My Bracket

HOUSTON — Hopefully you can click on that image and get a readable image. My Final Four is intact with North Carolina and UCLA already qualified.
If Kansas can take care of business (and Stephen Curry), and if Texas can pull off an upset, I'll be looking real good.
I know my bracket might seem homer-ish, but if the Longhorns beat UCLA in California, the y can do it in San Antonio, right?
And Memphis ain't that good. (Ok, after watching them yesterday I have to rethink everything, but it's a bit late for that.)
At the beginning of the season, an Elite 8 berth would've sounded like a nice goal. With the way things have gone, I think Texas needs one more win to end this season with hardly a trace of disappointment. (Any season that ends with a loss carries at least a measure of disappointment.)

Miami athletes' reputation safe

So I didn't post here as much as I would've liked to, but there was one funny tidbit from Miami's press conference before the Hurricanes played Texas that deserves some mention.
Former Rick Barnes assistant Frank Haith now coaches Miami. He took a page out of his old boss's say-anything-and-damn-the-reaction book after being asked about guard Jack McClinton and his penchant for delivering motivational metaphors to his teammates.
McClinton and the players had broached the subject earlier in the presser, and someone was curious to learn more about it. The reporter asked, "coach, your players talked about Jack giving metaphors before the game to kind of motivate them. Would you be able to share any of those with us and also just a little bit on Jack's leadership?"
Miami has a reputation for academics over athletics, and that's putting it nicely. Haith's tongue-in-cheek answer only reinforced it.
"That's a big word for my team to say, 'metaphor,'" he answered.

Latest Cheerleader Commentary

LITTLE ROCK, Ar., — So I know you all enjoyed that post about Texas' cheerleaders, so here's one on Miami's.
The Hurricane squad here at the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament has seven guys and five girls. Now, it's not as bad as Texas A&M and their "Yell Leaders" and their lack of cheerleaders, but seriously, how can you justify this?
Male cheerleaders are for lifting. It doesn't take seven guys to lift five girls. So, two of them end up spotting. At this level, you don't need spotters (though one Miami girl did take a tumble...) so they just stand their tapping on their megaphones.
Points for the classic Miami attire, points deducted for the guys that stand around.

Texas Video Preview

UWire called and had me give a little scouting report on Texas.
Check it out.
I hate my voice, but I'm used to that. For some reason, I sound kind of like a dumb redneck in this, and that's kind of cool.

Kansas' Band Can Sing

KANSAS CITY, Mo., -- The Marching Jayhawks sing remarkably well.
The bandies circled in the tunnel about 40 minutes before Texas and Kansas tip for the Big 12 title game and did a stirring rendition of "Hog Calling Time in Nebraska."
I'm not one to get impressed by bands, but I know enough about singing to take note. Now only were they on pitch and on key and all that rot, they threw in a bit of harmony.
There's only about 30 of them here, so it was something of an ensemble performance, which made the sheer volume of it pretty impressive (of course, the acoustics of the Sprint Center's underbelly helped).
If you want an example of what I'm talking about, check this out.
But seeing the small bunch do it live was more impressive.
Catchy tune.

The College Basketball Experience

KANSAS CITY, Mo., — This town can be a bit boring if you don't know what to do, and I don't know what to do. So I explored "The College Basketball Experience" again, and then spent a good while making a little multimedia presentation.
This way, you too can experience the College Basketball Experience.

Texas Cheerleaders Cheering Well

KANSAS CITY, Mo., — I'm courtside at the Sprint Center, and since the writers from school papersdon't get primo seats, I'm stuck in the corner, just caddycorner from Texas' cheerleaders and dancers.
Texas is putting the finishing touches on OU during the semifinal game — it's 77-49 right now with 2:47 left — and the pom-pom wavers have to get some credit. (FYI, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek.)
They've taken to calling out individual opposing players by number and picking them apart. Blake Griffin is a favorite target of theirs, and they keep telling him to quit looking at them. It's hilarious.
When they first started with him, he ended up with possession under the basket — and promptly got called for a 3-second violation. He hasn't been the same since.
The Nebraska writer on my right commended them for their passion, and I do too.

And the game is over... Texas advances.

Texas downs Cowboys at Big 12 Tourney

KANSAS CITY, Mo., -- Texas beat Oklahoma State 66-59 at the Sprint Center to advance to the Semifinal round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Damion James came up huge with 11 points and 23 points while D.J. Augustin led the team with 24 points.










By Stephen Durda

Texas women fall in quarters

KANSAS CITY, MO -- Well I'm in Kansas City, but I was on the road when the Longhorns' impressive run ended at the hands of Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls won 75-72, and the Longhorn women are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. Their chances of making the field of 64 look pretty good though as they finished the season by winning five of their last six games.
The team learns its fate Monday, March 17 during the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Special.

On a personal note, Kansas City is still unimpressive. Exits are in short supply, so if you wind up on a freeway, you'd better be headed in the right direction. Otherwise, a five-minute drive might turn into a 45-minute drive. (Don't blame me, I wasn't driving.)
Another thing, restaurants are either rare in these parts or hidden. If you're looking for Church's Chicken, McDonalds or Denny's you'll do fine, but everything else — even that world-famous barbecue — seems fairly evasive. Tomorrow we plan to hunt it down though.

By the way, I recorded a Texas preview for U-Wire and CSTV for the NCAA Tournament. It'll air between the conference tourney and the Big Dance, check it out if you want to be unimpressed.

Return to my roots

This blog was born in Kansas City, MO during Big 12 Media Days for the 200 football season. Back then, Matt Mosley hadn't caught on to blogging yet, and this was the one and only Hash Marks blog.
Oh well, we can't all be as clever and original as me.
Anyway, I'll be back there on Thursday to cover the Big 12 tournament, and I'll try to update regularly.

Quick recap of Texas basketball awards and recognitions so far:
Rick Barnes: NABC Distict 9 Coach of the Year, All-Big 12 Coach of the Year
D.J. Augustin: ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-American, First Team Sporting News All-American, First Team All-Big 12, USBWA All-District VII Team
A.J. Abrams: USBWA All-District VII Team, Second Team All-Big 12
Damion James: USBWA All-District VII Team, Second Team All-Big 12
Justin Mason: All-Big 12 Defensive Team

Darrell Scott News and Notes

My friends at The Austin Sports Report compiled the known facts about that running back Darrell Scott and his decision to go to Colorado.
While Mack Brown didn't have anything to say about that exact situation, he did take the opportunity to talk about recruiting violations in general. Interesting.

"Thoughts on Colorado/Darrell Scott and the recruiting violation rumors"