Week in Review - 6/25/2012

So in Back to the Future, right, Marty goes back in time and effs everything up by pushing his future dad out of the way of that car and then his mom falls for him instead and puts Marty's actual existence in jeopardy to the point where he starts to fade out of existence before his future parents finally kiss, right?  But if he fades out of existence, then he can't go back in time and screw everything up between his parents, so then he'd exist again, right?

Wait.  Actually they clear all this up in #2.  And pretty much make it clear at the end of #1.  I really shouldn't have written that paragraph up there with 20 minutes left in the movie.  Which, yes, I've seen many times but not in several years.  This intro here is really starting to ramble.  I'm going to stop talking now.  This is me not talking.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Francisco Liriano.  I can't remember the last time I wrote anything good about this guy and who knows when this opportunity will occur again so with apologies to Josh Willingham's clutchitude I'm giving Frankie the Twins' reserved spot this week.  After another good start against Pittsburgh, Liriano's numbers in his last five starts are looking downright respectable - 30ips, 16 hits, 9 runs, 12 walks, 35 Ks, .155 OAVG, .497 OPS, 2.67 ERA.  He's basically been completely different than he was his first first pass through the rotation to start the season where his ERA was near 10 in his six first starts with an OPS over 1.000.  He's throwing more strikes and thus cutting back on the free passes, and his K-rate is actually up as well.  Which is the real, Liriano?  The walk machine who gets knocked around the yard like he's Jason Marquis, or the one who suddenly looks like a capable #3 or #4 starter?  Honestly I don't have a clue, so hopefully they trade him right quick and let somebody else figure it out.  As the honorable barrister Vincent Gambino (aka Jerry Callow) once said, "I'm finished with this guy."

2.  Lebron James.  Others have said it better and I'm sure others have said it worse (although that seems slightly less likely) but holy crap did this guy figure all this shit out.  His numbers were ridiculous (29 pts/10 rebs/7 assists/2 steals for the finals and similar for the overall playoffs, but they don't tell the whole story because he just completely owned that court.  Every time he posted on the wing or block the Thunder could either double, in which case he made the right pass 90% of the time leading to easy Miami baskets, or leave somebody to try to play him one-on-one which led to a Lebron score pretty much every time.  He can control the game posting up the way Barkley did with regularity, but with Magic Johnson's ability to see where the defense is going before they go there and make the perfect pass and (early) Jordan's ability to score by driving if he gets 1-on-1 coverage.  It's just sick, and I fear his stats next year - he may legitimately threaten to average a triple double.  If you're a Lebron hater (and I think somehow I lost my Lebron hate after realizing he's really just a dumb kid who didn't know what he wanted and then seeing him grow up in these playoffs) you better pray to baby santa jesus that he doesn't develop a jump shot.  It would be like watching a real life NBA Jam guy out on the court.   You wouldn't even have to put in the "big head" code because of that giant 'Bron melon. 

3.  Mario Chalmers.  You could put Mike Miller or Shane Battier here as well because all three of those dorks had either a tremendous series or several huge moments/games, but I'm picking Chalmers to single out because he's young while Battier is like a wrinkly-headed Methusaleh and Miller might legitimately retire because of his severe back issues, and also of course because the A-hole Wolves traded Chalmers on draft day when their point guards were Sebastian Telfair and Kevin Ollie (note:  I'm not making this up, those were their PGs that year unless you want to count Randy Foye).Anyway, if you go game-by-game in the Finals you see Game 2:  Battier with 17, Game 4: Chalmers with 25, and Game 5: Miller with 23 - there was always someone stepping up for the Heat.  While this series was billed as Big 3 vs. Big 3 and Lebron will get most of the credit for the win (and deservedly so) it shouldn't be ignored that while the Thunder became the Big 2 (more on this later) the Heat because the Big 4 each night, albeit with a different 4th piece.  Chalmers and Miller hit some big shots which shouldn't be a surprise based on their college resumes, while Battier hitting big shots was a pretty big shock since Duke is a bunch of choking a-holes.

4.  Chris Sale.   I completely loved this dude the last two years as a reliever, and pretty much figured with his stuff (double-figures in K/9 both the last two years) he was setting himself up as Chicago's future save-getting-saver guy.  But, smartly, the White Sox realized he was too good to only use like, 3 innings a week and half of those with a 3-run lead and nobody on base, so they decided to turn him into a starter.  Would it work?  Of course, because Sale is practically unhittable and he's been that most of this year.  After nearly throwing a no-hitter against Milwaukee, Sale now leads the AL in ERA at 2.24 and second in WHIP at 0.96 (behind only teammate Jake Peavy).  He has 89 Ks in 88 innings against just 23 walks and 62 hits, leading to a .193 opponent's batting average, which is third in the league.  In short, this dude is wicked good.  Which is the kind of thing you can get when you spend a high draft pick on a polished college pitcher.  Seriously, Kevin Gausman is going to come back to haunt the Twins.  Bank on it.

5.  Toronto Blue Jays.  Not so much the results because they were only 3-3 (although I guess on the road against Milwaukee and Miami that isn't too terrible), but because of their power numbers, the likes of which we haven't seen in Minnesota since I was still playing softball.  This past week four dudes in MLB hit four homers - three of them were Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Colby Ramsus (those are all Blue Jays, dumbass).  Brett Lawrie hit two as well, to make 14 homers for the week.  I'm willing to bet the Twins haven't hit 14 home runs in a week since back in 1930.  Pairing that offense with a young pitching staff to build upon including Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek, Ricky Romero, Drew Hutchison, and Deck McGuire and the Blue Jays are set up for a long run of success.  Is what I would be saying if the Jays weren't in the AL East, but they are so they're pretty much effed.


WHO SUCKED

1.  Twins.   I know a 3-3 week with two wins over the Reds for this team is like, the best week in history but honestly this might be one of the worst teams, especially offensively, in the history of the history of the world.  Fourteen total runs in those six games, which including facing studs like Kevin Correia and Homer Bailey.  Twelfth in the AL in runs.  Thirteenth in homers.  The overall average is decent (8th), but there's zero power behind it (13th in ISO - power discarding average) and is boosted by the 7th highest BABIP despite one of the five worst line drive rates in the league.  Awful.  And throw in the pitching woes and it's hard not to believe this is the worst team in the league.  Worst ERA in the league.  Worst opponent batting average in the league.  Fewest quality starts in the league.  Fewest strikeouts in the league.  The only team whose pitching can compete with the Twins in terms of shittiness is the Rockies, and they play in a launching pad so they at least have an excuse.  And the real killer is there is nothing on the horizon to make you at least hope for the future.  So I quit.

2.  Kendrick Perkins.  Now, it's probably a little mean to pick on Perkins because his one real skill is defending big centers and the Heat didn't have a big center who they played at all (Joel Anthony and Ronny Turiaf combined for 5 minutes total in all five games), but man was he exposed out there. Bosh just completely owned him in every game and I'm pretty sure I saw Udonis Haslem school him at least once.  You don't really expect to get any offense out of him, but outside of a 12 & 10 game in Game 3 he averaged just over 5 boards and about 3.5 points per game, well under his season averages.  Basically he was completely useless, but I actually enjoyed watching someone get torched so easily so it was kind of fun at times.  Probably not if you were a Thunder fan or anything, but I bet it was a god damned riot if you live in Seattle.

3.  James Harden.  Remember how the big thing everyone talked about with the Thunder a couple of weeks ago was how they'd have to make a decision on keeping either Harden or Serge Ibaka?  Unfortunately the best thing you could say about Ibaka in the Finals was that at least he didn't play as badly as Harden, and boy was he awful. He was actually good in Games 2 and 5 and the Thunder won Game 1, but he was so terrible in Games 3 and 4 - pretty monstrously important games in a best of 7 series, that you can make a pretty convincing argument that he's the biggest reason the Thunder lost.  Beardy Bearderson was 4-20 from the floor in those games, including 1-9 from three, and lost his confidence to such an extent that he actually started passing up open shots, which probably hurt the Thunder more than the misses did.  Not saying the Thunder could have beaten the Heat even if Harden played well, but they sure as hell weren't going to beat them without him.  I mean, would Three's Company have been as funny and sexy without Janet?  Actually I'm pretty sure yes.

4.  Tim Lincecum.  His final line on his latest start actually ended up ok, 6 innings - 3hits -3runs - 4walks-8 Ks - but the way it started was as ugly as his season has been.  Against a really, really crappy A's offense he allowed single-single-single-walk-groundout-walk and suddenly Oakland had put up 3 runs.  Then he struck out the next three batters and allowed only two base runners the rest of the game.  Some might this is a good sign that the old Lincecum might be back, but he's done this before (8 inning 3-hitter against San Diego and a couple other good outings), but all it's really resulted in is an ERA north of six and a WHIP more than 25% higher than his career number.  I mean, he's lasted less than six innings nine times already this year compared to just six times all of last season.  His walks and home runs are way up, he's allowing way to many line drives and no longer inducing easy pop-ups, and his fastball is down over 2mph to last year - and that last one is really the killer.  A lot of things can be ascribed to luck, and Wiley Wiggins here has had some bad luck this year, but when you drop down to a Blackburn-esque fastball when you're a strikeout pitcher?  Yikestown.

5. Adam Dunn.  Well if you were looking for last year's version of Adam Dunn I think we found him this week, because his extremely stellar season took a short detour off the rails (although not before he covered his season prop of OVER 20.5 HRs - holla).  This week Dunn came up to the plate 27 times.  He walked 5, and struck out 13.  Of the nine times he actually put the ball in play he hit two singles.  All of which adds up to a .095 average (and slugging).  Granted, when you have a dude like Adam Dunn you're going to get weeks like this and have to hope you get enough of those 4 home run weeks to balance it all out, but it's still worth pointing out a shitty week like this, and it's kind of jarring when you see a dude who struck out 13 times last week.  Also I just saw that Michael Cuddyer was 2-25 and I'd love to make fun of him a little bit but now it's too late cuz I wrote all this crap.  And you just read it.  Ha ha I win.



Pretty excited Juwan Howard has a ring, you guys.  I mean he was my fourth favorite Fab Five guy and all (1. Jalen, 2. King, 3. Webber, 4. Juwan, 5. Jackson, 6. Rob Pelinka), but I was/am such a huge fan it's nice to see one of them get a ring, especially since he was such a key cog in that machine.  And as we know, Juwan always wins:

In your face kid from Modern Family

Also seriously how freaking sweet is this thing:

There are, literally, hundreds of college basketball starting lineups I want.  If they exist.

PANDEMIC!!!

This was supposed to be the night that I got super drunk and blogged funny things, but instead I get hit with the flu which has sapped my will to live. I still have a couple of things to say, and may add to it during the breaks between naps and crying. Also, please pray for Mrs. W, who has the same thing and is stuck at home with a one-year old and nobody to help her out. Oof. God bless that woman.

- Being linked by the best and funniest sports blog out there, WithLeather, is not only an ego boost, but also a traffic boost, as when they linked our Video Game Mock Draft our daily hits were 7.5x higher than a usual day. Thanks again, WithLeather.

- Last night for dinner our group went to a U of Princeton Bar & Grill. There were not equations on the wall and shit.

- At one point in the car I was trying to find a local sports radio station as I usually do, and came across a religious preacherman instead. He said, "I advise teenagers and young people not to date at all. When you are ready for someone, god will give them to you. Spending time in a relationship not given by god is just wasting your time." I love these people.

- Have you ever seen that movie Enough? Me neither, but from what I figured it's about J-Lo who is mad that her husband is beating her up and fights back and probably kills him. That's how I feel about my boyfriend Cole Hamels right now. I gave him everything, forsaking all others, and now how has repaid me? With outright suckitude. He sucked hard in his first two starts, compiling an ERA of 11.17, and although he's been better since, he's also left both of his last two starts early with injuries, first after a line drive hit him in the back and then after rolling his ankle fielding a bunt. This is definitely the part of the movie where I am developing my master plan to kill him to set me free. He can still win me back, but he better be damn charming.

- Now watching the Heat/Hawks game in the hotel bar (while drinking Ginger Ale, pretty much the most depressing thing ever) and I'm seeing Mario Chalmers. Who should have been a Wolf. What a horrible trade. Chalmers averaged 32 minutes, 10 points, and five assists per game and although there's no way he will be rookie of the year since Derrick Rose has that on lock, you could make the argument he's more valuable to the Heat than fellow rookie Michael Beasley (25 minutes, 14 points, 5 boards). Looking at NBADraft.net's latest mock, with the second rounder from Miami (#48, Chalmers was 34) they have the Wolves taking Roderick Flemings from Hawaii (who is my boy but still) with Luke Harangody, JP Prince, and Raymar Morgan as other possibilities. What are the odds those guys come in on Chalmer's level? No way. Just another horrible trade in a long, long list of awful moves.

- Also I should note that it appears the Heat are coached by a hispanic child. Must be some kind of promotion, although I would probably use those in the regular season. Weird time to do it in the playoffs.

- Last thing before I pass out in a swine flu haze: I keep forgetting to post this, but Dawger and I did a little draft of all-time Gopher teams on our road trip to Madison. Which team wins and why? (mid-80s and newer only) -

Even Worse

I've reflected a bit further on the Wolves' draft, and I realized that everyone is paying so much attention to the Mayo/Love trade that the worst move of the draft is being ignored - the Chalmers trade.

With Mayo/Love, you can argue either side of the trade and make an intelligent argument. I think it was a bad move, but I can see why people would be in favor of it - especially racists - and respect that opinion, however wrong it may be. But there is absolutely no defense for trading Chalmers for two second round picks. None at all. Just plain stupid.

Chalmers is a point guard. The Wolves have a serious point guard deficiency. The only point guard on the roster is Sebastian Telfair, who, although he showed some improvement last season, will never be mistaken for a quality point guard. With Jaric shipped out, the only other guy on the roster with any kind of ball handling ability is Randy Foye, and if they're still trying to turn him into a PG they might as well give up right now.

And Chalmers played point for the national champions at Kansas, and is a solid player. Obviously he was a second round pick, but he was projected as a "late first early second" type, not a "second to undrafted type." One scouting group rated him the same as DJ Augustin (note: I don't agree quite with that, but still.) Essentially, he was a steal where they got him, and then they ship him off for two second round draft picks, which I can almost guarantee won't end up netting them one player of Chalmers caliber, much less two. Maybe he's figuring he can get two guys who are each 60% the player Chalmers is, and that will be like getting 120% return on the trade. I honestly have no idea what McHale was thinking on this one. Utterly brutal. Now they'll end up signing some broken down veteran point guard to back up Telfair. This team is a complete joke. Their one chance was to hold onto Mayo, hope he's a star, and hope they can get him to stay - although he'd probably end up going to Boston like everyone else - and the blew that too. Good thing I don't watch the NBA, or I'd be out of this world pissed.

- In case you missed it, I said Woody Austin was the pick at the Buick this week. He finished second, and should have been in a playoff with winner Kenny "Dan Akroyd" Perry, but somehow managed to blast a birdie putt about fifteen feet past the hole and couldn't make it on the way back. Still, pretty much proves I'm a genius. Eat it Faldo, wherever you are.

Summer of Love - get it?

I was able to watch a decent chunk of the draft last night, but was unable to blog it because while watching I was also holding ^Wonderbaby. First comments on the Wolves' results, then the draft as a whole.

Round 1 - OJ Mayo (traded to Memphis with Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric, and Gerg Buckner in exchange for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Jason Collins)
I do wish they would have announced this right after the pick, because I went to bed talking myself into OJ Mayo and looking forward to having him and woke up seeing he was traded. I'm not so sure, but I can see the upside here. I'm madly in love with Mike Miller, one of the best shooters in the NBA, and I'm excited to have him in Minnesota. Cardinal is still as annoying as ever, and Collins is worthless, but I'd rather have those two than Jaric, Walker, and Buckner. As for Love, personally I ignore his lack of "measurables" and pay more attention to his production. I didn't think Mayo fit the Wolves all that well because the backcourt would be undersized, but now with Love, the frontcourt will be undersized.

Love should fit in well, and will be a productive player, although I don't think he's all-star material, where Mayo had that kind of potential. And as much as I like Miller, he doesn't really make that much sense for a rebuilding team. Even though I like Love and was never a huge Mayo fan, I hate this deal. You aren't winning with Jefferson, Love, Miller, Foye, Telfair.

Round 2 - Nikola Pekovic - I was completely disgusted with this pick when it was made, and am only slightly less disgusted after doing a little more research into this commie. Turns out he's not your typical Euro: seven feet tall, skinny frame, soft, averages of 5 pts and 5 rebs per game. He's actually quite good, averaging nearly 20 points per game and being named EuroBasket's player of the year. Even so, he just signed a rich, 3-year contract with his team in Europe, so he wouldn't even be available for three more years. I also read that he "hates the NBA" so he may never come over at all. And they could have had Bill Walker.

Round 2 - Mario Chalmers (traded to Miami) - I liked the Chalmers pick here, especially with the weaknesses the Wolves at PG, and don't understand why they'd ship him off for two future second rounders, especially from Miami when they just picked up Beasley and will be improving. The picks will almost certainly be lower than #34 (where Chalmers was picked), and he was talented and would fit the team perfectly. Don't get it.

In short, despite liking Love quite a bit, I completely and totally hated this draft in every possible way. Snacks made a good point about the direction the Wolves are heading in an email to me, which hopefully he'll repost in the comments, but I can't shake the disappointment I feel from trading Mayo.

Let's move on to the draft as a whole:

1. Derrick Rose - Chicago: No brainer. Plays a valuable position, no real concerns, played well on a big stage, and is from Chicago

2. Michael Beasley - Miami: All the Mayo talk was just talk, as it should have been. The Derrick Coleman comparisons are ludicrous.

3. OJ Mayo - Minnesota (to Memphis): The third of three guys with the potential to be a star. We don't need him.

4. Russell Westbrook - Seattle: I don't get the Westbrook love. He's a great defender, yes, but he's too small to play the 2 and doesn't have the PG skills to play the 1. And he's not a good shooter.

5. Kevin Love - Memphis (to Minnesota): See above. I like Love and think he'll be qualilty, but it pains me that the Wolves passed on a potential superstar.

6. Danilo Gallinari - NY Knicks: Obviously I've never seen him play, but seeing as he's foreign and was drafted in the lottery, I'm going to predict bust. I'm sure Bill Simmons will mention this as well, but watching him get interviewed by Stephen A Smith was hilarious.

7. Eric Gordon - LA Clippers: Bust. Shrinks in big games, just isn't NBA ready. May get there in time, but not this year.

8. Joe Alexander - Milwaukee: Don't get the love here either. He's too slow to drive, too weak to post up, and doesn't have the outside shot to be a perimeter guy. Maybe he can combine the three to become a good player, but I doubt it.

9. DJ Augustin - Charlotte: Excellent pick, as Augustin is built for the NBA. Will be a better player than Gordon, and could join the Deron Williams/Chris Paul discussion down the road.

10. Brook Lopez - New Jersey: Whatever. Tall. Good. We'll see if it translates. He sounds like Jame Gumb.

11. Jerryd Bayless - Indiana (to Portland): I've mentioned I love Bayless, and I love what Portland is doing. Bayless will be a huge upgrade over Jarrett Jack.

12. Jason Thompson - Sacramento: You know, there was a lot of talk about how Rider had an NBA draft caliber player this year, but he never really dominated the way you'd think if he was going to go twelfth. Very curious to see how he works out.

13. Brandon Rush - Portland (to Indiana): Can't hate this pick, he's very solid. Rush is one of the safest players to pick, but also with not a whole lot of upside. You know he's going to be a quality rotation type player, who may crack a starting rotation at some point, but will never be a star.

14. Anthony Randolph - Golden State: A bit of a super athletic project, but at this point, why not?

15. Robin Lopez - Phoenix: Jame Gumb with the Sideshow Bob hairstyle. Lopez is a defensive kind of guy, and by going to the Suns shows they may be looking to change up their team identity a bit. I think he would have been well-served staying in school for a year to show he could carry a team himself, but 15th is nothing to be ashamed of.

16. Marreese Speights - Florida: I have a really good feeling about Speights. He's excellent down low, but also has a better outside game than many realize.

17. Rob Hibbert - Indiana: I guess he has to be taken somewhere. I wouldn't touch Hibbert until later than this, but I suppose there is also a place for a 7-2 uncoordinated, slow big man in the NBA.

18. Javale McGee - Washington: I have no idea why you would take him ahead of Darrell Arthur or Kosta Koufos if you want a big man. No idea.

19. JJ Hickson - Cleveland: I'd think you'd want a guy with a little more polish if you're the Cavs and are trying to simultaneously take the next step as well as convince LeBron not to leave when his contract is up - like Darrell Arthur.

20. Alexis Ajinca - Charlotte: He has a girls name, is from France, and averaged 5 ppg in a french league - guess how this one will turn out.

21. Ryan Anderson - New Jersey: Bascially Joe Alexander with a better outside shot, and 13 picks later.

22. Courtney Lee - Orlando: Great pick. Guy will be a very solid 2 guard.

23. Kosta Koufos - Utah: I think he will be a very solid player, and going to Utah and Jerry Sloan is a great fit. He needs to gain some weight and get stronger, but already has a good post game and can step out and hit the outside jumper. Like this pick.

24. Serge Ibaka - Seattle: I'm not even going to pretend I know who this is, but he's from the Congo so he'll likely be killed by Killer Apes before he even gets to the NBA.

25. Nicolas Batum - Houston (to Portland): Another Frenchy. According to the Blazers GM, they have a chance to actually sign Batum for this coming season. How weird is that? Teams keep drafting guys who they won't even see for a few years. Don't get it.

26. George Hill - San Antonio: The Spurs' backup PG is Jacque Vaughn, so they clearly need a PG here. Why Hill over Chalmers? I don't know.

27. Darrell Arthur - Memphis: A steal, as long as those Kidney issues - which caused him to drop to here - don't end up being a big deal.

28. Donte Green - Houston: Some people (Snacks) really love Green. I don't. he doesn't do anything other than shoot three pointers. The problem is he's 6-11, over half of his FG attempts last year were from three, and he only shot 34.5%. He has talent, if only he can figure it out.

29. DJ White - Detroit (to Seattle): I think White has a real chance to be a contributor right away. For two second round picks, it's a great move for the Sonics.

30. JR Giddens - Boston: I didn't even realize he was considered first round material, but he is a hell of a player. Lots and lots of off court issues, but lots and lots of talent. A big gamble. Boston also picked up Bill Walker in the second round, who is another possible first rouond talent kind of guy if his knee turns out to be ok. If even one of the two work out, the Celtics will be in great shape. Ainge might be turning out to be a pretty good GM.

So there you have it, and congratulations to all the underclassmen who declared and either went undrafted or were picked in the second round. Special shout out to USC's Davon Jefferson, a very talented freshman last year who definitely would have been first round material, possibly lottery, with another year or two in college, but declared this year and went undrafted. Good luck in the D League, genius.

Rock. Chalk. Gayhawk.

I can't believe there is no highlight of Mario Chalmers three pointer last night up on youtube yet. Would have been a great way to open this post. Stupid internet nerds.

First thing, congratulations to GopherLady, who won the first ever Down with Goldy NCAA Bracket Pool. Top Five below:

1. GopherLady
2. Theory
3. Sam Jacobson's All-Stars
4. Snacks
5. GopherKev

If these five would please shoot me an email at downwithgoldy@yahoo.com with their address and prize they want, I'll send them off. Prize list can be found at the bracket site.

Anyway, back to the game. How fun was that to watch? Obviously, there was a lot more inside action then I had predicted, as the perimeter defense was just way too good on both sides. Not to mention the way they got back on defense. Several times one team or the other would look like they might have a break going, but the defense would get back in time to break it up.

Kansas looked like it had the game in the bag the whole time, basically by getting the ball to Darrell Arthur and letting him destroy Taggert, Dorsey, or Dozier and by keeping Rose under control on the defensive end. Once Rose got going in the second half, it looked like Memphis had this one in the bag, but that free throw problem, which hadn't been a problem all tournament, finally came back to bit them in the ass - they missed four out of their last five attempts in regulation.

It was interesting to watch CDR and Brandon Rush, as they are competing for similar draft position (NBADraft.net has them going #17 and #18) and they were matched up on each other most of the game. CDR ended up with more points (22 on 7-16 compared to 12 on 5-9) but Rush had more rebounds (6 to 1) and assists (2-1). Most telling, however, was when they would try to go one-on-one against each other. Roberts got his shots off, but Rush stayed in front of him and they were difficult shots, usually over Rush. When Rush drove, however, he was able to go right by CDR and get to the rim. He didn't score more because Memphis's help defense was so good. I'd definitely take Rush over CDR if I'm drafting.

Overall, it was just a great, great game, one I'm happy I didn't miss. Probably the best championship game I can remember watching.

And here is this year's One Shining Moment in case you missed it:



And yes, Joey Dorsey will be in jail within three years.

Championship Game

Predictions:

1. Memphis wins

2. Rose and CDR once again get to the rim over and over in transition, as Kansas has no answer.

3. As easily as Russell Westbrook scored on the Tigers Saturday night, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers will do the same as this game is dominated by the guards on both sides. Dozier, Dorsey, Taggart, Arthur, Kaun, and Jackson are relegated to mostly just rebounding and second chance points - expect possibly for Arthur who can get out and run and might be able to score on the break.

4. Cole Aldrich heads back to the bench and plays less than three minutes, if at all.

5. The game goes over the posted total of 148.5, and will be more like 160.

6. Will go pretty much down to the wire, with Memphis pulling ahead in the final minute to win 83-78.

7. Most Oustanding Player: Chris Douglas-Roberts