The 75th Masters tournament champion is Rory Mc.....Wait, there was a fourth day to this tournament. After watching most of the coverage on ESPN and surrounding sports networks Rory had to win, it was his destiny, he was going to win at 21 just like tiger won his first masters at 21, and we were going to have our new golf hero. A young kid who came up from nothing to dominate the Masters field and take the world by storm. Oops. Someone forgot to tell him that Sunday at the Masters is more challenging than any other golf outing hes ever been apart of in his life. The pressure, the crowds, the field chasing him, the Tiger Woods effect, and the course itself changing as the weekend went along. On a side note in case you were in a coma over the weekend Mcilroy lead through the first 54 holes of the Masters and then went on to shoot an 80 on the final day. Yes, an 80, tying him for the worst ever Sunday performance by a leader.
So with Mcilroy hitting the proverbial wall it was clearly Tiger Woods' tournament, no one else could possibly beat Tiger Woods especially after he tied his own record by shooting a 31 on the front 9. As Tiger made the turn he was a shot back and still had nine holes to play. The nine holes that he seemingly dominated on Friday when he had two birdies and an eagle on the return to the clubhouse. Well someone forgot to tell him that he has never comeback and won a major tournament let alone the Masters'. He didn't necessarily fall apart, but a bogey on a very easy par 3 12th hole followed up by missing a 4 foot eagle putt on 15 just put the dagger in his chances of winning as he played even golf on the back nine.
So next in line was about 4 or 5 different people. At one point during this tournament you had the aforementioned Tiger Woods, KJ Choi, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald, Charl Schwartzel, Bo Van Pelt, and Angel Cabrera all either with a share of the lead or up a shot. There was even talk at one point about how a six way playoff was inevitable and that this tournament could not end without a playoff it was almost impossible. Well it did end without a playoff and I will tell you why. Choi bogeyed 12, 17, and 18 on the back nine and the latter two really put his foot in the grave. Van Pelt fell apart on 16 and 17 when followed two birdies with two bogeys and he was quietly erased from the competition. Cabrera was just plagued by inconsistency all day, it seemed as though every birdie he made was followed up by a bogey, and a 1 under 71 was not going to cut it on this day. Donald just started to far back when the day began, and especially with a double bogey on 12 and a bogey on 17 it would have been hard for him to pull this one out. Ogilvy was another guy who seemingly started to far back as he shot a wonderful 5 under on Sunday but a 1 over on Saturday which killed him and his chances. Scott was another guy who had a great Sunday but could not put together the whole package as going into the weekend he was only 2 under par and despite shooting a 67 on Saturday he bogeyed two of his last three holes. Jason Day was one of the most exciting players to watch in this tournament. He was young, very humbled by the experience and if it wasn't for a Saturday 72 round he would be your Masters champion. He played flawless golf for most of the tournament and could be a guy to look at in the future as a great player. Ah, now on to Schwartzel. The Masters Champion. Yes, Charl Schwartzel a Masters champion. Schwartzel shot under par every round this year at the Masters and that includes a 6 under 66 on the final day to clinch his victory. What was even more impressive than that was the fact that he birdied the last four holes in order to secure the win. He basically looked history, fear, glamor, and the green jacket in the eye and decided that he would be the winner of the 75th Masters Championship. He was literally flawless in every shot he took from 15-18. He all of a sudden had the swagger of a champion. I mean he went to the best golf course in golf history and shot a 14 under par over four rounds. That is simply not supposed to happen at Augusta. Augusta chews up and spits out these unknown players with little background. This was his first tournament win and he did it on the biggest stage there is.
As far as answering the question Was this the greatest Masters ever? It certainly has my vote. An epic collapse, a struggle for the top, the resurgence of the greatest golfer in current memory, and a kid that wins his first ever pro tournament on the biggest stage in golf. If it wasn't the greatest it was pretty close.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
University of Connecticut: 2011 National Champions
You can say they had an easy road. You can say that they caught Butler on their worst night of the year. You can say that they did not play at a National Championship level that night. You can even say that they were apart of the worst National Championship game in the history of the NCAA. One thing is for sure, you HAVE to say the University of Connecticut deserved to win this years National Championship.
In a year where College Basketball had declined from the year before, and no number one seed advanced past the Elite 8, Connecticut (a 3 seed) found themselves as the highest seed left in the Final Four. First they played Kentucky, who they had defeated back on November 24th by 17 to win the Maui Invitational. This time around the game would be a lot closer. Despite holding a 10 point lead at halftime, Connecticut tripped up and let Kentucky back into the game. In a back and forth second half, defense was the key. Despite giving Kentucky chances at the end of the game, Connecticut held strong and defeated Kentucky for the second straight time.
Before that was the West regional, where UConn would fly to the west coast to face the number two seeded San Diego State. Defense and experience held true in this one. Coach Jim Calhoun drew up excellent defensive sets, and was able to overcome a poor shooting night by his Huskies to advance to the Elite 8. After defeating San Diego State, 74-67, UConn was surprised to see Arizona not Duke. The Huskies played another war type game with the Wildcats, but was able to catch two breaks, as Arizona missed two three pointers as time expired which would have won them the game. UConn at that moment completed another major task, which was defeating two west coast teams on the West coast. In both games UConn was seen as an away team, despite being the higher seed in the Arizona game. Neither of these games felt like a neutral site by any means.
In the first two round UConn started making their statements. First they dominated Bucknell in an all out team effort. It was not the Kemba Walker show, despite an almost triple double. Walker passed the ball early and often, as Jeremy Lamb and Alex Oriaki were the beneficiary. The second round would see UConn face off against a Big East foe in Cincinnati. It was the Kemba Walker show, as he scored 33 of the teams 69 points. What made this game so impressive was that for Cincinnati, this was a revenge game after losing to UConn earlier this season on their home court.
The Big East Tournament enough was history making for the Huskies. They became the first team ever to win this tournament in five games. UConn had to play in the opening day and won five games in five days. The run through the Big East saw them take down Depaul, followed by #22 Georgetown, #2 Pittsburgh, #11 Syracuse, and winning the title against #14 Louisville. Five games, five wins in five days.
With all that being said, The Connecticut Huskies deserved this championship more then any other team in the nation. Not the best team always wins, but the most deserving will always achieve greatness.
In a year where College Basketball had declined from the year before, and no number one seed advanced past the Elite 8, Connecticut (a 3 seed) found themselves as the highest seed left in the Final Four. First they played Kentucky, who they had defeated back on November 24th by 17 to win the Maui Invitational. This time around the game would be a lot closer. Despite holding a 10 point lead at halftime, Connecticut tripped up and let Kentucky back into the game. In a back and forth second half, defense was the key. Despite giving Kentucky chances at the end of the game, Connecticut held strong and defeated Kentucky for the second straight time.
Before that was the West regional, where UConn would fly to the west coast to face the number two seeded San Diego State. Defense and experience held true in this one. Coach Jim Calhoun drew up excellent defensive sets, and was able to overcome a poor shooting night by his Huskies to advance to the Elite 8. After defeating San Diego State, 74-67, UConn was surprised to see Arizona not Duke. The Huskies played another war type game with the Wildcats, but was able to catch two breaks, as Arizona missed two three pointers as time expired which would have won them the game. UConn at that moment completed another major task, which was defeating two west coast teams on the West coast. In both games UConn was seen as an away team, despite being the higher seed in the Arizona game. Neither of these games felt like a neutral site by any means.
In the first two round UConn started making their statements. First they dominated Bucknell in an all out team effort. It was not the Kemba Walker show, despite an almost triple double. Walker passed the ball early and often, as Jeremy Lamb and Alex Oriaki were the beneficiary. The second round would see UConn face off against a Big East foe in Cincinnati. It was the Kemba Walker show, as he scored 33 of the teams 69 points. What made this game so impressive was that for Cincinnati, this was a revenge game after losing to UConn earlier this season on their home court.
The Big East Tournament enough was history making for the Huskies. They became the first team ever to win this tournament in five games. UConn had to play in the opening day and won five games in five days. The run through the Big East saw them take down Depaul, followed by #22 Georgetown, #2 Pittsburgh, #11 Syracuse, and winning the title against #14 Louisville. Five games, five wins in five days.
With all that being said, The Connecticut Huskies deserved this championship more then any other team in the nation. Not the best team always wins, but the most deserving will always achieve greatness.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The National Championship: Butler vs Connecticut
The two hottest teams in college basketball. The two most deserving teams in the land. The two teams not expected to make this run. Two teams with mastermind head coaches. The two teams with the same goal, but come from totally different backgrounds. On Monday April 4th 2011, the Butler Bulldogs will face off against the Connecticut Huskies for the biggest prize of them all. Each team will go into Monday night's contest flaming hot.
Starting with the underdog Butler, which what they have been the entire NCAA Tournament. The hotness though has come from before the tournament. Butler has not lost a game in over two MONTHS, February 3rd to be exact when they lost to Youngstown State 62-60. After winning the Horizon League in easy fashion, Butler was put into the Southeast region and granted an 8 seed.
The first test would be an Old Dominion team which has veteran experience and many of the experts picks behind them to pull off the upset. For the entire game this was a battle, like it was set out to be, but when push came to shove Matt Howard was at the right place in the right time. Howard propelled Butler into the next round with a layup with no time remaining sinking the Monarchs dreams. The next round would see Howard and company take on the number one seeded Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh coming into the tournament was said to have the easiest road, and was the highest seed to come out of college basketball's best conference. Pittsburgh played well enough to win this game, but apparently not smart enough. At the end of the game Pittsburgh decided to put players on the foul lines with minimal time remaining. After a missed free throw by Pittsburgh, they accidentally foul Matt Howard on the rebound and send him to the line. Howard made the free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining on the clock and Butler pulled off the Cinderella upset to defeat the top seed by one point. After another rough push and shove game, there was no way Butler could defeat a Wisconsin team who were coming in after beating a streaking Kansas State team right? Wrong. Butler turned up the defense and held the Badgers high powered offense to 30% shooting from the floor. In the regional semi final Butler would face another strong test in a complete team in Florida. 74-71 in overtime excite anyone? Well it was all the excitement for Butler as they earned themselves another trip to the Final Four. Despite 25 by Vernon Macklin, Florida could not stop the leadership of Shelvin Mack. Behind his 27, Butler was able to overcome the barrage of Florida. Based on seeding and from the outside looking in, the national semi final would be easy as they were facing a Virginia Commonwealth team with an 11 seeding. The two Cinderellas would battle, but Butler would show to be too experienced at the end of this game to pull away with the victory. Going into that game VCU had played in the play in game and defeated one member of all the major conferences. Butler now must win one more to complete a more then historic run, and do what they could not do last year.
Not only has Butler been making history, but Connecticut has been doing the unthinkable. Dating back to the Big East Tournament, Connecticut played on opening day of it, which would mean to gain the crown they would need to win five games in five days. They did just that. They would defeat Depaul, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Louisville to win the Big East trophy.
Granted with the 3 seed in the West region Connecticut would trampled Bucknell, with an all around team effort and a near triple double by Kemba Walker. They would then meet foe Cincinnati in the second round, where they would shoot poorly but still have enough will to hold off the fighting and fierce Bearcats. Then it would be time to head west, and face San Diego State who had only lost twice all year. Make that three. Kemba was being Kemba, and Connecticut defeated the number two seed behind Walker's 36. Going into this tournament the future match up to watch was going to be Kemba Walker/UConn against Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving/Duke. Fortunately for Connecticut Duke would trip up to Arizona. With a strong will of defense and possibly an angel looking after them Arizona missed two potential game winning threes as time expired. Connecticut behind Walker's 20 and Jeremy Lamb's 19 punched their ticket to the Final Four. If the Arizona game was not a big enough test to them, maybe a pissed off Kentucky team would suit their needs. Kentucky going into the Final Four had defeated the best team in the nation Ohio State, and was looking back to the Maui Invitational final where they got embarrassed by these same Huskies. Throughout this game UConn led. At halftime the Huskies would lead by 10, but then lose it. Fighting back, Jeremy Lamb's smoothness and Kemba Walker's tenacity would hold true. Kentucky could not find a way to score in the final minutes, and UConn defeated Kentucky again 56-55.
Neither team was expected to be in this spot. For Butler they were expected to take a step back after losing their star player in Gordon Hayward, and for Connecticut the middle of the pack would be fitting as they had a roster in rebuild mode. Apparently Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack were enough for Butler to get back to the same spot as last year. For UConn, the player of the year potential of Kemba Walker, and the rise of Jeremy Lamb, proved enough to get to where a well known tournament team should be.
Neither of these teams are the best college basketball team, and neither are the most dominant.It is only fitting though that the two hottest teams in America will be facing off for the National Championship. Both teams come in scorching hot and with gold in their eyes. For Butler this is the second year straight they will be playing for the title, after losing last year to Duke. For Connecticut this will be the closest they have been to the National Title game, since losing to Michigan State in the Final Four in 2009.
Starting with the underdog Butler, which what they have been the entire NCAA Tournament. The hotness though has come from before the tournament. Butler has not lost a game in over two MONTHS, February 3rd to be exact when they lost to Youngstown State 62-60. After winning the Horizon League in easy fashion, Butler was put into the Southeast region and granted an 8 seed.
The first test would be an Old Dominion team which has veteran experience and many of the experts picks behind them to pull off the upset. For the entire game this was a battle, like it was set out to be, but when push came to shove Matt Howard was at the right place in the right time. Howard propelled Butler into the next round with a layup with no time remaining sinking the Monarchs dreams. The next round would see Howard and company take on the number one seeded Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh coming into the tournament was said to have the easiest road, and was the highest seed to come out of college basketball's best conference. Pittsburgh played well enough to win this game, but apparently not smart enough. At the end of the game Pittsburgh decided to put players on the foul lines with minimal time remaining. After a missed free throw by Pittsburgh, they accidentally foul Matt Howard on the rebound and send him to the line. Howard made the free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining on the clock and Butler pulled off the Cinderella upset to defeat the top seed by one point. After another rough push and shove game, there was no way Butler could defeat a Wisconsin team who were coming in after beating a streaking Kansas State team right? Wrong. Butler turned up the defense and held the Badgers high powered offense to 30% shooting from the floor. In the regional semi final Butler would face another strong test in a complete team in Florida. 74-71 in overtime excite anyone? Well it was all the excitement for Butler as they earned themselves another trip to the Final Four. Despite 25 by Vernon Macklin, Florida could not stop the leadership of Shelvin Mack. Behind his 27, Butler was able to overcome the barrage of Florida. Based on seeding and from the outside looking in, the national semi final would be easy as they were facing a Virginia Commonwealth team with an 11 seeding. The two Cinderellas would battle, but Butler would show to be too experienced at the end of this game to pull away with the victory. Going into that game VCU had played in the play in game and defeated one member of all the major conferences. Butler now must win one more to complete a more then historic run, and do what they could not do last year.
Not only has Butler been making history, but Connecticut has been doing the unthinkable. Dating back to the Big East Tournament, Connecticut played on opening day of it, which would mean to gain the crown they would need to win five games in five days. They did just that. They would defeat Depaul, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Louisville to win the Big East trophy.
Granted with the 3 seed in the West region Connecticut would trampled Bucknell, with an all around team effort and a near triple double by Kemba Walker. They would then meet foe Cincinnati in the second round, where they would shoot poorly but still have enough will to hold off the fighting and fierce Bearcats. Then it would be time to head west, and face San Diego State who had only lost twice all year. Make that three. Kemba was being Kemba, and Connecticut defeated the number two seed behind Walker's 36. Going into this tournament the future match up to watch was going to be Kemba Walker/UConn against Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving/Duke. Fortunately for Connecticut Duke would trip up to Arizona. With a strong will of defense and possibly an angel looking after them Arizona missed two potential game winning threes as time expired. Connecticut behind Walker's 20 and Jeremy Lamb's 19 punched their ticket to the Final Four. If the Arizona game was not a big enough test to them, maybe a pissed off Kentucky team would suit their needs. Kentucky going into the Final Four had defeated the best team in the nation Ohio State, and was looking back to the Maui Invitational final where they got embarrassed by these same Huskies. Throughout this game UConn led. At halftime the Huskies would lead by 10, but then lose it. Fighting back, Jeremy Lamb's smoothness and Kemba Walker's tenacity would hold true. Kentucky could not find a way to score in the final minutes, and UConn defeated Kentucky again 56-55.
Neither team was expected to be in this spot. For Butler they were expected to take a step back after losing their star player in Gordon Hayward, and for Connecticut the middle of the pack would be fitting as they had a roster in rebuild mode. Apparently Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack were enough for Butler to get back to the same spot as last year. For UConn, the player of the year potential of Kemba Walker, and the rise of Jeremy Lamb, proved enough to get to where a well known tournament team should be.
Neither of these teams are the best college basketball team, and neither are the most dominant.It is only fitting though that the two hottest teams in America will be facing off for the National Championship. Both teams come in scorching hot and with gold in their eyes. For Butler this is the second year straight they will be playing for the title, after losing last year to Duke. For Connecticut this will be the closest they have been to the National Title game, since losing to Michigan State in the Final Four in 2009.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
National League Predictions
Ahh Opening Day, the day when even the Pirates are a five hundred team. The day were everyone has there slate cleaned and teams begin there what have you done for me lately type approach to winning ball games, but enough nostalgia and lets get on to my picks in the National League this season as we have already heard from Rich.
NL East
Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Mets
Nationals
Can anyone argue against the Phillies in the long run? I mean Wilson Valdez and Ben Fransisco are not going to be everyday starters all season long and in the National League with that pitching staff you can win a lot of ball games without scoring a lot of runs. The Braves are a team that got an offensive upgrade with Dan Uggla but may have lost some consistency in the bullpen with the loss of Billy Wagner and Michael Dunn the other part of that Uggla trade. There going to be putting a lot of pressure on their young closer Craig Kimbrel and it will be interesting to see how the young kid responds to the pressure. The Marlins are thought to be a better team in areas after the Uggla deal and it has been said by people on this blog that they are the team that's going to surprise people in this division. I disagree simply because they haven't proven anything to me in a while, Anibal Sanchez, Rick Vandenhurk and Leo Nunez are unproven commodities as much as people like to believe in them they haven't put together a good season at once. In addition to the Nolasco and Johnson need to remain healthy and Nolasco needs to avoid losing another double digit games. The Mets need to get healthy, they are clearing in a rebuilding stage and they need to do so at the bottom of the standings. If they can be above 500 when Johan returns ill feel a little bit better about this team. The Nationals are simply a year or two away from relevance.
NL Central
Reds
Brewers
Cubs
Cardinals
Houston
Pittsburgh
Yeah I know people, who picks the Reds? I do. Cincinnati is a team that simply gets overlooked by everyone. Let's not forget that this team did lose Harang from the rotation but that's about all they lost. They return guys like Votto, Bruce and Stubbs. Those are young guys with a lot of talent. The Brewers were probably the most active team in the off-season out of this division other than maybe the Cubs, but the Brewers went out and acquired a front line starter in Grienke and a quality number two or three in Marcum. There offense was pretty good last year and I would expect it not to be all that different. The Cubs went out and got Pena and Garza from the Rays, now all they have to hope for is that Pena sees a lot of fastballs and Garza keeps his fastball down. The Cardinals are too hurt to contend this season in the Central, the loss of Wainwright will really hurt them and Carpenter has shown the ability to get hurt as well. Houston and Pittsburgh are two teams that are seemingly just treading water.
NL West
Giants
Dodgers
Rockies
Padres
Arizona
The Giants are the reigning World Series Champions, until otherwise they will be my selection to win the West. The Dodgers and Rockies could switch places here and I wuld be ok with it but I will lean towards the Dodgers finally realizing the amount of talent on this team and not have the distraction of Manny Ramirez in Left Field. The Rockies will be a year older and a year wiser and hopefully with them Jiminez will figure out how to pitch a full season rather than having the best first half ever and the disappearing. The Padres will be crushed by the loss of Adrian Gonzalez and the Diamondbacks just didn't do enough this off-season to change my opinion of them.
NL MVP- Buster Posey. This kid is one of the best up and coming players that I have ever seen. He handles a pitching staff every given night, and maintains a great approach to the plate. In his second full season he will undoubtedly flourish. Other people who could win this award are Carlos Gonzalez, Albert Pujiols, and Joey Votto
NL Cy Young- Tim Lincecum. The "freak" will get back to his ways and dominate once again. After an "off-year" last season he picked it up in the playoffs and will no doubt pick up right where he left off. Others who may win: Ubaldo Jiminez, Clayton Kershaw, and Doc Halladay
NL Rookie of the Year: Brandon Belt. The Giants rookie first basemen impressed enough in camp to make the team right out of the gate and he will take over the duties as an everyday player this year and get lineup protection from Posey who will be hitting above him. Others who may win: Freddie Freeman (Braves), Craig Kimbrel (Braves) and Matt Dominguez (Marlins)
NL East
Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Mets
Nationals
Can anyone argue against the Phillies in the long run? I mean Wilson Valdez and Ben Fransisco are not going to be everyday starters all season long and in the National League with that pitching staff you can win a lot of ball games without scoring a lot of runs. The Braves are a team that got an offensive upgrade with Dan Uggla but may have lost some consistency in the bullpen with the loss of Billy Wagner and Michael Dunn the other part of that Uggla trade. There going to be putting a lot of pressure on their young closer Craig Kimbrel and it will be interesting to see how the young kid responds to the pressure. The Marlins are thought to be a better team in areas after the Uggla deal and it has been said by people on this blog that they are the team that's going to surprise people in this division. I disagree simply because they haven't proven anything to me in a while, Anibal Sanchez, Rick Vandenhurk and Leo Nunez are unproven commodities as much as people like to believe in them they haven't put together a good season at once. In addition to the Nolasco and Johnson need to remain healthy and Nolasco needs to avoid losing another double digit games. The Mets need to get healthy, they are clearing in a rebuilding stage and they need to do so at the bottom of the standings. If they can be above 500 when Johan returns ill feel a little bit better about this team. The Nationals are simply a year or two away from relevance.
NL Central
Reds
Brewers
Cubs
Cardinals
Houston
Pittsburgh
Yeah I know people, who picks the Reds? I do. Cincinnati is a team that simply gets overlooked by everyone. Let's not forget that this team did lose Harang from the rotation but that's about all they lost. They return guys like Votto, Bruce and Stubbs. Those are young guys with a lot of talent. The Brewers were probably the most active team in the off-season out of this division other than maybe the Cubs, but the Brewers went out and acquired a front line starter in Grienke and a quality number two or three in Marcum. There offense was pretty good last year and I would expect it not to be all that different. The Cubs went out and got Pena and Garza from the Rays, now all they have to hope for is that Pena sees a lot of fastballs and Garza keeps his fastball down. The Cardinals are too hurt to contend this season in the Central, the loss of Wainwright will really hurt them and Carpenter has shown the ability to get hurt as well. Houston and Pittsburgh are two teams that are seemingly just treading water.
NL West
Giants
Dodgers
Rockies
Padres
Arizona
The Giants are the reigning World Series Champions, until otherwise they will be my selection to win the West. The Dodgers and Rockies could switch places here and I wuld be ok with it but I will lean towards the Dodgers finally realizing the amount of talent on this team and not have the distraction of Manny Ramirez in Left Field. The Rockies will be a year older and a year wiser and hopefully with them Jiminez will figure out how to pitch a full season rather than having the best first half ever and the disappearing. The Padres will be crushed by the loss of Adrian Gonzalez and the Diamondbacks just didn't do enough this off-season to change my opinion of them.
NL MVP- Buster Posey. This kid is one of the best up and coming players that I have ever seen. He handles a pitching staff every given night, and maintains a great approach to the plate. In his second full season he will undoubtedly flourish. Other people who could win this award are Carlos Gonzalez, Albert Pujiols, and Joey Votto
NL Cy Young- Tim Lincecum. The "freak" will get back to his ways and dominate once again. After an "off-year" last season he picked it up in the playoffs and will no doubt pick up right where he left off. Others who may win: Ubaldo Jiminez, Clayton Kershaw, and Doc Halladay
NL Rookie of the Year: Brandon Belt. The Giants rookie first basemen impressed enough in camp to make the team right out of the gate and he will take over the duties as an everyday player this year and get lineup protection from Posey who will be hitting above him. Others who may win: Freddie Freeman (Braves), Craig Kimbrel (Braves) and Matt Dominguez (Marlins)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
American League Predictions
AL EAST
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays
I am picking the Boston Red Sox as the clear favorite to come out of the AL East because of the acquisition of 1B Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez extends their lineup and makes it deeper. Barring injuries to the Red Sox like those of which they had to endure last season, I don’t see why the Sox can’t win 100+ games. I expect the Yankees to finish second based on pedigree. Their starting rotation will struggle with Ivan Nova learning to pitch in the majors for a full season and Freddy Garcia not being as effective has he has in the past. The Rays will compete all the way to the end, but with aging veterans in Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon and young pitching from Jeremy Hellickson will be their Achilles heal at the end of the season. I believe this year the Orioles will climb out of the AL East cellar due to off season signings of Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee, Kevin Gregg, and J.J. Hardy. The biggest reason why this will be a better season for the Orioles is because of their skipper Buck Showalter. Showalter took over halfway through last season and had a record winning over .600. Showalter knows how to get the best out of his players and with a full season as the manager, don’t be surprised if the Orioles play spoiler and win 70+ games. The Blue Jays draw the short straw in this division. Last year we saw Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow mature and Jose Bautista blast 50 home runs, but there isn’t much else going on for the Blue Jays. The pitching staff still needs to develop, the bullpen lost their closer in Gregg and their lineup isn’t that deep past Bautista and Lind.
AL CENTRAL
1. Tigers
2. Twins
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Indians
Once again the central division will most likely come down to the last week of the season with the top three teams (Tigers, Twins, and White Sox) right in the mix of everything. The reason I put the Tigers at the top of the division is because of the free agent signings of Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit. I also strongly believe that Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer will have bounce back years. Both spent time in the minors working on their mechanics and pitches and both pitched effectively the latter part of last season. The Twins are very capable of taking this division, but the health of 1B Justin Morneau is a big question mark. If he doesn’t have a productive season, then the Twins will struggle for power in the middle of the lineup. Also, Carl Pavano won’t pitch as well as he did last year and Francisco Liriano has been talked about here and there in trade rumors. The White Sox are another team capable of taking down this division, but their question marks are the health of Jake Peavy and the closing abilities of Matt Thorton. But, with Adam Dunn hitting in the middle of the lineup now, it’s possibly, but can the starting rotation of Peavy, Buerhle, Danks, Floyd, Jackson keep it together for an entire season. The Royals will finish ahead of the Indians as the Indians do not have much going for them in either the hitting or pitching department besides catching sensation Carlos Santana (who is also coming off a major knee injury).
AL WEST
1. Athletics
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners
I chose the Athletics as my sleeper team this year and I am sticking by them. They will win their division and their starting rotation of Cahill, Gonzalez, Anderson, and Braden will lead the way. All four matured a lot last year and now with another year of experience under their belt, expect them to soar. Also, the A’s bullpen is one of the stronger ones in the AL with Wuertz, Balfour, Breslow, Fuentes, and Bailey. Their offense also got a shot in the arm with acquisition of CF David DeJesus who had a nice year with the Royals last year before getting injured. Despite the Rangers winning the division last year, I think they will have a small fallout with the loss of Cliff Lee and trade rumor speculations of Michael Young. The Rangers tried to fill Lee’s spot with Brandon Webb but has not pitched since the 2009 season and is coming off shoulder injury/surgery. Colby Lewis won’t pitch as effectively as he did last season and Adrian Beltre won’t put up the same numbers as he did in Boston. The Angels are a tricky team to pick as it is hard to go against Mike Scioscia, but if you look at the team as a whole, some red flags pop up. The Angels outfield is aging with Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, and Vernon Wells. Kendray Morales will be starting the season on the DL and their starting rotation doesn’t go past three deep. Weaver, Santana, and Haren will pitch well and put up their expected numbers, but Scott Kazmir has struggled badly this spring and I expect it to continue into the regular season. The Mariners did not do much in the offseason to improve their team around King Felix and Ichiro Suzuki.
Predictions:
AL MVP: Evan Longoria
Going into his 4th season, Longoria should have a breakout year belting 30 + HR, 100+ RBI’s and bat above .300 as he has really gotten to know the pitching in the American League
AL CY Young: Justin Verlander
Even though Felix Hernandez won it last year with tremendous pitching numbers, I think the number of innings pitcher over the past couple years coming into this year will catch up with him and cause arm fatigue. Verlander pitched well last year and has electric stuff and this is the year he puts it all together to have a CY Young type of season.
AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson
This kid has excellent control, a lot of confidence in himself and his stuff. He possesses one of the better change-ups in the game already as a young pitcher. With Price and Shields to lead the way for him, I expect Hellickson to run away with the Rookie of the Year award.
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays
I am picking the Boston Red Sox as the clear favorite to come out of the AL East because of the acquisition of 1B Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez extends their lineup and makes it deeper. Barring injuries to the Red Sox like those of which they had to endure last season, I don’t see why the Sox can’t win 100+ games. I expect the Yankees to finish second based on pedigree. Their starting rotation will struggle with Ivan Nova learning to pitch in the majors for a full season and Freddy Garcia not being as effective has he has in the past. The Rays will compete all the way to the end, but with aging veterans in Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon and young pitching from Jeremy Hellickson will be their Achilles heal at the end of the season. I believe this year the Orioles will climb out of the AL East cellar due to off season signings of Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee, Kevin Gregg, and J.J. Hardy. The biggest reason why this will be a better season for the Orioles is because of their skipper Buck Showalter. Showalter took over halfway through last season and had a record winning over .600. Showalter knows how to get the best out of his players and with a full season as the manager, don’t be surprised if the Orioles play spoiler and win 70+ games. The Blue Jays draw the short straw in this division. Last year we saw Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow mature and Jose Bautista blast 50 home runs, but there isn’t much else going on for the Blue Jays. The pitching staff still needs to develop, the bullpen lost their closer in Gregg and their lineup isn’t that deep past Bautista and Lind.
AL CENTRAL
1. Tigers
2. Twins
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Indians
Once again the central division will most likely come down to the last week of the season with the top three teams (Tigers, Twins, and White Sox) right in the mix of everything. The reason I put the Tigers at the top of the division is because of the free agent signings of Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit. I also strongly believe that Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer will have bounce back years. Both spent time in the minors working on their mechanics and pitches and both pitched effectively the latter part of last season. The Twins are very capable of taking this division, but the health of 1B Justin Morneau is a big question mark. If he doesn’t have a productive season, then the Twins will struggle for power in the middle of the lineup. Also, Carl Pavano won’t pitch as well as he did last year and Francisco Liriano has been talked about here and there in trade rumors. The White Sox are another team capable of taking down this division, but their question marks are the health of Jake Peavy and the closing abilities of Matt Thorton. But, with Adam Dunn hitting in the middle of the lineup now, it’s possibly, but can the starting rotation of Peavy, Buerhle, Danks, Floyd, Jackson keep it together for an entire season. The Royals will finish ahead of the Indians as the Indians do not have much going for them in either the hitting or pitching department besides catching sensation Carlos Santana (who is also coming off a major knee injury).
AL WEST
1. Athletics
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners
I chose the Athletics as my sleeper team this year and I am sticking by them. They will win their division and their starting rotation of Cahill, Gonzalez, Anderson, and Braden will lead the way. All four matured a lot last year and now with another year of experience under their belt, expect them to soar. Also, the A’s bullpen is one of the stronger ones in the AL with Wuertz, Balfour, Breslow, Fuentes, and Bailey. Their offense also got a shot in the arm with acquisition of CF David DeJesus who had a nice year with the Royals last year before getting injured. Despite the Rangers winning the division last year, I think they will have a small fallout with the loss of Cliff Lee and trade rumor speculations of Michael Young. The Rangers tried to fill Lee’s spot with Brandon Webb but has not pitched since the 2009 season and is coming off shoulder injury/surgery. Colby Lewis won’t pitch as effectively as he did last season and Adrian Beltre won’t put up the same numbers as he did in Boston. The Angels are a tricky team to pick as it is hard to go against Mike Scioscia, but if you look at the team as a whole, some red flags pop up. The Angels outfield is aging with Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, and Vernon Wells. Kendray Morales will be starting the season on the DL and their starting rotation doesn’t go past three deep. Weaver, Santana, and Haren will pitch well and put up their expected numbers, but Scott Kazmir has struggled badly this spring and I expect it to continue into the regular season. The Mariners did not do much in the offseason to improve their team around King Felix and Ichiro Suzuki.
Predictions:
AL MVP: Evan Longoria
Going into his 4th season, Longoria should have a breakout year belting 30 + HR, 100+ RBI’s and bat above .300 as he has really gotten to know the pitching in the American League
AL CY Young: Justin Verlander
Even though Felix Hernandez won it last year with tremendous pitching numbers, I think the number of innings pitcher over the past couple years coming into this year will catch up with him and cause arm fatigue. Verlander pitched well last year and has electric stuff and this is the year he puts it all together to have a CY Young type of season.
AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson
This kid has excellent control, a lot of confidence in himself and his stuff. He possesses one of the better change-ups in the game already as a young pitcher. With Price and Shields to lead the way for him, I expect Hellickson to run away with the Rookie of the Year award.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Final Four
We started with 68 teams, but now we are down to the 2011 Final Four. Two names well known to the biggest stage, one who is a repeat from last year, and one who can make history as the biggest underdog ever.
The University of Connecticut has been run all year by the coaching of Jim Calhoun, and the stellar superstar play of Kemba Walker. In 19 days the Connecticut Huskies have won 9 games. Five straight wins to capture the Big East Championship started this hot streak, followed by an opening round beating on the number 14 seed Bucknell. When the field was narrowed to 32, the Huskies faced off against Big East foe Cincinnati, and defeated them for a second time in a see saw brawl. After that UConn headed to the west coast for their regional Sweet 16 match up against San Diego State. Despite the tenacity of the Mountain West Conference winner, Jeremy Lamb and Kemba Walker combined for 60 points to defeat SDSU. Finally in the Elite 8, Connecticut led by their two stud guards, were able to overcome a late run by Arizona. The Wildcats had two chances to win it at the end, but could not take advantage. Connecticut will go on to the Final Four, being the hottest team in America, adding in the fact that they have a leader like Kemba Walker, who has made big shot after big shot. The Connecticut Huskies may be the team to beat of these four, but as we have seen in this tournament, anything can and will happen.
The Butler Bulldogs will make their second consecutive trip to the Final Four, after making yet ANOTHER epic run. Coming into the season Butler had to face the fact that their best player from a year before (Gordon Hayward) was now gone. Despite losing their best shooter the Bulldogs still had two of the key pieces that brought this team to the promised land a year before. Shelvin Mack has arguably played better then any guard this entire tournament. Matt Howard, the heart and soul of Butler, made game winning shots in both their victory over Old Dominion, and their first upset against the number one seed Pittsburgh. The upsets did not end their as stellar defense held the number four seed Wisconsin to 30% shooting, and sent them home early. The biggest test was yet to come, as they took on the number two seeded Florida Gators who had been streaking as of late as well. Another back and forth battle, saw Butler do the impossible and defeat the Gators who are known to be a tournament team in the recent past. Mack's brilliance shined as he scored 27 points, five in the overtime period. What people may not realize is that Butler has won 13 straight games. Butler will hope for revenge after losing in the National Championship last year against Duke.
On selection Sunday the entire world was shocked to see the name Virginia Commonwealth name be called. Media, critics, and fans all were disappointed as they believed teams like Colorado and Virginia Tech were snubbed. Two weeks later we now find VCU as one of the Final Four teams. VCU has won the most games in this years tournament, as they had to defeat USC to get into the round of 64. After that they took down Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas. For Virginia Commonwealth they have made two statements. The first statement made was that they DID belong in this tournament. This choice by the committee was questioned at first, but no one can argue whether they belong or not. The second statement made was that the little conference teams can compete and defeat the power conferences. In this NCAA run, the Rams have defeated teams in the Pac 10, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and the Big East, which sent 11 teams to the tournament. Led by the point guard play of Joey Rodriguez, and the all around game of Jamie Skeen VCU will be playing in the Final Four, and the third 11 seed ever to get to this point.
John Calipari had all the talent in the world last year, but could not vault his young Kentucky team into the final weekend. After seeing the likes of Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton and John Wall all leave early for the draft, what was Kentucky to do? Reload. Kentucky reloaded again with more talent then imaginable with Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight. After early season struggles in winning road games, Kentucky finds themselves winning four games in neutral sites and a trip to the National Semifinals. For John Calipari this is the first time he sees the Final Four since bringing a Memphis team there years ago. That team lost to Kansas in 2008 despite a near triple double by current NBA star Derrick Rose. Kentucky in their past two games went against the toughest number two seed in North Carolina, to go along with their Sweet 16 victory against arguably the best team in the nation in Ohio State. Brandon Knight has been one of the most exciting players thus far, but a familiar face has been the reason for the success. Despite the youth strength Kentucky portrays the accelerated play of big man Josh Harrellson has really paid dividends. For Kentucky everyone is playing well, but the scary aspect is that we have not seen the best of star freshmen Terrence Jones yet.
Final Four Match ups
#11 VCU against #Butler- Cinderella vs Cinderella. David vs David. Only one of these small program teams will move on, but in all reality this may be the most exciting and unthinkable Final Four match up of ALL TIME. VCU will be playing with the chip on their shoulder that they have been playing with all tournament, while Butler seeks gaining the trophy which they see as destiny.
#4 Kentucky vs #3 Connecticut- The rematch. In game one back in November, UConn defeated Kentucky by 17 points, to win the Maui Invitational. The difference between now and then, Kentucky has excelled to be one of the most dangerous teams in the nation due to stellar inside and outside game. Buckle up for the ride, as Brandon Knight and Kemba Walker will be battling at all costs for their chance at the National Title.
The unique Final Four features two big time programs facing off , and two Cinderella hopefuls trying to do the impossible. One thing is for sure, all four teams are here for the same reason... WIN.
The University of Connecticut has been run all year by the coaching of Jim Calhoun, and the stellar superstar play of Kemba Walker. In 19 days the Connecticut Huskies have won 9 games. Five straight wins to capture the Big East Championship started this hot streak, followed by an opening round beating on the number 14 seed Bucknell. When the field was narrowed to 32, the Huskies faced off against Big East foe Cincinnati, and defeated them for a second time in a see saw brawl. After that UConn headed to the west coast for their regional Sweet 16 match up against San Diego State. Despite the tenacity of the Mountain West Conference winner, Jeremy Lamb and Kemba Walker combined for 60 points to defeat SDSU. Finally in the Elite 8, Connecticut led by their two stud guards, were able to overcome a late run by Arizona. The Wildcats had two chances to win it at the end, but could not take advantage. Connecticut will go on to the Final Four, being the hottest team in America, adding in the fact that they have a leader like Kemba Walker, who has made big shot after big shot. The Connecticut Huskies may be the team to beat of these four, but as we have seen in this tournament, anything can and will happen.
The Butler Bulldogs will make their second consecutive trip to the Final Four, after making yet ANOTHER epic run. Coming into the season Butler had to face the fact that their best player from a year before (Gordon Hayward) was now gone. Despite losing their best shooter the Bulldogs still had two of the key pieces that brought this team to the promised land a year before. Shelvin Mack has arguably played better then any guard this entire tournament. Matt Howard, the heart and soul of Butler, made game winning shots in both their victory over Old Dominion, and their first upset against the number one seed Pittsburgh. The upsets did not end their as stellar defense held the number four seed Wisconsin to 30% shooting, and sent them home early. The biggest test was yet to come, as they took on the number two seeded Florida Gators who had been streaking as of late as well. Another back and forth battle, saw Butler do the impossible and defeat the Gators who are known to be a tournament team in the recent past. Mack's brilliance shined as he scored 27 points, five in the overtime period. What people may not realize is that Butler has won 13 straight games. Butler will hope for revenge after losing in the National Championship last year against Duke.
On selection Sunday the entire world was shocked to see the name Virginia Commonwealth name be called. Media, critics, and fans all were disappointed as they believed teams like Colorado and Virginia Tech were snubbed. Two weeks later we now find VCU as one of the Final Four teams. VCU has won the most games in this years tournament, as they had to defeat USC to get into the round of 64. After that they took down Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas. For Virginia Commonwealth they have made two statements. The first statement made was that they DID belong in this tournament. This choice by the committee was questioned at first, but no one can argue whether they belong or not. The second statement made was that the little conference teams can compete and defeat the power conferences. In this NCAA run, the Rams have defeated teams in the Pac 10, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and the Big East, which sent 11 teams to the tournament. Led by the point guard play of Joey Rodriguez, and the all around game of Jamie Skeen VCU will be playing in the Final Four, and the third 11 seed ever to get to this point.
John Calipari had all the talent in the world last year, but could not vault his young Kentucky team into the final weekend. After seeing the likes of Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton and John Wall all leave early for the draft, what was Kentucky to do? Reload. Kentucky reloaded again with more talent then imaginable with Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight. After early season struggles in winning road games, Kentucky finds themselves winning four games in neutral sites and a trip to the National Semifinals. For John Calipari this is the first time he sees the Final Four since bringing a Memphis team there years ago. That team lost to Kansas in 2008 despite a near triple double by current NBA star Derrick Rose. Kentucky in their past two games went against the toughest number two seed in North Carolina, to go along with their Sweet 16 victory against arguably the best team in the nation in Ohio State. Brandon Knight has been one of the most exciting players thus far, but a familiar face has been the reason for the success. Despite the youth strength Kentucky portrays the accelerated play of big man Josh Harrellson has really paid dividends. For Kentucky everyone is playing well, but the scary aspect is that we have not seen the best of star freshmen Terrence Jones yet.
Final Four Match ups
#11 VCU against #Butler- Cinderella vs Cinderella. David vs David. Only one of these small program teams will move on, but in all reality this may be the most exciting and unthinkable Final Four match up of ALL TIME. VCU will be playing with the chip on their shoulder that they have been playing with all tournament, while Butler seeks gaining the trophy which they see as destiny.
#4 Kentucky vs #3 Connecticut- The rematch. In game one back in November, UConn defeated Kentucky by 17 points, to win the Maui Invitational. The difference between now and then, Kentucky has excelled to be one of the most dangerous teams in the nation due to stellar inside and outside game. Buckle up for the ride, as Brandon Knight and Kemba Walker will be battling at all costs for their chance at the National Title.
The unique Final Four features two big time programs facing off , and two Cinderella hopefuls trying to do the impossible. One thing is for sure, all four teams are here for the same reason... WIN.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Big LEAST, Not Big East
It was the greatest thing that could have happened to the Big East Conference two Sundays ago. Eleven of the sixteen teams in the conference were selected to take part in the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. This was a record for representatives from one conference making it into the national tournament. We sit here a week later and see the best case scenario, turn into the worst.
After the first weekend of tournament play, the Big East Conference is only sending two (#3 Connecticut, #11 Marquette) of those original eleven to the Sweet 16. The top EIGHT teams in the conference are all eliminated from the tournament. Of those nine that are back at school, four were a five seed or higher, and three were a three, two or one seeds. Also, of those nine teams, FIVE lost to seeds ten or lower.
The win/loss result is not even the big deal here, it is the way most (not all) of the teams in the conference went out. #9 Villanova lost to #9George Mason in the first round, because they could not execute at the end of the game. It did not help there case that there best players, Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes showed up for only the first half. Villanova's season ended with their team losing six straight games. #4 Louisville had their season come to a crashing end, when they were shocked and upset by #13 Morehead State. Louisville may have been looking forward to the next rounds, but they sure overlooked Morehead St. Losing with seconds left on the clock makes this situation worse for the Cardinals. No excuse why a Big East elite, loses to an Ohio Valley team, NONE. Two of the Big East #6 seeds lost in the first round of the dance, as #11 seeds Gonzaga and Virginia Commonwealth defeat St. John's and Georgetown respectively. In a year where St. John's defeated the rest of the Big East, this game held true of how they are overrated. They can't win away from Madison Square Garden, and they struggle against lower teams. The DJ Kennedy injury affected this team, but even with him they get beat by Gonzaga. Georgetown once again could not get into their offense, and could not handle a team that should not be in the tournament. VCU is making noise and all, but the fact is if there were basketball people on the selection commitee, then VCU does not even get that opportunity. Georgetown basically lost to an NIT team when it mattered the most. The highest seeds the Big East had won one game, then got beat in the round of 32. #2 Notre Dame was smothered by #10 Florida State. Notre Dame was never in this game, being down double digits almost the entire game. Florida State defeated Duke, but in all honestly not that great of a team as they have lost to the likes of Auburn, Maryland, and Virginia Tech (twice). Notre Dame was exposed, and proven to be one of the most vulnerable teams in the tournament. Pittsburgh, supposidly the best team in the Big East, gets the pumpkin thrown on them, as Cinderella Butler wins this game. At the end of this game Pittsburgh has a chance to win this game by making a free throw. Pittsburgh misses the free throw with minimal time remaining. To make it worse, the team is set inside the blocks on the free throw line, which they should not have been because at that point there was no time to do anything. As Matt Howard grabs the rebound, Pittsburgh fouls him and Butler wins the game at the line. So for the so called "best," of the Big East, they lose because of coaching, and just lack of common sense in basketball. No blaming the refs for making the CORRECT call. The Big East Conference all year was the class of college basketball, and that one conference everyone feared. Looking at it now, the Big East seems to only fear themselves as #3 Syracuse, and #6 Cincinnati were bounced by the only two BE teams remaining.
The only two remaining teams are two teams that deserve to be there. #11 Marquette took out fellow Big East foe #3 Syracuse, in a ground and pound game. #3 Connecticut defeated #6 Cinncinnati, to continue their hot streak. I am not trying to take anything away from either of these teams, but these are games that they have won already. Before I make my next statement, I would like to say that UConn has been playing arguablly the best basketball in America as of late, and is the hottest team, by far so cudos to them. Both UConn and Marquette defeated their opponent earlier in the year. You csn say that it is harder to beat a team two times in a row, but if you already know how to beat a team, you should be able to beat them again. Period.
So, going into the Sweet 16 the Big East has two teams left representing them. After beating eachother up all year in that conference, they may have been a bit tired, but in all reality the conference as a whole may have been a tad overrated.
After the first weekend of tournament play, the Big East Conference is only sending two (#3 Connecticut, #11 Marquette) of those original eleven to the Sweet 16. The top EIGHT teams in the conference are all eliminated from the tournament. Of those nine that are back at school, four were a five seed or higher, and three were a three, two or one seeds. Also, of those nine teams, FIVE lost to seeds ten or lower.
The win/loss result is not even the big deal here, it is the way most (not all) of the teams in the conference went out. #9 Villanova lost to #9George Mason in the first round, because they could not execute at the end of the game. It did not help there case that there best players, Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes showed up for only the first half. Villanova's season ended with their team losing six straight games. #4 Louisville had their season come to a crashing end, when they were shocked and upset by #13 Morehead State. Louisville may have been looking forward to the next rounds, but they sure overlooked Morehead St. Losing with seconds left on the clock makes this situation worse for the Cardinals. No excuse why a Big East elite, loses to an Ohio Valley team, NONE. Two of the Big East #6 seeds lost in the first round of the dance, as #11 seeds Gonzaga and Virginia Commonwealth defeat St. John's and Georgetown respectively. In a year where St. John's defeated the rest of the Big East, this game held true of how they are overrated. They can't win away from Madison Square Garden, and they struggle against lower teams. The DJ Kennedy injury affected this team, but even with him they get beat by Gonzaga. Georgetown once again could not get into their offense, and could not handle a team that should not be in the tournament. VCU is making noise and all, but the fact is if there were basketball people on the selection commitee, then VCU does not even get that opportunity. Georgetown basically lost to an NIT team when it mattered the most. The highest seeds the Big East had won one game, then got beat in the round of 32. #2 Notre Dame was smothered by #10 Florida State. Notre Dame was never in this game, being down double digits almost the entire game. Florida State defeated Duke, but in all honestly not that great of a team as they have lost to the likes of Auburn, Maryland, and Virginia Tech (twice). Notre Dame was exposed, and proven to be one of the most vulnerable teams in the tournament. Pittsburgh, supposidly the best team in the Big East, gets the pumpkin thrown on them, as Cinderella Butler wins this game. At the end of this game Pittsburgh has a chance to win this game by making a free throw. Pittsburgh misses the free throw with minimal time remaining. To make it worse, the team is set inside the blocks on the free throw line, which they should not have been because at that point there was no time to do anything. As Matt Howard grabs the rebound, Pittsburgh fouls him and Butler wins the game at the line. So for the so called "best," of the Big East, they lose because of coaching, and just lack of common sense in basketball. No blaming the refs for making the CORRECT call. The Big East Conference all year was the class of college basketball, and that one conference everyone feared. Looking at it now, the Big East seems to only fear themselves as #3 Syracuse, and #6 Cincinnati were bounced by the only two BE teams remaining.
The only two remaining teams are two teams that deserve to be there. #11 Marquette took out fellow Big East foe #3 Syracuse, in a ground and pound game. #3 Connecticut defeated #6 Cinncinnati, to continue their hot streak. I am not trying to take anything away from either of these teams, but these are games that they have won already. Before I make my next statement, I would like to say that UConn has been playing arguablly the best basketball in America as of late, and is the hottest team, by far so cudos to them. Both UConn and Marquette defeated their opponent earlier in the year. You csn say that it is harder to beat a team two times in a row, but if you already know how to beat a team, you should be able to beat them again. Period.
So, going into the Sweet 16 the Big East has two teams left representing them. After beating eachother up all year in that conference, they may have been a bit tired, but in all reality the conference as a whole may have been a tad overrated.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
What We Learned Day 4 of NCAA Tournament
Here is some aspects we learned from Day 4 of the NCAA Tournament:
It is not over until the clock hits zero- Playing the best team in the ACC, and an argument can be made that they are the most complete team in the tournament, Michigan fought back from 15 points to push Duke to the limit. By hitting shots and playing good defense, Michigan shook Duke by cutting the lead down to two. Unfortunately, Michigan missed a runner with no time remaining. Michigan was a team who was tied for last in their conference for an amount of time this season, and led by heart and passion almost pulled off an unthinkable comeback.
The stars come out to play at the right time- Down two and under ten seconds against Texas, Arizona star Derrick Williams made a circus shot and hit the free throw to complete the and one, that put Arizona ahead. Arizona completed the win and move onto the next round. Williams had 17 points, and 14 of them came in the second half. Despite the shaky ending, Nolan Smith of Duke proved why he is a player of the year candidate, scoring 24 in Duke's winning way. Harrison Barnes the star and standout at North Carolina hit timely threes and led the Tarheels to a tough victory over the #7 Washington Huskies as well, moving them to the Sweet 16.
Even good coaching goes bad- Coach Rick Barnes can make mistakes. Barnes a good, veteran coach may have lost this game for the Longhorns today (losing to #5 Arizona). Having a freshmen inbounds the ball that late in a game is not the correct call. This showed as soon as the ref blew the whistle and Texas got called for a 5 second violation. Coach Barnes... tisk tisk it meant the season. Coach Boheim of Syracuse also was at fault as late in the game he didn't use timeouts when appropriate. Instead of calling a play late to shorten a lead, he let his team play which hurt the game. Scoop Jardine missed a forced three and #11 Marquette takes the upset in heroic form. Darius Johnson-Odom hit the go ahead three pointer before the Jardine force.
Final Scores of Day 4
(2) North Carolina 86, (7) Washington 83
(1) Duke 73, (8) Michigan 71
(1) Ohio State 98, (8) George Mason 66
(5) Arizona 70, (4) Texas 69
(11) Virginia Commonwealth 94, (3) Purdue 76
(11) Marquette 66, (3) Syracuse 62
(1) Kansas 73, (9) Illinois 59
(10)Florida St 71, (2) Notre Dame 57
We are now on to the Sweet 16. Check back for the thoughts on the Big East, and the reaction to the "great," conference only getting two of their eleven into the round of 16.
It is not over until the clock hits zero- Playing the best team in the ACC, and an argument can be made that they are the most complete team in the tournament, Michigan fought back from 15 points to push Duke to the limit. By hitting shots and playing good defense, Michigan shook Duke by cutting the lead down to two. Unfortunately, Michigan missed a runner with no time remaining. Michigan was a team who was tied for last in their conference for an amount of time this season, and led by heart and passion almost pulled off an unthinkable comeback.
The stars come out to play at the right time- Down two and under ten seconds against Texas, Arizona star Derrick Williams made a circus shot and hit the free throw to complete the and one, that put Arizona ahead. Arizona completed the win and move onto the next round. Williams had 17 points, and 14 of them came in the second half. Despite the shaky ending, Nolan Smith of Duke proved why he is a player of the year candidate, scoring 24 in Duke's winning way. Harrison Barnes the star and standout at North Carolina hit timely threes and led the Tarheels to a tough victory over the #7 Washington Huskies as well, moving them to the Sweet 16.
Even good coaching goes bad- Coach Rick Barnes can make mistakes. Barnes a good, veteran coach may have lost this game for the Longhorns today (losing to #5 Arizona). Having a freshmen inbounds the ball that late in a game is not the correct call. This showed as soon as the ref blew the whistle and Texas got called for a 5 second violation. Coach Barnes... tisk tisk it meant the season. Coach Boheim of Syracuse also was at fault as late in the game he didn't use timeouts when appropriate. Instead of calling a play late to shorten a lead, he let his team play which hurt the game. Scoop Jardine missed a forced three and #11 Marquette takes the upset in heroic form. Darius Johnson-Odom hit the go ahead three pointer before the Jardine force.
Final Scores of Day 4
(2) North Carolina 86, (7) Washington 83
(1) Duke 73, (8) Michigan 71
(1) Ohio State 98, (8) George Mason 66
(5) Arizona 70, (4) Texas 69
(11) Virginia Commonwealth 94, (3) Purdue 76
(11) Marquette 66, (3) Syracuse 62
(1) Kansas 73, (9) Illinois 59
(10)Florida St 71, (2) Notre Dame 57
We are now on to the Sweet 16. Check back for the thoughts on the Big East, and the reaction to the "great," conference only getting two of their eleven into the round of 16.
What We Learned Day 3 of the NCAA Tournament
Here are a few things that we learned after the first games of the third round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament:
Teams that go in on fire, continue streaking and vise versa: Richmond continues to roll as they kill Morehead St, and are streaking since taking over the Atlantic 10. The Big East will be another perfect example. UConn, despite struggling shooting for a majority of the night, defeated a Cincy team that was out for revenge, after losing to the Huskies on their own home court earlier in the year. UConn continues to roll since their major run in the Big East Tournament. After stumbling into the Big Dance with an early exit in the B.E.T, Pittsburgh falls on their face and under estimate Butler.
Cinderella is still spelled B-U-T-L-E-R: Butler takes down another elite opponent and advances to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row. This was also the second straight game that Matt Howard played hero. Butler may be the team to beat in the region, now that they took out the number one seed.
Jimmer may prove to be real with one more win- Still am not sold on Jimmer, but with another amazing performance he may be one step closer to gaining my respect. After defeating Gonzaga today they will play a formidable opponent in Florida, as they defeat UCLA today.
Wisconsin has officially shut up the critics- With another strong showing throughout the entire game, all the critics that said Wisconsin is not that good, and will lose in the first and second round need to sit down and shut up. Wisconsin seems to be playing peak basketball, and with the Pittsburgh loss may be able to take over the region, watch out for the glass slipper in the next round.
Final Scores of Day 3
(4) Kentucky 71, (5) West Virginia 63
(2) Florida 73, (7) UCLA 65
(12) Richmond 65, (13) Morehead State 48
(2) San Diego State 71, (7) Temple 64
(8) Butler 71, (1) Pittsburgh 70
(3) Brigham Young 89, (11) Gonzaga 67
(4) Wisconsin 70, (5) Kansas State 65
(3) Connecticut 69, (6) Cincinnati 58
Teams that go in on fire, continue streaking and vise versa: Richmond continues to roll as they kill Morehead St, and are streaking since taking over the Atlantic 10. The Big East will be another perfect example. UConn, despite struggling shooting for a majority of the night, defeated a Cincy team that was out for revenge, after losing to the Huskies on their own home court earlier in the year. UConn continues to roll since their major run in the Big East Tournament. After stumbling into the Big Dance with an early exit in the B.E.T, Pittsburgh falls on their face and under estimate Butler.
Cinderella is still spelled B-U-T-L-E-R: Butler takes down another elite opponent and advances to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row. This was also the second straight game that Matt Howard played hero. Butler may be the team to beat in the region, now that they took out the number one seed.
Jimmer may prove to be real with one more win- Still am not sold on Jimmer, but with another amazing performance he may be one step closer to gaining my respect. After defeating Gonzaga today they will play a formidable opponent in Florida, as they defeat UCLA today.
Wisconsin has officially shut up the critics- With another strong showing throughout the entire game, all the critics that said Wisconsin is not that good, and will lose in the first and second round need to sit down and shut up. Wisconsin seems to be playing peak basketball, and with the Pittsburgh loss may be able to take over the region, watch out for the glass slipper in the next round.
Final Scores of Day 3
(4) Kentucky 71, (5) West Virginia 63
(2) Florida 73, (7) UCLA 65
(12) Richmond 65, (13) Morehead State 48
(2) San Diego State 71, (7) Temple 64
(8) Butler 71, (1) Pittsburgh 70
(3) Brigham Young 89, (11) Gonzaga 67
(4) Wisconsin 70, (5) Kansas State 65
(3) Connecticut 69, (6) Cincinnati 58
Friday, March 18, 2011
GAME 2 UNH Wildcats-Merrimack College Warriors
UNH v Merrimack: Game 2
1st Period notes
The period started off in questionable fashion as UNH scored from center Ice on a bouncing puck, the goal was later disallowed after review because a UNH forward was offside during the shot attempt. So Merrimack dodged a bullet early. Five minutes later the Wildcats were able to punch in a power play goal, goal was scored by Stevie Moses and assisted by Mike Borisenok and Matt Campanale. The shot was taken from the left slot. After this it was all Warriors as they were able to capitalize on a short-handed opportunity after a hit from behind call that put them a man down. Then they built on that again when Brendan Ellis tipped in a Karl Stollery slap shot. The Wildcats may have the shot advantage after one but the Warriors are really staying true to their attack mantra.
Shots UNH-13 MC-11
Final Review:
Another stagnant period in this game, with the action not really coming until the last 4 minutes of the period. Merrimack supplied the only of the period on a scramble in front of the net, when Mike Collins banked a shot off of a UNH defenseman who was prone in the net trying to cover for DiGiorlamo. Since allowing the bouncing puck, Cannata was huge for the Warriors in the third period, never mind the whole game. Merrimack displayed great team defense in all three zones, which helped control the flow of the game and kept UNH from building any real momentum to tie the game up in a 2-1 game. Merrimack sealed the victory night with an empty net goal by Sheen, ending in a 4-1 final.
Boston College and Merrimack College will battle for the Hockey East Championship tomorrow night at the TD Garden. Merrimack is 2-0 against Boston College this season.
1st Period notes
The period started off in questionable fashion as UNH scored from center Ice on a bouncing puck, the goal was later disallowed after review because a UNH forward was offside during the shot attempt. So Merrimack dodged a bullet early. Five minutes later the Wildcats were able to punch in a power play goal, goal was scored by Stevie Moses and assisted by Mike Borisenok and Matt Campanale. The shot was taken from the left slot. After this it was all Warriors as they were able to capitalize on a short-handed opportunity after a hit from behind call that put them a man down. Then they built on that again when Brendan Ellis tipped in a Karl Stollery slap shot. The Wildcats may have the shot advantage after one but the Warriors are really staying true to their attack mantra.
Shots UNH-13 MC-11
Final Review:
Another stagnant period in this game, with the action not really coming until the last 4 minutes of the period. Merrimack supplied the only of the period on a scramble in front of the net, when Mike Collins banked a shot off of a UNH defenseman who was prone in the net trying to cover for DiGiorlamo. Since allowing the bouncing puck, Cannata was huge for the Warriors in the third period, never mind the whole game. Merrimack displayed great team defense in all three zones, which helped control the flow of the game and kept UNH from building any real momentum to tie the game up in a 2-1 game. Merrimack sealed the victory night with an empty net goal by Sheen, ending in a 4-1 final.
Boston College and Merrimack College will battle for the Hockey East Championship tomorrow night at the TD Garden. Merrimack is 2-0 against Boston College this season.
UPDATED: Hockey East Tournament- BC-Northeastern
1st Period: BC v. Northeastern
The first period started out at a decent pace, with both teams trading chances up and down the ice for the first 5 minutes of the game. At the 5 minute mark Boston College lead the game in chances, featuring two separate one on none chances. Northeastern remained opportunistic and was able to draw first blood 13:48, on a rebound chance set up on a short side pass from Senior forward Steve Silva. The goal was scored by captain Tyler McNeely, who was able to get a lucky bounce off of an Eagle, Joe Whitney and into the net past John Muse. The Eagles were able to draw even at the 16:05 mark on a weak wrister from Senior center Brian Gibbons. Gibbons took a feed from Cam Atkinson behind the net and shot a puck on edge at the net and was able to find a hole past goaltender Chris Rawlings. The rest of the period came down to neutral zone possession and missed opportunities entering the attacking zone for both teams.
Shots: BC-10 NU-8
P.S.
BC mascot 1 – Northeastern mascot - 0
UPDATED: 2nd Period: BC v Northeastern
In what was a penalty filled 2nd period, BC ended up capitalizing on their opportunities. The action for the most part on even strength was back and forth between the two teams but Northeastern was guilty of 4 penalties while BC was guilty of 3. BC got on the board first at the 6:56 mark of the second period on a power play goal by left winger Kevin Hayes. In what was a tic-tac goal set up by Hayes’ older brother Jimmy and Pat Mullane, Kevin Hayes finished off the crisp passing going low glove side on Rawlings, to make it 2-1 BC. Not too long after that goal by Hayes, Northeastern capitalized on a turnover in the neutral zone and Wade MacLeod beat John Muse far side low. MacLeod picked up speed down the left side and fired a sharp wrister from the left face-off dot, tying it up 2-2 less than a minute later. After these goals, the game started to shift to more physical play and more penalties started to amass. Matching roughing penalties saw the two teams skating 4 on 4 for two minutes. BC capitalized on the open ice play and Steven Whitney put on a fine display of stick handling and strength. Falling down, Whitney unleashed a powerful backhand, going to shelf on Rawlings making in 3-2 BC. As the period came to a close BC was rewarded with yet another power play and did not disappoint as they moved the puck out to point man Tommy Cross who then positioned himself on the half wall and fired a wrister short side top shelf beating the goaltender, and giving BC the 4-2 lead. It was Crosses 7th goal of the year as he is known more as a defensive presence for the Eagles. The Huskies have changed goaltenders for the third period as #31 Clay Witt is between the pipes.
Shots BC- 17 NU-14
Third Period and Final Review
Another penalty saddle period saw the Eagles nearly blow a 3 goal lead to the Northeastern Huskies. The Eagles were able to pull out to a 5-2 lead with about 12 minutes to play and from there it looked like BC was in the drivers seat. Turned out that wasn’t the case as the Eagles had some untimely penalties that saw them 2 men down for a solid 4 minutes in the 3rd period. If it weren’t for some very timely saves from Senior goaltender John Muse, the Eagles were looking at an overtime game or even worse a defeat with 3:34 to play. Northeastern took a chance and with a two-man advantage, they pulled their goalie giving them a 6 on 3 with an opportunity to pull within 2 goals. The risk paid off as the Huskies scored a quick goal from the point and pulled within 2 goals. The Eagles were victimized with another penalty and this gave the Huskies another powerplay chance. Northeastern scored another goal at 18:57 off the stick of Wade MacLeod, his second of the game, and it brought the Huskies within a goal with less than a minute to play in the game. John Muse made the biggest save of the game with 30 seconds to go with the help of Brian Gibbons in front of the net. Northeastern center Steve Silva had a clear shot at the net between the dots, and with a diving effort by Gibbons was able to alter the shot enough for Muse to get a shoulder on it and deflect it over the net. What turned out to be a great comeback by the Huskies was cut short and all momentum was lost when Braden Pimm was called for a slashing penalty at 19:47. Give credit where credit is due, and John Muse would have to be the star of the game. He was shorthanded most of the game and ended up facing 37 shots, stopping 33.
Boston College was able to hold on and advance to the Hockey East Final for the 13th time in 27-year history of the Hockey East. Boston College advances to tomorrow night and plays the eventual winner of #4 Merrimack and #2 New Hampshire.
The first period started out at a decent pace, with both teams trading chances up and down the ice for the first 5 minutes of the game. At the 5 minute mark Boston College lead the game in chances, featuring two separate one on none chances. Northeastern remained opportunistic and was able to draw first blood 13:48, on a rebound chance set up on a short side pass from Senior forward Steve Silva. The goal was scored by captain Tyler McNeely, who was able to get a lucky bounce off of an Eagle, Joe Whitney and into the net past John Muse. The Eagles were able to draw even at the 16:05 mark on a weak wrister from Senior center Brian Gibbons. Gibbons took a feed from Cam Atkinson behind the net and shot a puck on edge at the net and was able to find a hole past goaltender Chris Rawlings. The rest of the period came down to neutral zone possession and missed opportunities entering the attacking zone for both teams.
Shots: BC-10 NU-8
P.S.
BC mascot 1 – Northeastern mascot - 0
UPDATED: 2nd Period: BC v Northeastern
In what was a penalty filled 2nd period, BC ended up capitalizing on their opportunities. The action for the most part on even strength was back and forth between the two teams but Northeastern was guilty of 4 penalties while BC was guilty of 3. BC got on the board first at the 6:56 mark of the second period on a power play goal by left winger Kevin Hayes. In what was a tic-tac goal set up by Hayes’ older brother Jimmy and Pat Mullane, Kevin Hayes finished off the crisp passing going low glove side on Rawlings, to make it 2-1 BC. Not too long after that goal by Hayes, Northeastern capitalized on a turnover in the neutral zone and Wade MacLeod beat John Muse far side low. MacLeod picked up speed down the left side and fired a sharp wrister from the left face-off dot, tying it up 2-2 less than a minute later. After these goals, the game started to shift to more physical play and more penalties started to amass. Matching roughing penalties saw the two teams skating 4 on 4 for two minutes. BC capitalized on the open ice play and Steven Whitney put on a fine display of stick handling and strength. Falling down, Whitney unleashed a powerful backhand, going to shelf on Rawlings making in 3-2 BC. As the period came to a close BC was rewarded with yet another power play and did not disappoint as they moved the puck out to point man Tommy Cross who then positioned himself on the half wall and fired a wrister short side top shelf beating the goaltender, and giving BC the 4-2 lead. It was Crosses 7th goal of the year as he is known more as a defensive presence for the Eagles. The Huskies have changed goaltenders for the third period as #31 Clay Witt is between the pipes.
Shots BC- 17 NU-14
Third Period and Final Review
Another penalty saddle period saw the Eagles nearly blow a 3 goal lead to the Northeastern Huskies. The Eagles were able to pull out to a 5-2 lead with about 12 minutes to play and from there it looked like BC was in the drivers seat. Turned out that wasn’t the case as the Eagles had some untimely penalties that saw them 2 men down for a solid 4 minutes in the 3rd period. If it weren’t for some very timely saves from Senior goaltender John Muse, the Eagles were looking at an overtime game or even worse a defeat with 3:34 to play. Northeastern took a chance and with a two-man advantage, they pulled their goalie giving them a 6 on 3 with an opportunity to pull within 2 goals. The risk paid off as the Huskies scored a quick goal from the point and pulled within 2 goals. The Eagles were victimized with another penalty and this gave the Huskies another powerplay chance. Northeastern scored another goal at 18:57 off the stick of Wade MacLeod, his second of the game, and it brought the Huskies within a goal with less than a minute to play in the game. John Muse made the biggest save of the game with 30 seconds to go with the help of Brian Gibbons in front of the net. Northeastern center Steve Silva had a clear shot at the net between the dots, and with a diving effort by Gibbons was able to alter the shot enough for Muse to get a shoulder on it and deflect it over the net. What turned out to be a great comeback by the Huskies was cut short and all momentum was lost when Braden Pimm was called for a slashing penalty at 19:47. Give credit where credit is due, and John Muse would have to be the star of the game. He was shorthanded most of the game and ended up facing 37 shots, stopping 33.
Boston College was able to hold on and advance to the Hockey East Final for the 13th time in 27-year history of the Hockey East. Boston College advances to tomorrow night and plays the eventual winner of #4 Merrimack and #2 New Hampshire.
NCAA Tournament Day 2 Recap
The "second" round of the NCAA Tournament is now complete, here is a look back at the day 2 events.
West Region
(4) Texas 84, (13) Oakland 81- Despite all the hype of how Oakland is an older team, who can make this upset happen, they simply could not get the job done. Keith Benson was tamed by Texas' Tristan Thompson, as the freshmen outplayed him by scoring 17 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. Jordan Hamilton led the longhorns with 19, while Reggie Hamilton led all scorers with 25 for the Golden Grizz.
(8) Michigan 75, (9) Tennessee 45- This may have been coach Bruce Pearl's last game as coach of the Vols. The distractions off the court may have been too much for Tennessee this year as they're roller coaster years comes to a crashing close. Five Wolverines scored in double digits, while only Tobias Harris scored above 6 points with 19.
(5) Arizona 77, (12) Memphis 75- Derrick Williams 22 and Lamont Jones's 18 leads Arizona past the feisty and young Memphis Tigers club. Despite a strong effort and speed by Will and Antonio Barton, Williams was able to block a last second shot to earn the victory in the West region.
(1) Duke 87, (16) Hampton 45- Kyrie Irving scored 14 in his return to the Duke rotation as they blow out Hampton. Seth Curry and Nolan Smith each had quiet afternoon's with 9 each, but the Blue Devils now go on.
Southwest Region
(2) Notre Dame 69, (15) Akron 56- Despite a poor shooting day for one of the Big East's elite players, Ben Hansbrough played a role like Kemba Walker did for UConn last night. He dished the ball and made the right decisions by trusting his teammates. Notre Dame's defense stifled the Zips as only one scorer reached doubled digits. Tim Abromaitis chipped in for Notre Dame with 14.
(10) Florida St 57, (7) Texas A+M 50- Florida State picks up there first tournament win since 1998, as the Seminoles pull off the upset. Derwin Kitchen led them with 15 points to go along with his 7 rebounds. Chris Singleton returned to the Florida State rotation, but struggled in the victory.
(1) Kansas 72, (16) Boston University 53- Boston University could not bring the first 16 seed to beat a 1 as we officially will have to wait another year to see if this can happen. The Morris brothers for Kansas combined for 31 points, while Brady Morningstar chipped in 13. Kansas will play the winner of UNLV/ILL.
(3) Purdue 65, (14) St. Peters 43- Despite a great run in the MAAC to get into the tournament, St. Peters never showed up for it. The experience of E'Twuan Moore and JaJuan Johnson was way too much, as Purdue continues strong tournament play stemming back to last year.
(9) Illinois 73, (8) UNLV 62- No more gambling for Las Vegas Nevada this year. Behind the strong play in the front court by Mike Davis, the Illini succeeds over UNLV. Davis scored 22, while Demetri Mcamey chipped in 17. Next for the Illini, a date with the Morris brothers and KANSAS.
(11) VCU 74, (6) Georgetown 56- VCU deserved to be in the tournament after all. VCU defeats another Big East representative, as Georgetown could not find theyre offense even with guard Chris Wright in the lineup. VCU moves on.
East Region
(8) George Mason 61, (9) Villanova 57- George Mason ends the game on an 13-3 run, as they make the statement that they are back in the NCAA Tournament for a reason. Villanova's season ends in the free fall as they lose their last 6 games of the season. This game was a tale of two halves, as Nova seemed to be rolling in the first half with Corey x2 (Fisher and Stokes) were hitting every shot it seemed like. In the second half they were absent, meaning Villanova goes back to Philadelphia empty handed.
(1) Ohio State 75, (16) UT San Antonio 46- Ohio State dominated through and through. William Buford scored 18 in the winning effort, while Jared Sullinger missed a double double by one rebound (11 points 9 rebounds).
(2) North Carolina 102, (15) Long Island 87- Despite Carolina having the lead the majority of the game, Long Island gave a great fight in this 2/15 match up. Three North Carolina players scored over 20 points in the win (Tyler Zeller 32, John Henson 28, Harrison Barnes 24). For Long Island, Julian Boyd scored 18 points in the losing effort.
(11)Marquette 66, (6) Xavier 55- Marquette makes a statement in this game, as they hold a large lead most of the way. Holding Tu Holloway to 5 points, Marquette played a solid game, and showed the rest of the tournament how good their defense can be. Darius Johnson-Odom scores 19 in the winning effort.
(7) Washington 68, (10) Georgia 65- Despite a very late run by Georgia, Washington continues to fuel the engine as they defeat the Bulldogs. Washington finally wins a tournament game in the state of North Carolina. Bench scoring was a major factor as Georgia did not have a player score off the bench, while Washington dialed in 27. Isiah Thomas stole the show again with 19 points and 7 assists.
(4) Syracuse 77, (14) Indiana State 60- Rick Jackson played like a NBA type front court player tonight in the winning effort. Indiana St stood tall for a while, giving Cuse a run for their money, but the Orange were too much. Syracuse will go on to play fellow Big East rival Marquette in the next round.
Check back tomorrow for a recap on Saturday's action.
West Region
(4) Texas 84, (13) Oakland 81- Despite all the hype of how Oakland is an older team, who can make this upset happen, they simply could not get the job done. Keith Benson was tamed by Texas' Tristan Thompson, as the freshmen outplayed him by scoring 17 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. Jordan Hamilton led the longhorns with 19, while Reggie Hamilton led all scorers with 25 for the Golden Grizz.
(8) Michigan 75, (9) Tennessee 45- This may have been coach Bruce Pearl's last game as coach of the Vols. The distractions off the court may have been too much for Tennessee this year as they're roller coaster years comes to a crashing close. Five Wolverines scored in double digits, while only Tobias Harris scored above 6 points with 19.
(5) Arizona 77, (12) Memphis 75- Derrick Williams 22 and Lamont Jones's 18 leads Arizona past the feisty and young Memphis Tigers club. Despite a strong effort and speed by Will and Antonio Barton, Williams was able to block a last second shot to earn the victory in the West region.
(1) Duke 87, (16) Hampton 45- Kyrie Irving scored 14 in his return to the Duke rotation as they blow out Hampton. Seth Curry and Nolan Smith each had quiet afternoon's with 9 each, but the Blue Devils now go on.
Southwest Region
(2) Notre Dame 69, (15) Akron 56- Despite a poor shooting day for one of the Big East's elite players, Ben Hansbrough played a role like Kemba Walker did for UConn last night. He dished the ball and made the right decisions by trusting his teammates. Notre Dame's defense stifled the Zips as only one scorer reached doubled digits. Tim Abromaitis chipped in for Notre Dame with 14.
(10) Florida St 57, (7) Texas A+M 50- Florida State picks up there first tournament win since 1998, as the Seminoles pull off the upset. Derwin Kitchen led them with 15 points to go along with his 7 rebounds. Chris Singleton returned to the Florida State rotation, but struggled in the victory.
(1) Kansas 72, (16) Boston University 53- Boston University could not bring the first 16 seed to beat a 1 as we officially will have to wait another year to see if this can happen. The Morris brothers for Kansas combined for 31 points, while Brady Morningstar chipped in 13. Kansas will play the winner of UNLV/ILL.
(3) Purdue 65, (14) St. Peters 43- Despite a great run in the MAAC to get into the tournament, St. Peters never showed up for it. The experience of E'Twuan Moore and JaJuan Johnson was way too much, as Purdue continues strong tournament play stemming back to last year.
(9) Illinois 73, (8) UNLV 62- No more gambling for Las Vegas Nevada this year. Behind the strong play in the front court by Mike Davis, the Illini succeeds over UNLV. Davis scored 22, while Demetri Mcamey chipped in 17. Next for the Illini, a date with the Morris brothers and KANSAS.
(11) VCU 74, (6) Georgetown 56- VCU deserved to be in the tournament after all. VCU defeats another Big East representative, as Georgetown could not find theyre offense even with guard Chris Wright in the lineup. VCU moves on.
East Region
(8) George Mason 61, (9) Villanova 57- George Mason ends the game on an 13-3 run, as they make the statement that they are back in the NCAA Tournament for a reason. Villanova's season ends in the free fall as they lose their last 6 games of the season. This game was a tale of two halves, as Nova seemed to be rolling in the first half with Corey x2 (Fisher and Stokes) were hitting every shot it seemed like. In the second half they were absent, meaning Villanova goes back to Philadelphia empty handed.
(1) Ohio State 75, (16) UT San Antonio 46- Ohio State dominated through and through. William Buford scored 18 in the winning effort, while Jared Sullinger missed a double double by one rebound (11 points 9 rebounds).
(2) North Carolina 102, (15) Long Island 87- Despite Carolina having the lead the majority of the game, Long Island gave a great fight in this 2/15 match up. Three North Carolina players scored over 20 points in the win (Tyler Zeller 32, John Henson 28, Harrison Barnes 24). For Long Island, Julian Boyd scored 18 points in the losing effort.
(11)Marquette 66, (6) Xavier 55- Marquette makes a statement in this game, as they hold a large lead most of the way. Holding Tu Holloway to 5 points, Marquette played a solid game, and showed the rest of the tournament how good their defense can be. Darius Johnson-Odom scores 19 in the winning effort.
(7) Washington 68, (10) Georgia 65- Despite a very late run by Georgia, Washington continues to fuel the engine as they defeat the Bulldogs. Washington finally wins a tournament game in the state of North Carolina. Bench scoring was a major factor as Georgia did not have a player score off the bench, while Washington dialed in 27. Isiah Thomas stole the show again with 19 points and 7 assists.
(4) Syracuse 77, (14) Indiana State 60- Rick Jackson played like a NBA type front court player tonight in the winning effort. Indiana St stood tall for a while, giving Cuse a run for their money, but the Orange were too much. Syracuse will go on to play fellow Big East rival Marquette in the next round.
Check back tomorrow for a recap on Saturday's action.
NCAA Tournament Day 1 Recap
Here is a recap of all of day one's action in the NCAA Tournament.
East Region
(5) West Virginia 84, (12) Clemson 76- Despite a strong game overall put together by Clemson, Mazzula and Co. were too much to handle. It seemed like the short time between the first round and second round was too much for Clemson, as they ran out of gas in the second half.
(4) Kentucky 59, (13) Princeton 57- Freshmen Brandon Knight was the hero as he hit a running layup with less then 3 seconds to go in the ball game. Princeton stuck with, and even were leading the Wildcats during points of this game. Kentucky will move on, while the IVY League will be sent home packing early again. Kentucky will face West Virginia in the next round.
West Region
(6) Cinncinnati 78, (11) Missouri 63- Despite a slow start from the field, the Bearcats open up this game behind Yancy Gates 18 points. Cincy also shot 52% from the floor which is impressive on any night, let alone a tournament game.
(3) UConn 81, (14) Bucknell 52-Kemba Walker and Connecticut continue to roll, as they started hot from the field and stayed hot. The Patriot League winner played there worst game of the year, and for that they will go home. The Big East will battle again in the next round as Cinncinnati will face UConn.
(7) Temple 66, (10) Penn St 64- In one of the wilder endings of the day Juan Fernandez hits the game winning jumpshot with minimal time remaining. The possession before that saw star Talor Battle hit a deep three to tie the game. Fernandez and Battle scored 23 points each, while Ramone Moore so Temple also bucketed 23.
(2) San Diego State 68, (15) Northern Colorado 50- It was never a game as SDSU continues there hot streak, and gains there first tournament win. Kawhi Leonard led with 21, and San Diego State will now go on to play Temple Saturday.
Southwest Region
(12) Richmond 69, (5) Vanderbilt 66- Kevin Anderson scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half as Richmond continued to roll after winning the Atlantic 10 tournament to get into the Big Dance. Jenkins and Ezeli both scored 21 points for Vanderbilt.
(13) Morehead St 62, (4) Louisville 61- Morehead State shocked the world by going for the win in the final seconds by taking a three point shot, and then shocked the universe when Demonte Harper hit it. Morehead State wins the shocker of the day as they down one of the Big East elite, and send Pitino and the Cardinals packing. Morehead St will now move on to face Richmond in the battle of the underdogs.
Southeast Region
(1) Pittsburgh 74, (16) UNC ASHEVILLE 51- Simple recap here. The only number one seed to play on Thursday dominated on Thursday.
(8) Butler 60, (9) Old Dominion 58- Who said Cinderella can't come by twice. Well the tournament started in Cinderella format as Matt Howard beats the buzzer with a layup. Butler showed why senior leadership, and teammate basketball succeeds over talent. Butler will go on to play Pittsburgh in the next round.
(5) Kansas State 73 (12) Utah State 68- Despite a second half comeback by Utah State, Kansas Sate wins this game and advances. Jacob Pullen scores 22 for KSU.
(4) Wisconsin 72, (13) Belmont 58- Coming into the tournament the consensus upset seemed to be that Belmont would prevail. Wisconsin had something to say about that though. Jon Leuer scored 22, while star Jordan Taylor goes for 21. Belmont will go home, while Wisconsin will face off against KSU next.
(11) Gonzaga 86, (6) St. John's 71- St. John's was exposed on the biggest stage. They could not run or shoot with Gonzaga's athletic lineup. They could not be the giant killer away from Madison Square Garden. The absence of DJ Kennedy made a difference. Gonzaga proves again to be a tournament team. As for St. John's look for a brand new team as most of the Red Storm is headed for graduation in the spring.
(3) BYU 74, (14) Wofford 66- Despite a strong effort by Woff, it was Jimmer time again. 32 points later all you can say is JIMMER JIMMER JIMMER.
(7) UCLA 78, (10) Michigan State 76- Despite a heroic type comeback by Tom Izzo's crew, UCLA finishes a well played game and defeats Mich St. UCLA hit on all cylinders and held Kalin Lucas to 4-14 shooting.
(2) Florida 79, (15) UCSB 51- From start to finish Florida played with a chip on their shoulder. After being granted with a number 2 seed last Sunday, all the critics (including myself) said they did not deserve it. I'm not saying yet that they do, but this is the correct step in the right direction.
East Region
(5) West Virginia 84, (12) Clemson 76- Despite a strong game overall put together by Clemson, Mazzula and Co. were too much to handle. It seemed like the short time between the first round and second round was too much for Clemson, as they ran out of gas in the second half.
(4) Kentucky 59, (13) Princeton 57- Freshmen Brandon Knight was the hero as he hit a running layup with less then 3 seconds to go in the ball game. Princeton stuck with, and even were leading the Wildcats during points of this game. Kentucky will move on, while the IVY League will be sent home packing early again. Kentucky will face West Virginia in the next round.
West Region
(6) Cinncinnati 78, (11) Missouri 63- Despite a slow start from the field, the Bearcats open up this game behind Yancy Gates 18 points. Cincy also shot 52% from the floor which is impressive on any night, let alone a tournament game.
(3) UConn 81, (14) Bucknell 52-Kemba Walker and Connecticut continue to roll, as they started hot from the field and stayed hot. The Patriot League winner played there worst game of the year, and for that they will go home. The Big East will battle again in the next round as Cinncinnati will face UConn.
(7) Temple 66, (10) Penn St 64- In one of the wilder endings of the day Juan Fernandez hits the game winning jumpshot with minimal time remaining. The possession before that saw star Talor Battle hit a deep three to tie the game. Fernandez and Battle scored 23 points each, while Ramone Moore so Temple also bucketed 23.
(2) San Diego State 68, (15) Northern Colorado 50- It was never a game as SDSU continues there hot streak, and gains there first tournament win. Kawhi Leonard led with 21, and San Diego State will now go on to play Temple Saturday.
Southwest Region
(12) Richmond 69, (5) Vanderbilt 66- Kevin Anderson scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half as Richmond continued to roll after winning the Atlantic 10 tournament to get into the Big Dance. Jenkins and Ezeli both scored 21 points for Vanderbilt.
(13) Morehead St 62, (4) Louisville 61- Morehead State shocked the world by going for the win in the final seconds by taking a three point shot, and then shocked the universe when Demonte Harper hit it. Morehead State wins the shocker of the day as they down one of the Big East elite, and send Pitino and the Cardinals packing. Morehead St will now move on to face Richmond in the battle of the underdogs.
Southeast Region
(1) Pittsburgh 74, (16) UNC ASHEVILLE 51- Simple recap here. The only number one seed to play on Thursday dominated on Thursday.
(8) Butler 60, (9) Old Dominion 58- Who said Cinderella can't come by twice. Well the tournament started in Cinderella format as Matt Howard beats the buzzer with a layup. Butler showed why senior leadership, and teammate basketball succeeds over talent. Butler will go on to play Pittsburgh in the next round.
(5) Kansas State 73 (12) Utah State 68- Despite a second half comeback by Utah State, Kansas Sate wins this game and advances. Jacob Pullen scores 22 for KSU.
(4) Wisconsin 72, (13) Belmont 58- Coming into the tournament the consensus upset seemed to be that Belmont would prevail. Wisconsin had something to say about that though. Jon Leuer scored 22, while star Jordan Taylor goes for 21. Belmont will go home, while Wisconsin will face off against KSU next.
(11) Gonzaga 86, (6) St. John's 71- St. John's was exposed on the biggest stage. They could not run or shoot with Gonzaga's athletic lineup. They could not be the giant killer away from Madison Square Garden. The absence of DJ Kennedy made a difference. Gonzaga proves again to be a tournament team. As for St. John's look for a brand new team as most of the Red Storm is headed for graduation in the spring.
(3) BYU 74, (14) Wofford 66- Despite a strong effort by Woff, it was Jimmer time again. 32 points later all you can say is JIMMER JIMMER JIMMER.
(7) UCLA 78, (10) Michigan State 76- Despite a heroic type comeback by Tom Izzo's crew, UCLA finishes a well played game and defeats Mich St. UCLA hit on all cylinders and held Kalin Lucas to 4-14 shooting.
(2) Florida 79, (15) UCSB 51- From start to finish Florida played with a chip on their shoulder. After being granted with a number 2 seed last Sunday, all the critics (including myself) said they did not deserve it. I'm not saying yet that they do, but this is the correct step in the right direction.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Full 2011 NCAA Men's Tournament Bracket Analysis
In a year where there has been no clear cut number one, the NCAA Tournament is full of question marks and may be the hardest bracket to ever fill out. Here is a region by region analysis of this years tournament.
East- Although the number one overall seed in the entire tournament, Ohio State faces the toughest road to the Final Four. This region is filled with teams that can compete and ones with experience as well. Starting at the top half, Ohio State will win their first round game, but then must face either a George Mason team which could be the sleeper team of the tournament, or a Villanova ball club which will be playing with a chip on their shoulder after losing on day one of the Big East Tournament. Not the ideal spot for the Buckeyes being number one overall. Below those you have (5)West Virginia playing the play in game between UAB/Clemson. For notes wise, UAB does not deserve to be even mentioned, as they do not deserve to be in the tournament. If Clemson defeats this pretender then you may smell the 12 defeating the 5 there. Then you have Calipari's Kentucky taking on Princeton, which mine as well be a wash. Expect a Kentucky/Ohio State match up in the regional semi final (Sweet 16). For Ohio State, their Sweet 16 may be easier then there second round game. On the lower of this bracket is where the competition gets heavy. In the 6/11 game Xavier, out of the A 10, will play Marquette, out of the Big East. Xavier is a tournament accomplished team led by Tu Holloway, the Atlantic 10 player if the year. They are a feisty bunch that can make some noise, but Marquette is as good as anyone when hitting on all cylinders. Syracuse is not worth mentioning yet, as they will run Indiana State out of the arena. Then you have the 7/10 of Washington who defeated Arizona at the buzzer of the PAC 10, going against Georgia, another bubble team who never got busted. Georgia arguably should not be in based on losing to Alabama twice. This will be a great competitive match up, but Isiah Thomas and the Huskies will prevail and are good enough to get to the regional semi's as a 7 seed. The two seed is North Carolina, who just proved their flaws in the ACC Championship. If Harrison Barnes takes too many jump shots, and does not drive the lane, then Washington can pull of the upset in the second round. The reason why the East is the toughest based on the quality of the middle seeds and the potential of the 2-4 seeds. Without a shadow of a doubt Ohio State will face tough game after tough game, but if they are the best team in the nation like people say, then Ohio State will go into the Final Four.
West- Underneath the East region is what I like to call, the "reward," region. The West region is the region is one of the easier ones, but also the one that holds the easiest road to the regionals. It is the reward conference for the following teams, (1)Duke, (3)UConn, and (2)San Diego State. Duke was rewarded a one seed because they won the ACC, they also got an easy road to the regional as their hardest possible opponent may be the Volunteers of Tennessee, who are the 9 seed. San Diego State may be the unknown in the field as they have the most road wins, and have only lost twice all year. Due to their body of work, San Diego State was rewarded with the 2 seed. For all the UConn fans crying about not getting a 2 seed...SHUT IT! The road to the regional is an easier road then any other team in the ENTIRE tournament. It is deserved as they won five games to win their conference tournament, but if you are complaining about not getting a 2, then you are nuts. UConn will win their first round game against Bucknell, and then have the chance to play Cincinnati, who would be a conference opponent, who is not as good as years past. If this regional final (Elite 8) is not Duke against UConn, I will be shocked. I believe the committee set this up because of the media dream it will be. Two of the biggest Basketball programs of all time. Not to mention Kemba Walker going against Nolan Smith will be quite the show in the West.
Southeast- The southeast is even weaker then the West. I will say the same thing everyone else is, how does Florida get a 2 seed?!? This is a travesty, and quite frankly the worst part of this bracket. Florida played a great season but not this great. If you look at the bottom of the Southeast, the favorite to get to the elite 8 may be St. John's who is the 6 seed. If St. John's can defeat Gonzaga in round one then they can get to the Elite 8, even with the injury to DJ Kennedy. St. John's has been the giant killers this season, as they have defeated most of the top Big East clubs, as well as Duke who is the number one seed out West. Up top, Pittsburgh can walk their way to the Elite 8, as they will have opponents who are all Cinderellas and have huge question marks. Butler is not as good as last year, despite still having Matt Howard. Old Dominion does not play competition all year. Kansas State's hype is all because they can beat Kansas once. Please remember this is a team who lost to Colorado THREE TIMES! Colorado, another huge snub. Wisconsin is beatable to say the least. The only worry may be the 14 seed Belmont, as they have all the tools to be the Cinderella of the tournament, and the team that can make noise, that is not from a power conference. Pittsburgh has a walk, and may be playing a revenge game against their Big East foe St. John's for a spot in the final four.
Southwest- This region is the one with the most consistent 1-4 seeds. The one seed is Kansas, who plays team basketball, and has a legitimate chance at winning this whole thing. Notre Dame is the two seed, who has had a magical unexpected season can shoot with any team in the nation, but will be exposed by strong athletic good defensive teams. The three is Purdue, who just missed its chance last season, and will be out for blood this time around. Louisville is another strong Big East team, who is full of talented guards and strong big men. When playing well Louisville can make a statement as the best in the Big East. This may be the region where you see 1-4 seeds make it to there regional. The only mid seed that can make noise is Georgetown, if their point guard and leader Chris Wright returns from his broken left hand. In the actual regional though, Purdue may have the best shot at defeating mighty Kansas.
Here are some final thoughts and things to watch for when watching this year's tournament:
Easiest roads to regional: UConn, Pittsburgh
Cinderella watch: Belmont
Mid-level seeds (5-10) with a chance at Final Four: Washington, St. John's, Xavier
Weakest 1 seed: Pittsburgh (if exposed)
Weakest 2 seed: Florida
Most Vulnerable: Notre Dame, Marquette (if they do not shoot well)
Too much hype: Kansas State, BYU
Biggest Snub: Colorado and Virginia Tech
Biggest Gift: UAB
12 seeds most likely to upset a 5: Richmond, Clemson(if they win play in game)
Will a 16 defeat a 1 this year: NO
Match up to watch: Nolan Smith, Duke vs Kemba Walker, UConn
Team with most to prove: Villanova, UAB, Florida
East- Although the number one overall seed in the entire tournament, Ohio State faces the toughest road to the Final Four. This region is filled with teams that can compete and ones with experience as well. Starting at the top half, Ohio State will win their first round game, but then must face either a George Mason team which could be the sleeper team of the tournament, or a Villanova ball club which will be playing with a chip on their shoulder after losing on day one of the Big East Tournament. Not the ideal spot for the Buckeyes being number one overall. Below those you have (5)West Virginia playing the play in game between UAB/Clemson. For notes wise, UAB does not deserve to be even mentioned, as they do not deserve to be in the tournament. If Clemson defeats this pretender then you may smell the 12 defeating the 5 there. Then you have Calipari's Kentucky taking on Princeton, which mine as well be a wash. Expect a Kentucky/Ohio State match up in the regional semi final (Sweet 16). For Ohio State, their Sweet 16 may be easier then there second round game. On the lower of this bracket is where the competition gets heavy. In the 6/11 game Xavier, out of the A 10, will play Marquette, out of the Big East. Xavier is a tournament accomplished team led by Tu Holloway, the Atlantic 10 player if the year. They are a feisty bunch that can make some noise, but Marquette is as good as anyone when hitting on all cylinders. Syracuse is not worth mentioning yet, as they will run Indiana State out of the arena. Then you have the 7/10 of Washington who defeated Arizona at the buzzer of the PAC 10, going against Georgia, another bubble team who never got busted. Georgia arguably should not be in based on losing to Alabama twice. This will be a great competitive match up, but Isiah Thomas and the Huskies will prevail and are good enough to get to the regional semi's as a 7 seed. The two seed is North Carolina, who just proved their flaws in the ACC Championship. If Harrison Barnes takes too many jump shots, and does not drive the lane, then Washington can pull of the upset in the second round. The reason why the East is the toughest based on the quality of the middle seeds and the potential of the 2-4 seeds. Without a shadow of a doubt Ohio State will face tough game after tough game, but if they are the best team in the nation like people say, then Ohio State will go into the Final Four.
West- Underneath the East region is what I like to call, the "reward," region. The West region is the region is one of the easier ones, but also the one that holds the easiest road to the regionals. It is the reward conference for the following teams, (1)Duke, (3)UConn, and (2)San Diego State. Duke was rewarded a one seed because they won the ACC, they also got an easy road to the regional as their hardest possible opponent may be the Volunteers of Tennessee, who are the 9 seed. San Diego State may be the unknown in the field as they have the most road wins, and have only lost twice all year. Due to their body of work, San Diego State was rewarded with the 2 seed. For all the UConn fans crying about not getting a 2 seed...SHUT IT! The road to the regional is an easier road then any other team in the ENTIRE tournament. It is deserved as they won five games to win their conference tournament, but if you are complaining about not getting a 2, then you are nuts. UConn will win their first round game against Bucknell, and then have the chance to play Cincinnati, who would be a conference opponent, who is not as good as years past. If this regional final (Elite 8) is not Duke against UConn, I will be shocked. I believe the committee set this up because of the media dream it will be. Two of the biggest Basketball programs of all time. Not to mention Kemba Walker going against Nolan Smith will be quite the show in the West.
Southeast- The southeast is even weaker then the West. I will say the same thing everyone else is, how does Florida get a 2 seed?!? This is a travesty, and quite frankly the worst part of this bracket. Florida played a great season but not this great. If you look at the bottom of the Southeast, the favorite to get to the elite 8 may be St. John's who is the 6 seed. If St. John's can defeat Gonzaga in round one then they can get to the Elite 8, even with the injury to DJ Kennedy. St. John's has been the giant killers this season, as they have defeated most of the top Big East clubs, as well as Duke who is the number one seed out West. Up top, Pittsburgh can walk their way to the Elite 8, as they will have opponents who are all Cinderellas and have huge question marks. Butler is not as good as last year, despite still having Matt Howard. Old Dominion does not play competition all year. Kansas State's hype is all because they can beat Kansas once. Please remember this is a team who lost to Colorado THREE TIMES! Colorado, another huge snub. Wisconsin is beatable to say the least. The only worry may be the 14 seed Belmont, as they have all the tools to be the Cinderella of the tournament, and the team that can make noise, that is not from a power conference. Pittsburgh has a walk, and may be playing a revenge game against their Big East foe St. John's for a spot in the final four.
Southwest- This region is the one with the most consistent 1-4 seeds. The one seed is Kansas, who plays team basketball, and has a legitimate chance at winning this whole thing. Notre Dame is the two seed, who has had a magical unexpected season can shoot with any team in the nation, but will be exposed by strong athletic good defensive teams. The three is Purdue, who just missed its chance last season, and will be out for blood this time around. Louisville is another strong Big East team, who is full of talented guards and strong big men. When playing well Louisville can make a statement as the best in the Big East. This may be the region where you see 1-4 seeds make it to there regional. The only mid seed that can make noise is Georgetown, if their point guard and leader Chris Wright returns from his broken left hand. In the actual regional though, Purdue may have the best shot at defeating mighty Kansas.
Here are some final thoughts and things to watch for when watching this year's tournament:
Easiest roads to regional: UConn, Pittsburgh
Cinderella watch: Belmont
Mid-level seeds (5-10) with a chance at Final Four: Washington, St. John's, Xavier
Weakest 1 seed: Pittsburgh (if exposed)
Weakest 2 seed: Florida
Most Vulnerable: Notre Dame, Marquette (if they do not shoot well)
Too much hype: Kansas State, BYU
Biggest Snub: Colorado and Virginia Tech
Biggest Gift: UAB
12 seeds most likely to upset a 5: Richmond, Clemson(if they win play in game)
Will a 16 defeat a 1 this year: NO
Match up to watch: Nolan Smith, Duke vs Kemba Walker, UConn
Team with most to prove: Villanova, UAB, Florida
Monday, March 7, 2011
Gaels to play in MAAC Chamionship after defeating Broncs
This game was touted to be a tight match-up between #2 Iona and # Rider as both teams were riding decent winning streaks coming into the game. The Gaels from Iona were coming in on a eight game winning streak, led by Junior Guard Mike Glover who averages 18.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg. The Broncs from Rider were on a six game winning streak and have three starters averaging double digits points per game. I fully anticipated a close game between the two, but the excellent three point shooting from Iona made it too difficult for Rider to keep up.
From the opening tip-off of the game through the first ten minutes or so, it was a quick paced, back and forth type game. Teams were scoring on both ends with great ball movement and even better shooting. Guard Rashon Dwight from Iona started his day by shooting 4-4 from behind the arc and 5-6 from the field. Rider was able to keep up in the first half due to the guard play of Justin Robinson. Robinson was the floor general for this Broncs team and keep his team floating above water even when it seemed like Iona could not miss a shot. Robinson scored 14 points in the first half and his team only trailed by 8 at the end of the first half.
When the 2nd half got underway, it was more of the same story from the first half as Iona keep shooting from three point land and could not miss. The Gaels finished the day shooting 14-28 (50%) from behind the arc. The other big story that gets overlooked in this game because of the spectacular shooting was the fact that Iona did an outstanding job rebounding. The Gaels out rebounded the Broncs 40-23 by the end of the game. The final score was 83-59 and now the Gaels are one game away from winning the MAAC Conference Championship and one game away from punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Check out the game tonight at 7PM on ESPN2 as #2 Iona will face #4 Saint Peters
From the opening tip-off of the game through the first ten minutes or so, it was a quick paced, back and forth type game. Teams were scoring on both ends with great ball movement and even better shooting. Guard Rashon Dwight from Iona started his day by shooting 4-4 from behind the arc and 5-6 from the field. Rider was able to keep up in the first half due to the guard play of Justin Robinson. Robinson was the floor general for this Broncs team and keep his team floating above water even when it seemed like Iona could not miss a shot. Robinson scored 14 points in the first half and his team only trailed by 8 at the end of the first half.
When the 2nd half got underway, it was more of the same story from the first half as Iona keep shooting from three point land and could not miss. The Gaels finished the day shooting 14-28 (50%) from behind the arc. The other big story that gets overlooked in this game because of the spectacular shooting was the fact that Iona did an outstanding job rebounding. The Gaels out rebounded the Broncs 40-23 by the end of the game. The final score was 83-59 and now the Gaels are one game away from winning the MAAC Conference Championship and one game away from punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Check out the game tonight at 7PM on ESPN2 as #2 Iona will face #4 Saint Peters
Upset at Harbor Yard as Stags fall to Peacocks
Coming into Sunday's semi-final match-up of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's basketball Tournament, the #1 seeded Fairfield University Stags were taking on #4 seeded Saint Peters College Peacocks at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard, home of the Stags.
The pregame atmosphere was electric as most of the stands looked like a sea of red, full of supporters for their hometown team. The crowds excitement disappeared shortly after tip-off as the first half belong to the Peacocks. The Peacocks entered Sunday's game with the 2nd best scoring defense in the conference (60.4 ppg) right behind the Stags and made a statement early that they were a team to be reckoned with. The Peacocks defense out rebounded the Stags for the majority of the first half while forcing turnovers and scoring in transition. The Stags could not really recover and keep up with the fast paced tempo that the Peacocks were playing at and before they knew it, the Stags went into the locker room trailing 40-15.
With the anticipation of the 2nd half looming, the crowd grew anxious as they were awaiting their hometown Stags to take the floor for the warm-ups before the game commenced again. Coach Ed Cooley of the Stags must have gave one hell of a halftime speech as his team came out of the locker room as a unit with less than two minutes before the 2nd half started. The Stags looked as if they had found their swagger and confidence in the locker room because they went on a remarkable run in the beginning of the 2nd half.
The Stags opened the half with a 13-0 run through the first six minutes and brought themselves back within striking distance. Led by Colin Nickerson on defense, the Stags forced seven quick turnovers and scored on most of those turnovers. Listening to the crowd during the better portion of the 2nd half, they were cheering for every rebound, every blocked shot by Ryan Olander, and especially every basket scored in transition. Even Coach Cooley during timeouts would walk out onto the floor waving his arms in the air to try and get the fans to be louder. The crowd was so loud and into the game, I caught myself fist pumping for the Stags as well. To say that the crowd was electric at this point during the 13-0 run, would be an understatement. But the game was still far from over.
The next six minutes rolled by and the Stags had held the Peacocks to two points in the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half. That defensive effort showed why they were #1 in scoring defense for the conference (57.7 ppg). The Stags had climbed back to within six points of tying the game, but that was as close as they were going to get. The Peacocks found some rhythm offensively and scored enough points to keep the Stags at bay. Once the lead was back to double digits, the Stags became complacent and started shooting three pointers.
The final score of the game was 62-48 in favor the Saint Peters College Peacocks. Four players scored in double digits for the Peacocks as the Stags were led by Yorel Hawkins, who finished with 17 points. It was a truly exciting game to watch, but the first half deficit proved to be just too much for the Stags to overcome. The Peacocks move on to play in the MAAC Championship game Monday night at 7PM. The Stags season looks to be over as their NCAA tournament resume does not seem strong enough to get them in.
The pregame atmosphere was electric as most of the stands looked like a sea of red, full of supporters for their hometown team. The crowds excitement disappeared shortly after tip-off as the first half belong to the Peacocks. The Peacocks entered Sunday's game with the 2nd best scoring defense in the conference (60.4 ppg) right behind the Stags and made a statement early that they were a team to be reckoned with. The Peacocks defense out rebounded the Stags for the majority of the first half while forcing turnovers and scoring in transition. The Stags could not really recover and keep up with the fast paced tempo that the Peacocks were playing at and before they knew it, the Stags went into the locker room trailing 40-15.
With the anticipation of the 2nd half looming, the crowd grew anxious as they were awaiting their hometown Stags to take the floor for the warm-ups before the game commenced again. Coach Ed Cooley of the Stags must have gave one hell of a halftime speech as his team came out of the locker room as a unit with less than two minutes before the 2nd half started. The Stags looked as if they had found their swagger and confidence in the locker room because they went on a remarkable run in the beginning of the 2nd half.
The Stags opened the half with a 13-0 run through the first six minutes and brought themselves back within striking distance. Led by Colin Nickerson on defense, the Stags forced seven quick turnovers and scored on most of those turnovers. Listening to the crowd during the better portion of the 2nd half, they were cheering for every rebound, every blocked shot by Ryan Olander, and especially every basket scored in transition. Even Coach Cooley during timeouts would walk out onto the floor waving his arms in the air to try and get the fans to be louder. The crowd was so loud and into the game, I caught myself fist pumping for the Stags as well. To say that the crowd was electric at this point during the 13-0 run, would be an understatement. But the game was still far from over.
The next six minutes rolled by and the Stags had held the Peacocks to two points in the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half. That defensive effort showed why they were #1 in scoring defense for the conference (57.7 ppg). The Stags had climbed back to within six points of tying the game, but that was as close as they were going to get. The Peacocks found some rhythm offensively and scored enough points to keep the Stags at bay. Once the lead was back to double digits, the Stags became complacent and started shooting three pointers.
The final score of the game was 62-48 in favor the Saint Peters College Peacocks. Four players scored in double digits for the Peacocks as the Stags were led by Yorel Hawkins, who finished with 17 points. It was a truly exciting game to watch, but the first half deficit proved to be just too much for the Stags to overcome. The Peacocks move on to play in the MAAC Championship game Monday night at 7PM. The Stags season looks to be over as their NCAA tournament resume does not seem strong enough to get them in.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Venue Review: Dana Athletic Center
The Dana Athletic Center is the current home for Bentley University's basketball teams. Both the men and women's programs have held this home court since 1973. It is also the home of the woman's volleyball team. This court has seen many recent big time games, such as a nationally televised contest between two Division II rivals, Franklin Pierce and Bentley, to go along with being the host of the 2011 Northeast 10 Conference Championships in basketball. For a Division II program, this basketball venue is as good as it gets. The stands are filled with all plastic blue bleachers, which go all around the court. When you walk in there is so much blue that it seems like you are in a wave. The arena itself holds over 3,400 people in max capacity. It also holds the college/professional feel in the sense that all the records and accolades in the athletic programs are in the rafters above. During the game in a high tense situation you could really think it was the home of a Division I program. The court and venue itself is not the only aspect to write home about. Right outside the court, Bentley University has put the athletic training facility (gym) which has state of the art equipment and a small food court for students and faculty as well. Bentley University has a lot of great fields, but the Dana Center itself may be the cream of the crop.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Kevin Gledhill's Trading Deadline Winners
Winners:
Los Angeles Kings
The LA Kings have long been searching for the key to piece to an offense that has been stagnant in the past. This summer they fought long and hard for the rights to Ilya Kovalchuck but were a few years apart and some $25 million apart in discussions. Having an off and on season up to the February 28th trading deadline, GM Dean Lombardi found the big bodied forward he has long desired. Lombardi signed off on a trade that saw him giving away D Colten Teubert, a highly touted big man on the blue line, along with a 2011 first-round pick and a 2012 conditional third round pick. In exchange for this package he got back a 6-4 power forward in the presence of RW Dustin Penner.
Penner finds a new home in Los Angeles, and moving on from the worst team in the NHL in the Edmonton Oilers. Penner brings the Kings a big body power forward with scoring touch which is very hard to find in the new NHL. With the Kings being locked in a playoff spot battle, 8 teams find themselves find themselves 5 points apart in the Western Conference. All spots ranging from the 4th seed all the way to 11th. Lombardi knew he had to make a move to spark his team. The team had long been connected in trade talks with the Dallas Stars for C Brad Richards, but with concussion concerns and a steep asking price, Lombardi pounced on the package to get Penner.
Penner should fit in nicely with his new team. A former Stanley Cup winner with the Anaheim Ducks, he will be on the top line centered by All-Star Anze Kopitar and flanked on the left wing by Ryan Smyth. This is a potentially deadly top line, all players capable of playing the body just as easy as they can cycle the puck and score plenty of goals. Look for the Kings to make a run in the playoffs with strong goaltending from UMass grad Jonathan Quick and a deep core of forward talent.
Washington Capitals
GM George McPhee had to make moves regardless of how big or small they were. The Capitals have been in the playoff race all season, but inconsistent play has haunted their success all season. Poor defense and shaky goaltending do not normally balance out astronomical offense, hence why the Capitals currently sit in the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The team was in dire need of a shake-up and McPhee delivered.
A few days before the deadline, the Capitals claimed RW Marco Sturm off of waivers from the Los Angeles Kings. He is not an All-Star winger by any means, but he provides a veteran body on a relatively young Capitals squad. A third line winger at best, Sturm will provide scoring depth and add veteran leadership when the playoff season rolls around.
The Capitals also added two more veterans in C Jason Arnott from the New Jersey Devils and D Dennis Wideman from the Florida Panthers. Both of these players have been underachieving so far this season and the Caps them got them for cheap. Arnott has been around for quite sometime and has the ability to help on the power play and in all three zone of the ice. A lifetime +/- of 65 is evidence of his three zone play and offensive prowess. Arnott will step onto the third line most likely with Sturm, and could also pivot on the second power play team. The other addition of Dennis Wideman will give an instant boost to the power play. Wideman leads the NHL in power play goals this season with 8 and has 11 assists to go along with the goals. He is a very capable puck moving defensemen, who at times has trouble with his defense.
These three main additions will add a definite boost to the Capitals who look to catch the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Southeast Division, only trailing the by 5 points with 19 games to play.
Boston Bruins
At this point it seems like it has been 2 years since the Tomas Kaberle to the Boston Bruins rumors first started. Now those rumors can be put to rest. The Bruins finally got their puck moving defensemen that their team desperately needed. The failed experiment with Dennis Wideman ended this summer in a trade for RW Nathan Horton, now the Bruins have moved on to seasoned veteran Tomas Kaberle. Kaberle, now 32 years-old, will be the new quarterback to an inconsistent power play that at many points was run by 43 year-old Mark Recchi. Kaberle, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer, has already been linked in contract talks with Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli.
Chiarelli was very busy just prior to the trade deadline. With the loss of their superstar C Marc Savard to concussion issues, Chiarelli need to act quickly and add depth while saving money. He made a deal with the struggling Ottawa Senators for veteran grit forward Chris Kelly. Kelly is capable of playing all three forward positions and is one of the better defensive forwards in the Eastern Conference. Very reliable in the face-off dot, Kelly will be a key role player in the Bruins system, with the ability to jump in the penalty kill as well as score some goals.
The last of the big moves was a deal involved with the Atlanta Thrashers. In this deal the Bruins gave up two key pieces to the team in D Mark Stuart and RW/C Blake Wheeler. Stuart was one of the better D-men that the Bruins had, but with unrestricted free agency looming he was expendable after being a health scratch for the previous six games. Wheeler will get more opportunities to be the superstar that he is capable of being in Atlanta. Wheeler never got the chance to crack the top two lines in Boston and more ice time will give him the ability to showcase his finesse and scoring touch. With these two players departing, the Bruins in turn received F Rich Peverley and D Boris Valabik. Peverley, like Kelly, has the ability to play all three forward positions and so far with the Bruins has been centering a line of Chris Kelly and RW Michael Ryder. Peverley has the label as a hard-working two way forward that is excellent in the faceoff dot. Peverley upon leaving the Thrashers, led the team in face-off percentage at a 57% clip. Valabik is a 6-7 defender who is more of a project at defense than a true prospect.
With the moves, the Bruins have primed themselves for a deep playoff run. They have depth within their system and these moves have given them some of the deepest forward lines in hockey, and with Kaberle they made the NHL’s best defensive team that much better.
Monday, February 28, 2011
NHL Trade Deadline Brief Review
While we will be calling on the newest member of our crew here to give you the winners and losers of today's deadline and this seasons NHL trading, i will be providing you a brief overview of what went down today....
Number of Trades: 16. While most people in the industry expected this to be a slow deadline day because of the amount of trades that were made before today, TSN the Canadian hockey follower put the over/ under at 20 for the day. So just a little bit under and that includes some minor league deals as well.
Biggest Name Moved: While some people may argue about this i feel like the biggest name moved was Dustin Penner of the Edmonton Oilers and he went to the Kings for a d-man, a first rounder and a conditional second round pick. Penner is a very skilled forward who will most likely be a top line forward for the Kings.
Biggest Name not Moved: Probably Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars, there were a few other names like Phil Kessel, Zach Bogosian, Michael Del Zotto and others that had there named thrown around a few times but Richards is a game changing center man playing on a bad Dallas team, Dallas really could've used a nice package for the future
Best Move: In my opinion it was the Capitals acquiring Jason Arnott from the Devils. It provides the Capitals with a little more veteran leadership and a guy who has played successful playoff hockey before. He will also make them an even scarier team offensively.
Worst Trade: The Blue Jackets giving up Rostislav Klesla. Granted they got Scottie Upshall back for him but i feel like in the current market they probably could've gotten at least a little bit more.
All in all a very quiet day that had more trades that didn't happen than trades that actually came to fruition. Be on the look out for Kevin's analysis of all the trades made so far this season and who are some of the winners and losers overall in the trade market.
Number of Trades: 16. While most people in the industry expected this to be a slow deadline day because of the amount of trades that were made before today, TSN the Canadian hockey follower put the over/ under at 20 for the day. So just a little bit under and that includes some minor league deals as well.
Biggest Name Moved: While some people may argue about this i feel like the biggest name moved was Dustin Penner of the Edmonton Oilers and he went to the Kings for a d-man, a first rounder and a conditional second round pick. Penner is a very skilled forward who will most likely be a top line forward for the Kings.
Biggest Name not Moved: Probably Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars, there were a few other names like Phil Kessel, Zach Bogosian, Michael Del Zotto and others that had there named thrown around a few times but Richards is a game changing center man playing on a bad Dallas team, Dallas really could've used a nice package for the future
Best Move: In my opinion it was the Capitals acquiring Jason Arnott from the Devils. It provides the Capitals with a little more veteran leadership and a guy who has played successful playoff hockey before. He will also make them an even scarier team offensively.
Worst Trade: The Blue Jackets giving up Rostislav Klesla. Granted they got Scottie Upshall back for him but i feel like in the current market they probably could've gotten at least a little bit more.
All in all a very quiet day that had more trades that didn't happen than trades that actually came to fruition. Be on the look out for Kevin's analysis of all the trades made so far this season and who are some of the winners and losers overall in the trade market.
NL Sleeper pick...
My sleeper pick for the National League was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. There are a few potential teams, at least one from each division that could make a run at the postseason this year. It came down to the Milwaukee Brewers and the Florida Marlins for my sleeper pick and the more time I spent reflecting on it, it was a no brainer.
The Florida Marlins get the nod from me as the National League sleeper this year. The Brewers did acquire SP Zack Greinke from the Kansas City Royals and he makes their starting rotation that much better with Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, and Randy Wolf. The Brewers have a few good position players in Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (who could get traded if the Brewers are seemingly out of it by the trade deadline), Casey McGehee, and Corey Hart. Their bullpen is questionable, but closer John Axford demonstrated last year he can get the job done at the end of the game. The Brewers are playing in a weaker NL Central this year that just recently lost Adam Wainwright from the Cardinals rotation and we all don’t expect much from the Pirates and Astros this year. I believe the Brewers need another big bat in the lineup and some legitimate middle relief pitching upgrades if they want to consider themselves contenders in the Central this year. Hence why I am giving my vote to the Marlins…
The Marlins starting rotation tends to get overlooked because there are some stellar starting pitchers within the NL East. In my mind, this takes all the pressure off their starting staff because not much is expected from them except Josh Johnson. The Marlin front office acquired Javier Vazquez, who is a much better pitcher in the NL and knows the NL East teams very well as he is two years removed from his days with the Braves. Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, and Anibal Sanchez are all talented pitchers as well and are very capable of winning 10+ games each.
The Marlins offense is very young, but also very talented. We got to see some of that talent last season in the name of Mike Stanton who has ridiculous power to all fields and a good arm from right field as well. Chris Coghlan is now going into his third year in the majors, so expect big things from him and LF Logan Morrison also showed some promise as well. The Marlins did trade away 2B Dan Uggla and his 30+ home run bat, but did get back another 2B by the name of Omar Infante and southpaw reliever Mike Dunn from the Braves. The Marlins also signed free agent catcher John Buck, a veteran who is now in charge of handling the pitching staff.
Don’t sleep on their bullpen either, as they have a nice mix of righties and lefties and I see Mike Dunn making his way towards the late innings reliever role with his stuff. Leo Nunez has been a solid closer as well. I think along the way, the Marlins might need to pick up an extra arm in the bullpen just to bolster it down the stretch.
Now why would I pick the Marlins who have to face the Phillies 19 times a year and have to worry about that phenomenal starting staff? Well we all know no pitching staff in the majors expect for maybe the Red Sox can compare to the Phillies, but I strongly believe that the Marlins staff can hold their own against the Phillies. The Marlins starting lineup is full of speed and power, so when runners get on base, expect a lot of motion out of the runners to try and steal some runs.
I still see the Braves being competitive this year in the East as well, but they are really going to miss their manager Bobby Cox. Chipper Jones is coming back from the knee injury and we’re all not sure how he’ll bounce back. Derek Lowe might become trade bait as well depending upon how they are doing by the deadline. There is also the gap at the closer position that needs to be filled since Billy Wagner’s retirement in the offseason. Don’t get me wrong, they are a veteran team with up and coming talent, but this year is not their year.
The Marlins have to play to strengths and as long as their starting pitching keeps them in games, they will find a way to win. Watch for the Marlins to steal the Wild Card spot this season.
The Florida Marlins get the nod from me as the National League sleeper this year. The Brewers did acquire SP Zack Greinke from the Kansas City Royals and he makes their starting rotation that much better with Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, and Randy Wolf. The Brewers have a few good position players in Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (who could get traded if the Brewers are seemingly out of it by the trade deadline), Casey McGehee, and Corey Hart. Their bullpen is questionable, but closer John Axford demonstrated last year he can get the job done at the end of the game. The Brewers are playing in a weaker NL Central this year that just recently lost Adam Wainwright from the Cardinals rotation and we all don’t expect much from the Pirates and Astros this year. I believe the Brewers need another big bat in the lineup and some legitimate middle relief pitching upgrades if they want to consider themselves contenders in the Central this year. Hence why I am giving my vote to the Marlins…
The Marlins starting rotation tends to get overlooked because there are some stellar starting pitchers within the NL East. In my mind, this takes all the pressure off their starting staff because not much is expected from them except Josh Johnson. The Marlin front office acquired Javier Vazquez, who is a much better pitcher in the NL and knows the NL East teams very well as he is two years removed from his days with the Braves. Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, and Anibal Sanchez are all talented pitchers as well and are very capable of winning 10+ games each.
The Marlins offense is very young, but also very talented. We got to see some of that talent last season in the name of Mike Stanton who has ridiculous power to all fields and a good arm from right field as well. Chris Coghlan is now going into his third year in the majors, so expect big things from him and LF Logan Morrison also showed some promise as well. The Marlins did trade away 2B Dan Uggla and his 30+ home run bat, but did get back another 2B by the name of Omar Infante and southpaw reliever Mike Dunn from the Braves. The Marlins also signed free agent catcher John Buck, a veteran who is now in charge of handling the pitching staff.
Don’t sleep on their bullpen either, as they have a nice mix of righties and lefties and I see Mike Dunn making his way towards the late innings reliever role with his stuff. Leo Nunez has been a solid closer as well. I think along the way, the Marlins might need to pick up an extra arm in the bullpen just to bolster it down the stretch.
Now why would I pick the Marlins who have to face the Phillies 19 times a year and have to worry about that phenomenal starting staff? Well we all know no pitching staff in the majors expect for maybe the Red Sox can compare to the Phillies, but I strongly believe that the Marlins staff can hold their own against the Phillies. The Marlins starting lineup is full of speed and power, so when runners get on base, expect a lot of motion out of the runners to try and steal some runs.
I still see the Braves being competitive this year in the East as well, but they are really going to miss their manager Bobby Cox. Chipper Jones is coming back from the knee injury and we’re all not sure how he’ll bounce back. Derek Lowe might become trade bait as well depending upon how they are doing by the deadline. There is also the gap at the closer position that needs to be filled since Billy Wagner’s retirement in the offseason. Don’t get me wrong, they are a veteran team with up and coming talent, but this year is not their year.
The Marlins have to play to strengths and as long as their starting pitching keeps them in games, they will find a way to win. Watch for the Marlins to steal the Wild Card spot this season.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
A sleeper team coming out of the AL West?
With the anticipation of the 2011 MLB season, teams are preparing themselves for the long haul of a 162 game season in hopes for playing October baseball this fall. Many of us have a hunch about which teams could easily find themselves in the playoffs (barring injury), but I am going to surprise you with my sleeper team from the American League; the Oakland Athletics. Yes, that’s right, the Athletics. A team which has been rebuilding for years now might finally have the right pieces in line to make some legitimate noise in the AL West.
The Athletics front office stayed busy this off-season, signing key players as in Hideki Matsui to DH, outfielders Josh Willingham and David DeJesus. Both Willingham and DeJesus bring a little extra pop to this lineup, which was something they lacked of last year. They also strengthened their bullpen by signing Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, two great late inning relievers. Balfour brings intensity out of the bullpen to go along with his mid-90’s fastball and Fuentes, a former closer now left-handed specialist is a nice option to have out of the bullpen late in the game.
Last season, the Athletics finished 81-81 which was good for 2nd in the AL West right behind the Texas Rangers. The emergence of this young pitching staff last year lead by Dallas Braden and Trevor Cahill will only make them more hungry this year. Their starting rotation I believe coming into this year has the potential of being very good. Cahill showed signs of dominance last season and stayed constant throughout the year while Gio Gonzalez and Brett Anderson have another year under their belt as well having a better understanding of the hitters in the league. The Athletics also brought back SP Rich Harden, who will probably round out the rotation in the 5th spot and if he can stay healthy, he is very capable of winning 10 games and racking up quite a few strikeouts along the way.
The main reason why I believe that the Athletics will make a strong push for the playoffs this season is not only because they have shown great signs of improvement over the past year, but that the Rangers just are not the same team from last year. Sure, many of the same guys are there on the Rangers team, but unrest between Michael Young and the front office will cause distractions amongst the players in the clubhouse throughout the course of the season until Young is traded. Don’t forget that SP Cliff Lee did not come back after a strong effort by the Ranger front office to try and persuade him back. C.J. Wilson will have to be the ace throughout the season and lead this pitching staff. I’m not saying he can’t do it because he is very capable of doing so, but this is going to be his second full season of being a starter in the majors and I feel that the innings piling up will play a factor on Wilson as the season goes on. Fatigue could set it on Wilson and then the rotation starts to get a little skimpy from there. Colby Lewis pitched well in the playoffs this past October, but lets see if he can duplicate his success from last regular season. There is also the word about flamethrower closer Neftali Feliz making the transition to the starting rotation and that would leave a big gap at the back end of their bullpen. The Rangers are still a good team, but I don’t see how they will manage another playoff berth will all of these mitigating factors.
The Angels are always a cause for concern too just because of their head coach Mike Scioscia. Scioscia has been to the playoffs eight times within the past decade. He always manages to get the best out of his players even when he doesn’t have the best talent. I believe the Angels are too much of a veteran team this year to keep up with the youth of the Athletics. I still expect the Angels to be in it come August and September, but taper off towards the end. The Mariners are still not ready to compete this season as they have a lot of holes to fill in their lineup and starting rotation. The need better quality pitching to follow King Felix if they want to get anywhere.
The Athletics have it their in front of them this season and they know it. No one is going to run away with this division. Their starting rotation is talented enough, the bullpen is better than last season and now their lineup also got a shot in the arm as well with a few key acquisitions. I fully expect the Athletics to make a playoff berth this season and as long as that front office holds onto their core starting staff, they should be good for a few years to come.
Stay tuned for my sleeper pick in the National League.
The Athletics front office stayed busy this off-season, signing key players as in Hideki Matsui to DH, outfielders Josh Willingham and David DeJesus. Both Willingham and DeJesus bring a little extra pop to this lineup, which was something they lacked of last year. They also strengthened their bullpen by signing Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, two great late inning relievers. Balfour brings intensity out of the bullpen to go along with his mid-90’s fastball and Fuentes, a former closer now left-handed specialist is a nice option to have out of the bullpen late in the game.
Last season, the Athletics finished 81-81 which was good for 2nd in the AL West right behind the Texas Rangers. The emergence of this young pitching staff last year lead by Dallas Braden and Trevor Cahill will only make them more hungry this year. Their starting rotation I believe coming into this year has the potential of being very good. Cahill showed signs of dominance last season and stayed constant throughout the year while Gio Gonzalez and Brett Anderson have another year under their belt as well having a better understanding of the hitters in the league. The Athletics also brought back SP Rich Harden, who will probably round out the rotation in the 5th spot and if he can stay healthy, he is very capable of winning 10 games and racking up quite a few strikeouts along the way.
The main reason why I believe that the Athletics will make a strong push for the playoffs this season is not only because they have shown great signs of improvement over the past year, but that the Rangers just are not the same team from last year. Sure, many of the same guys are there on the Rangers team, but unrest between Michael Young and the front office will cause distractions amongst the players in the clubhouse throughout the course of the season until Young is traded. Don’t forget that SP Cliff Lee did not come back after a strong effort by the Ranger front office to try and persuade him back. C.J. Wilson will have to be the ace throughout the season and lead this pitching staff. I’m not saying he can’t do it because he is very capable of doing so, but this is going to be his second full season of being a starter in the majors and I feel that the innings piling up will play a factor on Wilson as the season goes on. Fatigue could set it on Wilson and then the rotation starts to get a little skimpy from there. Colby Lewis pitched well in the playoffs this past October, but lets see if he can duplicate his success from last regular season. There is also the word about flamethrower closer Neftali Feliz making the transition to the starting rotation and that would leave a big gap at the back end of their bullpen. The Rangers are still a good team, but I don’t see how they will manage another playoff berth will all of these mitigating factors.
The Angels are always a cause for concern too just because of their head coach Mike Scioscia. Scioscia has been to the playoffs eight times within the past decade. He always manages to get the best out of his players even when he doesn’t have the best talent. I believe the Angels are too much of a veteran team this year to keep up with the youth of the Athletics. I still expect the Angels to be in it come August and September, but taper off towards the end. The Mariners are still not ready to compete this season as they have a lot of holes to fill in their lineup and starting rotation. The need better quality pitching to follow King Felix if they want to get anywhere.
The Athletics have it their in front of them this season and they know it. No one is going to run away with this division. Their starting rotation is talented enough, the bullpen is better than last season and now their lineup also got a shot in the arm as well with a few key acquisitions. I fully expect the Athletics to make a playoff berth this season and as long as that front office holds onto their core starting staff, they should be good for a few years to come.
Stay tuned for my sleeper pick in the National League.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
UPDATED: NBA Trade Deadline
The following thread will be going on up to and after the trade deadline with all of the deals that will go down for the NBA trade deadline which is Thursday February 24th at 3pm Eastern Time.
New York Knicks acquire Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, Anthony Carter, and Corey Brewer. Denver Nuggets acquire Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, and three draft picks. Minnesota Timberwolves acquire Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry. The trade makes perfect sense for all three teams. For the Nuggets, they got rid of their star player who was disgruntled and had been the cause of all distraction. The Timberwolves got a salary dump out of the trade, and a player who can jump through the roof in Anthony Randolph. New York got their guy, and now own two player tandem unmatched by most teams. In the sense of the Knicks giving up way too much it does not matter. Star power wins championships. Going into this season the expectations for this club were not high. They got pleasantly surprised with the play of Raymond Felton, and Timofey Mozgov was becoming a decent big man, but still a project. Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari were both having their most impressive seasons, but Chandler was yet again struggling with injury. This was a no brainer, as they received one of the top 5 players in the NBA, and did not give up anyone who was not replaceable. Getting Chauncey Billups will pay huge dividends at the end of ball games, as he is still clutch and still reliable. You read it here first, but Corey Brewer may be the silent assassin of this deal. The Nuggets distraction from their entire season is now vanished and they can rebuild. Denver has some pieces they can work with as long as the four Knick players they acquired prove NOT to be D'Antoni system players. The possibility of trading one of them is still possible, so stay tuned. For all three team the deal is beneficial, but for the New York Knicks it sets them up to be a dynasty again, a relevant one to be reckoned with.
New Jersey Nets acquire Deron Williams. Utah Jazz acquire 2011 and 2012 first round picks, Devin Harris, and Derrick Favors. In the trade that came out of nowhere, New Jersey ends up getting a top caliber player after losing out on Carmelo Anthony. Deron Williams will be sporting the number 8 for New Jersey. Arguably the best point guard in the league, Williams brings the Nets the point guard of a caliber they have not had since Jason Kidd brought the club to the Finals. The main aspect of the trade though, is whether or not he will sign with the Nets at season's end. New Jersey needs to make a pitch that will keep Williams put or else they have just rented a star for half a season to not make the playoffs. Utah seems to have settled on the rebuilding process and is currently not a playoff team. They gain a scoring guard in Devin Harris, and a potential stud player in Derrick Favors. Although Favors gets in foul trouble, that can change and he does have a great upside after being chosen in the top 5 this past draft. The two first round picks are a great add on for a young team that has the possibility of not rebuilding for long, as they have good talent already. New Jersey got their star, but need to hang on to him.
New Orleans Hornets acquires Carl Landry. Sacramento Kings acquire cash and Marcus Thornton. The Hornets snatch another complimentary foward for David West to play with, while the Kings get another young talented player in Thornton
Atlanta Hawks acquire Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong. Washington Wizards acquire 2011 1st round pick, Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, and Maurice Evans. The Hawks who had been struggling as of late receive the hardest worker that the Wizards had this year. Hinrich fits perfectly in Atlanta, as he shoots the ball well, and plays good defense. For the Wizards this is questionable, as they lose a determined player, and gain an aging Mike Bibby. The 1st round pick will be nice for a young team led by John Wall. For Atlanta, hopefully Hinrich can revive this club back into prime form.
Boston Celtics acquire Jeff Green and Nenad Kristic. Oklahoma City Thunder acquire Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson. What in the world are the Thunder thinking? Just when you think the Thunder have all of the right pieces to the puzzle in order to compete, they trade away one of there key players. Jeff Green, along with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have been the reason why this franchise is on the rise. That is all in question now as they have not only traded away Green's talents, but did not acquire proper players in return. Kendrick Perkins is coming off major surgery and will now be in the front court with another young athletic player, while Nate Robinson will be backing up Russell Westbrook. The Celtics hit gold in this deal, as they have gotten younger, and possibly a player they will have for a long time in Green. Oklahoma City in this trade is jeopardizing the future.
Los Angeles Clippers acquire Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Cleveland Cavaliers acquire Baron Davis and a 2011 1st round pick. The Cavs are obviously abadonning ship as they have now lost their two best players in the past two years. trading away Williams, shows that the rebuild is in full form. They gain Baron Davis whose contract expires soon, and a first round pick in this upcoming draft, which will be handy when trying to rebuild a franchise. The Clippers get younger, and more athletic in this trade. Williams can shoot the rock extremely well, and Moon can fly when given the lane. Both players can become even better, and in Williams case make the franchise player Blake Griffin better. The Clippers making a strong move here to shift the power in Los Angeles.
Houston Rockets acquire Goran Dragic. Phoenix Suns acquire Aaron Brooks. Houston is dropping cap space in this deal as Brooks is an expiring contract at years end. Aaron Brooks is a young guard who can be deadly from three and is an explosive scorer when need be. He fits perfect in Phoenix where the motto seems to be, "shoot, shoot, shoot." If Phoenix can resign Brooks then they may have found the guy to replace Steve Nash when his time is over. For Houston they gain a solid role player who has expanded his game throughout his career.
Houston Rockets acquire Hasheem Thabeet. Memphis Grizzles acquire Shane Battier. In another one for one deal for Houston, the same theme applies. Houston is getting rid of another expiring contract to have cap room. This deal is more interesting for the Rockets then the Grizz though. They gain another guy over 7'2", but this is an unproven. Possibly the biggest bust in the more recent drafts, Hasheem Thabeet has shown why he had critics on him at all times while at the University of Connecticut. The fact is though that Houston needs a big man, just in case Yao Ming does retire or call it quits because of all of his nagging injuries. If Houston can teach Thabeet the way of the NBA, then this can be a steal. Battier is a great shooter with veteren leadership. Grizzles may want to hold on to him for the right price after the season.
Portland Blazers acquire Gerald Wallace. Charlotte Bobcats acquire Dante Cunningham, Joel Przybilla, and two first round picks. The Blazers add another semi star to a team, when healthy is a contender in the West. The trade makes even more sense considering how much Brandon Roy has been getting hurt in his short career. Wallace will become the most versitle player on the team, and will serve for key minutes down the season stretch. Executive Michael Jordan is making cap room, and looking into the future for the teams success. Wallace and the Blazers seem like a perfect pair.
Other Trades:
Boston trades Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a 2nd round pick.
Chicago trades James Johnson to the Raptors.
Oklahoma City trade Nazr Mohammed to Charlotte for DJ White and Morris Peterson.
New York Knicks acquire Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, Anthony Carter, and Corey Brewer. Denver Nuggets acquire Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, and three draft picks. Minnesota Timberwolves acquire Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry. The trade makes perfect sense for all three teams. For the Nuggets, they got rid of their star player who was disgruntled and had been the cause of all distraction. The Timberwolves got a salary dump out of the trade, and a player who can jump through the roof in Anthony Randolph. New York got their guy, and now own two player tandem unmatched by most teams. In the sense of the Knicks giving up way too much it does not matter. Star power wins championships. Going into this season the expectations for this club were not high. They got pleasantly surprised with the play of Raymond Felton, and Timofey Mozgov was becoming a decent big man, but still a project. Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari were both having their most impressive seasons, but Chandler was yet again struggling with injury. This was a no brainer, as they received one of the top 5 players in the NBA, and did not give up anyone who was not replaceable. Getting Chauncey Billups will pay huge dividends at the end of ball games, as he is still clutch and still reliable. You read it here first, but Corey Brewer may be the silent assassin of this deal. The Nuggets distraction from their entire season is now vanished and they can rebuild. Denver has some pieces they can work with as long as the four Knick players they acquired prove NOT to be D'Antoni system players. The possibility of trading one of them is still possible, so stay tuned. For all three team the deal is beneficial, but for the New York Knicks it sets them up to be a dynasty again, a relevant one to be reckoned with.
New Jersey Nets acquire Deron Williams. Utah Jazz acquire 2011 and 2012 first round picks, Devin Harris, and Derrick Favors. In the trade that came out of nowhere, New Jersey ends up getting a top caliber player after losing out on Carmelo Anthony. Deron Williams will be sporting the number 8 for New Jersey. Arguably the best point guard in the league, Williams brings the Nets the point guard of a caliber they have not had since Jason Kidd brought the club to the Finals. The main aspect of the trade though, is whether or not he will sign with the Nets at season's end. New Jersey needs to make a pitch that will keep Williams put or else they have just rented a star for half a season to not make the playoffs. Utah seems to have settled on the rebuilding process and is currently not a playoff team. They gain a scoring guard in Devin Harris, and a potential stud player in Derrick Favors. Although Favors gets in foul trouble, that can change and he does have a great upside after being chosen in the top 5 this past draft. The two first round picks are a great add on for a young team that has the possibility of not rebuilding for long, as they have good talent already. New Jersey got their star, but need to hang on to him.
New Orleans Hornets acquires Carl Landry. Sacramento Kings acquire cash and Marcus Thornton. The Hornets snatch another complimentary foward for David West to play with, while the Kings get another young talented player in Thornton
Atlanta Hawks acquire Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong. Washington Wizards acquire 2011 1st round pick, Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, and Maurice Evans. The Hawks who had been struggling as of late receive the hardest worker that the Wizards had this year. Hinrich fits perfectly in Atlanta, as he shoots the ball well, and plays good defense. For the Wizards this is questionable, as they lose a determined player, and gain an aging Mike Bibby. The 1st round pick will be nice for a young team led by John Wall. For Atlanta, hopefully Hinrich can revive this club back into prime form.
Boston Celtics acquire Jeff Green and Nenad Kristic. Oklahoma City Thunder acquire Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson. What in the world are the Thunder thinking? Just when you think the Thunder have all of the right pieces to the puzzle in order to compete, they trade away one of there key players. Jeff Green, along with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have been the reason why this franchise is on the rise. That is all in question now as they have not only traded away Green's talents, but did not acquire proper players in return. Kendrick Perkins is coming off major surgery and will now be in the front court with another young athletic player, while Nate Robinson will be backing up Russell Westbrook. The Celtics hit gold in this deal, as they have gotten younger, and possibly a player they will have for a long time in Green. Oklahoma City in this trade is jeopardizing the future.
Los Angeles Clippers acquire Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Cleveland Cavaliers acquire Baron Davis and a 2011 1st round pick. The Cavs are obviously abadonning ship as they have now lost their two best players in the past two years. trading away Williams, shows that the rebuild is in full form. They gain Baron Davis whose contract expires soon, and a first round pick in this upcoming draft, which will be handy when trying to rebuild a franchise. The Clippers get younger, and more athletic in this trade. Williams can shoot the rock extremely well, and Moon can fly when given the lane. Both players can become even better, and in Williams case make the franchise player Blake Griffin better. The Clippers making a strong move here to shift the power in Los Angeles.
Houston Rockets acquire Goran Dragic. Phoenix Suns acquire Aaron Brooks. Houston is dropping cap space in this deal as Brooks is an expiring contract at years end. Aaron Brooks is a young guard who can be deadly from three and is an explosive scorer when need be. He fits perfect in Phoenix where the motto seems to be, "shoot, shoot, shoot." If Phoenix can resign Brooks then they may have found the guy to replace Steve Nash when his time is over. For Houston they gain a solid role player who has expanded his game throughout his career.
Houston Rockets acquire Hasheem Thabeet. Memphis Grizzles acquire Shane Battier. In another one for one deal for Houston, the same theme applies. Houston is getting rid of another expiring contract to have cap room. This deal is more interesting for the Rockets then the Grizz though. They gain another guy over 7'2", but this is an unproven. Possibly the biggest bust in the more recent drafts, Hasheem Thabeet has shown why he had critics on him at all times while at the University of Connecticut. The fact is though that Houston needs a big man, just in case Yao Ming does retire or call it quits because of all of his nagging injuries. If Houston can teach Thabeet the way of the NBA, then this can be a steal. Battier is a great shooter with veteren leadership. Grizzles may want to hold on to him for the right price after the season.
Portland Blazers acquire Gerald Wallace. Charlotte Bobcats acquire Dante Cunningham, Joel Przybilla, and two first round picks. The Blazers add another semi star to a team, when healthy is a contender in the West. The trade makes even more sense considering how much Brandon Roy has been getting hurt in his short career. Wallace will become the most versitle player on the team, and will serve for key minutes down the season stretch. Executive Michael Jordan is making cap room, and looking into the future for the teams success. Wallace and the Blazers seem like a perfect pair.
Other Trades:
Boston trades Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a 2nd round pick.
Chicago trades James Johnson to the Raptors.
Oklahoma City trade Nazr Mohammed to Charlotte for DJ White and Morris Peterson.
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