I was worried about the West Coast mystic bringing down the Buckeyes. Or whatever it is that seems to cause Big 10 schools to fail in the Rose Bowl. But the defense did a great job of containing Oregons high octane offense. Pryor did a great job of passing the ball and also running for first downs when he needed to. And Tressel wasn't as conservative as he has been in the past with his play calling. Instead of trying to sit on a lead with running plays he was trying to extend the lead by utilizing the pass. And with almost everyone coming back, look for a BCS bowl next season.

The Big 10 had some quality wins this week. After getting a bad rap the past few years, it is good to see other teams from the conference winning bowl games. Penn State had a good win, and so did Wisconsin. Northwestern lost, but only by 3 points. So 3 out of 4 ain't bad. Michigan State plays tonight.

Cincinnati had a rough rough night. I watched the first half and couldn't watch anymore. Even with Kelly coaching, I don't think that they would have done much better. Florida was on their game and the Bearcats couldn't get it in gear. They had a good season and achieved a lot the past few years. Time will tell if the team keeps their momentum the next few years, or fades back into being a mid-tier team.

Well I did not see the first round games, but I found out that Trail got their first win of the season over Shawnee. So that was a surprise. Shawnee is a .500 team, but they have played some tough competition.

Shawnee took on North in the consolation game. Shawnee acquitted themselves well. Good rebounding, balanced inside/outside shooting and they got a lead that they did not relinquish. For North the McAdams brothers were impressive and they did get some points in the paint from one of the post players. But overall Shawnee just overwhelmed them for an easy victory.

The South/Trail game looked to be a blowout early on. South raced to an early lead. They were up 17-2 at one point. But Trail came back and even held the lead briefly. As hot as South was in the first quarter, they were stone cold for minutes at a time in the second half. This allowed Trail to keep chipping away at the lead and catch up.

South played mainly a zone. Slipping into man to man for a bit when Trail got hot from outside. Trail stayed in man to man for the entire game. In the second half, South got reorganized. They did a good job of getting the ball inside by either dribble penetrating, or feeding the post. Walker did get his 4th foul in the 3rd. But South did well during the stretch that he was on the bench.

The team was hitting on all cylinders in the final quarter of the game. They made good plays when they had to and although they had turnovers, they were able to minimize the damage. South would go on to win the holiday tournament.