03/07 Quickie: Heat, College Hoops, More

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"The Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games. The world is better now because the Heat are losing."

That's Dwyane Wade after yesterday's Heat loss to the Bulls in Miami, which saw yet another stumble against an equally good (or better) opponent, featuring poor final-play execution.

As a student of schadenfreude, I can say that Wade is right: Many (even most) fans are reveling in the Heat's inability to beat good teams.

For now, that will have to do. But it's not even close to the limit: The only real schadenfreude will come when the Heat get bounced from the playoffs -- they will, it's just a question of when, how and by whom.

But it almost doesn't matter. For most fans, as long as the Heat lose, we're all good.

I created a Quickish discussion about this topic on Facebook. Drop on by and contribute what you think. We'll see where the conversation leads.

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College Hoops: VCU is ready to burst someone's Bubble. By knocking off George Mason -- a tournament lock -- yesterday and Old Dominion (another tournament lock) tonight, VCU will "bid-steal" from one of those ultra-marginal Bubble teams that, frankly, doesn't really deserve it anyway.

Meanwhile: Holy s--t. Ohio State just had the most prolific offensive performance in college basketball in... well, in a long time. And from 3, where they were 14/15? Ever. (Ever!)

I absolutely buy Ohio State to the Final Four, but I'm not (yet) ready to buy them winning 6 straight -- and a championship.

How much of that is because I hate Ohio State? Probably more than it should be. How much of that is because I'm generally a Tournament contrarian? Probably more than it should be. How much of that is because I'm so wary after Kansas last year? Probably more than it should be.

The common link: All are TERRIBLE reasons not to pick Ohio State to win it all.

And then there is this inverse:

Let's say that my No. 1 preference is to correctly pick the champion. But what if my No. 2 preference is to see Ohio State lose before winning a title? Then the natural thing to do would be to pick Ohio State to go all the way, triggering the reverse-jinx. Then again, I'm concerned that my BYU jinx from last Monday used up ALL my jinx powers.

Last NCAA ticket notes: Congrats to Indiana State. (Sorry, Missouri State. Cant' say you didn't have your chance, when you're left on the wrong side of the Bubble as an at-large team.)

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Chris Paul's concussion: Apparently, it looked worse than it turned out to be, thankfully.

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We're headed into a phenomenal week -- mostly of college hoops. It all leads up to Selection Sunday next weekend, then the blitz of NCAA Tournament obsession for the following 3 weeks.

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Enjoy the day. Tons of great recommendations and updates coming to Quickish throughout the day and evening.

-- D.S.