Opening Day Disappointment

And so it begins. Can't say I'm surprised that the Marlins were thoroughly dominated by a better Mets team in front of a pro-Mets crowd. Johan Santana is a better pitcher than most of our players have ever faced and the Mets' lineup is a tough challenge for a marginal starting pitcher like Mark Hendrickson.

Hanley didn't get off to a good start, but it was to be expected. I wonder how much he can actually do this year now that he isn't being protected by Miguel Cabrera. He literally has nobody else in the lineup who can be considered a consistent offensive threat to take the pressure off of him. I don't see him carrying this team the way Barry Bonds could carry the Giants earlier this decade. It's unfortunate, particularly for my lackluster fantasy team.

Aside from a 2-run shot to left field by Josh Willingham (hadn't hit one all Spring and he decides to start against Johan Santana? nice), the Marlins had no offense of which to speak of and couldn't recover from a 4th inning shellacking of starter Mark Hendrickson. Speaking of which, if Hendrickson is really supposed to be our longterm #1 guy this year, then Marlins fans are in for a world of hurt. He didn't look good at all today, missing his pitches all over the place. The 3 run double to David Wright was a fastball right over the plate. He's lucky it wasn't smashed out of the ballpark.

I stick by my prediction of 68 wins. I don't see this season being any different than last year's for Florida. In fact, with all the injuries to our once promising pitching staff, I wouldn't be surprised if we did a lot worse than last year's 71 victories.

Charles Gets His Offer

It looks like Miami will likely be landing their 2nd TE commitment of the 2009 class pretty soon if things go as planned. 4 star (Rivals) Orson Charles had been wanting a Canes offer and has us above everyone else on his list. I wrote yesterday that an offer would likely be extended sometime soon, and so it has.

Clearly, Randy Shannon and the staff don't feel that we have the necessary playmakers at tight end. We toyed with the idea of giving Futch some reps there, and have officially moved Daniel Adderley to help shore up the position. Landing Billy Sanders from Arizona was the first step in rebuilding our strong TE lineage, and hopefully Charles will be the next.

Assuming he does end up here (always a bad idea, anything can happen between now and Signing Day), then I'd like to know what becomes of Austin Fitzpatrick. The Cane legacy is a TE out of Texas and unsurprisingly has us high on his list, but I sincerely doubt that we will take 3 tight ends in this class when there are other pressing needs at OL and CB. I'd just as soon take yet another WR than take a 3rd TE next season.

Then again, like I said anything can happen so it's better to hedge our bets and continue to go after every kid available. Make sure they know they are valued even if there isn't a spot in the class for them. That way, if somethings changes, you can let them know they are welcome to come aboard the rebuilding project.

Dolphins Get More Picks

Thanks to one of countless NFL rules addressing parity, the Dolphins will receive two extra compensatory picks this year, one in the 6th round and another in the 7th. According to Armando Salguero, the picks are 204th overall and 245th overall.

Not a huge deal when you look at overall numbers regarding players from late in the draft and their success at the next level, but you have to take anything you can get. The Super Bowl Champs made good use of their late picks, turning them into Kevin Boss, Michael Johnson and Ahmad Bradshaw. Lately, we haven't been doing anything with those picks. Granted, we haven't done much with any of our picks of late.

Salguero also reports that the Dolphins already know who it is they'll be drafting with the #1 pick assuming they can't trade down. I'm going to take that as a sign that Miami has a clear choice, because otherwise they would still be deliberating. It should be interesting to see how they negotiate deals with the potential prospects, because if you tell that player's agent that he is the guy you want, then you've lost all your leverage.

My guess is that Chris Long is the pick. He is a safe choice and has ties to Bill Parcells through Al Groh. The front office likes John Beck (though don't discount the possibility of drafting a QB in the middle rounds) and investing in an upside guy like Vernon Gholston is risky. Jake Long would be nice but supposedly this is one of the deepest OL drafts in years, so it might not be the smartest choice to take him early.

Beasley or Rose?

The Heat have 9 games left and would have to win at least 4 of them to blow our chances at the most ping-pong balls in the NBA Draft Lottery. Basically, we've got the worst record locked up. What a huge turnaround from holding the Larry O'Brien trophy just 2 years ago. Anyway, the odds as I understand them are as follows:

We have a 25% chance of getting the #1 pick. If I have the process of the lottery right, we have something like a 60% chance of getting a Top 3 pick. Somehow it doesn't seem fair that the worst team in recent memory has a 40% chance of being stuck with the 4th pick in a draft that has 2 elite prospects. I forgot most of my college statistics so I don't know what our odds are of getting a Top 2 pick. I'm not sure if after the top pick is drawn if they remove that team's lottery balls or if they just disregard them if the ball comes up again when drawing for the 2nd pick.

In any case, getting a Top 2 selection means either Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose will be in a Miami Heat uniform next season. I'm almost hoping we get the #2 pick so we don't have to make that decision and live with a mistake if that is the case.

In terms of needs, Rose obviously fits a bigger need than Beasley. Both Marion and Haslem can be effective at power forward, so Beasley would just be a luxury pick. We have no point guard on this team and Dwyane Wade seriously needs one so he doesn't have to deal with ballhandling duties. We've seen what happens when Wade is the primary ballhandler. Wade has 15% more turnovers than the next player (Steve Nash), but also has half the turnover to assist ratio. He has become reckless with the ball and tries to do too much. Derrick Rose would take a huge load off his back because he can run an offense, score, rebound and defend.

Michael Beasley is just a freak of nature on the offensive end. He has the potential to average 25/12 for a decade in the NBA. Drafting him would add yet another offensive weapon to go with Wade and Marion. Trading Haslem for a point guard becomes a possibility, and even going with a stopgap wouldn't prevent that team from making the playoffs. There are questions about his motivation and his character, but I haven't seen any problems with that at Kansas State. He's shown some leadership in carrying his team to upsets over Kansas and USC.

Personally, I wouldn't know what to do with the #1 overall pick. Beasley could be Derrick Coleman or a one-of-a-kind player for your team. Rose could be Chris Paul or Jay Williams. You never know. In either case, you're getting an elite prospect that makes your team much better. If we get a Top 2 pick I would bet the house on the Heat returning to the playoffs next year.

I think that ultimately I would go with Rose. He is everything you need in a point guard, including size. Beasley is a monster on the boards, but he is between a 3 and a 4 in terms of size so it becomes questionable as to which position he can/will play in the NBA. Too much uncertainty there. I'll post a poll to see what you guys think, but feel free to validate your opinions below as well.

Marlins Scumbaggery Revisited

I urge any of you who are Marlins fans to read Dave Hyde's latest article. I've always wanted for someone in the local media to call out the current ownership of the Marlins, and this is what I've been asking for. Hyde has taken his shots before, as have Dan Le Batard and other columnists, but this is exactly what has been on my mind all this time.

It's obvious that the Marlins make a boatload of money despite the low attendance. Where it's going, I honestly don't know. Not for one second do I trust Jeffrey Loria or his sniveling goon David Sampson. They can refute the Forbe's report all they want. The Marlins are profitable and will remain as such until the ballpark is complete and they can sell the team high.

Only then will we have a major league roster to put out for the fans. All I can hope for now is that this happens before Hanley Ramirez has to be shipped off for prospects. Losing him would be the final nail in the coffin that I thought had already been buried years ago. I keep falling for the young talent and promise, and then, like my fellow fans, get my heart ripped out by cheap ownership who doesn't want to dole out the cash for the top stars.

Doesn't Look Good For De Aza

Tough luck for the young centerfielder, as it looks like he has suffered yet another ankle injury that might derail his attempt at landing the job fulltime. The injury occurred as he was trying to catch a fly ball against the Yankees earlier this weekend. Now it appears Cody Ross will take the starting nod at least until De Aza is healed.

It also opens a door for Cameron Maybin, who had recently been sent back to the minors to work out the kinks in his game. A solid month in AAA and he might just convince the front office that he is ready to for action in the majors again. Seeing as how he is the future of the position and Cody Ross is a marginal player at best, I would assume that Maybin has every opportunity to get in there and show what he's got.

UM Loses Out on MLB

I had mentioned earlier that we were in the running for 4-star MLB Jaydan Bird over in Kansas. Unfortunately, Bird has committed to Oklahoma, leaving us with one less MLB prospect to go after this year. Many of our incoming guys are great players, but not necessarily the best fit on the inside. If Sean Spence is to eventually move inside, then getting a MLB in this class isn't the biggest need. However, it would be a nice luxury to have.

A couple of other Canes recruits have been around the team lately, most notably Bryce Brown. The all-world RB is a ball of muscle and definitely looks the part of the guy who has received all that hype lately.

We are supposedly in the Top 4 for the top safety in the country, Craig Loston. The Houston, Texas native has been rumored to favor LSU or Clemson, but it is still extremely early in the game and a good season by the Canes should boost our status in the eyes of Loston and other recruits.

The most interesting issue regarding the 2009 class is how many QBs Randy Shannon plans on signing. We already have a freshman QB who is going to start this season, be it redshirt freshman Robert Marve or true freshman Jacory Harris. We also brought in Taylor Cook (probably will be moved) and Cannon Smith, and have recently gotten a commitment from A.J. Highsmith. The legacy will probably be moved to another position as well, but Miami is a heavy favorite to land Eugene Smith, a 4 star QB out of Miramar. Also, studs Cody Green and Tom Savage have us very high on their list.

Seeing as how our current QBs on the roster are already young, I would like to know how many QBs Shannon wants in 2009. There won't be enough snaps for all of them and there will be the potential for a messy situation or someone transferring. I don't see someone like Marve or Harris or even Eugene Smith (if he comes) leaving the program, and I'm sure none of these guys are afraid of competition, but the fact we have a mini-logjam at the position has to factor in for all of these kids.

A final note regarding the TE position that I addressed earlier this week. Miami is the frontrunner for 4 star Florida TE Orson Charles, but has yet to receive an offer. Charles already has offers from the major SEC programs, so it would be wise for Miami to jump aboard as well before he loses interest. However, if they really are as concerned about the TE position as I think they are, I don't doubt that Orson will be getting a letter from UM very soon.

Spring Game Thoughts

I would be a hypocrite to tell you that the lackluster offensive performance today at Lockhart means that this team is doomed. After all, I've said that all the high praise we've gotten through Spring practices aren't to be taken too seriously. We hear great things about this team every Spring, so it's not a surprise to see them struggle a bit on offense.

I wouldn't blame the QBs too much yet. I didn't get a chance to catch the scrimmage, but most of the picks were tips or desperation Hail Mary passes. However, it is a bit disturbing that our only passing offense the entire afternoon consisted of passes to the backs in the flats. Our receivers dropped a handful of balls, and Aldarius Johnson particularly had a case of the dropsies. Oh well. Hopefully the kinks will be worked out before the season starts.

We have to be excited about the defense, which featured a bunch of young playmakers in Arthur Brown and Sean Spence. The future definitely looks bright there. We should see an improvement on defense, especially now that we have an experienced coordinator running the unit.

Right now I would say the biggest concerns is the intermediate-to-deep passing game and the kicking game. Will we have a starting kicker by the time Charleston Southern rolls around? I want to know that we will be taken care of there. With a team that will likely struggle to put up a lot of points early, having a solid kicker will be a crucial need. We should also be concerned that the receivers dropped everything once the lights were on. I've heard great things about every receiver, even Sam Shields, but none of it translated to the scrimmage. We'll see if Aubrey Hill can get their heads on straight.

Dolphins Sign Another Safety

Ever heard of Chris Crocker? I haven't. Apparently he started 14 games for the Falcons last season. The Dolphins just picked him up on a one year deal for 1.15 million dollars.

I'm not sure what this transaction means. We have a bunch of safeties already, and we have signed a bevy of special teamers to boost that unit. Is Crocker going to get a shot at the starting job? What does this mean for Keith Davis, who we signed to compete for a starting position. Heck, what does it mean for Yeremiah Bell and Jason Allen, two guys who weren't handpicked by this regime. I'd say Allen better step it up and quick, because he is likely getting cut next season if he doesn't become the high caliber defensive back Nick Saban thought he was.

Noles QB Battle

Even with Xavier Lee having left the program, Drew Weatherford isn't out of the woods yet. The embattled QB is facing a long recovery from knee surgery and will miss the rest of Spring practice. In his place Christian Ponder has done pretty well, leading the team to 5 TDs in 12 attempts in a recent redzone drill. Considering the Seminoles' struggles in the redzone of late, I would have to guess fans will be happy with this.

The truth is that FSU is in the same boat as the Canes are on offense. We will hear all the right things being said in the Spring, but none of it matters until the players line up in Week 1 of the regular season. I heard great things last year from the Canes' camp, but look how that turned out. I won't believe anything until I see it with my very own eyes.

Speaking of Baseball

The 2nd ranked Canes start their series against Duke tonight. Miami is coming off a 6 game win streak, including a late rally against Bethune Cookman earlier this week. Miami is a little under halfway through the regular season and has posted an impressive 19-2 record, with losses coming to UF and NC State.

The MVP so far is arguably 2nd baseman Jemile Weeks. Weeks leads the team in batting average, runs, hits, doubles, triples, homers, total bases and slugging. That's impressive considering we have some solid bats in this lineup. Yonder Alonso may not be too far behind (2nd in almost every one of the aforementioned categories), but I would give 2nd place to freshman pitcher Chris Hernandez.

The lefty is 4-0 in 5 starts and has posted a spectacular 1.11 ERA, holding opposing pitchers to a measly .153 batting average. We've gotten some very solid production from Eric Erickson as well. The sophomore lefty is 5-0 in 5 starts, posting a 2.84 ERA and leads the teams in strikeouts with 33 (Hernandez has 32).

In fact, our entire starting rotation has been pretty solid outside of Enrique Gutierrez, who has struggled but has also been bailed out by the offense this season. None of our starting pitchers have a loss on their belts. The entire pitching staff has collectively a 3.51 ERA, compared to opposing pitchers who have struggled against our lineup with an 8.47 ERA.

From what I've seen so far, it would be a huge disappointment if Miami didn't make the CWS. I would bet it is safe to say the Canes are a legitimate title contender at this point. However, we have to see how UM does against the meat of its ACC schedule before we start jumping to conclusions and predicting championships.

Last Weekend Before Opening Day

The Marlins did relatively well during Spring Training, though I suppose that doesn't mean much. They open the season on Monday with a home series vs the Mets. The game should draw a huge crowd, not just because it's Opening day, but because the Mets will put out maybe the best pitcher in the game, Johan Santana. Rumors were that Andrew Miller was going to get the nod, but as of now it looks like Mark Hendrickson will be the starter.

The rotation looks iffy at this point. Due to injuries and trades, we have a lot of unproven, young guys out on the mound. Hendrickson will be followed by VanderHurk and Miller in the rotation. It gets trickier from there. Olsen is penciled in as the 4th starter in the rotation and manager Fredi Gonzalez doesn't plan on using a 5 man rotation for a couple of weeks. I had heard good things about prospect Chris Volstad, but it looks like he will be sent back to the minors and Ricky Nolasco will come out of the bullpen to start in mid-April.

It looks like Jorge Cantu will get the honor of replacing Miguel Cabrera at 3rd base. What I'm more concerned with is our center fielder. The centerpieces of the Detroit trade were Andrew Miller and CF Cameron Maybin, both supposed future All-Stars. However, it looks like Maybin will continue to be a work-in-progress, as he lost out on the starting job and is being sent back to the minors.

I see this like the Daequan Cook situation with the Heat. The team is going nowhere anyway, so is there a downside to letting the kid play in the big leagues? Maybe he'll regain his form in the minors, but would he have been better off playing through his troubles in the majors? It's tough to say because sometimes these prospects can get shellshocked at how hard the majors are and never recover, so it is sometimes wise to bring them along slowly. I'll trust the Marlins front office because for the most part, they are one of the most competent in baseball.

My guess is that this team struggles early, improves midway through the season, but flames out in late August. I predict a 68 win season for the Marlins.

Shaq Attack is Back

By now you've probably heard Shaq's recent comments regarding his former teammates. Pat Riley has already responded with a statement, saying he is disappointed with our former center's comments. Calling these unprovoked attacks "sad" is an understatement, but I applaud Riles for not shooting back with insults of his own. God knows he could dredge up plenty of dirty laundry from Shaq's playing days here. As much as O'Neal improved on his physical condition, his work ethic was in question many times.

Now he has the gall to call out specific teammates. He had previously taken shots at them, but didn't identify anyone by name. Unfortunately, he changed his mind and felt the need to insult Ricky Davis and Chris Quinn while describing how happy he is playing for the Suns. I'm sure playing for the Suns is fantastic, and Ricky Davis is hardly the best teammate on the court, and yes, Chris Quinn is a marginal player at best, but come on Shaq.

The problem with Shaq is that he doesn't really care about anyone but himself. The things he has said about the team are true: yes they stink and maybe it wasn't all that fun playing here these past 2 seasons. But he didn't seem to have a problem playing with players of Quinn's caliber when we won a championship 2 years ago. Remember how he said Michael Doleac was the first true backup center he ever had? Hah. And according to Ira, he wanted Antoine Walker out, got his wish, and still complains about what we got in return. What did he expect, Corey Maggette?

Quinn is a hard working guy who gives his all every time he plays. The same can't be said for Shaq, who weighed down this franchise with 20 minutes a game for 20 million dollars. Look at his mini-Renaissance in Phoenix. It's not that their training staff are miracle workers. He is playing better there because 1) obviously he has better teammates, but more importantly 2) he is actually trying. That proves he is unprofessional. Even in a 10-72 season, I expect men being paid millions of dollars to play a game to at least go out there and try. Granted, losing wears you down, but give the fans the decency to put forth some effort for their money. Shaq didn't always do that.

There is no need to bring down people you used to work with. Even if they take the first shot, it's unprofessional to say anything negative against former employers or co-workers. There's no excuse for what Shaq does. Even if everything he says stems from some locker room strife we don't know about, then one can easily point to his days in Orlando and Los Angeles, where after leaving those two teams, he again had words to say about some of his teammates.

O'Neal is and always has been two-faced. He always has wonderful things to say about his new team, charming the media and the fans into liking him and overlooking his shortcomings. Don't forget how little respect he's had for opponents in the past and then once he is on the same team with them, he loves them.

It's sad because Shaq is one of the best players in NBA history and above all he is concerned about his legacy. The mistake he has made is that he thinks he will only be remembered for his exploits on the court. What he hasn't realized yet is that when people talk about the great players of all-time, they also acknowledge what kind of people they were and what they did off the court. It may be irrelevant to their basketball accomplishments, but I guarantee you that O'Neal will always be held below Bill Russell partially because people will subtly remember what a bad teammate Shaq was at times.

Some Site Changes

I've decided to go ahead and move the site to http://www.stateofmiami.com to make it a bit more accessible. The old Blogspot link will still work, as will your RSS feeds. But I encourage you to use the new name and tell your friends. However, the new URL won't be fully functional for a couple of days.

I also added a spiffy banner to the top of the page, something I've been tinkering with since I started the blog but didn't manage to get it right until just now. Blogger templates are amazingly difficult to edit. The image you see above for some reason looks different whether you are on IE, Firefox or Safari. I personally use Firefox, but I believe that the site works/looks best on IE. If anyone catches anything glitchy, please let me know so I can address it.

Aside from that, I briefly considered going to a 3 column format, with the main blog posts in the middle, flanked by the Topics sections to the left and the Blog Archives to the right. Most of the feedback was favorable towards this current look. I still might consider switching over for a brief period to test it out a bit.

For now, I'm going to bed, but expect a lengthy rant tomorrow morning on Shaq's latest comments.

Adderley Moved to TE

Unsurprisingly, redshirt freshman Daniel Adderley has been moved from WR to TE. With a very talented WR class coming in this spring and summer, WR is no longer a need on this team and the move should have been anticipated. Adderley is a big body at 6-6 220ish and gives our quarterbacks a big target on 3rd downs and in the red zone.

You can tell that the coaching staff is 1) pretty impressed with our young receivers if they are moving a guy away from receiver, when the position was sorely lacking in playmakers last season and 2) they consider TE a need and are looking to get the position back to the heralded status of Tight End U.

Case in point, Miami has already gotten a commitment from Arizona TE Billy Sanders, and are looking to land another in this upcoming recruiting class, possibly from legacy Austin Fitzpatrick in Texas. There were rumors they would tinker with Jordan Futch at the position and are now moving Adderley inside. I'm not sure what that says about our current TEs Chris Zellner, Dedrick Epps and Richard Gordon. All 3 have talent and show occasional flashes of solid play, but it must be that none has stood out yet in spring practice if TE is becoming such a focus of the coaching staff.

That's not great news, but on the bright side, we have to be happy with the progress of the young receivers. It'll only get better once the rest of them enroll for the Fall. The starting QB (whoever that may be) will have plenty of options to throw to for the first time in years. The offensive line looks to be solid (though that's what we hear every year) and they have a stable of backs to rely on. If Marve or Harris can be accurate and make good decisions, I think the offense will be vastly improved. It can't be understated just how poor the QB play was last season. There's no way this team was lacking in talent enough to go 5-7.

Searching For a Bandwagon

Now that the Panthers season has been derailed and the Canes basketball team has been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, we only have one hope for success in South Florida: the UM baseball team. The Canes are fresh off a 5-0 week, having dominated all 3 opponents with overwhelming offensive firepower.

We all knew Miami had the bats to compete at a high level, but the #2 ranked Canes have been on fire. Miami totaled 82 runs in just 4.5 games (final game of the Wake Forest series was called at 9-1) including two 20+ run games, one against NJIT and another against the Demon Deacons.

The amazing thing is that it isn't just a handful of guys carrying the load. Every game somebody different steps up with 3 or 4 hits and 4 RBI. It must be a nightmare for opposing pitchers to have to prepare for a lineup that can strike a dagger in your heart at any moment.

What's even more impressive is that the pitching remains solid even during blowouts. Miami's ERA was 2.50 during the Wake Forest series even when Canes pitchers had no pressure to keep runs off the board. Freshman lefty Chris Hernandez continues to impress, winning his 4th game of the season with 8 strikeouts against Wake Forest in Game 2 of the weekend series. I'm beginning to believe he is Miami's best pitcher so far this season.

The Canes continued last week's dominance by finishing off Bethune Cookman 10-5 tonight. Tomorrow they finish the 2 game series before heading to Durham to face Duke in a 3 game series. What I'm really looking forward to is the mid-April clash at Tally against the 2nd ranked (Baseball America) Seminoles. We also host 3rd ranked UNC towards the end of the year. Those two series will ultimately determine just how good these Canes are.

Panthers Look Finished

It's almost safe to say that the Panthers have teased us yet again with a March run towards the playoffs that falls just short of success. After reeling off 7 straight wins, the Panthers have dipped back into mediocrity and it looks like their season is over after a disappointing loss to the league-worst Tampa Bay Lightning.

It's not difficult to pinpoint just why the Panthers stink so much. The team simply suffers from a lack of talent. Yes, they were riddled by injuries this season, but was this really a playoff caliber roster anyway? I don't believe so.

I don't know much about hockey, but I do know the Panthers don't really splurge on big name free agents, nor do their draft picks turn into Crosby's or Ovechkin's. The reason they have been mired in mediocrity for so long is because they field mediocre teams.

Technically, they aren't out of the hunt just yet. They remain 5 points behind Boston for the final playoff spot, but only have 5 games left with the Bruins having 6. To have any realistic shot at the playoffs, we need to win the remaining 5 games and have Boston go 2-4. Both are unlikely at this stage, so Panthers fans will have to wait another year to see if their average team can stink up the ice in the playoffs for once.

Wondering About the Wonderlic

Every year the Wonderlic scores come out some time between the Combine the NFL Draft. A huge deal is made from the results of this test, and there are several issues I have a problem with.

First off, does it really matter? One observation I made is that many times you see QBs and OLs at the top of the board, with WRs and DBs do really poorly. Does that mean the former group is a better group of NFL players? Not necessarily. The latter group of players might not do as well (I don't have statistical evidence so you'll have to just believe me), but include some of the most dynamic athletes the sports has ever seen.

In fact, it sometimes appears that the most gifted athletes don't do so well on the exam. Vince Young famously scored a 6 on the test, yet he has been a winner (albeit a below average passer) at the next level. Frank Gore did poorly as well due to a learning disability, and he is a superb NFL back. Our own local hero Dan Marino scored in the low double-digits I believe. He turned out alright.

Casting that argument aside, let's pretend that the score actually is worth a damn. A 20 is the average person's intelligence. I've seen sample Wonderlic tests. How anybody scores below a 30 is beyond my comprehension. We're talking simple questions like how many months have 31 days in them. Sure, stuff like that might trip you up once or twice, or even cause you to rethink your answers and not finish the timed exam.

Regardless, nobody should do worse than a 20, especially "educated student-athletes". Kenny Phillips scored a 16. Doesn't make the U look too great. Andre Caldwell got like a 12, that's a quality UF education right there. I totally understand where many of these athletes are coming from in terms of K-12 education, but if they can't answer simple problem solving questions, what exactly are they doing in an accredited university?

That's not to say they don't deserve the higher education. On the contrary, more inner city kids need a chance at a degree. But what it does do is reveal what a farce NCAA football is when they create all these rules and regulations based on what the NCAA deems as "student athletes". These kids are not students. They are mercenaries for hire. Most of them wouldn't be able to get into a university on their own merit and are there for the sole purpose of making that school money while improving their personal draft stocks. The shameful scores on the Wonderlic test illustrate this clearly to me.

What I'd like to see is some sort of change. Either toss the Wonderlic out the window because it really doesn't translate on the field (Frank Gore can't finish a test without extra time but he can read a playbook and a defense just fine) or own up to the fact your "student athletes" are really just semi-pro players.

Accepting the latter would be encouraging, because these kids deserve more than an education as compensation. Clearly many of these guys aren't learning anything. Read up on Michigan, who clearly paves an easy path for football players in the classroom because it is literally impossible to be a football player and a student at the Div 1-A level. Even if they do acquire some knowledge at the college level, many players earn degrees that are effectively useless in the workforce (basket weaving), expecting to make their fortune in the NFL and putting all their eggs in one basket. Or they leave school early, don't succeed at the next level and can't afford to come back to finish their degree.

In any case, something is funky with the system. It's a bit of a tangent considering this piece was on the Wonderlic exam, but the pieces fit.

Heat Lottery Stuff

The Heat are inching towards getting the worst record in the NBA and the most ping pong balls in the lottery. Unfortunately, this isn't the NFL where the worst record ensures the best pick. It's not even close. Even with the worst record, Miami only has a 25% chance of landing the #1 pick. What's worse is that there is a 42% chance the Miami doesn't even get one of the Top 3 selections.

The draft lottery is only a month or so away. What we should all root hard for is a Top 2 selection. If we don't get Beasley, that hurts, but it's not like missing out on LeBron. Even then teams like Miami and Denver ended up with Wade and 'Melo. If we get a Top 2 pick, then Derrick Rose is a no-brainer selection to be our franchise point guard.

There is a possibility that if we end up with the #3 pick that Rose is still available to us. Beasley will be long gone, but there are a couple of teams in the lottery that don't need a point guard. Then again, those teams might shop him to the highest bidder and we'd be out of luck.

Under the doomsday scenario of landing the 4th pick, then I don't know what I would do. OJ Mayo looks like a great prospect, but I don't think he can play point guard. The bigs available aren't game changing guys. Brook Lopez is a nice player, but I don't think he would be the answer. Actually, I wouldn't mind go after Thabeet from UConn. Guy is a stud on the defensive end.

Canes Rally Falls Short

So down 16, my DirecTV goes off thanks to the showers outside so I give up on the game. I switch over to a video game, then glance over and somehow we are only down 2 at the very end. Unfortunately, it looks like the Canes fell about 15 seconds short of pulling one of the most improbable comebacks in NCAA history.

Thanks to a flurry of points by Jack McClinton and two huge threes by Raymond Hicks, the Canes pulled to 74-72 with a few ticks left. The ensuing foul shot was airballed by the Texas player, but he made the 2nd and the Canes didn't have enough time to set up a shot with 1.8 seconds left. Disappointing end to a great comeback by an outmatched Canes team that for the first 30 minutes of the game had no business being on the same court as the Longhorns.

This game almost reminds me of Game 2 of the 2006 EC Finals. The Heat were down huge the whole game and made a massive comeback in the final 90 seconds only to run out of time. It's a shame that Miami's season had to end like this after a historic rally. Imagine all the publicity and the love from Sportscenter had they pulled off the impossible.

The sad truth is that Miami deserved to lose this game from the outset from they way they played early on. Texas was lights out from 3 point range and we looked completely outclassed. Leave it to me to lose my TV feed and miss the exciting comeback. I don't even know how it happened. I suppose that's a good thing for me, seeing as how the most painful losses to me are failed comeback attempts. I just hate that gleam of hope that gets snatched away at the very last second. Utterly heartbreaking.

But hey, like I said, these guys have character. They might have lost to a better basketball team, but these kids proved that Miami belongs in the Tournament and that they are not afraid of the bigger programs. High school kids all over the country will remember this rally and gain respect for the Miami basketball program.

All in all, this was a very good season for Miami basketball. It certainly had its ups and downs, but the result was a giant step towards relevance in both the ACC and on the national scene. From here, there is nowhere to go but up with this momentum. Hopefully these kids will spend the summer practicing hard and watching game tapes to learn from their mental mistakes.

On a final note for the season, I want to thank all the players for their outstanding efforts. The fact they refused to give up against Texas makes me incredibly proud. Miami basketball is no pushover and all of these guys proved it to the world. Congrats.

So Far, Not So Good

Well that's not what the Canes needed for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16. It's one thing that Texas is draining all their long-range shots. Ultimately, there is nothing you can do about that. But the same foolish mistakes that have plagued the Canes all season have come back to bite them. Reckless drives to the hole the result in a chucked shot that misses everything. Bad passes. Airballs. Lack of patience. All of these things are killing us right now.

That's been the biggest problem with the team. They'll make a good play to steal the ball under the basket, but rather than pass to an open teammate, our guys will toss the ball up in the general direction of the basket, defended by 3 guys, and the shot goes nowhere. Dwayne Collins makes a nice move to get into the paint, but is double teamed. Instead of passing out to a perimeter guy, he twists, turns, squeezes, and launches a prayer that probably has a 5% chance of falling.

I hate to call it bad basketball IQ, but that's what it is. The good thing is that our guys have character and don't fold easily. Frank Haith will make the necessary adjustments at halftime and from there, we just have to hope Jack McClinton shows up to save the day. All is not lost quite just yet, but Miami definitely has to play their best half of basketball all season to stay alive today.

Cabrera Gets Paid

The inevitable contract extension between the Detroit Tigers and Miguel Cabrera was signed yesterday. Miguelito will be making 19M a year for the Tigers.

Relatively fair price for a guy who is about to explode this season. If you thought Miguel was good down here in Florida, imagine him in shape surrounded by talented hitters. I would bet my life savings that barring injury or pastelito-overdose, Miguel will finish in the Top 5 in the MVP voting this season.

The contract extension is another reminder that our ownership is full of it. Or that we as fans are full of it. Either way, something stinks down here in Miami when you let a Hall of Fame bound player go for some prospects just because you can't afford to pay him.

Highlights From Yesterday's Game

In case you were stuck at work or were forced to watch another game, here's a YouTube clip of the Miami-St. Mary's highlights.

Big Game Tomorrow

Well I'm sitting here mourning the loss of all 6 of my brackets. As usual, I get through Day 1 of Round 1 unscathed before a bevy of upsets kill my favorites and my upset picks end up flopping. Oh well.

Tomorrow is what really counts (though I did go ahead and pick Miami to win it all in one bracket) for local basketball fans. Miami plays powerhouse Texas for the right to head to the Sweet 16. Plenty of storylines here. Can the upstart Canes topple an established power on a neutral court in the postseason? Can Frank Haith outcoach his former boss Rick Barnes? And how many potential recruits will be watching?

On paper, the Canes should get blown out. Dwayne Collins has disappeared and Miami hasn't gotten any consistent offense aside from Jack McClinton. Don't expect him to drop 40 against the Longhorns. Barnes will probably have him double and triple-teamed the entire game with athletes far superior to those St. Mary's had to throw at him. Somebody else will have to step up. We need big buckets from Lance Hurdle and James Dews.

For the Canes to win, Miami needs to shoot at least 48% from the field, holding Texas to under 40%. They need to win the FT battle, keep the turnovers to a dozen or less, and stay within a couple of rebounds of Texas. That's a tough task to ask of an inconsistent team against one of the better teams in the nation.

However, I'm going to go crazy here and officially predict an upset. Never underestimate the negative impact of a below average coach. Frank Haith's team might make it's share of mental mistakes, but more often than not, he has them prepared and focused for their opponent. He does a decent job of making adjustments to give his guys a chance to win. Barnes has been deep into the Tourney, but has for the most part shared the fate of his football counterpart Mack Brown. Tons of talent but nothing to show for it (we're not counting 2005 Texas because that was all Vince Young).

Miami keeps it to within a couple of scores in the first half, then comes out to a 6/8-0 run to start the second half and takes the lead. The Canes nurse a small lead until the final minutes when the Longhorns catch up and retake the lead. Then Jack McClinton comes and saves the day with a barrage of late 3s to seal the deal. Canes shock Texas and win 78-74.

Wizards Top Hapless Heat 103-86

No earth-shattering news here. The Heat's lineup featured such well known names as Stephane Lasme and Blake Ahearn. Of the 10 players who logged minutes in last night's loss, only 3 or 4 would be on an NBA roster. Those same 3 or 4 would be bench players on a good NBA team. That's how badly injuries have ravaged this roster.

The losses continue to pile up, but they stopped stinging weeks ago. I welcome every L almost as much as I normally welcome every W when this team is competitive. The loss helps us out because Seattle is in the midst of a 10 game losing streak. Their remaining schedule is brutal enough so that they'll probably win 1 or 2 more games at most. That means every win Miami gets is risking the worst record. Minnesota and Memphis are all but out of the picture; both teams are 5 games ahead of us and both enjoy a relatively easy remaining schedule.

Canes Pull Away And Advance

I have to admit it didn't look good for a while. Jack McClinton was taking bad shots and every single layup was rolling off the rim. I could have sworn there was something funky with our basket because half of our missed shots in the first half were half-way down the net before rimming out.

Luckily, St. Mary's played poorly this afternoon and couldn't manage a sizeable lead before the Canes got back into rhythm. As many predicted, Miami needed a big day from Jack McClinton, and boy did they get it. McClutch dropped a career high 38 points and the Canes pulled away in the 2nd half to advance to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney.

The biggest problem I have with this team is the careless mistakes. I'm not even talking about moving screens or bad passes. Sometimes they just forget to dribble or pass the ball wildly instead of taking their time. Poor basketball IQ plays, like those that cost us against NC State. Those sorts of mistakes will kill us against Texas this weekend if we continue to make them.

The good thing is that Frank Haith knows how to get his boys to regroup and focus on defense. Once he makes the necessary adjustments, all the Canes need to do is stay within striking distance and our All-ACC guard can bring us back into the game. That's been the m.o. all season and it worked today.

This was a big win for the program, folks. Don't underestimate how good we look advancing to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. I guarantee you people were watching and saw that when this team is on all cylinders, it is legit. Now, all they have to do is the impossible: upset Texas. A win there and we'll immediately see the rewards rolling in for this program. Big time schools will be more favorable to schedule us. Prestigious preseason tournaments will begin to invite us. And more importantly, guys like Kenny Boynton will believe that this program has what it takes to compete with the big boys. Landing the top recruits is what Miami needs to get into the upper echelon of teams in the nation. Today was another big step into realizing that dream.

Dolphins QB Draft Options

A lot has been made about Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco as potential draft picks next month. The Sun Sentinel blog made mention of an increased interest in Chad Henne in the 2nd round. It's difficult to say whether or not this team should pull the trigger on any of these guys, because none are surefire bets to be good players.

Ryan is erratic and overrated. He's a good football player, but he has no business being drafted in the 1st round. If he is available at #32 then I would consider taking him. Then again, he would probably have some considerable trade value, so that might be an option as well.

Flacco has all the natural tools that people are raving about but I grow to dislike his attitude every day. Joe is simply full of himself and I don't like that. If he was really that great then why didn't he start in Pittsburgh (he then transfered to powerhouse Delaware)? He constantly props himself up in a way that doesn't appeal to me as a fan. He might be the best QB out there, but it would be pretty hard to root for the guy.

Henne was way too inconsistent at Michigan for me to be comfortable with him as a 2nd round pick. He had all the talent in the world at his disposal and never turned it into a BCS win. With some grooming I suppose he could become an average starter at the next level, but Miami has way too many needs to fill to be using up what is essentially a 1st round pick on a guy who has low potential for growth. I'd rather take a guy like Lawrence Jackson there.

One guy I actually like is Brian Brohm, but I doubt he will be available when the 2nd round rolls around. I wanted Brohm last season, when we could have selected him at the #9 slot. The problem with him is the offense he ran in Louisville wasn't a pro set offense and it might take him a while to get acclimated to the NFL. Still, I think he is a good pure passer and potentially the best NFL prospect at his position in this class.

Other guys like Andre Woodson and John David Booty are intriguing, but should be left to the 3rd rounds or above. Frankly, this team won't be any good anyway, so I would rather not draft a QB in the first 4 rounds this year. Call me crazy but I would rather save the pick and take another corner or a tackle and then take a flier on Kyle Wright in the 7th. Put him in a room and brainwash him into not throwing to the other team. Make him work on deep balls until his arm falls off. It's a better investment than spending 65 million on Matt Ryan, who isn't a Day 1 pick in a good draft.

Dookies Hold On

I blame the Belmont loss solely on myself. Nothing good ever comes from sneaking in peeks at scores through your cellphone during dinner. Regardless, it was a pretty disappointing loss for Duke haters everywhere. The Tourney really needed that upset, as the entire day was filled with uneventful games and only one notable upset in Kansas State over USC. I had USC going deep in a pair of brackets, but when you have the country's best player (Beasley), that's always worth a round or two in my book.

Miami plays tomorrow afternoon and I'm a bit worried about our chances. Reading up on the Gaels, not only do they have the talent to beat us, they also are taking the Canes very seriously. I'm sure Frank Haith has prepared his team to the utmost, but it can't help that Miami is playing a team that most of us had never heard of till this week. Frankly I don't think they will advance. Then again, every time I go pessimistic on these Canes, they go out and beat Duke or win 4 straight in the ACC. We'll see.

Let the Madness Begin

Leave it to me to be super busy the day the NCAA Tourney begins. Well, my brackets are intact for the most part so far; I did so many of them that I don't really have any rooting interests yet. I did have UGA continuing their magic in my favorite bracket. That was looking good for a while before they fell apart. Oh well.

For some reason I have Kent State advancing in ALL 6 of my brackets. That was a bonehead move.

Canes don't play till tomorrow so for now, everyone will just have to relax and watch the rest of the chaos unfold. Anyone else have a good start?

Canes BBall on the Rise

Fantastic news for any fans of Hurricanes basketball. Frank Haith had already taken major steps in giving this university some credibility in the sport by landing several talented recruits and being in the running for top guys like Devin Ebanks and Kenny Boynton. Then he took his team to the NCAA Tournament, where they have the opportunity to make some noise against St. Mary's and Texas.

Next season, look for potentially more progress for our program. Frank Haith has mentioned the possibility of playing in the prestigious Wooden Invitation next year, and Kansas has already offered a home and home series.

KU wants the away game to be at the AAA, which UM officials are against. I'm not so sure they can afford not to acquiesce. Granted, figuring out logistics and revenues at the location will take some more work than if the game were just at the BankUnited Center, but when you have a chance to play Kansas at home, you take it. I would venture to say that the AAA might even be at full capacity for that game, an impressive feat which would prove to potential opponents and fans alike that Miami is capable of filling an NBA arena for one of their games.

Heat Still in Good Shape

Somehow the Heat pulled off a win last night against the Bucks. Most of it was due to a huge run extending between the third and fourth quarters, featuring a barrage of 3 pointers from Chris Quinn and Jason Williams.

The win was the first for the team in March, but don't fret Heat fans, it shouldn't make much of a difference in our lottery standing. Miami still remains the worst team in the league, 3.5 games ahead of Seattle and 4 games ahead of Memphis and Minnesota.

The good news is that Minnesota has 7 games left against sub-500 teams and Memphis has 10. The Heat has 7. It would take some serious slumping by the former two to make an impact on the Heat's futility. However, the Supersonics face only 3 sub-500 teams and finish the season with a brutal stretch of games against Houston, Denver, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Golden State. 4 of those final 5 are on the road. Don't expect them to win a single one of those. That means the Heat needs to be wise and make sure they don't win more than 3 more games this season, or else they risk losing the worst record in the NBA.

Seeing as how Udonis Haslem is heading towards season ending surgery and Shawn Marion should probably see limited time so he doesn't aggravate his back injury, I don't think it's very likely Miami goes on a late season surge. Our lineup will seriously look something like Chris Quinn, Bobby Jones, Ricky Davis, Alexander Johnson and Earl Barron for most of these games. That might be the worst rotation in NBA history.

10,000th Hit

Quick thank you to the readers of the blog, particularly those who frequent it daily. As of finishing my last post, the site reached it's 10,000th unique hit in just over 3 months. I have bigger goals in mind for State of Miami, but it's definitely a good start. Thanks also to M.H. and Cavaleer from the SS and Canespace blogs for the pair of surprise plugs that helped get State of Miami over the hump this morning.

Spring Practice and Recruiting

Check out Manny's blog to hear news straight from the players' mouths about the 2008 football team. I really got a kick out of Shannon tossing everyone out after finding out that some website posted the entire previous scrimmage online. The tough guy attitude doesn't necessarily work (see Saban and the Dolphins) if you don't have the players, but it's still nice to see some fire from the coaching staff. Coker would have probably expressed mild disappointment and let it continue.

From what I've gathered over the past few weeks, it will be a shock to see anyone but Robert Marve starting. I'm not sure I like the idea of rotating quarterbacks per se. It worked for UF in 2006 with Tebow and Leak, but this team is nowhere near a championship. There are examples of other semi-successful experiments with it (David Greene and DJ Shockley come to mind, and no it's not a white/black QB thing), but this is a young team. I'd rather have one guy back there leading them.

If we do end up going with just one quarterback, from reading Jacory Harris' quotes, it seems we won't have much of a controversy. Granted, he's saying all the right things now, but it appears young Harris has his head in the right place and is really a team player. Same goes for Cannon Smith. We heard similar talk from Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman last year, but there were still whispers about jealousy and potential transfers. We'll see how this one turns out.

I'm particularly interested in seeing who wins the two starting wideout spots. I think with the emergence of Pat Hill and John Calhoun at FB, we won't be running as many 3-wide formations out of the I as we have before. That would create a bit of a bottleneck. I would venture to say that Leonard Hankerson will take over the split end position while either McKenzie (who I'd give the edge to) or Aldarius Johnson will take over the flanker. I might be way off on this, but I haven't heard much about Sam Shields this entire Spring.

As far as recruiting goes, I don't know much about any potential commitments anytime soon. We've offered Kansas MLB Jaydan Bird (4 stars on Scout) and Rivals said he was expecting to announce early. That might be something worth watching. Most of the LBs we signed in this class will eventually end up as OLB or other positions. Despite the fact UM coaches say Spence will eventually move to the inside, landing another MLB would be great in this next class.

We've also offered Devon Kennard, 5 star DE from Arizona. Rivals mentions he is interested in the Canes, but it's not a good sign that the #5 overall player on Scout doesn't even have us listed on his list of schools. It's way too early to tell, but it might be a pipe dream to think about landing this kid. He's already attended USC's camp and is in close proximity to the recruiting powerhouse, in addition to UCLA and Arizona State. Still, we all thought Arthur Brown was an Oklahoma lock this time last year, so that's why following recruiting can be so fun.

The Matt Ryan Issue

Admittedly I've been a lazy blogger of late, letting the ideas come to me rather than the other way around. Considering the lack of anything really newsworthy day in and day out, that has resulted in the blog suffering from a lack of substance.

In any case, I thought I'd post my two cents on the Matt Ryan issue. Many pundits, including Todd McShay at ESPN, and recently Mel Kiper (before he switched to Chris Long), had tabbed Ryan as Miami's #1 pick. I cringe every time I see this.

I don't know what the infatuation is with Matt Ryan. Sure, he is a gutsy guy who took his team to a few comebacks and a #2 ranking. Then again, Joey Harrington did the very same thing in 2001, leading his Ducks to a #2 ranking and only one loss. Look how that turned out for the Lions, Dolphins and Falcons.

Ryan gets compared to Tom Brady for some reason, which baffles me because Brady doesn't throw picks. Ryan throws them in bunches. Mind you he played in a weak ACC conference throughout his career. I would have liked to see him week in week out versus stout SEC defenses.

The truth is, many scouts don't even have Ryan as a 1st round grade, much less a #1 overall pick. There will always be a disparity in the evaluations by different scouts, but if you're supposed to get the best player in a given draft, then he is almost always a consensus Top 10 pick even by his naysayers.

Taking Ryan would be a disastrous move for this franchise. Maybe John Beck isn't the answer. He certainly hasn't proven anything to anyone other than that he is a nice guy who loves football. However, Matt Ryan is no Carson Palmer and no Peyton Manning. He isn't the surefire guy you don't mind handing over 35 million in guarantees to. If he slips to the 2nd round, I might consider taking him because Brohm might be gone and I'm not sure I like Flacco's attitude.

This team has way too many needs to be giving up on John Beck quite just yet, especially when there are safer and better players on the board at positions of greater need that quarterback.

Surprise Guest at an October Panthers Game

Useless post of the day but still a fun video. I had no idea this happened. Good to see the U representing.

Conine to Retire a Marlin

It's a minor story in the paper, but I think a big one for Marlins fans across South Florida. A member of the original '93 Marlins and part of our two World Series champion teams, Jeff Conine will sign a one-day contract and retire a member of the Florida Marlins.

Jeff is the only link between the Marlins teams of the expansion era, the Huizenga firesale era, and the resurgence between 2002 and 2004. I'll remember him most for his home run in the 95 All Star game. I was so proud that a Marlin made an impact amongst the game's best players. Then we went and won a World Series a couple of years later. Those were good days.

Canes Lose Short Game, Win Series

Disappointing end to a relatively successful weekend in Raleigh for the Miami baseball team. After defeating the Wolfpack 12-5 and 2-1 in earlier games, Miami lost tonight's game 11-10 on a late home run in the 8th inning. The game was called shortly thereafter due to time constraints.

I'm not sure who schedules the games, the times, and the flights for road teams, but I think it's ridiculous a game had to be called after 8 innings because Miami had to catch their flight. It's one thing if there is severe weather, it's another if somebody goofed on the logistics.

In any case, the Canes left with a solid weekend. Aside from Enrique Garcia's really rough start today (4 ER in 1 1/3 innings pitched), Miami got some great pitching from the starting rotation. Freshman sensation Chris Hernandez continued his great start to the season by pitching 7 1/3rd great innings on Saturday.

There is some cause for concern in that one of the Canes' strong suits, relief pitching, failed to keep runs off the board. Still, 2 out of 3 on the road in the ACC is always a good thing.

The Canes now host a pair of games against NJIT and Cornell before opening a 3 game home series against Wake Forest on Friday. Miami is currently ranked 5th and 7th in the major polls, but I have no idea how this latest loss will affect their rankings.

Panthers Win 7th Straight

Don't look now, but here come the Panthers. After being left for dead a few weeks ago, the Florida Panthers tied a franchise record with their 7th consecutive victory by beating the Wild 3-2.

The victory puts them in a tie for 10th with Washington and only 2 points behind slumping Philadelphia for the final playoff spot. The Panthers have 8 games remaining and the Flyers have 9. There is still an outside chance that Florida can catch up to Carolina, but the Hurricanes are equally hot and enjoy a 5 point lead with 8 games remaining as well.

In basketball, I wouldn't be a proponent of making a late playoff surge. Unless you can get a top seed in basketball, it usually is a futile attempt at making an impact. Most teams that sneak in the playoffs get bounced quickly. It makes more sense to tank and get a lottery pick. In football, it goes both ways in that if you have a shot, you should take it. The Giants and Steelers recently won 4 road playoff games en route to Super Bowl titles. They're proven that 6th seed in the NFL can still matter.

There's a give and take in tanking in the NFL too. If you don't think you can quite make it, then it might be better to lose some games and get a better pick. Then again, with the rookie salary structure the way it is, it might not be that great idea.

With the Panthers, I really hope they make the playoffs. We've been missing from the postseason for way too long and I think the fanbase needs a boost. Even if it means a first round exit, so be it. A Stanley Cup Playoff series is a long event and with the right momentum, even a mediocre team like Florida can go deep into the playoffs. Let's hope they can pull it off because Miami needs something to root for.

Riley Returns, Heat Lose san Marion

Usually the return of a Hall of Fame coach and the absence of an All-Star player in your lineup means that there is at least some buzz regarding your next game. But to be honest, I totally forgot the Heat even played today. The games have become so pointless and meaningless that nobody bothers to watch them. I feel for Heat beat writers in South Florida who are forced to cover this team.

Shawn Marion was kept out of the game due to back injuries he suffered in a minor traffic accident. I'm not sure how badly your back can get hurt by backing into a pole, but I'll give him and the front office the benefit of the doubt. Even if he was exaggerating the injury, I wouldn't blame him. Who would want to play for this team right now?

At least Daequan Cook had a decent night against the Mavericks. The 41 minutes he played was a team high and his 11 points made him one of only two Heat players to score in double digits tonight. Earl Barron was the other, dropping a career high 21 points. Jason Williams came back down to Earth after his incredible game vs the Magic.

In case you were wondering, Miami is 4 games ahead of both Minnesota and Memphis for the worst record in the NBA. I would put my money on Memphis as being the #1 contender for that distinction. Minnesota is young and improving, Memphis basically is in worse tailspin than we are. The great thing is that we only have 17 games left to play and would have to win at least 4 of them, having either team lose every single last one to overtake us. I'd say barring some crazy 8 game win streak, the Heat have locked in 25% of the ping pong balls in the lottery.

Canes Earn 7 Seed

The Selection Committee has finished making its selections and as expected, the Canes are in as a 7 seed. Something between 8-9 was to be expected, but the ACC carries enough respect with it that the Committee gave us a 7 seed and a 1st round matchup vs St Mary's.

However, my disaster scenario came to be to a tee. We got a winnable game in round 1 (and by no means is St. Mary's a pushover, there's a good chance we lose this game) only to be matched up against Texas in Round 2. That being said, we actually got slotted in a favorable 8th of the overall bracket.

Do not quote me on this, and I don't have any reason to believe it will happen, but this bracket is probably the easiest one available for the Canes to make the Elite 8. Maybe the West bottom bracket is easier. But aside from Texas, the 8 teams in our side of the South bracket aren't exactly world-beaters. The other top seeds are Marquette and Stanford, two good teams, but Marquette isn't special and Stanford has a history of falling apart in the NCAA Tournament.

If the Canes can win a tough game vs St. Mary's and pull off a stunner vs Texas, then I believe they would have it in them to make the Elite 8. But that's a huge if. I'd give us a 50% chance of beating St. Mary's and then a 5% chance of beating Texas. This isn't Duke at home, and this team has not been playing well of late. But that's why they play the games, right? It's still ok to dream sometimes.

In any case, this season should be considered a success, particularly if we win the first round matchup. We did horribly last season and many people were beginning to doubt Frank Haith and his team. This was an up and down season, but the players showed flashes of being able to be the 3rd best team in the ACC. Considering the pedigree of the Top 2 teams, that's something I would be comfortable with.

Joseph Signs With Raiders

I had read that the Dolphins had some serious interest in William Joseph of the Giants. The DE was a first round pick off of that stellar 2001 UM team, but never really played up to his potential. Miami was looking to sign him, but supposedly he failed one of their tests during the physical, so no contract was offered. Today, the former Cane signed with the Raiders. Hopefully he can emulate the play of former Raider/Cane Warren Sapp while he is there.

Pope to Vikings

One of the last players from the Wannstedt era last season was Derrick Pope. An undersized OLB from Alabama, I immediately liked the pick and loved the kid's enthusiasm. Him an Tony Bua really got after people. However, Pope never really amounted to anything more than a serviceable backup. There was absolutely no chance he was going to be on this roster because he doesn't fit Parcells' scheme.

Fortunately for Derrick, the Vikings saw some value in him and signed him to a 1 year deal. Good luck to him.

Vernon Gholston Video

The buzz is that Gholston might be the new favorite to be the Dolphins' #1 selection. The DE/OLB out of Ohio State has the most impressive physical tools out of anyone in the draft at his position, and has tremendous upside.

The problem is that he has been known to take plays off and doesn't have the motor that Chris Long does. Then again, we drafted Matt Roth in the 2nd because he had an unbelievable motor, and so far he has been an average player at best. Heart and determination mean a lot in this game, but if you aren't a good football player then you're out of luck. In any case, here's a really short video of #50 Gholston against LSU in the title game. I'm pretty sure most of the plays he is rushing off the left defensive end position against the Tiger's right tackle.

Question Thread 3/15/2008

I figured the last thread got a few nice requests so I'll continue with Kahlo's suggestion and answer any questions you guys might have. And for the commenter last time, I haven't forgotten about writing a piece on an old Canes team. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

The Spectacular Jason Williams

What was that? Did we just witness Jason Williams' best game since Game 6 of the ECF vs Detroit back in 2006? JWill came out of nowhere with a 34 point, 7 assist, 6 rebound performance in tonight's 103-94 loss to the Magic. I suppose it is a bit sad that I am more concerned with a fluke game by a washed up point guard than yet another loss by the hometown Heat, but what can I say? Over in Houston you've got a team winning 21 straight while we've got a starting lineup that barely passes for training camp fodder.

It's been several weeks since we have been forced to look at individual pluses and minuses rather than wins and losses. Tonight featured a couple of nice games by the All-World starting backcourt of Jason Williams and Daequan Cook. The young rookie seems like he might be regaining his November touch. Maybe that demotion to Iowa wasn't so bad after all. Or maybe Riley should have just let him play of out his slump.

Cook's fellow Energy teammate Joel Anthony had a solid night as well, contributing 10 points and 7 boards in 39 minutes of play. And yes, we had to play Joel Anthony 39 minutes tonight. That's the state of your Miami Heat right now. I probably shouldn't be too hard on the guy though, as he looked more impressive than Alexander Johnson ever has, and the Mark Blount experiment at C has hardly worked out too well.

Taking a look at the stat line, I'm surprised Miami didn't lose by 40, seeing as how the Magic attempted 36 free throws to our 6. I'd like to see Heat critics claim favoritism by the refs now.

What I do appreciate is the effort by the team. I read Ira's post game blog and totally agree. Though it may seem like it from box scores, the Heat are not tanking to get Beasley. These guys still want to win some games.

Dolphins Sign a Corner

Apparently, the Dolphins are very interested in making their special teams unit the best in the NFL. Most of our recent signings have been targeting that much-maligned unit in an attempt to improve it. The Sun-Sentinel reports that former Cowboys (yes, another Cowboy) corner Nathan Jones has been signed to a two year deal.

It is possible Jones will see some playing time at corner (he can also play safety), but it looks like the addition is targeting the lackluster play of the special teams. The plan is to line him up alongside Ted Ginn Jr to provide two threats in the return game.

Canes Lose Ugly One to Va Tech

Well, all we can do now is sit and wait in 2 days for the Selection Committee to hand us our seeding. There is no doubt in my mind the Canes will make the tourney, however, the last 3 games have hardly shown us at our best. Whereas a nice showing to end the season would have given us a chance at a 7 seed, losing to FSU and VT with a ok win against NC State in the middle effectively killed our chances of that.

Expect a 9 or 10 seed at this point, and that's solely because the Committee will have some respect for the 4th best team in the ACC. With any luck we'll get a 12 seed and get a part of a bracket that avoids a major power until the Sweet 16.

As for the game itself, it sure wasn't pretty. UM kept it within striking distance for most of the game despite playing poorly, but were ousted by a 17-2 Va Tech run late in the 2nd half. The team shot poorly from the field and only Jack McClinton scored in double figures. I myself didn't get a chance to catch the game so I don't know how accurate this is, but the box score shows a very disturbing 25 rebound differential between the two teams. Definitely not a good way to end the season and limp into the Tourney.

If the Canes keep playing like that, they will be one and done, regardless of their seeding. This team's potential is at best a Sweet 16 with a very favorable bracket. More than likely the Canes might be able to pull off a Round 1 victory before facing a superior opponent in the 2nd. Regardless, I think this was an excellent season for Frank Haith and the Canes. With a little bit of luck in recruiting, next year's team will be improved and has a chance to position itself to be the 3rd best team in the ACC. Making the Tourney this year was a nice start, now Haith has to keep the momentum going by winning a game and landing a major prospect.

UM Secures NCAA Bid

I'll write a more detailed explanation in a bit, but for now I have to keep it short. Blogger is about to go down in 6 minutes for maintenance. Before that happened, I wanted to mention that UM's basketball team easily dispatched of NC State 63-50 and heads to the 2nd round to face Va Tech.

The win ensures Miami will make it as the 4th ACC team in the NCAA Tournament. FSU also won and will now face UNC, needing a win or two more to land a bubble spot as well. At this point, Miami has no pressure on them to win, and they should play it cool. Keep winning and they'll be rewarded with a higher seed. At this point, I would prefer they end up with a 5 or 12 seed rather than a 6-11. The former means that with a victory, the worst we'd face in the 2nd round would be a 4 seed.

If we get a 7 or 8 seed, then we'd get bounced by UNC or Memphis in the 2nd round. 6 or 10 seed and we get blasted by a Texas. You get the point. Wish hard for something that avoids the major powers until the Sweet 16.

Canes Top Penn State, Maine

The Canes continue to roll through the early part of their schedule, as they easily dispatched of Penn State and Maine in a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The first matchup was a no contest for Miami, as star first baseman Yonder Alonso went 4-4 with a HR and a pair of RBIs. Starter Jason Santana made quick work out of the Nittany Lions with 6 shutout innings, and the bullpen did a nice job of keeping the shutout going as the Canes won 10-0.

Miami had a tougher going of it against the Black Bears, but managed to pull out a win thanks to the production of 3B Mark who drove in 5 of the Canes' 7 runs en route to a 7-4 victory. The Canes wouldn't have been able to win had it not been for the bullpen, however. Starter John Housey had a rough outing, allowing 3 ER in just 4 innings, but the relief pitcher managed to hold Maine to just one more run in the final 6.

The Canes now travel to Raleigh for a weekend series against ACC opponent North Carolina State before coming home on Tuesday to face Cornell.

Heat Lose to Knicks

Well, at least they are making it interesting. Pat Riley was quoted after the game that he believes the team is hustling and working hard despite the lowly record. After tonight's 91-88 defeat to New York, Miami has opened up a comfortable 3 game lead over Minnesota for the worst record in the NBA. The loss marks the 33rd in 36 contests. I think with 19 games to go, it would be a good bet to say Miami won't win more than 3 of them, which is to say, we've pretty much clinched the most ping pong balls.

Tonight's loss really doesn't need any analysis. Miami was without half it's team, as usual, and featured the ultra-talented Bobby Jones for 20 minutes. Daequan Cook continued the struggles he experienced in the 2nd half against the Clippers, but remains a potent option from the 3 point line. Ricky Davis loves the limelight on losing teams, as he dropped 20 or more for the 3rd consecutive game, all losses.

The guy I wonder about is Shawn Marion. How does he manage to hustle his way to 15 points and 17 boards (after 17 and 17 against LA) for this team? He must really like being away from Phoenix. I know I wouldn't be playing my very best on a sinking ship. I would try, but there is no way I would put forth my all like he does. Big kudos to the Matrix for his energy through these rough times in Miami.

State of Miami 3/12/2008

I apologize if there hasn't been a whole lot of noteworthy posts on here of late. I've struggled to find something worth writing about that is really of any serious interest to anyone. The Canes basketball team has been on a break since losing to FSU, and awaits it's first round ACC tourney matchup with NC State. The baseball team has been rolling so far, but we haven't gotten to the heart of conference play yet. The football team has begun spring practices, but what we are allowed to see and hear is limited for now.

The good news is that all 3 of our major programs at UM are doing well, or at least seem to be on the rise. The same can be said for the most important team in Miami, the beloved Dolphins. Since free agency has started, Bill Parcells and Co. have added a slew of new players to the roster. Some look to fill gaps in our starting lineup, while some serve the purpose of improving a special teams unit that disappointed last season. There aren't any marquee guys left to sign, but there are definitely still players available that might interest all of you (another post on this in a minute).

Heat coverage has been pretty redundant as well. Aside from the controversial decisions by Pat Riley to 1) leave the coaching duties to Ron Rothstein in order to scout potential draft picks, and 2) shut down Dwyane Wade for the season, everything else has remained constant. The Heat continue to lose every game, with or without Wade. Some are blowouts, while some (like the recent Clippers game) are nail-biters that end up being heartbreakers. Slowly, but surely, the team is heading towards the worst record in the NBA.

Things don't look too good for the Marlins either. Despite having finally agreed on a deal to build their new stadium at the OB site, the team itself has been cursed with some bad luck. The pitching staff has been decimated by injuries, and the starting lineup continues to get hit with minor, yet nagging setbacks to its role players. The good news is that even with a fully healthy roster, the Marlins are still incapable of winning more than 70-75 games. So it isn't a big deal really.

I'll finish with some good news, rather than leave you depressed with the state of the Marlins. Guys, we might actually have a playoff team to root for. The Panthers, who had been left for dead two weeks ago after several 3rd period choke-jobs, have recently won 4 straight games and are now 7 points out of the playoffs. The problem is that Florida only had 11 games remaining to make up those 7 points. Essentially, they have to win 9 of their final 11 games to have any reasonable chance of sneaking in to the playoffs either as the 8th seed or as the Southeast Division leader and the 3rd seed.

Much like the last time I wrote a State of Miami, we have reason to believe that the pain and frustration of being a South Florida sports fan will be over sometime soon. All that we need is patience and a little bit of luck, especially come draft time for the Dolphins and Heat.

Miller Recovers; Will Start Opening Day

Ballyhooed prospect Andrew Miller, brought in from the Miguel Cabrera trade, struggled early before regaining his composure and helping the Marlins come from behind to beat the Dodgers 7-6.

Due to injuries to Scott Olsen and Sergio Mitre, the latter of which may not be around for 2008, it seems Miller will be the Opening day starter for the Marlins. It's a great honor to be given to the young pitcher, but doesn't bode well that the best we've got to put out there on Day 1 is such a raw talent.

Quickie Recruiting Tidbit

Andre Debose, a 4-star (Scout) WR/ATH out of Sanford, FL recently received an offer from Coach Aubrey Hill and looks incredibly impressed by our program. He had been leaning towards South Carolina, but from what he has said following the offer, I would have to say Miami is way out in front for the time being. I would hesitate to call him a lock because we still have 11 months till Signing Day 2009.

Additionally, Robert Marve's former teammate at Plant in Tampa, TE Orson Charles, has Miami out in front. We already have a commitment from Billy Sanders, and have legacy Austin Fitzpatrick high on us as well. It might be a bit too much to sign three tight ends in this class when we only have about 20 scholarships to offer.

Sean Taylor Update

Honestly, I'd like this stuff to be cleared up as soon as possible and have these guys be put to justice so we can all try to move on. Reading about new details surfacing just brings back bad feelings about that horrible day 4 months ago.

It's such a sad story. The reality is that these dumb kids saw a bunch of money at Taylor's house and felt the need to take it. They were too stupid to realize who he was, what he meant to his family and his fans, and like many people have said, that he was generous enough to probably have given them the money anyway.

Maybe Sean was generous to a fault. People often don't appreciate generosity, particularly when it's not directed at themselves. These kids saw Sean hand someone $10,000 in cash as a gift and got greedy. It wasn't enough that he paid one of them 300 bucks to mow his damn lawn, they had to go get more. It's a shame when people don't know the value of an honest day of hard work. Most people get paid 30-50 bucks for that kind of stuff.

The whole thing is sickening really. People getting shot up for the dumbest reasons. Families being broken up by greedy punks over petty jealousies. Heck, take a quick tour of Google for their MySpace pages. Many of the suspects are pictured with cash lying around all over the place. Obviously these guys were dealing drugs at some point, so it's even more infuriating that they felt the need to rob someone to take even more money. Wasn't all of that money you made poisoning your fellow men enough to satisfy you?

Heat Sign Some Filler

It's amazing how bad/boring the Heat have become that Ira Winderman found the time to write a relatively long piece on the acquisition of swingman Bobby Jones. By all accounts, Bobby is a guy we brought in to take a look at, but considering we only offered him a 10-day contract, is probably not a keeper.

UPDATE: Reading that, I'm a little surprised that the Heat went after a guy like Jones. I had completely forgotten that Gerald Green had been cut. I would also consider Julius Hodge a more viable option as well. Both are guys that have flashed some potential in the NBA, albeit suffering from some of the same inconsistency we've seen from Dorell Wright.

Clearing Up Some Defense Issues

For those of you who are wondering how exactly the Dolphins plan on playing all of these new defensive guys in the 3-4 lineup, Barry Jackson did a nice job explaining the situation on his periodic Sports Buzz column at the Herald.

A linebacking crew of Porter, Crowder, Torbor, and Taylor sounds pretty good on paper. However, who do we have taking up the blocks at defensive end? We've sign Jason Ferguson to fill the NT position, and Jackson tells us that Randy Starks (21 mil? wow) will likely fill in one DE spot. But what about the other? Rod Wright and Matt Roth aren't the biggest guys for that role, and Jason Taylor isn't as effective because of his size as well.

Makes me wonder how the Calvin Pace situation would have changed things. Who would have been moved around or traded? How does this affect our draft situation? Chris Long and Vernon Gholston are both tweener prospects of sorts, and neither figures to play with their hands on the ground too much. Could this mean Glenn Dorsey gets picked and moved to DE? Does Porter get cut loose? And what happens to the promising talent of Quentin Moses?

As you can see, there are a lot of unresolved questions facing this front 7. Don't even get me started with the secondary. We have more holes there than in a chunk of swiss cheese.

Dolphins Nuggets

I'm sure many of you would like to know what the Dolphins options are regarding the #1 pick, besides just packing the pick for a combination of other draft picks. I am curious about these things as well. That's why Omar Kelly's latest blog post at the Sun-Sentinel is a great read. Even if all of those scenarios end up being pipe dreams, it's still fun to imagine the possibilities.

I myself particularly like the idea of having either Antrel Rolle or Jeremy Shockey on this team. However, both Arizona and New York's picks are too low to be packaged with either veteran to match the value of the #1 overall selection. They would have to toss in some other picks of considerable value for the front office in Davie to be comfortable dealing the #1 pick for.

Something that makes more sense practically would be to trade the pick to Atlanta or Cincinnati for Hall or Johnson. Their picks are still in the top 10, so the Dolphins would still get two quality players out of the deal, one proven, one with potential. However, those two deals are also the two most unlikely to happen, as the Dolphins don't appear interested in DeAngelo Hall, and the Bengals seem adamant about keeping Chad Johnson in Cincy.

Let me know if you guys think of any other solutions that would benefit the team.

Rex Hadnot Signs With Browns

People usually referred to Hadnot as our best offensive lineman. I considered him a steal coming out of Houston when he was drafted, but I never grew to like him as a player while he was here. I don't see why people speak so highly of him.

Now it appears that evaluators around the league agree with me. Hadnot had been looking for a monster deal and to leave Miami, but instead settled for a two-year 7 million dollar deal in Cleveland. Only about half of that money is guaranteed.

Rex was a serviceable starter, but Justin Smiley is head and shoulders better than Hadnot. We won't miss him too much.

Dolphins Sign Keith Davis

The Dolphins have made another addition to their special teams by signing FS Keith Davis from the Cowboys. It's possible Davis will have some playing time on defense as well, seeing as how our secondary is sorely lacking in playmakers. This is probably Jason Allen's final season with the Dolphins unless he finally makes some strides.

Smush Parker is Cut

It's about time. Parker received a buyout for the remainder of his contract, which included a player option worth $2.5 million for next season. It shows just how little Pat Riley thinks of Parker that he is willing to let him go the day Dwyane Wade is shut down for the rest of the season. It should be interesting to see what the team does to fill Parker's roster spot. They did mention a possibility of signing Penny back, but I don't know if he would be interested in returning to a last-place team at this point.

Trent Green Returns to St. Louis

Thankfully we won't be seeing the return of Trent Green in Miami. I suspected we weren't interested, but I can't shake the feeling that our front office always has a tendency to panic and make dumb signings when it comes to QB.

Green has signed with the Rams for 3 years and 9 million dollars. Seems like a lot for a guy who might not ever play again, but then again the Rams don't have the most stable QB situation in the league. Marc Bulger looked terrible last season when he wasn't hurt, so signing Green is a nice security blanket.

Canes Sweep Eagles

The Miami baseball team is off to a hot start, winning 9 of their first 10 games. Yesterday they completed their sweep of the overmatched Boston College Eagles with a 7-1 victory.

The Canes are really clicking right now, as they are getting production from both their bats and their arms. Freshman pitcher Chris Hernandez continues to look good as a new addition to the staff, accumulating 19 Ks in just 19 innings.

Meanwhile, guys like first baseman Yonder Alonso continue to prove their worth day in and day out. The Canes are getting hits from everyone in the lineup and benefited yesterday from a pair of hits from OFs Adan Severino and Dave DiNatale in addition to 3 hits from second baseman Jemile Weeks.

The 5th ranked Canes (7th by Baseball America and 2nd by Rivals.com) now face unranked Penn State tomorrow night.

One last quick note: the rival Seminoles have also started off strong, with a 12-0 record.

Wade's Season is Finished

Thank God. Pat Riley finally decided to shut down his star player with 21 games remaining in the season. We all knew Wade didn't want to stop playing, but I think the extra month or so of rest will do the franchise more justice than to ship him out there and get him hurt even worse.

The fans miss out of course, especially those who paid for season tickets. However, it's been clear for months now that this team is terrible and most of the games aren't that entertaining anyway. Any true fan would rather Wade recover to his full strength rather than to pay to see him entertain them at 75%.

Thankfully, the team can now fully go into tank mode. I don't see how this team can win even 4 or 5 more of the final 21. Daequan Cook can now enjoy most of Wade's minutes and learn to grow at the NBA level. Maybe we can take a better look at Marcus Banks once he recovers.

In related news, Ron Rothstein will be the replacement head coach again while Pat Riley is gone scouting Top 5 picks. I don't know what to make of that move. It's the equivalent of signing Penny Hardaway back and giving him Wade's minutes instead of Cook. Why not just send Spoelstra out there? He's got no expectations to live up to. It's baffling. Maybe he isn't read and we are in serious trouble if Riley retires at the end of the season.

Jesse Chatman to Jets

As expected, Jesse Chatman priced himself out of a job with the Miami Dolphins. With Ronnie Brown looking to return to full health soon, a healthy Ricky Williams, and 2nd year player Lorenzo Booker on the roster, Chatman was expendable.

This makes for an interesting situation regarding Darren McFadden. I'm not entirely sure Chatman is "the guy" now in New York. But I wonder how this affects the Jets' desire to draft the Arkansas back. Their interest in McFadden in turn affects our leverage for the #1 pick if we are still shopping the pick.

Heat Drop Doubleheader to Hawks

Great night for Heat fans. Unless I am mistaken, your team is the first to ever lose two games in one night (I don't know if previous do-overs were done as doubleheaders either). The pair of losses to the Hawks puts the Heat two games ahead of the Timberwolves for the worst spot in the league.

Things got worse tonight, as Marcus Banks went down, making Chris Quinn the primary option at point guard. Wade had 12 points in the first quarter (of the scheduled game) only to cool off and finish with a respectable 24.

Actually, the Heat didn't play badly at all. They kept the turnovers to a minimum, made their foul shots, and had a decent night from the field. The big problem was stopping Joe Johnson, who finished with 39 points and 8 assists.

Ricky Davis had a shockingly good game with 27 points and 4 boards. Tonight also marked the returns of Daequan Cook and Joel Anthony from the NBDL. That's not surprising, considering that the Heat were down to 6 players at the end of last night's blowout to Golden State.

Anthony didn't play and Cook might as well have stayed on the bench as well. Daequan continued his struggles by shooting 1-9 from the field, missing his final 8 shots of the game. Tough game for the young rookie, but I guess it will show him that lighting up the NBA is not as easy as doing it in the NBDL. That's why I was never in favor of sending him to Iowa. If his confidence comes back, that's nice, but it's false hope because he didn't break his slump against top-flight talent.'

It would have been best to let him stay on the active roster and play through his struggles. Everyone has a bad stretch early in their careers. There was no reason to believe Cook wouldn't bounce back from this on his own.

Derrick Rose Video

I couldn't find a really good video of the young point guard's overall skills. Typically, people who make these videos are looking at the flashy highlights and dunks rather than other valuable footage. The video is decent just the same. If we get a Top 2 pick, I guarantee Rose or Michael Beasley will be the guy holding up our jersey come Draft time.

Dolphins Showing Interest in Gholston, Pac-Man

Taking a hard look at the former of the two is completely understandable. The last thing I would want would be to select two Buckeyes in the 1st round of consecutive drafts, but I could make an exception for a guy with Vernon Gholston's talent. I'm a little wary about his motor, but it's likely he will have a nice career in the NFL.

The Dolphins will attend his private workout on Monday to further evaluate the prospect. He recently improved his 40 time to 4.58 and his vertical leap to 42 inches. Both are freakishly good numbers for a guy his size.

However, Bill Parcells and Co. are also considering (at least a little) adding Adam "Pac-Man" Jones to the roster. You may know Pac-Man/Rain-man as a troubled player who frequents the wrong kind of strip clubs. Adam was suspended for a year by the league for a series of off-the-field incidents and will not be returning to the Titans.

I don't know if Pac-Man is worth the risk. He has some talent, but was overrated coming out of college and isn't a top level cover guy. He's a great return man, but that's why we drafted Ted Ginn, right? However, the sad reality is that Pac-Man would arguably be our best defensive back if he were to join the team (Will Allen as the possible exception). If he would be willing to sign a short term deal for a minimal salary, then I suppose I would take the chance.

I'm not a proponent of signing troublemakers, but I would rather have troublemakers on a short leash and producing on the field than signing choir boys who get lit up on defense.

FSU Tops Miami in Season Finale 75-72

I really don't understand how the Canes can beat good teams every season and continue to lose to FSU. Miami now has a 5-game losing streak to the rival Seminoles, and it's baffling as to why this has happened.

The Canes should still be in position to land a bubble spot in the NCAA Tournament, but a 9-7 ACC record would have been much more impressive than an 8-8 one. This overtime loss to the Noles was not a good way to end the year and kills our momentum going into tournament play.

The game itself was an ugly one. Both teams shot at about 35% and combined for 53 total fouls. The Canes sent FSU to the line 42 times while gift-wrapped 14 turnovers as well. Most of the poor shooting came from the backcourt, with McClinton, Dews, Hurdle and Rios combining to shoot 9 for 36 from the field.

Still, the Canes had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Jack McClinton's buzzer beater just rimmed out.

It's a disappointing loss, but I wouldn't be too hard on the team considering they already had most of their goals locked up and were playing against a desperate rival in a hostile environment. Our first round opponent in the ACC tournament depends a lot on a couple of games yet to be played. Miami will play either UVA, BC, or NC State.