconsin, 72-69. Lewis finished with 27 big-time points, Conley Jr. tallied 21, while Oden finished with 14 points and 12 boards. Xavier led by as many as 11, but failed to put it away when Justin Cage miss the potential game-sealing free throw with 9.8 seconds left. Ohio State will take on the high-powered Tennessee Volunteers Thursday night in the sweet 16.

Later on that night, Vanderbilt and Washington St. needed double-overtime to decide who would taste the joys of the sweet 16.

Vandy led by fifth-year senior and SEC player of the year, Derrick Byars, managed to pull out this fantastic battle, 78-74. Byars led the Commodores with 27 points including five 3-pointers in the second half against the vaunted Cougar D. Despite being down 33-25 at the half, the Commodores turned outward and managed to pull out this gritty ballgame. Vandy will take on Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green, and the rest of the dog pound when they take on Georgetown this Friday.

Almost simultaneously as Vanderbilt-Washington St. came to a thrilling conclusion, Cinderella lost her glass slipper, but this time there was no prince charming, Eric Maynor, to put it back on. After being down 41-26 at the half and as many as 19, Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) came storming back to force Pittsburgh to settle things in overtime. However, Pittsburgh displayed their true ability and sent Cinderella home packing, 84-79 thanks to Levance Fields, Aaron Gray, and Sam Young.

Fields had a chance to seal the game in regulation, but clanked two free throws when the game was tied at 69. However, he totally redeemed himself in overtime by nailing a big three and then set-up sharpshooter Ronald Roman for yet another three in consecutive possessions. VCU was led by Jesse Pellot-Rosa and B.A. Walker, whom tallied 20 points each. Their sophomore star point guard, Maynor, was unable to rekindle the magic that enabled VCU to knock off Duke in the first-round, 79-77.

Despite VCU's heart-wrenching lost, their feisty, gritty performance showed America yet again that the mid-major can always play the role of David when trying to slay a Goliath, the Pittsburgh Panthers. Pittsburgh will face the UCLA Bruins Thursday night with the winner advancing to the elite eight.

If Saturday's action was any indication of the excitement March Madness brings then all those fans out there better fasten their seat belts, make sure their tray tables are in the upright position, and prepare for take-off because these next four days are going to just as sensational.

Is there any better sporting event in the world? I think not.

After 16 Days of Silence, Matthews Jr. Finally Speaks

Matthews Jr. professes his innocence stating, "I have never taken HGH."

It only took Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. 16 days to claim his innocence in the Internet-based scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs. The first question is why it took 16 days to refute the allegation?

After hiring an attorney, a publicist, and checking to see if he would be the focus of an investigation, Matthews finally decided it was a good time to refute the allegation. In a press release by the Angels, Matthews statement read, "I have never taken HGH - during the 2004 season or any other time. Nobody has accused me of doing so, and no law authority has said I am a target of any investigation for doing so." (taken from ESPN.com)

This all comes in the aftermath of the Angels threatening to void his monster contract for five-years worth $50 million dollars. It is clear that if Matthews had never taken HGH that he would have immediately proclaimed his innocence by screaming to the high heavens for all to hear.

Instead, it took him 16 days. That is an eternity when you are reported to be linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Imagine an average, middle-class citizen being linked to a crime and taking 16 days to finally profess their innocence to the allegation. You can bet the house mortgage that a huge cloud of doubt would arise, which is exactly what Matthews has done.

Along with Matthews, 20 other notable athletes were connected to the scandal including Jose Canseco, John Rocker, David Bell, and Evander Holyfield. Along with taking 16 days, if you take an in-depth look into Matthews' career statistics the possibility of him using HGH becomes even cloudier.

Last season, while playing centerfield for the Texas Rangers, Matthews had a career year. At 31, he batted .313, hit 19 homers, knocked in 79 RBIs, and stretched out 44 doubles, allowing him to bank in the inflated off-season market. Prior to last year, Matthews had a career-high average of .276 in 2002 with the Baltimore Orioles, and before hitting 11 homers in 2004, then 17 in 2005 had never eclipsed the double-digit mark. Now, he has increased his total over the last three seasons that are under controversy.

I am not specifically saying that Matthews took HGH or any other performance-enhancing drugs, but looking at his history, and the fact it took 16 days to refute the allegation makes it seem as a high possibility. Anytime you are mentioned in the same sentence as Jose Cansesco these days it is a bad, bad situation.

Unfortunately, for baseball and Matthews, Major League Baseball (MLB) doesn't test for HGH because that requires a blood test. HGH was added to the banned substance list in 2005, but what is the point if you can't actually test for it.

Hopefully, law enforcement will be able to connect the dots in this Internet-scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs. However, until they are able to do so, Matthews' actions over the past 16 days have currently tainted his name, character, reputation, and baseball accomplishments.

Lance Briggs Please Shut Up

Briggs tells Foxsports.com that he will sit out entire 2007-08 season if Bears don't trade or release him

There is nothing in sports that aggravates me more than a player who has no concept of heart or loyalty. Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs solidified himself in controversy and questions for the rest of the off-season with his selfish remarks on Tuesday.

After being slapped with the franchise tag by the Bears, Briggs has been nothing but ridiculous with his constant and idiotic comments in the press. Obviously, the Bears are going to franchise a defensive player that ranks in the same category as Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris in regards to overall worth to the ball club. The fact that Briggs was upset he was franchised is ridiculous in itself because there is no way he could have ever believed the Bears would simply trade or release a player of his caliber.

Briggs is still set to make $7.2 million this season with hopes of signing a long-term deal before the season starts. However, all hopes of a new deal were destroyed with Briggs' most recent comments that he is prepared to sit the upcoming season and will never play another down for the Chicago Bears as reported by Foxsports.com. The Bears reportedly offered Briggs a seven-year, $33 million deal in March 2006, which he quickly turned down. Clearly, Briggs is worth more than the seven-year, $33 million deal offered to him earlier, but he is set to make plenty this season and should be excited to increase is value.

However, along with feeling undervalued money wise, Briggs also believes this is Brian Urlacher's team and will never be able to be the leader of the team. Now, I find this as a puzzling assumption due to the character of Brian Urlacher. Urlacher reportedly as offered to take a pay cut to help the Bears accommodate Briggs. Therefore, if he is really to lose out on money, I find it hard to believe he wouldn't accept the notion of being a co-captain with Lance Briggs.

For whatever reason, Briggs fails to realize that playing along side Urlacher makes him better. Urlacher realizes Briggs makes him better because he is willing to take a pay cut. They make a dynamic linebacking duo in which last year Briggs tallied 134 tackles, while Urlacher led the team with 142 tackles.

On top of all this, Briggs has no concept of loyalty. The Bears drafted him in 2003 out of Arizona in the third-round. How about playing for the franchise that originally drafted you? How about playing for the team that just lost the Super Bowl and will remain a top defense in the NFL with you still there? How about simply going out and playing the game you supposedly love?

Briggs is set to make $7.2 million this upcoming season and claims he will just take out loans to get him through the year. Well, Mr. Briggs that $7.2 million you are passing on would help thousands of others make it through the year.

Turning down that amount of money illustrates the game of football is no longer a passion of yours. All I ask of you is to shut up and just focus on staying in shape for the upcoming season.

Why not prove to the Bears that you are worth the big dollars by leading the team back to the Super Bowl and winning it? You are not only disrespecting the Bears' organization, but you are disrespecting your fans. The only problem is that loyalty is a term you no longer have a concept of. Finally, enjoy watching games from your couch next season, while your teammates battle in the trenches for a sport, organization and city they love.

Drexel Denied, Kansas State KO-ed

Drexel and Kansas State will not be dancing; Both snubbed by NCAA committee

Every year there are a handful of teams that can make a case they should be dancing. This year those teams were Florida State, Syracuse, West Virginia, Kansas State, Air Force and Drexel.

However, there are only two of those six that have legitimate cases, the Drexel Dragons and Kansas State Wildcats. Both should have been considered over the likes of the Purdue Boilermakers and Stanford Cardinals.

Drexel is considered by most experts as the team most deserving that did not get a bid. Their resume includes nonconference wins at Syracuse, Villanova, and Creighton as well as 14 road/neutral victories. It is clear that the committee was simply not impressed with their fourth place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished behind conference champion Virginia Commonwealth (VCU), Old Dominion, and Hofstra. Hofstra was also left out of the tournament, but did not have as impressive out-of-conference record as Drexel. Finishing at 23-8, Drexel could have been the Cinderella from the CAA like George Mason was last year, but instead the committee rewarded an average Purdue squad in an average Big Ten, and a Stanford team that did not eclipse the 20 win barrier.

In a much tougher conference than the Big Ten and Pac-10, the Kansas State Wildcats found themselves finishing fourth in a top heavy Big 12, as well as going 22-11 and 10-6 in conference play. Kansas State has a bigger argument since the fifth seed in the Big 12, Texas Tech punched their ticket to the dance despite getting destroyed by the Wildcats in the Big 12 quarterfinals 66-45. The Wildcats became the first major conference team in this era to end with 20-plus wins, 10-plus conference wins, and a fourth-place or better finish in league play and still miss the NCAA tournamnet (ESPN.com). They only lost to the overall number one seed in the tournament, Kansas 67-61 in the Big 12 semifinals. It is clear that Kansas State has a right be thoroughly disappointed by being left out over the Boilermakers and Cardinals.

Examining Purdue and Stanford's resumes, there is little that jumps off the page. Purdue finished 21-11 and tied for fourth at 9-7 in a conference that was really the "big two" in Ohio State and Wisconsin. If Purdue's dominating win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament was that impressive to the committee then the committee failed to look at Iowa as a whole. The Hawkeyes had a terrible nonconference record and were simply too inconsistent (lost to Penn State February 28th) to be considered an impressive win for the Boilermakers. They did hang around against Ohio State, but that doesn't warrant a tourney bid.

Finally, taking a look at the Cardinals can be summed up in that they and Miami (OH) are the only teams in the NCAA tournament that have less than 20 wins at 18. Miami (OH) won their way into the tourney on a miraculous three-point bank shot by back-up guard Doug Penno. Penno's three sent waves through Ohio and gave them an automatic berth by defeating Akron in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) title game, 53-52. Stanford on the other hand got bounced in overtime by USC in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament. They also finished sixth in the conference, lost four of their last five games, and did not have a single valuable nonconference win. They were even crushed by Air Force 79-45 on November 15th. The Cardinals did not fly high this year and deserved to be sent to the NIT.

It is understandable that it is impossible to get every team right in the field of 65, but these two blunders are extremely confusing. Purdue getting a nine seed, while Kansas State sits at home is impossible to comprehend. Stanford even being considered a bubble team after their lost to USC, while Drexel won 14 road/neutral games that would help them immensely in the tournament is just as mind-boggling.

My thoughts go to the players of both Drexel and Kansas State who played valiantly throughout the season. There is no reason they should be NIT bound, while Purdue and Stanford celebrate their tourney bids.