No lunch chat on Wednesday, as I will be driving down I-29 to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City for NU's season finale, er, first-round game against Missouri. Good news this year: I get to stay until Sunday as I'm sure Connie Yori and her Big 12 champs plan on camping out at Municipal Auditorium all week. Looks like Mound City McDonald's for lunch. Never been to Quackers, which looks interesting. Anybody out there recommend it?

Meanwhile, here are some appetizers until we chat again next Wednesday (St. Pat's Chat):

1. Kansas will win the men's tournament as Bill Self will be cracking the whip toward the NCAA's after the Jayhawks bowed out in the first round last year. Two years ago, KU won the tourney at the Sprint Center and won the NCAA title. I'm guessing Self will see the correlation, plus with the final on Saturday, fatigue is no longer a factor/excuse. Iowa State will upset Texas on Wednesday night. Nebraska will not beat Missouri, but could if the Huskers didn't look like they've mentally checked out of this season. Kelsey Griffin and the gang will win the women's crown in a Sunday afternoon thriller over Iowa State. Husker fans will paint the old barn red.

2. UNO wrestling will attempt to defend its NCAA Division II title at the national championships Friday and Saturday at UNO. Piece of cake. What I'd like to see is where Mike Denney's crew would finish next week in the Division I wrestling championships at the Qwest Center. Seriously. I think UNO would do well. The Mavs are a lot closer to Division I than they are Division II.

3. This just in: speaking at the Big East hoops tourney in NYC, Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick told reporters that the Irish would have to consider giving up its football independence if Big Ten expansion changes the landscape of college sports. Well, there you go. Finally. The translation would be: we're ready to go now, Big Ten. Just pick up the phone and give us a buzz. Next question: If the Big Ten lands ND, why would it need anyone else? Answer: It wouldn't. So the Big 12 might want to root for this. I'm sure one of the rumors the Irish are interested in is the Big Ten potentially picking a couple of Big Easters, which would cause a major tilt in that league. There were rumors at the Missouri Valley tourney last week about the Big East basketball schools breaking off and forming their own league and Valley types have some concern about Creighton getting a call in that case. Lots of fun stuff here, all speculation, all cotton candy. Digest at your own risk.

4. Also, I just received an email from ESPN touting a new movie about the life of Vince Lombardi, starring Robert DeNiro as the legendary coach. DeNiro as Lombardi? Wow. The ESPN movies can be hit or miss, more miss than hit, but I'm not going to miss this one.

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