NBA Madness:
Since this is March, I've decided to have a little hypothetical tournament and all eyes will be concentrated on the collegiate ranks. I've taken the 18 colleges that have at least 5 players in the NBA, and will hold my own tournament where NBA'ers battle it out to see which school has truly produced the best talent. I will go through this round by round for 4 weeks. So without further ado, here's the "play-in round."
18. Cal vs. 15. Syracuse: Jason Kidd and a bunch of NBA journeymen going up against Melo and Johnny Flynn. Cal would trot out a lineup of Jason Kidd, Leon Powe, Francisco Elson, Ryan Anderson, and Sean Marks. Meanwhile the Cuse would have Carmelo, Flynn, Hakim Warrick, Etan Thomas, and Donte Greene. There's no way in hell the Orange could lose this game. Event though Kidd would still somehow manage to put up 10 or so assists, he wouldn't be able to handle Flynn in the open court. Melo would drop 40-50, and Warrick and Donte Greene are better than whoever the hell Cal's second best option would be. Cuse moves on.
17. Villanova vs. 16. Southern Cal: This would be a little bit closer of a matchup, but USC has too much juice for the Cats to handle. Despite being saddled with Brian Scalabrine, the Trojans could overcome with OJ Mayo, Taj Gibson, Nick Young, and DeMar DeRozan. Nova has Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, and Dante Cunningham, but lose steam with Tim Thomas and Malik Allen. USC would be too athletic, and would beat the scrappy Villanova squad.
So Southern Cal and Syracuse move on to the round of 16, leading us to next week's matchups:
1. UCLA-16. Southern Cal
8. Kentucky-9. Texas
5. Arizona-12. Wake Forest
4. Duke-13. Memphis
6. Florida-11. Georgia Tech
3. UCONN-14. Ohio St.
7. Kansas-10. LSU
2. UNC-15. Syracuse
Man of the Match Leaderboard
Weekly Leaders:1. Lebron James 4 (30.5 pts, 7.5 rbs, 7.8 assts)
2. Josh Smith 3 (15.3 pts, 10.3 rbs, 5 assts, 1.7 blks)
3. Kevin Durant 2 (32 pts, 9.5 rbs)
3. Amare Stoudamire 2 (24.5 pts, 12 rbs, 1.5 blks)
3. Andrew Bogut 2 (11.5 pts, 10 rbs, 2 blks)
3. Pau Gasol 2 (18.5 pts, 13.5 rbs, 4 assts, 1.5 blks)
3. Chuck Hayes 2 (5 rbs, 4 assts, 1.5 stls, 2.5 blks)
3. Brandon Roy 2 (22.5 pts, 6 rbs, 4 assts)
I think after three weeks we've found a flaw in our little system. Look for a second and see which name doesn't belong. Then again, the seemingly minor numbers and fanfare surrounding Chuck Hayes cover up the fact that yes, he doesn't score, but everything else is solid, especially for a starting center to average 4 assists and 1.5 steals. James, Smith, and Durant have become the Norm, Cliff and Fraiser of the party. (God I just made a Cheers reference, I'm so old). Amare's stats don't include the 41-12 he put up on the Spurs because they couldn't come away with the W in that one. Gasol and the Lakers in general have picked up the slack with Kobe being a little dinged up. Bogut continues to combine with ex-Bull John Salmons to lead the Bucks playoff charge, while Roy is putting up better numbers as he comes back from injury.
Season Leaders:
1. Lebron 9
2. Dwight Howard 8
2. Josh Smith 8
4. Kevin Durant 7
4. Andrew Bogut 7
Power Rankings
1. Cleveland 48-14: Better off without Shaq?
2. L.A. Lakers 46-16: Artest is starting to be the lockdown defender they need.
3. Dallas 41-21: Simply on a roll. Is it too late for Mark Cuban to buy the Cubs?
4. Denver 40-21: Dallas-Denver could be an amazing playoff series.
5. Utah 39-22: Need more 24 point nights from Mehmet Okur.
6. Orlando 42-20: I'm still not sold on them yet.
7. Atlanta 39-21: Outrebounded Chicago 63-37 on Monday.
8. Boston 38-21: I still wouldn't want to play them in May.
9. Phoenix 37-27: Playing better defense, but I don't know if it's enough.
10. San Antonio 34-24: RJ had a huge game on Sunday.
11. Oklahoma City 36-24: Starting to falter slightly, can they handle the newfound pressure?
12. Portland 37-27: The Camby trade is looking better and better.
13. Milwaukee 31-29: Scott Skiles is pushing pins into his Benny the Bull voodoo doll right now.
14. Toronto 31-28: They need Bosh back, and they need him now.
15. Miami 31-31: Huge win against the Lakers last night.
16. Memphis 32-30: It's a shame they can't figure out how to win at home.
17. Chicago 31-30: Probably smart to overextend Noah to win one game, then lose him for 3 weeks.
18. New Orleans 31-31: Collison is putting up the numbers, but they need CP3.
19. Houston 30-30: Might want to rethink giving up Carl Landry.
20. Charlotte 28-31: Charles Barkley says its name for his fellow Alabama native Mr. Wallace to step up. I concur.
21. L.A. Clippers 25-36: Did I mention that Chris Kaman is still ugly?
22. Sacramento 21-40: Dr. Dre mentioned Sacramento in a rap song once.
23. Washington 21-37: I don't really know, I'm not subjected to having to watch this team anymore.
24. New York 21-39: David Lee should be an All-Star for years to come. But will it be in New York?
25. Philly 22-38: At least Roy Halladay is good.
26. Detroit 21-40: At least Justin Verlander is good.
27. Golden St. 17-47: At least the Raiders......no scratch that.
28. Indiana 20-41: I wanted to try and get tickets when the Bulls played them at home. Needless to say there were plenty of good seats available.
29. Minnesota 14-48: Wayne Ellington makes me like this team good or bad.
30. New Jersey 6-54: They will be the worst team in NBA history. Mark it down.
Game Recaps
Cleveland 108, Boston 88: This one honestly played out like a terrible movie. The first 90 or so minutes move along, you’re interested in the story, and then, the ending leaves you scratching your head and wondering what the hell the director was thinking. The only flck I can think of is if “The Departed” would have ended without Matt Damon getting shot by Mark Wahlberg. If that didn’t happen, it would have been an awesome picture for the most part, but you would have been angrily demanding your money back after the final scene. At the end of the third quarter, Boston was up 74-73. They then went 3-21 in the closing stanza, putting up a putrid 14 points, as they seemingly just ran out of steam. Antawn Jamison still isn’t doing much, but Mo Williams came to life in the 4th, notching 14 of his 19 points, including 4 from behind the arc. Despite the fact that The Diesel injured his thumb in the 2nd quarter, Cleveland did not look rattled, as Lebron carried them on his hefty shoulders with a ho hum 36 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. This was the easiest I’ve ever seen anyone put up stats like that. Nothing was forced, as he let the game come to him, distributing the rock when he needed to, and scoring when the Cavs needed a bucket.
Man of the Match: Lebron 36-7-9
Dallas 111, Atlanta 103: It’s rare that in the NBA a coach can actually cost his team a game. I mean, I feel like with my 2 years coaching basketball at Thornburg Middle School, I could lead the Cavs or Lakers to 45 wins. The players are by and large responsible for controlling the outcomes. Tonight however, Mike Woodson single-handedly lost this game for Atlanta. With about 1:40 left in the 4th quarter, Woodson was out of the coaches box and on the court giving instructions when Jason Kidd, being the savvy vet that he is, deliberately ran into Woodson, giving the coach a technical for being on the floor. From then on, Dallas was able to send the game into overtime, going on a 16-6 run post-technical to come away with the win. Dallas shot 78% from the field to start, but Atlanta was on the fire in the third, with Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, and Jamal Crawford lighting it up. The technical killed the Hawks, as the Mavs won without Caron Butler. Kidd had a monster night, with 19 points, 16 boards, and 17 assists.
Man of the Match: Kidd 19 pts, 16 rebounds, 17 assists, 2 steals
San Antonio 113, Phoenix 110: The Spurs are back to being the Spurs, or at least this Sunday they were. The key to this game was the production they got from Richard Jefferson. RJ went for 20 points on 7-11 shooting. He also had 4 rebounds and 5 assists. This is what the Spurs were looking for when they signed him, another fringe all-star who can score and defend to compliment Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli. Manu also played really well, coming through with 21 and 8 assists off the bench. While Duncan let Amare go off on his watch ( 41 and 12 boards), he played his usual steady game with a quiet 21 and 10. If the Spurs play like this consistently for the rest of the year, I wouldn’t quite write them off as being a threat in the West.
Man of the Match: Tim Duncan 21-10-3-2-2
Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
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