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.