As we build toward Super Sunday, that distinctly American Grotesquery (not even challenged in its excess by the yearly rotten tomato throw-down in Spain) I lament that I could not see the game last night, and missed a Cardinal tilt for the first time in a while.  It sounds as if, after some sputtering of course, that it was a workmanlike win over a team that we should have beaten.

    Wake over Duke, as most of us had hoped.  Nova beat Pitt, and the Panthers will drop in the polls a bit.

    So now you're thinking....hmmm...Monday night....Freedom Hall....UCONN will probably be Number 1....time to beat our second Number 1 team in three weeks.  We are all doing that Pavlovian thing right now, huh?

   I saw Jim Calhoun on an interview last fall.   He was recovering from cancer surgery and in a reflective mood. From what he said, he believed his team was loaded (Duh???) and that if he won it all again (the third time) that he would most likely retire while on top.  Who else has retired while on top?  Jimmy Brown?  Barry Sanders?  A few, but not too many.  I never cared much for Calhoun (as a bench coach I'd take Al McGuire in a minute), but like Boeheim, he could recruit his ass off.  He beat Duke in the finals TWICE and replenishes his team while they are still contenders, despite severe NBA defections.  He took over a program that was just as faceless as it was ineffective.  Now the Huskies loom iconic, whether you like them or not.  So Monday night will be special.

    Which brings us to our presumptive victory at noon on Saturday against the Mountainers....I don't like the word, and I'll use it here just this once, but if ever there was a "Trap Game," well, this is it.  We're looking past WVU...it's a game early in the day...Huggins would love to put this feather in his cap...we've got to be a little flat.  So, I am scared.

   Hope everybody is OK, that the power will come on soon.  You guys have taken some hits from mother nature.  I'll say another prayer for Linda's sister.

    Sunday at 6:28.  Against the grain as always.  Go Cardinals.  This time, Phoenix.

Roz