Apologies for lack of content since Thursday - we are in the midst of finalizing our move from Mr. Jefferson’s city to the nation’s capital, which often leaves us without access to these here interwebs, and without means of acquiring such access and/or time to post without angering our wife as she is surrounded by partially unpacked boxes. We post as often as can this week, but it will likely be intermittent at best.

In the meantime, we offer this insight to how the weekend went:

Not to go all LiveJournal on you fine people, but it’s a hectic week for us here at 35S headquarters, as we adjust our life clock from “lazy country-dwellin’ bachelor law student” to “slavishly studious urban married bar examinee”. And we mean adjusting our life clock quite literally - we were used to having no responsibilities before 1pm at the earliest, and now we actually need to … ya know … work. With wifey looking over our shoulder to boot, making sure we don’t slack off, which leads to epic fail, which leads to her to seeking annulment before the ink dries on the certificate.

This is all a very long way of saying that we need a day to adjust to getting up at 6am to write the morning roundup. So, no roundup today. Sorry.

Today, we buckle down to finish the final paper of our academic careers. Unless we don’t finish it by 5pm, in which case … well, there will be a lot more cursing on this site on Thursday.

In lieu of actual content, we provide you with a compilation of every Sunday night from our childhood. All that’s missing is the warm glow of the television, a hot cup of tea, and a burning desire to kick my sister’s ass at the perfect moment to make my way to stardom.

See you on Thursday.

Smile while you can, Johnny.

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
If You Love Something, Set It Free

When word first broke that Johnny Dawkins would be the new head coach at Stanford, we wondered when the weather changed in Durham. Dawkins has long been considered Coack K’s consigliare and logical successor when he retires. Had something changed? Had Chris Collins or Steve Wojchichowski passed him in the eyes of their shared mentor? Was Johnny taking a graceful exit while the gettin’ was good? Not according to Stanford’s AD Bob Bowlsby:

Bowlsby said one of the first people he spoke to about the open job at Stanford was Krzyzewski and that he asked Krzyzewski about both Dawkins, who was Krzyzewski’s right-hand man for 11 seasons, and Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski.

“At that time, Coach Krzyzewski said that Johnny was a likely successor to him [at Duke],” Bowlsby said. (HT: Fanhouse)

That’s right - the Pac-10, where ACC assistants are sent to gain head coaching experience before they take real jobs back home in the Cackolack!

Some people on the Stanford beat don’t think this is such a great match for either party, and we understand and even second their concerns. (Color us nervous about another Duke assistant flopping as a head coach, especially the presumptive heir to the throne.) But Johnny D is a talented Xs and Os guy who is used to working under academic restrictions, so Stanford could have done a lot worse.

SLIPPING OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Screw You Guys, I’m Going Home

Homesickness? Frustration with a coach? Inability to find decent eats or trim in the D.C. Metro Area? Whatever the reason, two perplexing transfers over the last week - Vernon Macklin leaving Georgetown, and Shane Walker leaving Maryland. While neither player put up monster stats this past season, both were poised to become major contributors in their respective front courts in 2008-2009 - if they had the stones to deal with a little competition from incoming freshmen. To be fair, though, Walker is British, so we can forgive him for being frustrated and confused by a meritocracy - or, for that matter, for wanting to get the hell out of College Park.

TWIDDLING THUMBS
Because It’s a Long Offseason

Even though the national championship game was only three weeks ago, we already feel the cold, dead hand of summer touching us in all the wrong places. Midnight Madness won’t start for another five months, and until college football kicks off in August, all we have to keep us warm are the NHL and NBA playoffs and, after June, nothing but baseball. (Unlike Orson, we actually enjoy baseball, but in the same way we enjoy hummus - fine as a small bite before a real meal, annoyingly bland as the only offering on the table. Needless to say, we don’t enjoy the summer months.)

We’ll do our best to keep busy around these parts - humor pieces, draft coverage, maybe a little bit of recruiting news if we are feeling particularly evil, and plenty of hate mongering. Got a tip, question, or snide remark? Email us here. (We’ll add a link to the sidebar soon.) Right now, though, we’re preparing for the last set of final exams we’ll hopefully ever take - which, of course, means we’re trying to figure out what to do with all of our newfound free time. Which leads to debates like this:

Pardon our delays yesterday afternoon and this morning - let’s just say that travel is abso-fucking-lutely miserable, and leave it at that. Kansas and UCLA previews up momentarily.

Somewhere at a blackjack table in the AC, Tim Donaghy is hoping that people will forget his name. And he may well get his wish, because college officials to give the critics of officiating new ammunition almost daily.

The latest exhibit - the Big Sky conference suspended three officials late Monday for “misapplication of rules” in a game between Montana and Idaho State on Sunday. Their particular bone-headed move - not calling a technical foul on the Grizzlies when they attempted to call a timeout they didn’t have in a tie game. The correct call would have given Idaho State a few shots to take a lead with 1.2 seconds left. The actual call let Montana win in overtime.

Officiating a sport at a top level - bear with me that Big Sky is “top level” basketball - is hard work, and I do not come to bury these men. I mean, it’s not as if there is some really famous example of how that rule is supposed to be applied or anything …

… but seriously, folks. This isn’t a matter of getting a split-second call wrong, or abuse of discretion. They FORGOT something - either the rule itself, or that they could check the replay. So, suspend away, Mr. Big Sky Commissioner … and Mr. Donaghy, next round is on the house.