College basketball’s player of the year, North Carolina’s Tyler Hansborough, announced today that he will be returning to Chapel Hill for his senior year. As a hater of North Carolina, this upsets me. As a college basketball fan, this excites me. The biggest of all kudos to Hansborough for realizing that it doesn’t get much better (I would presume) than being a college player. Ask Kevin Durant if he would have preferred playing on an 18 win Oklahoma City Sonics team this year or for a National Title contending Texas Longhorns club. Yes, there was money, but that money isn’t going anywhere. As I’ve said before in this spot, how many guys have gone back to school only to lose the rest of their career to an injury? Name one please. Hansborough’s return to the game will only make for a more exciting season in 2008-09.

I got no comments about Round 2 of the Mock Draft, which leads me to believe that most of you just skipped over that. As I’ve said before, tell me what you want to read about and I will make it happen. There’s really no sense in you reading this blog if it’s full of stuff you don’t want to read.

I did receive a comment from Ryan in regards to my not mentioning the Boston Celtics’ easy victory over the Atlanta Hawks. There were two reasons for this: 1.) I didn’t see any of the game, as I was at National’s Park and 2.) The Celtics are about 464X better than the Hawks. The only reason I see I should talk about them this round, is if they lose the series to Atlanta. Next round, when they are facing the Cleveland LeBrons, the Celtics will have my attention. Call me a fairweather fan. It doesn’t bother me.

Playing off of that subject, I haven’t watched any of the NBA Playoffs. Beyond the Sixers/Pistons and Suns/Spurs, there really isn’t one series that is going to be in question. Yes, the Raptors, Cavs, and Rockets won last night. They’re still going to lose their respective series. I will start paying more attention in Round 2, when we have the Lakers playing the Jazz and the Spurs playing the Hornets our west, with the Celtics and Cavs and two other teams playing in the East. The NBA is a league of matchups. And there aren’t any great ones here. For reference sake, remember when I realigned the NBA a few months back? Under that system, these would be your first round playoff matchups:

1.) Boston
8.) Sacramento
(okay, not very good)

4.) Houston
5.) Orlando

3.) San Antonio
6.) Dallas

2.) Los Angeles
7.) Denver
(ironically enough)

-Okay, so that conference sucks. Two good matchups, one we’ve already seen, and a typical 1-8 stinker. HOWEVER, in our other conference:

1.) Detroit
8.) Portland

4.) Utah
5.) Cleveland

3.) Phoenix
6.) Washington

2.) New Orleans
7.) Golden State

That’s 4 intriguing matchups, including the insane Vengeance Series between Utah and Cleveland (remember when Carlos Boozer screwed over the Cavs to go to Utah?) You also have the upstart Blazers playing the Pistons. A “First one to 120” series between Phoenix and the Wizards, and an entertaining New Orleans/Golden State matchup. I’m sorry, I like these better.

With today being a slow news day and a Friday, I’ll spare you all any more. But before we part for the weekend, here’s the Top 5 Sporting Events (Big Brother Finale on Sunday night not included) you need to watch this weekend:

5. Padres/Diamondbacks (Sunday…Peavy vs. Webb-The game’s two best pitchers square off)
4. San Jose/Dallas (Game 1-Tonight…Intriguing series gets started in Silicon Valley)
3. Pittsburgh/New York (Game 2-Sunday…Sid The Kid on National TV in the Playoffs)
2.. Phoenix/San Antonio (Game 3-Tonight…The Suns need to win. If they don’t, they’re done.)
1. NFL Draft (Tomorrow-Sunday…Self-Explanatory)