Sin City

The NCAA has a long track record of being hypocritical, so it probably shouldn't surprise me that it allows a basketball tournament to be held in a casino. Tournaments have been held in casinos for years, but I never really stopped and thought about the hypocrisy until UNI and Indiana played at the Orleans in Las Vegas on Wednesday night. I've been to the Orleans Arena. I was dragged to a Mannheim Steamroller concert there last December. And when I got up to throw-up and gamble at intermission (never to return), it was only a two minute walk to the black jack table. I don't blame the Panthers or Hoosiers for playing in the tournament. It just seems like an incredibly mixed message considering all the anti-gambling rhetoric the NCAA puts out year after year.

Not to bury the lead, but the Panthers looked strong in their win against Indiana. It's hard to forget how bad they looked in a loss against Iowa, but I still think UNI has a decent shot to get back to the NCAA tournament. The Panthers play ugly a lot of the time, but that's largely forgotten amid all the wins.

Shawn