Purdue’s chances at an extended run in the upcoming Big Dance took a major, major hit today when diagnosis for Robbie Hummel’s knee injury came back. In a word, the news was bad: Hummel tore his right knee’s ACL. Needless to say, Hummel’s junior season is now over, and more than likely, any thoughts Purdue had about a Final Four are too. Jeff Goodman was one of the first people to report the bad news about the knee, which Hummel injured in the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The injury occurred when Hummel was driving the lane against the Gophers. During the move, Hummel planted and his knee buckled, causing the junior forward to fall to the floor, clutching his knee in pain.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are arguably the best team in the NBA right now and a legitimate title contender in the Eastern Conference with a 44-14 record coming into tonight’s matchup with the Atlantic division leading Boston Celtics, but they have struggled as of late with three losses in the last four games since trading for forward Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards.

Even though it has been a rocky start for the Cleveland Cavaliers with Antawn Jamison, the Cavs were able to get back on their feet against the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday with a 105-95 victory, but they will have their work cut out for them against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night at TD Garden in Boston.

There has been a lot of criticism surrounding the most recent blockbuster trade that went down before the NBA trade deadline which involved the Cleveland Cavaliers acquiring forward Antawn Jamison to play alongside superstar LeBron James.

Needless to say, the trade sent shock waves through the NBA, especially in the Eastern conference as the Cleveland Cavaliers gave up basically nothing in return for an All-Star caliber forward. The one key part of the trade that may some teams in the NBA feel as if the trade was a fair deal was the fact that Cleveland sent veteran center Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the Washington Wizards who ultimately bought out Ilgauskas’ expiring contract and waived him so he would deal to sign with any other team.

Reportedly, the Dallas  Mavericks have some considerable interest in signing the veteran center, but the Cleveland Cavaliers want to re-sign him so they have a back up for Shaquille O’Neal in the paint.

Steelers kicker and notorious party boy, Jeff Reed, has been slapped with a franchise tag. It’s the Burgh’s intention to award him with a long-term contract, even though he’s not a real football player, but rather just some guy who occasionally nails a 50-yard field goal.

I could care less about Reed getting paid because he’s an expendable footie, but I am looking forward to the gala celebration he throws for himself once the ink dries.