Another big weekend in college basketball begins Saturday (once again, omitting Harvard’s game on Friday). My favorite team, UConn, will face #2 Syracuse and almost definitely lose by double digits. #4 Missouri will host #6 Baylor in a Big 12 showdown at 1:30. #5 UNC will try to avenge their last loss when they welcome #20 Virginia to Chapel Hill. #3 Ohio State will play #12 Michigan State, while #14 San Diego State plays #16 UNLV.
Predictions Syracuse over Uconn (Still my favorite)
Mizzou over Baylor (Baylor got smoked against Kansas)
UNC over Virginia (hate them but they are home)
Ohio State over Michigan State (Still think Ohio St. has a chance of winning it all)
UNLV over SD State (Could go either way but I’ll go with the home team)
Tough loss for our guys last night as they had two chances to win the game, one at the end of regulation and one at the end of overtime. Comes down to the Celtics age-old question, is it OK to live and die by Pierce isolation as the clock winds down. It’s tough to keep giving it to Pierce on isolations if he is not healthy enough to get to his spot at the top of the key. Sooner or later the ball is going to end up in Rondo’s hand with him running maybe a pick and roll with Garnett or Bass and finding the open man. The stagnant offense is tough to look at end of games, especially since Doc is known as one of the games premier last second play coaches. Ray Allen again played great defense on Kobe, even though Kobe put up 27 points, Ray made him work for each bucket and the ones he had in the fourth didn’t come easy. The big Achilles of the Celtics all year has been giving up offensive rebounds to opposing teams. Last night the Celtics gave up 15 offensive rebounds with 7 to Bynum and 4 to Gasol, including two huge tip ins with 9 seconds left in regulation and then the game winning basket in overtime by Bynum. In the end it comes down to boxing out your man, something that’s taught from when you first start playing basketball. Gasol shouldn’t be able to snake his way in through four Celtics and get that tip.
Celtics shot just 6-19 from 3 and only 39.2% from the field. Allen led the team in scoring with 22 points as he was 9-22 from the field. Pierce had another great night as he had 18-9-7 with a big three in OT to put the Celts up with two minutes left in OT. The Lakers shot 1-15 from three and only 39.6% from the field. Derek Fisher was extremely ineffective as he went 0-7 with 1 rebound and 2 assists. Avery Bradley did not see the court in a game where I was interested in how he would be able to guard Kobe.
Celtics will look to bounce back today against the Raptors as the second part of their back to back.
Extra notes: Shout out to Paul Pierce as he was named to the All Star team. On this day last year Ray Allen became the NBA all team leading three point shooter passing Reggie Miller. Rondo, Pierce, and Allen all played over 40 minutes. Greg Stiemsma, Jujuan Johnson, and Avery Bradley all received DNP’s.
There’s not much to talk about concerning the Bruins today. They got smoked the other night. Ryan Miller played great, Tuukka Rask did not, simple enough.
Switching gears, Tiger makes his 2012 U.S. debut this weekend at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. This is a great event on the Tour because you get to see Chris Berman and other celebrities make fools of themselves on the course, making us feel better about ourselves. Tiger played well last week at the Abu Dhabi tourney in the United Arab Emirates and he looks to have regained some of his old form. As of this post, he is -4 through 12 holes, 4 shots behind the leader. I personally think Tiger is going to come back strong this year (his swing mechanics are 100% better) and I am going to predict that he will win the green jacket at the Masters in April. You know he will be confident, but now he will have to compete with young guns like Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy who have emerged (among others) as legitimate competitors in major tournaments.
As a follow up to yesterday’s post ranking AL East catchers, today I will rank the first basemen of the division. As expected, the first base position provides a lot of power for all five of these teams, but no player is as well rounded as the Adrian the Cat.
The rankings are as follows:
1. Adrian Gonzalez
2. Mark Texeira
3. Carlos Pena
4. Adam Lind
5. Chris Davis
Gonzo needs to be number one here. He was a legitamate MVP candidate last year, which is incredible considering his massive HR drought to start the 2011 season (1 HR in all of April). He’s got a great glove and I expect him to increase his HR total (2nd lowest of career), while maintaining similar RBI production. Although I do see a drop from his career best .338 batting average, I see Gonzo being a force in the middle of the Sox lineup and a MVP contender to start the season.
Texeira is one of the most overpaid players in baseball. He was the third highest paid position player last year (fourth overall). He earned $23.125 million, while Adrian was the 14th highest paid first baseman in the MLB and earned every penny of his $6.3 million. The sad part (for the Yankees) is that they have Texeira and his .248 batting average (from last year) signed into a no trade clause until 2016. I’m the first to admit he is a good hitter, and he’s a player every pitcher is afraid can take them yard any pitch, but he has been unwilling to make any adjustments during his struggles as a Yankee. He’s been known to have struggles adapting to the huge shift that opposing teams put on him as a pull hitter (Sox fans- think David Ortiz during his slump of 2010). Don’t get me wrong, Texiera plays great defense and hits 30+ home runs a year, but any “elite” hitter that earns that much money and then hits .180, .148, and .167 in the last three postseasons, respecitvely, loses all respect in my vote.
I think Pena is starting to decline a bit with his power, which is why I thought about giving Lind the slight edge over him. Despite this, Pena has an uncanny ability to get on base (his OBP is regularly about 130 points better than his BA) and displays underrated defensive skills. Lind hasn’t been consistent enough to warrant the third spot in rankings. Last up is Chris Davis for the Orioles. Davis was a big time prospect a few years ago for the Rangers, and displayed some good power for them in his first two years in the bigs. Since joining the Orioles, Davis struggled with a shoulder injury. He was a good prospect but hasn’t panned out the last few years, so hopefully he can find the power stroke hes been missing lately.
Peyton Manning has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in over a decade. As a Patriots fan, he would absolutely terrify me whenever the Colts had the ball. Tom Brady would sustain his drives and grind down the clock so that Peyton would have to sit on the sidelines. Has Brady ever had to do that for another quarterback? Think quarterbacks tore up the Patriots defense this year? If Manning was healthy the Colts would have picked the holes in the Patriots defense all game. The way that the Colts are treating this situation is inexcusable. It is the anti-Brett Favre situation. The owner is creating all the controversy where the player just wants to get back to playing. The Patriots are the only other team who have a quarterback right now who means as much to the franchise as the Colts. While the Patriots have not always been the most loyal to players (Lawyer Milloy anyone?), they would NEVER let Tom Brady play a down for another team.
Peyton Manning’s an 11 time Pro-Bowler, has been named the NFL MVP 4 times, and the AFC Player of the Year 6 times. He is the fastest player ever to reach 50,000 yards passing and 4000 completions. He is the Colts all-time leader in Career wins, Passing Touchdowns, Pass Attempts, Pass completions and Passing Yards. He holds or shares 40 NFL regular season records and 11 playoff records. In 2010, which was just two seasons ago, he had his most passing yards of his career and led the league in completions. He is the Indianapolis Colts.
The funny part of the whole situation is that Peyton has stated that he wants to play for the Colts. It’s where he wants to finish his career. But Jim Irsay just does not seem to want him. When Peyton was cleared by his doctors and announced himself healthy, Irsay tweeted “Peyton has not passed our physical nor has he been cleared to play for the Indianapolis Colts.” There is just a lot of bad karma with this move. This player has been the face of your team for the past thirteen seasons. He goes through three neck surgeries and the owner basically throws him to the curb. It reminds me of when the 49ers were dealing with the Joe Montana/Steve Young debate. While everyone knew that Steve Young had a great future ahead of him. Montana was not done yet. In his final two years he led the Kansas City Chiefs to the playoffs twice, one AFC championship game, and beat the 49ers in their only game. Manning is arguably healthier than Montana at the same stage in his career and has the potential to have about five good years left.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe the Colt’s doctors decided that Peyton will never play another down in the NFL. But it doesn’t give the team an excuse to alienate the player that has been the team for the past 12 seasons. Even though he is owed 28 million if he stays on after March 8th, remember he was the guy just last year. He took much less money than he deserved just so the Colts could sign free agents around him.
What do you guys think? Leave some comments. Also look for an article for potential destinations for Peyton Manning later on this week.
Boston College was a great basketball team once upon a time. Well, they showed that kind of life again last night when they stunned #17 Florida State in a conference battle. The 8-16 Eagles were led by 5 Foot 8 guard Jordan Daniels. Although he normally only averages 5.8 points per game, he was able to dish in 21 on Wednesday night. He shot 7-13 from the field, and 4-7 from 3-point range. Jordan is merely a freshman, but then again, BC has 9 freshmen on their roster, so they are definitely built for the future. So, although I’m a not a fan of Boston college Hockey (because I go to Merrimack), I am still happy for their basketball team.
The Patriots least famed position over the past decade has certainly been the running back position. With Kevin Faulk set for retirement, the only other question mark in the backfield goes to Benjarvus Green-Ellis. Green-Ellis has proven himself to be a consistent runner for the Pats and I expect him to re-sign here in the New England. I think Benjarvus knows his value is at its peak here in New England because of the mixture of players they throw out there every Sunday. The Pats also have Woodhead, Ridley, and Vereen under contract going into next season and seeing as the latter two were both 2011 draft picks I don’t expect this to be a position the Patriots address on draft day. There’s a slight possibility the Pats could try to pick up a veteran back but I also don’t see that happening if they keep Green-Ellis. If for some reason they let Green-Ellis walk, then you can expect the Pats to take a look at some of these options…
Peyton Hillis – Hard Runner, coming off a very tough season. Could be a low-risk high reward signing.
Cedric Benson – This is definitely a stretch for the Pats, but at the same time I don’t expect him to be in Cincy next year.
Ryan Grant – Not really an every down back anymore but can certainly take over Green-Ellis’ roll at a similar price.
Big day for the Celtics. Kobe is in town. What better timing for the old school rivalry to reunite than after Kobe passes Shaq in scoring for LA and just days after Pierce passes Bird in all time scoring for the C’s. It’s only fitting the two key figures in the new school rivalry make headlines just days before they go head to head for the first of two matchups the teams have together this year. Everyone’s been ripping on the C’s and how they’re old and finished, but the boys in green have turned things around lately, winning their last 5 games and 9 of their last 10. Not too bad for an aging team huh? They’re sneakily only 3 games back of Philly for first in the Atlantic Division.
Kobe and the Lakers of course aren’t the same team as three years ago, but I think it’s safe to say Kobe hasn’t lost his touch. He hasn’t exactly taken the #7 pre season player ranking by ESPN too lightly, proving he’s still in a league of his own. And that’s coming from a Boston fan. Regardless, the Lakers have lost their last two and sit with a 3-9 record on the road, while an impressive 11-2 at home. The Celts have moved up to 14-10 and are 10-6 at home on the season. But let’s be real, we all know when it comes to these two teams, records don’t mean anything. They’ll be going at it like it’s the 2008 playoffs. For our sake, hopefully more like Game 6.
It was more than just a big night for the Syracuse men’s basketball team. It was a huge night for their coach. Coach Jim Boeheim passed legend Dean Smith for third all time in wins, with 880. He now only trails Bob Knight (902) and Coach K (919). Coach K will coach until he’s 103 so I don’t see him catching up unless my dreams come true and Duke finally starts to suck. But unless Bob Knight makes a return to coaching, or Boeheim gets on the wrong end of the scandal allegations (See Joe Paterno), then Boeheim should be able to pass Knight by next season. However, Boeheim now holds the record for most wins at a single school. (Coach K coached Army and Duke)
It was a great win in overtime over Georgetown 64-61. He has been head coach at Syracuse University since 1976 and was an assistant coach for 7 years prior to that. He has coached great players such as Carmelo Anthony, Wesley Johnson, Billy Owens, and won the NCAA tournament in 2003. Congratulations to Coach Jim Boeheim!
This night seemed to turn out a little bit better for my picks than usual. #10 Kansas topped #6 Baylor 68-54. Junior 7 foot center, Jeff Withey was able to drop 25 points on 8-10 shooting from the field. Thomas Robinson added 15 points of his own while snagging 11 rebounds. On the flip side, Baylor’s Perry Jones III shot 1-8 from the field and only scored 5 points against the Jayhawks.
#2 Syracuse barely escaped an upset from #11 Georgetown in an overtime thriller. The final score was 64-61. Syracuse senior forward, Kris Joseph, was able to put up 29 points against G-Town while Fab Melo was only able to pitch in 11 of his own.
Finally, in case you somehow missed it, #9 Duke shocked #5 UNC at the buzzer as Austin Rivers made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give them the win, 85-84. Doc’s son finished with a career high 29 points and the biggest shot of his career thus far. Both Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes both finished with 25 and 23 points, respectively. This was probably the most exciting game to watch this season, with an NBA-like vibe and score.
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