Throughout the day there has been a lot of talk in regards to the news that the memo was traced to a member of Florida Senator Mel Martinez's office.

Over at National Review's The Corner, Jonah Goldberg said this:

I think it's probably good news -- or at least there's a positive side to the fact -- that the memo turned out to be real. It will probably caution some bloggers that simply because something is politically inconvenient and doesn't have an obvious explanation, that doesn't mean there's a dishonest liberal/media conspiracy at work. Better to learn that sort of lesson on a minor episode like this than something that grabs more attention.

But the question is, what did we learn?  While there's no question that a number of bloggers went a tad overboard once it was found out that ABC News and the Washington Post could not verify the statements they made in their respective articles on this topic, that doesn't mean Darling's admission vindicates them. 

They still couldn't verify any of their statements before Darling's admission.  Usually a journalist writes an article based on facts he/she can verify beforehand to be true, and the MSM didn't do that in this case.  ABC News or the WP couldn't do this, or they would have done so within a couple of days after being challenged (and a couple of days is actually giving them more time than is really needed).  Thus, they aren't off the hook.

Tim Graham responds appropriately:

The real lesson of the Schiavo memo is this: to the liberal media, every piece of internal Republican communication is potential news meat, especially if it can be used to make Republicans look bad. (Hopefully, freshman legislators learn this at orientation...) Every internal Democratic memo leak is clearly a Republican plot that should not see the light of day. The Washington Post and assorted other liberal apple-polishers may have accuracy on their side on this one, but they don't have balance.

And contrast the reaction of the media with the Schiavo memo and the Rockerfeller memo.  The media didn't initially care who created the Schiavo memo and more or less assumed it was geniune based on the word of the Democrats.  That, after all, is what started this whole fracas, because they couldn't back up their article when challenged and in some cases backed off of their assertions.

But the Rockefeller memo is a different story.  Instead of criticizing Sen. Rockefeller for politicizing intelligence for political gain - precisely what the Republicans are being criticized for in the Schaivo case - the media was more interested on who leaked the memo and how.  The one constant between both memos is that the media followed the Democrats' lead, whom wanted to use the leak as a smokescreen for Rockefeller's obvious exploitation of national intelligence.

Yet, there's no leftist bias in the media.  Right.

Over at The Kerry Spot (Geraghty, dude, it's time to change the name of the blog), Jim Geraghty posts a statement from a reader:

The Washington Post is getting all the credit for solving the Schiavo memo mystery, but in reality, it was the Washington Times that did the digging and pushing to find out what happened. Mike Allen of the WaPost was only able to write his story after the pressure from two Washington Times Capitol Hill reporters forced Martinez to get to the bottom of this and release his statement last night to all media outlets.

The Washington Times published a front-page story that reflected lots of leg work on the story by reporters Stephen Dinan and Brian DeBose. They contacted all 100 senators (either in person as they came off the floor or though their staff) and discovered that not one Republican had ever seen the memo and only one Democrat did — Harkin...

A fair reading of how this story has played out shows that the Washington Post misreported the story and the Washington Times set the record straight.

And Geraghty says:

Needless to say, the usual suspects are declaring this complete vindication for the Post. Yeah, yeah, and the Burkett memos might have been typed on a $17,500 typesetting machine that just happened to be in a Texas Air National Guard office.

Exactly.

The Washington Post is reporting that the legal counsel for Florida Senator Mel Martinez has admitted to writing the infamous Schiavo memo.  The counsel, Brian Darling, resigned from Martinez's office, which he accepted.

At least that brings a much needed answer as to where the memo came from and who wrote it.  However, another question pops up, as the Post explains how it got into Democratic hands:

Martinez, a freshman who was secretary of housing and urban development for most of President Bush's first term, said he had not read the one-page memo. He said he inadvertently passed it to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who had worked with him on the issue. After that, officials gave the memo to reporters for ABC News and The Washington Post.

Harkin said in an interview that Martinez handed him the memo on the Senate floor, in hopes of gaining his support for the bill giving federal courts jurisdiction in the Florida case in an effort to restore the brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube. "He said these were talking points -- something that we're working on here," Harkin said.

First, I don't buy Martinez's explanation.  The idea that he just so happened to hand Harken the memo without knowing what he was giving him is not a reasonable excuse. 

Once Martinez was given the memo he should have:

(1).  Thrown it away and given Darling a reprimand.

(2).  Kept it away from the Senate floor and made sure there weren't any other copies.

I don't see how hard it was for Martinez to do this.  Maybe he somehow considered Harkin to be an ally (Harkin supported the Schiavo bill, but can hardly be considered a tweener) and didn't think he would spread the memo around.  Regardless, I think he knew what was on that paper.

With this article another piece has been added to the puzzle.  Of course, some would think the puzzle is complete, but that isn't the case.  You see, all of the Republican senators have been placed on record as saying they hadn't seen the memo.  Now this could go two ways.  Either there were some senators that were lying, as Martinez obviously was, and indeed saw the memo, or Martinez didn't pass it to anyone but Harken, who went to his party colleagues and smeared the Republicans with it. 

My intuition tells me that a little bit of both happened.  I don't think Harken was the only one that Martinez showed the memo to, but I think once Democrats got a hold of it, they were determined to make some political fortune out of it, which of course is how the Washington Post, New York Times, and ABC News got a hold of the story.  Having said that, I doubt if this story will be investigated any further than it already has, but it would be interesting to find out how it was truly distributed.

Finally, Hindrocket over at Powerline makes the case for retractions and corrections to be made by ABC News and the Washington Post:

Mike Allen, the Post's reporter, has previously said that the memo came from a Democratic Senator who said he got it from a Republican Senator. That is consistent with the current AP account. But the story that Allen wrote with a Post colleague on March 19 is not consistent with the current version of the facts. On March 19, Allen wrote:

Republican officials declared, in a memo that was supposed to be seen only by senators, that they believe the Schiavo case "is a great political issue" that could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006.

A one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators by party leaders, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection next year and is potentially vulnerable in a state President Bush won last year.

In fact, if the current AP account is correct, the amazingly inept "talking points memo," which got the number of the Senate bill wrong, misspelled Terri Schiavo's name, and contained a number of other typographical errors, did not come from "Republican officials" or "party leaders," but rather from an anonymous, unknown staffer. Senator Martinez himself--forget about members of his staff--is a freshman senator, in office for three months, not a "party leader" or "Republican officials." (The plural in the Post's original article is interesting.) Also, the reporting by ABC and the Post suggested that the memo was widely or universally distributed among Republican senators, while a survey reported by the Washington Tmes indicated that none of the 55 Republican senators had seen it. So, if the current AP story is correct, it confirms that ABC and the Post mis-reported the story--in the Post's case, in an article that was picked up by dozens of other newspapers off the paper's wire service.

I bet I can guess what the Post and ABC News did:  they simply took the word of Harkin and the Democratic staffers at face value. 

"What's this?"

"A memo by those dirty Republicans."

"Who's is it?"

"We don't know...but it's been passed around the whole Senate floor by those guys."

"Well...it looks like I have a story to write."

That's pretty much how it went down.  I'll be surprised if the fact that they still haven't concocted proof that this memo was distributed on the Senate floor isn't swept under the rug.

---

UPDATE:  Malkin has responded to the Post article here and here.  There are a couple of points that I want to address.

First, did Mike Allen, the WP reporter who broke yesterday's Martinez story, try to set Malkin up?

Judge for yourself.  Here's the email he sent Malkin:

From: "Mike Allen"
To: "Michelle Malkin"
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 1:37 PM
Subject: WP request

Howdy--I'm doing an article for tomorrow about what senators are saying about the Schiavo memo--I'd love to include your comments--I'd be interested in how you took an interest in this, where you think the memo originated, why you think it came from Democrats, etc.--We remain anxious to pin down the author and if you have clues, I'd love to pursue them--Appreciatively, Mike

Is it possible that by the time Allen emailed Malkin he knew about Martinez and Darling's role in the Schiavo memo?  If he did, that would mean he was trying to do a hatchet job to Malkin and possibly other conservative bloggers (he emailed Hindrocket too, but to the best of my knowledge only to relay the article to him, as that's the only correspondence Hindrocket mentioned).  I'm not saying they wouldn't have deserved it if they gave him the soundbites he wanted, but still; I think he tried to pull a "gotcha".

Also, I think Malkin went a bit too far with this statement:

After I blogged my criticism of Claybourn, he quickly and contritely retracted the post--unlike ABC News or the Post.

That's stretching the truth, as Claybourn retracted the story four days after Malkin and others questioned Claybourn's sources.  Others might call that quickly, but I wouldn't.  It's true that Malkin was on top of the matter in the middle of the night and wrote a critique questioning the validity of Claybourn's sources.  But Claybourn only retracted his story once he could no longer rely on his sources.  That's not a knock on Claybourn either; he took credit for the errant story and did so responsibly.

As far as Claybourn's link to Martinez's office, it will be interesting to see how Claybourn moves forward with this information.  But I'm starting to wonder whether he can actually confirm that the two sources that claimed to work for Martinez actually does.  Claybourn's already responded to the WP article here, but didn't mention his connections with the Martinez office. 

Maybe Malkin's right.  There is a lot more of this story to be told.

He let a herb like Rod Blagojevich hustle him.

Aiight, there was a bet on the NCAA Title game.

So, Easley goes all out. He puts up barbecue, of course. But check this out...he gets Western AND Eastern NC style. From the west, he gets the classic Lexington BBQ, and then would get some eastern style from The Barbecue Joint in Chapel Hill. That's two different pounds of barbecue, AND he adds some cole slaw, hushpuppies, and a six-pack of Cheerwine.

And what does Blago bet in return?

A goddamned pizza...from Champaign. And a two liter of Orange Crush. WTF?

And I bet that fool was all hyped after Carolina won. Probably running around like, "yeah I'mma get me some PIZZAAAAA"

One of his aides probably said, "But sir, we can get pizza two blocks down the street. You could have had that shit delivered in half an hour, or it was free."

I mean, THIS motherfucker. How you gonna get got by a dork like Blago?

At least Obama and Durbin had to come out of the pocket for Dole and Burr. They get some Eli's cheesecake and D'Arcy's horseshoe sandwiches out of the deal. Easley ain't get shit but some tired pizza and some soda that he could have gotten in the drink machines in the lobby.  The pizza will be cold and the soda will be warm by the time it gets there.  At least you can reheat barbecue with no problem.

He should be impeached for this incident.

(Photo:  AP/Yahoo)

This is what it's all about.

The North Carolina Tar Heels complete the Big Ten Massacre:  defeating three Big Ten teams in the Elite Eight, Final Four, and the NCAA Championship Game to give Roy Williams his first NCAA Title and the Tarheels' fourth championship in the school's history.  I remember the Tarheel win in 93, and this one is much sweeter than that one because of everything this team went through.  They went 8-20 two years ago, and now they're the National Champions.

One day a movie producer or a documentary film maker will get smart and place this story on the big screen.  The last five years has been a roller coaster for Tarheel fans and and for those seniors, and would make one helluva story.  The Maryland documentary was great, but UNC's has the potential to be even better

The Tarheels proved two things on Monday night:

   1.  They are a team.  Not simply individual talent, but a team.  Led by Sean May, whom Illinois had absolutely no answer for, everyone had their roles.  Felton was the play caller and the assist man.  McCants was the mid-range scorer.  Manuel and Noel were the defensive guys.  Jawad helped run the floor on transition.  All that noise we heard from the talking heads throughout the weekend turned out to be completely wrong, and you could tell they didn't have a clue of what they were talking about.

   2.  This is Roy Williams's team, not Matt Doherty's team.  Another myth generated by the talking heads.  Yes, Doherty recruited them, which gives him, say, 10% of the credit.  But make no mistake about it; Roy Williams made them a great team.  In fact, I'd say that McCants and Felton would have transferred if Doherty had stayed.  Sean May wouldn't have been as good as he is right now either.  With Doherty at the helm, UNC would have been lucky to have made the NCAA Tournament, much less win the championship.

Next year is still looking up for the Heels, and with May returning we are an instant title threat again.  I expect Marvin Williams to return for one more year, and possibly Raymond Felton as well.  David Noel will be a defensive specialist and his athleticism will help the Heels on both ends, and hopefully Williams has recruited some guards to help with ballhandling.

Regardless, the road to the NCAA title will once again come through Franklin Street.  If those guys stay, I have no doubt that there isn't a team in the nation that will be able to handle the street.  If Duke could do it in 91 & 92, why can't we do it in 05 & 06?

whether or not I will liveblog the national championship game tonight.

Why?  Well I'm tempted to take a trip up to Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.  If I do, and the Tarheels win, I definitely won't be here.   And you probably won't hear from me again until Tuesday night (a brother gotta recover).

I probably won't make the decision until the last minute.  Just check in anyway.

I mean, can you really blame me for not missing out on this kind of fun?


(Photo:  WRAL Channel Five)

I didn't think so.

And folks, that was only Saturday, when they came out 7,000 strong in a span of a half hour after UNC whored Michigan State.  They're expecting 20,000 plus for the victory party tonight.

*nods*  I think I'mma have to go.  Yeah.

(Photo:  Yahoo's The Contender Page)

First, I want to apologize for the last two weeks.  I haven't covered this show like I did at the beginning.  I watched Sergio vs. Najai, which was a decent contest, yet I was away from home refereeing a basketball tournament.  I completely missed last week's Peter vs. Miguel competition.  Although I saw the fight online, I didn't think it was right to write up a show that I didn't see.  Oh well.

The ironic thing about my reviewing absence was that there wasn't any kind of drama, as Ishe vs. Ahmed (which got me quite a few visitors, I might add.  Thanks for coming) was climatic, and Ahmed's defeat ended the drama for those two weeks.  No matter, because the drama got turned up a notch this week.  More on that later.

We start the show off with reactions to the returned Peter Manfredo's victory over Miguel Espino last week.  Peter's win marked the first victory for the East Coast, and that gave him and his teammates a boost going into this week.

We find out this week that the fighters had already met and had decided the matchups for the six remaining fighters who haven't fought.  Anthony Bosante didn't object to his predetermined opponent, Jimmy Lang, right in front of the guys, but during interview time he did have a problem with it.  He didn't think it was right that every other boxer was trying to decide his fight for him.  He promised a surprise if the West team won the mission and he had to make the decision.

With Peter's win, the East Coast gets their first reward, and it was to go to NBC Studios in Burbank to see the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  Gallagher, the gym manager, took them to the show and to hang out with Leno afterwards.  The West Coast didn't like that, as it was the first time they had to stay home, and they had nothing to do.  All Jesse did was lay on the bed and complained about how boring it was.  Ishe said the reward was going to be a booster for the East Coast so they could continue to win.

This week's mission was the medicine ball race.  Set up on an overpass at a California Dam, the teams had to roll the medicine balls over to a spot just above the overpass, fill the nets with the balls, then use a rope to lift the balls up to the overpass to be stacked onto a pickup.  The team who stacks all of their balls into the pickup first wins.

The West started out REALLY shaky in this one, as they lost a lot of time when they would drop the net, because they had to climb up the dam's shield in order to get their net all the way down to refill.  The East had a pretty huge lead at the beginning, but they wouldn't place enough balls in the net each time, which means more trips.  That allowed the East to catch up, and the deciding factor was the last trip, as one of the East's medicine balls fell out of the net.  That gave the West Coast another victory.

Now it was drama time, as the official challenge was made.  Anthony stepped up from the West Coast to make the challenge, and everyone expected him to challenge Jimmy as they all planned.  However, Anthony challenged Brent instead, which angered both Jimmy and Anthony's West Coast teammates.  Jimmy walked off, accusing Anthony of betraying him.  Anthony responded to both teams, saying he feeds his family and so he makes his own decisions. 

In doing this, Anthony pretty much alienated everyone.  Jimmy, Jesse, Ishe and most of the guys publicly rooted for Brent to win the fight.  Jesse called Anthony a coward and accused him of fighting what they considered the easier fighter in Brent.  Jimmy was a pretty tall guy with a long reach that would give Anthony problems.  That night, everyone went out to the bar while Anthony stayed home to keep his mind on the fight.  A number of them told Brent to knock him out.  Later on in the press conference, a number of guys called Anthony out again for ducking Jimmy, particularly Ishe.  Anthony responded, saying Ishe wasn't his promoter and he decided the fight based on what he felt was the best for his family.

Did you buy that?  I didn't either.

So the fight was Anthony Bonsante vs. Brent Cooper.  Anthony was from Shakopee, Minnesota while Brent is from Hermitage, Tennessee.  Both were journeymen, and had lost before.  They were two of the older ones in the competition, as Anthony was 34 and Brent was 31.  Anthony was a single dad with two kids, Brittany and Derek.  Brent is married but doesn't have any kids.

The next morning Ishe and Brent held a small bible study session, and Brent talked about his faith and how everything he does was through God's will.  He was confident that God wanted him to win the fight and to eventually be the winner of The Contender.  I found it interesting that he knew what God actually wanted, but anyways...

Anthony meanwhile, was a homesick man, as he was breaking down everytime he talked about his kids and talked to them on the phone.  As he was in his locker room during pre-fight his mom had surprised him by bringing the kids with her to see him fight, and he immediately broke down once he saw them.  It was truly a touching moment.  Anthony promised to win the fight.

Many celebrities were at the fight, as usual.  Vin Diesel, Burt Reynolds, and Mario Lopez were all on hand to see this one.  Stallone tries to make every fight a star-studded affair, which is a plus.  When Anthony came out of the dressing room for the fight, both teams stayed quiet and didn't say a word or move a muscle.  You could tell who they were rooting for.  His kids cheered, which was the only ones that really mattered for him.

Previously, Sugar Ray Leonard hyped up Brent's handspeed, as he sparred with him earlier.  He was right; Brent had good handspeed, but the problem was he was only hitting air.  Anthony's punches were right on target, however, and he came after Brent with straight jabs that he never blocked.  I wish I could see the CompuBox numbers, because it seemed like Anthony landed about 60% of his punches, and they all were power punches.  At one point in the first round it looked like Anthony would stop Brent quickly, but Brent finished with a bit of aggression at the bell, which got Jesse's approval.

With the way Brent finished the round, Leonard thought Anthony may have punched himself out.  Brent came out to Round 2 pretty strong, getting a couple of hooks that knocked Anthony off balance.  He stood toe to toe with him for a few seconds until Anthony stepped back and circled the ring.  Once again Leonard felt Anthony was fatigued and Stallone thought he could lose the round due to his stalling.

That's when it happened.  Anthony counterpunched Brent by unleashing a straight left jab that completely tore open Brent's eye.  From that moment on it was Anthony's round, as he unleashed a fury that eventually closed his eye, and was sure to impair Brent for the rest of the fight.

The writing on the wall was clear, and Brent's wife nor Ishe could help Brent for what was coming, as Round 3 was all Anthony.  Anthony threw hooks and jabs that hurt Brent, and it was obvious that he couldn't defend himself early into the round.  Many people called for the ref to stop the fight, which he eventually did.  It was the first ref stoppage of the show, and it was pretty brutal.

Ishe and Jesse, who have been outspoken throughout the whole show, didn't like it one bit.  Jesse told Stallone that it was an example of someone taking the easy way out.  Ishe was steamed, and he now wanted a piece of Anthony to avenge Brent's loss.

Brent was hurt, both physically and mentally, but his faith wasn't.  He just rationalized it as something that wasn't in God's plan.  Stallone talked to him and wished him well, and afterwards he hung up his gloves.  Anthony celebrated in the ring

Next week, the drama continues, as I'm sure Anthony will have problems with the rest of the fighters.  They've teased a big confrontation, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see Stallone bend the rules a little and let two fighters that have already fought get into the ring.  Anthony vs. Ishe perhaps?

We'll see what happens.

My Other Contender Posts:

1.  The Contender Quarterfinals:  Ishe vs. Sergio
2.  The Contender, Episode Eight:  Jimmy vs. Joey
3.  The Contender Episode Seven:  Juan vs. Tarick
4.  The Contender Episode Six:  Anthony vs. Brent
5.  The Contender Episode Three:  Ishe vs. Ahmed

On April Fools Day (how ironic) Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed an "emergency rule" (aka royal decree) ordering pharmacies to provide contraceptives for women:

"Our regulation says that if a woman goes to a pharmacy with a prescription for birth control, the pharmacy or the pharmacist is not allowed to discriminate or to choose who he sells it to or who he doesn't sell it to," Blagojevich said. "The pharmacy will be expected to accept that prescription and fill it ... No delays. No hassles. No lectures."

Fernando Grillo, head of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, said the emergency rule clarifies an existing requirement.

"This rule is in response, a very affirmative and strong response, that we will not tolerate pharmacies and drug stores in the state of Illinois not meeting their obligation to the women of this state in providing them good health care," Grillo said.

Of course, Grillo is spinning, because it isn't clarifying anything that wasn't already clear to begin with.  Blago wrote a law that expanded the existing rule to the pharmacies, and placed the burden of a woman's sexual responsibilities onto the pharmacist.

This rule was in response to a case in Chicago where a pharmacist refused to provide birth control pills to two women at the Osco Pharmacy in downtown Chicago.   According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the pharmacist didn't deny them the contraceptives outright; he only stated that he personally wouldn't sell the contraceptives to them, and asked if they would come back when another pharmacist was on duty.   Osco and the American Physicians Association defended the pharmacist, saying that he had a right to evoke the state's "conscious clause".

Blago however stated that the "conscious clause" only counted towards doctors, not pharmacists (as if pharmacists aren't medical personnel as well?), and evoked an order that forced every pharmacist to provide contraceptives whether they liked it or not.

But the decree didn't stop there.  The national media (AP, Washington Post, etc) didn't report this:

Under the emergency rule, if the contraceptive is not in stock, the pharmacy must order it or transfer the prescription to another local pharmacy of the patient's choice, Blagojevich said. If the pharmacist does not fill the prescription because of a moral objection, another pharmacist needs to be available to fill it without delay.

Hence, the woman's responsibilities are placed onto the pharmacist, despite his moral or religious objection.  If he isn't able to provide them the pills, he then has to find it for them.

It shouldn't be surprising that at the press conference announcing this mess (real player required) Blago was huddled around several members of the so-called women's rights and special interest groups from Illinois and Washington were all there to celebrate this declaration.  After all, Blago's their boy. 

And Blago also announced a probe into the incident, which could result in a heavy fine for Osco or possibly result in the store being shut down...all because of some broads who felt entitled to get birth control pills there and no where else.

Don't get me wrong; I'm for contraceptive use.  In fact, I wish people would use it more often, because there's enough bad ass kids in this world with terrible parents.  But I also believe in a business's right to reject a patient because of moral beliefs. 

Chicago's a big city.  You mean to tell me Osco was the only pharmacy to get what she wanted?  She couldn't wait for another pharmacist to get there to fill the prescription?  Businesses shouldn't be forced by the government to sell something because the governor wants to rub noses with the feminists.

Sexual responsibility lies with the two (or if you're a freak like that, more) people that are engaging in the sexual activity.  Period.  If you don't have protection, then don't have sex.  I don't see what's so hard to understand about that.  Instead, we're being led to believe that people are like some jacked-up rabbits that can't control themselves and get knocked up on impulse.  I'm not buying that. 

And the imposition of several state governments and the federal judiciary - forcing businesses to provide contraception, forcing insurance companies to include contraceptives in their medical coverage - isn't helping a thing.  In fact, it's hurting the medical industry more than it's helping, because that's more costs you're placing on companies and more stress you're placing on people in the medical field.  People may see this as a little thing at first, but little things have a way of manifesting into big things.

It's no surprise that every two-bit leftist is advocating socialist health care, and more than likely if a Democratic president enters the White House, that will be their first major domestic goal.  If that happens, I can see a major exodus of people out of medical school and out of the health care profession entirely.

This is one of the issues that will make or break that goal.  Someone in Illinois needs to stand up to Blago and the feminist groups and tell them to get lost.  Hopefully it will be the pharmacist they have tried to do a job over.  I would like to see this go to the Supreme Court.

It's time.  Winner takes on Illinois.

Carolina must neutralize MSU's speed and athleticism by playing tough perimeter defense against their backcourt.  MSU needs Paul Davis to have the game of his life, and force McCants and Felton to have a tough night from the field.

Tipoff will start in about another half hour or so.

8:53:  Tipoff starts, and Carolina's already got two fouls in the game.  However, Michigan State seems a little off balance at the defensive end, and if that happens throughout, Carolina will score 90 tonight.  Tied at four.

9:00:  MSU's quickness is getting the best of Carolina on the offensive end, but their post game so far isn't working.  Meanwhile, May hasn't been able to establish anything yet in this game, and it's important to get him started early, just like he did against Wisconsin in the Elite Eight.  8-6 MSU.

9:03:  North Carolina at it's finest:  making plays that no other team can possibly make.  A huge alley by McCants wakes up the crowd.  Next time down court (after a block forces the turnover), Felton gets a great pass to Noel for a nice dunk.  Maybe they can deal with MSU's athleticism.  The only problem I see so far is that they're allowing MSU more attempts under the basket than they should.  13-12 UNC.

9:12:  If you like an athletic contest, this will be the game for you.  Beautiful plays by both teams.  Sean May hit a basket in the paint and gets the foul, but misses the ft.  He's still a bit rusty, and takes a break on the bench.  A McCants three makes it a four point lead with less than 10 left in the half.

9:21:  MSU's rebounding is dogging UNC, which I'm sure surprises a lot of people.  Just as soon Carolina gets some kind of leverage, MSU comes roaring back and starts hitting.  Sean May also seems fatigued by the pace of the game.  A 7-0 run puts MSU back on top, 27-25 with 5:39 left in the half.

Let get things started.

Louisville's bringing in the better coach and better front court, while Illinois is bringing the nation's best record and the best backcourt in the nation.

Tipoff's in a few minutes.

6:12:  Illinois starts out doing what they do best; working the perimeter.  In fact, they never feed it inside the arc in the first two possessions.  They hit their first two threes, but Louisville gets an inside layup and a three as well.  8-5 Illi.

6:20:  Louisville's plan is clear:  work the paint.  Play the post game, and control the boards.  The problem is, they're leaving themselves open the fast break transition, and Dee Brown made them pay for it with a three on the baseline.  13-9 Illinois.

6:31:  Illinois goes on a scoring drought, but Louisville simply can't capitalize.  The Cards are trying to execute too many complicated baskets in the paint, and can't hit anything outside.  They get within two, but Illinois's fast break once again gets them a basket.  Before that score Illinois went three minutes without one, but still maintained the lead.  19-15 Illinois with 9 minutes left in the half.

6:37:  Illinois is dead cold now, and they can't get anything going.  Meanwhile, Louisville still controlling the boards on both ends.  But they are getting a little too aggressive, and are racking up the fouls.  An O'Bannon three ties this game at 22 with 6:39 left in the half.

6:45:  Dee Brown is hot, and Francisco Garcia isn't.  In fact, Garcia is 1-7 from the field, which is hurting Louisville.  Dee Brown hit another three to regain their lead.  Louisville answers, but here's another three by Illi's Jack Ingram to lead by four with less than four minutes to go in the half.

6:53:  If Louisville ever starts hitting baskets, they'll take control of this game, because they're able to keep grabbing rebounds.  Lucky for them, the officials are calling the game their way. 

Luther Head gets wide open for a three, which gives Illinois their biggest lead.  Louisville gets a three point play on the other end, but other than that there isn't any considerable execution on either end.

Halftime.  Illinois 31, Louisville 28.  Louisville can't hit only one from the field in six minutes and expect to win this game.

7:25:  Both teams come out blasting, as O'Bannon comes out of the locker room with a three, and follows that with two fts to give Louisville their first lead of the game. 

But the spotlight then turns to Illi's Roger Powell, who hits a three, then comes back the next possession and dunks an offensive rebound off of a three pter he missed, and then hits another basket in the paint.  Someone btter get a hold of him.  Louisville is still hanging tough, though.  Illi leads 38-37.

7:31:  Powell keeps blasting, as he's hit Illinois's last 12 of 14 points.  I'm sure no one saw that.  I'm starting to like the offensive pace of both teams in this half.  Luther Head comes alive with a three.  Louisville needs to step up their perimeter defense.  48-44 Illinois with 12:08 left.

7:40:  Louisville isn't as effective on the boards with this zone as they were in the first half.  A few times there wasn't anyone under the basket trying to grab a rebound, and Illinois has had more sucess in the interior.  Louisville improves their shot selection, and can slash the boards.  Roger Powell is dominating the second half though.  52-49 Illini.

7:45:  Luther Head comes alive, hitting back to back from downtown.  Petino takes a timeout.  Methinks that's the last time we'll see a zone from Louisville in this game.  Illinois has their biggest lead, 58-49 with less than seven minutes left in the game.

7:51:  The clock is now running out on Louisville, as they have went scoreless in the last four and a half minutes.  This isn't a team that can put points on the board in a quick amount of time.  That's what they might have to do in order to get out of this margin.  61-51 Illinois with 5:17 left.

8:00:  Luther Head is turning the lights out, but Louisville isn't giving up hope yet.  It will take a strong defensive presence for them from here on out to come back from this deficit, and that's something we really haven't seen from them today.

If it was up to me, no college basketball team would ever play zone in the NCAA tournament.  I haven't seen an effective one yet.  Illinois leads comfortably after leading by as much of 13, 64-55 with 3:11 left.

8:07:  Well, you can't go on scoring droughts throughout the game like Louisville did and think you're going to win a basketball game of any kind.  It wasn't like Illinois put a ton of points on the board, or that they played great defense.  Louisville just couldn't put the ball in the hole.  Just way too many off shots throughout the game.

Meanwhile, Illinois stepped up and made adjustments, and that allowed Roger Powell and Luther Head to control the second half.  Once the 10:00 mark came, Louisville should have just walked out of the arena, because their performance was simply awful.

End of the game, and Illinois advances to the National Championship Game, 72-57.

North Carolina vs. Michigan State is next.  Click here to go to that post, which will be liveblogged as well.