The brown-colored snow that was reported throughout the state of Colorado last week was not — I repeat, not — the result of efforts by third-graders in the town of South Park to produce an extremely low-pitched note, thus causing Mother Nature to have an accident on their state. :) Rather, the brown snow is the result of a dust storm in northern Arizona.

The Washington Post is reporting that Christian mobs in Nigeria have lashed out at Muslims, resulting in dozens of deaths. The article cites long-standing ethnic tensions as the primary cause of years of fighting:

Deaths in other Nigerian cities totaled 50 from the five days of rioting, according to news reports, and many Nigerians braced for more retaliatory attacks. The violence has revealed again the deep ethnic, regional and religious differences in Africa’s most populous nation, split nearly evenly between a Muslim north and a Christian and animistic south. In the past decade, thousands of Nigerians have been killed in political, ethnic and religious violence.

However, lest any convenient reason go unnoticed, the issue of Muslim rioting over cartoons has been used as an excuse:

“We have to retaliate,” said Justin Ifeanyi, 24. “It is a shame to us if we don’t kill them.”

Ifeanyi expressed amazement that cartoons published in Europe could set off violence in Africa.

“This thing happened in Denmark,” Ifeanyi said. “How could that be causing havoc in another part of Nigeria?”

I think the answer is that, like Muslims burning embassies elsewhere, existing tensions are being manifested by the present violence. All it needed was a spark.

This morning the WaPo reported that death toll was updated to 127. I expect it to grow.

Posted by Brian (Briandot)

The Olympics are over, and the United States finished second — both in terms of total medals and gold medals — to Germany.

The USC Trojans have officially clinched at least the #6 seed in the Pac-10 tournament — which means they’re guaranteed a bye into the quarterfinals — and it’s all thanks to the hated UCLA Bruins.

UCLA beat Oregon, 70-53 on Sunday, to drop the Ducks to 7-10 in conference play. USC, which lost to Oregon on Thursday (missing a chance to clinch the #6 seed right then and there) but then beat Oregon State yesterday, is 8-8.

Even if USC loses its last two games — at Stanford and at Cal next Thursday and Saturday — and even if Oregon wins its final game at Oregon State on Saturday, the Trojans (8-10 in that scenario) would still beat out the Ducks (also 8-10) for the #6 seed. The two teams split their head-to-head meetings, so the tiebreaker rules (PDF; see page 53) dictate that the teams’ records against the conference’s top teams would determine their seeds. USC and Oregon would have identical records against Cal, Washington and Arizona, but the Trojans would have done better against Stanford and UCLA, so no matter what order those top five teams finish in, USC has the tiebreaker edge over Oregon.

It’s actually still mathematically possible for the Trojans to finish with a #4 or #5 seed, if things break just right. I go into detail about those scenarios over at YocoHoops. Really, though, in a league with no single dominant team, I’m not sure how much it matters whether you’re #4, #5 or #6. What really matters is that you’re in the Top 6, so you can win the Pac-10 tournament and earn an NCAA berth simply by winning three straight games (rather than four). And the Trojans are now guaranteed of that opportunity.

Fight on! And, thanks, Bruins! :)

P.S. There’s a certain poetic justice in the Bruins “winning one for the Trojans.” Two years ago, the Trojans won one for the Bruins, clinching them a spot in the Pac-10 tournament (back when only the top 8 teams got in). Moreover, the Trojans’ win bailed the Bruins out from a loss earlier that day… to Oregon.

P.P.S. Also over at YocoHoops, I ask the question: Is Villanova overrated?

…I apologize for the extent to which basketball is taking over the homepage. That always happens this time of year, but without categories or an “Extended Entry” feature, it’s especially problematic. And it seems, based on the number of comments, that I don’t have nearly as much of a “basketball audience” as I did a “football audience” last fall.

Because this problem will only get worse as Selection Sunday approaches (two weeks and counting!!!), I really want to get WordPress set up in the next few days (which requires getting the new server set up) because it will hopefully allow me to create a “non-sports” version of the homepage for those who want to avoid it all and view only the other posts. Even if I’m unable to do that, WordPress will, at the very least, make it easier to scroll past the abundance of basketball posts to get to the other stuff, since the longer basketball posts will be “Extended Entry” posts (i.e., only the beginning of the post will appear on the homepage), and also, the blog will be paginated (meaning there will be a “Page 2,” a “Page 3,” etc.). Unfortunately, forces outside my control are slowing this process down. I can only promise that I’ll do the best I can to get things up and running soon.

Money quote: “For both parties, facts do not drive ideology; ideology drives facts.”

After one last set of games Saturday, the Missouri Valley Conference’s regular season is over — here are the final standings — and the bracket is set (PDF) for the MVC tournament, which Becky and I will be at starting with Friday’s quarterfinals.

We’re slated to sit in the Creighton section, which I picked because I had to choose a section, and I was told that the Bluejay faithful are the “craziest” and most fun fans in the league. But, as luck would have it, the team I’m sort of tentatively rooting for, Bradley, earned the #5 seed, and will play #4 Creighton in the second quarterfinal game at 2:30 PM Friday. So that should be interesting.

Incidentally, in the most recent edition of Bracketology, ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi had four MVC teams in the field: Wichita State and Creighton as #8 seeds, Northern Iowa as a #9 seed and Missouri State as a #12. Southern Illinois is the first team left out of Lunardi’s field of 65. (Bradley isn’t mentioned.) But that was before Southern Illinois beat Northern Iowa and Missouri State beat Creighton on Saturday. Go figure. “The MVC went from a four-bid lock conference to a huge mess the last couple weeks,” writes Bracketology 101. “At this point, making it to the conference tourney semis is imperative for everyone.” That makes two quarterfinals, Creighton-Bradley and Missouri State-Northern Iowa, potential elimination games. (Although, most analysts seem to think Northern Iowa is a lock… but who knows? ESPN’s Bubble Watch says UNI has “dropp[ed] out of mortal lock status,” which, ahem, means that “mortal lock,” as ESPN uses it, is a misnomer… you can’t drop out of “mortal lock status,” properly defined.)

In other, non-MVC-related hoops news, an utterly disgusting eBay auction for Adam Morrison’s bloody nose gauze from the Pepperdine game has been yanked offline. Heh. (Hat tip: NCAA Hoops Today.)

Oh, and Becky doesn’t like Mike Brey. Doesn’t like him one bit. Nope.

Yes, the website is loading very slowly. I know. I would describe its current speed as somewhere between a snail’s pace and the pace of Wazzu’s offense. :) Also, recent permalinks are broken. Sorry. It’s a server issue. We’re working on it. My apologies for the inconvenience. Stay tuned…

The USC men’s basketball team bid a proper farewell to the Sports Arena earlier tonight with a much-needed 89-84 win over Oregon State, a crucial victory that boosts the Trojans’ hopes of earning the Pac-10 tournament’s #6 seed and the all-important bye into the quarterfinals that goes with it.

USC has two more regular-season games, at Stanford and at Cal next Thursday and Saturday. If they win both, they definitely get at least the #6 seed; if they split or lose both, their seed will depend on what Oregon, the Trojans’ main rival for the #6 seed, does. The Ducks play at UCLA tomorrow (FIGHT ON, BRUINS!!! BEAT THE DUCKS!!! :) and at Oregon State on Saturday. USC is currently 8-8 in conference; Oregon is 7-9.

Hopefully, the Trojans will get that #6 seed, rattle off three straight Pac-10 tournament victories, and go to the Big Dance. However, if they fall short of that lofty goal, but still earn an invitation to the NIT, the Sports Arena may actually host another game or two, depending on the Trojans’ NIT seed. (The early-round NIT games are held at campus sites.)

The Zags are one win away from an undefeated conference regular season!

Adam Morrison had an off-night, scoring just 11 points, but Gonzaga won convincingly anyway, 75-59 over San Diego — a team it needed a buzzer-beater to beat in their first meeting. J.P. Batista scored 26 points, and Derek Raivio, seemingly starting to get his groove back (finally!), scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3 of 5 from three-point land.

Gonzaga has now won 15 straight games, 22 in a row in the WCC, and 37 straight at home — the best such streak in the country. The Zags’ final regular-season game is at home Monday against San Francisco; they will then host the WCC tournament.

Stanford 39, Washington State 37. Final.

Holy crap. 39-37. In basketball. Major-conference basketball, no less. Perhaps Stanford’s players decided to follow the Tree’s example and play drunk, and convinced Wazzu’s players to do the same. :)

Other, less awful games of interest to yours truly, now in progress: San Diego at Gonzaga and Oregon State at USC. (In the latter game, they’re on pace to score more points in the first half than the Cardinal and Cougars managed in the whole game.)

UPDATE: Yup. USC 44, Oregon State 41 at halftime.

More on the Stanford-Wazzu suckfest:

The total of 76 points was the lowest in a Pac-10 game since Oregon State defeated Oregon 29-23 on March 23, 1984 (prior to the shot clock).

Stanford’s 39 points was the team’s lowest score in a victory since a 38-33 win over UCLA in 1946-47. Stanford had not scored fewer points in any game since a 42-34 loss to UCLA in 1981-82.

Washington State had not lost a game with so few points allowed since losing 37-36 at Washington in 1969-70.

Stanford shot 32.6 percent from the floor, including 30 percent on 3-pointers (3 for 10). Washington State shot 32.7 percent from the field, which included going 2-for-17 on 3-pointers.

Wazzu’s previous game was a 43-41 loss to Cal, so the Cougars have scored a grand total of 78 points in their last two games. Heh.

Miscellaneous memories that I took away from the train wreck of a game I just watched:

* Torin Francis getting the ball directly under the basket with 2 seconds on the shot clock… and passing it out to the perimeter.

* Torin Francis’s butterfingers throughout the game.

* Numerous ridiculous turnovers, including several in the crucial closing minutes (though not the final minute, when the game was effectively over and the Irish started magically playing well again).

* Missed layups.

* The stark contrast between Marquette’s offense, in which all five players seemed to be moving at all times, and our “offense,” which mostly involves 3 or 4 guys standing around while one guy (usually Chris Quinn) dribbles… and then occasionally someone moves, whereupon he is immediately and predictably passed the ball. Everyone then proceeds to stop moving until it’s time for the next pass. Rinse and repeat, until there are 5 seconds left on the shot clock, at which point Chris Quinn is expected to make something happen out of nothing.

* The crucial Marquette putback late in the game that occurred when some guy who looked like he was about 5-foot-5 got a rebound while surrounded by Francis and… I think maybe Kurz? Anyway, the point is, a short Marquette player easily grabbed the rebound while the two tall Irish players near him just stood there, and the result was two Marquette points.

* The play in the first half when an Irish player shot a three-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer, and instead of getting in position to go for a potential rebound, the entire Irish team stood on the permieter and watched the shot rattle out, whereupon Marquette got an uncontested rebound.

* The play where a driving McAlarney made a great pass to an open Francis in the lane, but Francis wasn’t paying attention and wasn’t ready to shoot, and in his confusion, made a bad pass out to the perimeter. Either McAlarney or Francis would have had a good shot if they’d taken it; instead, we got nothin’.

Forgive me for being so down on this team right now, after having my heart ripped out of my throat for the 86th time this season… but honestly, what’s the point of rooting for them to make the Big East tournament? It’s not like they have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning it. All this talk about the “snakebitten Irish” ignores the fact that this team, for all its potential, is fundamentally flawed, from the coach on down. Torin Francis is a Jekyll and Hyde player; yeah, he scored 16 points and had 15 rebounds tonight, but those were almost entirely in the first half; late in the game, he was responsible for several mistakes and missed opportunities that arguably cost us the game. Chris Quinn has the heart of a champion — and yes, his biggest problem is simply that he’s asked to do way too much because Mike Brey doesn’t have a legitimate offensive strategy — but the kid can’t hit a crucial layup to save his life (he’s missed four game-winning baskets this season). Colin Falls is inconsistency personified: an asset when he’s hot, a liability at other times. (He shot 1-for-10 tonight.) The whole team has an odd habit of going cold at the most inconvenient times imaginable. And while Mike Brey has unquestionably done a superb job at keeping the kids motivated despite all the crushing losses, that’s basically the only part of the job description of “head coach” that he’s good at. Play calling? Late-game strategizing? Player development? Not his strengths.

Oh, well. GOOOO IRISH, BEEEEEAT FRIARS.

And… Fire Mike Brey.

P.S. Becky is also not exactly a Mike Brey fan.

Guestblogger: David Kreutz
Don Knotts, a veteran comedic actor, passed away due to pulmonary and respiratory complications Friday.

Knotts was born in Morgantown, West Virigina in 1924. He started out his entertaiment career as a ventriloquist. He enrolled in college at West Virginia University but enlisted in the army when WWII engulfed America. He was assigned to the Special Services Branch as an entertainer. It was at this time he ditched ventriloquism for straight comedy. After his stint in the Army he returned to WVU where he earned his degree in Theater. After graduation he moved to New York where he used his conections from the Special Services to break into show buisness. It was during his time in New York that he met Andy Griffith while playing a small part in the Broadway play “No Time For Seargents”.

Knotts had a long and succesful career spanning stage, screen and televison but is probably best known for his role as the bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show. Knotts and Griffith would remain life-long friends, and he would make a number of guest appearances on Andy Griffith’s other major hit show, Matlock. For his work on The Andry Griffith Show, Knotts won an unprecedented five Best Supporting Actor Emmys in a row. He continued to appear on a number of other well-known shows including The Cosby Show, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Step by Step and the animated show Inspector Gadget.

After leaving The Andy Griffith Show, Knotts went on to star in a number of family movies including The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Apple Dumpling Gang. He was also a member of the cast of Three’s Company, playing landlord Ralph Furley. Knotts continued working until recently; his last role was as the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in 2005’s Chicken Little.

Notre Dame gives away another one, 80 to 72 (actually our biggest losing margin of the conference season, but we had several utterly wasted possessions when it was still close). Big East tourney hopes
now officially on life support.

Marquette leads, 38 to 35 at halftime.