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The Name Game

Got more suggestions for best all-time names in college hoops: Cookie Belcher, God Shammgod, H Waldman, Duany Duany, the Mapp brothers (Majestic and Scientific) and Baskerville Holmes. But when it comes to current players, we have another winner courtesy of Chicago's Blair Hughes, who writes:

"My NCAA Divison III Alma Mater, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, has a guard currently playing for them named Munchie Muskeyvalley."

Basketblogs

Got some nice responses to last week's query seeking the best national college basketball blogs. Here are the ones I'd suggest checking out:

Yoni Cohen's College Basketball Blog: Easily the most complete national blog out there, updated regularly and not full of venomous snipes at teams or mainstream media types like some blogs. (Most compelling nomination came from Sandra of Anchorage, Alaska.)

Ken Pomeroy's Blog: Ken's one of the best and most thought-provoking number-crunchers out there.

The Mid-Majority: Excellent blog by Kyle Whelliston keeps tabs on the world outside of the major conferences.

And here are three solid conference blogs to check out as well:

Big Ten Wonk
ACC Basketblog
ACC Hoops Blog

Nine Random Things

• Keep speaking your mind, Doug Gottlieb, no matter how many of your weak-kneed colleagues try to bring you down. College hoops needs its own Johnny Miller, and you are that guy.

• Was there anything stranger last week than seeing mild-mannered 61-year-old grandfather Dick Bennett of Wazzu giving the bird to the Washington student section?

• Speaking of which, I never thought I'd get this fired up for a Washington-Arizona game. The Huskies could stamp a big fat "W" on the Pac-10 with a win in Tucson Thursday -- or the Wildcats could show that national title contenders exist out West after all.

• Our pal Stew Mandel has taken a few too many footballs to the head. That's the only way I can explain his argument that the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech to the ACC has been good for basketball. Calling the loss of the ACC round-robin "a small sacrifice" is lunacy.

• All credit to the organizers at Illinois for creating a rocking atmosphere in Assembly Hall with the Orange Krush student section getting choice seats courtside. It's the best game environment in a circular arena that I can think of. Everyone in Champaign is a pleasure to work with ...

• Except the overzealous Assembly Hall security force, whose henchmen bear a strong resemblance (in appearance and mentality) to Specialist Charles Graner.

• Just curious: Do I lose my credibility to rip amphetamine-addled baseball players when I drink four Red Bulls on an overnight magazine deadline?

• Finally got some sweet (and one hopes durable) kicks last week when the new limited-edition Adidas "Cities" series dropped here in Boston . (I opted for the Tokyo and Buenos Aires models.) And if any of you punks try and buy the only pair of Andy Warhol/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar models (size 12.5) when they come out next week, I will have someone hunt you down.

Can someone please tell me how The Aviator got 11 Oscar nominations? I was checking my watch within 20 minutes of Cate Blanchett/Katherine Hepburn departing the movie. Other than learning that Leonardo DiCaprio can do nervous tics with abandon, what do we really take out of this film?

Separated at Birth

Got some odd suggestions that I didn't buy (like Illinois' James Augustine and Richard Gere as Mayo in An Officer and a Gentleman or DePaul's Dave Leitao and Sen. Barack Obama), but this one from reader Dylan Goodwin of Seattle, Wash., is golden:

Washington's Mike Jensen and Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV.

Not Separated at Birth?

Check out the improvement in the before-and-after site pix of SI.com's own Young Skywalker Luke Winn. Well done, Luke! (Now if we can only get Pete McEntegart and Lang Whitaker to lose the baseball caps....)