Morning gang. Let's get to work.
From the "Talks too much" studios, remember the mailbag and let's make the magic happen.
Duke's Jahlil Okafor reacts following a basket against North Carolina during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. Duke won 92-90 in overtime. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) Duke-UNC
Now that was fun.
Back and forth. Each team building a double-digit lead. Each team rallying with tight defense and an array of impressive offensive moves.
It was intense and exciting. It was just another sentence in the glorious story that has become the best non-football rivalry in college sports.
Duke 92, UNC 90 in overtime.
OK, we know Kentucky is far and away the best team in college hoops and tracking a place in the game's history. We also know we have said from the start that UK will go 40-0.
We believe two of the four teams that could beat the Wildcats were on the floor in Durham last night entertaining us all.
Duke and UNC have the blend of talent and athleticism to tackle UK. Wisconsin is long enough and experienced enough to pull the upset. Arizona is like Duke in a lot of ways, and each has a true go-to stud to deliver meaningful measures in crunch time.
Virginia was on the list until losing its best player, and the Cavaliers thrive on defense, and there's no way any team is going to out-defense the defensive-minded Wildcats.
So that leaves us the four above, and Duke and UNC showed us the possibilities last night.
Thanks for sharing that
Side note from Elias Sports Bureau: Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor joined North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough in 2006 and Georgia Tech's Stephon Marbury in 1996 as the only freshmen in ACC history with 26 consecutive double-figure scoring games. That's pretty good company
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A freshly painted NFL football logo is shown in the south end zone of CenturyLink Field in Seattle in this Jan. 14, 2015, photo.Lies, Dang lies and Stats
As we hit the NFL combine and as pitchers and catchers report, this is a fine time to revisit the two biggest white whale numbers in all of sports.
Meet the 4.4 40 and the 90-mph fastball. Sure we all have heard about some kid around the way that has big-time speed or a rifle arm and the mentions of 4.4 and 90-plus heat get bandied about.
Know this: There's a real chance that the fastest high school football player you saw play this year was running a 4.6 40, and that's really moving. Emmitt Smith ran a 4.6 for crying out loud. It's just that a real 4.4 is seriously fast. In fact, we're willing to bet 90 percent of the people reading this would be hard-pressed to break a 5.0 40.
And if you think someone is throwing 90, well, the best way to really judge - even beyond the Juggs guns and guestimates of the backstop-leaning gawkers - is to listen. A real 90-mph fastball sounds different in the air and when it pops the glove. Trust us.
As for the lighter side of the above statements, well, here's Roger Goodell running the 40 in an office building.
FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2014, file photo, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference following a meeting of NFL owners and executives in New York. The NFL players' union wants to negotiate with the league in changing the personal conduct policy. In a memo sent to each NFLPA player representative and executive board member, and obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, the union cites the NFL's "mismanagement" of several incidents, including the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson cases. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) Side note: Happy Birthday Commissioner Goodell, who turns 56 today. We have not always been a fan of your decisions or actions, but if we're going to say something nice on your birthday, we have to admit that viewing your tenure as the NFL boss, the overall growth and place of your game is an unmitigated success.
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UTC hoops
Big week for UTC hoops.
The Mocs welcome long-time old-school rival ETSU to town on Saturday. The Mocs welcome fresh-faced and new-school rival Mercer to town tonight.
As our Press Row co-host David Paschall said on Wednesday, Mercer is going to be the thorn in UTC's side in most sports moving forward, and that battle for the top spots in men's hoops and football likely could be a year-in, year-out type of scenario moving forward.
UTC's Casey Jones (24) knocks the ball away from Samford's Evan Taylor (11) in this Feb. 14, 2015.Add to that the proximity, and the word that Mercer is actually bringing a couple bus loads of fans moving forward as UTC hoops ace Mean Gene Henley tells us here, this makes this all the more interesting.
Here's the fun part too: As long as UTC and Mercer can hang on to their current coaches in men's hoops and football, this rivalry will only build. And as we have mentioned on here multiple times, UTC developing a real, bad-blood, make-you-want-to-spit rivalry with a SoCon school would be great news for the Mocs, their fans and the SoCon.
Here's hoping a good crowd shows up tonight and the place has a fun vibe.
Side question: If we set the over/under at 3,500 (actual attendance rather than announced), whatcha got?
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This and that
- Ice, Ice Baby. According to this story Vanilla Ice was arrested for stealing a pool heater, some furniture and a bicycle (Bike, Bike, Baby?). The Ice man says it was a misunderstanding. Good times.
- Yahoo ranked the 11 best cities in the U.S. in regard to bar-b-que. Somehow New York and Honolulu made the cut. So it goes.
FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2014, file photo, Muhammad Ali is shown before the Ali Humanitarian Awards ceremony in Louisville, Ky. Ali was back in the hospital Thursday Jan. 15, 2015 for follow-up care related to a severe urinary tract infection, his second stint in the hospital in the last four weeks. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File) - Under Armour signed a new celebrity, inking the greatest of all-time, Mr. Muhammad Ali to be linked with the UA brand. Man, apparel companies are in an arms race to throw millions at folks right now.
- To further our discussion yesterday about not all embarrassing acts being created equally, here's this story about some golfer named Charlie Beljan dropping the queen mother of all dirty words during the AT&T Open last week. If Tiger had done that, it would have led the Today Show. Charlie Beljan? Uh, SBNation notices.
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Today's question
We had a money Rushmore on Press Row on Wednesday, and wanted to share it here. In honor of the 14th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death at Daytona, we asked listeners the most shocking deaths in sports.
The responses were money, and thanks to those who played along. We settled on Earnhardt, Roberto Clemente, Len Bias and the Marshall football team. And there were some awesome suggestions that narrowly missed the cut like Payne Stewart, Thurman Munson and Davey Allison.
Good times.
As for today's question, in honor of another Duke-UNC classic, what's our Rushmore of the best college sports rivalries, non-football edition?
Go - and remember the mailbag.