Plenty of good stuff to read today.
Let's start with Penn-Texas A&M. In the Inquirer, Kevin Tatum reports that Quakers coach Glen Miller is "striving" for "a mistake-free game, or something close to it."
In the Daily News, Mike Kern profiles Steve Danley, who can take it as a compliment that he does better work off the court than he does on it. As in, considering running for the Pennsylvania legislature, interning at the White House and nearly winning a Rhodes Scholarship. Yes, he goes to an Ivy League school, but might as well take advantage of it.
Elsewhere in the Inquirer, Mike Jensen profiles sensational Aggies guard Acie Law IV, who would be "this season's Jameer Nelson" if not for Texas rival Kevin Durant.
Ibrahim Jaaber gets the New York Times treatment.
The Penn student paper reports that Glen Miller is "optimistic" about Danley's health; the forward has been suffering from pretty bad back pain lately.
The Lexington Herald-Leader says Penn plays "an un-Ivy-like transition game."
Friend of the blog and ESPN.com columnist Joe Lunardi predicts a 91-78 win for A&M. He also has Villanova beating Kentucky, 63-60, then losing to Kansas, 73-62.
After getting the Quakers in its home town last season, the Dallas Morning News' Rachel Cohen reports on the transition from Fran Dunphy to Glen Miller. She also writes that A&M "seem[s] more comfortable playing from behind than ahead" at times.
As a bit of an aside, there could be a scandal brewing in College Station over why so many athletes end up in the agricultural school instead of "appealing majors." I just looked through the bios of the 20 players on A&M's roster, and of the 11 who have declared majors, seven are agriculture-related.
The Houston Chronicle profiles Law, finds Penn stuck in traffic in the lane, and also reports on the A&M majors question.
The Chronicle also runs a really nice profile of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which plays its first ever NCAA Tournament game tomorrow against Wisconisn.
As for Villanova, assistant coaches Dwayne McClain Brett Gunning and Patrick Chambers offer their insight to the Daily News on how to beat Kentucky, while the Inquirer's Shannon Ryan profiles SEC Wildcats big man Randolph Morris and reports that Mike Nardi was kept out of practice yesterday.
The Inquirer's Frank Fitzpatrick cracks open the history books to look at the last time Villanova faced Kentucky in the postseason. That game in 1949 came just after the seeds of a major point-shaving scandal in the NIT were planted, with Kentucky doing quite a bit of the gardening.
Back to the present, and there are other games on Kentucky's home floor today besides Penn-A&M. Top seed Ohio State will be right in the middle of the prime time spotlight with its game against Central Connecticut State. Daily News columnist Sam Donnellon profiles Buckeyes guard Mike Conley, Jr., who hit the game-winning bucket in the Big Ten Tournament final and was the tournament's leading scorer but still doesn't get the kind of attention Greg Oden does.
As in, a banner headline in the Lexington Herald-Leader declaring Oden to be a "Perfect specimen," and a list of all the other great big men to have ever played in Rupp Arena.
Rick Pitino's in the house at Rupp, Mike Kern reports in the Daily News, and should get quite a reaction -- one way or the other -- from the fans today.
Daily News columnist John Smallwood is in Winston-Salem, and he profiles Belmont senior Boomer Herndon's fight against cancer that preceded this afternoon's far less important game against Georgetown. As you'll see, Smallwood has a bit of a personal investment in this particular story.
Smallwood also passes along the quotes of the day from Hoyas coach John Thompson III and Texas Tech's Bobby Knight.
In Buffalo, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski visited Christian Laettner's high school, and to no one's surprise, it's reported on in Kentucky.
That (thankfully) is all.
