Tom Thibodeau

Leave your answers in the comment section. You might score an invite to appear in RedEye.   1. How will NBA All-Stars react to Tom Thibodeau's coaching? 2. What “upper-body injury” does Jonathan Toews have? 3. What's your alternative to the White Sox's “Appreciate the Game” slogan? 4. Along with a bunting tournament, what other tourneys should the Cubs have? 5. Describe the state of college basketball in Illinois. Follow @redeyesportsguy on twitter for information on print openings.

After very much enjoying this year's National Championship game in which Louisville defeated Michigan, I figured out exactly why: it looked like an NBA playoff game. This goes to an argument that drives me absolutely crazy: no, college basketball is not better than professional. People who say this may enjoy college basketball more, but they typically base their reasoning on highly fallacious talking points. Allow me to debunk some myths. Myth: College basketball has better basketball This is the most demonstrably stupid thing anyone can ever say about anything ever.

Coaches from Bulls opponents continue to be impressed with how the team has played despite injuries to key players, including reigning league MVP Derrick Rose. "When you have a group and a guy like Derrick Rose who is your leader, who is your hardest worker ... that's infectious," said Toronto coach Dwane Casey, whose team lost to the Bulls in overtime Saturday. "And [Coach]Tom [Thibodeau] and that staff have done a great job growing that team and having mental toughness to be where they are now. " Other coaches - including Philadelphia's Doug Collins, Indiana's Frank Vogel and Boston's Doc...

If you were looking for a reason why the Bulls have been so successful without Derrick Rose, you could go in a number of directions. You could credit coach Tom Thibodeau and the "defense first" and "next man up" mentality he has instilled. You could look at the emergence of Jimmy Butler and the infusion of energy that is Nate Robinson. You could look at Luol Deng's consistency and the improvement that turned Joakim Noah into an All-Star. But the player you might not have thought of is Carlos Boozer.

Derrick Rose wasn't down with the dance moves LeBron James pulled off during player introductions for Sunday's All-Star Game in Orlando. Rose told the Tribune after the game that James' antics were inappropriate. "I can dance. But there's a time and place for that," Rose told Tribune Bulls reporter K.C. Johnson. "And I don't think that it was then and there. " RedEye appreciates Rose's focus and intensity, but isn't it OK to dance at the All-Star Game? If that's not the right time and place, then what is?

For as much as we fans threaten to hold grudges in sports, our capacity for forgiveness is higher than we might realize. The NBA's been boarded up for four months, and we might say we're fed up with the constant bickering and that there's no way we'd embrace the league again. But really, the right conditions are all it takes for many of us to plug back in. Sure, it will take longer if you're, say, a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. MUCH longer. Whereas a team like the Bulls will win back fans more easily because they're a title contender and, well, Derrick Rose's talent is THAT mesmerizing.

Rip Hamilton. C.J. Watson. Luol Deng. Derrick Rose. Taj Gibson. Joakim Noah. John Lucas III. That'd be a pretty good starting five and sixth and seventh men for an NBA team. But, unfortunately, it's the list of Bulls players who've lost playing time to injures 18 games into the lockout-shortened 66-game season. Saturday night alone, the Bulls played without four players. "Injuries are a part of the game," coach Tom Thibodeau said Saturday. "There's a reason you carry 13 or 14 players.

Sunday's Bulls-Miami game was billed as a statement game. For the Heat, a win would serve as their proclamation that they are the team to beat in the NBA. For the Bulls, a win would be an "I-told-you-so" to the critics who've said they can't beat the Heat. A loss for either would label them as also-rans. As it turns out, there might never have been a bigger, more thrilling game that said so little about the teams involved. The Heat's 97-93 victory might have Miami fans beating their chests and some Bulls fans wringing their hands, but neither side should draw too many...

This was a joke, right? Surely Sunday's Bulls game in Oklahoma City was just one big, elaborate April Fools' Day joke organized by the NBA. Unfortunately, Bulls fans, you weren't punk'd. But you'd be forgiven if you thought you had tuned in to a Bulls game circa 2003. The Bulls, without Derrick Rose for the 10th straight game, were blown out by perhaps the NBA's best team in the Oklahoma City Thunder, 92-78. There were several developments during the course of the game that supported the April Fools' Day theory.

The day many Bulls might have thought would never happen actually came to pass Monday. Long-gone shooting guard Richard Hamilton started against the Houston Rockets at the United Center. While the Bulls didn't look so good when it was all said and done, falling 99-93 for their first back-to-back losses since Feb. 5 and 7, 2011, having Hamilton back on the court had to give fans something to smile about - if only for a short time. Hamilton was picked up in the offseason to give the Bulls the piece they'd need to get past Miami in the playoffs and to the NBA Finals.

At what price, victory? The Bulls are sitting comfortably in the middle of the playoff-contending pack in the NBA's Eastern Conference, having just held currently sixth-seeded Atlanta to the second-lowest final score in Hawks history. The Bulls, even without Derrick Rose, are a good team. They are also horrible. They are a crime against eyeballs. How dare you. They're winning. They're hanging in there without Rose and once he comes back, everything is going to be fine again.

It's time to vote for the Chicago sports Stud and Dud of the Year! Last year CM Punk and Adam Dunn were our winners. Well, one of them looked like a winner, anyway. Thanks for your help choosing the nominees. Here's who made the final cut for our polls. Voting closes Dec. 25 for both polls. STUD OF THE YEAR NOMINEES, vote here Matt Grevers: The Lake Forest native won the 100-meter backstroke and helped Michael Phelps win gold in the 400 medley relay in London.

If the NBA playoffs had not been pushed back due to last year's lockout, the Bulls and Blackhawks would have been playing their first-round series at the same time in mid-April. Instead, the Blackhawks have already retired for the season, leaving the Bulls as the only United Center resident playing. As the Bulls-Philadelphia series unfolds, however, fans couldn't be blamed if they were reminded of the Blackhawks' six-game loss to Phoenix. The storylines in both series have been similar, but hopefully with different endings.

No Derrick Rose. No Joakim Noah. Down 2 games to 1 to the 76ers in Philadelphia. That's what faced the Bulls heading into Sunday's huge Game 4. To call it a must-win seemed insufficient. But that was the reality. A loss, and the Bulls are in a 3-1 hole without two of their best players - if not their two best. A win, however, and it's tied at two games apiece with the Bulls still retaining home-court advantage. RedEye takes a look at Sunday's game, quarter by quarter, to see how they responded.

Calm down, everyone. The Bulls' season isn't over just because Derrick Rose's is. Until eternity, "The Decision" in Chicago will no longer involve LeBron James and ESPN but rather Tom Thibodeau's move to leave Rose in a game seemingly already decided. It's a decision that could wind up costing the Bulls a seventh title. It was also - unquestionably - the right call, despite what armchair coaches have spent the weekend saying. With 1:22 left and the Bulls up 12, the best player to wear the red and black since Michael Jordan drove to the hoop like he's done thousands of times.

John Lucas' basketball career - not just his NBA career - has taken him all over the world. He's played in major cities and in obscure locales that many people have never even heard of and couldn't find on a map. His latest stop is here in the Windy City, where he's become a Bulls fan favorite. And Lucas is keenly aware of what it means to wear a jersey with block letters spelling out "Chicago" and "Bulls" on the front of it and the fans' expectations of the players who wear it. "When you put that Bulls jersey on, there's a lot of...

A dozen Rose-less games ended for the Bulls on Sunday when their MVP returned to the lineup in New York. But Derrick and the dominoes couldn't pull out a win as they fell - when their free throws wouldn't - to the Knicks in overtime, 100-99. The loss, while hard to swallow, could have been much worse. To say the Bull started slowly would be an understatement. The Knicks raced out to a 20-4 lead before Rose even scored a point, then it ballooned to 27-6 before the Bulls began a slow comeback.

It's time to vote for the Chicago sports Stud and Dud of the Year! Last year CM Punk and Adam Dunn were our winners. Well, one of them looked like a winner, anyway. Thanks for your help choosing the nominees. Here's who made the final cut for our polls. Voting closes Dec. 25 for both polls. STUD OF THE YEAR NOMINEES, vote here Matt Grevers: The Lake Forest native won the 100-meter backstroke and helped Michael Phelps win gold in the 400 medley relay in London.

A dozen Rose-less games ended for the Bulls on Sunday when their MVP returned to the lineup in New York. But Derrick and the dominoes couldn't pull out a win as they fell - when their free throws wouldn't - to the Knicks in overtime, 100-99. The loss, while hard to swallow, could have been much worse. To say the Bull started slowly would be an understatement. The Knicks raced out to a 20-4 lead before Rose even scored a point, then it ballooned to 27-6 before the Bulls began a slow comeback.

The day many Bulls might have thought would never happen actually came to pass Monday. Long-gone shooting guard Richard Hamilton started against the Houston Rockets at the United Center. While the Bulls didn't look so good when it was all said and done, falling 99-93 for their first back-to-back losses since Feb. 5 and 7, 2011, having Hamilton back on the court had to give fans something to smile about - if only for a short time. Hamilton was picked up in the offseason to give the Bulls the piece they'd need to get past Miami in the playoffs and to the NBA Finals.