The G2

Now that we all know Urban is out at Florida (health reasons -- i.e. no more Tebow, no more know what to do), the inevitable has set in ... Florida is going to destroy the team without a coach (Cincy) in the Sugar Bowl. Bank on it.

Update: Okay, apparently Meyer has changed his mind - now he is taking a "leave of absence" and will not coach the Sugar Bowl ... but will return at some point. Okay. Whatever. Ignore what you read above. Hope Urban and Billy Donovan had a nice chat about their waffling.

Update: WR Pierre Garcon is OUT for tomorrow's game. Looks like it'll be the Hank Baskett show as the J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets! come through Naptown. In addition, the Freeney Monster is questionable (and should probably sit if he's not healthy).

I know, I know, it's Christmas Eve and I'm supposed to be in that holiday spirit ... blah blah blah ... but with everyone putting out their "top ___ of the decade" lists, I thought I'd put together one of my own. It's no secret that I despise Duke University; and it goes beyond their basketball team. It is such an elitist society on that tiny little campus in North Carolina (yes, I've been there) - they turn a blind eye to the otherwise poor surrounding communities, they act like they're God's gift to law schools everywhere (trust me on this), and their basketball coach is a glorified, media-hyped, overrated potty mouth. I can't knock on their football team because it has been a national embarrassment longer than I've been alive.

Most of the guys listed below are probably good people ... but I can't stand them the way some of you can't stand Tim Tebow, Paris Hilton, or the Dave Matthews Band - i.e. media over-saturation. Thing is, most of these kids weren't half as good at basketball as ESPN wanted us to believe ... and that's my primary issue with Duke basketball. I don't know what kind of blackmail Coach K possesses over the powers that be at the Mothership, but it must be something fierce.

Iceman's Top Ten Most-Hated Dukies of the Decade

01. JJ Redick -- this guy got Tebow-esque attention from the media ... and the guy couldn't do anything other than hit 3-pt jumpers. He was a slightly more athletic Lee Humphrey. And, he whined too much. But I could type that next to every single entry below, so let's just make that a universal observation, shall we?

02. Greg Paulus -- put this guy in any other jersey and you wouldn't have known who he was the past 4-5 years (except for being Syracuse's abysmal quarterback this past year). Paulus became the modern day Bobby Hurly / Wojo wannabe, slapping the floor, flopping for charging calls, and being a "floor general" who, according to Mike Patrick, was a born leader. Okay, Mike.

03. Shav Randolph -- Randolph was the beginning of an astute observation on my part ... that is, guys who became McDonald's All-Americans solely because they were recruited by and ultimately chose to play for Duke University's basketball team. This stiff should have been playing for Northwestern, not Puke.

04. Dahntay Jones -- part of me wants to make him exempt from this special list because he was somewhat of a thug, but, well, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't sometimes ... he makes this list *because* he was a little too thuggish for me.

05. JJ Redick -- yep, I intentionally put him on this list twice. That's how much I hated this guy when he was in a Duke uniform.

06. Brian Zoubek -- current Dookie who defines the term "goon" ... or the expression "he's a big white stiff" on the basketball court. Yet another overrated recruit who was dubbed a high school all-american because Coach K wanted him to join the ranks of other big white stiffs who put on the uniform over the years. I'm sure you are just as impressed with his 4 points, 3 rebounds and 6 travels (plus 4 fouls) per game as I am.

07. DeMarcus Nelson -- basically a mid-major talent who was expected to "have a break-out season" (according to ESPN) four straight seasons. There comes a point where you really just need to acknowledge that a kid is either (a) a bust, or (b) just not that good; and Nelson was the epitome of that type of player. Yet the ESPN hype machine wouldn't face reality ... and as a result, I hated this guy.

08. Chris Duhon -- an okay point guard ... but that's about it. Duhon's inclusion here is more a product of relativity; he was *nowhere* near as good as Vitale, Patrick, and the rest of the cronies wanted us to believe. And now I have to suffer through him being in a Knicks uniform, sucking it up each night and afraid to shoot wide-open jumpers. Sure, he's in the League, so he must be "decent" (but he's a Knicks players, so again, it's relative), but again, this is more about the degree of hype surrounding his game.

09. Mike Dunleavy, Jr. -- do I even have to explain? Let's just say I never doubted that Tayshaun Prince would have a bigger impact in the NBA than Dunleavy, even though he was drafted way below Dunleavy. Some things are just too predictable. But let's not forget that this was the "next Larry Bird" while in a Duke uniform, and that was just stupid.

10. Kyle Singler -- another current Dookie who exudes "nerd" status. I like that he has somewhat of an old-school game, and he plays hard, but ... nerd.

Not Eligible but Heavily Considered for the All-Time Hated List: Wojo, Laettner, Bobby Hurly, Cherokee Parks, William Avery, Chris Burgess, Joey Beard

In case you missed it -- and since it's the NBA, it's entirely possible -- the Chicago Bulls suffered a meltdown of epic proportions on Monday evening.

The Bulls led 79-44 with 8:50 left in the third quarter, and were still up 83-50 two minutes later.

They lost.

I'm not kidding.

Click here for proof.

One of my pre-season storylines for the 2009-2010 college basketball season was the race for 2,000 wins. Until the past 3-4 seasons, it wasn't really much of a race ... but then Tubby decided he was done recruiting and a drunk named Gillispie was handed the keys to the Wildcats program; next thing you know, a 60-game lead is down to 4 (how absurd is that?). Granted, North Carolina has had a ridiculous stretch the past 3-4 years, but still, the last 2 years of Tubby's tenure and the 2-year disaster known as the Gillispie era cannot be forgotten soon enough in Lexington. Though Kansas was not far back, this race was between Kentucky (1,988) and North Carolina (1,984).

Well, 12 games into the season, Kentucky (12-0) has become the only team in history to reach the 2,000-win milestone. Last night, the Wildcats did so in impressive fashion, destroying Drexel, 88-44 (and it wasn't even that close, as the bench was emptied at 80-31 with 8:45 remaining in the game). Coach Calipari could have put 120 points on the board, but he didn't feel it necessary to embarrass his good friend and Drexel coach, Bruiser Flint. It was a wild night at Rupp Arena with several former players in attendance (Jamal Mashburn, Kyle Macy, Kenny Walker, Wayne Turner, Jeff Sheppard, Ron Mercer), as well as Adolph Rupp's son, former national championship coach Joe B. Hall, Calipari's friend Drake, and the family of Mr. Wildcat Bill Keightley. Reports indicate, however, that Billy Gillispie was nowhere to be found.

Here's your latest John Wall highlight reel play -- one of many from last night's performance:



The kid is just unbelievable. At this point, everyone is tuning into the John Wall Show - Bill Simmons, Kevin Durant, Lebron James, Trey Wingo, Dan Patrick, Shaq, you name him ... those are just the guys I follow on Twitter who seem to make mention of Wall every time the Cats play. As Simmons recently said, Wall has become one of those rare talents where you schedule your tv viewing around his games (regardless of your feelings toward Kentucky). Given that he'll be in college just one year, you don't want to miss out on any televised opportunity to catch him in action (even if you're an IU fan, I think it's worth your time, because this kid is a once in a decade type of talent).

Having said all this, it would not completely shock me to see a let-down occur tomorrow, as the Cats have an awkward 1pm game against a run-n-gun Long Beach State squad that can really light up the scoreboard under Dan Monson - for the Cats, it'll be their 3rd game in 5 days. Something about this game feels funny to me ... but it could just be the bacon cheeseburger from Five Guys Burgers & Fries that Old Man and I had for lunch today.

Notre Dame will remain an Independent in college football. Please remove them from all discussions re Big Ten expansion.

Yahoo: NFL rules prevent the NFL Players Association from reimbursing Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco for any fines he might incur should he decide to wear Chris Henry's No. 15 jersey Sunday.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah had tweeted earlier Saturday his organization would cover the fine. The organization has already established a memorial fund for Henry and plan to match any fine for Ochocinco to that fund and/or the Players Assistance Fund. But the NFLPA is prohibited from reimbursing the fine money that would be automatically withheld from Ochocinco's paycheck by the league.

Ochocinco wants to wear Henry's jersey to honor his former teammate, who passed away Thursday, just as he did during practice last week, but league rules prohibit it. The Bengals are planning to wear a No. 15 decal on their helmets. But Ochocinco wants to further honor his teammate.

USC's Joe McKnight reportedly driving an SUV that isn't exactly his.

Honestly, at what point does the NCAA decide it's time to investigate the USC athletics department? Both football and basketball have been flipping the NCAA the bird for years, almost daring them to come after them. Yet the NCAA just lets it all happen as they go after everyone else.

I'm sure this is Calipari's fault.