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... surely there were some State grad engineers on that project, right?

I refer to the little prank that's just been noticed at the shiny new JPJ Arena at UVA.

It appears that someone - maybe one of the workers? - carved a pretty precise VT logo into the hardwood floor of the court during construction. Since it's under the glossy finish, it's safe to assume it's been there all season long.

Take comfort in this though, Wahoos. Clearly, it hasn't affected the home court advantage so far. Of course, lose tonight against the Hokies and that prank achieves legendary status.

First Virginia gacks at Wake on Saturday, then the Hokies turn into the Chokies by losing to Clemson - Clemson!!!! - at home - home!!! - to blow a chance at the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament.

So UNC SID Steve Kirschner has just submitted a revised list of the tiebreakers for the ACC tournament. If you already have a headache, I'd suggest you not try to comprehend what I'm about to write.

We'll start with the most likely scenario:

UNC wins and BC loses (Eagles down 16-2 right now)
1. UNC 11-5 by virtue of home win vs. UVA
2. UVA 11-5
3. Va. Tech 10-6 2-1 vs. BC/Md 3-1 record vs. UVA and UNC
4. BC 10-6 2-1 vs. VT/MD 1-1 record vs. UVA and UNC
5. Md 10-6 0-2 vs. BC/VT

UNC loses and BC loses
1. UVA 11-5
2. VT 10-6 4-1 vs. BC/MD/UNC
3. BC 10-6 2-2 vs. MD/VT/UNC
4. MD 10-6 1-1 vs. VT/UNC/BC
5. UNC 10-6 1-3 vs. VT/MD/BC

UNC wins and BC wins
1. UNC 11-5 (2-0) vs. BC and UVA
2. BC 11-5 (1-1) vs. UNC and UVA
3. UVA 11-5 (0-2) vs. BC and UNC

UNC loses and BC wins
1. BC 11-5 1-0 vs. UVA
2. UVA 11-5 0-1 vs. BC
3. VT 10-6 3-0 vs. Md and UNC
4. Md 10-6 1-1 vs. VT and UNC
5. UNC 10-6 0-3 vs. Md and VT

So here's how it boils down for UNC at least ...
Tar Heels win, #1 seed.
Tar Heels lose, #5 seed.

Think there's a little at stake in this game?

As for Duke, if it wins it's got the No. 6 seed. If it loses and Georgia Tech loses it's the No. 6 seed. If the Blue Devils lose and the Yellow Jackets win, then Duke is the No. 7 seed, by virtue of GT's win over UNC.

Got all that? We'll try to update when the BC/GT game is over.

But can't we take a little time to appreciate the whackiness that is a Lithuanian dunk contest?

Kids, don't try this at home.

as those musical poets Survivor once sang, "The search is over, Al was right before my eyes."

Or something like that.

Ever since Jarrett Jack sadly gave up his senior year of eligibility, I've been searching for my new ACC man crush. Man crush being defined as a player I just love to watch. Preferrably that player should play on a non Big Four school because hey, objectivity still matters to me, people.

I'd struggled this year to find that guy that made my hearstrings zing every time he touched the ball. In the first half, it hit me like a thunderbolt. I love Al Thornton.

There, I said it.

What's not to love? The man can do it all. Rebound, run the floor, muscle his way to the hoop in drives, or in the low post and yes, shoot the perimeter J.

Did I mention he can also run the floor like a deer and jump out of the gym?

He had it all on display in the first half, making six of eight shots, including two threes, scoring 18 points in 18 minutes. Yes, he did have four turnovers. My man crush love is not blind.

But it's not just stats that qualify for man crush status. It's also the way a guy plays. Late in the first half, Thornton went up for a dunk and came crashing down hard, having to use his hands to break his fall. He came up shaking his wrists and I thought - uh oh. The next time down the floor, he grabs a big rebound. He then closed out the half with a long 3-pointer to give the Noles the lead.

By that time, I was hopelessly in love.

IYes, we took the RFS show on the road, including all our super expensive production equipment. And there's a special guest appearance by RFS fan favorite Jeff Carlton!

In the spirit of truth and objectivity, I'm posting this without editing out my prediction of a Clemson win over FSU.

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subtitled, "Why I'm an idiot"

On the podcast I said that the Maryland-Miami game was the one really easy first-round game to pick. Yes, that's the same podcast in which I picked Clemson to beat FSU. Thanks for reminding me.

Shows how much I know. Maybe I should have noticed that Miami was looking a lot more competitve toward the end of the season - OT losses at Clemson and at home to FSU. Maybe I should have put more stock in the return to health of Hurricanes post player Jimmy Graham.

But c'mon, the Terps were the hottest team in the ACC.

Emphasis on were. It's 37-24 Miami at the half.

Three times during the first 20 minutes I had to lean over to ACC PR honcho Brian Morrison to make sure I was indeed watching the Terrapins. He repeatedly assured me that I was.

I'm not so sure.

... I came down into the lobby of the media hotel this morning eager to great the day after the wonders of Thursday, arguably the greatest single day in ACC Tournament history.

Instead, I was confronted by a horde of Yankee fans, who had invaded the hotel because they're holding a New York Yankees luncheon in a second floor ballroom. I have a hunch that, since it's being held in conjunction with the Tampa Boys & Girls Club, a favorite charity of George Steinbrenner, that Big Stein himself might be there.

Too bad I have to watch these games today. If not, I'd be tempted to sneak in the back of the room and do my best Frank Costanza ...

"How could you trade Jay Buhner? He had a rocket for an arm!"

It has come to my attention that some of this blog's readers were a bit bewildered by my man crush on Al Thornton. (Still going strong today, by the way. Did you see that spin move for a layup? Sweet).

Here are a few definitions of man crush, according to the Urban Dictionary.

... I think I may have located him. Florida State guard Jason Rich is a dead ringer for the fiery former Indiana coach. Especially when Rich gets that intense stare and flares out his nostrils just like Davis.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find still photos that can confirm this. Rich is smiling in his shot on the Seminoles' team website. He looks like a different person.

So you'll just have to watch for this on television or trust my astute judgement. Obviously, I'd go with the latter.

He's one of the most respected referees in the ACC and he doesn't take crap from anyone, particularly some lowly scrub for Florida State.

Midway through the second half Seminoles bench player Brian Hoff loudly expressed his dismay when a foul wasn't called on UNC's Tyler Hansbrough. He may have had a point, but he broke a cardinal rule of college hoops - refs will take a lot of woofing from the head coach, but they don't want to hear it from anyone else, particularly bench players.

So on the way down the floor Wood fixed Hoff with a death stare. But he wasn't done there. During a stoppage in play Wood came over to the Florida State bench to let Hoff know just how out of line he was. He might have even slapped a T on Hoff, if not for the quick feet and fast talking of FSU assistant Stan Jones.

Yes, that was the closes thing to excitement in the second half of the UNC-FSU game. Thursday's games are going to be a tough act to follow, but the Fighting Frank Haiths are up on BC, 22-20 right now, so there's still time.

Sadly, Jim Young's impossible dream of incorrectly picking every ACC game died a sad death earlier today, when he picked UNC to beat FSU. The proof is right here in a short but sweet addition of Radio Free Sports.

But never fear, Jim also picked BC to take Miami, and right now the Hurricanes are up by seven.

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as in Jimmy Graham of MIami, now that BC's has fought back to tie the game and force overtime.

I'm kind of rooting for the Canes here, not just because local boy Frank Haith coaches them, but because it will give me another chance to use all my "Jimmy" comments from one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes, featuring a guy named Jimmy who referred to himself in third-person at all times.

"Don't touch Jimmy!"

"Jimmy's down!"

"Jimmy's going into shock!"

... could you get a national anthem in which one group of fans yells out "Whoos" during "Whose broad stripes and bright stars", then another yell "Red" during "Rockets' red glare" and then "O" at "Oh say does that star-spangled banner."

For those scoring at home, that would UVA fans, followed by State fans, followed by Duke fans. Yes, a few Duke fans stuck around.

Here are a few things that need to be banned/improved.

1) Enough already with banging your heart after hitting a big shot. Yes you hit a big three. It doesn't mean you're ready for Profiles in Courage. Plus, it's really cliche. I hate cliche.

2) Can we get the cheerleaders to at least cheer toward their fan base? I sat there on Thursday and watched the Duke cheerleaders perform all their cheers at the side where both teams are seated - the side where Maryland's fans were sitting. Needless to say, there wasn't much of a response. Kudos to the UVA cheerleaders, the only group that actually positioned themselves to cheer toward their fans. This just strengthens my opinions that college cheerleaders aren't really cheer-leaders but rather just cheer-ers.

3) Just to shake things up, let's eliminate the interlocking arms on the bench during close games. Let's replace it with the arm over arm handshakes that the Cosby Kids first made famous on the Fat Albert Show. Yes, I know I'm dating myself here.

4) After watching his sideline theatrics yesterday, I'd like to get UVA coach Dave Leitao miked. But we'd need to run that on a delay - with lots of beeps. Lots of beeps. Still, it's quality entertainment.

5) Finally, fans have to understand that you can't really do the whole call and response cheers when you're only in one section. When you yell "Tar" the Virginia Tech fans across the way will not oblige you with a "Heels."

There, I've said enough for now. Back to the lopsided game.

Tom Mickle, a former ACC administrator whose diligent work helped craft the system now known as the Bowl Championship Series, was named posthumously as the 2007 winner of the Marvin “Skeeter” Francis Award for service to the ACC media on Saturday.

Mickle, who lived in Greensboro for 13 years while running the league’s football operations, died in April 2006 from complications related to kidney cancer. His wife, Jill, and daughter, Holland, accepted the plaque in ceremonies at halftime of Saturday’s second ACC Tournament semifinal.

“Tom was an extremely bright guy and loved what he did,” said former ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan, who hired Mickle in 1989. “He truly loved it. He was a very creative thinker. He always had ideas for how to work things out.”

While with the ACC, Mickle helped formulate principles that became known as the Bowl Alliance, a precursor to today’s BCS. He left the league in late 2001 to become executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, the non-profit organization that runs the Capital One Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl. Both games witnessed improved exposure, payout and television time slot during his administration.

-- by Rob Daniels

... too bad that Kim Meltzer is merely a state representative in Michigan. She's got the right idea about NCAA Tournament pools: legalize them.

A tip of the hat to the lads at Deadspin, who found this story in the Detroit Free Press.

Here's what the Honorable Ms. Meltzer has to say about the office pool:

"What makes March Madness unique is that all kinds of people and sports fans of all levels fill out their brackets and enjoy the tournament," Rep. Kim Meltzer, a Republican from Macomb County's Clinton Township, said in a statement. "It's a crime we consider that a crime, and I want to change it."

Bless you Rep. Kim, for your common sense approach to law making!

Of course, we should add that, because the practice is illegal, we here at SportsExtra would never condone NCAA pools. But we do know some, ummm, friends, who think that Texas A&M is a good dark horse pick to make the Final Four.

... I'll get to blogging about basketball, once I actually finish up all my assignments for the paper we actually print every day (Yeah, we still do that). But I felt compelled to make this public announcement.

If you run into a member of the media in Winston-Salem in the next four days or so, refrain from shaking their hand. While that's generally always a good rule to follow, I really mean it in this case.

Why? The bathroom situation for the press here at the LJVM is, shall we say, sub-optimal. First, even though we're in an actual building, we're having to use porta-johns. Granted, they're the upgrade type we use at the GGO, but still.

Second, the faucets didn't work in either bathroom. Trust me, I tried my darnedest to get some water out of them. I did manage to use some unconventional methods to wash my hands, but I'd rather not go into details. Frankly, I don't trust my colleagues to take the same steps I did to keep my hygiene levels at appropriate levels.

Thus, my warning about hand shakes. You'd do well to heed it.

Former Cummings HS star describes Old Dominion's status as a popular upset pick in the NCAA tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.

In the Lefty Driesell Challenge, so named because it pits two teams the Lefthander coached to national prominence, Maryland pulled away for an 82-70 victory over a fading Davidson team today.
The Cats, who led by eight early in the second half, had a chance to build on the edge when the Terps committed turnovers on three straight possessions while down 52-44. But Davidson gave the ball away twice itself in that stretch.
The Terps did a good job of getting back in transition and forcing bad shots out of the Wildcats. Stephen Curry led all scorers with 30 points but had only seven in the final 17 minutes.
The Cats were seeking their first NCAA tournament win since 1969, when Lefty Driesell coached them to the East regional finals and parlayed that performance to the Maryland job.
The Terrapins, excluded from the NCAA tourney in each of the past two seasons, advanced to a second-round meeting with the winner of the Old Dominion-Butler game.

The Hoyas fans started a "Where is Belmont?" chant. The Belmont fans responded in kind with a "What's a Hoya?" chant. Good times.

And yes, if this is the high point of the game, that should tell you how entertaining - or rather unentertaining this one's been. It's all Hoyas.

At least once an hour - okay, maybe a little longer - an avid reader will email me, IM me or send me a telegram with the following question ...

"Jim, why don't you have more blog entries about former N&R sports interns?"

The usual answer is that usually they have nothing to do with us after they leave Greensboro. They change addresses, sometimes their names and ocassionally even have plastic surgery, all to insure that we can't contact them again - usually to ask then to string a game in some faraway place.

But sometimes there comes along a fine, young, talented youngster who bucks that trend and actually stays in touch.

We're not sure if all those adjectives apply to Tom "Thunder" Keller, but hey the Michigan State senior is back in the orbit of the News & Record. Why? Because the Spartans are here in Winston-Salem, getting ready to take on Marquette moments after this blog gets posted. Keller, flush with experience from having worked as an N&R intern this summer, is now putting that skills to work covering a very mediocre Spartans team.

Just for old times' sake, we're going to have him cover a high school baseball game tomorrow evening.

... I thought I'd add in the play-by-play of Marquette's opening 9:40 scoring drought. Michigan State was up 14-0 before David Cubillan hit a 3-ptr with 10:20 to go in the half.

Turnover Dominic James 19:13
Turnover Dominic James 18:46
Missed 3-ptr Dan Fitzgerald 18:08
Missed jumper Dominic James 17:48
Two missed FTs, Dwight Burke 17:18
Missed layup Dwight Burke 16:26
Missed 3-ptr Lazar Hayward 15:52
Missed layup Lazar Hayward 15:12
Missed layup Lazar Hayward 14:48
Missed jumper Mike Kinsella 13:50
Turnover by David Cubillan 13:08
Turnover by Lazar Hayward 12:40
Missed 3-ptr by Dominic James 12:09
Turnover by Wesley Matthews 11:07

One of the officials in this Duke-VCU game looks just like the former President of the United States. It's scary.

Blue Devils have scored on consecutive in-bounds plays -- one under its offensive basket, the other off a 70-foot pass -- to take a 57-50 lead on VCU.

Because we're all glued around the tv, watching the Duke-VCU game. No idea what's going on with the Marquette-Michigan State game. I have no shame in admitting that. I would imagine press row is pretty barren out there right now.

Maryland's Bambale Osby just hopped over two press tables and a partition and into the third row of the stands to try to chase down a loose ball. He didn't get it.

Really no need to be witty with that sort of a headline. We'll have a fuller story in tomorrow's paper, but I wanted to get that news out to you faithful readers of the blog.

A few details -The cancer was first discovered when Davis went for a routine dental exam from his dentist in Cleveland. The dentist found a growth which he removed. Pathology tests revealed that it was a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

A later battery of tests revealed that the cancer had not spread. Nonetheless, Davis was advised to undergo chemotherapy. He already had his first round of chemo about a week and a half ago.

Davis was his usual upbeat self and said he does not anticipate that his treatments will affect his job at all. He started coaching spring practice on Monday.

UNC just sent out a release on the health of senior forward, Reyshawn Terry. Turns out he did indeed have strep throat. But he's improving - no fever today - and is expected to play on Friday. Teerry hasn't practice the last two days because of his illness, which cranked up the day of the Tar Heels' win over Michigan State.

Kind of makes his 14 points in that game that much more impressive, doesn't it?

.

... when 10-year old kids are heckling teams during an open practice. Such was the case yesterday when the Tar Heels were doing their 50-minute shoot-around/dunk-around.

Here were a few of the observations the kids behind me offered:

Dewey Burke has a "bad '@#!' jumper." - (Kids please don't use this language at home. And stay in school.)

Danny Green became an instant hero when he went between his legs on a dunk.
"He Vince Cartered it! He Vince Cartered it!"

The kids were bitterly disappointed by Brandan Wright and his tendency to gentle drop the ball over the rim.

"He's not going to do nothing."

They were also not very impressed with Bobby Frasor's 3-point shooting.
"He think he's J.J. Redick" (ouch)

"You ain't got that NBA range. Next year homie, next year."

Perhaps the funniest part of the running commentary was the decision by the kids to dub Quentin Thomas "AI."

I assume it was because of Q's corn rows.

... because really I have no dog in this fight. But man, Georgetown got away with one - maybe two - in the final 2.5 seconds.

First, Jeff Green used two pivot feet on his last move. While that might be a great move on Dancing with the Stars, it's pretty much illegal in basketball. Green was caught in a double-team, pivoting around with his right foot. Suddenly he spun and leaped off his left foot. To do that, of course, he needed to pick up his right foot. And that, boys and girls, is the definition of a travel.

Second, as Vandy's guard, Gordon was going up the floor, he got pretty clearly bumped. Now, you'll almost never see that called and I don't blame the refs for overlooking that one. But Green's non-travel? That was sort of important don't you think?

UNC SID Steve Kirschner just walked through the press room and announced that Reyshawn Terry will not start tonight against Southern Cal, but he will play.

... the USC song girls performed during the first media timeout. They got cheers from every section of the crowd, UNC included. A few even gave a standing ovation.

... courtesy of my pal, the shuttle driver.

"You're in Jersey. It's the only place in the world where you have to go four miles one way to go one mile in another."

Spoken as we were taking the 15 minute drive from the hotel to the arena, which are about 500 yards apart as the crow flies.

It came up during the press conferences today that Marcus Ginyard, Ty Lawson and Roy Hibbert all played on the same AAU team while growning up, the D.C. Blue Devils.

Sounds like a pretty impressive collection of talent, right?

But wait, there's more.

The top guy on that time was actually a kid named Brian Johnson. Anybody know what ever happened to him?

Also on the team were Isiah Swann and James Gist.

At some point in time - AAU rosters tend to be pretty fluid things - Kevin Durant was also on the team.

Allegedly they won an AAU national title. I haven't been able to confirm that yet, but given the talent on the roster, I'm not exactly skeptical.

Starters: G Isaiah Swann (6-2, 187, SR); F James Gist (6-7, 205, SR); WG-WF Cheyenne Moore (6-5, 175, SR); G Eric Price (6-1, JR)

Others: F Davis Nwankwo (6-8, 220, SR); BF-C Peter Prowitt (6-10, 245, SR); SG Marcus Ginyard (6-4, 175, JR); C Roy Hibbert (7-1, SR); G Justin Castleberry (6-2, JR); G Brad Ferrell (6-5, SR); G Tywon Lawson (5-10, SOPH)

... where apparently things got a little out of hand, according to this juicy little story in the Bergen Record.

Ahh, New Jersey. Can we get them to move the Final Four here?

50-44 UNC and it's been played a very, very, very, high level.

It's also been played at the Tar Heels' pace. As good as Georgetown has been, 59 percent shooting and 14 assists to just four turnovers - UNC has been better. The Tar Heels have just a bit better. UNC has shot 50 percent, but has gotten offensive rebounds on 10 of its 15 misses. And it's made 17 of 20 free throws, to 2 of 5 for Georgetown.

That last stat has the very loud Hoyas crowd up in arms. They've been booing a ton (or calling for Q Thomas, it's hard to tell) and started a "Let them play!" chant.

No word of an Enos Cabell sighting though, so my guess is they'll continue to call things close - which is clearly a bigger problem for the Hoyas than it is for the Heels.