Calling the Xavier game at Rhode Island Wednesday night. It should be a game X wins. They've won 17 of 18 in this series. But Chris Mack's team has struggled on the road this year-- 3-and-6 away from Cintas Center. Also, URI beat first-place SLU at the Ryan Center this season. The Rams have lost 8 conference games and 3 of those are by 3 points or less. Cincinnati kid Xavier Mumford is the 2nd leading scorer in the league. Gotta shut him down. And the Musketeers are 13-3 when scoring 60 points or more. Gotta find some offense.
Interesting poll question posed in our sports dept: I give you the top 6 teams (IU, Miami, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Forida, and Duke) in the poll. Do you take one of those or the field to win it all? Vote in the poll at the top of the page. Tweet me @bradjohansen with your thoughts on what you chose. By the way, two of the top 5 lost tonight (MSU, FLA) so choose wisely.
The Hoosiers are so intriguing. Now 6-0 against AP top-25 opponents this season. Indiana now has 4 top-10 wins in a season for the first time since the 1992-93 season. IU gets its first win at the Breslin Center since Feb. 28, 1991. Cody Zeller wasn't born back then. And as for scoring punch? With Victor Oladipo joining three teammates, it's the first time in IU history a team has had four 1000 point scorers on the floor at same time.
Reds 2B Brandon Phillips will play for the USA in the World Baseball Classic. Alfredo Simon will toe the rubber for the Dominican Republic. Late this afternoon, we got word that Joey Votto will reportedly play for Canada. Rosters have to be set by tomorrow and Canada's Baseball Director Greg Hamilton said as of right now, "Joey is going to be with us... but we have some things that need to be dotted and crossed." Good decision for the 1B coming off a knee injury? What about Johnny Cueto? He might throw in the WBC too, and he couldn't pitch after injuring himself in the postseason.
