Miscellaneous

Chris Ballard's piece on Northwestern trying to break through to the tourney was well-written enough that i thought perhaps he was an alum. he is not, and according to his S.I. bio he has never worked in Chicago, but he was pretty effective at capturing the history that NU is up against.

i caught most of Purdue's win over Minnesota last night, and the Boilermakers looked awfully impressive. their guards are quick, and Johnson moves really well with and without the ball. the box score says they only had 12 assists but it seemed like more; the way they pass the ball does not bode well for NU's zone defense.

i also saw the finish of Texas-Arkansas. that game probably goes the other way if Courtney Fortson doesn't cramp up. but it could be better for Arkansas that they lost. maybe a loss to Texas will bring the opposite of what happened to their season last year after defeating UT.