Jeff: Mental Spewage

* Since the start of the NCAA tournament on March 17th, which number do you think is higher? The number of golf balls Kevin McHale has hit, or the number of seconds of the tournament he's watched? Wait, don't answer that.

* If LSU forward Tyrus Thomas is not the #1 pick in the NBA draft this summer...well it probably means the Atlanta Hawks have the first pick (ZING!). Seriously, he's long, he's crazy athletic, he blocks shots and rebounds, and most importantly (at least to me) he's played his best basketball when it's mattered the most here in March. Sure, his first 4 buckets in the win over Texas were dunks, and he hasn't shown any real semblance of post moves (unless you count catching the ball near the rim and dunking over helpless defenders), but he's got the highest ceiling (I'm trying to come up with another phrase besides "upside") of any prospect in the draft. Could he be the next Amare Stoudamire or Dwight Howard? Sure. Of course he could also be the next Stro Swift, the human pogo stick from LSU who was drafted #2 overall in 2000 (wow was that a bad draft). His career averages are 9 pts and 5 rebs. Still I'd take the chance. All these kids leaving school early is killing the pro game, but hey it makes for a hellva tourney!

* Some basketball "experts" who are infinitely smarter than me STILL say Texas 6'10 soph F/C LaMarcus Aldridge is a possibility for the #1 pick in the draft. Really? I've seen Texas play 3 times this year, and they happened to be three of the Longhorns biggest games of the year: and they lost all three of them. The games were a neutral court bloodletting to Duke 97-66 (Aldridge had the msot invisible 21 pts and 6 rebs in history), an 80-68 loss to Kansas in the Big 12 Tourney title game (5 pts 5 boards), and the Elite 8 loss to LSU where he shot 2-14 for 4 pts. He wasn't even the best player on his own team as PJ Tucker, a 6'5 POWER FORWARD (think about it) outscored him (season average of 16.1 pts compared to 15) and outrebounded him (9.5 to 9.2) won conference Player of the Year. And Aldridge is your #1 pick? You're going to throw a huge contract and build your team around this guy? Best of luck with that.

* The Wolves NEED UConn PG Marcus Williams. He busts his ass, is a leader, will be a solid pro for the next 10 years, and wants the ball down the stretch. Unfortuneatly these aren't really traits McHale has looked for in past players, but we'll get to enjoy watching Williams excel for another team next year. Can't wait for that.

* Alright fine, here's a quicky top 7 for the NBA draft:
1. Tyrus Thomas, LSU, 2. Joakim Noah, Florida 3. Adam Morrison, Gonzaga 4. Lamarcus Aldridge, Texas 5. Marcus Williams, UConn 6. Brandon Roy, Washington 7. Rudy Gay, UConn

* When the Gopher hockey team lost to Holy Cross last weekend, do you think Glen Mason and Dan Monson sent Goph coach Don Lucia cards and flowers saying "thanks for lowering the bar?" or "welcome to the club?" Just wondering.

* Nice to see the guys in Kirkland, WA at the Seahawks head offices are being mature about the whole Steve Hutchinson thing. Signing Vikes restricted free agent WR Nate Burelson to an identical 7 yr $49 million offer sheet with some poison pills of their own doesn't look petty or anything. Or immature. Or babyish. Hey Seahawks: if you wanted to keep Hutchinson you shouldn't have been such cheapskates! I don't care if Hutchinson told you he was coming back or not, if you would have put the franchise tag on him instead of the transition tag, yes it would have cost you $600k more per year, but you would still have your All-Pro left guard. Instead you tried to take the cheap way out and got burned. Deal with it. As much as Burleson would have helped the Vikes this year, we're 4 deep at wideout right now, and they'll be another solid veteran or two available after the June 1 cap cuts. We got a 28 yr old All-Pro Guard AND Seattle's 3rd rd pick for Burleson. I'll take that, thank you very much.

* Can you believe baseball starts this Sunday? Me neither. Twinkies fans I have 4 comments on your team:
1)Your owner is a $%^&*#!?! I'm not even a Twins fan and I despise him. He's one of the worst in sports. He whines about not making enough money although he's in a bigger market than St Louis, San Diego and Cincinnati (who all have new ballparks, by the way), and would contract your team in a heartbeat if it meant he could make more money. Your GM, Terry Ryan is one of baseball's best, keeping a contending team on the field, and never gets the green light to go after the big bat this team has needed for the past 5 years because of your $%^%&* owner (again I bring up the Hank Blalock example).
2) Having said that, the Twins are once again contenders, and the offense should be much better than last year. If 2B Luis Castillo's legs are healthy, he and Shannon Stewart will be wreaking havoc on the basepaths all season, which will make things easier for the guys in the middle of the order. Although Rondell White was not the thunder stick you'd like hitting cleanup, he'll still take some pressure off of the M&M Boys.
3) And the pitching? Good night! Still not sure why Liriano doesn't get that 5th spot instead of starting the year in the bullpen (I guess they figure if it worked for Santana's development, it'll work for Liriano's). I think the kid is your 3rd best pitcher RIGHT NOW, and might be better than Radke by September. Better to have too much pitching depth (see the White Sox and A's) than not enough, but hopefully he'll get his chance in the rotation by summer.
4) Torii Hunter should be traded by the end of July. I love watching his defense and his passion, but there's no way this team can afford to pay a guy $10 million a year to play defense. He's 30 years old and in 7 seasons is a .267 hitter. The offensive explosion isn't coming. He is what he is. You're not going to resign him after this year, and the big $$ teams would line up to get him. I love the guy, but he's been the most overrated athlete in Minnesota this side of Wally Szczerbiak. Trade him.