Kentucky freshman Patrick Patterson will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left ankle.

Patterson, the only freshman ranked among the SEC’s top 10 scorers (16.4 points per game) and rebounders (7.7 rebounds per game), had an x-ray taken Friday morning at the UK Hospital that confirmed the injury.

Patterson is wearing a cast on his left foot and will be out approximately eight weeks.

This is a big blow for the Wildcats, who are a classic "bubble team" with just over two weeks to go until Selection Sunday.

Kentucky has three regular season games left - Sunday at Tennessee, Wednesday at South Carolina, and the home finale a week from Sunday against Florida. The Wildcats would likely need to win out, or at the very least take 2 of 3 to get an automatic bid. However, without their star freshman that is a tall order for them to fill.

The past 24 hours has been fast and furious around the NFL. Here's a recap of some of the bigger moves and latest news:

• Browns lock up Derek Anderson - (Columbus Dispatch)
• Asante Samuel signs with Eagles - (Sporting News)
• Saints trade for Vilma - (ESPN.com)
• Turner visiting Atlanta, others interested (NFL.com)
• Bernard Berrian reportedly on way to Oakland - (Chicago Sun Times)
• Broncos release Javon Walker (Dallas Morning News)
• Seahawks close to signing Alge Crumpler (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Jerry Porter headed to Jacksonville (SBNation)
• Jags trade for Troy Williamson (Orlando Sentinel)
• Cleo Lemon signs w/Jaguars (FoxSports.com)
• Dolphins ink Ernest Wilford (Miami Herald)
• Jets make pitch for Alan Faneca (Newsday)
• Foster joins 49ers' backfield (ESPN.com)
• Titans interested in taking look at Kearse (Nashville Tennessean)

It has been a busy Friday afternoon for the Cincinnait Bengals, headlined by the trade with the Lions to acquire DT Shaun Rogers.  The team's website is citing various NFL sources saying that the team has sent its third and fifth round choices in this year's draft to Detroit in exchange for the former second round pick.

The move is another indication that the Bengals will be moving to a 3-4 defense under new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Rogers has been highly touted at points during his career and has been twice named to the Pro Bowl. He is on the verge of his 29th birthday and locked up for three more years ($4.25 million this season, $5.25 million in 2009 and $7 million in 2010).  He will come to Cincinnati with some baggage though.  He's listed at 340 pounds, but there is speculation that it is closer to 370 pounds and Rogers' conditioning and work ethic has been criticized by Lions' head coach Rod Marenelli. Still, he managed seven sacks in 2007.

The move is intriguing. Yeah, it comes with baggage but the Bengals had a couple draft picks to play with and they are taking a chance on a player who comes with a ton of upside.

Rogers comes town, but two other defensive starters are on their way out.  Safety Madieu Williams rejoins former defensive coordinator in Minnesota as he signed a $17 million, three-year deal with Vikings. In addition, talks between the 49ers and defensive end Justin Smith are intensifying and it is likely a deal could be reached this weekend.

The team was able to re-sign linebacker Dhani Jones.  The thirty-year old veteran came to the team in middle of the season last year to plug up a depleted corps of linebackers and ended being one of the few bright spots on defense.

Mark Crunette of the Enquirer is reporting that Bengals will host the highly touted free agent Tennessee Titans defensive end Antwan Odom on Sunday. It will be his first visit to any team.  Odom is a 274-pound defensive end who had a career-high eight sacks last season for the Titans.

Instead of doing a typical UFC 82 preview, I decided to run down some of the numbers, and then quickly break down some of the fights.

2: Anderson Silva VS Dan Henderson will be the second time a current PRIDE champion will fight a current UFC champion.

6: Yushin Okami has had 6 UFC fights, all of which have gone to the 3^rd round.

1156: Days since Anderson Silva’s last non DQ loss.

5: Alessio Sakara’s last 5 fights have all ended in the first round.

36: UFC events since Evan Tanner’s last fight, a triangle choke victory over Justin Levens

7: Different countries represented at UFC 82: Brazil, United States, France, Belarus, Sweden, Japan and Italy.

10-0: Jake O’Brien has a perfect 10-0 record in MMA.

70: Andrei Arlovski hasn’t fought since UFC 70 in April of last  year.

0: Number on times Dan Henderson has been knocked out

21:56: amount of time Anderson Silva has spent in the Octagon.

5: During UFC 82 Mark Coleman will be inducted as the 5^th member of the UFC Hall of Fame

15: Jon Fitch will be going for his 15^th straight victory.

8: Royce Gracie holds the record for most consecutive wins in the UFC at 8. With a win, Jon Fitch will tie him.

12/13/06: The last time Diego Sanchez won a fight. He beat Joe Riggs that night to go 17-0 for his career.

3: There are 3 contestants from the first season of the Ultimate Fighter on the fight card.

Anderson Silva VS Dan Henderson: Dan Henderson has never been knocked out. Anderson Silva is the best striker in the game putting up highlight reel KO’s including a standing elbow to Tony Fryklund, breaking Rich Franklin’s nose several times in several places and knocking out Chris Leben 3 times in one fight. Silva is great in the clinch, but Henderson will use his Greco skills to overpower Silva when in the clinch. Henderson does have power, but standing with Silva could be a mistake. I’m going with Silva via TKO in 2nd. Don’t be the least bit surprised to see Henderson win though.

Heath Herring VS Cheick Kongo: Kongo has very good standup, but his ground game is questionable. He was exposed badly against Carmelo Marrero. Since then he has defeated 2 strikers. Herring should try and take Kongo down and throw him some submissions. Herring via submission in the 2nd

Jon Fitch VS Chris Wilson: Fitch is going for the all-time record for most consecutive wins in the UFC. He is the UFC’s best kept secret. Wilson has been on the IFL and trains with Team Quest. Wilson has decent strikes and can submit you, but Fitch might be the 2^nd best 170lb fighter in the world. Fitch via Decision.

Evan Tanner VS Yushin Okami: A very weird fight. Evan hasn’t fought since UFC 59. Tanner has some amazing heart, he has some great comebacks. Okami likes to ground and pound, but Tanner has better wrestling. Don’t look for Yushin to have any fans after bashing American fighters. Tanner via Decision.  

Chris Leben VS Alessio Sakara: A classic strikers fight. They both love to throw and this fight will be a very entertaining fight. The difference is Leben can take a punch, Sakara cannot. Leben in the first via TKO.

Andrei Arlovski VS Jake O’Brien: Jake is a great wrestler, putting on a clinic against Heath Herrings. Arlovski was the UFC’s top dog about 3 years ago. Then he got KO’d by then Tim Sylvia. Since then his career has been spiraling downhill. However, on the feet, Arlovski should have no problems cleaning O’Brien clocks. Arlovski via TKO in the 2^nd. 

Check out the Fight Card show at www.getsportsradio.com and www.myspace.com/thefightcard for a full recap.

The pickings are beginning to get thin but we managed to complete one more round of Mock Draft. Check it out:

ROUND  1| ROUND  2| ROUND   3 | ROUND  4  | ROUND  5  | ROUND  6 | ROUND 7
ROUND  8| ROUND  9| ROUND 10 | ROUND 11 | ROUND 12 | ROUND 13| ROUND 14
ROUND 15

181) HUMBERT #2 -  Dontrelle Willis, SP, DET

182) POLKING - B.J. Ryan, RP, TOR

183) WETZEL - Joba Chamberlain, RP, NYY

184) BOLTON - Jason Varitek, C, BOS

185) BARTEL - Adam Wainwright, SP, STL

186) DINSMORE - Ian Snell, SP, PIT

187) MUEHLENKAMP - Geovany Soto, C, CHC

188) FISCHER - Ty Wigginton, 2B/3B, HOU

189) HUMBERT #1 - Joe Blanton, SP, OAK

190) MURDICO - Todd Jones, RP, DET

191) SIMONS - Tom Gorzelanny, SP, PIT

192) CLASGENS - Hank Blalock, 3B, TEX

The UFC invades Columbus, OH for the second time in less than a year when UFC 82: Pride of a Champion takes place this Saturday, March 1st. Being that I'm on vacation this week, I don't have much time to actually do a full blown write-up on the event. Just know that the way the fight card is set up, viewers, whether you're there in person or watching on PPV, are in for one hell of a show.

The main event features quite possibly the best mixed martial arts fighter out there today in Anderson Silva. He takes on former PRIDE legend, Dan Henderson, in a bout to unify the UFC and PRIDE middleweight titles. Henderson lost his light heavyweight title several months ago to Quinton Jackson. At that time he held bot the middleweight and light heavyweight titles for PRIDE. If he loses this weekend, he'd be the first to lose a title in consecutive fights. Chances are, that's exactly what's going to happen.

Silva is coming off defending his title against Rich Franklin. He's looked impressive in every fight he's been in since becoming champ, and even leading up to winning the title to be more accurate. He's being touted as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. This weekend he'll be on display once again to show that that title isn't fictional.

Along with Silva vs. Henderson, there are many other fights of great interest on the card, including what should be a great heavyweight battle between Heath Herring and Cheick Kongo. Listed below are the fights taking place Saturday night complete with my predictions.

PPV CARD (televised fights)

Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson (unification of middleweight titles)
Prediction: Silva

Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo
Prediction: Kongo

Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara
Prediction: Leben

Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
Prediction: Okami

Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson
Prediction: Fitch

PRELIMINARY BOUTS (may not be televised)

Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O'Brien
Prediction: Arlovski

Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Prediction: Fioravanti

Dustin Hazelett vs. Josh Koscheck
Prediction: Koscheck

David Bielkheden vs. Diego Sanchez
Prediction: Sanchez

Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson
Prediction: Gurgel

Overall Prediction Results: 43-32

The Minnesota Twins traded the best pitcher in all of baseball this past offseason when they sent Johan Santana to the New York Mets. They also dealt one of their top pitching prospects as they sent Matt Garza to the Rays. They lost Carlos Silva to free agency. Yet there is hope in the Twins' rotation, and its name is Francisco Liriano.

The twenty-five year old left hander is coming off of Tommy John surgery and there is no doubt that his performance this spring will be one of the biggest thing on the mind of fantasy owners everywhere.  He's got off to a late start too, but not because of his arm rather a visa problem that got him to Florida nine days late. Still, many of the reports surrounding Liriano have been encouraging.

The Twins Insider reported on Monday that team officials clocked him at 97 MPH twice on the gun in a recent bullpen session and that he was consistently in the 92-95 MPH range. Liriano threw well during the offseason in his native Dominican Republic and appears set to start mowing down AL hitters again soon.

Rod Gardenhire and the Twins on banking on Liriano being ready, he's going to have to be if they are going to compete in the tough AL Central. The team added veteran Livan Hernandez earlier this month to add to the array of young arms - Kevin Slowley, Boof Bonser, Scott Baker. Liriano is going to carry some risk entering the '08 campaign, but it comes with the opportunity for very high rewards.

Liriano was impressive when we last saw him in '06 when he posted a 12-3 record while pitching 121 innings. He finished that year with a 2.16 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, and 144 strikeouts.  Still, he's never pitched more than that in this league and is coming off one of them most major injuries you can have to a pitcher's arm.

Where Liriano falls in this year's fantasy drafts is a huge question. In the GSI Mock Draft I was able to get him with the 121st pick and as my third starter (behind Erik Bedard and Matt Cain). That may be early for some to have three pitchers, but for the value I couldn't pass it up.  I am banking on Liriano being a solid #2 fantasy starter this season. Even with the injury he's a safe bet for 12-14 wins in about 160-170 innings and E.RA under 3.50 and a WHIP barely over 1.000, and those are the modest numbers. The later in Spring Training your draft is, the chances are the earlier in the draft Liriano will be selected.

The biggest problem at the Sprint Cup race in Fontana, California last week wasn't the rain fiasco; it was the large number of empty seats. This problem is nothing new  to the track either. Since the Auto Club Speedway opened, attendance has been lower than expected and it is clear it isn't getting better. Maybe the track should cut down to one race, maybe they shouldn't race in California the same weekend as the Oscar's, maybe they shouldn't hold a race there a week before the Las Vegas race or just maybe the area doesn't want a track. Whatever the reason for the poor attendance, major changes could be on the way to address the problem.

Gillian Zucker, president of the speedway, announced that possible reconfiguration of the track is being discussed with the goal of creating a two-mile restrictor plate track. The process would be extremely expensive (upwards of $10 million) with additional banking and new soft walls needing to be installed, but the hope is that the tight racing that has made Daytona and Talladega famous will save the floundering attendance figures.

Zucker said that the idea of creating a third plate track on the Sprint Cup schedule came from Michael Waltrip, which isn't a shock considering all four of his career wins have come on plate tracks. Most drivers don't like giant, multi-car wrecks, so I imagine Mikey is in the minorty on this proposal, but the fans might think otherwise.

Personally, I don't want to see another plate track. Plate racing is geared toward the fans that only watch the end of a race and those that tune in the hopes of seeing a big wreck, neither of which I really care about anyway. At plate tracks, drivers can cruise around in last place, half a lap behind the leaders and charge to thr front with 20 to go. It makes 90% of the race meaningless. Adjustments are minimal at best, and good equipment and pure luck trump actual driver ability and strategy. Why do you think Mikey has four wins at plate tracks and hasn't even sniffed victory lane at any other track?

I like tracks where every lap matters and cars can be adjusted and go from the back to the front and vice versa. California has that already, and it isn't a bad race to watch. There was plenty of two-wide racing in last weeks event, Carl Edwards made a nice late-race charge past Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to win and Kyle Busch must have passed 100 cars.

I don't think the problem is the track configuration, but if track officials are determined to make a change they should go with something original. Leave major differences in the banking between each set of corners or make drastic progressive banking to create even more racing grooves. Give the fans soemthing they have never seen. Going from a duplicate track of Michigan to a duplicate track of Daytona and Talladage, isn't a very revolutionary idea. 

Rotoworld.com is reporting that Randy Moss and the Pats have agreed to a long-term deal. Citing two NFL sources, AOL Sports' Sean Jensen reports Moss is expected to sign a "multi-year deal" to stay in New England. Jensen writes from Minnesota, so he probably has close ties to Moss or his agent. Jensen believes the contract is expected to be for three years and $30 million with $12-15 million guaranteed. A lot of news that comes out at this time of year is misdirection, but this makes sense. Jensen adds that impending free agent Lance Briggs is slated to sign with San Francisco.

Was there really any doubt that Moss wasn't coming back to New England. He and Tom Brady both set NFL records and came up bitterly short of perfection. The Pats are going to have to pay a higher price this time around though. With Moss and Asante Samuel both needing to be paid, Roosevelt Colvin was let go earlier this week.

It will be interesting to see how bliss things will be in New England with Moss if the team starts losing a few game. Regardless, Moss deserves to be paid. He proved many critics wrong and re-emerged in a storybook manner in 2007 and once demands consideration as the league's top wideout.

You had to believe this was eventually going to happen.  Big Ten representatives could only paint a positive picture of the Big Ten Network for so long, and eventually one of them was going to get fed up with defending them and unload.  Monday, the man that did just that was Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo.

"I think it has been a PR nightmare.  And, it has hurt all of us...we have so many things right now that we're trying to fight - the price of tickets, the economy of the state - and then we throw this at them...it bothers me."

Good.  It's about time someone spoke out on this.  It's an absolute joke how difficult it's become to see a game if you're a Big Ten fan when you have Time Warner cable.  And while the major cable companies need to bear some of the blame in this whole mess, the Big Ten Network couldn't possibly have handled the last 18 months any worse than they have.  They've demanded outrageous rights fees, and refuse to allow cable systems to put the network on a sports package tier.

BTN has been using absolutely deplorable techniques to try and sway public opinion, by using the revenue sport coaches as nothing more than shills for the network and having them tell cable subscribers 'call your cable company and tell them to carry the BTN, Go [insert team nickname here]'.  They went on and on about how the network would show more than just garbage games but wouldn't prevent the public from seeing all the biggest games (go ask anyone that tried to watch the OSU/Wisconsin football game how that worked out), but then took out full page ads in newspapers telling people in Big Ten markets about the games they're missing out on (here's a thought - maybe if you spent less money on full page ads, you'd be able to charge lower fees and get the network on the air).

Someone needs to explain how this network is staying afloat.  There's no way they're bringing in nearly the amount of money they need to survive, and they've got to be burning money faster than a Hillary Clinton staffer on a Dunkin' Donuts run (while I appreciate having women's volleyball in HD, I'm not really sure it's necessary - though maybe they could loan a couple HD trucks to CBS for the men's basketball tournament).  Plus, they've got a 20 year contract with the Big Ten conference, and this year they're obligated to pay the league $6.12 million.  Industry insiders said, when the idea was first floated, that the BTN either knew something they didn't, or they were making a colossal mistake.  We may soon find out who was right.

Tom Izzo's been one of my favorite college coaches for years.  He's a great recruiter, a top game manager, by all accounts is a great guy, and has some extremely cool friends over at Action 4 news.  He just moved up a few spots in my mind with this one.  You stay classy, Tom Izzo.

The Xavier Musketeers (24-4, 12-1 Atlantic 10) moved up to No. 9 in the AP and are at No. 11 in the Coaches Poll as the latest polls came out on Monday.  With all of the success this season the Muskies are shaping up well for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

The only slip up in A-10 play came with the 19-point loss at Temple Jan. 16. They have good non-conference wins over Indiana, Creighton, Cincinnati, Kansas, and Virginia. There were not-so-pretty loses against Miami and at Arizona State.  Winners of 10 straight games and 16 of their last 17, the Muskies have the A-10 in hand and are a lock to make their thrid straight NCAA tournament and 17th overall trip since 1983.

Now they need to get healthy. The team's leading scorer, point guard Drew Lavender, played through an ankle injury in Sunday's win at Dayton, but he may not get to 100% in time for the tournament unless head coach Sean Miller opts to sit him.

"Right now a true testament to our team is Drew Lavender, who is nowhere near himself. I give Drew full credit for playing hurt," Miller told reporters in Sunday's post-game press conference. "We've had to adjust a bit and in the situation he is in, the other players around him have had to step up and they've done that."

Most prognosticators are projecting Xavier as No. 2 seed in next month's tournament, including Bracketography.com, which have the Muskies as the #2 in the West matched up with UCLA and opening in Birmingham.

Other notables from Bracketography.com:

Last Four In
UNLV
Ohio State
Florida
Rhode Island

Last Four Out
West Virginia
Southern Illinois
Kentucky
Wake Forest

Next Four Out
Dayton
New Mexico
Stephen F Austin
Oregon

Things have slowed a bit in the Mock Draft but the fifteenth round is finally complete. It certainly was an interesting one as players from nearly every position were chosen. Apparently the owners are just filling in their needs. Take a look:

ROUND  1| ROUND  2| ROUND   3 | ROUND  4  | ROUND  5  | ROUND  6 | ROUND 7
ROUND  8| ROUND  9| ROUND 10 | ROUND 11 | ROUND 12 | ROUND 13| ROUND 14

169) CLASGENS - Adam LaRoche, 1B, PIT

170) SIMONS - Jose Guillen, OF, KC

171) MURDICO - Bronson Arroyo, SP, CIN

172) HUMBERT #1 - Kahlil Greene, SS, SD

173) FISCHER - Evan Longoria, 3B, TB

174) MUEHLENKAMP - Jeremy Bonderman, SP, DET

175) DINSMORE - Michael Cuddyer, OF, MIN

176) BARTEL - Edwin Encarnacion, 3B, CIN

177) BOLTON - Oliver Perez, SP, NYM

178) WETZEL - Chad Cordero, RP, WAS

179) POLKING - Clay Buchholz, SP, BOS

180) HUMBERT #2 - Jeff Kent, 2B, LAD

The NBA's Western Conference was already bunched tightly enough.  Several huge trades over the past couple of weeks involving the likes of Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'Neal, & Jason Kidd amongst others only furthered that bunch.  Well, the conference race to the playoffs may have just thinned out a bit.

KRIV-TV out of Houston, and ESPN, are reporting that C Yao Ming is done for the season.  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3265631

He was pulled from practice after complaing of--yet again--foot pain.  He was examined by team doctors which revealed that he was going to be done for at least a game or two.  He was then sent to Memorial Hermann Hospital for further testing.  It was revealed today that he has an apparent stress fracture, and will undergo season-ending surgery.  

As you can imagine, this is going to be potentially devastating for the Rockets.  The Western Conference #1 seed and the last #8 seed are currently separated by only 5.5 games.  Although the Rockets have been playing out of their minds recently, winning 12 straight, one good 3 or 4 game losing streak could send them plummeting right out of the playoffs altogether (they currently are the #7 seed).

It should be interesting to see how they handle the situation beginning tonight against Washington.

It's hard to believe that just three short years ago Bartolo Colon was the best pitcher in the American League. He's won seven games since winning the 2005 Cy Young award and at 34 there is no telling what he has left.  He could rebound and have a lengthy career, or this could be the beginning of the end. Regardless of the answer, the Red Sox decided to take a shot, and a low-risk one at that. Boston signed Colon to a one-year minor-league contract that will pay him $1 million if he makes the club.

"Signing Colon to a minor league deal, we think, is a no-risk, potential high-reward signing," Boston GM Theo Epstein told the Boston Globe. "He's on a minor league contract, going to show up here at camp tomorrow, and we'll do an evaluation of how far he is away from helping us.

"But it takes more than five starting pitchers to get through a season. Obviously, he's an accomplished guy, and if we can get him back to a point where he's throwing well, he can certainly help us at some point this season."

Built into the $1.25 million contract are roster bonuses, award bonuses, and bonuses for games started, beginning at eight, and games finished, beginning at 20. There is an out clause in the deal, though Epstein declined to specify the date, only saying, "That gives us ample time to get him into shape and fully evaluate him."

Colon looked good out of the gate in '07 after completing his rehab from a torn rotator cuff, but it was short-lived as he battled elbow troubles for a second straight season. Many believe the problems are related, as the weakness in his shoulder forces him to put more stress on the elbow.