Sweet 16 ( Almost )

For me , the Sweet 16 phase of March Madness is all but complete .There is Sunday , March 19 playing date yet to complete the cast of teams for the next round , but as far I am concerned with Duke Blue Devils and Gonzaga Bulldogs both in , its done. The Blue Devils beat George Washington , 74-61 while the Bulldogs went past Indiana 90-80 .They both have an easier time today than on their first day of competition although their stars , Blue Devil's J J Ridick and the 'Zags Morrison , had sub par performances - 20 pts. and 14 pts. respectively . Ridick ( ave. 28.1 ppg ) and Morrison ( ave. 28.8 ppg ) are vying for College Player Of The Year honors.

Their battle for NCAA's scoring title this year is reminiscent of baseball's Sosa vs McGuire homerun battle several years ago . Less the steroids . It was reported on CBS that they call each other on their cell phones to keep abreast of the developments . Speaking of their developments , it is good that local TV and cable kept us informed of this by featuring the 2 teams in their coverage of tournaments prior to the NCAA as much as possible. I hope one of them makes it all the way to the Final Four and then the Championship. Then , it's the NBA for Adam and JJ .

Who knows , maybe Toronto will get the chance to draft one of them. Morrison , some say is the second coming of Larry Bird. Stephen A. Smith of ESPN disagrees noting that he averages 10 rebounds less than Larry . Some suspect his defense . I guess we will find out in Gonzaga's next game against tough UCLA . Ridick , I 'd say , is more like Trajan Langdon , the former Duke star who played for the Cavaliers but is now 'duking ' it out somewhere in Europe. Who is more suited for the NBA game ? We will know before draft day .For now, on to the next round .