Saturday preview

Just about every team in top 25 will be in action on Saturday.

However, we're going to take a look at the games that I see as marquee matchups.

The Big East powerhouses will take the floor on Saturday, with No. 1 UCONN up against Seton Hall. Also, No. 12 Marquette takes on St. John's, and Georgetown and No. 22 Syracuse square off in a rivalry week game.

These games could alter the make up of the Big East. A loss by Marquette and a win by UCONN would help the Huskies get even closer to the season title. Also, Syracuse needs a win over Georgetown to help their tournament hopes.

The ACC also has important conference games this weekend. The best matchup of the weekend will be No. 25 Florida at No. 8 Wake Forest. Wake Forest has been struggling lately, dropping three out of their last four games. The Deamon Deacons suffered a 27 point to Miami, and are coming off an 82-76 loss to North Carolina State. If Wake Forest wants a top seed in the tournament, they must win this game.

Purdue and Iowa sqaure off in an always tough Big Ten game. Purdue comes in to the game ranked No. 23 in the nation, and essentially the favorite, but the Boilermakers can't let up at all against the Hawkeyes. Both teams like to shoot the three, so it will be interesting to see which team can catch fire. Purdue has a little edge in size, so they will have to exploit that as well.

Heels win round one

North Carolina was simply too much for Duke to handle.

The third ranked Tar Heels defeated the fifth ranked Blue Devils 101-87 in the first of two meetings for the rival schools this season.

Ty Lawson led all scorers with 25 points, and tacked on 5 assists to lead the Tar Heels past the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tyler Hansbrough had 17 points, and Wayne Ellington and Danny Green had 15 apiece. Kyle Singler led Duke with 22 points and six rebounds.

Duke was simply overmatched from the beginning. The Blue Devils had no answer for Hansbrough and the outside shooting of North Carolina. Lawson was nothing short of magnificent in this game, essentially taking over the second half, where he scored 21 points.

Duke took a 52-44 lead in to halftime, but was outscored 57-35 in the second half.

However, the difference in this game was free throws. North Carolina went to the line 31 times, converting 27 attempts, where Duke was only 11 of 18. Lawson was 9-9 from the stripe.

Hansbrough and Green became the first players in North Carolina history to never lose a game in Cameron Indoor.

This win shakes up the race for the ACC regular season title even more, now that Wake Forest has dropped two games that they were favored to win.

Duke and North Carolina meet again on March 8, this time in Chapel Hill. This game could be the deciding factor for the ACC regular season title.

Hoosier Follow-Up

Pat Forde's famous "Forde Minutes" today examines "Hoops schools vs. non-hoops schools". In the same vein as my previous post on the same subject, Forde focuses on Indiana, where average capacity is enormously larger than the winning percentage. Forde goes on to examine 15 other schools that are enjoying a lot of success on the court, but aren't always seeing that same success translate over to attendance. His conclusion? Indiana fans "are overachieving."

Rodriguez apologizes for steroid use

The truth has finally come out.

In an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons, Alex Rodriguez openly admitted to using steroids during his time with the Texas Rangers.

"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez said.

This confirmation came less than two days since Sports Illustrated released a report that Rodriguez had tested positive for steroid use in 2003.

"Back then, baseball was a different culture," Rodriguez said. "It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. "I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful," Rodriguez added.

Following his blog post that I cited in my previous post, Curt Schilling praised Rodriguez for "manning up" and admitting his mistakes.

"Do whatever you want, speculate on whatever you want but the guy ‘manned up’, admitted his mistake, that’s enough for me," Schilling said. "Nothing we can do about it at this point but move on as fans and players."

Well here's my thoughts on that. Rodriguez was in no way "manning up." Come on, Curt. It took the guy six years to admit it. And this was after he publicly denied his use of banned substances. If he was truly "manning up," he would have came out long before now, at his own will. The only reason he came out now and admitted to it is because he got caught.

Who knows how long he had been doing it? He lied before about not taking steroids, so why should we believe that he only took them in Texas? Would he ever have admitted to it if he was not caught?

This is not "manning up" at all. He would have saved his image much more had he just come clean when he had his "wake up call," as he said in his interview with Gammons, rather than waiting until he was caught. He obviously was not that upset about it if he never admitted to it, and even denied it when he was asked on a nationally televised interview.

This whole situation upsets me greatly. As a baseball fan, I am deeply disappointed in Alex Rodriguez, a guy who appeared to be the epitemy of a clean baseball player. I can honestly say that I did not see this coming, and I feel betrayed as a baseball fan.

Schilling calls for names to be released

Curt Schilling has suggested that the remaing names on the list of 104 players linked to steroid use in 2003 should be released.

In Schilling's blog, he spoke out against the recent reports surrounding Alex Rodriguez and his alleged steroid use in his MVP season in 2003.

"I’d be all for the 104 positives being named, and the game moving on if that is at all possible," Schilling said. "In my opinion, if you don’t do that, then the other 600-700 players are going to be guilty by association, forever."

The sad thing about this is that is true. As fans, whether we want to admit it or not, we view players differently once they have been linked to steroid or HGH use, no matter how miniscule the issue is, or even if it ends up being untrue. In a country where someone is supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, the sad fact is that American's are quick to presume people as guilty until they are proven innocent.

However, as fans, we want to see the integrity of the game upheld, and once someone's name, especially someone like Alex Rodriguez, is released and linked to steroid use, we cringe. We begin to wonder things like "How long has he been doing it?" "Should his stats be in question now?"

But in my opinion, Schilling hit the nail on the head. Since no names have been released, it's typical for many fans to just assume the worst and say things like "every baseball player takes steroids." Now, we know that is not the case, but what we do not know is exactly who it is that has been using performance enhancing drugs.

Also a sad reality, is that when a player emerges and has a good season, the first thought that comes to many fans mind's is not "Wow, he must have worked hard this offseason to get where he's at now. He must have tremendous work ethic." Instead, fans begin to think things like "Oh, he must have taken steroids or something."

But as for me, I'm with Schilling on this one. I think the names need to be released. Let the guys that aren't playing the game correctly get called out for it, and let everyone else who plays the game right be out of the doghouse with baseball fans. It's simply not fair that guys who need to cheat to have success end up ruining the integrity of the beautiful game of baseball.

The only way to move on from what has been called the "Steroid Era" in baseball, is to release the names of those using performance enhancing drugs. Baseball simply needs it to be done. I hate it that when I watch a baseball game nowadays, or any sports show such as Sportscenter, I have to sit and hear the words "steroids," "Human Growth Hormone," or "performance enhancing drugs," until I get sick to my stomach.

It's time for the game to move on and be played like it should be played.

Elbows continue in Big Ten

The Big Ten is officially the most violent conference in America.

In a span of two weeks, we have seen four incidents in the Big Ten involving elbows, all of which appear to have been deliberate. Michigan's Zack Novak was ejected from a game against Ohio State for throwing an elbow at P.J. Hill, and eventually suspended. Wisconsin's Joe Krabbenhoft was not ejected or even called for a foul, but appeared to have used his left elbow to knock Purdue's much smaller Keaton Grant to the ground when setting a screen. Michigan guard Manny Harris received a technical foul and an immediate ejection for his elbow on Purdue's Chris Kramer, knocking Kramer to the ground and breaking his nose on the play.

On Saturday, Indiana's Devan Dumes added his name to this list. Dumes was ejected in Indiana's game against Michigan State for throwing an elbow at center Tom Herzog. In the first half of the game, Dumes hit the Spartans' Travis Walton in the chin with his elbow when swinging a ball through, much like the Harris/Kramer incident, but was only called for a personal foul.

Also in the first half, Dumes appeared to have intentionally elbowed Michigan State's Guron Suton in the crotch, but referee Ed Hightower ruled that it was inadvertant, and that Dumes caught him in the running motion.

However, the third time was not the charm for Dumes, as he was ejected after throwing his third elbow of the game.

"After coming home and having the opportunity to review the game film, I believe that discipline is necessary and deserved in this matter," Crean said in a statement released by the athletic department. "A line was crossed that was unacceptable."

The Big Ten has been trying to crack down on the recent elbow incidents, and has issued a statement supporting Crean's action regarding Dumes' incident.

"The behavior of Devan Dumes during the Michigan State game is unacceptable," conference commissioner Jim Delany said. "Dumes' actions have no place in the sport of basketball or the Big Ten Conference, and we support his indefinite suspension."

"I truly regret my actions and I will learn from this situation," Dumes said. "I apologize to everyone involved for doing something that is uncharacteristic of how I play the game."

This is a big loss for the Hoosiers. Dumes has been one the team's best players, averaging 13.8 points a game, and has acted as a team leader, being an upperclassman among many freshmen.

"Devan is one of ours and, like with all of our players, we want them to learn and understand what it takes to be successful," Crean said.

Steriod era grabs another great

In 2003, Alex Rodriguez's monster season earned him the title of American League MVP.

After earning that honor, the Yankees were pushed to a breaking point and the front office decided that they just had to have this talented athlete, even if it meant trading second baseman Alfonso Soriano.

However, following this trade, Rodriguez did not quite live up to the hype. Many believed that the reasoning behind this mystery was due to the media-crazy New York. Others believed that it was because Rodriguez had little chemistry with his teammates. However, the true reason may have been revealed this weekend.
On Saturday, Sports Illustrated released an article claiming that Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone and Primobolan, in 2003. Testosterone is legal, but only with a prescription, while Primoblan, also known as methenolone, is an injected or orally taken drug with few side effects. Primobolan is not an approved drug in the United States now, nor was it in 2003.

Despite the fact that neither of these drugs were legally administered to Rodriguez, BALCO founder Victor Conte gave him the benefit of the doubt, saying that both of these drugs can be taken in shakes and drinks, and that it is quite possible that Rodriguez unknowingly took both.

With so many people siding for and against Rodriguez, only one thing is truly certain: Knowingly or not, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for these two drugs in 2003. No matter what happens next, this will stay true. However, this is just the beginning of the betrayal. Not only did Rodriguez take steriods, he repeatedly denied it to interviews, including once on 60 Minutes in December of 2007. This is what really hurts for Yankees fan. After his repetition, Rodriguez finally convinced all of baseball that he had never taken steriods. He convinced us that he was clean.

Alex Rodriguez was supposed to save baseball. He was expected to break Barry Bonds' 762 all-time home run record, and do so without cheating. This is no longer the fact, but rather the opposite. Alex Rodriguez will still likely break the all-time record, but who will actually consider him the all-time record holder? This breaking news has showed fans that Alex Rodriguez is a cheater, a liar, and, yes, "A-Fraud."