Bulls rolling in the East

The Bulls defeated the Detroit Pistons 99-91 making it 5 wins out their last 6 games. More impressively, they did it without the help of Derrick Rose, who sat out the game with a bruised wrist. They have a two-game lead for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference — the only loss out of the six games coming from the Western Conference's leading team, the Lakers.

Let's give it up to John Paxson for picking up John Salmons. Since joining the Bulls he has averaged 19.7 points per game, and 21.8 ppg in the month of March. Ben Gordon is the team's leading scorer, but I feel like the Bulls have finally found a "go-to" guy. I feel comfortable every time the guy has the ball in his hands. Let's not forget the additions of Brad Miller and Tim Thomas, who have both been making great contributions off the bench putting up double-digit scores in many games.

With only 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Bulls control their own playoff destiny — something I did not think I would be able to say a few moths ago. Only two of the ten teams remaining have a record of above .500 — Miami and Philadelphia. This obviously does not mean easy sailing for the Bulls, who seem to always play well against a really good team and then blow it the next night against one of the league's worst teams.

The most intriguing match-up left on the schedule, believe it or not, is against the Charlotte Bobcats on April 11th. Charlotte is currently two games behind the Bulls in the playoff race and they will face off on the Bulls' third-to-last game of the season. The Bulls play Miami tomorrow night at home.

Photo: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

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Hawkeyes looking to advance in Conference Tournament

Winning conference games is not something the Iowa men’s basketball team has been able to experience many times – now the fate of their season relies on it.

The 10th seeded Hawkeyes will play the 7th seed Michigan today in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament – the loser will see their season end.

Iowa and Michigan split the season series with both teams winning on their home court. Iowa beat Michigan 70-60 in a thrilling game that went into overtime on Feb. 22, but the Hawkeyes have not had much to be proud of this year -- finishing the regular season with a 15-16 overall record and 5-13 in conference.

Even though Iowa has struggled, there are still some fans that will be watching and hoping for the improbable feat of a conference championship.

“I’m meeting some of my friends at a bar to watch the game,” Iowa junior Sam Patterson said. “I think they can win today. They’ve beaten them once already and they’ll be hungry for redemption from last year’s loss.

Michigan defeated Iowa in the first round of last year’s conference tournament by a score of 55-47.

Some students have class during the game, but that isn’t stopping junior Sean Rochambeau, a season ticket holder, from staying updated on the game.

“I have class, but I will be checking the score constantly on my IPod Touch,” he said. “I saw them beat the Wolverines in overtime earlier this year, so I think they can pull off another win against them.”

There are some local students that are not so confident in their home team however.

"I don't see them winning. I don't think their heads are in the right place and they don't have much to play for," Iowa junior Ross Neuman said. "I'll probably watch the game because I don't have anything better to do, but I'll be flipping through the channels to watch other games as well."

With a win against Michigan, the Hawkeyes can at least take something good from a season that has not gone the direction they were hoping. Although winning the tournament is very unrealistic, winning just one game can give the team some momentum going into next season.

Tip-off for the game is 1:30 p.m.in Indianapolis.

Sean Rochambeau, Ross Neuman, Andrea Stroink, Sam Patterson