Pretty lively environment inside the Joyce Center right now. Bob Knight, Dickie V, Jay Bilas … the whole nine. Fans are rowdy. ESPN broadcast its GameDay here both this evening and earlier today.

Some signs seen included: "What was the Price of the Laptops?" (let it go, people) and the unfunny and borderline racist "Thabeet Can't Spell ESPN." Sort of similar to the "Ewing Can't Read This" signs that dotted many Big East arenas in the early 1980's. Apparently, the moron(s) who made the sign don't realize that Thabeet is an expert Scrabble player. Of course, I don't believe ESPN is a usable word in Scrabble.

Anyway, looking forward to a good one tonight. Got the feeling the Huskies are going to pull this one out. They play well on the road and have responded well to adversity. Plus, I'm not convinced Notre Dame is all that good.

UConn 75, Notre Dame 73. Just a hunch.

Oh yes, and the Republican-American's Ed Daigneault and I are sitting right behind ESPN's Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale, so our mugs should be on TV throughout the night. Sorry for viewers that Erin Andrews couldn't be sitting here instead.

Just asked Vitale, the noted Rays fan, how he feels about Rocco Baldelli going to the Red Sox.

"Great for the clubhouse," he said of his fellow paisan.