Twin's Take: Does ND own UConn?

Editor's Note: This story was written prior to the end of last night's men's basketball game.

Is it safe to say that Skylar Diggins and Notre Dame owns the No. 4 UConn women's basketball team? Not yet. The Big East tournament is in Hartford and we have a hard time seeing the Fighting Irish knocking off the Huskies twice at the XL Center in as many weeks. We have a harder time seeing St. John's beating UConn on their own home floor again. If Diggins, Devereaux Peters and Notre Dame does beat the Huskies for a third time this season, and fourth consecutive time overall, a match up in the NCAA tournament would be expected. Could Muffet McGraw really beat Geno Auriemma four times in one season?

The UConn men's and women's basketball teams each lost at the XL Center to Notre Dame. Both times the Huskies donned the new Nike Hyper-elite uniforms. Both times the grey and red recycled jerseys and shorts didn't make us look that elite.

Jeremy Lin has turned the Knicks around. Besides the turnovers, he's had the best two weeks a basketball player can have. But Sports Illustrated should not have put him on the cover two weeks in a row. New York didn't win the championship. I know the sports world is slow in February but what's a better time to finally give the NHL a chance to be on the cover? The Rangers are the best team in the East by nine points. The Knicks are sitting in seventh place in their conference standings.

It was reported by Complex that LeBron James said he'd participate in the dunk contest for $1 million. Dear NBA, we will be in the dunk contest for free. Matt versus Colin might actually be more entertaining than Paul George against Chase Budinger.

Manny Ramirez is now a member of the Oakland Athletics. Following a 50-game suspension, he'll be able to join the A's. There's no way Ramirez, in that cavernous ballpark, can help a gutted Oakland team. He certainly won't help clubhouse matters. After five games with Tampa Bay last season, Ramirez abruptly retired on his team rather than face a drug-related suspension. Ramirez was 1-for-17 with the Rays, which is still a better batting average than "Moneyball," the movie depicting GM Billy Beane and the Athletics of the early 2000's at the Academy Awards. The movie went 0-for-6 at the plate at the Oscars.

Can boxing get off Pay-Per-View? We want to watch the rematch between New Haven native "Bad" Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins on April 28th.

Kobe Bryant broke his nose after a hard foul by Dwayne Wade in the third quarter of the NBA All Star Game. Then trash-talked LeBron James in the closing minutes. Not that it's likely the Heat and Lakers will meet in the Finals but it's good to see some fire in All Star games. It maybe wasn't as intense as Pete Rose crashing into Ray Fosse, but still.

As of Monday night, the 17-11 UConn men were still in the NCAA tournament according to Joe Lunardi's Bracketology. The Huskies are a No. 10 seed facing Gonzaga in the first round. If UConn had won the second round, the opponent would be Duke. If the Huskies upset the Bulldogs then the Blue Devils, the regional's would be up the street in Boston. TD Garden would be filled with UConn fans for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. That is, if the Huskies were to beat Michigan or Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16. Then with a trip to the Final Four in New Orleans on the line, Syracuse might be waiting for UConn. The Huskies would have a third shot at the Orange, it wouldn't be a home game, but with the game in Boston, one would think UConn would have a home-court advantage. If the Huskies beat Syracuse then we'd see our third Final Four in four years and have a shot to repeat.

You probably stopped reading early in that last paragraph, and we know that "if" is the biggest word in the English language. But as Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."