Back by popular demand is our look at the hotties of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Tournament.

After the NCAA Women’s Tournament selection show, I perused all the rosters of the teams invited and picked one player deemed worthy for this post. Some may not agree with my selections and that’s okay. There are some repeat winners from last season.

Please give credit if any of the pictures are used. Thanks.

The pages are broken down by region. First up is the Trenton Region:

Click on the name of the region to see the others.

Berkeley Region, Raleigh Region, Oklahoma City Region

Apparently the Los Angeles Lakers are not very happy with their St. Patrick’s Day related merchandise that is on sale at the NBA store. And I can totally understand why they aren’t.

The NBA put out a St. Patrick’s Day clothing line at the beginning of the year for all 30 teams that included green jerseys, T-shirts, hoodies, and hats. An NBA source said the Lakers were quietly not in favor of it, since the green and the shamrocks are associated with their heated rivals, the Celtics. But the green Lakers gear actually sold well when it first went on the market.

Here’s a look at the hat and shirts:

Gotta love it!!! Boston Celtics green and the shamrock on the shirt and hats. Maybe they should make them wear green uniforms on St. Patrick’s Day.

Green around the gills [Boston Globe]

As was thought yesterday, the news for Boston Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo isn’t good.

It was announced today that Lugo will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Tuesday back in Boston. There is no timetable for his return but if it’s just a torn meniscus, he could be back within a month.

“The extent of what’s going on it there, it’s a little hard to determine the severity, or lack of severity,” Francona said this morning. “That’s why we have Tom. Tom treats the symptoms, not just the MRI [which Lugo received Friday night]. And they’re pretty conclusive that something is going on.”

“There’s no way any of us can know,” Francona said. “I don’t think this is going to be a terribly long procedure, how long he misses. But we just don’t know. That’s why we try to be a little careful.”

If Lugo does miss extended time, it could create an opening for either Nick Green, Ivan Ochoa or Gil Velazquez as the utility infielder.

Arthroscopic surgery for Lugo [Extra Bases]

While Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon basically ripped Manny Ramirez apart with some comments last week, one member of the Red Sox has come to his defense.

That person would be the now injured shortstop Julio Lugo. He offered up this to the authors of Manny’s authorized biography “Becoming Manny”.

“When I went through tough times, he knew that I had trouble sleeping so he would call me early in the morning, when he knew I’d be awake, and he’d say ‘Look, don’t worry about it, man. You’re going to do good today.’ ”

“That meant a lot to me. There’s no one like Manny.”

Do we even care what Lugo thinks about Manny? I know there might be some people out there who do but I’ve never been a fan of Lugo since day one. He’s cost the Red Sox more games than I dare to remember.

I hate to see what happens when Lugo returns if he doesn’t get the starting shortstop job back. We could end up with another “Manny situation” on our hands.

Some Red Sox man up for Manny Ramirez [Inside Track]

Jonathan Papelbon’s Comments Creating A Buzz [SOX & Dawgs]

Becoming Manny: Inside the Life of Baseball’s Most Enigmatic Slugger [SOX & Dawgs]

Mike Wright: Rather than sign somewhere else, defensive tackle Mike Wright has decided to re-sign with the New England Patriots after fielding offers from the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals. The deal, 4 years, $7.5 million, was first reported by John Clayton of ESPN.com. Wright came into the league as undrafted free agent out of Cincinnati and has been a member of the Patriots for 4 years. [ESPN.com]

According to Tom Verducci of SI.com, Boston Red Sox and Team USA second baseman Dustin Pedroia suffered a strained muscle near his rib cage during a workout on Friday. Pedroia has left Team USA and returned to Ft. Myers to have it examined.

It doesn’t sound as though it’s something too serious but this is why a lot of teams don’t want their players playing in the WBC.

Update: Dustin Pedroia filed a blog entry for WEEI.com explaining what happened.

While taking batting practice Friday I felt some soreness in my left oblique, but nothing to make me think that my availability for Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico would be in jeopardy. Then, after taking some swings off a tee, I was doing flips with Reggie Smith tossing the ball to me, and all of a sudden I felt a kind of shooting pain. I hadn’t felt anything like this before. Last year I had a sore right oblique during the American League Championship Series, but it was nothing like this.

Shane Victorino was standing next to me and after he saw me grimace he suggested I stop, reminding me about the priority (which is the coming season). The next thing I know I’m standing in front of a bunch of media in street clothes explaining what happened, and then trying to find my ride back to Fort Myers.

Pedroia has been removed from the Team USA roster and been replaced by Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles.

Pedroia leaves Team USA to have strained muscle examined [SI.com]

Back to Fort Myers [WEEI.com]

With the NCAA Tournament coming up next week and Selection Sunday looming, March Madness brackets will be coming to an office, bar or a group of friends near you. And if you’re like me, you probably struggle with making your selections and are happy with finishing in the middle of the pack every year and losing your investment.

So if you’re in need of some help, why not use Bracket Brains.

Bracket Brains will help you get ready for your NCAA Tournament pool by providing you with the most advanced easy to use March Madness analysis tool.

It provides analytics and tools to help you research games in record time, identify the most likely upsets, and make informed picks.

Whether you’re a casual bracket pool competitor or an active tournament wagerer, there’s a version of BracketBrains for you.

So why not use Bracket Brains?

Boston Celtics: Leon Powe scored a career-high 30 points and added 11 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics end a two-game losing streak at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies 102-92. The Celtics, who were without Kevin Garnett and Glen “Big Baby” Davis, also got 22 points from former UConn Husky Ray Allen and 17 points from Paul Pierce. Rajon Rondo returned to the lineup and had 4 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Another former UConn Husky, Rudy Gay, led the Grizzlies with 26 points and O.J. Mayo added 21. The Celtics now head to the midwest for a two game road trip that takes them to Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon and Chicago on Tuesday night. [ESPN.com]

John R. Wooden Award

It took six overtimes to determine a winner between the #4 UConn Huskies and and #20 Syracuse Orange and in the end it was the Orange who came out on top 127-117 in six overtime periods to advance to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The Orange hadn’t lead at all in the first five overtimes but that all changed early in the 6th OT when Andy Rautins hit a three-pointer to start an 8-0 run the Orange. A.J. Price got the Huskies on the board with a jumper with 2:11 remaining but a 5-0 run increased the Syracuse lead to 11 at 123-112. The Huskies got it to six on a Kemba Walker layup and a Scottie Haralson three but the Orange hit their final four free throws to seal the win.

The game almost didn’t go to the first overtime.

With four seconds left to go in the game, Walker grabbed the rebound and layed the ball back in to tie the game at 71. After a timeout by Syracuse, the Orange threw the ball down the court that was tipped by a UConn player and ended up in the hands of Eric Devendorf who nailed what was thought to be the game-winning three pointer.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpDN4bKvyOo[/youtube]

As is the case when shots are made at the buzzer, the referees went to the replay and after a few minutes of looking at, they determined that the shot hadn’t left Devendorf’s hand in time and nullified the basket. This set up the epic battle between the two teams.

This game came down to free throw shooting and it was Syracuse who was better at the foul line. They hit 23-of-26 in overtime and 40-of-51 (78.4%) in the game while UConn was 24-of-42 (57.1%). When you can’t hit your free throws, you’re not going to win as I’ve said for as long as I can remember.

Price led the Huskies (27-4) with 33 points and 10 assists before fouling out in the 6th OT. Stanley Robinson had a great game with 28 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out while Hasheem Thabeet had 19 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks before he fouled out. Jeff Adrien also had a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds and also added 7 assists.

Jonny Flynn, who played 67 minutes, led Syracuse (25-8) with 34 points and 11 assists. Paul Harris had a monster game on the glass with 22 rebounds and had 29 points while Devendorf added 22 points. Rautins added 20 points and Rick Jackson finished with 10 before fouling out.

The question remains whether or not this loss affects UConn getting a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. I say no because I don’t think you can penalize them for losing this game, especially with the fact it went 6 overtimes.

Of course, UConn’s seeding in the NCAA Tournament won’t matter if they don’t learn how to make a damn free throw.

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