Happy April to you all, as the Final Four tips off on Saturday in Houston ...

It's nice to see the signs of Spring, as the sunshine is out and a temperature of 55 degrees is expected on Saturday, April 2Nd in Cedar Rapids.

Saturday morning, I woke up early, so I enjoyed a podcast from On Iowa from The Gazette.

Podcast: ‘On Iowa’ tackles spring football, basketball recruiting - The Gazette The On Iowa podcast with Marc Morehouse and Scott Dochterman discusses Iowa's spring football depth chart, updates Iowa basketball recruiting and answers...

Last night, the end of the season came for Creighton basketball and first year head coach Greg McDermott, who moved back to The Valley this year, after four years at Iowa State. Sadly, the half court line at Oregon served as a sixth defender in the final half-minute, in a 69-71 loss by the Jays to the Ducks. The Dana Altman era is finally over. Ironically, Creighton played a best of three vs. Altman's Oregon Ducks to close out an extra month of basketball playing in the CBI Tournament sponsored by Zebra Pens.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/LLXEfju9b8U - Hopefully, this link will work, since I could not embed for some reason into our blog post. Here's a photo (see right) from the Rivals Network showing the unique nature of the half court line at the University of Oregon's new basketball arena.

Hey, how good are Zebra Pens? It's ironic that the markings on the court are lighter than a pen mark! As Creighton's coach Mac said, he couldn't see the half court line from the coaches box. If the NCAA is going to allow this type of court markings, maybe the coaches box should be equal in marking or at minimum expanded, so the head coach for each team can clearly know where the half court mark is.

Next year, the University of Nebraska will join the Big Ten Conference in all sports, so the Wells Fargo game between Nebraska vs. Iowa has been changed. Now, Creighton vs. Iowa will tip off at Wells Fargo in the 2011-12 basketball season. After the final month of extra basketball in the books for the Jays, the game should be a very good one. Don't count the Jays out, despite the departure of four seniors this year. Creighton's top three players are back and all-Freshman and all-Valley first teamer Doug McDermott will likely be the third option, after sophomore center Gregory Echenique and junior guard Antonie Young who developed clearly as the first two options in McDermett's offense. This should only make Creighton stronger as a Valley title contender and team capable of making a run for the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga transfer Grant Gibbs, a sophomore out of Marion should be on the roster for 2011-12 season.

The Final Four tips off this evening, 5 p.m. CDT, from Houston on CBS. For the second year in a row, the Championship Game will pit a major conference program (Duke in '10) vs. a mid-major program (Butler in '10). In my bracket picks back in March, only UConn remains on my sheet in the 2011 men's basketball tournament:

• Kentucky - Wildcats beat UNC for the first time in the NCAAs and made the Final 4


• UConn - like the UConn women, the Huskies are in the Final Four, as well


• VCU - from "First Four" to "Final Four" ... simply a great 11Th seed story this year


• Butler - back for the second straight year under fourth year coach Brad Stevens

The new format of 68 and new television line up with CBS, TBS, TNT and Tru have turned out very exciting. Clearly, there are some mid-majors that should have been considered for at-large, but we will always see a continued debate, as long as there are at-large teams for the NCAA Tournament.

Spring Football is going on throughout the Big Ten. The University of Iowa should be an exciting team in 2011. However, as Marc Morehouse and Scott Dochterman out in the podcast, Iowa needs players to step up on special teams with 22 seniors departed. Recruiting has been strong in Iowa City lately. Kirk Ferentz and his staff are adapting to the changing Big Ten landscape. The new division play format with 12 teams now should be very exciting for Iowa, Nebraska and the rest of the Big Ten.

In closing, love the future at Iowa, under first-year coach Fran McCaffery. Iowa was only 11-20 in 2010-11 in McCaffery's first season, but they were far more competitive, then the past couple of years under departed head coach Todd Lickliter. Sadly, it appears finding a low-level Division I job is going to be more difficult for Lickliter, only five seasons removed from a Sweet 16 run at Butler and winning the National Coach of the Year award.

Robin Tucker