This and that

• Xavier does it again: For the second consecutive day in Puerto Rico, the Musketeers were down by seven late in the second half and managed to come from behind for an overtime win. Pretty impressive. Today they did it in very exciting fashion, with Dante Jackson hitting a desperation 3-pointer to beat the buzzer in overtime!

They haven't done it against slouches either. They did it yesterday against a talented Missouri squad, mostly by hitting free throws, and they pulled it off this afternoon against Virginia Tech by hitting some big shots down the stretch in regulation and in overtime.

In today's game, they trailed by as many as eight and were down seven with about four minutes left. Took a couple of huge charges late in regulation. Big shots in overtime from Derrick Brown on a monster dunk (to get the scoring started in the extra period) and Terrell Holloway to give Xavier a 59-58 lead with 37 seconds left. Holloway also drew a big foul with 13 seconds left and knocked down a free throw (but also missed a big one that could've given X the lead). Not that it mattered. Xavier got the ball with 1.9 seconds remaining, down 62-60, and Jackson banked in the desperation heave.

Hopefully they'll avoid digging themselves a hole in Sunday night's final against Memphis or Seton Hall (who play Friday night). No doubt they'll be ranked next week if they win that. I'm guessing they'll be ranked even if they lose Sunday.

Gotta love Holloway (Harmony Prep) and the Muskies getting some love from ESPN in this piece by Dana O'Neil. There will be more where that came from as long as the freshman keeps coming up huge for Xavier late in ballgames.

If you didn't get to watch the game (I listened to it), be sure to watch highlights ... unbelievable shot by Dante Jackson for the game-winner!

• Thoughts on Bengals' loss: Listening to Eric Thomas and Alan Cutler on sports talk on my way in, I agreed with some of the things they were saying about the Bengals' loss in Pittsburgh and disagreed with a couple of others. Here's what I think they were right about ...

- Marvin has GOT to go for it on fourth down, down 13 with 6:50 left in the game. No-brainer. There's absolutely no way I kick the field goal in that situation in Pittsburgh. You're still down two scores!

What I sort of think they were right about ...

- You've got to applaud Anthony Collins and Nate Livings for their tremendous effort. Everyone thought the Steelers' defense was just going to eat these guys alive, and they really held their own. ET and Cutler were ready to pencil them in as starters for 2009. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far just yet. I'd still like to see the Bengals get a big offensive tackle in the first round of the draft. And another lineman in the second.

What I disagreed with ...

- ET was talking about how this could've been a 45-3 game and the Bengals really did play extraordinarily well. He was very impressed with the overall effort. I think they played well for the first quarter. I'm not going to give them an "A" when they went an entire quarter-and-a-half of the second half without a first down. The Bengals didn't sack Ben Roethlisberger - the most-sacked quarterback in the league - once. He had all day to throw. The Bengals had 43 net yards rushing. Limas Sweed tried to gift the Bengals a chance to take the lead or at least tie the game with his bonehead error on the punt return at the end of the first half. They squandered the opportunity. They played pretty well for a quarter. I say leave it at that.

My last thought ...

- How many people were wishing and would have given anything for Santonio Holmes to be Hines Ward when Crocker absolutely destroyed him early in the third quarter. I'm pretty sure I didn't see Holmes the rest of the game.

• Marvin Lewis said Chad will be fined in addition to being deactivated. Not sure how much ... should be a game check, right?

"I don't foresee any more," Lewis said when asked if there would be any more discipline for Chad. "It is behind us. He sees how it had to be rectified."

"Any time a player has something like that occur, he lets his team down," Lewis added. "Everybody (players) understands what I did. Any time you have to sit a player down, it sends a message."

• CBS' Dennis Dodd says Brian Kelly to Tennessee is about to happen.

They're probably going to hire someone soon before they lose any other big time recruits to fellow SEC schools.

• The Arizona Republic reports that Dick Vitale stirred the pot by saying the University of Arizona should have hired former Hoosiers head coach Bob Knight as its interim head coach.

• I may be wrong, but is Trever Miller at least the third player who has been acquired by another team this offseason who Walt Jocketty has said - after the fact - the Reds pursued and almost required? He said it about Coco Crisp (also mentioned in this link from Mark Sheldon) and maybe Matt Holliday? Seems like there was someone else.

• Non-local link of interest: My buddy Luke Winn wrote a strong piece after hanging out with Southern Illinois in advance of the Salukis' showdown with Duke last night in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic at Madison Square Garden.