This Week in Sports 2010: Week 12

How is everyone’s bracket? Busted? This tournament has been one for the ages. Upset after upset, with only a single 1 seed going to Indianapolis for the Final Four. One team in the Final Four was going back to Indy regardless. 

That team is the Butler Bulldogs, whose campus is only 6 miles away from Lucas Oil Stadium, the location of the last 3 games. Butler is one of two 5 seeds in the Final Four. They will be playing Michigan State. Butler’r road to the Indy wasn’t exactly easy. They breezed through UTEP in the first round, and then found themselves beating Murray State by 2 points in a low scoring 54-52 game. They then had a good 4 point win over the number 1 seed Syracuse.

Michigan State is the other 5 seed in the Final Four. Their road was easier than it should have been. They survived a 3 point win in the firs round over New Mexico State, then had a 2 point win over Maryland. They then beat Northern Iowa, who had beaten number 1 Kansas in the second round, by 7 and hung on verses Tennessee by 1 point in the Elite Eight.

West Virginia has looked really good throughout this tournament, even without their starting PG Truck Bryant. They had relatively convincing wins throughout until Kentucky, who they beat by 7. Joe Mazzulla was the reason why they beat the young and energetic 1 seeded Wildcats. He had a career high 17 points in his first start of the season. 

And finally there is Duke. They are the lone 1 seed left, and everyone knows most people at the Final Four will be rooting against the Blue Devils. Nolan Smith has really stepped up his game this tournament with Kyle Singler struggling a bit. Jon Scheyer has playing as an energetic leader as well. But Duke matches up with WVU first round, and I think the Mountaineers might get this one. 

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 10

Championship week in College Basketball headlines this week. As does LT heading to the Jets and more Spring Training in the MLB.

All the conference tournaments in the NCAA were this week. The big conference champions were West Virginia in the Big East, Ohio State in the Big 10, the Jayhawks of Kansas in the Big 12, and Kentucky in the SEC. There were many close games though. OSU won on a Evan Turner game winner from just inside half court, it was a spectacular shot and I highly suggest trying to find it on YouTube if you have not already seen it. West Virginia had to win 2 games on game winners by Da’Sean Butler and Kentucky went to overtime on a Demarcus Cousins put back at the buzzer with Mississippi State in the SEC Championship. Another highlight this week was Selection Sunday. The best day in College Basketball was this week. I will have a link to a full bracket. The 1 seeds are Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, and Kentucky. The 2’s are West Virginia, Ohio State, Kansas State, and Villanova. The 3’s were Georgetown, Pittsburg, Baylor, and New Mexico. Yes, my Lobos are a 3 seed and will play Montana on Thursday. GO LOBOS. Bracket: http://cuthut.com/WUf

LaDanian Tomlinson has joined the Chargers playoff rival. LT is now part of the Jets, the team that ended the Charger’s run in this past NFL Playoffs. LT will be part of Mart Schottenheimer’s offense, which he is quite familiar with as Schottenheimer was with the Chargers earlier in LT’s career. 

The Twin’s pitcher Joe Nathan, who had surgery earlier this off-season to rmove bone spurs from his elbow, has torn a ligament in his same elbow. This is devastating news to Twins fans, as Nathan was playing great. He will most likely miss the whole season, but he wants to get second and third opinion on his elbow. 

Next week’s edition will be all on the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, so be prepared for March Madness overload!

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 9

As we get closer and closer to the Big Dance, we start to see more and more teams competing harder and harder, and we see the true colors of bubble teams. There are a few conference tournaments going on this week, but most are next week, including the MWC Conference Tournament in Las Vegas which I will be attending! But College Basketball was not the only thing going on this week.

Spring Training started in the MLB this week. Everyone keeping an eye on the Yankees, who are now Johnny Damon-less, Roy Halladay’s first pitches with the Phillies, and all the new additions to the Red Sox rotation. I am also proud to say that Tampa Bay is now 4-1, taking down the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies along with a loss and win to Baltimore. I was slightly skeptical on the Rays this year, but Rafael Soriano is doing a good job and the real bright spot is Sean Rodriguez who was in the Scot Kazmir trade last year.

Free Agency started in the NFL this week. The major players moving were Julius Peppers going to Chicago, Kerry Rhodes going to the Cards, Anquan Boldin going to Baltimore, and Antonio Cromartie was traded from the Chargers to the Jets for a 2011 3rd round pick. LaDanian Tomlinson, Thomas Jones, and Brandon Marshall are all still available, but probably not for long. The Bears were busy this week and picked up Chester Taylor as well. And the Panthers said good by to Jake Delhomme, who was very emotional during the good-by press conference, and admitted the move “blind sided” him. In a side note about the NFL, Steeler’s QB Ben Roethlisberger was once again accused of sexual assault by a female college student in Georgia. Witnesses say they saw nothing that would indicate any wrong doing by the Steeler QB, but this is not the first time Ben has been accused. 

Also my prayers go out to Rodney Stuckey and his family. The Detroit Pistons point guard suffered a seizure during the game against the Cavaliers and Friday. Stuckey was taken to the hospital on a stretcher after being treated by EMT’s on the court for 12 minutes. He returned to Detroit after spending the night with the team trainer in the hospital. 

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 4

This week was mainly about College Basketball upsets, NBA matchups, and of course the Pro Bowl. In this NFL Playoff-less week, College Basketball got the spotlight with the number 1 team in the land losing their first game ranked first, Texas dropping their 3rd game of the season, and number 12 (10 ESPN) BYU losing to my ranked 23rd UNM Lobos. 

The NCAA finally got the spotlight back this week from the NFL, since this is the "filler" week before the Big Game. Number 1 Kentucky got a call from Barack Obama telling them to hold on to their number 1 spot and he looks forward to watching them. I would like to thank Mr Obama for jinxing them (I am kidding of course). The Cats dropped their first game on top to South Carolina 62-68. Devan Downey dropped 30 points, though he was only 9-29 from the field. DeMarcus Cousins dropped 27, but that was not enough. John Wall also added 19. Texas dropped their 3rd of their last 4 games this week, losing to the Baylor Bears on overtime 77-80. Tweety Carter had 27 for Baylor. Texas has hit a wall, lets see if they can get through. New Mexico is back. My Lobos are on a 6 game win streak after losing their first 2 conference games. The Lobos knocked off number 10 BYU at the Pit on Wednesday and beat TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday. UNM is a half game behind BYU for the lead in the Mountain West Conference, which is better than the Pac 10 right now, and just barely behind the Big 10. Barack Obama also called part of the Georgetown-Duke game. At least he didn't jinx Georgetown. 

The Pro Bowl is before the Super Bowl for the first time and is in Miami instead of Hawaii. I personally like the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl because you have football to watch in the week before the Big One. There are however no one from the Saints or the Colts participating obviously, they have more important things to prepare for.

Lakers took on the Celtics on Sunday, and boy was it a classic Laker-Celtic game. The Lakeshow came back from down 11 in the 4th to take the W in Boston by 1, 90-89. The Lakers had a balanced scoring attack led by Kobe and Andrew Bynum with 19 a piece. Boston was led by Rajon Rondo who had 21 points and 12 assists. On another note, Andre Miller (remember him?) dropped 52 points Saturday in the Blazers win over the Mavs in OT.

In this pre-Super Bowl week, we saw upsets, career highs, the Pro Bowl, and WINTER X GAMES! See you all next week, where it will be the Big Game as our main focus. Have a good one.

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 3

This is week 3 of my column, and what a week it was in sports! There is now only 1 undefeated team in college basketball, a thursday showdown between the 2 best players...in 2 sports, the NBA All-Star starting lineups announced bringing controversy with them, and the NFL Championship weekend ends with one to remember. Lets get started.

Texas and Kentucky came in to the week battling for the top spot in the land. Texas had some close calls earlier in the year, as did the Wildcats. Texas was put in the top spot with Kentucky right behind, and it looked like the Wildcats would stay behind unless Texas were to lose. They did,  not once, but twice this week. The first loss was to a very good Kansas State team in Manhattan (Kansas). Texas then fell again to a Jim Calhoun-less UConn Huskies in Connecticut. Kansas State and UConn are both great top 25 teams, as Texas lost by single digits in both, but K-State went on to lose their next game at home to Oklahoma State by 4. Kentucky will be the new number 1 as they are now the only undefeated team in the nation. Quick side note, my UNM Lobos won their 2 games this week by huge margins as they knocked off Air Force in Colorado Springs by 23 and beat Colorado State by 18. These 2 wins are over sub-par teams, but hopefully they will be enough to get back in the top 25. 

Thursday was a huge day this week. We had 2 of the best players facing each other in 2 different sports. Kobe Bryant and LA visited LeBron James and the Cavs, while Alexander Ovechkin visited Sidney Crosby as the Caps faced the Penguins. Ovechkin and the Caps beat the Penguins 6-3, Ovechkin having 2 goals and 1 assist. Sid the Kid was not as affective, having just 1 goal. On the hardwood it was a different story, as the Cavs held on by 6. The highlight of the night might not have had to do with the Cavs though. Kobe Bryant scored his 25,000 point Thursday night, becoming the youngest player to ever reach that milestone. Bryant finished with 31. But LeBron had to ruin Kobe's night as he dropped 37 points and grabbed 9 boards. 

Also in the NBA on Thursday was the announcement of the All-Star starters. In the East, the team goes Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and Allen Iverson. Yes, I did say Allen Iverson. He has only played 21 games this season, averaging 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. The fans vote for the starters, and he was the fan's vote. We can't blame him, though he obviously doesn't deserve to be an All Star starter. But he his a great player and I will watch him in Dallas on All Star weekend expecting to see the Allen Iverson that is the now 11 time All Star.

The biggest news this week was the conference championship games is the NFL. These games determine which teams go to the Big Game in Miami. Let's start in the AFC, where the heavyweight Colts took on the Cinderella Jets. Peyton Manning threw for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Colts ended the Jets run. Mark Sanchez threw for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns (1 interception) and the number 1 rushing game in the league only rushed for 86 yards. The Colts beat the Jets in rushing yards....wow. That was the key for both teams. The Colts will win 9 times out of 10 if they can hold the Jets running game. And the Jets will give themseves a fair shot at winning if they can run like we all know they can. But the best game of the playoffs so far was the NFC Championship game as Drew Brees and the Saints hosted Brett Favre and the Vikings. This is what Favre came back for. In a turnover riddled game, it took extra time and a 40 yard field goal for the win. Drew Brees threw for only 197 yards (3 TD's), and the Saints only rushed for 68 yards, and somehow they still won. Brett Favre threw for 310 yards and only 1 TD and the Vikings rushed for 165 yards. But the Vikes also had 5 turnovers. And that was the game. Garrett Hartley nailed the only field goal of the night from 40 yards in overtime to seal the deal and send the Saints marching to their first ever Super Bowl. "Who Dat? Drew Dat" read a sign at the game. Saints, Colts, Miami, Super Bowl XLIV, cannot wait. A game where turnovers ruled, Brett Favre's possible last throw of his career, was an interception. 

What a week this was, and I can't wait till the next one to see what sports stories will come out of it. Have a good one till next week!

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