DePaul Hoops

The DePaul mess took another step backward tonight at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont. The bleak corner of Touhy and Mannheim was the scene of a second half beat-down of DePaul by Rutgers. After leading by as many as 17 points with five minutes remaining in the first half, the Blue Demons were outscored something like 54-33 in the rest of the game, and were out-rebounded by 15 boards.

Down two with 42 seconds left, DePaul fouled with eight seconds left on the shotclock rather than continuing to play defense and play for the potential game winning shot.The end of the game was a comedy of errors that resulted in a 68-64 final score, with many fans headed to the exits when timeout was called with Rutgers leading by four with 11 seconds left.

What will the future hold for DePaul? The program is not improving. Luckily, Allstate Arena is small enough than crowds of less than 1,000 spectators don't seem TERRIBLY sparse. Granted, the crowds are EXTREMELY sparse. I don't know how many more seasons like this the program, or that building, can afford.
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ATP 250 de Buenos Aires

Nalbandian returned to the circuit with a victory over Starace 6-2, 7-6 (2) in a match played over the course of two days due to rain. His status for the Davis Cup in three weeks against Sweden is in doubt, but a deep run in his home tournament would give much needed confidence and ranking points at this point in his career. 2010 should be a year for David to improve physically, and prepare for one more run at the top ten. There is no place better than the Copa Telmex for such a journey to start. Nalbandian - Gimeno Traver (Wednesday 3:30 ET)

Fernando Gago of Real Madrid had one foot out the door for Real Madrid -was transferred to Manchester City- However, the final contract was not signed, the transfer window closed, and Gago will remain in Real Madrid.

At the same time, Robinho was lent to Santos, and was presented by Pele who heralded his recuperation and return to the seleccion for South Africa.

Finally, the second date of the Argentine Clausura is accelerated to mid-week due to the World Cup. River needs a win against Chacarita (Thursday 4pm ET), while Boca hosts Lanus on Wednesday night. Two intriguing Tuesday encounters feature defending champion Velez Sarsfield on the road against Arsenal followed by Racing going for a second win in a row at Colon de Santa Fe.

ATP 250 de Santiago

First Round

Chela and Monaco both won, setting up the best clay court match of the young year (Tuesday 9pm ET) for a birth in the quarterfinals. Monaco is the second seed behind Gonzalez. Chela is unseeded in the tournament.

Monfils, Ferrer and Rajeev Ram headline the SAP Open in Johannesburg, meanwhile Croatians Marin Cilic ,Ivan Ljubicic and Ivo Karlovic as well as Serb Janko Tipsarevic look to win a regionally important indoor event.