Barking News

Dirty-Dawg College Hoops Continues this Weekend.

By: Boda (2026-03-25)

We're coming up on the College Hoops Sweet Sixteen Thursday and Friday, followed by the Elite Eight this weekend.  Which brings up one immediate question. Can anyone catch our CBCC 2026 Contest leader Mack Morris ?  The answer is yes.  We just don't know how many and who. Six people are currently within 50 points of Mack and 47 people are within 100 points.  Well, Mack's leading bracket has some cracks in it over the South Region, where his 63 confidence pick (Vanderbilt) took an unfortunate kill shot in Round 2.  His 56 pick Florida, is also out - and his top remaining picks Illinois (57) and Houston (54) play each other in the Sweet Sixteen Thursday. So, there is a path to glory for many of you.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

For everyone else (well, just everyone) the dirty-dawg Redemption Contest Game Form is currently OPEN and awaiting your picks.  Make your picks as usual with the deadline at 6 pm CDT/7 pm EDT Thursday, and remember to place 16 on the team you are most confident to win and a 1 confidence on the team you are least confident to win.  If you get those reversed, you will be in last place and out of redemptions for this year. 

Now that we're in the Sweet Sixteen, we have some heavy duty match-ups starting to show up.  The Nebraska vs Iowa match-up is intriguing in that it could be more like a football game if Big Ten refs are allowed in the building.  Look for a game with a ton of foul calls, or virtually none, with players on the floor during each and every possession. The Michigan vs Alabama game should be great, but challenging to call the winner. The dirty-dawg oddsmakers think one team will impose its will on the other and gradually pull away. That team will be Alabama if they are hitting their threes (and Michigan does extend the defense past the 3 line very well), or Michigan will just dominate down low with their NBA front-line.  Duke vs St. Johns promises to be the scrappiest game, with more hand slapping and flopping than any other.  Look for a very low scoring game with Duke winning 55-53, plus or minus 20.  Houston vs Illinois highlights Thursday night, with Houston getting the home crowd advantage. This one reminds us of last year's championship game with a high powered offense (Illinois) versus tough defense (Houston).  We'll go with defense this time. And last, Iowa State has already taken out Tennessee State, and should take out Tennessee next, opening the door for a massive showdown with the Memphis Grizzlies.  

Enjoy the games, and we'll have more updates Friday night and Sunday Night. 

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CBCC Round 2 is Complete ! Cinderella is Dead ! The New Sweet Sixteen Game Form is Open and Ready for your Picks !

By: Boda (2026-03-23)

So CBCC Round 2 is complete and Mack Morris of New Braunfels TX is our new leader, clawing his way from 2nd to 1st. And it turns out Cinderalla got shoved off the end of the dock somewhere along the way. So now the lowest remaining seed is number 11 Texas (not exactly Cinderella).  Excepting #9 Iowa, #6 Tennessee, and #5 St. Johns - all other survivors are 1 through 4 seeds.  The Big Ten is a beast with 6 teams left, 4 from the SEC, 3 from the Big 12, 2 from the Big East, and the #1 seed from the lowly ACC. The blowouts didn't stop either, as 7 out of 16 games had victory margins greater than 15 points.  At least we did have some last second drama though. Iowa swung a slick full court play to can a winning 3 with less than 5 seconds left - only to have to hold off a drive to the hoop by Florida as time expired.  Also St. Johns pulled off a last second drive to the hoop to beat Kansas. And who could forget Vanderbilt launching a near perfect 3/4 court bomb to win that hit the backboard square, looked like it was going down, only to bounce out (dreaded over-inflated basketball and tight rim) Even the Nebraska coaches and players thought it was going to be good.  

Six players are still within 50 points of the CBCC lead, including Rick Miner, Don Adams, Joel Veeneman, Doug Schneider and Seth Binau.  Even those outside of that range still have a shot. But, the really good news is that we are starting  a second chance Sweet Sixteen Contest this year (we are calling it dirty-dawg Redemption).  To enter, just go to the dirty-dawg homepage, select the College Hoops pulldown menu, under the Sweet Sixteen section select Enter Picks, Login with your usual Username and Password (if you are not logged in already), and then Enter your picks and confidence levels in the new game form as you did with the original contest.  If you didn't play the original contest, and can still jump into the new one. The Board of Directors is very interested to see if anyone can win both contests - and I would personally be shocked if it happens. 

The deadline for entering the Sweet Sixteen contest is Thursday the 26th at 6 pm CT/7 pm ET... just 10 minutes before the first game tips off.  

We'll have another update around mid-week as some fantastic match-ups are starting to show up.