Bored...

Hey all, bored at the Courant tonight. Three of us on, not too much high school stuff. Good thing there's some football on and whatnot. Right now I'm watching the Redskins and hoping they pull this one off. I think they've got a good shot at getting to the NFC title game. You've got to feel good about their story this year.



Anyway, I'm getting really excited about the year on college hoops. NCAA basketball is without a doubt my favorite sport to cover and watch. It's full of intensity, passion and unbelievable atheticism. The other night I got the chance to see the University of Houston take on UMass in Amherst, Mass. I'm doing a feature for the Courant on Houston coach Tom Penders. The Connecticut native is approaching 600 victories. His career will be remembered as both a successful and controversial one. I'll post the link to that when it runs. The game was electric and I got to see it all from my prime seat -- in a corner in front of the pep band. Still, I was able to witness two programs who are rising back to the top of the college basketball world. The team's similar, run-and-gun styles made this one easy on the eyes. Houston led at the break by 11 but UMass took it to the schoolyard in the second half and won by 95-89. One play, Luke Bonner's putback jam, made ESPN's top-10 plays the next day.



I was able to watch a little bit of today's Kansas/BC game. I think we all saw what we already knew...Kansas is filthy this year. If that team really gels down the stretch, there's nothing they won't be able to do.



Obviously, being in Connecticut, UConn is, has been, and always will be my team...no matter how much they piss me off. I won't be getting so mad at this year's team though. They've got a lot of experience back and Doug Wiggins, A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson make up a good guard rotation. Hasheem Thabeet is a little better offensively, but surprisingly not as good defensively as he was last season. Stanley Robinson is the X-factor for this team. If they want to get anything done in the Big East this year, he's got to really step it up on a consistent basis. He played like an NBA All-Star against Maine right before Christmas. Yes, it was against Maine, but he really showed how dominant he can be if he puts his mind to it. Let's hope Robinson can keep it together down the stretch. The Huskies have a tough one tonight against Notre Dame. They beat Seton Hall in their Big East opener the other night.