The tournament field has been cut down to four teams as the 5th seeded Michigan State Spartans, 5th seeded Butler Bulldogs, 2nd seeded West Virginia Mountaineers, and the number 1 seeded Duke Blue Devils all made it to Indianapolis, Indiana, the site of this years Final Four. Its only fitting that two number five seeds made it into the final four considering the balance of college basketball this year, where no team really was a dominant force. In fact, a 5th seeded team is guaranteed to make into the Men's College Basketball Championship game as Michigan State and Butler will face each other in one game, while Duke will play West Virginia in the other game.
Looking back this year's tournament lived up to its name March Madness. As we saw plenty of upsets and cinderellas well into the Elite Eight and still have a somewhat cinderella in the Final Four, Michigan State. Games of note that made a major impact on the tournament would have to be St. Marys defeating Villanova, Cornell thrashing Wisconsin and Temple, Murrey State last second shot against Vanderbilt, Ohio shutting down Georgetown, and Northern Iowa holding on against the number 1 overall seed Kansas. There are other games you can point to but these were the major upset games and no West Virginia beating Kentucky is not a major upset, reason: experience and West Virginia can shoot the ball with any team in the country.
My favorite game thus far would have to be one from Sunday, the 6th seeded Volunteers of Tennessee against 5th seeded Michigan State. If you missed this one, you missed an all-time great scoring a fair. Michigan State won 70-69, as you can tell by the score this game was back and forth with both teams having their largest leads under eight points.
Tennessee opened the game going 4 of 4 from downtown, but Michigan State did not slack in the shooting department either as they started the game with 6 of 8 from the field. Every time one team would make a 8-0 run, the other team would counter with a run of their own. The game saw over 10 lead changes and over 10 ties. It was a fast paced up and down game, thought would be in Tennessee's favor but it did not turn out that way. Michigan State was playing without one of its best players point guard Kalin Lucas, who led the team in scoring averaging almost 15 a game. Raymar Morgan's free throw with 1.8 seconds left put the Spartans up by one. The next free throw he missed on purpose and Tennessee rebounded it, called a timeout with 1.7 seconds left on the clock. Brian Williams in-bounded the ball to J.P. Prince who dribbled to mid-court, he fumbled the ball a bit before he launched it in the air, only to fall short of the basket.
The Final Four is set to bring us three more compelling games as all four teams have experience. I can't wait for this weekend to watch these games, should be nail-biters!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Turnovers Cost 'Cuse; Butler Wins 63-59
Going into tonight's game between the Syracuse Orange and Butler Bulldogs, everyone was wondering how Butler could shoot over the 2-3 zone of Syracuse. Turns out turnovers plagued Syracuse and Butler took full advantage and won 63-59.
The turnover game started early for Syracuse as they turn the ball over six times within the first nine minutes of the game and found themselves behind 12-1. The first half would remain the same as Syracuse would be behind mostly by 10 points. The half ended with a thunderous dunk by Rick Jackson.
The second half saw Syracuse slowly chip away on Butler's 10 point lead. Syracuse ended up getting their first lead 40-39 with 13:27 left. Butler would regain the lead and lead by as many as eight but Syracuse put another run together to regain the lead. Syracuse would lead by four with 3:36 remaining. From then on Butler would end up putting the game away as Syracuse continued to turn the ball over. Gordon Haywood would sink 3 of his 4 free-throws to give Butler the victory.
Syracuse looked sloppy to say the least. Butler's man to man defense confused the Orange all-night and never really found an answer for it. Butler had an answer for Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone; Pass, Pass, and Pass the ball around the horn until someone dribbles in the middle passes out to a wide-open look. This and Syracuse's 18...yes 18...turnovers helped the Bulldogs to victory.
The leading scorers for Butler were Gordon Haywood with 17 pts, Shelvin Mack 14 pts, and Willie Veasley 13 pts.
Syracuse leading scorers were Wes Johnson, 17pts, and Andy Rautins, 15 pts.
The turnover game started early for Syracuse as they turn the ball over six times within the first nine minutes of the game and found themselves behind 12-1. The first half would remain the same as Syracuse would be behind mostly by 10 points. The half ended with a thunderous dunk by Rick Jackson.
The second half saw Syracuse slowly chip away on Butler's 10 point lead. Syracuse ended up getting their first lead 40-39 with 13:27 left. Butler would regain the lead and lead by as many as eight but Syracuse put another run together to regain the lead. Syracuse would lead by four with 3:36 remaining. From then on Butler would end up putting the game away as Syracuse continued to turn the ball over. Gordon Haywood would sink 3 of his 4 free-throws to give Butler the victory.
Syracuse looked sloppy to say the least. Butler's man to man defense confused the Orange all-night and never really found an answer for it. Butler had an answer for Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone; Pass, Pass, and Pass the ball around the horn until someone dribbles in the middle passes out to a wide-open look. This and Syracuse's 18...yes 18...turnovers helped the Bulldogs to victory.
The leading scorers for Butler were Gordon Haywood with 17 pts, Shelvin Mack 14 pts, and Willie Veasley 13 pts.
Syracuse leading scorers were Wes Johnson, 17pts, and Andy Rautins, 15 pts.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Madness keeps getting better!
Coming into this year's March Madness it as though seemed to be one of the most dull tournaments in recent memory. After this past weekend this could not be further from the truth. As upsets were happening just about every time a game was shown. The top 3 games of this weekend would have to be Northern Iowa beating Kansas, Purdue outlasting Texas A&M, and Murry State sinking a last second shot over the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The two teams that have looked the best will be playing each other in the Sweet 16: Kentucky and Cornell.
The team that is the most surprising would have to be Washington, considering that the PAC-10 was suppose to be the weakest of the big six conferences.
Now I would not get too carried away from the Sweet 16 and beyond cause usually the higher seeds will win from here on out due to more time to prepare for the lower seeds, but do not be surprised if two number one seed's goes down in the sweet 16.
My bracket was screwed up from day one when Georgetown lost to Ohio, I had Georgetown in the Final Four. Then on the second day when St. Mary's beat Villanova, who was another one of my final four teams. But I still have 2 of my Final Four teams, in fact both of my Final game teams are still in it, Kentucky and Syracuse. Only nine of my teams made it to the sweet 16, thats usually not good. ESPN showed a stat the other night and out of the 4.73 million brackets on their Tournament Challenge only 4 got 15 of the 16 teams correct, NONE got all 16 teams correct. That just shows how crazy this tournament has been.
The next number one seed to go down will be Duke in the Sweet 16 against Purdue. The reasoning is that both teams are pretty much a mirrior of each other, both have great outside shooting but lack a post presence and the difference between the teams and in my opinion the game will be that Purdue is more of a fast-break team than Duke. That should be the difference in the game and Purdue wins 77-70.
Another game that will be interesting is one in mention earlier will be Kentucky v.s. Cornell. Its Diaper Dandies going against a senior laded team with loads of experience. Granted Kentucky should win this game by at least ten points and is favored to win by nine but I just have a sneaky feeling that the experience of Cornell will give Kentucky a huge scare if not win the game. The difference in the game will be how well can Cornell contain John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. I think they will contain them but it will not be enough as Kentucky will outlast Cornell in OT 79-77.
In other games Tennessee will upend Ohio State 65-60. Syracuse 2-3 zone will stop Butlers shooting and win 70-59. Baylor will end St. Mary's run 77-56. Washington will lose its bark against West Virginia 65-63. Xavier gets past Kansas St. 73-71. Northern Iowa will take advantage of a Michigan State team with out Lucas and win 69-66.
The two teams that have looked the best will be playing each other in the Sweet 16: Kentucky and Cornell.
The team that is the most surprising would have to be Washington, considering that the PAC-10 was suppose to be the weakest of the big six conferences.
Now I would not get too carried away from the Sweet 16 and beyond cause usually the higher seeds will win from here on out due to more time to prepare for the lower seeds, but do not be surprised if two number one seed's goes down in the sweet 16.
My bracket was screwed up from day one when Georgetown lost to Ohio, I had Georgetown in the Final Four. Then on the second day when St. Mary's beat Villanova, who was another one of my final four teams. But I still have 2 of my Final Four teams, in fact both of my Final game teams are still in it, Kentucky and Syracuse. Only nine of my teams made it to the sweet 16, thats usually not good. ESPN showed a stat the other night and out of the 4.73 million brackets on their Tournament Challenge only 4 got 15 of the 16 teams correct, NONE got all 16 teams correct. That just shows how crazy this tournament has been.
The next number one seed to go down will be Duke in the Sweet 16 against Purdue. The reasoning is that both teams are pretty much a mirrior of each other, both have great outside shooting but lack a post presence and the difference between the teams and in my opinion the game will be that Purdue is more of a fast-break team than Duke. That should be the difference in the game and Purdue wins 77-70.
Another game that will be interesting is one in mention earlier will be Kentucky v.s. Cornell. Its Diaper Dandies going against a senior laded team with loads of experience. Granted Kentucky should win this game by at least ten points and is favored to win by nine but I just have a sneaky feeling that the experience of Cornell will give Kentucky a huge scare if not win the game. The difference in the game will be how well can Cornell contain John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. I think they will contain them but it will not be enough as Kentucky will outlast Cornell in OT 79-77.
In other games Tennessee will upend Ohio State 65-60. Syracuse 2-3 zone will stop Butlers shooting and win 70-59. Baylor will end St. Mary's run 77-56. Washington will lose its bark against West Virginia 65-63. Xavier gets past Kansas St. 73-71. Northern Iowa will take advantage of a Michigan State team with out Lucas and win 69-66.
And the winner is....
This past football season the state of Alabama had arguably two of the top three running backs in the SEC showcasing their talents each Saturday. While one has let his talk come from his field of play and awards he won, the other one has let his mouth do the talking along with his play on the field. Of course, I am talking about the University of Alabama's Mark Ingram and Auburn University's Ben Tate.
Ben Tate all football season has said that he was the best running back in the state. The Maryland native has also gone on and said he is the most complete running back in the NFL draft. In an interview this morning on ESPN's program First Take ESPN's Jay Crawford asked Ben Tate to grade his NFL Draft Combine.
Ben Tate said," an A or an A-"
If you do not know about how well Ben Tate preformed at the combine then you would be shocked to hear this. He was in the top three in the major four catergories: Bench Press, 26 reps (T-1st), 40 yard dash, 4.43 (3rd), Broad Jump, 10' 04" (1st) and Vertical Jump, 40 1/2, which was also ranked in the top 3 of all running backs. What makes this all impressive is his 220 lb frame. This is rare to see a big back to have these types of numbers.
Mark Ingram did not have much to say this past season on how good he was. He just let everyone judge for themselves. His hard nose running style was not over looked by most of the media who voted him the Heisman trophy winner. He became the third sophomore in as many years to win the award. The Michigan native is not one who is flashy about how he runs instead of missing people he wants to run them over. This was evident in the South Carolina game this past season when he racked up over 240 yards of rushing.
But how can one determine who is the better running back of the two? Both are pretty much the same style runner with Tate being a little more flashy than Ingram.
In the Iron Bowl, both of them had horrible performances, where both of them combine for 34 carries and only could muster 75 yards...that is only 2.2 yards per carry on average. So, you can not really determine the Iron Bowl as the factor on who is better, now on to common opponents.
Auburn and Alabama has six common opponents this past season: Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and LSU. Ben Tate rushed for 812 yards and Mark Ingram rushed for 754 yards against these teams. If you go by this then you would have to give the edge to Ben Tate. But if you look at the carries each guy got in these six games you would notice that Ben Tate attempted 141 versus Mark Ingrams 126, so you could factor that into the equation. When you break the numbers down and average the attempts and yards then Ingram wins by .2 having a 5.9 yards per carry against Tate's 5.7, so again not much difference there.
If you look at each best games then Ingram would win by a landslide with his 246 yards against South Carolina, Tate's biggest game was 184 against Arkansas. One last factor you could include is how much focal point did the opposing team put on each player. Ingram was undoubtedly the focal point of every defense who played against Alabama this past season. While Auburn's offense was a little more pass happy due to Gus Malzans philosophy.
Overall each guy could make a case about being the best running back in the state and it is how you view the numbers and each guys worth to his team but if I had to say which of the two backs is the best I would give the nod the Mark Ingram, He did win the Heisman after all.
Ben Tate all football season has said that he was the best running back in the state. The Maryland native has also gone on and said he is the most complete running back in the NFL draft. In an interview this morning on ESPN's program First Take ESPN's Jay Crawford asked Ben Tate to grade his NFL Draft Combine.
Ben Tate said," an A or an A-"
If you do not know about how well Ben Tate preformed at the combine then you would be shocked to hear this. He was in the top three in the major four catergories: Bench Press, 26 reps (T-1st), 40 yard dash, 4.43 (3rd), Broad Jump, 10' 04" (1st) and Vertical Jump, 40 1/2, which was also ranked in the top 3 of all running backs. What makes this all impressive is his 220 lb frame. This is rare to see a big back to have these types of numbers.
Mark Ingram did not have much to say this past season on how good he was. He just let everyone judge for themselves. His hard nose running style was not over looked by most of the media who voted him the Heisman trophy winner. He became the third sophomore in as many years to win the award. The Michigan native is not one who is flashy about how he runs instead of missing people he wants to run them over. This was evident in the South Carolina game this past season when he racked up over 240 yards of rushing.
But how can one determine who is the better running back of the two? Both are pretty much the same style runner with Tate being a little more flashy than Ingram.
In the Iron Bowl, both of them had horrible performances, where both of them combine for 34 carries and only could muster 75 yards...that is only 2.2 yards per carry on average. So, you can not really determine the Iron Bowl as the factor on who is better, now on to common opponents.
Auburn and Alabama has six common opponents this past season: Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and LSU. Ben Tate rushed for 812 yards and Mark Ingram rushed for 754 yards against these teams. If you go by this then you would have to give the edge to Ben Tate. But if you look at the carries each guy got in these six games you would notice that Ben Tate attempted 141 versus Mark Ingrams 126, so you could factor that into the equation. When you break the numbers down and average the attempts and yards then Ingram wins by .2 having a 5.9 yards per carry against Tate's 5.7, so again not much difference there.
If you look at each best games then Ingram would win by a landslide with his 246 yards against South Carolina, Tate's biggest game was 184 against Arkansas. One last factor you could include is how much focal point did the opposing team put on each player. Ingram was undoubtedly the focal point of every defense who played against Alabama this past season. While Auburn's offense was a little more pass happy due to Gus Malzans philosophy.
Overall each guy could make a case about being the best running back in the state and it is how you view the numbers and each guys worth to his team but if I had to say which of the two backs is the best I would give the nod the Mark Ingram, He did win the Heisman after all.
NCAA comes to a decision
The NCAA came to a decision on Alabama's textbook case from the '09 season and it did not turn out well for alabama. For the story click here: http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1066427
Friday, March 5, 2010
Chris Samuels
Former University of Alabama and Shaw High School (Mobile, AL) great Chris Samuels has retired from playing football professionally. Chris Samuels played at the University of Alabama from 1996 to 1999. During his collegiate career he was part of the SEC Championship team in 1999 and did not yield a sack that season which led him to winning multiple awards that would include First-Team All-American, Outland Trophy, and Jacobs Trophy (SEC's best blocker).
Samuels would go on and be selected third in the 2000 draft by the Washington Redskins and have a ten year career that included six trips to the Pro Bowl. His career was cut short because of a spinal column injury known as stenosis which narrows the spinal column. He knew during his pro career that he would eventually have to call it quits earlier than he wanted to but he still played longer than doctors predicted.
"Doctors said that I only would play 6 to 7 seasons in the NFL" Samuels said," But God blessed me and gave me ten years."
Now that football is over Samuels says that he wants to go into coaching.
Samuels would go on and be selected third in the 2000 draft by the Washington Redskins and have a ten year career that included six trips to the Pro Bowl. His career was cut short because of a spinal column injury known as stenosis which narrows the spinal column. He knew during his pro career that he would eventually have to call it quits earlier than he wanted to but he still played longer than doctors predicted.
"Doctors said that I only would play 6 to 7 seasons in the NFL" Samuels said," But God blessed me and gave me ten years."
Now that football is over Samuels says that he wants to go into coaching.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
South Alabama Basketball season overview
The University of South Alabama has just concluded a disappointing regular season in where they finished 8-10 in the Sun Belt and an overall record of 16-14. They were given a ninth seed in the Sun Belt tournament where they will play the eighth seeded team Florida Atlantic. The winner of that plays the number one overall seed in Troy.
South Alabama came into the season as a very young team and did the inexperience show as the season was like a roller coaster and went up and down. The highlight of the season was beating Florida in Gainesville and the week before came back to beat Arkansas Little-Rock on ESPN2. It looked as if they were ready for conference play and play a major factor in the Sun Belt.
They started Sun Belt play off with three wins and zero losses but they would end up losing seven of their next eight Sun Belt games, that would give them a record of four wins and seven losses. South Alabama would finish the season with a 4-3 record including an improbable comeback against Denver. That would run their record to 8-10 in the conference.
Who is to blame for such a setback this season? Ronnie Arrow? The inexperience of players? The lack of leadership on the team? A combination of these three things played a part in the way the season went. Since Ronnie Arrow came back as South Alabama's coach three years ago he has only produced one winning team that was not just two games over 500 in the Sun Belt and that was his first season back with the Jaguars where he had a great core of players in Demetric Bennett, Doan Merritt and Ronald Douglas. Coach Arrow still managed to get beat out of the Sun Belt tournament that was held on the home court of the Jaguars. He was fortunate that the NCAA committee looked over the fact that they were a Sun Belt team and in a league not known for getting multiple bids to the NCAA tournament.
The Jaguars knew coming into the season that experience was not on their side. They had to depend on freshman and junior college transfers to come in and play right away. They found a couple of good players in Junior college transfer Tim Williams and true freshman Martino Brock. They led the team in scoring and rebounding this past season and Tim Williams was on All-Sun Belt 2nd team. Its hard for a team though to count on a freshman and a junior college transfer to come in and led a team night in and night out and expect to win. While Tim Williams played JUCO ball before coming to the Jags, the competition is not a tough as it is in Div. 1.
When you have to play mostly freshman and JUCO transfer the leadership for the team will be lacking a little bit. A coach usually depends on his seniors/juniors for leadership and help guide the team. South Alabama had four seniors at the start of the season but LaShaun Watson was let go during the season leaving them with three. and out of the remaining seniors only Bryan Sherrer played a significant role in the teams rotation and beat the Arkansas Little-Rock by himself. Its hard to get a team to come together when you have a distraction like Watson and that could ultimately tear a team apart. Granted Watson was not the teams best player but still played an important role on the team.
But when you have a season like this and your roster is filled with freshmen and sophomores and they played one season all this means is that next year you will have a veteran team and should be able to compete for the Sun Belt championship and be a top team in the league. This year Allyn Cooks looked to take the point guard reins for the next couple of years. Martino Brock could become a two guard next year while Tim Williams becomes the Small Forward. Javier Carter could become the Power Forward next season and Augustine Rubit would be the Center. Also take note that there is Kentari Nettles who could be plugged into the starting line-up next year as he is one of the highest rated recruits to come to South Alabama out of high school in quite sometime. Next year looks promising for the Jaguars and could quite possibly become Sun Belt champions and have an invitation into the big dance. GO JAGS!!!!!!
South Alabama came into the season as a very young team and did the inexperience show as the season was like a roller coaster and went up and down. The highlight of the season was beating Florida in Gainesville and the week before came back to beat Arkansas Little-Rock on ESPN2. It looked as if they were ready for conference play and play a major factor in the Sun Belt.
They started Sun Belt play off with three wins and zero losses but they would end up losing seven of their next eight Sun Belt games, that would give them a record of four wins and seven losses. South Alabama would finish the season with a 4-3 record including an improbable comeback against Denver. That would run their record to 8-10 in the conference.
Who is to blame for such a setback this season? Ronnie Arrow? The inexperience of players? The lack of leadership on the team? A combination of these three things played a part in the way the season went. Since Ronnie Arrow came back as South Alabama's coach three years ago he has only produced one winning team that was not just two games over 500 in the Sun Belt and that was his first season back with the Jaguars where he had a great core of players in Demetric Bennett, Doan Merritt and Ronald Douglas. Coach Arrow still managed to get beat out of the Sun Belt tournament that was held on the home court of the Jaguars. He was fortunate that the NCAA committee looked over the fact that they were a Sun Belt team and in a league not known for getting multiple bids to the NCAA tournament.
The Jaguars knew coming into the season that experience was not on their side. They had to depend on freshman and junior college transfers to come in and play right away. They found a couple of good players in Junior college transfer Tim Williams and true freshman Martino Brock. They led the team in scoring and rebounding this past season and Tim Williams was on All-Sun Belt 2nd team. Its hard for a team though to count on a freshman and a junior college transfer to come in and led a team night in and night out and expect to win. While Tim Williams played JUCO ball before coming to the Jags, the competition is not a tough as it is in Div. 1.
When you have to play mostly freshman and JUCO transfer the leadership for the team will be lacking a little bit. A coach usually depends on his seniors/juniors for leadership and help guide the team. South Alabama had four seniors at the start of the season but LaShaun Watson was let go during the season leaving them with three. and out of the remaining seniors only Bryan Sherrer played a significant role in the teams rotation and beat the Arkansas Little-Rock by himself. Its hard to get a team to come together when you have a distraction like Watson and that could ultimately tear a team apart. Granted Watson was not the teams best player but still played an important role on the team.
But when you have a season like this and your roster is filled with freshmen and sophomores and they played one season all this means is that next year you will have a veteran team and should be able to compete for the Sun Belt championship and be a top team in the league. This year Allyn Cooks looked to take the point guard reins for the next couple of years. Martino Brock could become a two guard next year while Tim Williams becomes the Small Forward. Javier Carter could become the Power Forward next season and Augustine Rubit would be the Center. Also take note that there is Kentari Nettles who could be plugged into the starting line-up next year as he is one of the highest rated recruits to come to South Alabama out of high school in quite sometime. Next year looks promising for the Jaguars and could quite possibly become Sun Belt champions and have an invitation into the big dance. GO JAGS!!!!!!
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