Weekend Primer
Your guide to the weekend, SIOC style.
UCLA Students Get Pepped Alone in Their Rooms (an all day event)Sure, Bruins fans would rather be at a "Beat USC!" pep rally, but a pesky university policy prohibits the school from having large-scale events the week before finals. Personally, I think it's a good policy. Keep students in their rooms and at their computers. That way they're more likely to study. Or spend all day hacking USC players' Facebook pages.
Wallyball Tournament, Oregon State University, 6 p.m.Take volleyball, throw in a few walls and a racquetball court, and you've got a wild game of wallyball. The sport is so big there's now an American Wallyball association and a United States Wallyball Association. Dare I say America has a new pastime?
Lecture of the Week: "Einstein vs. Santa," University of Hawaii, 6:30 p.m.Finally, somebody's calling out Santa for his blatant disregard for the laws of physics. This lecture examines St. Nick's annual trip around the world from the perspective of a (naughty) physicist.
Men's Basketball: American University at No. 18 Georgetown, 1 p.m. It's the golden age of AU basketball. Last year, the team beat Maryland and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1960, and last month, former Eagles coach Ed Tapscott became the Wizards head honcho. A win over the Hoyas this weekend will make AU the undisputed basketball kings of the D.C. metro area.
Men's Basketball: No. 5 Gonzaga at Indiana, 1:30 p.m.The inexperienced Hoosiers have yet another tough test. It's like Tom Crean always tells his players, "These games will help us four or five years down the road. Well not us. You'll be gone. But me."
SEC Championship Game: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Florida, 4:00 p.m.In the first NCAA playoff semi-final, two SEC titans go head-to-head. In the other semifinal ... uh ... [sigh] ... never mind.
NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, N.C. State University, 2 p.m.The only losses this season for the four remaining teams (Notre Dame, Stanford, UNC, and UCLA) were a Stanford loss to UCLA and a UNC loss to Notre Dame. Against the rest of the NCAA, these four teams went a combined 90-0-3. It's safe to say they deserve to be here.
NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship, Stanford University, 3 p.m.Questions abound as USC, Navy, Stanford, and Loyola Marymount vie for the title. Will top-ranked USC (27-0) win its third straight championship? Will No. 2 Stanford's home-pool advantage make a difference? Will Navy become the first non-California team to win a title? Will Loyola Marymount be the most boring storyline of the tournament?
Men's Basketball: No. 6 Oklahoma at Tulsa, 4:05 p.m.With early wins over Purdue and Davidson, Oklahoma is already a team to keep an eye on. Also, Blake Griffin is averaging 42.6 rebounds per game, which I think puts him on pace to break some kind of record.
Blue Chips, ESPN Classic, 8 p.m.When you compare him to the player-paying coach played by Nick Nolte, Kelvin Sampson really isn't that bad. If you've never seen this piece of cinema (and even if you have) it's worth watching just to see a svelte Shaquille O'Neal playing with a non-arthritic Penny Hardaway. The film also features former Indiana forward Matt Nover, a player rumored to have been on the receiving end of a Bobby Knight punch to the face. I bet his parents are proud.
