The week that was

The Marvin in Cincinnati appears to be bullet proof

The Marvin in Cincinnati appears to be bullet proof
Marvin Lewis of the Bengals. Wikipedia

Remember the scene in Pulp Fiction when Vincent (John Travolta) accidentally shoots Marvin in the face? Well our Marvin (Lewis) is downright bulletproof.

Lewis and his Bengals knocked the Lions and Ravens out of playoff contention in back to back weeks and in the process saving his job. I joked on twitter that after the win in Baltimore, the Bengals would reverse course and give Marvin a 5-year extension. Well, I was wrong. It was two years.

By all accounts Marvin was gone. That’s what makes the win in Baltimore nothing short of a miracle. Fourth and 12...under a minute to play...Andy Dalton finds Tyler Boyd for a 49-yard TD to snatch victory for the jaws of defeat. Lost on no one in Cincinnati by the way, is that these are precisely the games that Lewis would lose...especially in the postseason.

Yet despite back to back losing seasons and an 0-7 postseason record; Marvin Lewis will return for a 16th season at the helm of the Bengals.

In a strange way you almost have to admire team president, Mike Brown. He’s known as a guy who doesn’t like change. He’s a fan of Lewis. Brown praised Lewis as “an important member of the Cincinnati community and the Bengals for the past 15 years.” I wonder if Brown still receives DVDs from Netflix too.

Now there will be a overhauling off the coaching staff. Lewis said he’s “starting from scratch”. There is also the fact the Bengals don’t have an indoor practice facility. They take a bus to the University of Cincinnati when it’s too cold.

In the end, Brown and Lewis deserve each other. You have an exec that fears the unknown. And for good or for bad you know what you’re getting with Marvin. And the players love that dude. To a man, you seemingly can’t find anyone to say anything bad about the second longest tenured head coach in the NFL. The first has had a bit more success in New England.

So Bengal fans will just have to rally. They’ll convince themselves that this year will be the year. Hell, forget the Super Bowl. A win in the postseason will be validation enough.

And remember, when Marvin Lewis took over the Bengals they were a laughing stock. Unfortunately, they’ve become a punch line.

You can listen to my radio show, The Sports Bosses , weekdays at 10am ET on SBNation Radio. Follow me on Twitter @mediarodriguez

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Houston wins again! Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images.

Emanuel Sharpe scored 26 points, LJ Cryer had 20 and second-ranked Houston stifled No. 17 BYU in a 74-54 victory Friday night that moved the Cougars into the Big 12 Tournament championship game for the second consecutive season.

Milos Uzan added 14 points and Mylik Wilson pulled down 13 rebounds, helping the tournament's top seed jump to a big early lead and roll into Saturday night's matchup with Arizona on a 12-game win streak.

Houston (29-4) played without J'Wan Roberts, its leading rebounder, after he sprained his ankle early in the second half of the Cougars' quarterfinal win over Colorado. Roberts watched from the bench with his right foot in a walking boot.

He got to watch quite a defensive show by one of the nation's best.

Houston forced BYU to miss its first nine shots, including seven from beyond the arc, where coach Kevin Young's team had set a Big 12 Tournament record with 18 made 3s on its way to 96 points in a quarterfinal win over Iowa State. That nearly seven-minute lull allowed Houston to roar to a 15-0 lead that it spent the rest of the game protecting.

BYU trimmed its 40-21 halftime deficit to 13 midway through the second half but never threatened to come all the way back.

Keba Keita had 14 points and 12 rebounds for BYU. Dawson Baker scored 11 points and Richie Saunders had 10.

Takeaways

BYU still has not won a conference tournament title since 2001 in the Mountain West.

Houston lived up to its billing as the nation's No. 1 team in defensive efficiency.

Key moment

Sharpe converted a four-point play with 13:40 left in the first half to give Houston its 15-0 lead.

Key stat

Houston has beaten BYU by an average of 25.5 points in their two games this season.

Up next

Houston will play the Wildcats for the Big 12 title.

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