Slightly More Competitive

Just as I post the two blogs about how noncompetitive the playoffs were, multiple teams that were in danger of getting eliminated stepped up and gave themselves a chance. It started on Friday with the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets getting some much needed wins at home. The Celtics dropped the first two games in Atlanta, and they really needed a win. Isaiah Thomas scored 42 points to propel his team to a 111-103 victory, which means Atlanta now leads to series 2-1. The Celtics have a good roster full of players who can defend, and do their role. The one thing they are missing is a couple of true stars to take on the bulk of the scoring, and that's what Isaiah Thomas did on Friday night.

The Rockets looked to take advantage of an opportunity, with Steph Curry sitting for the second game in a row. The Rockets took an early lead in the first quarter, but the Warriors slowly chipped away throughout the game. I actually thought the Rockets looked much better in this game, but they could improve defensively, and the role players need to step up more. James Harden played very well, he dished out well placed passes, and scored in volume, although he could definitely be more efficient. I believe that the Rockets have a strong veteran bench, highlighted by Michael Beasley, Josh Smith, Corey Brewer, and Jason Terry. They need these players to make the most out of their limited time, and come in and knock down the shots that Harden creates for them. It is looking like Steph Curry will be back for game four, so the Rockets will have to play at an extremely high level in order to pull an upset.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs used Friday night to extend their series leads to 3-0 each, and will look to sweep their respective series' today.

On Saturday the Indiana Pacers tied up their series with the Toronto Raptors 2-2, behind another strong defensive and offensive performance from Paul George. George had 19 points which is good, not great, but he also shut down Toronto star Demar Derozan, holding him to just 8 points. It's not hard to see why Toronto lost this game, they only got 12 points from Kyle Lowry, 8 from Derozan, 16 from Valanciunas, 12 from Carroll, and 1 from Scola. They need to have much more production from their starters if they want to win this series. I believe Toronto needs to tell Derozan to stop shooting so much, because he hasn't been able to do much of anything on offense the whole series, and he's letting Paul George score in volume against him. So Derozan needs to put most of his effort into defense and try to create plays for his teammates on offense.

Also on Saturday, the Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trailblazers each won their first game of their respective series, but I doubt either will do much more from here on out. Meanwhile the Oklahoma City Thunder handled the Dallas Mavericks to take a 3-1 series lead, which means they have a chance to close out the series at home on Monday.

Uncompetitive Playoffs: East

The Eastern Conference Playoffs have been only slightly more competitive than the West, with three out of the four series at 2-0. In one of the least exciting playoff series, the #4 Atlanta Hawks own a 2-0 series lead on the #5 Boston Celtics. The Celtics just don't have enough firepower on offense, partly because they don't have a true star. Isaiah Thomas is pretty good, but needs some help, which is why the Celtics should be a big player in free agency this summer.

The Miami Heat have been the one team to really prove me wrong, they were the lower seed, and yet they won the first two games on the road. Now they have a serious advantage in the series, and will likely win the series in four games. The Heat have been red hot from the field, shooting at just below 60% in their first two games. They have also been getting good contributions from their bench and their veteran players. If their role players keep producing at the rate that they are, then I wouldn't be surprised at all if they made it to the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Players like Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, and Joe Jackson are all veteran players who have playoff experience and can be very good in moderate roles. I don't think however they can beat any of the true playoff contenders, but it is possible if they continue to shoot like they have been.

The #2 Toronto Raptors and #7 Indiana Pacers are tied at a game apiece, and this is the one series in the East that has the highest chance at making it to six or seven games. The Raptors are trying to exorcise their demons by finally winning a playoff series. Toronto has won a couple playoff series since 1995, but recently the Raptors have had a lot of trouble advancing out of the first round.

The most interesting series has been Cleveland vs Detroit, even though Cleveland won the first two games in the series. LeBron is usually unstoppable in the playoffs, but he really hasn't had to "carry" his team, they have been getting good contributions from Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and some of their role players. They are having trouble guarding Detroit center Andre Drummond, who is nearly perfect when he is in close to the basket. But the farther away he gets from the basket, the less capable he becomes, so the Cavs have been trying to deny him the ball at all times. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pistons win a game or two in this series, because they have been playing very hard and pushing the Cavs more than most thought they would.

Uncompetitive Playoffs: West

The first round of the NBA Playoffs is two games in and of the 8 series only two of the series are tied as of now. We will start in the Western Conference where the #1 Golden State Warriors won the first two games of the series, which were played in Oakland. So far the main story line in this series has been superstar Steph Curry injuring his ankle. This is big news one because everyone in the media has been treating Curry like the second coming of Jesus this year. Also Curry has had a history of serious ankle injuries, so this is cause for concern. Steph only played 20 minutes in the first game which the Warriors won 104-78, and was held out of the second game, which the Warriors won 115-106, and he remains questionable for game 3. Personally I don't think that Curry is that injured, I think he is just slightly sore, and the Warriors don't want to injure him even worse. 

Elsewhere the Spurs are up 2-0 on the Memphis Grizzlies, and it hasn't even been close. The Spurs have won by an average of nearly thirty points and the Memphis has yet to top 80 points. So yeah there isn't much to talk about there.  The Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks are tied at one game apiece, but I don't see the Mavericks winning another game. After all in the second game, where the Mavericks lost, the Thunder's top two players shot a combined 15 for 55, which is pretty awful. That was probably a combination of good defense by the Mavs and also a bad night for KD and Russ but either way I don't see that happening many more times. 

The #4 Los Angeles Clippers have been taking care of business too, winning game one against the Portland Trailblazers 115-95, and the second game 102-81. This was a little more surprising, because Damian Lillard has been an absolute force since the All-Star break. But the Clippers have played very well, but it still remains to be seen if they can make it far into the playoffs. I think that the Trailblazers need to have a big name free agent to sign with them this summer if they expect to contend in the West. 

NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is approaching, with the first round selections coming on April 28th, and there has recently been a big shake up in the draft order. The Rams, who recently moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles, traded numerous draft picks including this years 15th overall picks, a couple second round picks, a third round pick, and first round pick in 2017. In exchange the Rams received the number one overall pick from the Titans, and they are expected to draft a "franchise" quarterback. That quarterback is expected to be either Jared Goff out of California, or Carson Wentz, who is from North Dakota State. Other quarterbacks in this years draft class are Paxton Lynch from Memphis, and Connor Cook, out of Michigan State, although these two wouldn't be considered "franchise" quarterbacks. Whichever quarterback that doesn't get picked by the Rams, will likely be picked second by the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are missing many pieces from their roster but they still don't have a franchise quarterback. Another route the Browns could take is to build up the rest of their roster and try to get a better quarterback in the next draft, but I see them taking a quarterback with their pick. Another player who has been making a lot of buzz is Florida State's Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey is a hybrid cornerback/safety that can make plays all over the field due to his length, hands, and closing speed. Laremy Tunsil will probably make his way somewhere into the top five, he is a dominant Offensive Tackle who many projected to go number one before the Rams-Titans trade.

Outside of that it is difficult to project the rest of the picks, but there are some top players who should be picked up in the first round. In terms of Offensive Lineman, the Tackle position is a popular first round pick. The top OT's outside of Laremy Tunsil are Ronnie Stanley, Jack Conklin, Taylor Decker, and Jason Spriggs. Another position that is a common pick in the first round is linebacker, and Myles Jack out of UCLA is the the top LB in the 2016 draft class. Other top linebackers are Leonard Floyd from Georgia, Darron Lee out of Ohio State, Reggie Ragland out of Alabama, and Jaylon Smith from Notre Dame.

Defensive ends are very valuable in today's NFL so they are commonly picked in the early rounds of the NBA. The top five end rushers are Joey Bosa (Ohio State), DeForest Buckner (Oregon), Shaq Lawson (Clemson), Noah Spence (Eastern Kentucky), and Kevin Dodd (Clemson). Lawson, Buckner, and Spence are very fast and will use that speed to get around the offensive lineman. Dodd and Bosa aren't necessarily slow, but they will need to use their hands and technique to get to the quarterback.

Wide receivers usually go in the last half of the first round, and some of the top WR's are Laquan Treadwell (Ole Miss), Corey Coleman (Baylor),  Tyler Boyd (Pittsburgh), Will Fuller (Notre Dame), and Michael Thomas (Ohio State). The speedy receivers are players like Boyd, Fuller, and Josh Doctson (TCU). Whereas Laquan Treadwell is better at catching in traffic and catching "jump balls".

NBA Playoffs Predictions: First Round

The NBA Playoffs match-ups are officially set, and the first game is underway as I type this. The Eastern Conference series are #1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs #8 Detroit Pistons, #2 Toronto Raptors vs #7 Indiana Pacers, #3 Miami Heat vs #6 Charlotte Hornets, and #4 Atlanta Hawks vs #5 Boston Celtics. The Eastern Conference playoffs will probably be much more competitive in the first round because other than the Cavaliers and Raptors, the teams are packed together closely. By that I mean that the Miami Heat are 48-34, and got the three seed, and the Detroit Pistons are 44-38 and got the eight seed. So the series between the Heat and Hornets could go to six or seven games, as could the series between the Celtics and Hawks. I'm going to go with the Heat in seven games over the Hornets, although I think that will be the most competitive series. Another series that should be close is the Boston-Atlanta match-up, I see Atlanta taking it in six games. The Celtics will be a very good team in the years to come, but as of now the Hawks have more playoff experience. I believe that the Pacers will test the Toronto Raptors, but ultimately won't have enough firepower, so I will say the Raptors in six games. In the last Eastern series the Detroit Pistons take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Pistons actually took three out of the four regular season games versus the Cavs. Still LeBron is a force in the playoffs, so I'll say the Cavs win in four, maybe five games. 

The Western Conference playoffs are different from the East, in that the first round won't likely be that interesting, but the second round and conference finals should be very competitive. The series will be the #1 Golden State Warriors vs #8 Houston Rockets, #2 San Antonio Spurs vs #7 Memphis Grizzlies, #3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #6 Dallas Mavericks, and #4 Los Angeles Clippers vs #5 Portland Trail Blazers. In the Golden State-Houston series I see the Rockets maybe getting one game, but the Warriors should easily handle them. James Harden could drop 40 points and 10 assists each game and I still don't think that the Rockets could win. The Spurs-Grizzlies series shouldn't even be close, the Spurs are very disciplined, experienced, and talented, and the Grizzlies have won only five of their last twenty games. Spurs in four games. The Thunder-Mavs series should be more of the same, but I think it could take the Thunder five or six games to take the series. Lastly, I think the Los Angeles Clippers will eliminate the Portland Trail Blazers in six games, I think that Portland doesn't have much talent outside of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. 

"Mamba Out"

One of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball, Kobe Bryant, is officially retired from professional basketball as of last night. The 37 year old superstar has been in the league for 20 years, and every single one of those years has been with the same team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant was one of the top high school players in the nation, and he chose to forgo college, and declare for the 1996 NBA Draft. He was selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets, but was traded to Los Angeles in exchange for Vlade Divac. Kobe went on make 15 All-Star teams, score 33,643 points (3rd in history of NBA), and win 5 NBA Championships. But hindsight is 20/20.

He is often called "the Michael Jordan of this generation", both players are about 6'6", both play shooting guard, and they both had an extraordinary will to win. The only difference between the two is that Michael was a slightly better athlete and defender, and Kobe was a slightly better shooter, especially from deep. Both were exceptional scorers and ruthless competitors, and on top of it all they have a very similar play style, and have many of the same moves.

But as I said last night was the final game for the Black Mamba, and there were very high expectations, but at the same time everyone understood that Kobe was nowhere near the player he used to be. Kobe came out firing, scoring 15 points in the first quarter, and added 7 more points before half time, but the Lakers still trailed by double digits at half.  The Lakers made a slight dent in the lead in the third quarter with Kobe scoring another 15 to bring his total up to 37 points going into the fourth. But the Lakers were still down by nine. Then Kobe flipped a switch and started taking over the game. He hit a numerous clutch shots down the stretch, pouring in 23 points in the fourth quarter. It was a very special performance, because many people were used to seeing Kobe being great, and for the majority of this year, he played pretty poorly, and the Lakers were one of the worst teams in the league. So for Kobe to come out and score 60 points in his final game was very fitting for the Black Mamba, who will go down as one of the top ten players of all time.

Almost Playoff Time

The NBA Playoffs are just around the corner, with the first games starting this Saturday, and only three teams in the league are still fighting for a spot. In the East the eight teams that will be in the playoffs are Cleveland, Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Charlotte, Indiana, and Detroit. The only thing left to be decided is the seeding of those teams, and that likely won't change that much. All of those teams have winning records, which is a plus because last year featured two teams that had under .500 records. But I believe the Eastern Conference only has a couple teams capable of even competing with the Western Conference in the Finals. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the obvious first choice, followed by the Toronto Raptors and maybe the Atlanta Hawks. But I think I'm being optimistic, the Raptors are 4-4 versus the top four teams in the West, which isn't horrible, but they are 0-2 versus the Warriors this season. The Hawks are just 2-6 though versus the top four in the West, which is pretty bad. It is also interesting that the top three Eastern Conference teams have a combined record of 0-6 versus the Golden State Warriors. 

In the West, Golden State has the number one seed locked down, and now is going for the all time wins record. They have tied the record at 72-9, and now look to break it against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. The Spurs, Thunder, and Clippers round out the top four, and Portland and Memphis have also clinched a playoff spot. That means that the 7th and 8th seeds are still up for grabs, currently Dallas is in line for the 7th, and Utah for the 8th, but the Houston Rockets could still sneak into the playoffs and provide an interesting match-up for the Warriors. Now the Rockets are not in the playoffs yet, and they definitely aren't the same team that made it to the Western Conference Finals last year. But that being said, I would much rather watch a Warriors-Rockets series than a Warriors-Jazz series. 

Despite all of this, the 2016 Playoffs are Warriors' to lose, they will likely break the all time record for regular season wins. So if they don't win the championship I think it is all for nothing, some people might disagree with me, but that's just how I see it. 

CBB: 2016-17

Now that the 2015-16 season of college basketball is over it's fair to look ahead to the next season of basketball, the 2016-17 season. Last season of college basketball was heavily influenced by senior leadership, which meant that teams that aren't known for getting big name talent flourished. But I'm guessing that the upcoming season of college basketball could be dominated by freshmen, and blue blood schools. Kentucky probably has the best incoming freshmen class of anyone, the Wildcats have five of the top thirty players in the nation coming to Lexington next year. There are three dominant big men in that class, Edrice Adebayo, Wenyen Gabriel, and Sacha Killeya-Jones. But the real stars are point guard De'Aaron Fox and combo guard Malik Monk. It is hard to predict how many key players will be returning for Kentucky as their coach John Calipari has said he will have all the players on the Wildcats roster test the waters in the draft combine. But I think it safe to say that the small forward, or wing, position is going to be the most vulnerable spot for the Wildcats next season. However with all the talent they will have, Kentucky fans should be expecting another dominant season.

Another program with a lot of potential next year will be Duke, they benefit from the return of star Grayson Allen next year, who averaged over 20 points per game as a junior. Also returning are guard Matt Jones, and Luke Kennard who should add some necessary shooting to the lineup. However the players that will make the Blue Devils great are top five players in small forward Jayson Tatum, and power forward Harry Giles. Both are elite players that will likely only have a one year college career. The one spot that Duke may be weak is interior defense and rebounding, Giles is a powerful force down low, but isn't a true center, and probably won't have much help.

The Big Ten will likely be dominated by Michigan State, Indiana, and Wisconsin, but it's safe to say that MSU will be expected to do big things next year. The Pac-12 is Oregon's to lose, as they return star Dillon Brooks, and many other important pieces. However UCLA should have no reason to be as bad as they were last year, so if they have another repeat year there will be a coaching change. The Big 12 will likely be much less powerful as they were last year. Iowa State, Oklahoma, and Baylor will all likely decline, even Kansas probably won't be as good as they were last year.

2015-2016 College Basketball Season

The latest season of college basketball had it's high points and low points, it featured numerous upsets, games that will go down in history, and strong seasons by a group of seniors. An article by SB Nation (linked here) explains just how turbulent the season was, with five number one ranked teams falling by February, which hasn't happened since 1949. As an Iowa sports fan I had first hand experience with this, because three of the #1 ranked teams lost in the state of Iowa. Northern Iowa beat #1 North Carolina at home very early in the year, then Iowa took down #1 Michigan State in Carver Hawkeye Arena, and finally Iowa State took down #1 Oklahoma inside a very loud Hilton Coliseum. In fact the entire college basketball season was good for the state of Iowa, from each team beating a #1 team, to all the teams making the tournament and making it past the first round.

Then there was the unforgettable games, the most important one being the National Championship game between North Carolina and Villanova. The last couple minutes of that game will be remembered for a long time, and especially the last 10 seconds. With very improbable game tying shot by UNC guard Marcus Paige, to the game winner as the clock expired by Villanova's Kris Jenkins. The other game I was thinking of was the first game between Oklahoma and Kansas, where Kansas won in triple overtime 109-106. It really wasn't fair for one team to win the game because the game just seemed like it would never going to end. There was also a large number of first weekend upsets and close finishes, there was St Joe's barely outlasting Cincinnati, Yale beating Baylor, UNI hitting a half court shot to beat Texas, Wisconsin hitting a buzzer beater to beat Xavier, Middle Tennessee beating Michigan State, and many others that I didn't list.

Then there was the great senior leadership shown by players such as Denzel Valentine, Perry Ellis, Georges Niang, Jarrod Uthoff, Wes Washpun, AJ Hammons, Brice Johnson, Marcus Paige, Buddy Hield, Malcolm Brogdon, and the list goes on and on. These players brought a great four years to college basketball, and there will certainly be a different landscape next year. In fact the next year will probably be a more freshman centered season. High profile players like Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, and Frank Jackson all heading to Duke, plus the return of Grayson Allen, Duke will probably be one of the better teams in the nation. Along with Kentucky gaining and entire line-up of 5-star prospects, and Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf both heading to UCLA. Plus the top prospect in the nation, Josh Jackson, has yet to decide where he will go.

National Championship

The NCAA men's basketball tournament has wound down to two teams competing for the title, North Carolina, and Villanova. On Saturday Villanova took on Oklahoma in the first Final Four game of the day. Although before the game it was predicted to be a relatively close game, with most actually picking Oklahoma to win, Villanova destroyed the Sooners 95-51. At half the Wildcats held a fourteen point lead, but the game wasn't completely over at that point. But the second half was even worse than the first, it was a combination of Villanova shooting the lights out, and Oklahoma being ice cold. In fact it shows how much Villanova has improved because earlier in the season they got blown out by Oklahoma 78-55.

The next game of the double-header was slightly closer, but it wasn't much of a contest either, the Tar Heels used their size and depth to dominate the rebounding battle. Like in many of the games the Tar Heels won this tournament, they slowly but surely increased the lead until the end of the game. While on the one hand North Carolina has easily won all of their games, on the other hand they have had far inferior competition than Villanova. For example since the first round ended North Carolina has played and beaten #9 Providence, #5 Indiana, #6 Notre Dame, and #10 Syracuse. All of those teams are respectable and certainly capable teams, but none of them were truly considered championship contenders. While Villanova had to play #7 Iowa, #3 Miami, #1 Kansas, and #2 Oklahoma, other than Iowa, all of them were title contenders, with Kansas being the favorite for the title.

In terms of the actual game on Monday, us fans can only hope for a close game for once. Because most of the games past the opening weekend have been blowouts, which has sort of made the tournament boring. Villanova has been overlooked for most of the tournament, and they have also been shooting well above 50% each game, so I see no reason to pick against them now. Prediction: Villanova 84 North Carolina 79.

LeBron and the Cavaliers

LeBron James has been the best basketball player in the world over the past decade, and even before that, he is one of the most physically gifted athletes in the history of sports. Over his thirteen year career in the NBA he has played in near 1,000 games, and has played nearly 40,000 minutes, and he has averaged 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists over his career. He has scored almost 27,000 points over his career, for some perspective the record for scoring was set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387 points, and the player who is widely considered the best player of all time, Michael Jordan, scored 32,292 points over his career. Although LeBron is aging, and is beginning the downswing of his career, it is almost guaranteed that he will end up in the top five in scoring, and he will probably also end up in the top ten all time for assists. Without a doubt LeBron is an top ten player of all time, and yet at 31 years old, he has only won two NBA Championships and has a 2-4 record all time in the Finals. Most recently to the Golden State Warriors, and also twice to the San Antonio Spurs, and once to the Dallas Mavericks. Usually the problem with LeBron in the playoffs is that he doesn't have enough help, with the Cavaliers he is 0-2 in the Finals, and from 2008-2010 he got eliminated before even reaching the Finals. This year will be very important for LeBron's future with the Cavs, in 2007, LeBron didn't have almost any help and lost 4-0 to the Spurs. Last year was supposed to be the Cavs year, they traded for Kevin Love, and LeBron signed with the Cavs in free agency, and Kyrie Irving had gotten some experience and was developing into a young star. But Kevin Love had his shoulder separated in a first round game against the Celtics. Then Kyrie Irving went down in game seven of a second round game versus the Bulls. So by the time the Cavs reached the Finals they were without two of their top three players, which meant LeBron again had to do everything. He couldn't do it, the Cavs started out 2-1 over the Warriors, but LeBron was the only one who could do anything on offense, and it caught up to them, as the Warriors won the next three games to beat the Cavs and win the NBA Championship.

I think that this years Finals are do or die time for the Cavaliers, if they aren't able to win the Finals yet again, I don't think that LeBron will wait around. He has spent to much time in a city where he can't seem to win. I believe the only ways that LeBron will stay in Cleveland is if the Cavs either win the Finals, or make the team better through free agency this summer.

Championship or Bust

The Golden State Warriors are 68-7, and are aiming for 73 wins, which would beat the record set by the 1996 Bulls for most regular season wins. It is a very lofty achievement, not many teams have even been close, so it is understandable that they really want to break the record. But at this point in the season, the Warriors really should be resting their star players to make sure they are ready for the playoffs. Because as impressive the Warriors have been throughout the regular season, it would mean nothing if they didn't win the championship.

In their last seven games they have to play six teams that will be in the playoffs, including two games against the San Antonio Spurs. However I still think it is almost guaranteed that the Warriors will make it to 73 wins, in fact I wouldn't be surprised at all if they finished 75-7. Throughout the season the Warriors have never lost consecutive games, usually they follow a loss with several consecutive wins. So I find it very unlikely that they will somehow loose three games in a seven game stretch. 

Many other teams, especially contenders have started resting their players, the Cavs sat LeBron for a night, the Thunder rested Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka, and the Spurs are notorious for resting their players throughout the season. And these are the teams that are trying to dethrone the Warriors, these teams don't care if the Warriors have had one of the most impressive seasons in NBA history. The Playoffs are a different atmosphere, and the Warriors are the team that everyone is aiming for. The Spurs, Thunder, Cavs, and Clippers have been scheming the whole season trying to figure out how to take them down. Realistically I think that the Spurs have the best chance, having been one of the only contending teams to actually beat the Warriors.  Actually the Spurs did a great job and contained the Warriors, limiting them to their lowest scoring total of the entire season, winning 87-79. The Spurs used the strategy of shutting down Stephen Curry, and held him to 14 points on 4-18 shooting, and actually held the duo of Steph and Klay to a combined 2-19 from three. Plus the didn't even use star defender Kawhi Leonard on Curry, they use their other guards and harrassed Curry. This slows down the Warriors attack and forces the other players to make plays. The Warriors did the same thing to the Cavs in the Finals last year, and LeBron just couldn't do enough to pull it off. I believe the Spurs are one of the only teams capable of shutting down Stephen Curry, and if they can do that in the playoffs then they have a good shot of getting to the Finals.

Final Four

The NCAA tournament is now down from 64 teams to just 4, #2 Oklahoma, #2 Villanova, #10 Syracuse, and #1 North Carolina. Before the tournament started, I think many people thought that there might be some upsets, but for the most part the core teams that had been at the top all season long would make the Final Four. Those teams were Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Oklahoma, and maybe Virginia. But many of the teams that I thought could win a title are now out, Michigan State went first, then Kansas, and finally Virginia. Most people in the nation picked Michigan State and Kansas to make the championship game, as you can see here, in fact about 1/4 picked MSU or KU respectively. So when Michigan State got upset, it was incredibly surprising, but I think it was equally surprising when Villanova took down the Jayhawks. Especially because Villanova for a long time was thought to be a team that didn't make it very far in the tournament, the past couple of years, they didn't make it very far at all despite being high seeds.

Oklahoma was the first team to advance to the Final Four, beating #1 Oregon 80-68. Oklahoma once again used a strong offense, lead by a barrage of three's and good ball movement, but they also held Oregon under 40% shooting. Their next opponent Villanova defeated Kansas 64-59, the Wildcats shot a lower percentage, but coverted their free throws at a high rate, and took better care of the ball than Kansas. Out of these two I would like to say that Oklahoma will advance, but I think that I and most of America, has severely underestimated Villanova. This game will be very close, and there will be a lot of excellent guard play on both sides, but I'm going to take Villanova 80-78.

Syracuse somehow beat Virginia, in fact I saw that Virginia was up by about 12 and I figured that the lead would only grow but the Orange went on a monstrous run to take the lead, and they did not look back. North Carolina used their incredible size, and depth to just overpower #6 Notre Dame 88-74, and they won handily without a great game from one of their star seniors Marcus Paige. I believe that North Carolina will have a very similar game against Syracuse, and I think they will do handily. I think North Carolina is probably the most likely out of the four teams to win it all.

Contender or Pretender

Even though the tournament is down to 8 teams, and every team has beaten three quality teams to get where they are, there are still some teams that have a very low shot at winning the title.

Let's start with the lowest seeded teams, Syracuse and Notre Dame. Syracuse took down #7 Dayton quite convincingly, then took on #15 Middle Tennessee, a team that beat Michigan State, but was really a one hit wonder. After that they played another low seeded team, #11 Gonzaga, but Gonzaga was actually a pretty good team, who had to take down Utah and Seton Hall to get there. But either way Syracuse has had a pretty easy road to the Elite 8 for a team that was seeded tenth, and barely made it into the tournament. I would say that is possible for Orange to make the Final Four, although I doubt they will make it any farther. Notre Dame also had a fairly easy road, although I would say it was slightly tougher than Syracuse. Notre Dame had to take down #11 Michigan, #14 Stephen F Austin, and #7 Wisconsin. Again I think the Irish can only go as far as making the Final Four. 

I think all the other teams in the tourney could all go as far as the tournament game. I think out of the other six Oregon, Villanova, and Virginia are probably the weakest. I think Oregon was over seeded as a 1 seed because I believe that they played in one of the weakest conferences this year, the Pac-12. Even though they were the champs of the Pac-12, I believe they would be better suited as a #2 or #3 seed. Villanova is a very good team, and they are shooting extremely well lately, but I don't know how much longer they can keep it up. If the Wildcats defeat Kansas, then I believe they could very well win the whole thing. Virginia I feel is a very good, but I'm concerned that they just don't have enough offense. Especially because they will likely have to play North Carolina if they make the Final Four, and UNC, who they recently lost to in the ACC title game. 

I believe the other three teams are still the top contenders, after all North Carolina, Oklahoma and Kansas were three of the teams who were thought to be top contenders throughout the year. The only thing missing is Michigan State. I think the perfect final four would be a KU vs OU part three, and MSU vs UNC, but we might have to settle for UNC vs Virginia instead. 

Sweet Sixteen

This year's slate of Sweet Sixteen games did not feature any upsets, and there were only a couple games that were decided by less than 10 points. Really the games only purposes was to weed out the good teams from the great teams. The top overall seed Kansas defeated #5 Maryland 79-63, although it was not a blowout at first. It was actually a close game at half, with Kansas leading 36-34, but Kansas let Maryland shoot from deep, and Maryland just couldn't convert (they shot 5-25 from the 3 point line). That was really the story for most of the games on Thursday, Oregon lead Duke by only five at half, but ended up winning 82-68 behind 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists from Dillon Brooks. Villanova held a 43-37 lead at halftime over Miami, but Miami just couldn't stop the Wildcats as Nova shot 62% overall, and 66% from deep. In fact Miami, shot 53% overall and 58% from deep, so it is surprising that they shot so well and still got blown out. On the other end of the spectrum was Texas A&M, who shot a terrible 34% overall (22% from three), and got embarrassed by #2 Oklahoma 77-63. Oklahoma was one of the few teams to put away their opponent in the first half, in fact the game was tied 15-15 about midway through the first half, before OU went on a 30-11 run to end the first half. 

As was true for most of the tournament, the second day of games was better than the first, although this time, the second day still wasn't that great. The two games that set up to be the best games of the day turned out to just be like the games on Thurday. North Carolina was just too much for Indiana, as the Tar Heels won 101-86. Once again the team who was truly elite took down a team who was just pretty good. Then another ACC power Virginia took down Iowa State, who were hurt by their lack of depth. The Cavaliers won 74-61, and used their stifling defense to hold down an Iowa State team who is more comfortable in an up tempo game. The last two games of the day were a lot closer, and they were between higher seeds than you usually see in the Sweet Sixteen. #7 Wisconsin gave up a three point lead with about 30 seconds left, and ended up losing 61-56 to #6 Notre Dame. Gonzaga suffered a similar fate as Wisconsin, as they gave up their 5 point lead with three minutes left, as #10 Syracuse won 63-60. 

Now the Elite 8 field is set, with #1 Kansas taking on #2 Villanova, #1 Oregon playing #2 Oklahoma, #1 North Carolina facing #6 Notre Dame, and finally #1 Virginia will look to defeat #10 Syracuse. 

NCAA Second Round

The second round of the NCAA tournament certainly featured a lot less upsets than the first round, and once again the second day of games were far more entertaining than the first day. On Saturday, it was pretty much all chalk, the 12 seeds that everyone was rooting for both lost with Yale losing to Duke, and Arkansas Little Rock losing to Iowa State. Virginia, North Carolina, and Kansas all took care of their second round games, although UNC and KU had a much easier time than Virginia did. The only upset came when 11 seeded Gonzaga blew out 3 seed Utah 82-59, although I think that the only thing surprising about it was the way Gonzaga won. After all Gonzaga returned many important parts from last years team, which earned a 2 seed, and reached the Elite 8. The best game of the day, and one of the few actual competitive games came when  5 seed Indiana took down border rival and 4 seed Kentucky 73-67.

But like I said the real fun began on the second day, about half of the games were close, but there were still about 3 blowouts. Early on 2 seed Villanova embarrassed 7 seed Iowa 87-68, later on Syracuse easily took down the Cinderella team Middle Tennessee State 75-50. Finally Maryland ended Hawaii's hopes, winning 73-60, they will move on to play Kansas. 

One of the more exiting games of the day was #2 Oklahoma versus #10 VCU, where the Sooners won 85-81. The game looked like it was a blowout at first, as Oklahoma jumped out to a 21-7 lead, but VCU came back and challenged the Sooners down the stretch. The night games were certainly the best games with each game being decided by less than 5 points. First there was Notre Dame beating SFA on a last second tip in, even though Thomas Walkup had 21 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Then there was Oregon outlasting St. Joe's 69-64, they will advance on to play Duke. Then #7 Wisconsin beat #2 Xavier 66-63 on this buzzer beater. 

I think most people can agree though that the UNI-Texas A&M game could be the best of the tournament. #11 Northern Iowa had the game all but won with under a minute left, before the greatest collapse in possibly the history of college basketball. UNI was up by 12 on #3 Texas A&M with about 44 seconds left in regulation, but the combination of UNI's absolute collapse, and the intense pressure forced by Texas A&M  down the stretch took the game to overtime. This will be a game that will be a game that will be remembered forever in tourney history, and certainly in Iowa basketball history. 

NCAA First Round

The first round of the NCAA Tournament is over, and only 32 teams remain. Thursday was pretty quiet, there weren't that many upsets unless you count 9 seeds beating 8 seeds. The day started off with Connecticut using a strong second half to beat Colorado 74-67. Which means they will move on to face Kansas in the second round today. Actually all the 9 seeds beat the 8 seeds today, with Butler edging out Texas Tech. In the last game of the day Providence beat USC on a last second tip in, which can be seen here. 11 seeded Wichita State took down 6 seeded Arizona and 11 seeded Gonzaga took down 6 seeded Seton Hall but neither were big upsets as Wichita State and Gonzaga are both very disciplined basketball teams.

However in one of the early games 12 seeded Yale really shook things up when they defeated 5th seeded Baylor. The game was close throughout but Yale prevailed behind 31 points 6 rebounds and 4 assists from Makai Mason. The Bulldogs also out-rebounded Baylor, and did most of their damage inside the 3 point line, which is uncharacteristic of underdogs. Which means they will go on to face Duke, a team that shoots it very well from deep. Later on in the day another 12 vs 5 upset when Arkansas Little Rock took down Purdue 85-83 in double overtime.

Friday however was definitely the more chaotic day of the first round, with multiple upsets and buzzer beaters. But the biggest story of the day was 15 seed Middle Tennessee State beating 2 seed Michigan State. It was probably the biggest upset of the tournament and maybe even the biggest upset in a couple years, especially because Michigan State was a popular pick to win the entire tournament. Both 10 seeds that played on Friday with VCU beating Oregon State 75-67, and Syracuse defeating Dayton 70-51. As the day went on the chaos ensued, with Iowa beating Temple 72-70 in OT on a tip in at the buzzer. Later on 14 seed Stephen F Austin took advantage of 3 seed West Virginia's 22 turnovers to beat the Mountaineers 70-56, with SFA senior Thomas Walkup scoring 33 points. Although that game wasn't that huge of an upset, as SFA is an experienced tournament team, and to me West Virginia wasn't built to make a deep run in the tournament. Another game that was technically an upset, but could be easily predicted was 13 seed Hawaii beating 4 seed California 77-66. Later on the day 11 seed Northern Iowa beat 6 seed Texas on a half court buzzer beater, and Saint Joseph's got away with a win as Cincinnati didn't have enough time to tie the game on a dunk.

Field is Set

All conference tournaments are over and the tournament field is set, with the number one overall seed being Kansas, along with Virginia, North Carolina, and Oregon. Three of them won their conference tournament, with Kansas winning the Big 12, Oregon winning the Pac 12, and North Carolina beat out Virginia for the ACC crown. Michigan State won the Big 10 and were rewarded a 2 seed, and Kentucky won the SEC yet got only a 4 seed, which seems slightly unfair. Seton Hall upset Xavier and Villanova on their way to a Big East title, and St. Joe's upset Dayton and VCU (who both made the tournament), which earned them a Atlantic 10 title, and an 8 seed. Other conference champions who are in the tournament are Connecticut (AAC), Stony Brook (AEC), Florida Gulf Coast (ASC), Weber State (Big Sky), UNC-Asheville (Big South), Hawaii (Big West), UNC-Wilmington (CAA), Middle Tennessee (C-USA), Green Bay (Horizon), Yale (Ivy), Iona (MAAC), Buffalo (MAC), Hampton (MEAC), Northern Iowa (MVC), Fresno State (MWC), Farleigh Dickinson (NC), Austin-Peay (OVC), Holy Cross (Patriot), Chattanooga (Southern), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), Southern (SEAC), South Dakota State (Summit), Arkansas Little Rock (Sun Belt), Gonzaga (WCC), and Cal State Bakersfield (WAC).

Most of that group is going to lose in either the first or second round, so it's important to pick the right upsets when making your brackets. Some teams like UNI, Gonzaga, Stephen F. Austin, Wichita State, VCU, and Dayton all make the tournament frequently so they would be a good pick for an upset. Some other qualities that bracket busting teams usually have are great three point shooting, a dominant player, or really good guard play.

However these Cinderella teams rarely make it far past the Sweet Sixteen, so don't get too carried away with the upsets. Usually the Final Four consists of seeds 1-4, with the occasional outsider. Within those top four seeds I think teams like Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Kentucky and Duke all have good chances at deep runs because they have experience in the tournament. Villanova and Virginia are both teams known for early exits in the tournament, but don't over analyze that too much, both are very capable teams. Then there are the teams like Oregon, Oklahoma, Xavier, and Texas A&M don't have very much experience with the NCAA tournament, but all are elite teams. 

Eastern Conference Playoff Preview

In today's NBA, the Western Conference gets a lot of the attention, most of the best teams have been in the West the last couple of years. This year it's the top four teams in the West of the Warriors, Spurs, Thunder, and Clippers who get all the attention. But the East is starting to look more promising, LeBron is always a contender, no matter which team he is on. But the second place team the Toronto Raptors have been very good this year, mainly because of the Kyle Lowry-Demar Derozan duo. However I feel like the Raptors need another piece to really challenge the Cavs in the playoffs. I just don't see this Raptors team taking down LeBron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love in a seven game series. The Boston Celtics are at third in the East at 35-25, they are a very strange team, they aren't really led by one player in particular. The Celtics have seven players who average 10 or more points per game, and have good pieces all around. That's why it is important for the Celtics to make a push for a big name free agent this summer, because one All-Star caliber could take this team from good to great. Even if they don't get a big name free agent this summer the Celtics are still in great shape for the future. Boston has probably the brightest future in the NBA because they own a lot of draft picks acquired from other teams that they can use in the future, including a couple first rounders in the upcoming NBA Draft.

The other teams that I could see making some noise in the playoffs would be the Bulls, Pistons, and Pacers. Not all of these teams are for sure playoff teams, but I think all of these teams have the necessary talent to shake up the playoffs as lower seeded teams. The Bulls have been probably been one of the most underachieving teams in the NBA, and are again severely effected by injuries. Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, and Nikola Mirotic are all out right now. Surprisingly Derrick Rose hasn't been the main one out with injuries this year, only missing 10 games, mainly due to minor injuries. But the Bulls have proved to be difficult for contending teams the last couple of years. Last year they took the Cavs to six games, and probably would've won the series had it not been for a LeBron James game winning shot in game four. This year they own a 2-1 series lead over the Cavs, 3-0 versus the Raptors, and 2-0 versus the Thunder. The Pacers were the number one seed in the playoff just two years ago and still have their star player Paul George. I think the Pacers still have it in them to make some noise the playoffs, especially with the core of Paul George, Monta Ellis, George Hill, and Myles Turner. 

Western Conference Playoff

The NBA Playoffs start on April 16th, which will be here sooner than you think, and many think that the Warriors will sweep every team that they play. I hope that doesn't happen but it's starting to look like a possibility, the Warriors are a league best 52-5, that means they win 91% of their games, which is pretty impressive. Although it seems like recently they have had a number of close games where Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson do pretty much all of the scoring. Yesterday against the Thunder, Steph scored 46 and Klay had 32, but only one other person was even in double figures. The game before that Steph scored 51 points, and the game before that Steph had 42 and Klay had 33. I feel like at this point the only thing that could stop the Warriors from dominating the playoffs would be fatigue. In the regular season Steph shouldn't have to take over games and score 40 or more points per game. That is something he should be saving for the playoffs, because right now if they think they are going to the finals they have at least 40 more games, and a maximum of 52 more games. I know the Warriors want to beat the record set by the 95'-96' Bulls of 72 wins. But they don't want to be the team who had the most regular season wins in NBA history but then ran out of gas in the playoffs.

Many thought it would be the Spurs who would be the one team to challenge the Warriors, but I think the Thunder are probably better suited to do so. Even though the Thunder have lost both of their games against the Warriors, they have pushed the Warriors more than a lot of teams have. In the first game in Oakland, the Warriors won 116-108, but the Thunder made a late push and made the game close. In the second game the Warriors came back to force overtime and ended up winning 121-118. But in both games the Thunder challenged the Warriors, which we haven't seen from many other teams. Although another interesting team to look at would be the Portland Trailblazers, they are being carried by star point guard Damian Lillard, and currently sit at 7th in the West. But if they dropped to 8 they could potentially challenge the Warriors. Earlier in the season Portland blew out the Warriors 137-105, some say that game was a fluke, but that would definitely be an interesting one vs eight match-up.

Big 10 Update

Earlier in the year the Big 10 was pretty simple it was Iowa, Maryland, and maybe Michigan State who were all considered contenders for the Big 10 regular season championship. But now the race has gotten a lot more competitive, with Indiana at the top. The reason for the change in the race is largely due to the fall of Maryland, and especially Iowa. Maryland has lost three of their last four games and still have a road game versus Indiana on the schedule. They still haven't reached their full potential, but I wouldn't count them out because they have such a stacked roster. Iowa is on even more of a slide, losing three in a row, and four out of five. It's very disappointing, but at least in the last couple of games they have shown more effort. Now they just need to figure out how to get the offense going, and how to defend to the best of their ability.

The risers have been Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan State, who are a combined 17-4 in the month of February. Indiana is still very inconsistent, but when they are on, they can beat anyone in the country. They already have a share of the Big 10 title, but do still have games left against Iowa and Maryland which could be very difficult. Wisconsin and Michigan State are very similar teams, both are disciplined and mentally tough, and can both can really shoot from deep. I still think that Wisconsin is nowhere near as good as Michigan State is, especially if they have an off shooting night. Michigan State has built a strong program and a tradition of making it far in the tournament, and playing their best basketball late in the season. They are also led by two strong veteran leaders in Denzel Valentine and Bryn Forbes.

Iowa Basketball

As of today the Iowa Hawkeyes are 20-6 overall and 11-3 in the Big 10, but they are only 4-3 since a impressive win versus Purdue that put them at 16-3. They have also lost two of their last three games, and that one victory was at home by four versus a 6-19 Minnesota team. One of the losses was a sloppy game at Indiana which the Hoosiers won 85-78, and the other was an even sloppier loss at Penn State, who is just 13-13 overall. The most concerning thing in these games is that is seems like the team is either tired, or just not motivated to play. Another problem was that is seemed like the only people scoring for the Hawkeyes were Peter Jok and Jarrod Uthoff. Earlier in the season it seemed like everything was clicking and almost everyone was contributing. Certain players I feel have slipped into a role too much, it's almost like they don't want to score. Especially Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell, Woodbury's main role is to rebound and defend the rim, and Gesell is tasked with distributing the ball. One thing that also bothers me is that often times it seems like the offensive sets are too simple and there isn't enough movement and screens. This often means that players are forced to take tougher shots which they usually miss. The offense also seems to grow stagnant when Iowa is forced to go to their bench, mainly because they don't have a good ball handler off the bench. But that is the smallest problem, because many teams that struggle with depth.

Luckily the Hawks are in the middle of a week off between games, so they should be able to rest up, and figure out what is wrong. They have a couple of tough games left on their schedule, but they control their own destiny when it comes to the Big Ten regular season crown. Plus if they win out their regular season and have a good showing in the Big Ten tournament, then they have a shot at a high seed, whether it be a one or two. 

But I could also easily see them maintaining their same lethargic energy level, and finishing the season with 8 or 9 losses, losing early in the Big Ten tournament, and getting upset early in the NCAA Tournament. I say this because two years ago a similar thing happened, and it seems like Iowa never makes it far in the Big 10 tournament or NCAA Tournament. So obviously I hope this doesn't happen, and I hope they prove me wrong.

ACC Is The Best Conference in College Basketball

Many people will say that the Big 12 is the best conference in the country, and to a certain extent, yes they are good, but not quite as good as the ACC. The ACC is a bigger conference, and quite frankly a better conference, although both Louisville and Syracuse cannot participate in postseason play.
Even with those teams not included the ACC is still in contention for the top conference. At the top there is Virginia, North Carolina, Miami, and Duke. Virginia has one of the most impressive resumes with wins over teams like Ohio State, West Virginia, Villanova, Miami, and Louisville. However all of the Cavaliers five losses have come on the road to non ranked teams, this is concerning for the Cavaliers because in the tournament they will be on a neutral site, against probably inferior teams for the first few rounds. Another reason they could struggle in March is because they get into a lot of low scoring, close games. This helps them because they have experience with close games, but also, anything can happen in a close game, so I'm thinking Virginia could lose again in either their second, or third game in the tournament.

North Carolina is a large, experienced, and skilled team that could be an eventual final four participant. The Tar Heels already have accomplished big men, with a trio of Justin Jackson (6-8), Brice Johnson (6-10) and Kennedy Meeks (6-10). Brice Johnson is the main low post threat, he rebounds, defends, and almost always finished around the hoop. But for them to get there I think they need more production from their guards, especially Marcus Paige. Paige is an All-American caliber player, and needs to step up in March if the Tar Heels want to make it to the Final Four.

Miami is a team that I don't know a whole lot about, the Hurricanes are 21-4 and 10-3 in the ACC, which is good for first in the conference. But from looking at their schedule, I can tell that Miami doesn't have a true signature win, but they have chances down the stretch. Their next four games are at North Carolina, home vs Virginia, home vs Louisville, and at Notre Dame. If they can go 2-2 or better in those games I'd say that would be good for the Hurricanes. Ideally they would want to win the two games at home and deal with losses on the road.

The rising team in the ACC is Duke, the Blue Devils are 20-6, 9-4 in ACC, and are fresh off a victory at North Carolina. Many people doubted Duke throughout the season, but it is hard to argue with a four game win streak featuring wins over Louisville, Virginia, and North Carolina. Still I don't think that the Blue Devils will make it very far in the tournament, largely due to depth. Duke has a very limited rotations, which means consecutive games like they will play in March, will take a toll on their players freshness. Next year should be a strong year for Duke, as they bring in three 5-star prospects.

March Madness: Seeds 1-5

March Madness is just around the corner, and that means there will be a lot of debate over the seeding of the teams. It's not often that all number one seeded teams, but usually a mix of teams in the top five or six seeds. It's also almost a guarantee that there will be one team seeded 10 or higher that makes some noise by upsetting someone, but they usually don't make it much farther than the sweet sixteen. In my opinion the top overall seed would be the Kansas Jayhawks, with the other 1 seeds being Villanova, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. These are probably the top overall teams, although this year especially it really doesn't mean anything, any of those teams could lose in the second round. I personally think that Oklahoma is probably the most unpredictable 1 seed, they could win it all or lose in their second game, mainly because of their reliance on the three pointer.

The two seeds would probably be Virginia, Maryland, Iowa, and Xavier. I think that Maryland is probably the best team out of the group, but they haven't really reached their full potential. Virginia will be an interesting team to watch because in the last two tournaments Michigan State has upset them in the 2nd and 3rd round respectively. I hope obviously that my team, Iowa, makes it far in the tournament, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got knocked out early, although they do have good senior leadership. For my 3 seeds, I picked Michigan State, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Iowa State.

This is a very strong group of 3 seeds, and I could see all of them making it far in the tournament no matter where they are seeded. Michigan State is always a good bet in the tournament, and they have been very good as of late. The same applies for Kentucky, they seem like the have finally got it together, and they could be very dangerous in the tournament. 

Miami, Indiana, Arizona, and Oregon are my picks for the 4 seeds, and Purdue, Dayton, Notre Dame, and Providence for the 5 seeds. These teams usually only produce one or two teams that make it far, and are usually picked to be upset early. The 5 vs 12 and 4 vs 13 match-ups are the trendiest picks for upset, usually because the 12 and 13 seeds are conference champions from weaker conferences. In  2013 three of four 12 seeds won, and the same for 2014. I'm guessing there will be many upsets and surprises in this years tournament, as there is no dominant team in college basketball this year.

NBA All-Star Saturday Night

All-Star Saturday night was the time for young stars to shine, whether it was the skills challenge, the 3-point shootout, or the dunk contest. Even on Friday night, some young stars proved how good they could be in the Rising Stars game. Zach LaVine took home the MVP with 30 points 7 rebounds and 4 assists as Team USA took down Team World 157-154. Also Jordan Clarkson, D'Angelo Russell, and Devin Booker all topped 20 points for Team USA. Andrew Wiggins, Kristaps Porzingis, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Mario Hezonja were the top performers for the international team, Wiggins had 29 points, Porzingis made 5 three's on his way to 30 points, Mudiay had 30 points and 10 assists, and Hezonja had 19 points 10 rebounds and 7 assists. It looks like the future of the NBA is in good hands with stars like Porzingis, Towns, Wiggins and Russell.

On Saturday night the fun really began starting with the skills contest, where big man Karl-Anthony Towns took down Boston point guard Isaiah Thomas for the skills contest trophy. The NBA switched up the format this year by having two separate brackets, one for the big men, and one for the guards. Towns emerged as the top big man, and Thomas as the top guard. In the championship round, both were basically even and it all came down to the three point shot, Towns and Thomas both missed their first couple but Towns was able to knock his down before Thomas and won it for his fellow big men. 

Then came the three point contest which wasn't as fun as previous years but was still pretty entertaining. It started off very well with five players scoring a 20 or above. The "Splash Brothers" Klay Thompson and Steph Curry both scored over 20 so they avoided the shootout, and advanced to the final round. Which meant Suns rookie Devin Booker, Rockets superstar James Harden, and Clippers sharpshooter J.J. Redick competed in an additional 30 second shootout to choose who advances to take on Thompson and Curry. Surprisingly Devin Booker beat out the other two accomplished players and had to take on Klay and Steph. I think he got maybe a score of 16 in the championship round which is pretty average, so it meant it was basically down to Splash Brother vs Splash Brother. Steph had a decent score, I think 20 or 21, but Klay easily topped that scoring a 27 and taking home the crown. 

The dunk contest was the biggest show of the night, as it should be, but hasn't been in recent years. Last year the Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Zach LaVine wowed viewers with an impressive show of dunking skills, he blew away the competition and it wasn't even close. This year LaVine won again but there was much more competition, mainly from the Orlando Magic's Aaron Gordon. All the dunks between Gordon and LaVine can be seen here, I would highly recommend taking five minutes out of your day to watch it. I think many people who watched the dunk contest thought that Aaron Gordon should've won, I would agree. The scorers can only go as high as 10, but some of Gordon's dunks were above 10, and so were some of LaVine's, but I just think that Aaron Gordon should've won that night. Plus if they would've given it to Gordon it would've created a Gordon vs LaVine rivalry that would go on for a long time, but that might happen anyway.

State of the NBA

Right now the Golden State Warriors are dominating the NBA, they are 48-4 overall, which is on pace to beat the '95-'96 Bulls record of 72-10, a team that many considered to be the best of all time. They started out the season 24-0, and finally lost to Milwaukee, and at one point they lost 2 out of 3 games. That must have sparked them because they then went on a five game tear where they beat teams by an average of 25 points. The most impressive part of that is that Cleveland, Chicago, Indiana, San Antonio, and Dallas were the teams they beat during that stretch. Those teams are all playoff teams (well maybe not Chicago, but I'll get to that) and San Antonio and Cleveland are considered contenders. It's like the Kentucky basketball team last year, after a while people begin to despise your team because they are so good. It seems like in today's NBA you're either with the Warriors or you're against them, and there are a lot of people who are against them. I think part of that is the constant and unrelenting coverage by the media, all you see on ESPN, Sporting News, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated is stuff about the Warriors. It gets very old, I actually rooted for the Warriors against Cleveland last year, but the media has made me hate them. Now it's a question of who can beat them, Houston, Toronto, Cleveland, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City have tried, but none have prevailed. All four of Golden State's losses don't matter, they serve a purpose other than to prove that no team is perfect. It will be important to watch how the Warriors play against the NBA's other contenders like Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Los Angeles (Clippers). If one of those teams can beat Golden State, it might give more hope to this years playoff. But if the Warriors continue to dominate and have no trouble with other contenders, then they might as well not even play the playoffs. San Antonio and Oklahoma City are the two teams I thought could contend with Golden State, but now it might only be Oklahoma City. Both have recently played the Warriors on the road, both lost. However the Spurs lost by 30, and the Thunder lost by 8, even though the Spurs have the second best record in the league at 45-8. Hopefully the Thunder, Spurs, and Cavs can all get it together because the playoffs won't be very entertaining if the Warriors just sweep every team they play.

The team that is arguably the most disappointing right now would probably be the Bulls, they are 27-24, but they are 5-13 since January 9th. As a Bulls fan it is getting very hard to follow them, their starting lineup of Rose-Butler-Dunleavy-Gibson-Gasol isn't bad, and they have some valuable bench pieces. I think the Bulls could use a small forward, and maybe trade some of their current assets for a good draft pick to build a better future. I would say Dunleavy, Mirotic, Noah, and maybe even Rose are all considered trade-able.

Iowa loses, OU-KU Rematch

On Thursday night, Iowa traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in a game that meant a lot for the Big 10 Championship. They lost 85-78, but personally I thought they looked horrible in that game. I think a large part in that was how well Indiana played, the Hoosiers had well executed offensive sets that led to a lot of points. The game was actually pretty even in almost every single category, the one thing that probably decided the game was free throws, Iowa was 13-23 from the stripe, while Indiana was 18-21. A lot of people would say that the loss doesn't really matter because it was on the road and Indiana is expected to win at home, but I don't buy that, if Iowa wants to get a one seed then they need to start winning some of these big games, even if they are on the road. The last two big games Iowa has played in have been on the road and Iowa has lost, but in both games there seemed to be a lack of confidence or effort. In the previous games against Purdue and Michigan State, Iowa seemed to have a swagger, and played with a lot of effort. Iowa needs to figure it out and start winning big games, starting with the rematch vs Indiana at home on March 1.

Another major story line in college basketball right now would be the rematch of what many thought was the game of the year, Oklahoma vs Kansas. The previous game was played at Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Kansas, where the Jayhawks won 109-106 in three overtime periods. The game was a #1 vs #2 at the time and it lived up to all the hype. The game seemed like it just didn't want to end, each team hit big shots and finally Kansas came out on top. The leaders for both teams gave it their all, Buddy Hield had maybe the stat line of the year with 46 points 8 rebounds and 7 assists, Perry Ellis had 27 points and 13 rebounds for Kansas, and Frank Mason made a steal late in the game to seal the victory. If the game is the same as the last one then we will be in for a treat, expect a lot of three pointers and hopefully another overtime classic. In the last game Kansas had a couple opportunities to end it in overtime but didn't convert, so again it might come down to who makes the first mistake.

Super Bowl 50

To be honest Super Bowl 50 wasn't very entertaining, from the game, to the halftime show, and even the commercials, other than "Puppy-monkey-baby". The Denver Broncos won 24-10 in a game that was absolutely awful if offense was your thing. The Broncos daunting defensive line lead by DeMarcus Ware, Malik Jackson, and Von Miller were in the backfield on every play it seemed. It was just too much for the Panthers offensive line and Cam Newton to handle. Which reminds me that after the game a lot of the blame for the loss was heaped on Cam Newton. Now to be fair, the quarterback of the losing team usually receives a lot of the blame, and Cam Newton is a very confident person. In fact Cam kind of set himself up for a win or be shamed situation, with all of his talk, celebration, and success (the Panthers were 17-1 coming into the game). But despite all of this, there seemed to be a popular opinion that the MVP Cam Newton would shred the Broncos, and yet after the game, it seemed as though those same people mocked Cam, and photo-shopped his face into memes. Plus no matter how good the quarterback is, there isn't much he can do when two or three linemen are in his face on every single play. I find it funny how much peoples opinions can change from just one game.

The game can be explained by the fact that there was pressure on almost every play, and also by turnovers, both teams had trouble hanging on to the ball. The Panthers turned the ball over four times and the Broncos turned it over twice, one of the biggest factors in the game. The Panthers did however have over 300 yards of offense and 20 first downs, but was never able to consistently score. Cam Newton was bothered early on in the game, giving up a touchdown to the Broncos defense by way of a strip-sack. Shortly after that the Panthers scored their first touchdown, but after that all offense from both teams sort of just halted. Carolina was able to get a couple long plays down the field, but the Broncos were able to consistently put the Panthers in difficult third down situations.

Carolina was able to get it to a 16-10 game in the second half, but weren't able to do anything with it, coughing up a fumble in their own red-zone to set up a Denver touchdown. It wouldn't surprise me if both of these teams were in position for a Super Bowl next year, although I think the Panthers have a better chance. Th Broncos need to focus on getting a good quarterback because right now they have the best defense in the NFL.

Recruiting

Recruiting is a big part of college football because there is a strong correlation between recruiting well and playing well. Alabama has won 4 championships in the past 7 years, and they have also had the number one recruiting class in the nation for six straight years. That doesn't mean that just because a team recruits well that they will automatically play well. Teams like USC, Texas, Miami, and Penn State have had consistent top 25 recruiting classes but over the past 2 years they have had records of 14-12 (Miami), 14-12 (Penn State), 11-14 (Texas), and 17-10 (USC). So it definitely isn't a guarantee that a team will win just because they have better recruits. However it is true that the SEC is the best conference for college football but they also recruit very well throughout the conference. In the 2016 class there were around 10 SEC teams in the top 25 of the rankings, 12 in 2015, and 10 in 2014. Compared to the Big 10 who had 5 teams in the top 25 in 2016, 3 in 2015 , 4 in 2014. That just has to get better if the Big 10 wants to improve. But the problem is that the Big 10 has to try a lot harder and spend a lot more money to recruit on the level of the SEC teams, and even some of the Big 12, and ACC, and Pac-12 teams. This is because the states that have the best recruits are Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California. So many SEC teams pull their recruits from Georgia and Florida and don't have to spend too much money to recruit them. Pac-12 teams can recruit from California, which is probably the 2nd best recruiting states in the nation. Which brings me to the top recruiting states in the nation, Texas, which is where many Big 12 schools pull their recruits from, and also some SEC schools, like LSU, Texas A&M, and Arkansas. But in general Big 10 schools have to travel farther to reach good recruits. States like Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota just don't produce high level recruits like southern states do.

Despite all of this Big 10 schools, like my own team, Iowa, need to recruit better. It is necessary to compete with all the other schools. The Big 10 and schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska should be dominating the recruitment of offensive and defensive line prospects. All of those schools are known for producing top linemen, people like Marshal Yanda, Travis Frederick, J.J. Watt, Mike Daniels, Ndamukong Suh, and Brandon Scherff. Yet in 2016 many of the top offensive line recruits went to schools known for producing skill position players rather than lineman.

Final Four Contenders

There are many teams that have the capability to make the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, but there are a handful of teams that are the top of the top, and will be expected to reach the Final Four. The blue blood programs (programs that are consistently good, national powers) aren't doing as well this year, Kansas, North Carolina and Louisville are really the only ones that are good this year. Duke is 16-6 overall but is just 5-4 in conference, Kentucky is also 16-6, but has lost three games in a very poor conference. Arizona is 18-5, which seems good, but they have also struggled in conference with 4 out of their 5 losses coming to conference opponents. It is unlikely that any of these teams will make it very far in the NCAA Tournament. With such programs being down it has made for a far more open college basketball landscape, many top 10 teams have been beaten and there is no real dominant team in basketball. So teams like Xavier, Texas A&M, Iowa, West Virginia, and Oklahoma have risen to the top of their respective conferences. Xavier has a strong record, already at 20-2, but don't have a strong resume because they lack a signature win. The Musketeers have beaten Michigan, USC, and Providence, but they would benefit greatly if they were able to take advantage of their opportunity to knock off Villanova at home later this season. Texas A&M is the team to beat in the SEC, especially because Kentucky is having a bad year. The Aggies have a couple nice wins over Big 12 powers Iowa State and Baylor, and have also taken down Gonzaga and LSU. They are certainly in the running for a #1 seed in the tournament because it appears that they will coast to a regular season SEC Championship.

Iowa has already played most of their big games, losing to Iowa State by one, sweeping Michigan State and Purdue, and losing at Maryland. But I still feel like there is more they need to do, especially if they want to win a Big 10 regular season championship. They have probably only three more games that they could potentially trip up in. They have two games against Indiana that are crucial to deciding who wins the Big 10, and a road trip to Michigan the last game of the season. In reality they will probably go 2-1 in these games, probably losing at Indiana, but they could cement themselves as leaders if they swept Indiana and took care of business in all the rest of their games. I think it is completely reasonable to think that Iowa will not lose another regular season game, probably not more than one, if they do lose. Which would put them at around 25-5 or 26-4, a very solid record, and possibly also be the Big Ten champs. 

West Virginia and Oklahoma are currently leading the Big 12, although it is a toss up as to who will win the Big 12. Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas, Baylor and maybe even Iowa State could win it. Although ISU has the most ground to make up as they have already lost four in conference. I would say that any of those five teams could make it to the Final Four, although I'm predicting right now that at least two of them won't make it past the second game of the tournament.  

NBA All Star Weekend

The NBA All Star game and all of the festivities that go with it will take place from February 12th to the 14th and will include a multitude of events. It starts lightly on Friday, when the celebrity game is played. Usually this game sort of makes the celebrities seem normal because you realize they are absolutely terrible at basketball. But it is still fun to watch, Kevin Hart is a regular at these games and tends to make for good entertainment. Then it continues on Friday night with the Rising Stars game, which is essentially an All Star game for the rookies and second year players. The teams are divided up  between international and American players. On the international team there are players such as Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins, and Nikola Mirotic. Players such as Jabari Parker, D'Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor highlight the United States team. This game is always a good chance to see who the best prospect is out of the last draft class. I don't think any of the players taken really early in the 2015 draft can be called busts yet. The most questionable pick at the time of the draft was Kristaps Porzingis, but now he is one of the most popular rookies, he is averaging around 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game.

Then my favorite part of the weekend is on Saturday, that's when the skills challenge, three point contest, and dunk contest all take place. Last year Steph Curry torched the 3 point contest and Zach LaVine had some of the best dunks I have ever seen. It really revitalized the dunk contest and the whole All Star weekend, which had been lacking. The participants in the dunk contest haven't yet been revealed, although I'm guessing Zach LaVine will be a headliner. I think the NBA should reach out to guys like LaVine, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Demar Derozan, Andrew Wiggins, and Gerald Green so they can get some real competition going. We are still waiting to see Lebron in the Dunk Contest, as he is one of the best power dunkers in NBA history, but we may never see it. I think the NBA should encourage the players to attend the side events more, especially the star players. I say this because those are the players everyone wants to see. They should put less importance into the actual all star game, that should be a game played at half speed where everyone just messes around, it shouldn't be taken very seriously. The NBA should do whatever necessary to avoid having their all star game end up like the NFL Pro-bowl, which has very low ratings.

Big 12 Basketball

Even though I am a Big Ten fan, I think it is obvious that the Big 12 is the best conference, even if the ACC wasn't in a down year I think that would be true. The Big 12 has four, maybe five teams that are capable of making the final four, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa State are all expected to make it pretty far, and West Virginia and Baylor could possibly pull it off.  Oklahoma is perceived to be the best team in the Big 12, but Iowa State has certainly made themselves known after starting poorly. After starting 2-3 in conference the Cyclones had a brutal stretch of games coming up, home vs #1 Oklahoma, at TCU, home vs #4 Kansas, at #5 Texas A&M, and home vs #9 West Virginia. They've already played and won the first three games, and next they have to travel to Texas A&M. Beating Kansas and Oklahoma was big for them because many consider them the two best teams in the conference. Both games were at home for the Cyclones so that plays a role, but the Cyclones have already traveled to Oklahoma and lost and will have to travel to Kansas too. As much as I hate Iowa State, right now they are playing like a top three team in the country. What remains to be seen is if they can actually get far in the NCAA Tournament (Last year they lost to a 14 seeded UAB team in the first round of the tournament).

The biggest surprise of the Big 12 has been West Virginia, although they need to improve their resume, they have beaten Kansas when the Jayhawks were #1 and lost by only 2 at Oklahoma. West Virginia runs a complex zone scheme and will look to beat Florida in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Speaking of the challenge, there are some very good games in the challenge. One of the bigger games would be Kentucky at Kansas, two of the top programs in the nation should make for a big games. Then it turns from top programs to top players as Buddy Hield (Oklahoma) takes on Ben Simmons (LSU). Hield is one of the best pure scorers in the nation, mainly because of his ability to shoot the three. Simmons scores in the exact opposite way, his jump shot is practically non existent so he scores by slashing inside. Either way both games should be outstanding.

Big Ten Basketball

The Big Ten season is almost halfway over, and it's pretty clear to this point who the contenders are. Iowa (16-3) and Maryland (17-3) are probably the two top teams in the Big Ten, they have the best resumes out of the bunch. The next tier of teams are just barely below the top two, those teams would be Indiana (17-4), Michigan State (17-4) and Purdue (17-4). Michigan might be included in there, but I'm not sure they are good enough to challenge for a Big Ten Championship, while all the others above them probably could. The next group is kind of in the middle, they aren't bad teams, but they are either too young or don't quite have enough pieces to be a good team. Those teams would be Michigan (15-5), Ohio State (13-8), Wisconsin (12-9), Nebraska (12-9) and Northwestern (15-6). Then there's the bottom teams, Illinois (10-10), Penn State (11-10), Rutgers (6-14) and Minnesota (6-14), these teams need a lot of work.

The teams that can most contend for a regular season Big Ten title are Iowa, Maryland, Indiana and Purdue. Iowa currently leads the Big Ten and has been the most impressive, which is something I definitely didn't see coming. Maryland has lost twice in Big Ten play, but probably the best starting five in the conference. That is why this Thursday's game between Iowa and Maryland could very well be the biggest game of the year. Iowa has already beat Purdue and Michigan State twice each, as well as Michigan, which means that Iowa already has a leg up on most teams. Maryland hasn't really had many impressive wins, they've lost to the three best teams they've played (Michigan, Michigan State, and North Carolina). So for Iowa this is a chance to further extent their dominance in the Big Ten, and for Maryland it's a chance to get a signature win. 

Another team who hasn't really had a signature win is Indiana, but they have a lot of chances towards the end of their schedule. They had upcoming games against Michigan, Iowa twice, Michigan State, Purdue and Maryland. I think that Indiana could be one of the best teams in the conference they just need to prove it.

Super Bowl

Both of the conference championships are over and Super Bowl 50 is set, the Denver Broncos will play the Carolina Panthers. Both of the predictions that I made in the previous blog post were pretty inaccurate, first of all I predicted that the Patriots would beat the Broncos, the Broncos won 20-18. Secondly I said in the last blog post that the game between the Panthers and Cardinals would be really close, but in reality the Panthers won 49-15, it wasn't even close. I think everybody outside of Colorado thought that Tom Brady would outperform the aging Peyton Manning before the game, but by games end it was Manning who had two touchdowns to zero interceptions. While Tom Brady, who threw 56 passes, had only one touchdown to three interception. The last interception being the most important, the Patriots had just scored a touchdown, but earlier in the game their kicker had missed and extra point making the score 20-18. Which meant that the Patriots had to attempt the two point conversion if they wanted to tie. But as Tom Brady was being pressured he just flung the ball to whoever he could find and the ball was tipped and picked off by a Broncos player, meaning that the Patriots then had to get the onside kick and get a field goal to win. Which they didn't, the Broncos recovered the onside kick and took a kneel to end the game. The real story in this game was how much Tom Brady was pressured, Brady was sacked four times, but had someone in his face on nearly every single throw. Von Miller was probably the MVP for the Broncos, he had a couple of sacks, a couple tackles for loss and an interception, and the entire game he was pressuring Brady to thrown before he was ready.

The second game of the day was over by half, the Panthers simply manhandled the Cardinals from start to finish. The Cardinals had seven turnovers in the game, which was a big factor in why they lost. But also because the Panthers simply out gained the Cardinals in terms of total yardage. I didn't see this coming and really the Cardinals just killed their chances with the turnovers. It is difficult to win with three turnovers, it's almost impossible to win with seven.

The Super Bowl should be a great match-up, Carolina who hasn't been to the Super Bowl in a long time, will take on a much more experienced Denver team. But I will preview the big game in another blog post.

NFL Conference Championship

Today the final four teams in the NFL face off, the New England Patriots travel to Denver to take on the Broncos, and the Arizona Cardinals take on the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. The biggest story line in the Pats-Broncos game is Tom Brady vs Peyton Manning, both aging superstars, although Manning is much closer to the end of his career. At this point the Broncos are being carried by their defense, they have an excellent secondary along with difference makers such as Von Miller, Malik Jackson, and Demarcus Ware. But the Patriots have an extremely efficient and powerful offense, and it's impossible to stop Rob Gronkowski so you can only hope to slow him down. Plus now the Patriots have some of their other offensive weapons back as many of them had been injured. As it has been with the Broncos for the whole year, the game will be likely be decided by whether their offense can get going, because their defense will likely bottle up the opposing teams offense. Prediction: Patriots 24 Broncos 16.

The second game of the day is all about how far Cam Newton can take the Panthers, because the Arizona Cardinals are probably the best all around team in the NFL. Whereas other teams like New England and Carolina are guided by superstars like Tom Brady and Cam Newton. Both teams have powerful offenses and stingy defenses and both teams have elite players at nearly every position so this game will likely be decided by the second and third options for both teams. Another thing to watch for both teams will be the running game, both teams have underrated running backs, Carolina with Jonathan Stewart and Arizona with David Johnson. Stewart especially could be a difference maker for the Panthers, as last week he rushed for over 100 yards against the Seattle defense, one of the best in the league. Really this is a very even game, both teams excel on both sides of the ball so something has to give. Prediction: Carolina 30 

Either way I think that for the most part we got the four best teams in the NFL, one could argue that the Seahawks and Steelers are also up there, but both teams had their chance. As a Steelers fan myself, it's easy to wonder what this team could've done if they had Le'veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger, and Antonio Brown all healthy. But injuries are part of every sport, and Denver beat us fair and square. As for the Seahawks, they were down 31-0 to Seattle, there aren't many excuses for that. 

Looking Ahead to the 2016 College Football Season

The 2015 College Football season ended with Alabama on top, beating Clemson 45-40, but even in a losing effort Clemson seemed to establish themselves as the early favorite to claim the title next year. While the Crimson Tide have plenty of talent to be able to reload and have a good season, they probably won't win the championship. They lose a lot of important players on defense, and their starting quarterback and Heisman winning running back. However Clemson also loses many of the key players on their stout defense last year. But I still think that Clemson will reload probably better than Alabama, first off they still have Deshaun Watson, probably Wayne Gallman, and a bunch of talented wide receivers. Secondly, they have recruited very well, they will be bringing the 2nd overall rated player in the 2016 class in defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, they also have three very talented wide receivers, and a couple of other talented linebackers that all can make a difference for Clemson. They are poised to have one of the best offenses in 2016, one that can probably win them the national championship next year.

Another team to watch is Michigan, I think the Wolverines can make the playoffs but I don't see them winning it all. The Wolverines went 10-3 in their first season under Jim Harbaugh, but many think that the Wolverines can go much higher than that. Harbaugh has done a very good job recruiting in his short time at Michigan, and is expected to sign the top player in the 2016 class. But I personally don't see it happening next year, maybe the year after that, but Michigan still doesn't have a really good quarterback, which is almost a must for playoff teams. Once Michigan establishes a quarterback for themselves then they can be in the conversation, but I doubt they will even beat out Ohio State for the Big Ten East crown. Ohio State is also a playoff contender, they were sort of forgotten about because they missed out on the playoffs, but don't be surprised if Ohio State is in the 3rd annual college football playoff.

National Championship Recap

The last game of the 2015-16 college football season lived up to the hype and gave us an idea of what next year might look like. Alabama beat Clemson 45-40 in very thrilling fashion, Clemson was able to move the ball all day on Alabama's great defense piling up over 500 yards of offense and 30 first downs. Although almost all of the offense generated by Clemson was earned by their quarterback Deshaun Watson, who I would say is an early Heisman favorite for next year. However early in the game Clemson's star cornerback Mackensie Alexander injured his leg and was out of the game. It just so happened that Clemson gave up two touchdowns and another long pass off breakdowns in their secondary. It makes me wonder if the game would've been different if Alexander had been in the whole game. 

I think it can be said for sure that if you run a spread offense you have an increased shot of beating Alabama. Clemson has all the tools they need to get to the championship next year too, and will have another opportunity to beat them. I would imagine that next year is Clemson's best chance to win a championship, as Deshaun Watson will likely going to leave next year for the NFL. Deshaun Watson is definitely Clemson's best shot, after all he almost single-handily beat Alabama, he had over 400 yards passing and another 70 on the ground. 

Alabama on the other hand, has won 4 championships in the last 7 years, and will probably win another in the next couple years. But I think teams have figured out the blueprint for beating Alabama. 

College Football Championship

The College Football Playoff will have it's second annual championship, this time between Alabama and Clemson. Hopefully this will be a good game because last year the championship was a blowout, and this year nearly every single big bowl game hasn't been competitive. I think that the game will be at least sort of close, but I think most people would disagree. Alabama is in the running for a national championship nearly every year and they have a lot of experience in big games. Clemson on the other hand is a program that is on the rise, so they don't have quite the experience that Alabama does. However even if Clemson loses this game I would be willing to bet they will be back in the title game soon. 

In terms of the actual game Clemson likely stands a much better chance than Michigan State, this is because they run a offense that is more spread out. A spread offense tries to spread or space the defense by using multiple receivers and moving the ball all around the field. This has proved to be almost the only way to beat Alabama because it basically takes Alabama's defensive front out of the game. If Clemson is able to actually move the ball then the game will probably be close, but I don't think they can rely on their defense to stop Alabama. Clemson should also try to take some deep shots, Alabama's secondary is certainly good, but not quite as dominant as their defensive line and linebackers. 

Despite all of this I still think Clemson has some room to grow,  prediction: Alabama 28 Clemson 23.

AFC Wildcard Summary

The first game of the day can pretty much be summed up by the final score, Kansas City 30 Houston 0. It just wasn't much of a game, the Texans committed five turnovers, which you just can't have in a playoff game. It seems like the Chiefs are one of the better teams in the playoff and they might just take the AFC crown.

The second game of the day featured a very intense rivalry and a lot of controversy. The Bengals committed two incredibly stupid penalties to give the Steelers a free 30 yards and an easy shot at a game winning field goal which they took advantage of to win 18-16. But it only got to that point because Pittsburgh's starting quarterback went out with a shoulder injury when the Steelers were up 15-0. The Bengals took advantage of this and scored 16 straight points in the fourth quarter, taking the lead with a touchdown pass with just under 2 minutes left in the game. That's when things started to get weird.

At that point Ben Roethlisberger was still out with the shoulder injury and the Steelers turned to backup Landry Jones to win the game. I don't think it was more than two plays in when Jones threw an interception to the Bengals. Luckily for the Steelers the Bengals gave it right back with about 90 seconds left. Which meant the Steelers had the ball on their own 20 yard line with 3 timeouts, only needing 3 points to win the game. Pittsburgh then put Ben Roethlisberger back in the game, although it was apparent that he didn't really have much power in his arm. The Steelers got into Cincinnati territory with 22 seconds left after converting a fourth down, but they were out of timeouts. Then after a Steelers incomplete pass over the middle Bengals player Vontaze Burfict lowered his shoulder and appeared to intentionally hit Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown in the head. Now I would be acting very biased if I didn't point out that Steelers linebacker had an equally dangerous hit on Cincinnati running back Giovanni Bernard earlier in the game. Burfict was flagged for his hit while Ryan Shazier was not, the reason is because Burfict hit a "defenseless" player, Brown is defenseless because he didn't have the ball. While it was ruled that Bernard wasn't defenseless because he had the ball. I dislike both hits, but my opinion is that Shazier was just trying to make a play, while Burfict intentionally trying to hurt Brown. If you don't agree with me, try typing in "Vontaze Burfict dirty plays" and you can just for yourself, because that's certainly not the only one.

NFL Wild Card

Today is the start of the NFL Postseason, which means it's wildcard time. There are two games today, in the AFC my favorite team the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) travel to Cincinnati (12-4), the Kansas City Chiefs (11-5) take on the Houston Texans (9-7). On Sunday the Seattle Seahawks (10-6) play the Minnesota Vikings (11-5) and finally the Green Bay Packers (10-6) play the Washington Redskins (9-7).

First I will look at the Steelers-Bengals match-up, where both teams are dealing with significant injuries. The Steelers were already without their starting running back after a severe knee injury, but now their second string running back,who was doing very well, is out after rolling his ankle. The Bengals also are without a major piece, Andy Dalton is still out after fracturing his throwing hand against the Steelers late in the season. So what this means is this game will likely be very similar to the Steelers-Broncos game earlier in the season. I think that this game will be decided by what the Steelers defense does to stop the Bengals offense, if they can limit them to under 20 points I think the Steelers will win this game. Prediction: Steelers 23 Bengals 17.

The other game today is between the Chiefs and the Texans, and not many people are giving the Texans a shot to win this game. Those people are probably right, Texans just don't have enough offensive firepower to challenge the Chiefs great defense. Prediction: Chiefs 27 Texans 13.

One NFC Wildcard game is between two pretty average teams, and the other could feature the eventual Super Bowl winner. The former would be Green Bay versus Washington. Green Bay is not what it used to be, it could just be for this season, but they haven't looked good for the majority of the season. And Washington was a team that nobody really expected to be in the playoffs. However right now Kirk Cousins has the Redskins on a four game win streak, while the Packers have lost two in a row. Momentum is important, prediction: Redskins 31 Packers 30.

The Seahawks however are probably the best team in the NFL right now, and have been to the Super Bowl two years in a row. Personally I don't think the Vikings stand a chance, which is unfortunate because I think they are the second best wildcard team in the NFC. Prediction: Seattle 34 Minnesota 21.

Iowa on the Rise

Only January 1st I wasn't very happy after the Iowa football team lost to Stanford 45-16 in the Rose Bowl, but luckily that didn't last very long. Because two days later on January 3rd, the Iowa basketball team came back from 19 down to beat then #14 Purdue 70-63 on the road. Also before the Rose Bowl, Iowa basketball beat #1 Michigan State 83-70. Although some have said that win doesn't mean that much because Michigan State was without their star player Denzel Valentine, but I don't buy that.

Because of all of this Iowa is suddenly one of the hotter teams in college basketball right now, they've started 3-0 in Big Ten play and are 12-3 overall. The next game up for the Hawkeyes is a rematch against Michigan State, but this time it's on the road, and MSU will probably have Denzel Valentine back. So I doubt many people are expecting Iowa to win, but if they do they could vault all the way into the top 5. After all Iowa has played an extremely tough schedule, and still has some tough ones left. Iowa has already played #13 Iowa State(lost 83-82), #5 Michigan State, and #20 Purdue. They still have to play rematches against MSU, Purdue, and have a really tough game at #3 Maryland. But other than that Iowa will be expected to win at least 9 of the other 12 games remaining on their schedule. Some people would say that they should win all of those games but I see Iowa going around 9-3 or 10-2 outside of their really tough games. At this point Iowa would have to have a colossal meltdown to miss the tournament. I think a 20 win Iowa team would make it in to the tournament, and there are certainly eight winnable games left on Iowa's schedule.

For me it's tough to really buy into the fact that Iowa could be an elite team especially after the meltdown in the 2013-14 season when Iowa had Devyn Marble, who is now a reserve for the Orlando Magic. In that season Iowa made it all the way into the top 10 and at one point they were 19-6. Iowa ended up finishing the season 20-13, they finished the regular season 20-11 and promptly lost in the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament. However this years team could be special, as long as they stay together and stay focused.