The Blue Workhorse

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is traditionally about great and, often improbable, team runs spurred by uncanny individual performances, and this year’s tournament has been no different. There have been a couple of upsets and a plenty of near-upsets. Those contests each had their own outstanding performances.

But who had the most outstanding performance to make them worthy of the distinction of being named the ‘2nd Round Workhorse?’ Here are our candidates (in alphabetical order) with a poll at the bottom:

Last season after each round of the NCAA men’s basketball national tournament, we compiled the candidates for the ‘Workhorse’ of the round (our version of Most Outstanding Player) and then let your votes decide who should be given the award. We culminated the ‘Workhorse candidates’ series by naming Mario Chalmers the NCAA ‘Championship Workhorse’ and you voted the tourney darling, Stephen Curry, as the NCAA ‘Tournament Workhorse.’

And we’re bringing it back!

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palliative \PAL-ee-ey-tiv\, adjective, noun:

adjective:
1. relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure

noun:
1. something that eases (symptoms) without curing the underlying disease

Usage

Watching a #14, #15, or #16 seed knock off one of the top three seeds is always enthralling, but the experience is only a palliative if the upset destroys your bracket.
CONTEST:

In order to win, your job is to come up with the funniest example sentence(s) using the day’s word. Therefore, all you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your example sentence.

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Leading the way for the walking wounded, better known as the Fresno State Bulldogs, has been third baseman Tommy Mendonca. Despite setting an NCAA record with 97 K and dislocating two fingers and severely bruising two others in regional play, Mendonca has dropped jaws in Omaha with his stellar defense and scorching hot bat.

He leads all College World Series participants in HR (a CWS record-tying 4), RBI (11), and Web Gems — seemingly making at least one highlight worthy defensive play per night. All of this even though after the game he has to awkwardly reach out his left hand in order to shake hands with fans and the media.

When Mendonca attempted to field an infield chopper in Fresno’s very first game of the NCAA tournament against Long Beach State, he came down awkwardly falling on his throwing hand when he tried to brace his fall. He had to leave the game and have x-rays taken. Doctors found no breaks, but he dislocated his middle and ring fingers and all of the sophomore’s fingers were severely bruised with their still being a good possibility there are sprained ligaments that could require offseason surgery.

Nonetheless, Mendonca came back to help lead the Bulldogs out of the Long Beach Regional, over Arizona State in the Tempe Super Regional, and through Bracket Two of the College World Series to face off with their Bulldog counterparts from across the country.

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Legendary Rice coach Wayne Graham was accustomed to facing Fresno State (Rice was in the Western Athletic Conference with FSU from 1996-2005), but he had never played the Bulldogs in such a big game.

While Graham’s Rice Owls are making their 14th consecutive appearance in the national tournament and their third straight trip to Omaha, Fresno State slipped into the national tournament by winning the WAC Tournament, and the Bulldogs are making their first trip to Rosenblatt Stadium since 1991.

Nonetheless, the Mike Batesole-led Bulldogs outplayed Rice pounding them 17-5 behind a 14 hit attack and solid pitching by lefty Justin Wilson (7 IP, 2 ER).

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We’ve previously previewed each of the NCAA college baseball Regionals and the Super Regionals, and with Bracket One of the College World Series set to begin Saturday, it’s time we preview the teams that will be playing at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha for the chance to be crowned national champions.

Today, we preview Bracket Two, which will begin Sunday, giving you each teams’ projected starting lineup and projected pitching rotation, “Road to Omaha,” and some keys to success:
North Carolina Tar Heels (51-12)

Projected Starting Lineup:
1. Dustin Ackley (1B)
2. Kyle Shelton (LF)
3. Tim Fedroff (RF)
4. Chad Flack (3B)
5. Kyle Seager (2B)
6. Tim Federowicz (C)
7. Garrett Gore (DH)
8. Seth Williams (CF)
9. Ryan Graepel (SS)

Projected Pitching Rotation:

We’ve previously previewed each of the NCAA college baseball Regionals and the Super Regionals, and with the College World Series set to begin Saturday, it’s time we preview the teams that will be playing at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha for the chance to be crowned national champions.

Today, we preview Bracket One giving you each teams’ projected starting lineup and projected pitching rotation, “Road to Omaha,” and some keys to success:
Miami Hurricanes (52-9)

Projected Starting Lineup:
1. Blake Tekotte (CF)
2. Jemile Weeks (2B)
3. Yonder Alonso (1B)
4. Mark Sobolewski (3B)
5. Ryan Jackson (SS)
6. Denis Raben (RF)
7. Dave DiNatale (DH)
8. Adan Severino (LF)
9. Yasmani Grandal (C)

Projected Pitching Rotation:

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College baseball’s super regionals start today at noon when North Carolina State takes on Georgia on ESPN. We give you the info you need to know, including how each team got to the super regionals, some keys to success, and our predictions, in our Super Regionals Preview (part 2 of 2: We’ve divided our preview into 2 parts with part 2 being the Saturday/Sunday/Monday series, which make up the right half of the official NCAA tournament bracket):
Baton Rouge Super Regional

UC Irvine (41-16) vs LSU (46-16)

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