Father’s Day

This is just a straight up post of a thanks to all the dads out there! You are part of who kids look up to (moms as well) and model themselves after. Just want to do a special shout out to my dad as well. Thanks for everything dad, and you are a big reason that I am the way I am.

Hope you all had a great Father’s Day everyone and have a great week!

Where Will Noel and Muhammad Sign Tonight?

The top two overall recruits of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball  class must declare their intentions for next year as signing day is here.  Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad are both down to their final three schools, and plan on announcing their basketball destination for next season tonight at a press conference.  Noel’s final three schools are Kentucky, Syracuse, and Georgetown in no particular order, and Muhammad is down to Kentucky, Duke, and UCLA.  You may notice the one similarity between the two is that Kentucky is on the final three list of schools for both players.  The reigning National Champions would be able to reload in tremendous fashion if they could just get one of these high profile prospects, but if both sign in Lexington, Kentucky will once again be National Title favorites for next season, despite likely losing the core of this season’s team to the NBA Draft.

Noel has been described as a defensive force, and an even better shot blocker than Anthony Davis if anyone can believe that.  If he does live up to his shot blocking reputation, he will be quite a force to witness next season.  Muhammad is the top overall offensive player in the class, and will be an immediate scoring threat for whatever team signs him.

If i had to guess the destinations of these two prospects, I would say Nerlens Noel will end up playing for the Georgetown Hoyas next year, and Shabazz Muhammad will be a Kentucky Wildcat.  Noel has said all along that his mother is a big factor in his decision so I think he will try to stay closer to his home in Massachusetts.  Muhammad just looks like the type of Freshman prospect that Kentucky has been able to recruit into their system the last few seasons.  This night will be one that may just decide the outcome of a still far away next season of College Basketball, and it’s still only April.

Sweet 16: Breakdown by Region

We’ve arrived at the second weekend of March Madness with no buzzer beaters and no overtime games.  What’s wrong with this tournament you may be asking? Absolutely nothing.  If you look down at your bracket, it is just as demolished as it is in year’s past.  The same excitement is still there, and this year’s Sweet 16 may have more powerhouse schools than any in recent memory.  The first round saw two 15 seeds upset two 2 seeds in Norfolk State upsetting Missouri and Duke going down against Lehigh, the first such time ever happening in a tournament.  There are a total of three double digit seeds in the Sweet 16 with the lowest being 13th seeded Ohio, and yet all four 1 seeds remain with.  There are still historically powerhouse schools and coaches left in the bracket with Tom Izzo and Michigan State facing off against Louisville and Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim and Syracuse playing Bo Ryan and Wisconsin, North Carolina and Roy Williams potentially facing off in the Elite Eight against Bill Self and Kansas, and oh by the way Kentucky has a rematch game against Indiana which was one of the best finishes of the regular season.  If you think this tournament hasn’t been exciting enough for you, Basketball might not be your sport.  For those of you who can’t wait until the action resumes, here is a breakdown of the remaining teams in each region.

South:

Kentucky vs. Indiana

Kentucky has shown everyone why they are the top overall seed in the tournament thus far crushing Western Kentucky and Iowa State in their first two games.  Indiana has done what they had to do to get to the rematch game that everyone was talking about when they saw the bracket come out.  Kentucky is an older team now than they were months ago and they won’t make the same mistakes again.  Kentucky gets by to the Elite Eight.

Baylor vs. Xavier

Both of these teams have had about as up and down of a season that you can have in college basketball.  Xavier started out the season strong ranking in the top ten until a brawl against Cincinnati derailed their season.  They got into the tournament on an at large bid and haven’t looked back, playing like their old form when they were a top ten team.  Baylor started out the season 17 and 0, but since then have been a mediocre 12 and 7.  What Baylor team will we see show up against Xavier? The talented team with more size than anyone in the country, or the unmotivated poor shooting team?  Baylor wins this one in a close one.

West:

Michigan State vs. Louisville

These two teams faced off just three years ago with a trip to the Final Four on the line and the Spartans capitalized with a win that ultimately sent them to the title game.  This time Louisville looks for revenge, as their 2-3 zone may present matchup problems for the Spartans.  Overall MSU has too much size and too much determination from star forward Draymond Green to go down now.  This team will go as far as their leader Green go.  Michigan State wins once again.

Marquette vs. Florida

Marquette has two of the best players left in the tournament in Darrius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder, and may be the dark horse of this tournament.  Florida is an under seeded team with a chip on their shoulder that has a balance of inside game with Patric Young and outside game with Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker.  Marquette has the advantage here with larger guards that can shut down the Florida offense.  Marquette gets the win here.

East:

Syracuse vs. Wisconsin

After almost becoming the first 1 seed to stumble in the first round against a 16 seed, Syracuse looks back on track with a convincing win against Kansas State.  Wisconsin is playing Badger Ball right now which consists of slowing the game down and hitting threes and could beat Syracuse if they have an off day.  Syracuse has more overall talent than Wisconsin though and they hold off Bucky in the Sweet Sixteen.

Cincinnati vs. Ohio State

Looking at this matchup on paper I would give it to Ohio State.  They have Jared Sullinger inside who will assuredly get his double-double. However DeShaun Thomas has been just as big a part of this team lately.  Aaron Craft and William Buford also provide scoring from the guard position.  But Cincinnati is a team getting hot at the right team, and no matter how much talent you have it is always dangerous to run into a hot team having a hot day.  That’s what I expect from the Bearcats in this one.  They pull off the upset behind the play of Yancy Gates, Sean Kilpatrick, and Cashmere Wright.

Midwest:

North Carolina vs. Ohio

Of any game in the Sweet Sixteen I expect this to be the biggest blowout.  Ohio may have had an impressive run getting here beating Michigan and South Florida, but their luck is about to run out.  They cannot matchup with the Tar Heels regardless of who they have playing point guard.  Speaking of which, North Carolina can get by in this game without point guard Kendall Marshall, but I wouldn’t expect that to last much longer.  North Carolina runs away with this game with a lot of scoring from Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

NC. State vs. Kansas

Kansas did not have their best performance over the weekend against Purdue.  They were trailing most of the game and Thomas Robinson could not get anything going.  That is why they remain a vulnerable team this weekend against NC. State.  The Wolfpack is another team getting hot at the right time, and they are very capable of beating Kansas if they continue to play well.  Kansas will lose this game unless Thomas Robinson plays much better, but I see him struggling once again.  NC. State pulls off the upset.

There you have it; my Elite Eight is Kentucky, Baylor, Michigan State, Marquette, Syracuse, Cincinnati, North Carolina, and NC State.  Enjoy another great weekend of basketball in store.