Friday's Hlist: Some terrific advice for Kirk Ferentz

Ahh, Friday. Restaurants have been named for it. So was Joe Friday. And Man Friday.

Let there be links. And opinions. And stuff.

I have what I think is very good advice for Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz. Given that he's entering the 2012 season short-handed on experienced running backs, to say the least ...

Find a running back for a BCS conference program who has eligibility left, but is a college graduate. Find him a graduate school program at Iowa that suits his needs. Then, you both live happily ever after. If he stays healthy between his arrival in Iowa City and the season-opener, that is. Or doesn't abruptly quit the team before September to go to work on a Mississippi River barge. Which would be a new one for Iowa running backs.

And there aren't many "new ones" left.

Dirk Chatelain of the Omaha World-Herald did all the work. So click on this link to see the fruits of his labors.

Now I'll steal from it by telling you Iowa has had just one player drafted by the NBA since the turn of the millennium, one out of 720.

That was Adam Haluska, a second-rounder in 2007.

But that one is one more than three other Big Ten programs, Penn State, Northwestern and Nebraska. The only other BCS conference program to go without an NBA draftee after 1999 is Oregon State.

Of the six BCS conferences, the Big Ten has had at least 15 fewer players drafted than any league, and 34 fewer than the Big East.

Dat's wack.

Since Dave Heller of the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel was kind enough to link something I wrote in his collection of reactions to Danny O'Brien transferring from Maryland to Wisconsin, I'm linking back.

There's some good stuff there, including a Washington Post piece noting O'Brien had to go to Australia to help himself graduate from Maryland in three years.

Tonight's Mega Millions drawing will be for an estimated $640 million, but the odds against you purchasing a winning ticket is 175 million-to-1. So, a ticket is actually a very good deal. Go on, buy several. And if you win, slip me a million-dollar bill for giving you such good advice.

I must confess, I'd never heard of Mega Millions until the last day or so.

It's fun to fantasize about what it would be like to have $640,000,000 dropped on you -- rather, given to you -- but trust me, it would make you more miserable than happy.

So give it to me if you win.

I'm kidding, of course. In fact, I'm thinking about giving nearly all of the half-billion dollars I already have to good causes.

George Raveling, former Iowa basketball coach, has a place or two to recommend for dining in New Orleans while at the Final Four.

Actually, he has 76 Big Easy eateries listed on his Web site.

That's right, 76.

And he didn't even include the world-famous Cafe Du Monde for beignets.

I've eaten at one of the 76 joints Raveling included, Mother's. The Po' Boy was OK. The bread pudding was fantastic.

Sometimes I get things wrong. Sometimes, way, way wrong. But not on Jan. 7, when I wrote the following to start my column that day:

IOWA CITY – So when it comes to men's college basketball, Iowa isn't Ohio State.

That's OK. Neither is anyone else in the Big Ten. Neither is just about anyone else in college basketball.

The rebirth of Hawkeyes hoops didn't take a step backward Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena despite the unattractiveness of Iowa's 76-47 loss to the No. 6 Buckeyes.

There were times after that when Ohio State looked pretty mortal, but the Buckeyes knew I never lost the faith. Actually, I did lose the faith, and the Buckeyes couldn't have cared less.