Rest in Peace, Skip Prosser

I am stunned to hear that Wake Forest head basketball coach Skip Prosser died today. All the sympathy in the world goes to his wife, Nancy and his sons, Scott and Mark.

He suffered an apparent heart attack while jogging this morning.

Prosser was a native of Carnegie, and almost let his hometown love sway him to take the Pitt head coaching vacancy when Ben Howland left for UCLA. Prosser and Pitt were in discussion about the opening before Prosser decided to remain at Wake Forest.

The 2003 ACC Coach of the Year led Loyola, Xavier and Wake to tourney bids. He was 56.

Rest in Peace, Skip.

Uh...You Sure Ben?

ben roethlisberger doesnt want to blame his injuries from the past offseason (and at the beginning of the season, for those who forget an unblocked adalius thomas), as the reason he struggled to a 7-8 record as a starter in 06. i understand wanting to put the past behind you, and there could be other reasons that ben threw 23 interceptions as compared to only 18 touchdowns. but ive seen the pictures. im sure the accident (among the appendectomy and adalius thomas) had a dramatic effect on why ben was bad all year.

its hard to look at these pictures and not blame them for everything that went wrong last year. i guess bens a better person (and by better, i mean the person with the fakest face).

Roethlisberger also told the newspaper he was able to put last season in
perspective with the help of Hall of Fame quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Dan Marino.

great choices, ben. you officially have more super bowl rings than both men combined. im surprised he didnt look to akili smith and jeff george for advice as well.

devils lost. to the leafs. thats good for the pens, who dont lose any ground to the atlantic-leading devils by way of their loss to the rangers two nights ago. wade belak fought cam janssen, obvious retaliation for janssen's hit on tomas kaberle that has caused the talented maple leaf to miss the past 8 games in a crucial push for the final playoff spot in the east.

pens dont play till tomorrow, when they travel to long island to meet "the rick dipietros."

still waiting for the sweet 16. i know i have the panthers losing in the sweet 16 (those who picked pitt to keep going obviously havent watched pitt basketball for the past 10 years or so,) but it would be cool to actually see them advance to the elite 8.

mpotd later...

got some stuff to do

19 POINT LEAD WITH ONLY MINUTES TO GO...(breathe, breathe)

what the hell. iunderstand that eric maynor is a good point guard. i understand that he creates shots for other people when hes not scoring points himself. but a 19 point lead, in the 2nd half, should at least let your fans breathe. as soon as the lead dipped to 17, i was like "oh no." honestly, those words went through my mind. pitt seems to get caught up in snowball-games like the one on display last night, where they look like an elite 8 team, maybe even final 4 (dare i say)! but as soon as another team hits one big shot, or pitt misses that one easy shot (or free throw, levance fields, ill get to you later), then my mouth goes dry and i think, "we're going to blow a 19 point, 2nd half lead." i really thought pitt was gonna lose. minutes 5 through 2 in the 2nd half seemed to drag on forever, and watching pitt became frustrating.

but even if you blow a lead that large, you should be able to make, i don't know, at least 1 of 2 free throws with 2.1 seconds left. HOW MUCH ARC do you need to put on a shot? really? i played basketball in 3rd grade and that was it, but i understand the ball will go in the rim with much less arc than what levance fields puts on his shots. and then he throws his headband off like its the headbands fault for spending more eating than practicing his free throw.

pitt won however, and will face ucla, and former coach ben howland in the sweet 16. i had this part of my bracket highlighted, and hoped both pitt and ucla would make it. its just another mentor/protege game, tom izzo/tom crean, and thad matta going up against a stout xavier team that he left for ohio state. but its bs if the players get caught up in it, because there is little to no howland-era fingerprints on this team, save for say jamie dixon. jamie needs to forget about vcu, and focus real hard, on ucla. pitt must jump out early, and can ill afford to blow any lead to ucla.

hats off to eric maynor and vcu, though. they were a fun team to watch. everyone at the arena wanted pitt to lose once vcu started their run. their ability to force overtime is truly commendable. i expect the same, or more, in coming tournaments. yet a win, any type of win, still allows you to move on. pitt lives to fight another day. hopefully they can conjure up some of that "first-half magic" for more than 20 minutes versus ucla.