Golden Nugz for 4-2-09, Late Edition

Life's been hectic on this end and GN is in Detroit for the Final Four, so updates will come as time permits. And a lightly scheduled afternoon presents the opportunity to catch up.

Here's what I've been reading that might interst you. To start with, how about Tom Izzo v. Digger Phelps

For the Digger/ESPN bashers out there, you'll enjoy Tom Izzo has apparently ripped into Digger for his theories about Big Ten basketball.

And MSU coach Tom Izzo apparently is sick of Digger and his "slow down the ball" theory of Big Ten Basketball as well.

And he absolutely berated ESPN and singled out Digger in the process...

"Why does everybody write about and why does everybody preach that defense wins championships? Pick the sport. Go ahead, pick it. Any one of you in here, pick it...But it doesn't matter what sport you're in. I do it every single year. I take hockey, baseball, football and basketball. I always put it up on a board or I reiterate it from a piece of paper. Who won the championship? When Baltimore was in it, best defensive team. It's 90% of the time it happens.

"So I guess I just learned that that's the way you have to win championships. But at the same time I want to run every time. I want to run every time. So I do get annoyed, sick of, frustrated with Digger saying, `They're trying to slow it down.' Well, if we tried to slow it down and scored 64, what did the other team do?

That made my day!

• Now that Charley Walters is done chasing private jets for news tidbits, he's asked Tubby Smith for a quote. "It's never been about money," says Coach Smith. I think we have to believe that after he apparently turned down $3 million from UVA.
• Our good friend TD Lawlor at Hoopraker has a nice piece on Penn State's Jamelle Cornley, and notes just how lightly recruited this "tweener" was coming out of high school. Penn State, as you might know, is representing the Big Ten very well in the NIT. For the record, my money is on Baylor in the NIT championship. That team seems to be loaded. I'm shocked they were so downtrodden in the regular season.
• The men's baseball team blew a 5 run sixth inning lead and lost to Northern Iowa Wednesday at the Dome. A Big Ten showdown with Ohio State looms this weekend.
• This UVA blogger is still wishing the Cavs would have hired Tubby. And as the coaching carousel turns, it looks like Dan Monson's name is being floated as a potential replacement for Tony Bennett at Washington State.