OSG High: So THAT'S What It's Like To Work With Will Ferrell

((HT: KPNX-TV Phoenix))

In Will Ferrell's new movie, "Evereything Must Go," Ferrell plays a guy whose life bottoms out- including the idea that his wife has thrown all of his belongings out in what used to be his front yard...

He decides to live there...

One scene involves a confrontation with his character and two high schoolers...

Played by, shockingly, two Arizona high school football players who listened to the junior varsity head coach at their school...

Here's what they think about working with Ferrell... and slapping a Slurpee off his car...

The March Through The Madness: It's Butler And UConn

((HT: CBSSports/NCAA))

Although they're not playing each other... yet...

Butler outlasted Florida in one national quarterfinal...
It was another Gus Alert...


And UConn survived Arizona in Anaheim as we sampled another one and done in Arizona's bench...

Tourney Update: Down goes Duke!

And it wasn't that close. Everyone's perennial favorite, Duke, got blasted last night in the Sweet 16. The Arizona Wildcats took it to them, winning 93-77.

Now granted, it may have been a career game for most of the Wildcats. Derrick Williams put on a show in the 1st half, scoring 25 of his 32 points. The team, well, they shot 58 percent in the second half, which was more than enough to get the win.

Your highlights from SI.com:

The March Through The Madness: Day Two Recap

Texas survives as Oakland's losing number ((four)) disturbed a lot of the prop bets on the board... here's Rick Barnes...
((HT: KVUE-TV Austin))


Michigan, probably, put Tennessee fans out of their misery with a 30-point blowout of the Vols. The HQ would only hope AD Mike Hamilton would be closely behind...
((HT: WBIR-TV Knoxville))


The HQ is fairly certain that VCU head coach Shaka Smart got Jay Bilas to watch the upset of Georgetown- especially, when you hit 12 3's in the game as a team...
Brandon Rozzell had half of them...
Here's some postgame...
((HT: FoxSports))


UGA missed a game-tying three at the buzzer and Washington moves on to Face North Carolina. The Tarheels took care of a pesky LIU-Brooklyn squad...
((HT: KING5- Seattle))


All the tournament Buzz goes to Marquette with their upset of Xavier...
Here's the Marquette head coach...
((HT: FoxSports))


And Memphis fans feel jobbed about the Arizona loss... they met the team at the airport...
((HT: MyFoxMemphis))

Tiger Fans Feel Shafted By Arizona Loss: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

The March Through The Madness: Arizona Survives And Advances

((HT: NCAA/CBS/youtube))

And they got Marv Albert to call it...

Memphis clawed their way back into the game with Arizona late with a steal, but a defensive play in a one-point game gave the Wildcats the chance to move on.

Josh Pastner was not happy at the end...

The Politics Of Dancing: Wazzu, Alabama State, and Princeton

All the HQ has to say about the end of the Pac-10 title game...???

Cold... blooded...

And you know that means it's just Gus...
((HT: CBSSports/NCAA/youtube))


Douglas Davis' buzzer-beater gives it to Princeton and denies Harvard for the 428th consecutive year from going into the tourney...
((HT: ESPN/NCAA/youtube))


Alabama State beat Grambling for the SWAC bid...
Here's some postgame...
((HT: SWACtube))

USC's O'Neill Suspended For Pac-10 Tourney

((HT: FoxSports.com))

This can't have been a good thing in public or private...

Southern California coach Kevin O'Neill has been suspended for the rest of the Pac-10 tournament after getting into a verbal confrontation with an Arizona booster.

Yeah, there's not bad blood there or anything...

The school announced the suspension before the two teams played each other in the conference semifinals. Assistant Bob Cantu would take over.

O'Neill has already apologized for what he said was a "confrontation" involving himself, his wife and the Arizona booster the night before at the team's hotel after the Trojans' quarterfinal victory against Cal.

Here's Jeff Goodman to discuss...

Now, That's The Way To Send Pauley On...

Not that the HQ is talking about the mangling and blowout that UCLA gave to Arizona at Pauley Pavilion 71-49...

That's part of it...

It's this...
John Wooden's great-grandson, Tyler Trapani, getting the last bucket...
((HT: CSN/youtube))


Here's Ben Howland talking about the karma involved...
((HT: ESPNLA.com))


And here's how our friends at SportsCentral handled the karma...
((HT: CBS2/KCAL9))


Very cool...

Broseph's Bits And The Weekend Gospel

Just the picks for this Saturday. We seem to be hitting a bit of a roll right now.

Arizona/UCLA Over 140 -- It's going to be a special day at UCLA when they host Arizona at Pauley Pavilion. It will be the last game at the building for some time while it undergoes renovations. School officials are calling for a "Blue Out," which means there will be a lot of emotion. The Bruins have won 11 of their last 13 while Arizona has won 12 of their 15 PAC 10 games. The Wildcats have scored 77.6 points per game this season. Arizona has scored at least 75 points in six of their last eight contests. The first time these two met up on January 27th, Arizona won 85-74. They are led by Derrick Williams (19.3 ppg), Lamont Jones (9.6 ppg) and Kyle Fogg (8.3 ppg). UCLA has more balance with five players scoring at least 10 points per game. They put up 71 as a team while giving up 66.3. The stats show that this team has played a lot of low scoring close games, but they were against teams who tried to play at that pace. UCLA's games with California and Washington State were both played at a higher pace because their opponents didn't mind running.

Mississippi State/Tennessee Over 135.5 -- A topsy turvy eventful season continues for Mississippi State who is in Tennessee on Saturday. MSU is coming off a stunning two point loss to LSU 84-82 at home. The Bulldogs defense has deserted them this season giving up over 70 points in three of their last five contests away from home. Offensively they've scored 71 or more in three straight contests and have no problems getting up and down the court. The team has multiple weapons led by Ravern Johnson (17 ppg), Dee Bost (16.4 ppg), Renardo Sidney (14.3 ppg) and Kodi Augustus (11.6 ppg). Tennessee has also had a long eventful season dealing with Bruce Pearl's issues and some questionable losses. Still the Vols are 17-11 and are putting up 70.8 points per game. They are led by Scotty Hopson (17.4 ppg) and Tobias Harris (14.2 ppg). Tennessee's defense has abandoned them from time to time although they haven't given up more then 70 in four straight games. With a total like this, we don't need an explosion of scoring. Mississippi State's defense will let them down again in this one.

San Jose State -6.5 -- Louisiana Tech's offense took a blow when DeAndre Brown was suspended for the rest of the season. They have failed to crack the 60 point mark in four of their last five games. The team has also lost every road game since December 14th when they played at Houston Baptist. The first time the Bulldogs took on San Jose State, they lost 79-74 on January 13th. They have lost 12 of their last 15 games. La Tech now relies on Olu Ashaolu and his 14.4 points per game for offensive production. The Spartans have two players who score more then that themselves including Adrian Oliver who scores 24.4 points per game. He has help in Justin Graham (15.2 ppg) and Keith Shamburger (11.8 ppg). San Jose State has won three straight after losing the first game of their six game homestand. They knocked off New Mexico State in overtime last time out and got a great effort from Oliver in that win. The Spartans have taken care of business at home against teams they should beat. They'll do it again on Saturday.

Okie State takes care of business in Alamo Bowl

Justin Blackmon scores easily/Courtesy: Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

And it really was never close as the Cowboys actually showed signs of playing some defense. Well, either that or Arizona's offense wasn't particularly good.

The Cowboys rolled the Wildcats 36-10 in front of a few odd fans in the Alamo Dome. Those who went to the game, got to see Justin Blackmon put on a show. This years Biletnikoff Award winner caught 9 passes for 117 yards and 2 TD's. As for the 'Cats, they started the year 7-1 and ended 7-6, which is never a good sign.

Your game update from NewsOK.com is RIGHT HERE

Okie State loses their offensive coordinator as of...well, today. Dana Horgelson will be heading to West Virginia and baby sit for a year before taking over for lame duck Bill Stewart. As for Arizona, if Nick Foles sticks around, they'll be decent, but as we've said over and over about the PAC 10/12, they don't necessarily matchup really well with anyone outside their conference.

Your postgame from KJRH-TV in Tulsa:

TWTW: Oregon Survives Early Scare, Beats Arizona

((HT: KVAL-TV Eugene))

Oregon earned at least a share of its second-straight Pac-10 title and stayed on course for a trip to the BCS national championship game.

Darron Thomas passed for 148 yards and three scores and ran for one more. LaMichael James ran for 126 yards and two scores for the Ducks, now 11-0/8-0, who trailed 19-14 at halftime.

"Yeah, we finally get to eat turkey," Oregon cornerback and return specialist Cliff Harris said.

The Ducks have only won 11 games in a season once before, when they went to the Fiesta Bowl in 2001.

The Ducks can lock up the conference title and a spot in the national championship game in Glendale, Arizona, next week with a victory at Oregon State.

Here's your recap... Nick Krupke, apparently, never gets to go outside...

TWTW: The State Of Oregon Does What It's Supposed To... Beavers Beat Arizona, Oregon Over Wazzu

((HT: KVAL-TV Eugene))

The biggest question for the Oregon-Wazzu game is: Why in the blue hell would the Cougars schedule the Oregon Ducks for homecoming...???

A couple of issues here after the 43-23 win, where the Ducks were listed as a 36-point favorite..

Backup quarterback Nate Costa played the final three quarter after Darron Thomas left with an apparent shoulder injury.

The Ducks were also without backup running back Kenjon Barner for most of the game after getting the worst of a head-to-head collision on a first-quarter kickoff return.

It was pretty nasty, and is in Nick Krupke's highlights below...


Second, so much for Arizona being unbeatable this year...
Ryan Katz threw for 393 yards and two touchdowns as the Oregon Staters upset Arizona and won for the fifth time in a row in the series, 29-27...

The Wildcats, now 4-1, were in the top 10 for the first time since the 1999 preseason rankings. Oregon State, now 3-2, lost standout receiver James Rodgers to a knee injury in the second quarter on a bogus tackle in the endzone as he scored...

Rodgers was hog-collared, clearly after he crossed the plane on an apparent score, and the HQ clearly understands the whole "momentum" thing. But there should have been a flag, and Rodgers may even get a medical redshirt because of this...

At the very least, he's gone for a while...

Krupke takes over again... Brian Elder is on location...

TWTW: Rough Sledding For The Silver Surfer, Arizona Takes Out USC

((HT: KGUN-TV/Tucson))

It's the first time that Mike Stoops has beaten Pete Carroll...
How 'bout dat...???

A late TD pass to Juron Criner from Nick Foles with 3:14 to play handed Arizona, likely, a Holiday Bowl berth with a 21-17 victory over USC on Saturday.

This is the first time in recent memory that a rebuilding year for USC really was a rebuilding year after all... huh...???

Arizona gets a share of second in the Pac-10 with its first eight-win regular season since 1998, and knocked off a ranked team for the sixth straight season under Stoops.

The Wildcats also ended a seven-game losing streak against USC.
At the Coliseum, too...

KGUN's Dave Silver has highlights behind him in a monitor...


Looks like that 102-week streak of being ranked will go out the window for USC, too early next week... Yikes...

TWTW: Ducks In The Drivers Seat in Pac-10, Win In Double OT

((HT: KVAL-TV))

Oregon beat Arizona 44-41 in double overtime Saturday... and, apparently, no one has figured out how to stop Ducks QB Jeremiah Masoli.

Masoli was responsible for 6 TD's on the day in one fashion or another- including the one that sent the game to free football to begin with and the game winner in the second free frame...

The only thing holding them from a bid in the Rose Bowl is their game against Oregon State next weekend...

Here's your wrap, thanks to our friends at KVAL-TV in Eugene...

Great Finish In Seattle: U-Dub Defeats Arizona By A Shoestring

A bizarre finish last night in Seattle. The Arizona Wildcats had a comfortable 33-21 lead on the Washington Huskies late in the 4th quarter when Jake Locker found Kavario Middleton for a 25 yard touchdown pass. to cut the Wildcat lead 33-28.

Then the bizarre happened. Arizona got the ball back but Nick Foles pass went off the foot of receiver Delashaun Dean and intercepted by U-Dub's Mason Foster who took it to the house.

Here are the highlights from FOXSPORTS.COM.

Check out post game sound with Jake Locker and Mason Foster from KING5 in Seattle.

"I just wanted to make sure when Mason caught it that he ran and didn't look around and then get caught and get tackled." Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "I saw it right away. I had a great view of it."

Arizona head coach Mike Stoops chalked it up to a weird play.

"It's a run. Something that we were doing all night." Stoops said. "It's an either/or play, like everybody. He's doing what he's supposed to do. That's our fault for leaving the option for him to do that. That falls on me and our coaches. It's disappointing. It's just a freak play."

Photo Courtesy: AP Photo/John Froschauer

The Day After: College Comings And Goings

Blake Griffin, to no one's surprise, is heading to the NBA Draft...
((HT: KWTV/News9))

Jerry Tipton's work in Lexington has Jodie Meeks declaring for the draft, but not hiring an agent.
Seth Emerson at The State checks in with Devan Downey putting his name in the draft, but like Meeks, is not picking up an agent either.
Sean Miller shows up in Arizona and gets 5-years and $11-million.

Steve Rivera from the Tucson Citizen checks in...
"Miller was greeted enthusiastically by about 150 students at McKale Center as he arrived around 11 a.m.

UA officials released a term sheet they are using as part of contract negotiations with Miller, but they do not have a draft. Some media reports put Miller's contract at up to $18 million over seven years, with the $1 million signing bonus.

The contract must be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.

Several reporters asked about the current financial crisis, where tuition is increasing and jobs being cut at Arizona. Livengood pointed out that Miller's contract will not be funded by tuition dollars. The UA athletic department operates on its own."

KVOA's David Marino looks at Miller's salary...

On Second Thought, Sean Miller Is Headed For Arizona

Sean Miller had a chance to sleep on it and wouldn't you know he would rather spend his winters in Tucson, Arizona than Cincinnati, Ohio.

Foxsports.com's Jeff Goodman is reporting that Sean Miller changed his mind and will accept an offer as head basketball coach at Arizona.

Miller and Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood agree in principal to a seven year deal in excess of $2 million per season.

A press conference is expected Tuesday.

Those of us in the OSG HQ were convinced Sean Miller would stay in Cincy. You can't blame a guy when over $2 million per year is there with your name on it. The Arizona program is heading to rock bottom for a year or two. Seven years is a nice cushion to get it done. Bear Down Sean Miller.

Photo Courtesy: By: Elsa/Getty Images

Miller Spurns Arizona: Now What?

((HT: Arizona Republic))

Anthony Gimino of the Tucson Citizen lets us know that Jim Livengood has swung and missed- again.

Xavier's Sean Miller rejected a seven-year, $15 million contract offer.

Miller is considered to be one of the top young coaches in college basketball. He is 120-47 in five seasons at Xavier, advancing four times to the NCAA Tournament and winning the Atlantic 10 regular-season championship three times.

The Musketeers advanced to the Sweet 16 this season before losing 60-55 to top-seeded Pittsburgh. They reached the Elite Eight last season before falling to UCLA.

Xavier Athletic Director Mike Bobinski is in Detroit for the Final Four, and he expected to speak with Miller on Sunday night.

Bobinski said Xavier was prepared with a counteroffer if necessary.

"We have done and will continue to do whatever is humanly possible to keep Sean," he said.

Arizona has gauged the interest of many top coaches - such as John Calipari, Rick Pitino and Jamie Dixon - since Lute Olson retired before the season began but has been unable to find a replacement. Southern California coach Tim Floyd rejected Arizona's job offer last week after meeting with school officials in Tucson.

Now who's left on the table...?

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic was left to conjecturize- and, yes, we know it's a made-up word. One of our mothers was an English major...

Young agrees with OSG HQ on guys like Greenberg and Theus. But he also introduces names like Steve Lavin, Kelvin Sampson ((we hope he wasn't serious)), Bobby Knight, and former Memphis assistant Josh Pastner.

Boy, are Memphis and Arizona in trouble.

Tracking Sean Miller In The Air

((HT: OSG HQ's subscription to FlightAware))

As of 5:30 EST, Sean Miller's flight is heading back to Cincinnati...

Here's where he is...

((Hey, we did it with Calipari- why not do it with Miller...?))

Arizona Not Giving Up On Xavier's Miller

((HT: Gary Parrish/CBSSports))

Xavier's Sean Miller ((pictured, thanks Joe Robbins/Getty)) boarded a private plane sent by Arizona officials early Sunday and flew to Albuquerque, N.M., to meet with Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood about coaching the Wildcats, multiple sources told CBSSports.com.

Whether Arizona asked Xavier for permission to speak with Miller is unclear, and also moot. Requesting permission to speak with another schools' coach is mostly a courtesy in this business, almost never a necessity. To wit, sources have told CBSSports.com that people working on behalf of Arizona have contacted various high-major coaches all season in informal ways, in some cases as early as November.

According to sources, Miller has been told he could receive a package at Arizona worth more than $15 million spread over seven years. Still, there is no guarantee he'll take the job, the sources said, because he's comfortable at Xavier and positioned to have a team that should win another Atlantic 10 title next season.

Miller has been at Xavier five seasons.
He has made four NCAA tournaments, including one Elite Eight.

Arizona has already been publicly rejected in its search to replace Lute Olson by Southern California's Tim Floyd. Some other candidates the school has informally pursued to varying degrees are Mark Few (Gonzaga), Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh), John Calipari (Memphis/Kentucky), Jeff Capel (Oklahoma), Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State).

Checking with the Arizona Republic's Paola Boivin again, she raises an interesting point...

Miller is considered a top candidate to replace Jim Calhoun when the Connecticut coach, who has battled recent health issues, steps down...

Andy Katz with the four-letter says that Xavier AD Mike Bobinski is prepared to make any kind of counter-offer if Livengood throws a US Mint at Miller- which is expected.

"We have done and will continue to do whatever is humanely possible to keep Sean."