I've said lots of things about my disdain for the Xavier basketball program (mostly their fans), but honestly, Sean Miller and his team should be very proud for a successful season. No failures here. 30 wins and an Elite 8 are very, very respectable, especially for a mid-major program like X. That's two Elite 8 appearances since 2004. The Musketeers just ran into what has to be one of the best coached and most talented teams in the country. UCLA just showed why they were a #1 seed and why they've been to three straight Final Four appearances. The Bruins are just more talented and at a different level than Xavier.

To Sean Miller and Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell and Josh Duncan, I say, be proud of what you've done this year and over the last couple. You had a great season. To the Xavier fans, I say up your nose with a rubber hose. Okay, I had to take a little shot there, but for I am quite relieved that X didn't get to the Final Four. 

UC--LA, UC--LA! 

With the controversy in Dallas this week over whether bloggers should be given credentials to Mavericks game, and the ongoing disagreements about whether blogging is really reporting, I find it interesting that those on the "news reporting" side never feels the need to shine the magnifying glass on their own.

Take, for instance, some of the reports on the coaching search at Indiana University.  Here's a report from 1:30 this morning from Foxsports.com reporter Jeff Goodman:

Indiana offered its men's basketball coaching job to Tony Bennett one day after his Washington State team was knocked out of the NCAA tournament, a pair of sources told FOXSports.com.

But, ESPN.com's Andy Katz begs to differ:

Indiana is hoping to name a men's basketball coach by next Thursday...according to a source with first-hand knowledge of the school's search process. ..[t]he source also said a published report Saturday morning that Indiana had made an offer to Washington State head coach Tony Bennett was inaccurate. Indiana has not offered anyone the job, according to the source.

So, basically, one of the two is completely wrong.  One would think they're not lying - one of them probably just has a bad source - but whomever ends up being wrong ought to be called out and held accountable for their mistake.  Otherwise, the inaccurate reporting is just going to continue.

Now, my money is on Katz being right.  Why?  Because Goodman has a history of being wrong on reports related to Indiana basketball.  On Thursday, February 21st, Goodman wrote on Fox's website that former IU coach Kelvin Sampson had been told on that morning that he would no longer lead the program (quote courtesy of Inside The Hall):

Sampson was informed early Thursday that he will no longer be the coach at Indiana, numerous sources told FOXSports.com.

But here's where it gets interesting.  When you click on the link embedded in the Inside The Hall post, it takes you not to that article, but to one that was updated the next day.  Yes, the evidence of Goodman's incorrect writings has been erased, and replaced by a "cleansed" version.  And what was in this cleansed version?

Sources have told FOXSports.com that Sampson will not be coaching the Hoosiers for at least the remainder of this season...[i]nitially on Thursday, two sources told FOXSports.com that Sampson would be immediately terminated. However, one of the sources later backtracked, saying Sampson would either be fired or suspended. The second source steadfastly maintains that Sampson will be fired.

So, on Thursday the sources said that Sampson was already fired, but the next day those sources said that he "would be" fired?  Either Goodman's trying to cover for an incorrect source, or he just flat-out misrepresented what his source told him initially so he could get the "big scoop".  No matter where the truth lies in this, it'd be nice if there was some sort of transparency in the reporting.

So the next time one of the "establishment" reporters starts to rip on bloggers as being a bunch of unprofessional kooks writing in the parents' basement, I'd like for them to also tell us when they plan on starting to police their own.

Friday night marked the end of the tournament for the Big Ten and it wasn't pretty. Michigan State and Wisconsin got beat by a combined 35 points to Memphis and Davidson respectively.

The so-called power conference failed to get a team into this weekend's Elite Eight. Its a fitting end to a conference's season that was mediocre and disappointing. Indiana fell in the First Round to Arkansas and Purdue lost a heart breaker to Xavier in Round 2.

Davidson started the night off by becoming just the ninth No. 10 seed to advance to the Elite Eight, not just by upsetting Wisconsin but by dominating them, 73-56. Tournament sensation Stephen Curry continued to dominate by scoring 33 points to lead the Wildcats' assault.  But on this night his defense did the drilling, holding the Badgers to 23.8-percent shooting in the second half and generating 18 points off turnovers for the game.

Many felt that Michigan State would give Memphis a run for their money, but the Tigers were not among the believers. Memphis got out of the gate quickly and never looked back. Freshman Derrick Rose bolstered his case for being the top pick in this summer's NBA draft by delivering a 27-point, five-assist effort to lead the No. 1 seed to a 92-74 win. The Tigers' defense was tenacious, holding Michigan State to just 20 points in the first half and clamping down on the Spartans' top shooter Drew Neitzel (6 points, 2/8 from the field).

At least the Big Ten still has Ohio State alive in the N.I.T.  However, it is pretty sad when that is the conference's best post-season achievement.

Though my heart will be the Muskies tonight, here's one edge I will definitely concede to the Bruins:

The Reds got closer to solidifying their bullpen on Friday when they optioned LHP Bill Bray to Triple A Louisville.  Bray has pitched well for most of his limited action this spring, but manager Dusty Baker would like to see him go to Louisville and build up his endurance and prove that he can be used a few days in a row.

The bigger statement comes with the release of veteran Mike Stanton, who is guaranteed $3 million this season and a $500,000 option next year. By eating $3.5 million and opting to go with the best arms, the Reds are showing they believe they can win this year.

The team also sent Rule 5 left-hander Josh Capellan back to the Red Sox. The team claimed him off waiver from the Giants earlier this spring and since the Reds aren't keeping him on the 25-man roster they had to offer him back his original team, Boston, for $25,000.

Matt Belisle, who entered camp as a favorite for the Reds' rotation, has been slow to recover from arm problems and will likely stay in Florida for an extended Spring Training. 

The moves leave only one spot left in the bullpen and it appears to be down to two darkhorses Jim Brower and Mike Lincoln.

First basemen Andy Phillips was also reassigned to Louisville.