Thursday’s twitterings (to adopt the vernacular of the day):

Did appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated on consecutive weeks go to TWill’s head?

Correct answer: Absofrigginlutley!!!!

Watching him play I kept thinking of a guy I sat next to once when Louisville played IU in Assembly Hall. Every time Milt Wagner got the ball, the guy would yell, “Put some mustard on that hot dog.” Of course, Milt was playing steady. The Cards won. And as we walked out, I handed the guy a packet of mustard from the concession stand. Truth is Milt didn’t play like a hot dog that day. (Which makes the story kind of irrelevant, but I wanted to tell it anyway.)

TWill did play like a hot dog today against a Providence team that showed little discipline and only plays at one end of the court. Going for the spectacular pass way too often. Blowing that open court one-handed dunk when a simple lay up would have meant two points. You look at Williams raw numbers and it doesn’t appear so bad. And he did play D. But the steady senior leadership one expects from “The Best Player on the Best Team Nobody is Talking About” didn’t show up at the Garden.

Kyle Kuric, who hadn’t been out of his warmups for a month played six minutes. I dunno. Don’t ask. Sometime The Way of The Rick is inexplicable to us mere mortals.

Forty six turnovers. You’d a thought it was the Betty Crocker Bake Off.

Mardo played smart and meaner than usual. It’s a good thing.

Not much else to say. Rule #1: Survive and advance. No style points are awarded from here on out.

Villanova just escaped against Marquette. I’d have rather played the Warriors/ Golden Eagles. But, Rule #2: You only play who you play from here on out. Otherwise you’re on spring break, watching the hotties on the beach somewhere.

UK won. Good for them. So cockamamie is the SEC that the Cats have as good a chance of running the table in the conference tourney as anybody. It’s truly a bracket without a favorite.

– Seedy K