1
Matt Wieters is a six-tool player. The sixth tool is AWESOMENESS.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
FORMER TWIN WATCH
Garrett Jones: 2-4, 2 HRs, 3 runs, 3 RBI, BB
Carlos Gomez, 4-5, HR, 2B, SB, 2 runs, RBI
Ugh.
Carlos Gomez, 4-5, HR, 2B, SB, 2 runs, RBI
Ugh.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Week in Review - 4/4/2010
Baseball baseball baseball baseball baseball. Seriously, this NCAA hoops championship matchup really sucks, but at least we have baseball. Hell, I even enjoyed the hell out of the Yankees/Red Sox last night, and usually I'd rather die than watch those two teams play. Now, if some of their fans want to go at it, who am I to stand in the way?
God bless baseball.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Harrison Barnes. Did you happen to check out any of the McDonald's All-Star festivities this week? If you did, you would have definitely noticed Harrison Barnes. First was all the goofy stuff, in which Mr. Barnes finished third in the three-point competition and third in the skills competition while eschewing the dunk contest because he was too pimp and knows that dunk contests are for the same people who love monster truck rallies and Big Buck Hunter. Then he went out and dominated the actual all-star game, scoring 18 points and grabbing I think something like 40 rebounds. He is going to be a beast. Remember the part where I said he finished third in both the skills competition and the three-point contest? Yeah, he's also 6-7. And I read where somebody called him "the most competitive high-school player since Kobe Bryant." I have no idea what that means since I never saw Kobe in high school, but I have to imagine it's some kind of compliment. Should've picked the Gophers, Harrison. Your bad.
I should also mention that soon to be Duke PG Kyrie Irving's favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, which automatically means I'm a big fan of his and he's now my second all-time favorite Dookie behind Ricky Price, who was god on Coach K for the Genesis.
2. Missouri State/Virginia Commonwealth. Congrats to these two teams for winning their tournaments, Mizz State the CIT and VCU the CBI. Unlike the NIT you can actually take pride in winning these two tournaments (more on that below). Your team sucked and wasn't worthy of an NCAA bid and probably had no shot since day one, but you get to keep playing against other semi-crappy teams and if you win you've proven you're the best of the lousiest. Hey, it's something. Better than being Iowa.
3. Eric Hayes. I know you don't know who this is, so I'll just tell you. He's a graduating senior guard on Maryland who averaged 11 pts and 4 assists per game this season, but more importantly he took his 45% three-point shooting to the NCAA Three-point contest earlier this week and won the whole thing, and dominated while doing it. He posted the best score in each of the three rounds while shooting his way past guys like Ryan Wittman, Jason Bohannon, and other assorted whities to grab the title and join the prestigious list of past winners which includes nobody who I can remember right now. And that's really I have to say about Eric Hayes. You can expect Blake to be in this thing next year.
4. Butler. I have no idea why I'm not solidly behind Butler. I mean, I'll be rooting for them since they're playing Duke who are all gays or jerks or gay jerks, but I'm just not buying into the whole underdog thing. Maybe it's too much of being shoved down my throat and all the retarded comparisons to Hoosiers. I don't know. I just know that I'm not a Butler fan. Except for tonight. Tonight I will be praying to god that Butler wins, and you know God cares about this one because everybody knows Duke is Satan's team.
5. The Taco Hawks. Seriously you guys, me and Snake's Fantasy Baseball team (named after former WKU star Orlando Mendez-Valdez) is just stacked. Check this out:
C - Matt Wieters. See here
1B - Justin Morneau - 30 homers + fun factor? Perfect.
2B - Rickie Weeks - he walks often and has power, expect a big year after his injury last season
3B - Evan Longoria - you know you have a crush on him too
SS - Jason Bartlett - last year wasn't a fluke. Nice trade, Twins.
OF - Matt Kemp - 30/30 is his downside
OF - BJ Upton - he's back, baby.
OF - Jason Kubel - yet another MVP candidate on our team
UT - Billy Butler - keeps getting better
SP - Zach Grienke - will probably win 20 even on that shitty team
SP - Cole Hamels - thanks for letting him slide, draft-mates
SP - Chad Billingsley - a lock for 20 wins
SP - Tommy Hansen - stud
SP - Matt Garza - yes, that's five Cy Young candidates on our team
RP - Rafael Soriano - plenty of chances for saves with the Rays
RP - Jon Rauch - Believe it.
And that's without even getting into the potential breakout pitchers on our bench - Stephen Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner.
I told you - we're stacked.. And we did it without a single Yankee, Red Sock, or White Sock, so there are no dirty feelings. Although you should know Snake was pushing to take Jeter around the fourth or fifth round. Ick.
WHO SUCKED
1. J'mison Morgan. No, he's not here for that horrendous spelling of his name, but because he seems like he might be following the Jaron Rush school of squandering your talent. Morgan was the #25 recruit coming out two years ago and the #4 center in his class. Since signing with UCLA, however, he hasn't done much and was dismissed from the team earlier this week. Morgan was suspended for a game in early March for missing a meeting and didn't play in either of the Bruins Pac-10 Tournament games, and pretty much struggled with being fat all season long. When he did play he didn't do much, averaging just 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game over his two years, with career highs of 8 points and 4 rebounds. UCLA has now lost Morgan and Drew Gordon this season, but honestly they're probably better off. Howland really needs to recalibrate his recruitilizer before he ends up without a team. I hear Monson is gunning for the UCLA job. Also nice name, jackass.
2. Dayton. I know that I've ever said anything good about Dayton, and I'm not going to start now just because they won the NIT. Hey morons, how about you play like this during the season, actually live up to expectations and make the NCAA Tournament instead of winning something that almost ten people in the whole world even know is going on. Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, and Chris Johnson all had a couple of really nice games in Madison Square Garden in the Flyers' wins over Ole Miss and UNC, but where were you all season long? If you were a little more consistent you wouldn't have lost to St. Louis. Or Duquesne. Or St. Joe's. I swear winning the NIT is nothing more than a reminder that your team shit the bed and way underachieved all season long.
3. West Virginia. Da'Sean Butler didn't bother to show up until the game was mostly out of hand, the Mountaineers played basically zero defense and little offense, they couldn't keep Zoubek off the glass, and for some unfathomable reason Bobby Huggins never went with the 1-3-1, despite the fact that it was the team's go-to defense all year long and that man-to-man was doing nothing but giving Duke wide open looks. If you were worried about going zone against a team with shooters like Duke, trust me, they couldn't have gotten more open. Just an ugly, crappy, shitty game by a Mountaineer team that on Saturday didn't come close to resembling the team they were all season long. Ugly.
4. Chicago Cubs. Guess who the Cubbies' fourth starter is this year? Come on, guess. You'll never get it. It's Carlos Silva. It seems he's not only still in baseball, which seemed unlikely enough, but also beat out Jeff Samardzjia and Sean Marshall, which means those two should probably start considering killing themselves - or, failing that obvious move, retire. I can't even come up with anything else to say here. Carlos Silva won the fourth spot in the Cubs' rotation really just speaks for itself.
5. Red Sox. They actually allowed the Yankees to pull off the double steal, first and third thing. Seriously, what is this, little league?
Finally, I leave you with the following:
"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again."
God bless baseball.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Harrison Barnes. Did you happen to check out any of the McDonald's All-Star festivities this week? If you did, you would have definitely noticed Harrison Barnes. First was all the goofy stuff, in which Mr. Barnes finished third in the three-point competition and third in the skills competition while eschewing the dunk contest because he was too pimp and knows that dunk contests are for the same people who love monster truck rallies and Big Buck Hunter. Then he went out and dominated the actual all-star game, scoring 18 points and grabbing I think something like 40 rebounds. He is going to be a beast. Remember the part where I said he finished third in both the skills competition and the three-point contest? Yeah, he's also 6-7. And I read where somebody called him "the most competitive high-school player since Kobe Bryant." I have no idea what that means since I never saw Kobe in high school, but I have to imagine it's some kind of compliment. Should've picked the Gophers, Harrison. Your bad.
I should also mention that soon to be Duke PG Kyrie Irving's favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, which automatically means I'm a big fan of his and he's now my second all-time favorite Dookie behind Ricky Price, who was god on Coach K for the Genesis.
2. Missouri State/Virginia Commonwealth. Congrats to these two teams for winning their tournaments, Mizz State the CIT and VCU the CBI. Unlike the NIT you can actually take pride in winning these two tournaments (more on that below). Your team sucked and wasn't worthy of an NCAA bid and probably had no shot since day one, but you get to keep playing against other semi-crappy teams and if you win you've proven you're the best of the lousiest. Hey, it's something. Better than being Iowa.
3. Eric Hayes. I know you don't know who this is, so I'll just tell you. He's a graduating senior guard on Maryland who averaged 11 pts and 4 assists per game this season, but more importantly he took his 45% three-point shooting to the NCAA Three-point contest earlier this week and won the whole thing, and dominated while doing it. He posted the best score in each of the three rounds while shooting his way past guys like Ryan Wittman, Jason Bohannon, and other assorted whities to grab the title and join the prestigious list of past winners which includes nobody who I can remember right now. And that's really I have to say about Eric Hayes. You can expect Blake to be in this thing next year.
4. Butler. I have no idea why I'm not solidly behind Butler. I mean, I'll be rooting for them since they're playing Duke who are all gays or jerks or gay jerks, but I'm just not buying into the whole underdog thing. Maybe it's too much of being shoved down my throat and all the retarded comparisons to Hoosiers. I don't know. I just know that I'm not a Butler fan. Except for tonight. Tonight I will be praying to god that Butler wins, and you know God cares about this one because everybody knows Duke is Satan's team.
5. The Taco Hawks. Seriously you guys, me and Snake's Fantasy Baseball team (named after former WKU star Orlando Mendez-Valdez) is just stacked. Check this out:
C - Matt Wieters. See here
1B - Justin Morneau - 30 homers + fun factor? Perfect.
2B - Rickie Weeks - he walks often and has power, expect a big year after his injury last season
3B - Evan Longoria - you know you have a crush on him too
SS - Jason Bartlett - last year wasn't a fluke. Nice trade, Twins.
OF - Matt Kemp - 30/30 is his downside
OF - BJ Upton - he's back, baby.
OF - Jason Kubel - yet another MVP candidate on our team
UT - Billy Butler - keeps getting better
SP - Zach Grienke - will probably win 20 even on that shitty team
SP - Cole Hamels - thanks for letting him slide, draft-mates
SP - Chad Billingsley - a lock for 20 wins
SP - Tommy Hansen - stud
SP - Matt Garza - yes, that's five Cy Young candidates on our team
RP - Rafael Soriano - plenty of chances for saves with the Rays
RP - Jon Rauch - Believe it.
And that's without even getting into the potential breakout pitchers on our bench - Stephen Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner.
I told you - we're stacked.. And we did it without a single Yankee, Red Sock, or White Sock, so there are no dirty feelings. Although you should know Snake was pushing to take Jeter around the fourth or fifth round. Ick.
WHO SUCKED
1. J'mison Morgan. No, he's not here for that horrendous spelling of his name, but because he seems like he might be following the Jaron Rush school of squandering your talent. Morgan was the #25 recruit coming out two years ago and the #4 center in his class. Since signing with UCLA, however, he hasn't done much and was dismissed from the team earlier this week. Morgan was suspended for a game in early March for missing a meeting and didn't play in either of the Bruins Pac-10 Tournament games, and pretty much struggled with being fat all season long. When he did play he didn't do much, averaging just 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game over his two years, with career highs of 8 points and 4 rebounds. UCLA has now lost Morgan and Drew Gordon this season, but honestly they're probably better off. Howland really needs to recalibrate his recruitilizer before he ends up without a team. I hear Monson is gunning for the UCLA job. Also nice name, jackass.
2. Dayton. I know that I've ever said anything good about Dayton, and I'm not going to start now just because they won the NIT. Hey morons, how about you play like this during the season, actually live up to expectations and make the NCAA Tournament instead of winning something that almost ten people in the whole world even know is going on. Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, and Chris Johnson all had a couple of really nice games in Madison Square Garden in the Flyers' wins over Ole Miss and UNC, but where were you all season long? If you were a little more consistent you wouldn't have lost to St. Louis. Or Duquesne. Or St. Joe's. I swear winning the NIT is nothing more than a reminder that your team shit the bed and way underachieved all season long.
3. West Virginia. Da'Sean Butler didn't bother to show up until the game was mostly out of hand, the Mountaineers played basically zero defense and little offense, they couldn't keep Zoubek off the glass, and for some unfathomable reason Bobby Huggins never went with the 1-3-1, despite the fact that it was the team's go-to defense all year long and that man-to-man was doing nothing but giving Duke wide open looks. If you were worried about going zone against a team with shooters like Duke, trust me, they couldn't have gotten more open. Just an ugly, crappy, shitty game by a Mountaineer team that on Saturday didn't come close to resembling the team they were all season long. Ugly.
4. Chicago Cubs. Guess who the Cubbies' fourth starter is this year? Come on, guess. You'll never get it. It's Carlos Silva. It seems he's not only still in baseball, which seemed unlikely enough, but also beat out Jeff Samardzjia and Sean Marshall, which means those two should probably start considering killing themselves - or, failing that obvious move, retire. I can't even come up with anything else to say here. Carlos Silva won the fourth spot in the Cubs' rotation really just speaks for itself.
5. Red Sox. They actually allowed the Yankees to pull off the double steal, first and third thing. Seriously, what is this, little league?
Finally, I leave you with the following:
"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again."
Saturday, April 3, 2010
National SemiFinal #2
I'm still basking in the glow of the world's greatest fantasy baseball draft, but I'm also basking in sitting in my bed with a Michelob Golden Draft Light 12 oz. can and watching the basketball game on a 19 inch television and since I'm here I see no reason why I should hide my most intimate thoughts with you, dear friend. Keep in mind that I have made my biggest bet ever on this game, a 15-unit wager on WVU +2, so I care more than I probably should. I also know that Snacks is "All in" on West Virginia. I don't know how much money that actually encompasses after the Michigan State loss left him a broken man who stopped watching at the ten minute mark, but at least he's on my side. I also know that Bogart has 5 units on WVU scoring first. Let's get to it.
20:00 - Oh, I also have 5-to-win-15 that the first basket of the game is a 3-pointer. Had the same bet in the first game and it hit, so if it hit here it would just be gravy.
20:00 - I hate Duke so much. Other than this chick, I mean;
20:00 - Stay with me now, perv. Eyes up top.
20:00 - You realize the Gophers beat Butler, right?
20:00 - I just read something where the guy was saying that Butler winning is terrible for CBS. What? That's the best thing that could have happened. The only people who care about Michigan State are their own fans, die-hard college hoop junkies who were going to watch anyway, and gamblers. Causal fans are going to be interested in the Butler story. Hell, I told Mrs. W about Butler and even she's interested. And I can tell you this month, like every March, she is so sick of college basketball right now she's probably strongly considered taking a croquet mallet to my cubes. And yet, she perked up a bit when I told her about Butler and all the blah blah crap. So, in conclusion, that guy who wrote that thing is an idiot.
20:00 - I hate it when they don't tell you the major of the players when they do the intros. I bet at least 4 out of 5 WVU starters are majoring in African American Studies and the other guy is in Communication. And what do the Dukies major in? Like, is Singler majoring in Bio-Chem and Nolan Smith in Genetic Engineering? Or are they in Communication too? I seriously want to know this. Someone go look it up.
20:00 - AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGgghhhhhhhhhh! Sorry, I thought there was a gigantic female chicken running lose. It was just Singler. My bad.
19:49 - 5 second call on Mazzulla to open the game. They already miss Bryant.
19:12 - WVU with a blocked shot on Singler and a offensive rebound already in the first minute. They're going to athletic Duke to death.
18:54 - And Mazzulla throws his layup attempt over the backboard. It might be time to sit him down for a few minutes, ask him why exactly he's attempting to take over the game when he averages like 6 points per game.
18:10 - Easy lay-up for Wellington Smith to tie the game at 2. If Huggins doesn't melt down WVU could end up running away with this, they look far better than Duke. And there's a third blocked shot by the Mountaineers. This is like that scene in Rushmore where Bill Murray rejects that dumb kids shot.
16:39 - Well somehow Duke is up 7-4 after a Scheyer three. And since I know you're wondering, no, Scheyer didn't close his mouth at any point, and he's seriously threatening Tyler Hansbrough's NCAA record streaking of never ever closing his mouth.
15:12 - Between this Robin Hood movie and Clash of the Titans I am as amped for movies as I have ever been. I think the only times I've been more exited were when Lord of the Rings were coming out (happy about the result), the Star Wars prequels (so-so), and Jurassic Park 3 (kill me in the neck).
14:41 - Shot clock violation on Duke for being gay. Time for WVU to get after it. And there you go, they go inside and get a foul. Kevin Jones misses both, of course, but at least they got the ball inside.
13:57 - Jesus Duke is just shredding the WVU defense at this point. They can't stop penetration (like your mom) and can't seem to figure out a high pick-and-roll. This does not bode well.
13:26 - At least Singler is still shooting like that guy at the Y who sucks but thinks he's good so he always shoots no matter what even though he hasn't hit a shot in a month. And as I say that WVU throws up an airball from 15. You can tell they're feeling a lot more pressure than the Dukies right now, even though the pressure should be the other way around. Because all of the media really want to give the Duke players handies if they win, and the Duke players really want handies, so that's why. Feel free to re-arrange that sentence into something more coherent.
12:30 - That perimeter handoff is not supposed to result in any easy layup for Duke. Everybody runs that play, and unless you are the Gophers and you're playing Wisconsin it doesn't ever work. Until tonight. It's only 13-9 Duke but I think this one is over, and I'm going to have to root for freaking Butler.
11:05 - And the big giant chicken hits a three. 18-11 Duke. The Blue Devils are hitting everything, and it's not luck, it's just piss poor defense. Huggy Bear needs to do something here (he called timeout), but I think we're in trouble folks. Huggins isn't exactly what I consider agreat good mediocre adequate fair in-game coach. God I hate Duke. More like Puke, am i right?
10:55 - You know one thing I hate about summer? Those people who are a little too into grilling, you know what I mean?
7:50 - A second three of the game for WVU's Flowers and it's 23-21 Duke. Flower si s aguy who was something like 6-20 from three on the season, but that makes both Duke and Kentucky who basically played defense on him by backing off in the lane and daring him to shoot, and he hit a huge one against Kentucky and like I said that's now two tonight. I don't get it. He's 6-20, not 0-0. It's obviously not a huge weapon of his, but he's not worthless out there as if he was Al Nolen or something either.
6:16 - This is the worst game I've seen WVU play all year. Poor defense, tentative offense, just sick. Duke now up 31-21, and Huggins is barking at his players which means this one is done. Almost not even worth watching. I'm going to try to hedge my bet a bit with a live bet on Duke.
5:47 - God Mazzulla is basically Al Nolen without the defense. He can drive, but he just jump stops and picks up his dribble with no idea what he's doing. And then Duke misses, offensive rebounds, and hits a three. Ugh. Can't this at least be entertaining? 37-24 Duke.
3:44 - Alright let's move on to 2011. I'm predicting Michigan State to win it all. And speaking of winning it all, have you heard about me and Snake's fantasy baseball team? Wow, just crazy good. Want to hear our starting pitching staff? Greinke, Hamels, Billingsley, Tommy Hanson, and Matt Garza. Wow. And waiting in the wings we have have Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner. Yeah, we're loaded.
3:40 - 5 seconds on Duke trying to inbound. This is the break we need. LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS.
3:22 - Ebanks with a nice move for two, 37-28 Duke. I feel a run coming except then instead Nolan Smith found a wide open layup. I can't get over this suddenly shitty WVU defense. It's just awful. Duke currently shooting 59%. Ridiculous.
2:54 - Ebanks with another nice move and a three-point play. He's single-handedly keeping this from being a blowout. Where the hell is Butler? 1-4 for two points. Nice job assface. You're telling me he can't score on Lance freaking Thomas? Disgusting.
0:47 - Christ, Zoubek must have 10 rebounds already. I have no idea what is going on. This West Virginia team is not the same team I saw all year and bet on. Huggins you killed yet another talented team somehow. This guy is a bigger choker than Darius Washington.
0:00 - 39-31 Duke at half. I'm no so much worried about the score, but the defense of WVU is just crap right now. CRAP I SAY!!!
20:00 - Ok I'm back. Took a short break there to watch an episode of the Office ("Frame Toby", hysterical) and grab a couple of Stroh's Lights out of the fridge. Yep, Stroh's Lights. WVU doesn't deserve better right now.
19:49 - Da'Sean Butler and Nolan Smith are basically complete opposites of each other right now.
19"17 - Mazzulla hits from 17. I guess he's not like Nolen after all.
18:59 - Wide open jumper for Singler. And I mean WIDE open. This is baffling.
17:27 - I can't quite give up on WVU as Wellington hits a three to make it 36-43, but they need to get their defensive scheme figured out in a hurry because Duke is one short run away from blowing them out.
16:04 - Duke just not missing. This is like the opposite of watching Trajan Langdon in a Final Four. WVU hanging in, but right now if feels like when the Gophers played Xavier and you knew they were basically just holding on for dear life and any moment they were going to be out of it. WVU just hanging on by a thread.
15:21 - Another open Sheyer three wins me my OVER 14 threes for the game bet, but that is pretty meaningless considering I have 15 units on WVU. This sucks.
13:43 - Another Duke layup and it's 51-42. This is like watching the Gophers play defense. I probably won't post anything else. Game over. I suck.
12:41 - Huggins completely melting down and just started screaming at Flowers. If it wasn't over already (it was) it's over now. Guy is really not a very good coach. I have no idea why I was backing him so hard. Pretty sure it was nothing but anti-Duke bias coming through.
11:44 - Looks like Nolan Smith took a nice shot to the nads. Of course it would happen to the only duke dick that I don't hate. I would pay good money for somebody to take a shot at Singler's giblets.
11:44 - Technical on Duke for hanging on the rim after dunking back a miss. Butler shoots the free-throws and makes both, which is one more field goal than he has on the night. That should tell you what kind of night it is.
10:35 - I just took the Yankees to win tomorrow night for a unit, just to make me feel better.
10:02 - I'm sad.
8:59 - I'm almost positive Huggins is trying to make out with Da'Sean Butler who is down after some kind of knee injury. This probably actually a good coach/player moment but it looks really creepy on TV. Also Duke is up 63-48 and I'm guessing with Butler now out and being carried off that takes whatever energy/motivation WVU might have had left and kills it. Duke's going to win by 25.
6:37 - It upsets me greatly that Duke is going to win the National Championship.
0:00 - Well that ended up being pretty boring. At least they hit the over. I can't believe I'm going to be rooting for Butler.
20:00 - Oh, I also have 5-to-win-15 that the first basket of the game is a 3-pointer. Had the same bet in the first game and it hit, so if it hit here it would just be gravy.
20:00 - I hate Duke so much. Other than this chick, I mean;
20:00 - You realize the Gophers beat Butler, right?
20:00 - I just read something where the guy was saying that Butler winning is terrible for CBS. What? That's the best thing that could have happened. The only people who care about Michigan State are their own fans, die-hard college hoop junkies who were going to watch anyway, and gamblers. Causal fans are going to be interested in the Butler story. Hell, I told Mrs. W about Butler and even she's interested. And I can tell you this month, like every March, she is so sick of college basketball right now she's probably strongly considered taking a croquet mallet to my cubes. And yet, she perked up a bit when I told her about Butler and all the blah blah crap. So, in conclusion, that guy who wrote that thing is an idiot.
20:00 - I hate it when they don't tell you the major of the players when they do the intros. I bet at least 4 out of 5 WVU starters are majoring in African American Studies and the other guy is in Communication. And what do the Dukies major in? Like, is Singler majoring in Bio-Chem and Nolan Smith in Genetic Engineering? Or are they in Communication too? I seriously want to know this. Someone go look it up.
20:00 - AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGgghhhhhhhhhh! Sorry, I thought there was a gigantic female chicken running lose. It was just Singler. My bad.
19:49 - 5 second call on Mazzulla to open the game. They already miss Bryant.
19:12 - WVU with a blocked shot on Singler and a offensive rebound already in the first minute. They're going to athletic Duke to death.
18:54 - And Mazzulla throws his layup attempt over the backboard. It might be time to sit him down for a few minutes, ask him why exactly he's attempting to take over the game when he averages like 6 points per game.
18:10 - Easy lay-up for Wellington Smith to tie the game at 2. If Huggins doesn't melt down WVU could end up running away with this, they look far better than Duke. And there's a third blocked shot by the Mountaineers. This is like that scene in Rushmore where Bill Murray rejects that dumb kids shot.
16:39 - Well somehow Duke is up 7-4 after a Scheyer three. And since I know you're wondering, no, Scheyer didn't close his mouth at any point, and he's seriously threatening Tyler Hansbrough's NCAA record streaking of never ever closing his mouth.
15:12 - Between this Robin Hood movie and Clash of the Titans I am as amped for movies as I have ever been. I think the only times I've been more exited were when Lord of the Rings were coming out (happy about the result), the Star Wars prequels (so-so), and Jurassic Park 3 (kill me in the neck).
14:41 - Shot clock violation on Duke for being gay. Time for WVU to get after it. And there you go, they go inside and get a foul. Kevin Jones misses both, of course, but at least they got the ball inside.
13:57 - Jesus Duke is just shredding the WVU defense at this point. They can't stop penetration (like your mom) and can't seem to figure out a high pick-and-roll. This does not bode well.
13:26 - At least Singler is still shooting like that guy at the Y who sucks but thinks he's good so he always shoots no matter what even though he hasn't hit a shot in a month. And as I say that WVU throws up an airball from 15. You can tell they're feeling a lot more pressure than the Dukies right now, even though the pressure should be the other way around. Because all of the media really want to give the Duke players handies if they win, and the Duke players really want handies, so that's why. Feel free to re-arrange that sentence into something more coherent.
12:30 - That perimeter handoff is not supposed to result in any easy layup for Duke. Everybody runs that play, and unless you are the Gophers and you're playing Wisconsin it doesn't ever work. Until tonight. It's only 13-9 Duke but I think this one is over, and I'm going to have to root for freaking Butler.
11:05 - And the big giant chicken hits a three. 18-11 Duke. The Blue Devils are hitting everything, and it's not luck, it's just piss poor defense. Huggy Bear needs to do something here (he called timeout), but I think we're in trouble folks. Huggins isn't exactly what I consider a
10:55 - You know one thing I hate about summer? Those people who are a little too into grilling, you know what I mean?
7:50 - A second three of the game for WVU's Flowers and it's 23-21 Duke. Flower si s aguy who was something like 6-20 from three on the season, but that makes both Duke and Kentucky who basically played defense on him by backing off in the lane and daring him to shoot, and he hit a huge one against Kentucky and like I said that's now two tonight. I don't get it. He's 6-20, not 0-0. It's obviously not a huge weapon of his, but he's not worthless out there as if he was Al Nolen or something either.
6:16 - This is the worst game I've seen WVU play all year. Poor defense, tentative offense, just sick. Duke now up 31-21, and Huggins is barking at his players which means this one is done. Almost not even worth watching. I'm going to try to hedge my bet a bit with a live bet on Duke.
5:47 - God Mazzulla is basically Al Nolen without the defense. He can drive, but he just jump stops and picks up his dribble with no idea what he's doing. And then Duke misses, offensive rebounds, and hits a three. Ugh. Can't this at least be entertaining? 37-24 Duke.
3:44 - Alright let's move on to 2011. I'm predicting Michigan State to win it all. And speaking of winning it all, have you heard about me and Snake's fantasy baseball team? Wow, just crazy good. Want to hear our starting pitching staff? Greinke, Hamels, Billingsley, Tommy Hanson, and Matt Garza. Wow. And waiting in the wings we have have Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner. Yeah, we're loaded.
3:40 - 5 seconds on Duke trying to inbound. This is the break we need. LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS.
3:22 - Ebanks with a nice move for two, 37-28 Duke. I feel a run coming except then instead Nolan Smith found a wide open layup. I can't get over this suddenly shitty WVU defense. It's just awful. Duke currently shooting 59%. Ridiculous.
2:54 - Ebanks with another nice move and a three-point play. He's single-handedly keeping this from being a blowout. Where the hell is Butler? 1-4 for two points. Nice job assface. You're telling me he can't score on Lance freaking Thomas? Disgusting.
0:47 - Christ, Zoubek must have 10 rebounds already. I have no idea what is going on. This West Virginia team is not the same team I saw all year and bet on. Huggins you killed yet another talented team somehow. This guy is a bigger choker than Darius Washington.
0:00 - 39-31 Duke at half. I'm no so much worried about the score, but the defense of WVU is just crap right now. CRAP I SAY!!!
20:00 - Ok I'm back. Took a short break there to watch an episode of the Office ("Frame Toby", hysterical) and grab a couple of Stroh's Lights out of the fridge. Yep, Stroh's Lights. WVU doesn't deserve better right now.
19:49 - Da'Sean Butler and Nolan Smith are basically complete opposites of each other right now.
19"17 - Mazzulla hits from 17. I guess he's not like Nolen after all.
18:59 - Wide open jumper for Singler. And I mean WIDE open. This is baffling.
17:27 - I can't quite give up on WVU as Wellington hits a three to make it 36-43, but they need to get their defensive scheme figured out in a hurry because Duke is one short run away from blowing them out.
16:04 - Duke just not missing. This is like the opposite of watching Trajan Langdon in a Final Four. WVU hanging in, but right now if feels like when the Gophers played Xavier and you knew they were basically just holding on for dear life and any moment they were going to be out of it. WVU just hanging on by a thread.
15:21 - Another open Sheyer three wins me my OVER 14 threes for the game bet, but that is pretty meaningless considering I have 15 units on WVU. This sucks.
13:43 - Another Duke layup and it's 51-42. This is like watching the Gophers play defense. I probably won't post anything else. Game over. I suck.
12:41 - Huggins completely melting down and just started screaming at Flowers. If it wasn't over already (it was) it's over now. Guy is really not a very good coach. I have no idea why I was backing him so hard. Pretty sure it was nothing but anti-Duke bias coming through.
11:44 - Looks like Nolan Smith took a nice shot to the nads. Of course it would happen to the only duke dick that I don't hate. I would pay good money for somebody to take a shot at Singler's giblets.
11:44 - Technical on Duke for hanging on the rim after dunking back a miss. Butler shoots the free-throws and makes both, which is one more field goal than he has on the night. That should tell you what kind of night it is.
10:35 - I just took the Yankees to win tomorrow night for a unit, just to make me feel better.
10:02 - I'm sad.
8:59 - I'm almost positive Huggins is trying to make out with Da'Sean Butler who is down after some kind of knee injury. This probably actually a good coach/player moment but it looks really creepy on TV. Also Duke is up 63-48 and I'm guessing with Butler now out and being carried off that takes whatever energy/motivation WVU might have had left and kills it. Duke's going to win by 25.
6:37 - It upsets me greatly that Duke is going to win the National Championship.
0:00 - Well that ended up being pretty boring. At least they hit the over. I can't believe I'm going to be rooting for Butler.
Final Four Picks
I'm not going to get into a whole analysis at this point because to be honest I've somewhat checked out and am in full on baseball mode now. I still care who wins and will still watch and enjoy the games and root against Duke, but with the Twins getting going and our fantasy baseball draft last night I'm way more in hardball mode. And we just rocked the draft. Just killed it. Sorry, Elk, but it's true. We're easily the favorite to win the whole thing, and it wouldn't be a huge surprise if we went undefeated.
I'm not going to dwell on it too much because I'm pretty sure I'll go into a little more depth later, but let me give you a few highlights: Matt Kemp in round 3. Cole Hamels and Chad Billingsley in 5 and 6. Garza in the 8th. Wieters in the 11th. Kubel and Billy Butler in 13 and 14. Michael Young in the 17th. Strasburg in the 18th. Madison Bumgarner and Homer Bailey with our last two picks. Yes, we really made all those picks in those rounds. I know it seems hard to believe. Team Taco Hawks is loaded for complete and total domination.
Ok, now that that's clear here are the Final Four picks, in order of confidence:
WVU +2 vs. Duke, 15 units (yes, 15)
Butler -1.5 vs. Mich State, 4 units
WVU/Duke OVER 133, 4 units
Butler/MSU OVER 126, 2 units
Summers -2pts vs. Hayward, 1 unit
Summers +2.5pts. vs. Mack, 1 unit
K. Lucious UNDER 2 three-pointers, 1 unit
Nolan Smith OVER 1.5 three-pointers, 1 unit
Also I want to point out that the line on Roy Halladay wins right now is 16. I would highly recommend putting several units on the OVER.
GO MOUNTAINEERS!
I'm not going to dwell on it too much because I'm pretty sure I'll go into a little more depth later, but let me give you a few highlights: Matt Kemp in round 3. Cole Hamels and Chad Billingsley in 5 and 6. Garza in the 8th. Wieters in the 11th. Kubel and Billy Butler in 13 and 14. Michael Young in the 17th. Strasburg in the 18th. Madison Bumgarner and Homer Bailey with our last two picks. Yes, we really made all those picks in those rounds. I know it seems hard to believe. Team Taco Hawks is loaded for complete and total domination.
Ok, now that that's clear here are the Final Four picks, in order of confidence:
WVU +2 vs. Duke, 15 units (yes, 15)
Butler -1.5 vs. Mich State, 4 units
WVU/Duke OVER 133, 4 units
Butler/MSU OVER 126, 2 units
Summers -2pts vs. Hayward, 1 unit
Summers +2.5pts. vs. Mack, 1 unit
K. Lucious UNDER 2 three-pointers, 1 unit
Nolan Smith OVER 1.5 three-pointers, 1 unit
Also I want to point out that the line on Roy Halladay wins right now is 16. I would highly recommend putting several units on the OVER.
GO MOUNTAINEERS!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
MLB Preview - American League
Here it is, what you've all been waiting for. Your American League preview. Although I have to warn you I went out to dinner with my parents and had a bunch of beers, so I'm probably just going to half-ass this thing. Or at least more than usual.
AL EAST
1. NEW YORK YANKEES. It pains me, physically pains me to pick these jackasses to win. I almost win went another team here, but then I realized that would just have been picking against the Yankees because they were assholes, especially your boyfriend Derek Jeter, and as a professional journalist who was once named a top 100 sports blog in America I just can't have that kind of impartialism running rampant on such a respected blog, so I pick the Yankees first. Seriously though, that Nick Johnson signing is perfect for this team and the exact type of signing they used to not be smart enough to make. So I guess what I'm saying is the Yankees might be back. I mean Jesus Christ their fifth starter is Phil Hughes. How is that even fair? He'd be second on the Twins. You heard me.
2. TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS. It seems like they have an endless supply of young talent, much like Vivid. And most of them work out well, which is what makes them different. This year, keep an eye out for "fifth" starter Wade Davis and the guy who will be the Carlos Gomez we always wanted, Desmond Jennings. I'm not certain that Rafael Soriano is actually the answer to their bullpen questions but why is the guy from those Miller High Life commercials on Cougar Town? Side bar: this show is terrible.
3. BOSTON RED SOX. I just wish they'd go away already, but somehow ($200 million payroll) they keep staying relevant. But who fills in for Jason Bay's numbers? Victor Martinez? Please. Although I do want you all to know that I'm sharing a fantasy baseball team with Snake this year and he said our second round target should be V. Martinez so feel free to all point and laugh at him. Adrian Beltre should be a monster though.
4. BALTIMORE ORIOLES. I feel bad for these guys. They finally seem to have it together, with a bunch of nice young arms and a bunch of good young bats and it doesn't matter remotely because of the division they are in. If the O's were in the central or west they'd be in contention for a division crown, but being in the East they are screwed. Look out for both Adam Jones on the bat side and Brian Matusz on the arm side. I got a game he throwed last year and I think he's probably the real deal (not the J.D. Durbin kind). Also wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters.
5. TORONTO BLUE JAYS. Trading Halladay was the right move since they suck, but they need to pray to Poseidon that a bunch of those prospects pan out because this is uglier than that chick from that one show. Travis Snider is a complete pimp, as are Adam Lind and Aaron Hill, but the rest of the lineup features guys like Jose Bautista, Alex Gonzalez, and Lyle Overbay. And that's better than the rotation, which is just like the Twins rotation how every starter is kind of on the same level except if that level was Glen Perkins.
AL CENTRAL
1. MINNESOTA TWINS. I'm almost kind of glad about the whole Nathan injury because it puts a flaw into what was shaping up to be a little too perfect of a team. Kind of like going into the season everyone was expecting the Vikings to hit the Super Bowl, that's how the Twins offseason was shaping up. Now that there's a chink (NOTE: not racist) in the armor maybe they are ready to take it. Feel free to expect Kubel to become the third member of the current team to win an MVP. Also, Delmon Young: .310/.360/.500. Believe.
2. DETROIT TIGERS. I'm very intrigued by what they are doing here. It's a very nice mix of young (Austin Jackson, Scott Sizemore, Max Scherzer) and old (Mags, Miggy, Verlander) with a shitbox of a bullpen. Does anybody still believe in Joel Zumaya at this point? Because he's officially closing now, a solid three or so years after he should have been ready. Did you know Brandon Inge struck at 170 times and OBP'd at .314. God that guy sucks. If I wasn't lazy I'd try to find video footage of his 0 home runs in the derby last year. But here we are.
3. CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS. That rotation is super good if you believe Peavy is back, which any smart human does even though that sucks worse than your life for the Twins. Funny that the offense basically keys on if Carlos Quentin, who looks like a retarded mexican Eric Cartman, is back to form, which he won't be. So you can expect a lot of 2-1 losses for Chicago this year. Oh, and if you want a prediction you can consider this a guarantee - Bobby Jenks implodes this year. Mark Wohlers-style.
4. CLEVELAND INDIANS. They don't really have much of a chance to compete this year, and will definitely trade Kerry Wood and should think about trading Grady Sizemore, but they seem to at least have an idea of what they're doing and are stockpiling some talent. Matt LaPorta, Lou Marson, Carlos Santana, Luis Valbuena, Asdrubel Cabrera, and Michael Brantley are very good young hitters who aren't there as a group yet but will get their soon. Luckily the rotation is brutal and the bullpen might be even worse. There is a lot of chatter about Fausto Carmona and being back to form coming out of spring training. I'd dismiss it, but I'm basically buying in 100% to the Frank Liriano hype so I have to respect this, right. I don't want to be some kind of hypocrite like Oksana Baiul.
5. KANSAS CITY ROYALS. I want to believe in KC, I really do. Partially for Zack Greinke and partially because it should be unconstitutional for such a beautiful ballpark to house such a shitty team (see: TCF Bank and the Gophers). Every time it seems like they might be moving in the right direction, like stockpiling a good amount of young arms, they go out and sign the worst lineup anybody has ever seen ever in forever. Just terrible. It's like, I feel the Pirates are starting to figure it out but the Royals are the younger, more retarded brother who has had the same plan explained to them and acts like they get it but then signs Jason Kendall to a 2 year/$6 million contract. Honest to god his agent must have shit himself when he saw that come through on facsimile.
AL WEST
1. CALIFORNIA ANGELS. Sort of by default here. All these teams are pretty close to even, but when you're in a cut-throat business like blogging you have to make a stand and I guess my stand is picking the Angels and also I'm bored. Does it even matter? These teams (sans the Rangers) all play way the hell over on the west coast where sports are over by 8pm and then every one is bored. Unless the Oscars are on, in which case the whole city shuts down and if you happen to be out there for new job orientation you can't go to the hotel bar and watch a basketball game because every TV is on the stupid Oscars and god forbid you ask if they can change one little tv in the corner because the bartender will judge you like he was Mills Lane and then not change the channel at all.
2. SEATTLE MARINERS. I have to pick them here because I love their strategy of going after pitching and defense in that gigantic park, and also because I put some money on them already at 16-1 two win the AL. Now that I think about it, that's a pretty stupid bet and if I really like them I should have just waited for their win OVER/UNDER to come out and roll on that and hold on one minute. Ok I now have the Mariners to win over 83. Also Twins OVER 82, Rockies over 84.5 (heavy here), Giants UNDER 82.5, and ATHLETICS UNDER 78. That was fun.
3. TEXAS RANGERS. I have never heard of any of these pitchers. I wish it was Friday. I want to draft a team. And also drink beer. And also drink beer with Snake while we draft a dominant team which will have no Rangers at all unless Justin Smoak gets called up. That guy is going to make Justin Morneau look like a girl.
4. OAKLAND ATHLETICS. This is, frankly, pretty awful. I love Billy Beane and he basically turned the league's front offices upside down by looking at the game in a different way, but it's not really working anymore and I don't think you could fault the A's if they chose to go in a different direction. Also when/if that happens I will be first in line for the "Fire Bill Smith hire Billy Beane" movement. Somebody just let me know when we meet and what I have to bring. I just concocted a pretty good dry rub for some chicken wings, so if it's going to be that kind of party somebody let me know. Also let me know if it's the kind of party where ding-dongs are getting stuck in the mashed potatoes. I'll call Q-Tip.
AL WILD CARD - Rays
AL PENNANT - Twins (believe it)
AL MVP - A-Rod (runner up = Kubel)
CY YOUNG - Felix Hernandez (runner up = Matt Garza)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Matusz (runner up = Jennings)
WORLD SERIES WINNER - Phillies. Sorry homers.
AL EAST
1. NEW YORK YANKEES. It pains me, physically pains me to pick these jackasses to win. I almost win went another team here, but then I realized that would just have been picking against the Yankees because they were assholes, especially your boyfriend Derek Jeter, and as a professional journalist who was once named a top 100 sports blog in America I just can't have that kind of impartialism running rampant on such a respected blog, so I pick the Yankees first. Seriously though, that Nick Johnson signing is perfect for this team and the exact type of signing they used to not be smart enough to make. So I guess what I'm saying is the Yankees might be back. I mean Jesus Christ their fifth starter is Phil Hughes. How is that even fair? He'd be second on the Twins. You heard me.
2. TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS. It seems like they have an endless supply of young talent, much like Vivid. And most of them work out well, which is what makes them different. This year, keep an eye out for "fifth" starter Wade Davis and the guy who will be the Carlos Gomez we always wanted, Desmond Jennings. I'm not certain that Rafael Soriano is actually the answer to their bullpen questions but why is the guy from those Miller High Life commercials on Cougar Town? Side bar: this show is terrible.
3. BOSTON RED SOX. I just wish they'd go away already, but somehow ($200 million payroll) they keep staying relevant. But who fills in for Jason Bay's numbers? Victor Martinez? Please. Although I do want you all to know that I'm sharing a fantasy baseball team with Snake this year and he said our second round target should be V. Martinez so feel free to all point and laugh at him. Adrian Beltre should be a monster though.
4. BALTIMORE ORIOLES. I feel bad for these guys. They finally seem to have it together, with a bunch of nice young arms and a bunch of good young bats and it doesn't matter remotely because of the division they are in. If the O's were in the central or west they'd be in contention for a division crown, but being in the East they are screwed. Look out for both Adam Jones on the bat side and Brian Matusz on the arm side. I got a game he throwed last year and I think he's probably the real deal (not the J.D. Durbin kind). Also wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters wieters.
5. TORONTO BLUE JAYS. Trading Halladay was the right move since they suck, but they need to pray to Poseidon that a bunch of those prospects pan out because this is uglier than that chick from that one show. Travis Snider is a complete pimp, as are Adam Lind and Aaron Hill, but the rest of the lineup features guys like Jose Bautista, Alex Gonzalez, and Lyle Overbay. And that's better than the rotation, which is just like the Twins rotation how every starter is kind of on the same level except if that level was Glen Perkins.
AL CENTRAL
1. MINNESOTA TWINS. I'm almost kind of glad about the whole Nathan injury because it puts a flaw into what was shaping up to be a little too perfect of a team. Kind of like going into the season everyone was expecting the Vikings to hit the Super Bowl, that's how the Twins offseason was shaping up. Now that there's a chink (NOTE: not racist) in the armor maybe they are ready to take it. Feel free to expect Kubel to become the third member of the current team to win an MVP. Also, Delmon Young: .310/.360/.500. Believe.
2. DETROIT TIGERS. I'm very intrigued by what they are doing here. It's a very nice mix of young (Austin Jackson, Scott Sizemore, Max Scherzer) and old (Mags, Miggy, Verlander) with a shitbox of a bullpen. Does anybody still believe in Joel Zumaya at this point? Because he's officially closing now, a solid three or so years after he should have been ready. Did you know Brandon Inge struck at 170 times and OBP'd at .314. God that guy sucks. If I wasn't lazy I'd try to find video footage of his 0 home runs in the derby last year. But here we are.
3. CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS. That rotation is super good if you believe Peavy is back, which any smart human does even though that sucks worse than your life for the Twins. Funny that the offense basically keys on if Carlos Quentin, who looks like a retarded mexican Eric Cartman, is back to form, which he won't be. So you can expect a lot of 2-1 losses for Chicago this year. Oh, and if you want a prediction you can consider this a guarantee - Bobby Jenks implodes this year. Mark Wohlers-style.
4. CLEVELAND INDIANS. They don't really have much of a chance to compete this year, and will definitely trade Kerry Wood and should think about trading Grady Sizemore, but they seem to at least have an idea of what they're doing and are stockpiling some talent. Matt LaPorta, Lou Marson, Carlos Santana, Luis Valbuena, Asdrubel Cabrera, and Michael Brantley are very good young hitters who aren't there as a group yet but will get their soon. Luckily the rotation is brutal and the bullpen might be even worse. There is a lot of chatter about Fausto Carmona and being back to form coming out of spring training. I'd dismiss it, but I'm basically buying in 100% to the Frank Liriano hype so I have to respect this, right. I don't want to be some kind of hypocrite like Oksana Baiul.
5. KANSAS CITY ROYALS. I want to believe in KC, I really do. Partially for Zack Greinke and partially because it should be unconstitutional for such a beautiful ballpark to house such a shitty team (see: TCF Bank and the Gophers). Every time it seems like they might be moving in the right direction, like stockpiling a good amount of young arms, they go out and sign the worst lineup anybody has ever seen ever in forever. Just terrible. It's like, I feel the Pirates are starting to figure it out but the Royals are the younger, more retarded brother who has had the same plan explained to them and acts like they get it but then signs Jason Kendall to a 2 year/$6 million contract. Honest to god his agent must have shit himself when he saw that come through on facsimile.
AL WEST
1. CALIFORNIA ANGELS. Sort of by default here. All these teams are pretty close to even, but when you're in a cut-throat business like blogging you have to make a stand and I guess my stand is picking the Angels and also I'm bored. Does it even matter? These teams (sans the Rangers) all play way the hell over on the west coast where sports are over by 8pm and then every one is bored. Unless the Oscars are on, in which case the whole city shuts down and if you happen to be out there for new job orientation you can't go to the hotel bar and watch a basketball game because every TV is on the stupid Oscars and god forbid you ask if they can change one little tv in the corner because the bartender will judge you like he was Mills Lane and then not change the channel at all.
2. SEATTLE MARINERS. I have to pick them here because I love their strategy of going after pitching and defense in that gigantic park, and also because I put some money on them already at 16-1 two win the AL. Now that I think about it, that's a pretty stupid bet and if I really like them I should have just waited for their win OVER/UNDER to come out and roll on that and hold on one minute. Ok I now have the Mariners to win over 83. Also Twins OVER 82, Rockies over 84.5 (heavy here), Giants UNDER 82.5, and ATHLETICS UNDER 78. That was fun.
3. TEXAS RANGERS. I have never heard of any of these pitchers. I wish it was Friday. I want to draft a team. And also drink beer. And also drink beer with Snake while we draft a dominant team which will have no Rangers at all unless Justin Smoak gets called up. That guy is going to make Justin Morneau look like a girl.
4. OAKLAND ATHLETICS. This is, frankly, pretty awful. I love Billy Beane and he basically turned the league's front offices upside down by looking at the game in a different way, but it's not really working anymore and I don't think you could fault the A's if they chose to go in a different direction. Also when/if that happens I will be first in line for the "Fire Bill Smith hire Billy Beane" movement. Somebody just let me know when we meet and what I have to bring. I just concocted a pretty good dry rub for some chicken wings, so if it's going to be that kind of party somebody let me know. Also let me know if it's the kind of party where ding-dongs are getting stuck in the mashed potatoes. I'll call Q-Tip.
AL WILD CARD - Rays
AL PENNANT - Twins (believe it)
AL MVP - A-Rod (runner up = Kubel)
CY YOUNG - Felix Hernandez (runner up = Matt Garza)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Matusz (runner up = Jennings)
WORLD SERIES WINNER - Phillies. Sorry homers.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
MLB Preview - National League
I'm trying not to think about how we're about to lose Tubby Smith, so instead I'll turn my attention elsewhere so I don't break down and cry. With just five days until opening day and the first day of being sick and tired of the Yankees/Sox media barrage it's time to roll out the baseball predictions. I'm breaking this into National League and American League posts, one today and one tomorrow, because I'm way too lazy to it all at once. I'm also starting with the National League - just to piss you off.
NL EAST
1. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES. Take the same team that won the Series in 2008 and finished runner-up in 2009 and add the best (possibly second best) pitcher in baseball. Yeah, I think they're going to be pretty good. Look for Hamels to regain his 2008 form and J.A. Happ to get even better in his second year and they're likely going to be the team with the most wins in baseball. I'm fully expecting Halladay to win 25 games.
2. ATLANTA BRAVES. They're getting a lot of preseason heat as a possible sleeper team, and it's not all that far-fetched. Tommy Hansen is a stud, and there's good pitching behind him in the rotation, especially if Tim Hudson is back to top-of-his-game form like all the preseason crap is saying. And this Jason Heyward hype has officially surpassed Wieters-levels. If he isn't built like Deebo while hitting like Roy Hobbs and running like Willie Mays Hayes I'm going to be disappointed.
3. FLORIDA MARLINS. Outisde of pimp-daddy Hanley and alleged NL Rookie-of-the-Year Chris Coghlan there are plenty of questions about the lineup, but that rotation should be pretty rock solid. At the very least Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco are going to form a very nice 1-2 punch at the top. I'm very interested in seeing what Cameron Maybin can do with a full season of at-bats as well.
4. NEW YORK METS. I know you're thinking it's crazy to have the Mets in fourth, but go ahead and check out their team for a minute and then tell me they're good. Wright has regressed, Reyes has some mystery ailment, their right-fielder was basically cut by Atlanta, and I've never even heard of their projected starting catcher. Perhaps most damning of all, however, is that they STILL start Luis Castillo and bat him second. Oof. And that rotation is a nightmare behind Johan. Oh, by the way, Johan. How many postseason games have you played in since you forced the Twins to trade you?
5. WASHINGTON NATIONALS. At least they have Strasburg so there's a reason to watch beyond watching Adam Dunn put everything he's got into every swing. What's that? They're starting him in the minors despite some truly sick Spring stats? I hope it's worth the minimal savings you'll get by keeping his clock from running right away. Seriously, who runs this team, Brad Childress?
NL CENTRAL
1. ST LOUIS CARDINALS. Although the Phillies should win more games, the Cards will probably win their division by the widest margin because after them this whole division should be thrown in a garbage dumpster. It's basically Pujols and friends going up against five teams of Cleveland Indians. I suppose I should predict something for this team, so I predict that Brad Penny will have one of his best ever years. I also predict Ryan Franklin loses his closer job to Jason Motte.
2. MILWAUKEE BREWERS. All because Carlos Gomez came aboard? Maybe. We still have to see if he's continued to learn plate patience (you might not have noticed, but he was better last year). The Brewers have the best lineup of the rest of the central teams and will be getting Rickie Weeks back. There's a lot to like about the lineup here, and Gallardo gets any help behind him they could be in line for a Wild Card spot. Ugliest part? They still start Jeff Suppan, and LaTroy Hawkins is their top set-up guy. Ouch.
3. CINCINNATI REDS. I'm giving a lot of credit to some young guys here, but I'm a big believer in most of these guys. Injuries have derailed Homer Bailey before, but he finally hit his stride late last season and him and Cueto join veterans Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo to give Cincy's rotation a nice mix of young and old. The lineup will need guys like Jay Bruce and Chris Dickerson to live up to their potential, but I say they do and make the Reds a dangerous team.
4. CHICAGO CUBS. Aramis is a walking injury, Soriano looks like he's basically done, their big free-agent signing was Marlon freaking Byrd, and their middle infield consists of that wiener Ryan Theriot and a cast-off from the Rockies. Yuck. The rotation is mostly brutal as well, and you can go ahead and pencil in Carlos Marmol for a complete meltdown as a closer right about mid-June. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Cubbies this year.
5. HOUSTON ASTROS. This is the most boringest team in all of baseball. Their big free-agent splash was signing Brandon Lyon. Yawn. Also, nice shitty signing, that guy sucks. They should have two mid-teen game winners in Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez, assuming Lyon doesn't blow every game.
6. PITTSBURGH PIRATES. I really didn't want to pick Pittsburgh to finish last because I'm starting to really like what their front office is doing (it's a new front office the last year or two), but I just can't quite yet. They're moving in the right direction. If Lastings Milledge has finally figured it out he and Andrew McCutchen make up a nice start to the outfield, and when Jose Tabata finally gets up that's going to be a very fast outfield.
NL WEST
1. COLORADO ROCKIES. If Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart can raise their averages even a little this going to be a dangerous team because the lineup is loaded, and even if they don't they are still solid players because they walk a lot. A good but not great rotation should be enough to win the West, assuming Franklin Morales doesn't blow it while he fills in for Huston Street. Troy Tulowitzki is a complete and total stud, and if Albert Pujols didn't exist he'd have a shot at an MVP.
2. LOS ANGELES DODGERS. James Loney is kind of a lame-o and Blake DeWitt hasn't worked out, but the Dodgers hit home runs with Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who are a hell of a 1-2 punch. Kemp looks like a good bet to go 30-30 and Ethier has the look of a career professional hitter. The rotation is pretty thin, but Clay Kershaw at the front is a sure-fire Cy Young candidate, and will probably be for years to come.
3. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS. They'd be a bit easier to place if I knkew what was going on with Brandon Webb, but in reality they probably couldn't be better than the teams above them and definitely couldn't be worse than the team's below them. Like Kemp, Justin Upton has a shot at 30-30 this year, and is just an incredible hitter for his age - kind of like what everybody wanted Delmon Young to be just shoot me right in the face.
4. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS. They get to finish fourth based solely on their pitching staff, because Lincecum and Cain are studs, Baumgartner and Jonathan Sanchez are potential studs, and everybody in the lineup sucks other than Pablo Sandoval (aka the black Billy Butler) and possibly Nate Schierholtz. They also have Buster Posey, who has a super sweet name is is supposed to be a pretty big stud with the stick. He better be, because their isn't much of a lineup here and there isn't much coming soon.
5. SAN DIEGO PADRES. Holy god this lineup is depressing. How depressing? Kevin Kouzmanoff hits clean-up, David Eckstein hits in the upper half, and I haven't come even close to hearing of their 7th or 8th batter. The rotation isn't that much better, but at least there's some hope with guys like Clayton Richard, Mat Latos, and star of "The Last Best League" Tim Stauffer. The bullpen is decent, but they'd really be better served trading Heath Bell for prospects (as well as Adrian Gonzalez) because they aren't going anywhere as currently constructed.
NL Wild Card - L.A. Dodgers
NL Pennant - Philadelphia Phillies
MVP - Albert Pujols (runner up = Kemp)
CY YOUNG - Roy Halladay (runner up = Lincecum)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Jesus Heyward (runner up = Posey)
AL preview should be coming tomorrow, assuming Tubby doesn't leave. I mean by tomorrow, because I know he's leaving I just don't know when.
Suck.
NL EAST
1. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES. Take the same team that won the Series in 2008 and finished runner-up in 2009 and add the best (possibly second best) pitcher in baseball. Yeah, I think they're going to be pretty good. Look for Hamels to regain his 2008 form and J.A. Happ to get even better in his second year and they're likely going to be the team with the most wins in baseball. I'm fully expecting Halladay to win 25 games.
2. ATLANTA BRAVES. They're getting a lot of preseason heat as a possible sleeper team, and it's not all that far-fetched. Tommy Hansen is a stud, and there's good pitching behind him in the rotation, especially if Tim Hudson is back to top-of-his-game form like all the preseason crap is saying. And this Jason Heyward hype has officially surpassed Wieters-levels. If he isn't built like Deebo while hitting like Roy Hobbs and running like Willie Mays Hayes I'm going to be disappointed.
3. FLORIDA MARLINS. Outisde of pimp-daddy Hanley and alleged NL Rookie-of-the-Year Chris Coghlan there are plenty of questions about the lineup, but that rotation should be pretty rock solid. At the very least Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco are going to form a very nice 1-2 punch at the top. I'm very interested in seeing what Cameron Maybin can do with a full season of at-bats as well.
4. NEW YORK METS. I know you're thinking it's crazy to have the Mets in fourth, but go ahead and check out their team for a minute and then tell me they're good. Wright has regressed, Reyes has some mystery ailment, their right-fielder was basically cut by Atlanta, and I've never even heard of their projected starting catcher. Perhaps most damning of all, however, is that they STILL start Luis Castillo and bat him second. Oof. And that rotation is a nightmare behind Johan. Oh, by the way, Johan. How many postseason games have you played in since you forced the Twins to trade you?
5. WASHINGTON NATIONALS. At least they have Strasburg so there's a reason to watch beyond watching Adam Dunn put everything he's got into every swing. What's that? They're starting him in the minors despite some truly sick Spring stats? I hope it's worth the minimal savings you'll get by keeping his clock from running right away. Seriously, who runs this team, Brad Childress?
NL CENTRAL
1. ST LOUIS CARDINALS. Although the Phillies should win more games, the Cards will probably win their division by the widest margin because after them this whole division should be thrown in a garbage dumpster. It's basically Pujols and friends going up against five teams of Cleveland Indians. I suppose I should predict something for this team, so I predict that Brad Penny will have one of his best ever years. I also predict Ryan Franklin loses his closer job to Jason Motte.
2. MILWAUKEE BREWERS. All because Carlos Gomez came aboard? Maybe. We still have to see if he's continued to learn plate patience (you might not have noticed, but he was better last year). The Brewers have the best lineup of the rest of the central teams and will be getting Rickie Weeks back. There's a lot to like about the lineup here, and Gallardo gets any help behind him they could be in line for a Wild Card spot. Ugliest part? They still start Jeff Suppan, and LaTroy Hawkins is their top set-up guy. Ouch.
3. CINCINNATI REDS. I'm giving a lot of credit to some young guys here, but I'm a big believer in most of these guys. Injuries have derailed Homer Bailey before, but he finally hit his stride late last season and him and Cueto join veterans Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo to give Cincy's rotation a nice mix of young and old. The lineup will need guys like Jay Bruce and Chris Dickerson to live up to their potential, but I say they do and make the Reds a dangerous team.
4. CHICAGO CUBS. Aramis is a walking injury, Soriano looks like he's basically done, their big free-agent signing was Marlon freaking Byrd, and their middle infield consists of that wiener Ryan Theriot and a cast-off from the Rockies. Yuck. The rotation is mostly brutal as well, and you can go ahead and pencil in Carlos Marmol for a complete meltdown as a closer right about mid-June. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Cubbies this year.
5. HOUSTON ASTROS. This is the most boringest team in all of baseball. Their big free-agent splash was signing Brandon Lyon. Yawn. Also, nice shitty signing, that guy sucks. They should have two mid-teen game winners in Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez, assuming Lyon doesn't blow every game.
6. PITTSBURGH PIRATES. I really didn't want to pick Pittsburgh to finish last because I'm starting to really like what their front office is doing (it's a new front office the last year or two), but I just can't quite yet. They're moving in the right direction. If Lastings Milledge has finally figured it out he and Andrew McCutchen make up a nice start to the outfield, and when Jose Tabata finally gets up that's going to be a very fast outfield.
NL WEST
1. COLORADO ROCKIES. If Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart can raise their averages even a little this going to be a dangerous team because the lineup is loaded, and even if they don't they are still solid players because they walk a lot. A good but not great rotation should be enough to win the West, assuming Franklin Morales doesn't blow it while he fills in for Huston Street. Troy Tulowitzki is a complete and total stud, and if Albert Pujols didn't exist he'd have a shot at an MVP.
2. LOS ANGELES DODGERS. James Loney is kind of a lame-o and Blake DeWitt hasn't worked out, but the Dodgers hit home runs with Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who are a hell of a 1-2 punch. Kemp looks like a good bet to go 30-30 and Ethier has the look of a career professional hitter. The rotation is pretty thin, but Clay Kershaw at the front is a sure-fire Cy Young candidate, and will probably be for years to come.
3. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS. They'd be a bit easier to place if I knkew what was going on with Brandon Webb, but in reality they probably couldn't be better than the teams above them and definitely couldn't be worse than the team's below them. Like Kemp, Justin Upton has a shot at 30-30 this year, and is just an incredible hitter for his age - kind of like what everybody wanted Delmon Young to be just shoot me right in the face.
4. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS. They get to finish fourth based solely on their pitching staff, because Lincecum and Cain are studs, Baumgartner and Jonathan Sanchez are potential studs, and everybody in the lineup sucks other than Pablo Sandoval (aka the black Billy Butler) and possibly Nate Schierholtz. They also have Buster Posey, who has a super sweet name is is supposed to be a pretty big stud with the stick. He better be, because their isn't much of a lineup here and there isn't much coming soon.
5. SAN DIEGO PADRES. Holy god this lineup is depressing. How depressing? Kevin Kouzmanoff hits clean-up, David Eckstein hits in the upper half, and I haven't come even close to hearing of their 7th or 8th batter. The rotation isn't that much better, but at least there's some hope with guys like Clayton Richard, Mat Latos, and star of "The Last Best League" Tim Stauffer. The bullpen is decent, but they'd really be better served trading Heath Bell for prospects (as well as Adrian Gonzalez) because they aren't going anywhere as currently constructed.
NL Wild Card - L.A. Dodgers
NL Pennant - Philadelphia Phillies
MVP - Albert Pujols (runner up = Kemp)
CY YOUNG - Roy Halladay (runner up = Lincecum)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Jesus Heyward (runner up = Posey)
AL preview should be coming tomorrow, assuming Tubby doesn't leave. I mean by tomorrow, because I know he's leaving I just don't know when.
Suck.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Big Ten 2011
As I was sitting here watching Cory Joseph win the McDonald's All-American game three point contest tonight (something that had Mrs. W contemplating divorce when I told her I was watching a High School three-point contest) I couldn't help but think about how good the Gophers could be next year if he (and Maurice Walker) signed here. Which got me to wondering about how the rest of the Big Ten will shake out with graduations, early entries, and incoming classes. And when I get to wondering about something, I generally have to research it, and as along as I'm researching it, I might as well share what I find with you. Because don't you, constant reader, deserve to be informed. I know damn well you aren't coming here to be entertained, so you might as well be informed.
Here are my ultra early rankings for the Big Ten in 2011. Obviously we're working with some assumptions here, and I'm going with Evan Turner gone and Manny Harris staying in the draft. I'm also going to assume the recruiting classes stay as they are currently and nobody else enters the NBA draft early. So let's do this thing, times-a-wastin'.
1. MICHIGAN STATE. In the Final Four for the second year in a row, and all they lose of this team is Raymar Morgan and Isaiah Dahlman. Morgan has been been in a stagnation period since his sophomore year, so he'll be easily replaced. Assuming nobody (Durrell Summers) makes an ill-advised decision and goes pro early, they are going to be stacked. Joining all that awesomeness is another excellent recruiting class highlighted by Adreian Payne, the #4 center in the country according to Rivals. They have so much talent that Draymond Green is going to likely be the best 6th man in the Big Ten for the second year in a row. They are in very, very good shape for next year; assuming they can figure out a way to replace Dahlman.
2. PURDUE. Assuming all of the big three are back they should be able to challenge the Spartans atop the division. They do lose Chris Kramer (allegedly, I'll believe it when I see it, you know he's coming back for yet another year somehow the guy just won't die he's like Jason) and Keaton Grant, both of whom filled valuable roles for the Boilers, but another solid, but not spectacular, recruiting class should help fill that void. Not to mention the current collection of role players look to have enough talent to fill in. I particularly like Lew Jack, and soon-to-be-sophomores Kelsey Barlow and D.J. Byrd, athletic wings in the E'Twaun mode. Yeah, even if Johnson and/or Moore do something stupid and go pro, the Boilermakers are going to be fine. And they already have an annoying white guy to carry on the Brian Cardinal torch in Ryne Smith. Even his name is annoying.
3. OHIO STATE. If David Lighty and William Buford are both back, as they likely will and should be, they will be joined by another out of this world recruiting class on it's way to Columbus. They're getting the #3, #18, #37, #104, #124, and #137 ranked recruit on Rivals list, and that #3, Jared Sullinger, is an absolute beast of a center. He's like what LeBron James would have been in High School if he had been more Barkley and less Magic. He's going to destroy people next year. Plus the Rich Man's Blake Hoffarber will be back, and there's nobody important leaving. Unless you're Bill Simmons and you worship Mark Titus for some reason, then you'll probably have to cry yourself tonight.
4. ILLINOIS. If Demetri McCamey goes pro for some strange reason that drops the Illini ranking quite a bit because other than Michael Jordan's crappy kid there's no other point guard here. For some reason Bruce Weber is religiously against recruiting point guards, but he's doing a hell of a job pulling in athletic wings. This year's hot shot freshmen, Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson, are both wings who showed flashes of brilliance last year but disappeared at times too, and they'll be joined next year by a couple more highly regarded wings in Jereme Richardson (#36 Rivals) and Crandall Head (#81). And yes, captain annoying Mike Tisdale is back, and he's bringing his crazy monkey arms with him.
5. MINNESOTA. There's a ton of uncertainty here, as I'm sure you're aware. I'm assuming Trevor Mbakwe is actually on the team and nobody of consequence transfers. If Royce ends up joining the team and/or Cory Joseph and/or Maurice Walker sign with the team, it could shoot them up. If Mbakwe ends up not on the team for some reason and/or somebody who matters transfers and/or Tubby leaves, you could probably drop them a few notches. Too many unknowns to evaluate them properly, especially nine months before the season starts. It's pretty stupid to be doing this so far in advance, isn't it? God I hate myself.
6. NORTHWESTERN. There are a couple of issues they'll need to figure out, such as who gets to be the alpha dog out of Shurna and Coble and how they are going to replace Jeremy Nash at the head of that press, but this is definitely the most talented Northwestern team of my lifetime and it's not even close. Beyond the guys coming back, they're also adding a top 100 recruit in SG Jershon Cobb, who, along with Drew Crawford, gives them back to back year's with very good, athletic freshmen coming in. If they don't finally snag that first ever NCAA bid, it'll be a pretty massive failure. Like the G.I. Joe movie.
7. WISCONSIN. Yeah, yeah, I'm probably underrating the Badgers and your boyfriend Bo Ryan for the millionth year in a row, but it's pretty tough to replace your starting back court especially when it's manned by two solid, smart veteran players in Hughes and Bohannon. Are you really ready to hand the team over to Jordan Taylor? Ug. Still, Leuer is back and he'll be annoyingly good and the incoming class is loaded with white guys with size who don't look good on paper which means they're Bo Ryan's "guys" and will fit the system and blah blah blah. Expect Wisconsin to outperform this prediction and make the NCAA tournament again even though they shouldn't. F Bo Ryan. F Bo Ryan, indeed.
8. INDIANA. The first of four teams with no real shot to make the NCAA Tournament, that talented group of freshmen will be back with another year of experience and presumably more skill. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, Crean wasn't really able to follow it up with anywhere near the same level of talent after missing out on Josh Selby, the #2 ranked recruit in the country who had Indiana in his top 7 before cutting them out when he narrowed it to four, but he did get two guys ranked in the 130s so they aren't exactly taking a step backwards. I like Creek and I really like Watford, but there's still a serious talent deficiency here. Like that "adult" club in Albert Lea.
9. PENN STATE. Talor Battle, assuming he's back, will finally have another highly rated player joining him when incoming freshman Taran Buie, #136 on Rivals list, comes on board, but I'm afraid it's probably too little too late to help Battle. Everybody is back from last year, literally everybody, but who cares, really? Do you really expect guys like David Jackson, Chris Babb, or Andrew Jones to make any kind of significant improvement? Sorry, Crispin-lover, not going to happen. That's Crispin-lover, not Crispin Glover, weirdo.
10. MICHIGAN. DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris are gone, and whoa, this team is a mess. The incoming class is very meh with just two players, there's nobody over 6-8 who has ever played a minute of college ball, and the leading returning scorer is Zack freaking Novak who averaged all of seven points per game last year. The only reason they don't rank last is because Darius Morris might end up being pretty good, they have a chance at getting Trey Ziegler who ranks as the 26th best recruit in the country, and Iowa is still in this conference. For now.
11. IOWA. What are you getting yourself into Fran? This is not a good move for anybody right now. Take a read at that returning roster. Go ahead. Did you look? You're laughing now, aren't you? Seriously, outside of Gatens and maybe Eric May and/or Aaron Fuller I don't think there's a single player there that would crack any other rotation on any other Big Ten team - and that includes Michigan and Penn State. And if you're wondering if there's an impact class coming in let me save you the suspense - there's not. And that's all before anybody has reacted to the Lickliter firing. Who knows, there could be a bunch of mass transfers, crippling them even worse. Sweet. Good call McCaffery. You display the decision-making skills of a drunk frat girl on spring break.
It's early, but that's how I read it. Obviously a million things could happen to change it, but right now I see three really tough teams, four teams in that next "bubble team" tier, two more who won't make the tourny but could be dangerous at times, and two crap sandwiches.
Expect baseball predictions later this week, if that's your thing.
Here are my ultra early rankings for the Big Ten in 2011. Obviously we're working with some assumptions here, and I'm going with Evan Turner gone and Manny Harris staying in the draft. I'm also going to assume the recruiting classes stay as they are currently and nobody else enters the NBA draft early. So let's do this thing, times-a-wastin'.
1. MICHIGAN STATE. In the Final Four for the second year in a row, and all they lose of this team is Raymar Morgan and Isaiah Dahlman. Morgan has been been in a stagnation period since his sophomore year, so he'll be easily replaced. Assuming nobody (Durrell Summers) makes an ill-advised decision and goes pro early, they are going to be stacked. Joining all that awesomeness is another excellent recruiting class highlighted by Adreian Payne, the #4 center in the country according to Rivals. They have so much talent that Draymond Green is going to likely be the best 6th man in the Big Ten for the second year in a row. They are in very, very good shape for next year; assuming they can figure out a way to replace Dahlman.
2. PURDUE. Assuming all of the big three are back they should be able to challenge the Spartans atop the division. They do lose Chris Kramer (allegedly, I'll believe it when I see it, you know he's coming back for yet another year somehow the guy just won't die he's like Jason) and Keaton Grant, both of whom filled valuable roles for the Boilers, but another solid, but not spectacular, recruiting class should help fill that void. Not to mention the current collection of role players look to have enough talent to fill in. I particularly like Lew Jack, and soon-to-be-sophomores Kelsey Barlow and D.J. Byrd, athletic wings in the E'Twaun mode. Yeah, even if Johnson and/or Moore do something stupid and go pro, the Boilermakers are going to be fine. And they already have an annoying white guy to carry on the Brian Cardinal torch in Ryne Smith. Even his name is annoying.
3. OHIO STATE. If David Lighty and William Buford are both back, as they likely will and should be, they will be joined by another out of this world recruiting class on it's way to Columbus. They're getting the #3, #18, #37, #104, #124, and #137 ranked recruit on Rivals list, and that #3, Jared Sullinger, is an absolute beast of a center. He's like what LeBron James would have been in High School if he had been more Barkley and less Magic. He's going to destroy people next year. Plus the Rich Man's Blake Hoffarber will be back, and there's nobody important leaving. Unless you're Bill Simmons and you worship Mark Titus for some reason, then you'll probably have to cry yourself tonight.
4. ILLINOIS. If Demetri McCamey goes pro for some strange reason that drops the Illini ranking quite a bit because other than Michael Jordan's crappy kid there's no other point guard here. For some reason Bruce Weber is religiously against recruiting point guards, but he's doing a hell of a job pulling in athletic wings. This year's hot shot freshmen, Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson, are both wings who showed flashes of brilliance last year but disappeared at times too, and they'll be joined next year by a couple more highly regarded wings in Jereme Richardson (#36 Rivals) and Crandall Head (#81). And yes, captain annoying Mike Tisdale is back, and he's bringing his crazy monkey arms with him.
5. MINNESOTA. There's a ton of uncertainty here, as I'm sure you're aware. I'm assuming Trevor Mbakwe is actually on the team and nobody of consequence transfers. If Royce ends up joining the team and/or Cory Joseph and/or Maurice Walker sign with the team, it could shoot them up. If Mbakwe ends up not on the team for some reason and/or somebody who matters transfers and/or Tubby leaves, you could probably drop them a few notches. Too many unknowns to evaluate them properly, especially nine months before the season starts. It's pretty stupid to be doing this so far in advance, isn't it? God I hate myself.
6. NORTHWESTERN. There are a couple of issues they'll need to figure out, such as who gets to be the alpha dog out of Shurna and Coble and how they are going to replace Jeremy Nash at the head of that press, but this is definitely the most talented Northwestern team of my lifetime and it's not even close. Beyond the guys coming back, they're also adding a top 100 recruit in SG Jershon Cobb, who, along with Drew Crawford, gives them back to back year's with very good, athletic freshmen coming in. If they don't finally snag that first ever NCAA bid, it'll be a pretty massive failure. Like the G.I. Joe movie.
7. WISCONSIN. Yeah, yeah, I'm probably underrating the Badgers and your boyfriend Bo Ryan for the millionth year in a row, but it's pretty tough to replace your starting back court especially when it's manned by two solid, smart veteran players in Hughes and Bohannon. Are you really ready to hand the team over to Jordan Taylor? Ug. Still, Leuer is back and he'll be annoyingly good and the incoming class is loaded with white guys with size who don't look good on paper which means they're Bo Ryan's "guys" and will fit the system and blah blah blah. Expect Wisconsin to outperform this prediction and make the NCAA tournament again even though they shouldn't. F Bo Ryan. F Bo Ryan, indeed.
8. INDIANA. The first of four teams with no real shot to make the NCAA Tournament, that talented group of freshmen will be back with another year of experience and presumably more skill. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, Crean wasn't really able to follow it up with anywhere near the same level of talent after missing out on Josh Selby, the #2 ranked recruit in the country who had Indiana in his top 7 before cutting them out when he narrowed it to four, but he did get two guys ranked in the 130s so they aren't exactly taking a step backwards. I like Creek and I really like Watford, but there's still a serious talent deficiency here. Like that "adult" club in Albert Lea.
9. PENN STATE. Talor Battle, assuming he's back, will finally have another highly rated player joining him when incoming freshman Taran Buie, #136 on Rivals list, comes on board, but I'm afraid it's probably too little too late to help Battle. Everybody is back from last year, literally everybody, but who cares, really? Do you really expect guys like David Jackson, Chris Babb, or Andrew Jones to make any kind of significant improvement? Sorry, Crispin-lover, not going to happen. That's Crispin-lover, not Crispin Glover, weirdo.
10. MICHIGAN. DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris are gone, and whoa, this team is a mess. The incoming class is very meh with just two players, there's nobody over 6-8 who has ever played a minute of college ball, and the leading returning scorer is Zack freaking Novak who averaged all of seven points per game last year. The only reason they don't rank last is because Darius Morris might end up being pretty good, they have a chance at getting Trey Ziegler who ranks as the 26th best recruit in the country, and Iowa is still in this conference. For now.
11. IOWA. What are you getting yourself into Fran? This is not a good move for anybody right now. Take a read at that returning roster. Go ahead. Did you look? You're laughing now, aren't you? Seriously, outside of Gatens and maybe Eric May and/or Aaron Fuller I don't think there's a single player there that would crack any other rotation on any other Big Ten team - and that includes Michigan and Penn State. And if you're wondering if there's an impact class coming in let me save you the suspense - there's not. And that's all before anybody has reacted to the Lickliter firing. Who knows, there could be a bunch of mass transfers, crippling them even worse. Sweet. Good call McCaffery. You display the decision-making skills of a drunk frat girl on spring break.
It's early, but that's how I read it. Obviously a million things could happen to change it, but right now I see three really tough teams, four teams in that next "bubble team" tier, two more who won't make the tourny but could be dangerous at times, and two crap sandwiches.
Expect baseball predictions later this week, if that's your thing.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Week in Review - 3/29/2010
I'm pretty sure this is the best NCAA Tournament I can remember in quite some time. I know that can't really be trusted since people have a tendency to overrate whatever is current (more on that later), but it just seems like almost every game has been great. Close games, buzzer beaters, overtime games, upsets - it seems like we're getting more of these things this year than in any other year. Maybe I'm romanticizing it a bit, but I'm ok with that - I love this year's tournament, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Of course, the poop in the swimming pool is that Duke made the final four, and I really, really, really hate Duke, but as long as somebody else ends up winning I'll be happy. Hell, I'll even end up rooting for Butler if they end up going against Duke. That would be hilarious, talk about a bunch of white guys. I'm almost hoping for that now. Almost. Even so it's still been an awesome tournament, and it sucks that's it's basically over.
I'm pretty sure they time it so the NCAA Tournament wraps up right before baseball kicks off and end the world series just before the college hoops season starts because the powers that be know those are the only two things really worth watching. God bless you sports overlords, you have it all under control.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Butler. I considered the Bulldogs to be more getting lucky than being good, catching Murray State in the second round and getting Syracuse on a night when they seemed pretty disinterested to be there, but a weekend spent by beating both the Orange and then K-State is pretty impressive. At some point I have to stop thinking of them as lucky, overachieving white nerds and realize they are a pretty good team, and what better point than now, with them on their way to the Final Four. They really play some solid, solid defense, and it wasn't luck that Jake Pullen and Denis Clemente, the heroes last round, combined to shoot just 11-28 with six turnovers and just two assists on Saturday. With the Bulldogs being on the wacky side of the bracket, they can absolutely beat Michigan State and end up in the final.
2. West Virginia. I pretty much got almost nothing right this entire NCAA Tournament, but at least I was right about West Virginia being a Final Four team. I just love this team. Ebanks, Butler, Kevin Jones, and Wellington Smith give the team four super-athletic 6-7 to 6-9 guys who play great defense, can handle the ball, hit the boards hard, and can score inside or out. There's no real need for a point guard since all those guys can just play point forward, and they did beat Kentucky with their only real PG, Truck Bryant, out with an injury, but the good news is that in case they do need him Bryant will be back for the Final Four. This is good because the guy who filled in for him, Joe Mazzulla, had his career best game last round and there's no way he'd be able to do that again. The Mountaineers will be my adopted team for the Final Four, and if they end up being underdogs I'll be hammering that line like I was at a conjugal visit with your mom.
3. LaceDarius Dunn. Holy crap is this guy good. I remember watching a few Baylor games the last couple of years and he was always a good scorer, but with Curtis Jerrells graduated he has taken his game to a whole new level. Unfortunately, Duke conspired with Dunn's teammates and they figured out a way to take him out of his game late in that regional final, but prior to that he was doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. There was one possession where the undisciplined hyper-athletes that make up most of the Baylor team were running around like jackasses just throwing the ball wherever and doing mostly nothing except almost turning it over. The shot clock got down to under 10, Dunn finally got the ball, looked and saw Scheyer on him, and just put the ball down and drove in for an easy floater. And he could have done that all game. At least he's only a junior, so we'll get to see him play for another year. Also WVU is going to destroy Duke.
4. Durrell Summers. I've written about him already this tournament in passing, but I really think Summers has taken a leap this post-season and is going to be in the Big 10 POY running next year. He had a rough Big Ten tournament, but in the NCAA tourney he's been unstoppable, scoring 14, 26, 19, and 21 while shooting 56% from the floor and has just looked like a more confident, take over when I need to take over kind of player. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do next year, but not against the Gophers because without Damian he's going to shred them like Bogart playing me in Madden. I'm betting he ends up being close to a 20 point-per-game scorer. Believe it.
5. Jordan Crawford. I know he only played one game this week and his team lost, and I know there's a good chance you might be sick of hearing about Crawford already, but he really, really impressed me in this tournament more than any other player, even Summers or Dunn. Inside, outside, off the dribble, off the catch, rebounding, defense - he can do it all. He also seems to have matured quite a bit, and looks like he might be putting it all together. My fear is that he's going to get some really bad advice, let his nice tournament run go his head, and enter the NBA draft this year, which will just suck. I'm too dumb to know if he's going to be a good pro or anything, but I know he'll be an absolute pimp next year in the A-10 if he stays, which he should. Plus he needs to beat down Dayton again. I hate those hippies.
WHO SUCKED
1. Syracuse. I still think the Orange were the best team this year, along with Kansas on a whole nother tier, but they really didn't come to play against Butler. I gave Butler their props above for creating these kind of situations, but it really seemed like the Cuse were just waiting for Butler to go away. Then, with five minutes or so left, they hadn't, and Syracuse panicked - specifically Andy Rautins and Scoop Jardine, who just started launching anything and everything, completely rushed, completely covered, and early in the shot clock and shot their come back attempt right out of the water - like Snake with a Squirrel that is in the water. Also, I think maybe at some point we should start talking about whether or not Boeheim is an epic choker or not. I'm not ready quite yet since he does have that national championship, but I really think he should be winning more than he does.
2. Kentucky. Speaking of epic chokers, hello again John Calipari. Once again Slimy John has the most talent and ends up bowing out early in what has become nearly as predictable of a rite of Spring as the salmon returning to Capestrano. 4-32 from three, which is really shitty shooting, but maybe the coach needs to reign in the chuckeration a little bit. And why is Patrick Patterson hanging out around the three-point line all day? It's like playing with Rick Rickert (or Bogart). Get your ass inside, big man, and quit it with this perimeter shit. That's on Calipari, too. As is the piss poor defense they played in the second half. Why did they continually refuse to stop dribble penetration in transition? Just a poorly played, poorly coached game by the team with the most talent in the tournament. Cal is a hell of a recruiter/cheater, but he couldn't out coach your average fifth-grade girls coach.
3. Kyle Singler. In case you needed another reason to be pissed that Duke won, and I'm sure you don't, it's that this beak-faced fake ACC player of the year (blatantly stolen from General Greivis) laid the biggest egg possible in the biggest game of the year. He shot 0-10 from the field, 0-5 from three, and turned the ball over four times while grabbing just three rebounds despite being 6-8 and playing 34 minutes. Just an absolutely brutal performance, but because the refs received a mandate from the NCAA that Duke needs to win, it's going to be ignored. I hope he chokes even harder against West Virginia. He's the embodiment of the irritation that is Duke. And he looks like a damn chicken. And a girl chicken at that. Seriously, he looks like a girl chicken.
4. Fran McCaffery. The Iowa job? Really? Wouldn't you rather coach at either Seton Hall or St. John's? They both have better recruiting bases, and St. John's especially has to be a much more attractive job. But Iowa? Iowa? Good luck, Fran. I have a feeling this is going to end up being a terrible decision on both sides, and Iowa will remain irrelevant in basketball for four or five more years before they end up firing McCaffrey. Fine by me, that's how it should be.
5. Len Elmore. And all announcers, really, but Elmore was the one who put me over the top. I'm pretty sure Vern Lundquist hasn't watched an actual game outside the tournament in years, and Dick Enberg looks like death in HD and made the wrong call at least ten times in the WVU/Kentucky game, but Elmore is still the worst. He has some speech impediment that causes him to constantly refer to time outs as "times out" as in "Xavier calls times out" which is annoying, but his constant harping on how Kansas State was "fatigued" on Saturday after their double-OT game two nights before made me want to stab my ears with an ice pick. He must have mentioned it twenty times in a ten minute span, including pointing out how "All the Wildcat players on the bench are looking down", "Curtis Kelly is breathing out of his mouth", and "Jake Pullen is shifting from foot to foot while he's standing", all as some kind of proof they were tired. I've never quite heard anything so bizarre, nor listened to somebody with such a single-minded focus on one subject before, not counting John Madden and Brett Favre.
The icing on the cake, however, was some doofus I heard on the radio talking about Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe and how "no group of three freshman have accomplished what they have." Dude, what? A quick look tells me that Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwon Howard combined to average more points and rebounds than the Kentucky trio. Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara, and Billy Edelin were all major contributors on a national championship team, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better group of freshman both stat and winning wise than Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook. And those are just three rebuttal examples I thought of in 30 seconds after that moron made his statement, I'm sure there are many more examples. Look, I understand people tend to overrate what is in the now, and the Kentucky freshman are great, but let's try to have enough historical perspective here so you don't sound like a complete jackass. I swear to god they just pluck half of these people right off the street and tell them to cover something they know nothing about. It would be like me trying to cover hockey, or Super Sioux Fan writing about high class living - it just isn't going to work.
The End. Oh, and.....
GO MOUNTAINEERS!
I'm pretty sure they time it so the NCAA Tournament wraps up right before baseball kicks off and end the world series just before the college hoops season starts because the powers that be know those are the only two things really worth watching. God bless you sports overlords, you have it all under control.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Butler. I considered the Bulldogs to be more getting lucky than being good, catching Murray State in the second round and getting Syracuse on a night when they seemed pretty disinterested to be there, but a weekend spent by beating both the Orange and then K-State is pretty impressive. At some point I have to stop thinking of them as lucky, overachieving white nerds and realize they are a pretty good team, and what better point than now, with them on their way to the Final Four. They really play some solid, solid defense, and it wasn't luck that Jake Pullen and Denis Clemente, the heroes last round, combined to shoot just 11-28 with six turnovers and just two assists on Saturday. With the Bulldogs being on the wacky side of the bracket, they can absolutely beat Michigan State and end up in the final.
2. West Virginia. I pretty much got almost nothing right this entire NCAA Tournament, but at least I was right about West Virginia being a Final Four team. I just love this team. Ebanks, Butler, Kevin Jones, and Wellington Smith give the team four super-athletic 6-7 to 6-9 guys who play great defense, can handle the ball, hit the boards hard, and can score inside or out. There's no real need for a point guard since all those guys can just play point forward, and they did beat Kentucky with their only real PG, Truck Bryant, out with an injury, but the good news is that in case they do need him Bryant will be back for the Final Four. This is good because the guy who filled in for him, Joe Mazzulla, had his career best game last round and there's no way he'd be able to do that again. The Mountaineers will be my adopted team for the Final Four, and if they end up being underdogs I'll be hammering that line like I was at a conjugal visit with your mom.
3. LaceDarius Dunn. Holy crap is this guy good. I remember watching a few Baylor games the last couple of years and he was always a good scorer, but with Curtis Jerrells graduated he has taken his game to a whole new level. Unfortunately, Duke conspired with Dunn's teammates and they figured out a way to take him out of his game late in that regional final, but prior to that he was doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. There was one possession where the undisciplined hyper-athletes that make up most of the Baylor team were running around like jackasses just throwing the ball wherever and doing mostly nothing except almost turning it over. The shot clock got down to under 10, Dunn finally got the ball, looked and saw Scheyer on him, and just put the ball down and drove in for an easy floater. And he could have done that all game. At least he's only a junior, so we'll get to see him play for another year. Also WVU is going to destroy Duke.
4. Durrell Summers. I've written about him already this tournament in passing, but I really think Summers has taken a leap this post-season and is going to be in the Big 10 POY running next year. He had a rough Big Ten tournament, but in the NCAA tourney he's been unstoppable, scoring 14, 26, 19, and 21 while shooting 56% from the floor and has just looked like a more confident, take over when I need to take over kind of player. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do next year, but not against the Gophers because without Damian he's going to shred them like Bogart playing me in Madden. I'm betting he ends up being close to a 20 point-per-game scorer. Believe it.
5. Jordan Crawford. I know he only played one game this week and his team lost, and I know there's a good chance you might be sick of hearing about Crawford already, but he really, really impressed me in this tournament more than any other player, even Summers or Dunn. Inside, outside, off the dribble, off the catch, rebounding, defense - he can do it all. He also seems to have matured quite a bit, and looks like he might be putting it all together. My fear is that he's going to get some really bad advice, let his nice tournament run go his head, and enter the NBA draft this year, which will just suck. I'm too dumb to know if he's going to be a good pro or anything, but I know he'll be an absolute pimp next year in the A-10 if he stays, which he should. Plus he needs to beat down Dayton again. I hate those hippies.
WHO SUCKED
1. Syracuse. I still think the Orange were the best team this year, along with Kansas on a whole nother tier, but they really didn't come to play against Butler. I gave Butler their props above for creating these kind of situations, but it really seemed like the Cuse were just waiting for Butler to go away. Then, with five minutes or so left, they hadn't, and Syracuse panicked - specifically Andy Rautins and Scoop Jardine, who just started launching anything and everything, completely rushed, completely covered, and early in the shot clock and shot their come back attempt right out of the water - like Snake with a Squirrel that is in the water. Also, I think maybe at some point we should start talking about whether or not Boeheim is an epic choker or not. I'm not ready quite yet since he does have that national championship, but I really think he should be winning more than he does.
2. Kentucky. Speaking of epic chokers, hello again John Calipari. Once again Slimy John has the most talent and ends up bowing out early in what has become nearly as predictable of a rite of Spring as the salmon returning to Capestrano. 4-32 from three, which is really shitty shooting, but maybe the coach needs to reign in the chuckeration a little bit. And why is Patrick Patterson hanging out around the three-point line all day? It's like playing with Rick Rickert (or Bogart). Get your ass inside, big man, and quit it with this perimeter shit. That's on Calipari, too. As is the piss poor defense they played in the second half. Why did they continually refuse to stop dribble penetration in transition? Just a poorly played, poorly coached game by the team with the most talent in the tournament. Cal is a hell of a recruiter/cheater, but he couldn't out coach your average fifth-grade girls coach.
3. Kyle Singler. In case you needed another reason to be pissed that Duke won, and I'm sure you don't, it's that this beak-faced fake ACC player of the year (blatantly stolen from General Greivis) laid the biggest egg possible in the biggest game of the year. He shot 0-10 from the field, 0-5 from three, and turned the ball over four times while grabbing just three rebounds despite being 6-8 and playing 34 minutes. Just an absolutely brutal performance, but because the refs received a mandate from the NCAA that Duke needs to win, it's going to be ignored. I hope he chokes even harder against West Virginia. He's the embodiment of the irritation that is Duke. And he looks like a damn chicken. And a girl chicken at that. Seriously, he looks like a girl chicken.
4. Fran McCaffery. The Iowa job? Really? Wouldn't you rather coach at either Seton Hall or St. John's? They both have better recruiting bases, and St. John's especially has to be a much more attractive job. But Iowa? Iowa? Good luck, Fran. I have a feeling this is going to end up being a terrible decision on both sides, and Iowa will remain irrelevant in basketball for four or five more years before they end up firing McCaffrey. Fine by me, that's how it should be.
5. Len Elmore. And all announcers, really, but Elmore was the one who put me over the top. I'm pretty sure Vern Lundquist hasn't watched an actual game outside the tournament in years, and Dick Enberg looks like death in HD and made the wrong call at least ten times in the WVU/Kentucky game, but Elmore is still the worst. He has some speech impediment that causes him to constantly refer to time outs as "times out" as in "Xavier calls times out" which is annoying, but his constant harping on how Kansas State was "fatigued" on Saturday after their double-OT game two nights before made me want to stab my ears with an ice pick. He must have mentioned it twenty times in a ten minute span, including pointing out how "All the Wildcat players on the bench are looking down", "Curtis Kelly is breathing out of his mouth", and "Jake Pullen is shifting from foot to foot while he's standing", all as some kind of proof they were tired. I've never quite heard anything so bizarre, nor listened to somebody with such a single-minded focus on one subject before, not counting John Madden and Brett Favre.
The icing on the cake, however, was some doofus I heard on the radio talking about Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe and how "no group of three freshman have accomplished what they have." Dude, what? A quick look tells me that Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwon Howard combined to average more points and rebounds than the Kentucky trio. Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara, and Billy Edelin were all major contributors on a national championship team, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better group of freshman both stat and winning wise than Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook. And those are just three rebuttal examples I thought of in 30 seconds after that moron made his statement, I'm sure there are many more examples. Look, I understand people tend to overrate what is in the now, and the Kentucky freshman are great, but let's try to have enough historical perspective here so you don't sound like a complete jackass. I swear to god they just pluck half of these people right off the street and tell them to cover something they know nothing about. It would be like me trying to cover hockey, or Super Sioux Fan writing about high class living - it just isn't going to work.
The End. Oh, and.....
GO MOUNTAINEERS!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Elite 8 Preview (Saturday's Games)
Even though my bracket picks have sucked, I've rocked the gambling this year and specifically last round (not posted but I won 8 units on the Tennessee moneyline, which was a hedge against my OSU 75-1 future), so let's keep on posting. I'm going to attempt to keep this brief since it's Saturday, but sometimes I get carried away so no promises.
KENTUCKY -4.5 vs. WEST VIRGINIA. At this point there is little doubt that Kentucky is the favorite to win since every other "contender" has been eliminated, but if you look closer they haven't been overly impressive, other than in margin of victory. Their three wins are over East Tennessee, a rapidly crashing Wake Forest, and a completely over-matched Cornell. I'm not belittling this team, because I think they are starting to come together at the right time, but West Virginia will be by far the best team they've played this tournament, and a team that can deal with both their size and athleticism. Both teams are awfully good defensively as well, so I'm expected a slug-fest. THE PICK: West Virginia +4.5, 3 units (BONUS PICK: UNDER 133, 3 units)
KANSAS STATE -4 vs. BUTLER. I still can't believe Butler beat the Cuse, even though that win might not be as impressive you'd think if you hadn't watch the game. Syracuse seemed to be in cruise control mode for the first 35 minutes or so, almost like they were waiting for Butler to go away, and when they didn't the Orange panicked, and starting jacking some of the dumbest and worst shots, completely unopen and early in the shot clock and shot themselves right out of the game. Of course Butler won't just go away, they're pesky and white like that. But have you seen Kansas State? They aren't going to wait for the Bulldogs to go away, they're going to attack and attack and attack. I was very wrong about this Wildcat team, which is yet more evidence that making judgments about a team without having seen them play all year is not a very good way to evaluate a team. THE PICK: Kansas State -4, 4 units
And how freaking good is Durrell Summers? Good god. I really hope he decides to ill-advisedly go pro, because I'm not looking forward to having to watch Hoffarber try to guard him next year.
KENTUCKY -4.5 vs. WEST VIRGINIA. At this point there is little doubt that Kentucky is the favorite to win since every other "contender" has been eliminated, but if you look closer they haven't been overly impressive, other than in margin of victory. Their three wins are over East Tennessee, a rapidly crashing Wake Forest, and a completely over-matched Cornell. I'm not belittling this team, because I think they are starting to come together at the right time, but West Virginia will be by far the best team they've played this tournament, and a team that can deal with both their size and athleticism. Both teams are awfully good defensively as well, so I'm expected a slug-fest. THE PICK: West Virginia +4.5, 3 units (BONUS PICK: UNDER 133, 3 units)
KANSAS STATE -4 vs. BUTLER. I still can't believe Butler beat the Cuse, even though that win might not be as impressive you'd think if you hadn't watch the game. Syracuse seemed to be in cruise control mode for the first 35 minutes or so, almost like they were waiting for Butler to go away, and when they didn't the Orange panicked, and starting jacking some of the dumbest and worst shots, completely unopen and early in the shot clock and shot themselves right out of the game. Of course Butler won't just go away, they're pesky and white like that. But have you seen Kansas State? They aren't going to wait for the Bulldogs to go away, they're going to attack and attack and attack. I was very wrong about this Wildcat team, which is yet more evidence that making judgments about a team without having seen them play all year is not a very good way to evaluate a team. THE PICK: Kansas State -4, 4 units
And how freaking good is Durrell Summers? Good god. I really hope he decides to ill-advisedly go pro, because I'm not looking forward to having to watch Hoffarber try to guard him next year.
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