Illinois big man James Augustine will be the X-factor in tonight's title clash. Elsa/Getty Images

Here it is, Overlap Day. Baseball has arrived and, like the radio DJ who hangs around briefly to banter on-air with his time-slot successor, college basketball stays for a moment to ease the transition. Somewhere down the dial, the NBA can be found, though no one's listening -- the end of the regular season is the equivalent of a gratuitous drum solo designed solely to get the drummer in good with the ladies. But not to worry; the playoffs, like that long-delayed chorus, will begin eventually.

In honor of this crossroads of the sports calendar, then, here are a selection of thoughts, observations and anecdotes, seasoned with a pinch of mailbag items. Mix it all together, just as I am doing with my metaphors, and you have Daily Blog stew.

• Predictions for tonight's Illinois-UNC game

1. James Augustine needs at least 12 points and 12 rebounds for Illinois to win. Otherwise, UNC has too much inside power, even if Raymond Felton has been a turnover machine of late.

2: During the telecast Billy Packer will gush over Sean May's 'soft hands' at least three times, refer to the players as 'kids' repeatedly and, at least once, break out a soliloquy in which he praises the purity of college basketball, making sure to mention that the 'kids' are 'playing their hearts out' for a 'once in a lifetime opportunity,' after which Jim Nantz will murmur appreciatively, in the manner of one who has just heard T.S. Eliot recited by James Earl Jones.

3: CBS will continue to pimp its upcoming tele-movie about locusts so intrusively that it wouldn't surprise me if, early in the second half, a swarm of the insects were released on the court during an inbounds play -- it would be hard for viewers to forget about the movie after that!

• On the topic of entertainment intruding upon sports, the movie Fever Pitch should be boycotted by any self-respecting sports fan. I say this not because I hate the Red Sox (I don't), dislike the Farrelly brothers (Kingpin was close to genius) or am upset that it's based on a book about UK soccer that already was made into a movie (though I can see how that would annoy Nick Hornby fans), or even because I think Jimmy Fallon is inherently unbelievable as a Bostoner (which he is).

No, the movie should be boycotted because of what Fox and MLB allowed Fallon and Drew Barrymore to do last fall (a stunt that Fox, coincidentally the studio behind the movie, had the gall to show on the air): run onto the field during the post-game celebration to film a scene in which the two make out. I know sports are commercial, and that they long ago got into bed with the entertainment industry and have been enjoying a never-ending threesome with the ad companies ever since, but this was shocking. Baseball fans wait nearly a century to see a Red Sox title -- as close to sacrosanct an achievement as we'll see in the sport - and they have to watch Jimmy Freaking Fallon run on the field during the celebration (Maybe Fallon could inherit the middle name that belongs to Bucky Dent)?

I'm sure many Red Sox fans have bitched about this on various message boards that I do not read, and if that is so I salute them. It's not just Fox and MLB that are at fault, either; if the Farrelly brothers want to make a movie about a team they love, and market it to fans of the game they love, then they should, nay must, respect that game and that team. Using 'their' team -- for the Farrellys claim to be Sox fans -- and its one shining moment for personal gain is repulsive. Imagine a medal ceremony in the Olympics and an athlete taking the stand to receive his gold medal. Now imagine Ashton Kutcher running up to the podium and making out with a random actress while, somewhere, cameras rolled.

• On to the NBA. Reader Kraig from Oakland writes in to ask if the Warriors have turned it around. "The addition of Baron Davis has transformed this team from doormat to shoe in less than a month. Do you see them making the playoffs next year, and if so, what seed would you project the Warriors for next year's playoffs?"