Miami's St. Patrick's Day Basketpalooza!: Canes win ACC title, earn No. 2 seed in NCAAs; Heat win 22nd straight; plus annual Haiku Challenge on deck

TODAY: LIVE BLOG CHAT, THEN HAIKU CHALLENGE!: Our Monday live blog chat / Q&A will be today from 1-2 p.m. Don't post questions here; a separate Chat post will magically appear at around 12:45 p.m. Then, after the Chat ends we'll launch our 2013 March Madness Haiku Challenge. Twitter limits you to 140 characters. I limit you to 17 syllables. Stay tuned.

[1) It is MONDAY, MARCH 18. Hope you all has a fun, corn beefy St. Patrick's Day! 2) Click on Random Evidence for Sunday's latest wisea-- notes column from me, leading with Selection Sunday. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Canes reach ACC title game, Free agency Christmas for Tannehill, Heat hit 21, USA out in WBC, Jeff Gordon. 4) Join us on Twitter @agregcote.

SUPER SUNDAY FOR BASKETBALL JUNKIES: And nobody in America has it better than Miami and South Florida, with the Hurricanes and Heat both preening on the national stage. It was a three-pronged Sunday festival of bouncing madness. Hope you hoisted a tankard of green beer, stuffed a corned beef on rye down your gaping maw, and enjoyed...

HURRICANES BEAT NORTH CAROLINA, WIN FIRST ACC CHAMPIONSHIP -- History was made by Miami as it won its first ACC championship in men's basketball, beating North Carolina and a partisan crowd, 87-77, in Greensboro, N.C. A rematch with Duke might have had more sizzle, but the UNC Tar Heels were another storied program. UM handled North Carolina twice during the season and did again, led by 28 from Shane Larkin (pictured), Trey McKinney-Jones's six 3's and all-round solid play by Julian Gamble. This might have been the biggest win and best day in UM program history. It's also a wonderful springboard into the coming NCAA Tournament (see below). A truly magical season for coach Jim Larranaga and the Canes ... and the ride continues.

HEAT EASY WIN IN TORONTO FOR 22ND IN A ROW -- It's 22 in a row now -- tied for the second-longest streak in NBA historty -- after Miami's 108-91 rout at Toronto. Dwyane Wade's 24 points and 22 from Lebron James (pictured) lifted the Heat; ex-Raptor Chris Bosh enjoyed a day off. A much tougher challenge to the streak comes next for the Heat: Tonight at rival Boston.

NCAA SELECTION SUNDAY: MIAMI OPENS FRIDAY VS. PACIFIC -- With dramatic, televised flair the NCAA men's basketball selection committee last evening revealed its at- large bids and seeds, meaning the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket is now set, and No. 2-seeded Miami will open Friday vs. 15th seed Pacific in the East Regional, in Austin, Tex. This tips off March Madness and launches a million office pools. If seedings hold the Hurricanes would eventually have to get past No. 1 East seed Indiana to reach the Final Four. Meanwhile, in the South Regional, the No. 3 seed Florida Gators will open Friday vs. 14th seed Northwestern State in Austin, and Fort Myers' Florida Gulf Coast (which upset Miami early in the season, remember?) is a 15th seed facing No. 2 Georgetown Friday in Philadelphia. It's Dick Vitale's favorite time of the year. Gentlemen, start your brackets!

Click back We'll be updating all three categories above throughout...

Comments

[horace johnson]

basketball heaven ... while our jake is sitting around the house stewing? what about protecting the blind side? and where the hell are the eleven million?

http://fletcherprince.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/john-lennon1964_hsmvxtkf.jpg

[FZB]

From the last bloggy..

Tom, you're still a "negativo"

Horace, a Beatles photo?.. You've won me over..you're all right in my book amigo.

St Patrick's day?...I'm Cuban, I don't know anything about "Irlandia"..give me a " pan con lechon" and a beer ...but I salute all my Irish amigos.

Win or lose the Canes will be a one or two seed..a great accomplishment.

[FZB]

Hey where's the Duke, is he in Labia again?

If I'm the Dolphins I go after a veteran DE and Eric Winston for the same that you would pay Long..

Just saying

[Tom]

FZB if you look at my posts objectively you will see that I both praise and criticize Ireland. Not everything he has done has been bad. That said, the problem as I see it is his mistakes far outweigh any positive contributions he has made to the Dolphins. You see it differently. The SCOREBOARD tends to support my view.

If that makes me a "negative" then so be it.

[FZB]

Tom,

You blame Ireland for everything since 2008 while I only holding responsible since 2011, we're compairing apples and oranges here, we are not on the same page which is fine.

We'll just have to agree to disagree..

[mike1]

Which Ireland are we talking about today?

Jeb Bush: 'Let's stop being the anti-everything party'. Joining McCain and Christy in saying something smart in recent weeks.

Final 4, who's gonna take it? DR, P.Rico, Netherlands, or Japan in a 3peat. US, with a full cast of all stars, out again. Babe Ruth is turning in his grave. Awesome seeing the fervor and color, though I apperently dont know hw to find the games on live TV.

World Cup qualifying around the world continues this Friday.

Go Heat, break the Lakers record, Gail Goodrich,Jerry West, etc.

[Mr. Woodcock]

CANES! I love college basketball. He he.

[FZB]

Canes win the ACC !!!!!!.. Yeah boy !

Great win for the program, the Cuban Don strikes again, Larranaga is coach of the year, no doubt.

Heatles are up to 22 in a row, the stinkin C's are up next..sorry Baby.

[FZB]

So you guys think Jake long is going to make a decision before thanksgiving ?

What's up with that !

[Robert]

What do you all think for Jake? Take the (more) money and go or take less and stay where you want to be? I have always put happiness before money in my life and it has worked out fine.

[UMcanes]

Hey, Quijote: You still looking for FIU coverage?

Moron.

GO CANES!

[OC Dolphin]

Like I said on a previous post. It's not Jake's decision to make, it's his wife's, and money alone ain't cutting it.

I'm gonna go out on a rather beefy limb and predict that Jake signs with the Dolphins on Monday.

[Robert]

Great job Canes!!!!!

[r. dukey]

With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe I should devote an hour or a day of my time to creating absurd Haikus for the amusement of any personal partisan causes.
Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your Haiku March Madness winner or runner up.
Thank you for listening.

Good night and God bless all of you.

[OC Dolphin]

Holy cow! Dukey sighting
he has to be bored
but never ignored

[FZB]

The Haiku field is wide open guys !!! The Dukes- ter has resign !

So OC , you say is a given that Long re ups with us ?

I sort of have mixed feelings about it, we'll see..

[OC Dolphin]

stretching the ole prose
note to self - politics out
or Cote will pass up

[OC Dolphin]

Long won't be long
if the missus tightens spread
St. Lou no Miami

[OC Dolphin]

I think I saw what Woodcock plans on entering as his Haiku entry:

Donna Shalala
I can't stand that f****** troll
and no amount of syllables going to stop me from saying how much I hate her guts

[Georgia Cane]

It's great to be a Miami Hurricane! Larkin should be ACC player of the year. UM should take over Kansas as a #1 seed. Gonzaga &us only teams to win both regular season & conference champs. Committee says body of work, we'll see. Um needs big Reggie to show up if they want to get far in the tourney.

[John Paul Jones]

great Scott, a dukey on the horizen! Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!

[Robert McNamara]

Mr President, we can start an inconsequential little war in South East Asian Vietnam to make you look like a winner. We'll be out in six months helping your approval ratings and the war economy. Win - Win proposition.

[OBlahBlah]

I's so tired, campaigning in 57 states!

[Jimbo]

Still haven't been paid from winning previously Mr Duke? Have you? Can't even send a brother a $50 gift certificate for Burger King huh Miami Herald? cheap f**ks.

[Mr. Woodcock]

I give you permission to enter what ever that is in Fat Boy's contest for me, OC.

[DL]

McNamara, id say the generals started that war when our own gov't had kennedy killed for pulling out of Vietnam. Johnson signed off or hed be shot too. 2 days after kennedy gets shot the new prez reverses his Vietnam policy? coincidence? before he was buried

[Mr. Woodcock]

Canes got hosed. That's what you get when you have a troll running your program. No respect. She was probably present at the selection committee offices standing there so the selectors could put their cigar ash on her head.

[scuba]

First time ever that the team that won the ACC regular season title AND the conference tournament didn't get a #1 seed. Heck, the NCAA selection committee still had Duke ahead of us.

Because we won our tournament, had the same record and a higher RPI, no reason Indiana was put ahead of us except for random bias.

They have a tough job but the guy trying to justify the NCAA is stuttering and not answering the questions...

[FZB]

The Canes got hosed if you can call a # 2 seed being hosed.

Let's go Canes !!!!

I will post my " hara-kiri" winner tomorrow, ( I like that name better anyways ) , all you infidels are playing for second.

[OC Dolphin]

Let me guess, FZB

Jeff, jeff, he's our guy
if he cannot get us players
nobody can!

[FZB]

hehehe, OC,

your going to have to wait until tomorrow for my winner, but here's one to wet your appetite.

Roses are red
violets are blue
kaz thinks that he's smart
but we all know that ain't true.

sorry Kaz, it just came out....really, the funny thing I didn't have to strain my brain to come up with that one, lol

[FZB]

don't you guys think we should call this the "hara-kiri" contest, I kind of like the name.

[FZB]

to my blog brothers, yes you too Kaz,

we all come together
to talk crap on this blog
but what I like most
is you guys are such fun.

[OC Dolphin]

Hara-kiri is fine and applicable to those whose name happens to be celebrated by them today.

[FZB]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/sports/football/dave-george-miami-dolphins-moves-show-gm-ireland-t/nWtQ6/

[Big Baby]

God Made the Irish # 1.

[Mr. Woodcock]

I'm telling you, Scuba, it's that bitch Shalala's fault. How can they respect a program that has a two foot tall gnome with a head as big as the Goodyear blimp running the show. Even if the Canes had gone undefeated we probably would have been hosed because of Kazaam's aunt. Why we haven't run her ass off is one of the great wonders of the world. How in good conscience could the NCAA give Miami their rightful place as a number 1 seed when all that would have done was to improve their chances of winning the whole thing. Trust me, the last thing that the NCAA wants is to have all that confetti flying and the pretty girls dancing around and then have to put up with the Troll up on the stage collecting the winning trophy. That would set NCAA basketball back 100 years.

[Anti Christ]

pay attention amigo, it will do you good.

Posted by: FZB | March 16, 2013 at 02:24 PM

I have been paying attention my good friend. Let me help you...

11-5, 7-9, 7-9, 6-10, 7-9.

I can imagine Ireland sometime this fall revealing his inner Col Kurtz when he reaizes the end is near...

The SCOREBOARD the SCOREBOARD

Posted by: Tom | March 17, 2013 at 09:05 AM

http://youtu.be/ZDN9y2vTdUs

[FZB]

jake Long signs with the Rams !, the sky is falling!, Ireland sucks!, He passed on Matt Ryan for him ! now we have another hole to fill! bla,bla,bla.

well now, before all you "negativos" go Moriarty on me let me say this.

the Dolphins made the right move, Jake was a great player his first two years but he's body has been steadily breaking down ever since, both knees,shoulder,triceps,biceps,back etc, the Rams gave him a ton of guarantee money and he went.

the other major reason and perhaps the best reason for letting him walk is he was drafted for a smash mouth power football philosophy and our offense is totally different now , WCO and ZONE BLOCKING schemes which require more mobile linemen, as of now we only have two guys suited for that scheme, Pouncey and Jonathan Martin.

I think it makes a ton of sense to go after Eric Winston for RT, Winston is 29 and has been in the zone blocking scheme since he come into the NFL.

all right, all you "negativos" can chime in now.

[FZB]

Anti,

you've crossed over to the dark side of the force.

[FZB]

a couple of more things here,

Its obvious that Ireland didn't want to over pay and that's smart, Long got 19 mil guarantee at over 8 mil per season, for a guy that was rated the 47th tackle in the NFL.

no thanks I'll pass.

I just realized that Vollmer NE tackle is still out there, how come?..is he injured?

[Tom]

Jake Long.........another failed Miami first round selection.

What's new? NADA!

Anti great song and nicely timed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSWtc01BlqM

[horace johnson]

if long decides to sell his house pity the real estate agent charged with trying to get the money he's asking for

http://25.media.tumblr.com/8307d0c4847957a0f21bd107b70211b3/tumblr_mhb1lv1EVA1qlirqeo1_500.jpg

[Big Baby]

I might consider Vollmer at LT he could certainly play RT he won't demand Jake Long money at 8 mil plus but he might be worth around 6 it would be a good signing I think.

[Big Baby]

Looks like it's going to be Vollmer or Winston but we are getting one of those guys in the next few days either would be a great addition.

[Naples Jack]

Tom- Think back to the draft when Long was the #1 overall pick. Who were the only 2 sane guys on this blog who said take RYAN? You and I. All the kool aid drinkers said long will be a pro bowl player for 10-12 yrs. Some even had the guy a future HOF player. Think where the dolphins would be right now with ryan at qb. As a pats fan, thank god for blunders like that. If I am not mistaken, some of the same guys said Tannah had more upside then Flacco earlier in this past season. The same Tannah who only threw 3td passes to his wrs this past season.

[Anti Christ]

Guys came across this, thoughy it kinda strange and I'll bet my bottom dollar David In LaLa land is the first to scream..

http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=796589&ocid=rr-tv-news

[Big Baby]

Naples you have one signed WR on your roster right now better get some WR help or else Brady's numbers could look a little paltry as well especially since he will be declining soon.

[Jimbo]

Long gone, sounds like Ireland made the right choice. There are a few fine Tackles available to draft. Rams overpaid at 8 mil a year.

[FZB]

Anti,

hahahahahah, Obi as the new Anti-Christ !! pretty soon you'll have one of those Drones over your pad, hehe, take cover!

so who do you guys want?...Winston or Vollmer ?

Naples, for the record I always said drafting Long over Ryan was a mistake..yes, Tannehill only threw 3 TD passes to WR last year but he had NO ONE TO THROW TO, we got weapons now amigo, we'll see this year.

[Tom]

NJPF

So true about Matt Ryan. The safe pick (Jake Long) gets you NOWHERE! If you want to win you have to be willing to take risks. Ireland did so on Tannehill last year but grudgingly so. He was forced by a fan base ready to jump ship.

Tannehill may or may not prove to be a top flight QB. Only time will tell.

[Big Baby]

Heat 0-5 at TD Garden since acquiring Big 3, 2-8 overall Boston has won 11 straight at home since losing Rondo some other streaks on the line here also (Heat) Garnett is 50/ 50 to play if he can't go not a good scenario bor Boston.

FZB you say stinking Celtics, I say stinking Heat.

[FZB]

Oooohhh its war now !

if Garnett can't go is a big blow for you guys, Can't say that i'm feeling sorry about it..

BB,

I think Naples is getting a little worried about the Dolphins.

[I am Kazaam]

Jake Long to the Rams isn't a big deal, Jon Martin to left tackle however would be devastating. Need to make another move for a LEFT tackle.

[Big Baby]

I Pittsburgh loses E. Sanders to NE they are looking at a 6-10 season.