The Chat House

Sports News

Welcome to another edition of The Chat House where Post columnist Michael Wilbon was online Monday, March 24 at 1:15 p.m. ET to take your questions and comments about the latest sports news and his recent columns.

The transcript follows.

Discussion Archive

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washingtonpost.com: Michael will begin answering questions around 1:35, sorry for the delay.

Michael Wilbon: Hi everybody! Sorry I'm late...But we'll jump right into March Madness stuff in a second...What a weekend...I watched less of it than I ever have, in large part because I'm not covering the NCAA men's basketball tournament for The Washington Post for the first time since 1980...And there's a pretty good reason...Tomorrow, I become a dad. Baby boy, no name yet, to be born tomorrow afternoon...My editor, Emilio Garia Ruiz, has banned me from writing for three weeks (which I'm trying to negotiate down to two weeks), and my wife and I (and son) are thankful for the paternity time...So, no March Madness for me, other than TV...I will be back doing PTI either Friday or Monday but the work load is going to be really light for the next couple of weeks...Anyway, here we go, jumping into hoops for the next, oh, 40 minutes or so until I have to run...

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College Park, Md.: re: Georgetown University

OVERRRRRATEDDDDDD!!!!!!

Michael Wilbon: No, not overrated...and what a shock, this e-mail comes from Maryland where they haven't had anything to cheer about in men's sports for awhile...By the way, the Terrapins women look pretty good so far...Davidson is good. I told you guys last week that results will take place that people will call upsets, but aren't really. Other than North Carolina, I don't think any of these teams are great. And you know what...North Carolina is great only by today's standards of college basketball, where the talent is spread across the country to schools small and large...Georgetown is a damn good team...Davidson is nearly as good and they've been ranked all year.

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Washington, D.C.: Mark Cuban has banned a Dallas Morning News blogger from his locker room. Says a blog is a blog is a blog and he doesn't have space for all the bloggers. Do you agree with this?

How long before Steinberg has to wait outside the Redskins locker room?

Michael Wilbon: I'm not going to rail against bloggers or assess their rights to access. But I'm not going to defend all the bloggers either. I see stuff in blogs that is incomprehensibly stupid and uninformed, and blogs that are well-written and very well done...I need to know more about this situation, who the blogger is, etc. I know Mark Cuban reasonably well...I know how open he is, how accessible he is...He talked to reporters all the time with whom he disagrees...I want to know more about this situation.

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Taneytown, Md.: Congratulations! Man, can you ever keep a secret.

Do you think Wisconsin can take down Kansas? The Badgers are looking a like a team that can give anybody fits.

Michael Wilbon: Thank you...I've apparently underrated Wisconsin all season. They're tough on the eyes, what with that style they play...They're not a fun team, but they are very, very well-coached and disciplined...Yes, I think they CAN take down Kansas...but I don't think it'll happen...I think Kansas came into the tournament as the second-best team in the country...to North Carolina.

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Ann Arbor, Mich.: Congrats Mike! It's a gotsta-go to the hospital situation!

Have you agreed on a name yet? Ditka Wilbon has a nice ring to it.

Michael Wilbon: Tony said the kid's name should be Ernie Ditka Wilbon...Sorry, not gonna happen. I really did seriosuly think about Payton Wilbon...But that's not going to happen either...We haven't decided yet...We're down to four names, but I'm not going to put it to a ChatHouse vote.

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Congratulations: Mike, simply put, no better day in your life awaits you tomorrow. All the best to you, your wife and son. Just don't name him Tony, please.

By any chance, did your impending fatherhood affect your viewing of the Davidson-Georgetown game, watching young (and I mean YOUNG) Stephen Curry shine with his dad in the stands? Not to mention the other kids of famous dads on hand (Thompson, Ewing, Rivers). Could you imagine Dell Curry's thoughts at that time?

Michael Wilbon: Wow, Curry is great...Curry can dominate a college game BY HIMSELF. I couldn't watch because I was flying back to D.C. from Bristol/Hartford. Georgetown was up 16, so I got on a earlier flight. I get off the flight, call my brother Don in Chicago, and he tells me what I'd missed. I was ticked to have missed that performance. That kid is fabulous...P.S. "Tony" is not under consideration!

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New York, N.Y.: Any chance an NBA team, say the Knicks, would offer Bob Knight a job?

Michael Wilbon: No. The Knicks shouldn't look anywhere near Knight's direction and Knight would be terrible at that. That's not what Knight has done for his career. Running the Knicks and coaching college basketball are both incredibly difficult. But those two tasks have about as much in common as writing a column and being a poet.

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Columbia, Md.: Congrats on the great news. Blessings for a healthy boy, and for your wife, son, and you.

Whither the Blue Devils? Duke is still a top-notch program, and they have set the bar ridiculously high over the years, but it seems like they are nowhere near as deep as they used to be. Is Coach K avoiding the possible "one-and-done" players for guys who will stay for 4 years, or is it just so much harder to recruit the blue-chippers in the current state of parity?

Michael Wilbon: Thanks...and great observation. Duke isn't as stocked as it has been. Nobody is. Talented kids and assistant coaches are all over the country, from San Diego to Davidson and every stop in between. Teams that didn't play basketball can play. Schools that used to only care about football (Tennessee) can play basketball now. It's a free-for-all. Kids want to play right away and they can play, and be on TV, and go wherever they want and have a chance to play in a a good conference for a team with a shot at being in the NCAA Tournament...So, Duke and Maryland and Kentucky and...you name it...have to fight harder than ever just to get one kid...This is the present and future of college basketball...

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Washington, D.C.: I'll throw in the first hundred bucks for your son's college fund if you go with Le Batard as the middle name.

Michael Wilbon: Very nice...NOT among the considerations. :)

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Congrats!: I'm due in July and will not tell anyone the name until the baby is here. So to make it more interesting, my family is doing a name pool. For $5 each, they get to enter 5 names. If nobody guesses correctly, the baby gets the cash. I am not allowed to see the names in the pool, so I can't cheat and steer the cash my way.

What is the next tournament matchup you're most looking forward to watching?

Michael Wilbon: A "name" pool? How novel! How cool is that. Never thought of it, and it's probably a good thing. Davidson-Wisconsin comes to mind. West Virginia-Xavier, too. I've got Xavier going to the Final Four, so I have a horse in that race.

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Washington, DC: This may sound crazy BUT after watching the Wizards play some of the best basketball I've seen all year against the Pistons on ESPN last night I couldn't stop thinking they can only go as far as Brendan Haywood will take them into the postseason. Brendan played like the 7-footer Washingtonian have been craving to see for 5 or so seasons. If he could play with the passion and "throw them 'bows" like he did last night from here on out.. I'm a believer they can go deep in the playoff. We all know AD is going to run the show, AJ and Tough Juice are always consistent, DeShawn will defend, and bench players (Blatche, Mason and Songaila) will take care of there part. But Haywood is the key to the Wizards success. What do you think?

Michael Wilbon: I love the way the Wizards are playing with Caron Butler back in the lineup and Brendan Haywood (I know, can you believe we're saying this) being tough down low...I think the Wizards (here I go again with my annual crush on the Wizards) can beat Cleveland in a first-round series the way the Cavs are playing now. I think they can beat Orlando, too...But the Wizards have to have all hands on deck...except Arenas. Tony says, after a long pause because he's conflicted, too, that he, too, is unsure because Gil can't be controlled. He says he doesn't see the advantage, short-term or long-term, in holding him out any longer...I agree with that right down the line. I think I'd let him be the 6th man out west and see how the team responds...But it's an exciting time for the Wizards, and perhaps just at the right time. I'm going to write about this for tomorrow's sports section.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: Every now and then March Madness produces a phenom player who almost single-handedly takes his team to the promised land - I.e. Carmelo Anthony, Pervis Ellison, Danny Manning.

Is Stephen Curry another one?

Michael Wilbon: Wow, great question. It's hard to see a guy that little (what is he, 6-foot-2) doing what Danny Manning did at 6-10, what Pervis did at 6-10, what Carmelo did at 6-8, 250 pounds..But it's fun watching, isn't it?

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Silver Spring, Md.: As a knowledgeable basketball fan, which Prince George's County native would you take if they were both coming out this year? Michael Beasley or Kevin Durant?

Michael Wilbon: Beasley...No question about it. Beasley. He's a man. Rick Barnes made the mistake last year of talking about how Durant's skinny little body wouldn't matter in the NBA...But it does matter that he can't bench press as much as me. He's a talented kid, who when he gets stronger will be a dominant offensive player. Beasley is Beastly...He's got an NBA body now and seems to have the personality to go with his game...But we have to actually see. A lot of guys SEEM like they have game and aren't up to. I think Beasley is...

Okay, gotta run. Steph Curry, I'm being told, has said yes to a 5-good-minutes PTI interview but only if he can do it in 9 minutes from now so I'm sorry but I have to run...Talk to you guys Monday...Thanks for the good wishes...

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