1) As far as general hawk updates, still lookin forward to '07 football i think we will have a bounce back season and definitly surprise people with our success, the only question will be if jake christensen can be good or if someone else steps up during training camp at the QB spot, i am looking forward to the season and still working on the '06 football season and alamo bowl wrap-up since i attended that game. hawks didn't win the pontiac game-changing performance award for their goal line stand against syracuse, aubrun's blocked punt on florida took that one, but the hawk fans voted as fervently as always. hawkeye b-ball split their two big ten games this week, losing an intense, emotional battle at illinois and winning a scrappy game playing at carver hawkeye arena against the minnesota gophers. we haven't won at illinois in a long time, they are pretty dominate at home with those crazy student sections right on top of u, but they appeared to be having a down year this season starting off 0-2 in the big ten including a home blowout from ohio state. we shot well, played good defense, and contained their star warren carter in the 1st half and had a 1 point lead, but rich mcbride, their long range sharpshooter currently in a slump, apeared to be getting out of it and brian randle gave them a momentum booster with a dunk on kurt looby. the second half we played mostly the same intense, hard-nosed style and just fought back and forth, this was a truly a big ten battle and exemplified the physical thing that is big ten basketball. eventually the illini started to pull away though with back-to-back warren carter threes and an alley oop from the upperclassman, who was stepping it up when they needed him. just when it looked like it was over though we came alive again, scoring points and making defensive stops as illinois made stupid mnetal errors, and all this was capped off by a haluksa bomb that made it a one point game. unfortunately we couldnt get a shot off after they went 1-2 on free throws and we lost a heartbreaker 74-70, but the hawks played the most inspired i had seen them all season except maybe michigan state and i was impressed anyway, haluska made up for poor overall shooting in the 2nd half with a near flawless performance from the free throw stripe and big plays when it mattered while freeman and gorney gave us an offensive spark along with the usual exciting plays on both ends from our athletic phenom, tyler smith, but we need our big men to step it up on the boards, which has been our problem all year long and hurt us on both ends against illinois. i didnt get to watch the minnesota game, which we won 60-49, but from what i hear it was scrappy and defensive-minded, with a lot of missed shots and big plays and runs that dictated the game. the gophers are probably the worst team in the big ten but they can hang with anyone the way they play with heart so i wasn't too surprised. haluksa appeared to have another great performance from the free throw line and made some momentum changing shots to mkae up for another average shooting day, he simply forces too much. freeman gave us nice scoring and went after boards strong, something that looked better in this game because of a)cyrus tate stayed out of foul trouble and b) the gophers are undersized and undermanned inside big time, especially with their starting center hurt. tyler smith had 15 and mike henderson had a good game, i just wish he could get his confidence and swagger back from last season he is still playing well but it's just not the same mike after the surgery, but o well thats not gonna happen i guess greg brunner and jeff horner can make all the difference.

short update on houston, currently 25-13 and still among the west's elite. beat the lakers, nuggets, and kings and are looking very good right now, even with injuries and various shooting slumps we are still winning games and that's a testament to the team we have and the great defense we play, which gives us a chance against anyone and will make us dangerous in the playoffs, if or if not the big man is healthy. tmac had two poor shooting games against l.a. and denver, nabbing 8 and 12 points repectively, but he notched 12 and 13 assists in those games so he still makes a huge impact when he is not scoring a ton of points, superstars are superstars and tracy is simply a playmaker who knows the game. it also helps that juwan cannot miss his little midrange jumpshot or his little hook shot and that shane battier has been money from three point range when he gets his feet set. rafer has been in a horrid slump that's been agonizing to watch, but he has fought through it and for that i give him credit. luther head continues to bring energy off the bench with his long range shooting and speed, while john lucas provides instant scoring even though he doesn't get many minutes because of his lack of defense and size. the true story has been the amazing play of dikembe mutombo, who has turned back the clock and then some with his rebounding (his long arms and ability to tip the ball to himself and keep it above his head have been valuable on putbacks) and he has been blocking shots as well as he ever did in his career and surprsingly getting decent scoring numbers even though he can't get one inch off the ground, it amazes me how guys in the league still try to shoot on him. tracy bounced back with 37 points in a wildly entertaining back and forth physical battle with ron artest in that overtime win over sac-town, they traded shots and artest banged tracy up probably the most since he came back from back spasms but tracy made the big threes at the end in overtime (even with that crazy artest banker) and rafer finally got back on track in the big win. steve novak is incredibly one-dimensional in his ability so he has had trouble getting minutes, i don't see how he is ahead of the more well-rounded scott padgett on the depth chart. kirk snyder got some minutes on defense at the end of the sacremento game, it would be nice to get him back in the rotation so that was a positive step. i definitly see us trading bonzi before the deadline too, he has been too hurt and too lacksadasiscal in his rehab and he hasn't done a lot of the things van gundy likes when he is actually in so he is definitly not on coache's good side.