This is simply fantastic

A Day in the Life of Chris Mack
Local12.com
From making sure his daughter has all of her Valentines done to practice along Victory Parkway and recruiting in Detroit. What's life like for Chris Mack, the head basketball coach at Xavier?
Mack let us tag along for the day. It can be exhausting... from well before sunrise to long after sunset coaching basketball and juggling all that with family. 
Our crew of photojournalists Chris Hursh and Ed Burkholder along with producer Kevin Barnett give us an all access behind the scenes look at Mack's life.

***

Show preview
6:05, Sports Talk
Guest
Jerry Palm, CBS Sports/Big 10 Network, talks brackets 13 days from Selection Sunday
6:35, UC vs Louisville 

***

Xavier
CINCINNATI --- Xavier University freshman guard Semaj Christon has been named Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week for the sixth time this season. He averaged 15.0 points, 5.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals in games against No. 19/17 Memphis and Massachusetts this past week.Christon contributed 13 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win over Memphis last Tuesday. He led Xavier with 17 points and six assists against UMass on Saturday.
Christon leads the team in scoring (seventh in the Atlantic 10 Conference overall and first among freshmen at 15.0 ppg.). He also leads the team in assists at 4.6 apg. (fifth in the Atlantic 10 Conference overall and second among freshmen). Christon is second on Xavier’s all-time freshman scoring list with 406 points and second on XU’s all-time freshman assist list with 123.
Xavier, 16-12 overall and 8-6 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, hosts No. 16 Saint Louis (23-5, 12-2 A-10) on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Xavier will honor seniors Brad Redford, Jeff Robinson, and Travis Taylor before the game for “Senior Night” festivities beginning at 8:45 p.m.

***
Wright State
Congrats to Billy Donlon, chosen Horizon League Coach of Year. Wrigh State finished the regular season 19-11/10-6, 3rd in the Horizon, after being picked to finish last. The 3rd seeded Raiders earned a first round bye in the Horizon conference tournament. The Raiders face the winner of (6)Youngstown State vs (7)Loyola at Valparaiso on Friday at 6pm.
***
Bearcats
Last meeting vs UL: Cardinals won 50-44 to take the Big East conference tournament championship at MSG last March.
Vegas says: UC is 10.5 point underdog at Louisville tonight, with a total of 120.5
Here are odds 'n ends from a gambling perspective.
How about this bracket projection from USA Today? 7 Butler vs 10 Cincinnati. 

***

Saturday of sports 
Attendance Saturday
UC 12,432
XU  9,633
Cyclones 7,241
NKU men's basketball 6,719 (school record)
Miami hockey 3,618 (season high)
Total: 39,643

***
Jerry Palm's latest bracket from CBSSports.com
1 Indiana
2 Louisville
5 Butler
7 Ohio State
10 Cincinnati
12 Kentucky (Dayton play-in)
***
Reds
Reds camp: Likes/dislikes 
CBS Sports 
Some Reds fans celebrated when Scott Rolen turned down an invitation to continue his career with the Reds, because they wanted to see Todd Frazier get a full season's worth of at-bats. It's easy to understand the enthusiasm for Frazier, who was one of the really good Reds stories last season. But those fans should know that some Reds officials are now worried about third base, because they're not convinced Frazier can repeat what he did last year.

Odds 'n ends
Sportsbook.com
2013 totals
Joey Votto 27.5 HR
Jay Bruce 32.5 HR
Johnny Cueto 13.5 wins 

Notes from Mark Sheldon from 8-1 loss to Royals....plus a story on the strong clubhouse presence Sean Marshall gives the Reds.

***
NBA/College
Another big night for former Musketeer David West. He had 31 points and 7 rebounds as Indiana beat Chicago and moved past New York, into the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference. Here is a good story on the transformation of Indiana guard, and former Bearcat, Lance Stephenson: “He went from a kid to a man,” said Foster, one of the players Stephenson credits for his turnaround. “He’s come lights years from where he was his rookie year.”
Stephenson is averaging 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3 assists per game, playing 29 minutes, for the Pacers.

***
High school hoops
Congrats: Holmes bound for Sweet 16 

***

Clones rolling
EVANSVILLE, Indiana – Cyclones forward Mike Embach posted a career high five-point night as the Cincinnati Cyclones (38-17-4-2) demolished the Evansville IceMen (22-33-2-3) by a 9-4 final score in front of 5,492 at Ford Center on Sunday night. It was the first time since January 14, 2009 that a Cincinnati team had scored nine goals in a single game and the first time since February of 2010 that a Cincinnati team has won seven straight games 

***

This is a buzzer beater
New York high school basketball: New Rochelle's Khalil Edney hits a 55-foot buzzer beater to beat Mount Vernon, 61-60, in the Section 1 Class AA finals.

Now....check out how Mount Vernon lost four years ago

***

UC spring football
Tom DeWees followed new offensive coordinator Eddie Gran. Check out the reaction from UC players when he talks near the two-minute mark.

***

Remember?
Saturday was the anniversary of Kenyon Martin's greatest game as a Bearcat, March 2, 2000, at the Rosement Horizon. #2 UC (26-2/14-0) trailed DePaul by 17 points, their largest deficit of the season. Down 60-50 with 3:46 to go, Bob Huggins called timeout and told the Bearcats to get the ball to Kenyon, "or lose your scholarship." Martin took over, scoring four straight baskets, and 21 of UC's 33 2nd half points. He hit a baseline leaner to tie the game with :20 remaining and wound up with 33 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Martin passed to Dermar Johnson, who delivered the game winner on a 17-footer. DePaul's Quinton Richardson launched a 35 footer that swished, just after the buzzer, that would have won the game. I still get goose bumps listening to Dick Vitale go nuts. Things noticed on broadcast: Ken Griffey Jr was at the game and Mick Cronin had hair on the top of his head

***

Dot....dot.....dot
*The Cincinnati Cyclones beat the Kalamazoo Wings 4-1 in front of 7,241 at US Bank Arena Saturday....they have won six in a row, 11 of 12 and are tied for 1st place in the conference.
*UC got a much needed win vs UConn. It was UC's 4th win vs RPI top 50. 
*UC had 21 points off turnovers vs UConn....they had 20 points off turnovers in previous three games combined.  
*Pressing, trapping, pushing pace? What a fantastic idea.
*Wonder if Cronin Extremists give him credit for technical that changed momentum?      
*31 29 47.....UC used D while shooting 31%FG, 29%3PT and 47% FT.
*Kansas 91 WVU 65....Bob Huggins suffers his first losing record in conference play (13-16/6-10) since 1985, as a 31-year old coach at Akron.
*Xavier had been 51-1 at home on A-10 since Cintas opened....then lost last weekend to VCU and this weekend to UMass.
*ESPN: Prior to Saturday's 32-point loss at VCU, Butler had not lost a conference game by 30 or more points since the 1985-86 season (Oral Roberts).
*I did the radio call the last time Butler lost by 30 or more in conference play.
*It was the last game regular season and at Oral Roberts that year ...ORU's leading scorer was Akin Akin-Otiko. 
*ESPN has a cool story on Shane Larkin and so does MLB.com. 
*Kentucky got pushed around and back onto the NCAA bubble with a road loss at Arkansas. The Wildcats were outscored 30-2 off turnovers and allowed Arkansas 20 offensive rebounds.

(MURedhawks.com)
*Congrats to Miami hockey. The 3rd ranked Redhawks beat Ohio State 3-1 to capture the CCHA championship. They did it on Senior Night, in front of 3,618. It's the final year for the CCHA, which is disbanding after 42 years.

Congrats to former UC Associate Athletic Director Mike Waddell. His Towson basketball program just completed the greatest one year turnaround in D-1 college basketball history.

Bengals
NFL.com: Top 85 free agents  

How about NKU? 
The Norse trailed Jacksonville by 13 (58-45) with 2:36 remaining Saturday night and rallied to win 66-62. They outscored Jacksonville 21-4 in the final 2:36 of Senior Night and drew 6,719, the largest crowd in school history.

Remember Damon Bailey?
*The Indiana high school legend and Indiana Hoosier is the assistant girls basketball coach at his alma mater, Bedford North Lawrence. The girls capped an undefeated season with a state title Saturday night. Bailey's oldest daughter, Alexa, is a sophomore and starting guard.
Here are the final minutes of Damon's state championship game in 1990: Bedford North Lawrence vs Elkhart Concord. 41,000 fans jammed the Hoosier Dome for his final game. He capped his career by taking over and winning the game. I did the play-by-play on radio for WSBT in South Bend. I'll never forget that scene. When they won, he climbed into the stands to hug his parents.

Tweet, tweet
Sports teams with the most-and fewest-Twitter followers
Wall Street Journal 
MLB
1. Yankees 822,010
12. Reds 170,481
Average: 195,190 
NFL
1. Patriots 556,859
22. 147,773
Average: 245,580
*** 
Reds

2013 Team Preview
CBS Sports
Worst-case scenario 
The worst-case scenario probably requires injuries, specifically Votto's barking knee and the oblique that forced Cueto from Game 1 of the NLDS. I suppose a rotation that received 161 starts from its top five last year could crumble and spread the pitching staff thin. Outside of an extreme total catastrophe situation, the Reds are a safe bet to at least be pretty good. They could certainly miss the postseason, but it's tough to see them being non-competitive altogether.
***