Soon, on the ESPN networks, as the NCAA tournament approaches, a fun segment will be reintroduced, featuring blind resumes. That’s where the viewer is presented tournament resumes of several anonymous teams, and gets to be an unofficial member of the selection committee in choosing who goes to the big dance.

Blue II had been there before.

With cameramen jockeying for position, Butler’s bulldog mascot, dressed to the fours in a gorgeous tuxedo (Armani perhaps?), stepped in for a New Year’s Eve photo op with the Horizon League TV crew at Hinkle Fieldhouse and barely drooled at the multitude of cameras flashing.

He actually smiled a few times before the game ended.  Not that he’s ever smiled before. Just not lately. He hadn’t slept well either, replaying a recent moment in a game numerous times in his mind, trying to determine what he could have done to prevent it.

It wasn’t the Thanksgiving weekend Green Bay coach Brian Wardle had in mind, not with a one-sided defeat to Virginia, picked fourth in the ACC and arguably one of the best defensive teams in the country.

It was Detroit head coach Ray McCallum’s first on-campus visit to Notre Dame. It was nearly his best. Jump-started by son Ray’s early white-hot shooting from beyond the three point line, the Titans led the Irish by 8 with 14:08 left, only to fall victim to a bitterly-cold shooting stretch. Notre Dame won the game 59-53, but if it’s any consolation—and it’s likely not to Titan coaches and players—Detroit earned plenty of ND’s respect.

As hope springs eternal for another fabulous run to the Final Four, the Horizon League—nestled principally in the Midwest—officially opens its regular season out west in the desert Monday night with Valparaiso as its representative.  In Tucson.  Against #16 Arizona. Yikes.  And, for the Crusaders, it’s a game without Brandon Wood, who has taken his 17 ppg average to Michigan State.