Happy Palm Sunday: How are your March Madness brackets doing for you?

It's March and what a March indeed!!!

The Iowa Hawkeyes came up short in Fran McCaffery's third season at the helm.  But, the quest for a NIT run is brewing, as the Hawkeyes will find out today where their quarterfinal game will be played.  Could one more game be played in Iowa City with a bid for the Big Apple at stake?

• The Hawkeyes won the first round with a win over Indiana State in Iowa City
• The Hawkeyes won the second round with a win over Stony Brook in Iowa City
• A St. John's win on Palm Sunday at Virginia will seal a Wednesday night quarterfinal game in Iowa City.  A Virginia win will send the Hawkeyes packing for the East Coast a game early!

Enough of the NIT talk.  Let's talk about the real March Madness with the NCAA Tournament!

• Creighton and Wichita State men and women are in the Big Dance
• Iowa State men and women are in the Big Dance
• The Iowa Hawkeyes women are in the Big Dance
• How are your brackets doing through halfway point of the Third Round?

It is going to be an interesting Palm Sunday with monster games on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV...

• Iowa State vs. Ohio State, 11:15 a.m. on CBS
• Indiana vs. Temple, 1:45 p.m. on CBS
• North Carolina vs. Kansas, 4:15 p.m. on CBS
• Minnesota vs. Florida, 5:10 p.m. on TNT
• Florida Gulf Coast vs. San Diego State, 6:10 p.m. on TBS
• LaSalle vs. Mississippi, 6:40 p.m on TruTV
• Illinois vs. Miami-FL, 7:40 p.m. on TNT
• Creighton vs. Duke, 8:40 p.m. on TBS
• Note: Some start times are approximate (all are Central Time)

Iowa Basketball is 1-0 outside and 0-4 within the CBE Classic to open the '09-'10 season

The 2009-10 basketball season for the University of Iowa has not gotten off to a good start. The Hawkeyes did get one victory over Bowling Green in game 3 of the season. But, the Hawkeyes went 0-4 in the CBE Classic. The Hawkeyes lost two games at home in the on-campus part of the CBE Classic. Then, they followed it up with back to back games in Kansas City, both losses. The Hawkeyes fell to #3 Texas on Monday, then vs. Wichita State tonight.

Iowa is now 1-4 to open the season.

It's not likely going to be a pretty season for coach Todd Lickliter, now in his third season, at Iowa. The Hawkeyes have only two upper classmen and are not at full strength with a 13 player roster.

Looking at the teams in the CBE Classic field. Clearly the University of Iowa played the toughest slate of teams. Duquense and Texas-San Antonio were two of the better bottom bracket teams.

The bottom line is Iowa is not a very good team right now. They are inconsistent and lack a lot of what it takes to compete with the better programs in the NCAAs.

If you are an Iowa fan in 2009-10, it would serve you well to be patient. Otherwise, it will get pretty negative at times.

Remember, this is the time for Thanksgiving. On the football side, Iowa finished 10-2, 6-2 in the Big Ten, which is good for second place. Time will tell in the next couple of weeks, whether Iowa will pull in their second BCS bid in the history of Iowa football.

peace

January 2, 2009: Cotton, Liberty and Sugar Bowl games are on for today

It was a great start to the New Year yesterday enjoying the Outback and Rose Bowl games, along with parts of the Capital One, Gator and Orange Bowl games. Congratulations to Iowa and USC in very strong performances. Nebraska pulled on their second bowl win under coach Bo Pelini, the first was in 2003 as a interim coach. Georgia and Virginia Tech were both winners.

Today, we have the Cotton, Liberty and Sugar Bowl games up. The majority of bowl games are in the books, but three major BCS games are yet to be played, including the BCS Championship game.

The 2009 Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech (11-1) vs. Mississippi (8-4) in this Big 12 vs. SEC match up on FOX. The Texas Tech Red Raiders finished in a three-way tied for first in the Big 12 South, while the Mississippi Rebels second in the SEC West.

In the last five bowl games, Texas Tech's Mike Leach is 4-1. The lone loss, the Red Raiders lost 10-13 in the 2006 Cotton Bowl to Alabama, in the Big 12 vs. SEC match up. The Rebels are playing in their first bowl game, since the 2004 Cotton Bowl. By the way, the Rebels won 31-28, in the SEC vs. Big 12 match up, to Oklahoma State

Cidsports' prediction for the 2009 Cotton Bowl:

Texas Tech 27
Mississippi 33

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My prediction for the Liberty Bowl:

Kentucky 20

East Carolina 24

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My prediction for the Sugar Bowl:

Utah 24

Alabama 35

It was a great start to the 2009 year with the January 1 bowl games. The NHL enjoyed a little ice time at Wrigley Field and the College Basketball season is beginning to heat up as most conferences are beginning conference play. For example, the Creighton Bluejays are off to a 2-0 start with wins over Wichita State and Indiana State to open the 2008-09 Missouri Valley Conference basketball season.

Enjoy your first weekend of the New Year! T.G.I.F. to all!

peace