2nd Madness

The most surprising upset in my opinion was probably Villanova. Clemson was a stellar team that hung with UNC, and Nova did not show much during the conference tournament. San Diego might be up there too, but they played well in their conference, and that carried over.

Now I like Siena > Villanova.
Western Kentucky > San Diego.
Kansas State > Wisconsin. If Anderson plays like he did in the first round, I think that will be enough with Beastley and Walker being very hard to stop.
Butler, Tennesse will be a good game. With how the Volunteers started of the tourney, I like Butler taking it.
MSU/Pitt will also be an interesting game, but I don’t think MSU can pull it off with the way Pittsburgh is playing.
I like ND > Washington St., unless Wasu plays like they did in the 2nd half of their first round game…

Watch out Duke.

Read Full Post »

The Madness

The tourney begins tomorrow, and another usual year. All of the experts are picking #1’s. About 80% of all “experts” on websites like SportsIllustrated and ESPN are picking UNC, Kansas, and UCLA to be in the Final Four. This seems unlikely, considering it hasn’t happened in at about 20 years. However, I might have to agree with them this time. After a good portion of the favorites winning last year, could it be another repeat year.
It seems that there are the dominant teams, then it drops off.
I have UCLA in the championship, mainly because of their weak schedule. The 2, 4, and 5 seeds aren’t anything like ones in the other divisions. Memphis has a brutal division with MSU, Pitt, Standford, and Texas. That’s a good enough reason to not pick Memphis to be in the Final Four, which many people have done.
Enough of that, I’ll get to my picks. I won’t give them all, mainly upsets and important ones.

First round: Arkansas, St. Joe’s, Kent St., Siena, Western Kent., Texas A&M, Saint Mary’s
None of these really stand out, but teams that can ruin your bracket: Oral Roberts, Cornell, Georgia, Kansas State, and yea I’ll say it George Mason.
Second round: MSU/Pitt will be a great game. USC/Wisconsin will also be something to watch. Duke always has the chance of losing if they can’t shoot the 3 ball.

I don’t think can UNC will win it all. Georgetown won’t make it to the Elite, and Duke is a longshot. Memphis won’t make it to the Final Four with their free throw shooting. Texas has everything, but not enough to beat UCLA. Tennesse and Kansas both have decent schedules, but nothing they can’t handle if they are playing well.

Final4: Tennessee, Kansas, Texas, UCLA
Final: Kansas>UCLA

Kansas has everything they need to win it all, as does UCLA. Last year Afflaflo torched Kansas. This year they have Love. Kansas has matured without losing anyone of importance. So what will it be?
Kansas will get revenge for that loss, and UCLA won’t have the shooting game of their life as they did last year (Remember Collison and Afflalo both were on fire, and hit most of their tough shots).
KU has Rush and Chalmers at the helm, and either have the ability to go for 20+. Arthur can also be their top scorer, Collins is a great, speedy guard, Kaun and Jackson can DE up the big guy, and can score down low. Robinson is an all-around player, and can score even though it wasn’t seen in the Big 12 Tourney.
I realize UCLA has Love, Collison, Shipp, Westbrook, and Mbah a Moute. All of those players can do what Kansas can do, and more with the abilities of Love.

I just feel the depth that Kansas has will overpower anything UCLA has. It helps in changing the tempo of the game with more players that can change the game, and it helps if players get into foul trouble.

Head-to-head Kansas can beat UCLA, they just have to worry about getting there.

Read Full Post »

The NBA?

Yes, I chat NBA once in a while.
So what about all these trades and pickups?
What can we conclude?
Neither the Mavs or Suns improved in their deals.

Getting Jason Kidd hasn’t been everything they hoped, and I don’t think it will be. Kidd is not a scorer, and doesn’t have the quickness of Harris either. The Mavs were trying to switch things up, but for now, their fate will be the same as last year.
Shaq? Well, I don’t think it would help them much and it hasn’t. It does take more focus off of Amare though. The only problem is, Marion did a lot of the small things for the Suns. Shaq cannot do many of those things. The Suns need to change their style of play right now, or get knocked out of the playoffs quickly.
Boston just keeps getting better. PJ Brown will be a nice Vet to have in the playoffs, as will Cassell. Sam will be a major key, and that will give them a step over the Pistons. With Rondo and Cassell, there will never be a falloff. The Pistons, as seen the other night, don’t have enough play makers to compete with the stacked Celtics lineup.
Cavs and Bulls? Well they are tied 1-1 right now. I like it better for the Bulls because Wallace wasn’t doing much for them, and they got another scorer in Hughes. But Wallace and big Z down low will be very big for the Cavs. However, the still don’t have enough to match the Celts.
Playoff wise: I think Denver will make it in over either Dallas or Golden State. It is going to be a great stretch. I am very impressed with what the Rockets are doing without Yao, but I don’t think it will continue in the playoffs.
I think Chicago will get in over New Jersey as well.

I’ll see you come playoff time.
March Madness is on its way. One of my favorite times of the year. Get pumped everyone!

Read Full Post »

Favreoli

Everyone is ‘already’ missing Favre, whatever that means. He was a good player, and good role model, but it was time.
Why isn’t anyone saying that it was time for Favre to leave?
He built the team last season, and he also took it down. He didn’t have it in the NFC Championship game to win it. Everyone could see it. He was one of the reasons they lost. He was sitting on the sideline, tired, not getting pumped up. After seeing that, everyone should’ve known it was done. It’s best for the Packers to move on now, after sitting back for the past 3/4 years, hoping he would play for the rest of the Packers franchise. Not going to happen.
I mean he did surpass a lot of records, which I don’t think was that good of a feat.
The ones worth mentioning are most consecutive games played.
Everything else results on him playing 17 NFL seasons. Having the most attempts, completions, touchdowns, and interceptions.
Interceptions, that is key.
One word: Gunslinger.

A good player, but not the best.

Read Full Post »