(LATE) THURSDAY NEWS & RECOMMENDATIONS

News

Clemson defeated Syracuse 74-70, sending the Tigers to NYC to play in Madison Square Garden and assuring a Palmetto state team reaches the NIT Final Four three years in a row. Littlejohn was home to a raucous crowd of 10,000, a fantastic attendance number for a game played during Spring Break. Congrats Tiger Basketball team.

Tubby Smith left the University of Kentucky today to dart off to Minnesota. Tubby had four years left on his contract, and coached for 10 solid years, though he never echoed the success he had in winning the NCAA tourney in 1998 with Rick Pitino's players. I don't know who UK will go after next, but it is a huge job sure to attract top coaches who don't mind rabid Kentucky mountain men breathing down their neck. I've heard Wildcat fans mention greasers Pitino and Donovan, along with bagman Thad Matta.

Josh McRoberts announced today that he'll enter the NBA Draft. His stock has dropped since last year when he was projected as a lottery pick. This year he'll be late first round, early second round material and will go the way of Duke early defectors like William Avery and Shavlik Randolph. NBADraft.net projects him 18th to the 76ers, which would make sense since fellow Dukie Billy King is GM over dere and they took a chance on another lanky white Devil; Shav.

UNC's Butch Davis is undergoing chemotherapy for a growth discovered on his gums. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Recommendations

It's just me this week, and I'll focus on some of my favorite websites not involving hardcore pornography.

ACC Basketblog - This blog covers, as impartially as possible, the world of ACC basketball. They do a great job spreading info out on every team in the league and do cover other sports during their respective seasons. The comments section gets as lively as any blog I've seen, and most commenters know their stuff, except for some random WVU mouthbreather who's attached himself to the site. If you want the lowdown on the best league in basketball, check these guys out.

The Rant - Sports & other stuff, uncensored. I love this place even though it is populated largely by UGA fans. There are boards for most D1 teams, your standard non-sports boards, eyecandy boards, and games to bet on each week with virtual cash. Not to mention dozens of fun flash games. It's a tremendous alternative to Tigernet, CUTigers.com, or any other board policed by those who take themselves way to seriously. It's sort of Willy Mac's and my postgame hangout. Please, fellow Clemson fans, join up, even the numbers against the leg humpers.

Okay, now for some non-sports sites.

EZTV - This is the torrent site for television shows. Shows are posted immediately after airing and sometimes earlier, and you usually get a choice of HD or SD flavors. Pick up some episodes of Rome if you don't get HBO (if you did, you'd watch it, right??), or The Riches, a show about Irish Travelers those of us who've been through the North Augusta area are familiar with starring witty cross dresser Eddie Izzard. If you download a reality show I won't be your friend.

Hacking NetFlix - I like NetFlix, but this guy loves it. He'll clean out your ears with his NetFlix queue tips. (sorry) Enough to write a whole blog about the site itself, the company's policies on everything from vacations to damaged discs, and of course the heated battle between NetFlix and the evil Blockbuster empire. This site introduced me to FlixQueue, a program for managing your NetFlix queue from your desktop that is far more convenient than using the site itself.

Engadget - I love gadgets and this site is the source for all the latest gear news. With the consumer electronics show CeBIT going on now in Germany, this is the first place to find out about the new bone-conducting phone/PDA/MP3 player you've gotta have.

That's all I've got for this week.