Archive for March, 2008

But I don’t want to hear about ‘Kobe for MVP’ anymore. In my eyes he is a distant 4th at best behind the combination of LeBron, Chris Paul and KG. To take it a step further, I don’t think Kobe should get more votes than Tracy McGrady. Yeah I said it. Neither of them will or should win it over those three guys ahead of them, but when it comes down to a debate I would have to give it to T-Mac over Kobe. And not just because he’s the best player on the Rockets. I think its obvious that [...]

Returning from my college basketball induced haze…I’ve come to find a Western Conference that is not so wild. Do not get me wrong..the conference still runs 9 deep and is full of great teams…but things are getting figured out now. Denver isn’t even in the playoff race right now and even if they make it they are more than likely headed towards a first-round exit. They are playing well right now and the Nene thing may have brought them together in a way no one thought possible. But when you’re depending on Najera and Anthony Carter to play big minutes [...]

One year and two days ago, this blog was created. Now, SJ and I have NBA writer’s block and are desperately awaiting the Playoffs (which will be awesome) and live-blogging days of Final Four weekend. On another note, got a chance to met Jackie MacMullan today. Picture your mom had spent the last twenty or so years in male lockerooms, dispensing motherly advice while writing elite stories and you’ve got Jackie Mac. Apparently she still plays basketball with “a bunch of old ladies.” Got to give her props on that. Even if you don’t like her on Around the Horn [...]

We’re back, Nantz/Packer are here with the UNC vs. Mount St Mary’s game. This game is actually kind of crazy to be honest because UNC came out on a 7-0 run prompting me to say “Well geeze they sure are on a mission.” Except Mount St Mary’s took their punch and responded by scoring 12 points and cutting the lead to 5. Will this last? Absolutely not. Just interesting. For those keeping score I was 5-3 this morning (yikes) and have UNC, St Joe’s, Vandy and Oregon during this upcoming slate of games. I’m sure Coup will return as soon [...]

We’re back with Billy Packer and Jim Nantz for our firt tipoff, Davidson v. Gonzaga. I’ve got Gonzaga advancing and they score first on a floater. Our research team tells me than 60% of the time the higher seed scores first, they win everytime. SJ will be joining us a little later as it’s 9 a.m. his time. 12:25 ET — Sort of miss having Josh Heytvelt in the starting lineup as we can’t make a cliched and overused joke about shrooms. Well, maybe thats for the better. The Zags start things out smokin’ to take the 10-4 lead and [...]

5:52: Second half of the day and we’ve got 4 doozies going on right now. As we speak Kansas State has picked their lead back up to 8 (BEASTY on the offensive glass), Washington State has pulled away from Winthrop, Texas A&M and BYU are in a classic neck and neck 8 vs. 9 battle and Duke is really struggling with Belmont. Definitely didn’t see that coming, they are up 5 now with less than 7 to go. This right here is why you love March Madness. 6:00: To the Belmont/Duke game where they names change but the issues don’t. [...]

I’m here all day people. Early games….right now we’ve got Georgia/Xavier, Kansas/Portland State and Michigan State/Temple. My only upset between the three was Georgia (gotta love the story, might as well cheer for them now). I thought about picking Temple but..nah. Unbelievably, CBS teases me by starting me out with the Georgia/Xavier game and then switching me to Portland State/Kansas. Listen..I’m glad the Vikings made the tournament and everyone charged the court at the Rose Garden. But I under no circumstances want to see them get beat up by Kansas. I just don’t want to see it..kind of like how [...]

No one has complained about this yet so I continue. Mini-style tonight as I get ready to bring you the Madness live all day tomorrow. New Orleans 90, Houston 69 Well…to borrow from ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem…SNAP BACK TO REALITY for the Rockets. Two nights, two good teams, two blowout losses. This proves two things about Houston. For one, they can’t handle teams at full-strength. 11 days ago they beat the Hornets by 10 without David West. Insert West back in the lineup and it’s blowout central. The notebook for how the Rockets play minus Yao is out and teams [...]

Last night the Celtics did us all a favor by beating Houston and ending their magical run at 22 games in a row. No matter what happens the rest of the season, the Rockets will have the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. Honestly, who would have thought that T-Mac, Luis Scola and 89 year old Dikembe would have a longer winning streak than the Big O and Kareem? I probably would have bet my life that would never have happened. I’m glad I don’t gamble. It would be easy to downplay the Rockets streak. Saying they were all home [...]

Only the Madness could get me out of this mini-funk I’ve been in. Everyone and their mom is filling out a bracket this year. I unfortunately cannot…but I never heard of a rule saying I couldn’t make any educated guesses. Plus my ego would love to be right on these type of things. The problem with knowing anything about brackets is that if you know anything about basketball you’re more than likely screwed. That’s just the way it works, I learned that in high school. This brackets and pools are tailor-made for people who love to guess. And by that [...]