4/5: UConn = Champs

Greetings all... let's kick if off with the lead story...

• "Unparalleled ineptitude"... Those were the words used by Clark Kellogg to describe Butler's offensive output in the National Title Game last night, and they were pretty much spot-on... The Bulldogs shot 18.8% from the field on the night (lowest ever in a title game), including a ridiculous/hilarious 3 for 31 from TWO-point distance... but let's give credit to the champs... UConn made enough plays to win the game, and at least had SOMETHING to do with Butler's horrendous shooting... For me, the key was Jeremy Lamb... the freshman from Atlanta had 12 points and 7 boards on offense, and utterly draped himself over Shelvin Mack on the other end... he was their X-factor all tourney long... Kemba didn't really play well, shooting 5 of 19 for just 16 points, but it can't be overlooked how much he did in making this unprecedented 11-game run through the Big East and NCAA... for Butler, they just couldn't survive with Mack being bottled up (4-15), and with how bad Matt Howard was... 1 of 13 from the field for their best player, and it almost seemed worse than that... anyway, a really enjoyable tournament punctuated by a game that wasn't necessarily poorly played (just 17 total turnovers), but a game with horrendous shot making...

Elsewhere...

• Roger Goodell dropped a bit of a bomb yesterday that went under the radar... he expressed in no uncertain terms that the next CBA agreement "must include HGH testing"... not a huge deal on the surface, but I'm really interested to see if 1) they can get it included, and 2) how much it will affect players... because there will be suspensions...
• No games in the NBA on Monday... they choose yearly to avoid this night to not go head-to-head, and I think it's smart... no reason to lose your normal fan base (i.e. me) on a night where most eyes will be on the college product... national title games are just different...
• The Masters begin on Thursday... and yes, I can already hear the piano, and I can almost smell the azaleas....

Baseball...

• Two eighth inning solo homers give the Braves a series-opening win in Milwaukee... Martin Prado and Dan Uggla both bombed off former Brave Takashi Saito, and the pitching took over from there... Brandon Beachy was brilliant after a rough start, and pitched out of multiple jams throughout... and Craig Kimbrel was utterly dominant in the 9th, striking out the side in pretty strong fashion... 3-1 with 3 more to play in Milwaukee...
• Nelson Cruz has 4 home runs... in 4 games... only the 3rd guy to do it in MLB history... the first two? Mark McGwire in 1998 (the 70-HR season), and Willie Mays in 1971...
• Pitching Line of the Day - How bout Charlie Morton?!... The former Braves prospect is someone I've crapped on continuously in Pittsburgh for his 7+ ERA... so I have to give him credit now... 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 Ks in a win over Pittsburgh... well done....
• Batting Line of the Day - Neil Walker - an all-Pittsburgh feature today... anyway, Walker went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI (on a slow day for bats)... and I really just wanted to mention him, because he's highly underrated...

What to watch for...

• Women's CBB Title Game - Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M - ESPN 8:30 - Interested to see how this game does ratings-wise without UConn, Tennessee or Stanford in it...
  
• Spurs @ Hawks - 7:00 SportSouth - The West's #1 seed comes to town... interesting to see if Atlanta gets up for this one
• Braves @ Brewers - Lowe vs. Gallardo - 8:10 FSN South - Probably the best pitching matchup of the series... Milwaukee needs a win lol
  
• Jazz @ Lakers - 10:30 NBATV - Utah is really scuffling...
• Bobcats @ Cavs - 7:00 NBATV - Good luck with this one...

Enjoy..