No fight this time from Marquette, Richmond

When the North Carolina-Marquette Sweet 16 game mercifully hit halftime, studio analyst Greg Anthony summed up Marquette's performance perfectly: "You cannot play the game of basketball worse than they played the first half."

The Golden Eagles were down 40-15 and were probably less competitive than the score indicated. But Anthony's quote could have been attributed to the other regional semifinal, which was equally as ugly.

Richmond was pounded 41-22 in the first half by Kansas and didn't hit double digits until there was 6 minutes and 20 seconds remaining in the first half.

Fellow studio analyst Charles Barkley stayed quiet as Anthony chastised Marquette's play so he could comply with Turner/CBS' positivity mandate, which basically tells the analysts not to be too critical of the college athletes. But there was no doubt he was thinking the same thing.

While both Kansas and North Carolina were favored in their respective games, their opponents failed to live up to the expectations that had been set by the first weekend of play and even the first collection of Sweet 16 games Thursday night. With the exception of a few games, most of the underdogs have come out scrappy against their higher-seeded opponent and that's what got Marquette and Richmond to the Sweet 16 in the first place.

"You know, we just got down and it was a big lead and we fought and fought and fought in the second half and tried to cut it down as much as possible, but we dug ourselves a hole," Marquette guard Darius Johnson-Odom said.

But somehow those teams that fought their way into the Sweet 16 forgot to show up in the first half. North Carolina and Kansas to put Marquette and Richmond in such a deep deficit that even when they started to play better in the second half, it was impossible to make up the difference.

Now, credit Marquette and Richmond for not giving up. Both teams could have easily caved and let the game get more out of hand than it already was. But the Golden Eagles and the Spiders showed that fighter's spirit that has gotten them through most of the tournament.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Marquette still lost 81-63, its worst loss since Louisville defeated it in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. Richmond's 77-57 loss was the Spiders worst loss since losing by 20 to Temple back on Feb. 17.

It's unfortunate that Kansas and North Carolina actually faced more spirited competition in their first two games and even more unfortunate for fans who had become spoiled by the rousing down-to-the-wire action that has defined this year's NCAA tournament.

"We just let them dictate the tempo tonight and I think that's what it was," Richmond guard Kevin Anderson said. "They came out real aggressive on us, and we let them stay aggressive and never dictated the tempo."

Related: Richmond Spiders

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Fight Video: The many punches of Rosehill vs. Lessard

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Couture's son wins his second pro fight at Strikeforce Challengers

He's not exactly a chip off the old block, but Ryan Couture is showing a pretty good skill set for a kid who only made an MMA career a goal a few years ago. The son of UFC legend Randy Couture, won his second pro fight with a rear-naked choke at 4:40 of the third round against Lee Higgins.

"I just want to continue to get more comfortable in there," Couture said. "My skills held up there pretty well to what they do in the gym. I want to just pursue that comfort level. I think getting almost 15 minutes in here was a big help."

Couture's father is still an active fighter at 48 years old. He's held both the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles. He was also an alternate on three U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling squads.

The younger Couture was ahead on the scorecards heading to the latter part of the fight before he landed the finishing move. He dictated pace throughout in both the standup game and the ground. The 28-year-old was constantly on the move going from side-to-side, switching stances and mixing in lots of kicks. A conventional fighter, he was effective as a southpaw  with both the outside kick to the front leg and some vicious body kicks with his left. But it was on the ground where Couture wore down Higgins.

Late in the first, he worked a standing guillotine choke and dragged Higgins to the mat. He transitioned to a tight d'arce choke. He had it locked on over the final 15 seconds of the round, but Higgins survived. 

Higgins tried to close space and play the clinch game in the second. Couture stayed on the move and softened up Higgins with more leg and body kicks. With 2:35 left in the round, Higgins got lazy with his hands and got drilled with a right, that buckled his knees and dropped him.

He got right up but didn't have his wits about him and was taken down with 2:29 left and mounted 16 seconds later. Couture first worked for an arm-triangle choke. Higgins defended that well, so Couture took his back and eventually slapped on a body triangle. As he squeezed the air out of Higgins, Couture worked for multiple attempts at a rear-naked choke. While doing so, he pounded away at Higgins' ribs and got in some nasty punches to the side of his head. 

Couture gave Higgins (2-1) a lot of credit for his defense on the ground.

"He was tough as nails. He was hand fighting me like crazy. He wore out my forearms," Couture said. "I can't hardly ball up my fists anymore. I was real glad I was finally able to get him there at the end."

Higgins was ineffective on the feet and again tried to get it to the ground early in the third. Couture's takedown defense was excellent. The Las Vegan bounced around the cage landing occasional shots and took down a tired Higgins again with 2:08 left. Now he was battling the clock. Couture quickly moved to take his back, flattened him out and spun him over where he once again locked on the body triangle. Couture worked several chokes that were very tight. With 20 seconds left, Higgins couldn't hold out any longer and tapped. 

Couture has no set schedule for his next fight, but he looks like he may be able to carve out a solid career at lightweight.His father also got a late start to his pro MMA career.Randy transition from amateur wrestling to MMA at age 33. Of course, it was also very much an outlaw sport back in 1997 with little earning potential. His son is a drawing card and is certain to be part of a future televised Challengers card. 

"I just want to continue to get more comfortable in there. My skills held up there pretty well to what they do in the gym," Couture said. "I think getting almost 15 minutes in here was a big help."

Strikeforce Challengers undercard (courtesy MMAjunkie):

Ryan Larson def. Erik Apple via submission (triangle choke) - Round 2, 3:14
David Douglas def. Nick Gonzalez via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 1:05
Ousmane Thomas Diagne def. Aaron Franco via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 4:22
Drew Pendleton def. Dennis Dombrow via submission (guillotine) - Round 2, 2:38

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Mike Tyson: 'I Would Get Drunk After Every Fight'

Former boxer Mike Tyson was addicted to alcohol throughout his career in the ring and admits he binged on booze "after every fight."
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history when he won the World Boxing Council (WBC) title in 1986 at the age of just 20 and went on to become the most famous boxer on the planet by the late 1980s when he became undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

But his career achievements were later overshadowed by his controversial personal life, including his allegedly abusive marriage to actress Robin Givens and his jail stint for rape in the 1990s.
Tyson recently admitted to a raging drug habit, which he only kicked after the death of his daughter last year, and although he is adamant he never took illegal substances during his time as a professional boxer, he admits he was frequently drunk, even at the height of his career.

He tells TV talk show host Larry King, "I've always been addicted. I wasn't using drugs when I was boxing, when I started. But... I never considered alcohol is a drug, too. But I would get drunk after every fight. I said I'm off drugs 14 years but really I wasn't. So that wasn't really true. I was just lying to myself. I would get drunk after every fight, just blasted."

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