The Rundown: January 13th, 2009

NCAAB: A very Big Monday.

It was just another Big Monday on ESPN last night, as ND and Louisville battled into overtime and Oklahoma dispatched Texas.

Louisville clobbered ND in overtime to get a much-more-impressive-than-it-really-was 87-73 win over the Fighting Irish. The Irish were clearly gassed, scoring just one field goal in overtime after scoring only four in the final seven or so minutes of regulation. Mike Brey loves to never play his bench, but clearly, something needs adjusting. ND will get worn down by teams like Louisville every time if that keeps up. Luke Harangody put up a Herculean effort again - 28 and 13 - but didn't score in the final 11 minutes of the game. The Irish fall to 3-2 in the Big East, and both those losses could and should easily have been wins. Louisville is 3-0, one of four unbeatens in league play.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma cruised over Texas 78-63. The Horns got as close as four early in the second half but never competed after that. Blake Griffin 'only' had 20 and 10, but it was good enough for his 14th double-double, and for the Sooners' first win over Texas in seven tries.

Those were the only two top 25 games last night. Tonight we don't have any ranked teams in action, but if you'd like, ESPN has a Super Tuesday doubleheader of Indiana/Ohio State and Kentucky/Tennessee starting at 7 pm.

NFL: Dungy's gone.

Tony Dungy retired Monday. I've always thought his firing in Tampa was completely unfair - he turned a laughingstock into a contender and damn near brought them to the Super Bowl in 1999. He then took the Colts and won 87 games with them in seven years. That's productivity. I liken him to Phil Jackson, in that yes, he had probably the best player of his generation (Peyton Manning in this case) and a great supporting cast to work with. However, few coaches can keep such a group hungry enough to be a contender year in and year out. Under Dungy, the Colts went to the playoffs every year. The Colts won six division titles in his first six years. A home playoff game was almost affixed to the end of the team's schedule each year.

Tony Dungy is something that seems almost impossible to become in the NFL these days: an institution. You think of the Colts, and you will think of Dungy. For a long time to come. It's no small feat.

Other news: Marvin Harrison may or may not have been holding a gun during that shooting incident from April...Jeff Fisher calls the missed delay of game call in Saturday's Titans loss to Baltimore "unacceptable". I bet this becomes a reviewable call in 2009.

MLB: About time for Jim Rice.

Jim Rice finally made it into the Hall of Fame Monday. Along with Rickey Henderson, which of course was a foregone conclusion. Rice was a great player. I didn't watch him, so I can't make any real observations or judgments, but at this point, with idiots like Phil Rizzuto and Bill Mazeroski in the Hall of Fame, borderline guys might as well be in. What Rice's selection really does is leave Ron Santo as, pretty much indisputably, the best player not in the Hall. I join the rest of you in awaiting Rickey's induction speech, of course.

No real Hot Stove news to report. Gabe Kapler signed with the Rays, and Mike Scioscia signed a contract extension with Anaheim.

NBA: Pierce and the Celts are back?

Paul Pierce scored 39 and Boston (gasp) won a game, over the Raptors. It's a start. The Bulls got Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng back and it did no good as they lost again. And T-Mac will be out two more weeks to rehab his injury.

The Last Word:

Ok, I'm a Ball State alum, and the snakebitten bad luck of the men's basketball team is getting ludicrous. Peyton Stovall, the best player I had the privilege of watching suit up for our team in my four years, missed an entire season due to injury. The Cards lost an incredible ten games by seven points or less last year, many that came down to the last second, and lost them in just about every way imaginable. Among the close losses was a nine-point defeat to Georgetown at home in which BSU had the ball down six with a minute to go, and ended up losing by nine, with no one taller than 6'4" (or taller than me, to put it in perspective) on the floor. Considering everything that happened when we tried to hire a Thompson to coach Ball State, I can honestly say it was probably as proud as I've ever been to watch a Cardinals team play. And that still stands true now, even after the football team won all 12 regular season games this year.

Anyway, our best player, Anthony Newell, has broken his leg and will miss the rest of the season, and his career. Newell also broke a bone in his foot last year and missed most of the non-conference slate. The poor kid has been robbed of essentially a whole season of his career and won't get it back. BSU might actually have had a shot of winning the pathetic MAC this year (they're 6-7, 1-0 in the MAC), but won't do anything without Newell. At least they won't set another team record for losses, as they have the last two years in a row.

Thanks for dealing with the venting. Back here tomorrow.