From the much ado about nothing department, the Big East declared the matter of the post-game verbal exchange between UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma and Syracuse junior forward Nicole Michael to be closed.

Here is the statement the conference released on Tuesday.

STATEMENT FROM BIG EAST CONFERENCE COMMISSIONER MICHAEL TRANGHESE

Following discussion and review with both Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross as well as Connecticut Director of Athletics Jeff Hathaway, BIG EAST Conference Commissioner Michael Tranghese has determined that there will be no action taken by the Conference office following the post-game hand shaking incident that occurred after this weekend’s women’s basketball game between Syracuse and Connecticut .

"Having been assured by both Connecticut Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway and Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross that there will be no reoccurrence of the events following the Connecticut and Syracuse game -- and that both are committed to our principles of sportsmanship -- the BIG EAST Conference has determined that there is no need for any formal Conference action.”

“Daryl and Jeff have also assured me that Geno and Nicole are prepared to move forward and to conclude the season without further incidents.”

While I do not condone Auriemma dressing down a member of another team and think he and his program would have been better served had he just ignored Michael after the game rather than ask her what her problem was, if words were exchanged and a coach stumbled over an opposing player's foot in the post-game handshake line in either college football or men's basketball, it would not rate a blimp on the sports radar screen. But ESPN turned this truly into a women's basketball version of a mountain out of a mole hill. Reminds me of their treatment of the issue of UConn facilitating a tour of the ESPN studios for Maya Moore and her mom. It's truly a shame that ESPN, a network which could be promoting women's basketball, instead continues to lower itself to being a step above Jerry Springer in its sensationalized coverage of women's basketball.

Changing gears, it took a little longer than anticipated but the Connecticut media returned from North Carolina. How do I know this? Well, four of the seven newspaper sports, the UConn Radio Network on-air team of Bob Joyce and Kara Wolters as well as Rebecca Lobo, who was the sideline reporter for the ESPN2 coverage of UConn's 88-58 win over North Carolina were on the same flight home. The non-stop flight from North Carolina to Windsor Locks took off 3 1/2 hours late because of the snow storm which hit the Raleigh/Durham area. It appears to me that airport officials were as ill-equipped to deal with the snow on Tuesday morning as the North Carolina team was in running a half-court offense on Monday night.