The one position the Houston Texans still have a glaring weakness at, in terms of being non-productive the past two seasons, is tight end. But I fully expect them to address that need in the upcoming draft. Although I'm a little surprised they didn't sign free agent Coby Fleener from the Colts. He signed a 5-year, $36 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints.

Even with their recent splurge of big-money signings the Texans still have close to $20 million in salary cap space. They had started this free agency period with roughly $45 million in cap space. They filled most of their dire needs already. Obviously, they no longer have a major need at quarterback and running back as we look ahead to next month's NFL Draft.

The Texans may have their eyes on a prospect like Wisconsin fullback Derek Watt, who is the younger brother of J.J. Watt.

Head coach Bill O'Brien was at Wisconsin's pro day watching Derek Watt in person. The 6'2, 235-pound Derek Watt displayed very good hands out of the backfield and showed good blocking skills - both run-blocking and pass-blocking. He may be able to transition from a fullback to tight end at the NFL level.

Derek Watt is projected to be a 5th or 6th round pick. A 6'2 height is not ideal for a pro tight end but more NFL teams are going with those smaller, athletic hybrid guys (TE and FB) who can catch and block. Bottom line is he has really big hands for being 6'2 and great football genes. He's just a hard-nosed football player. One of those guys you can trust in the red zone.

And we have taller tight ends (6'6 and 6'7) already on our team but none of them are any good. LOL
So being one of those ideal "big tight ends" isn't really what it's cracked up to be if you aren't any good.

I always felt like good football players find a way to become successful regardless of their size.

The Texans had released former starting tight end Garrett Graham earlier this month.
They still have two tight ends, Ryan Griffin and C.J. Fiedorowicz, on their current roster.
But neither of the two have done all that much in their respective NFL careers up to this point.

A good tight end isn't as hard to find so I'm hopeful the Texans will find one somewhere in the upcoming draft.
I would imagine we will target an offensive tackle, safety, defensive lineman, tight end and wide receiver.
Who the Texans draft at pick #22 overall in the first round could be anybody's guess. They can go a lot of different ways.

The Houston Rockets are aiming for three wins in a row tonight at Boston. Our three best players, Dwight Howard, James Harden and Trevor Ariza are all playing well on both ends of the court right now. I've been very pleased with the defensive intensity picking up. When the Rockets lock down and play hard on defense they can beat any team.

All of these big wins recently have been on the road as well. It started with that impressive win at Toronto against a really good Raptors team that had won a franchise best 12 straight home games up there in Canada. The Raptors are also the 2nd best team in the Eastern Conference record wise. What a huge confidence booster I feel that win at Toronto was.

Go Rockets! A win tonight would keep our momentum pretty strong going into the final 17 games. Even though we've been in that 8th seed for a long time, we're right on the cusp of moving into the 6th or 7th seed if we keep winning. We are now tied with the Mavericks in the loss column for the 7th seed, and we have one more loss than the 6th seeded Trail Blazers.

Also our magic number to clinch a playoff spot would go down to 14 if we beat the Celtics tonight. And maybe 13 if the Wizards defeat the Jazz tonight. The slumping Utah Jazz are 1-7 in their last 8 games and they seem to be fading down the stretch. Just two weeks ago they appeared like they would end up making the playoffs instead of the Rockets.

In fact, circle March 23 on your calendar: Utah at Houston.
That could be the game the Rockets clinch a playoff berth with a win.
It's coming up in another seven games. I may have to buy a ticket.

I want to see the Rockets play the OKC Thunder or L.A. Clippers in the first round as a 6 versus 3 matchup.
That's a lot more appealing than having to play the Spurs or Warriors in the first round, as the 8th or 7th seed.

We want to play the Spurs or Warriors in the second round. The last time the Houston Rockets were a 6th seed they ended up winning the 1995 NBA Finals. Not to say it would matter all of these years later, in the 2016 NBA Playoffs, but that particular seed has good vibes, good karma and just seems like our kind of seeding. How sweet it is!

This is the time of the year to believe! If you aren't aiming for the stars, thinking big dreams, then you may as well not enjoy sports. Speaking of the madness, as in March Madness, I just want to wish all the Texas schools the best. Including the Houston Cougars. They finished the year 22-8 in the American Athletic Conference. Eat 'em up, U of H!

They may be a bubble team on selection Sunday but even if they don't make the NCAA Tournament they'll be playing in the NIT Tournament. A way for the Houston Cougars to make the big dance automatically is if they win their conference tournament which starts tonight for Houston against Tulane (ESPNU channel will air it tonight at 6 PM). They finished tied for third in the conference with Cincinnati, behind #25 ranked SMU and Temple.

Cincinnati is playing UCONN right now in the conference tournament on ESPN2 (Cincinnati has a 9-point halftime lead). Temple has already moved on with a nice win over South Florida earlier today. It's hard for our conference to gain any national respect, especially when SMU was the only ranked team in our conference, and they were banned from postseason play because of past violations. They also lost to Cincinnati a week ago to end their 25-5 season.

For the most part, the American Athletic Conference is often overlooked on a national level, which hurts the Houston Cougars in both football and basketball. Ironically this conference was supposed to help us improve in basketball and it has (we're a good team), but with a traditional powerhouse like UCONN not being what it once was (a national champion, constant Final Four team), it sort of hurts the overall quality of the conference.

UCONN is typically a big powerhouse basketball program, that heavily recruits a lot of the local talent here in Houston, Texas. They've always frustrated me because I'd rather see the local high school talent stay home and play for the Houston Cougars.

Those Connecticut Huskies were a thorn in the side of the Houston Cougars in football this past season - only loss we had in a successful 13-1 season - that ended with a successful Peach Bowl win over Florida State (SEC Team). If not for the loss at UCONN the Houston Cougars Football team could have gone a perfect 14-0. They had a strong recruiting class regardless but going undefeated, especially in college football, is always special.

If the Houston Cougars want to win the AAC Tournament, Cincinnati and Temple, will likely be their main challenges.
But regardless, I'm proud of the Houston Cougars. Hopefully they make the NCAA Tournament. If not, the NIT is still fun to watch.

Wow! UCONN just upset Cincinnati, 104-97 in overtime. After being down 9 points at halftime, also Jalen Adams hitting a half-court (was beyond the half court line), three-pointer at the buzzer in regulation to send the game to overtime (with 0.8 tenths of a second left, inbounding from full court). One of the craziest games I've seen but that's March Madness for you. UCONN will now play Temple tomorrow in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

Cincinnati was a scary good team loaded with talent. The Houston Cougars just need to take care of their business and they may be able to win this AAC Tournament to guarantee themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament. I still think Temple is the team to beat but UCONN has that funny way of beating people when nobody expects it.

The Houston Cougars are getting ready to play Tulane in another 90 minutes on the ESPNU channel.
Memphis will play Tulsa later tonight (the winners will meet in the second round tomorrow, both games on ESPN2).

And the AAC championship game will be on Sunday at 3:15 PM eastern on ESPN.
Hopefully the Houston Cougars make it there and win that game. It's anybody's conference tournament.

Watching the UCONN Huskies play (I respect them a lot), you better bring your A-Game and play hard all game long, or else you will lose.

I watched basketball all afternoon and all night long yesterday. I'm still in shock how the Houston Cougars were upset by Tulane, 72-69. That was a Tulane team which wasn't even good for most of the year (12-21 record). That ended any chance that Houston had of making the NCAA Tournament. It seems like every time this basketball program is right on the cusp of making some national progression they always find a way to have a major setback.

A first-round exit in the AAC Tournament is really disappointing. I had my hopes up this year. This team had a lot of young underclassman but head coach Kelvin Sampson had them playing good basketball for the better part of three months. They finished with a 22-9 record. I hope U of H gets an invite to the NIT Tournament but even that is no longer a shoe in.

I still enjoy March Madness as a fan. The conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament is second to none in college sports.
It's just not the same when your favorite college, or even colleges for some people, aren't in the field or "big dance" as it's called.

On the plus side, the Houston Rockets didn't let me down last night. I enjoyed what I watched from them during their 102-98 win at Boston. Three wins in a row for the Rockets. 6th seed here we come. Michael Beasley was voted as the player of the game on the Root Sports post-game show, with 18 points and 8 rebounds in only 15 minutes off the bench. Most of that was early in the fourth quarter. He was on fire. 10 straight points in the final quarter when Harden was on the bench in foul trouble. And then Harden came back in for the final 6 minutes of the game and finished the win (32 more points tonight).

The Rockets just moved into the 7th seed. Same record as Dallas now (33-32) but we own the tiebreaker and the Mavericks have lost four games in a row. We're only a half game back of Portland which also has 32 losses (they lost to the Warriors last night).

So the 6th, 7th and 8th seeds in the Western Conference all have 32 losses.
Utah had finally won to end their struggles. They're in 9th with 35 losses.

17 games left, our magic number is 14...
But we don't just want to make the playoffs.
We want the 6th seed, so we have to keep winning.

The Rockets play at Charlotte tonight against the red-hot Hornets at 6 PM. A team that has won 6 games in a row.

But the Houston Rockets just ended the Boston Celtics' 14-game home winning streak and the Toronto Raptors' franchise-best 12-game home winning streak on this current road trip. So trying to end the Hornets' 6-game winning streak is just another challenge the Rockets are ready for. Ending streaks is what the Rockets have been doing all week long.

It would be four impressive wins in a row for the Rockets if they can win tonight. Every game has been on the road as well.

6 of our final 17 games are on National TV: ESPN and TNT mostly. And another ABC game. And then in the playoffs we'll be on display as well, so people around the country can enjoy this exciting Rockets basketball that I've been seeing lately. It's a good thing the Rockets decided to "show up and win" at the right time. Trying to salvage what has been an otherwise inconsistent and disappointing season.