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      Blogging Championship Week: Thursday

      March 12, 2009 /

      Bookmark this page and check back periodically for my thoughts as I watch the scores roll in on Thursday. There are at least 10 bubble teams in action today, starting with Providence/Louisville in the Big East quarterfinals.

      1:32 AM:       I’m going to hit the hay. I’ll be back tomorrow at 12 PM ET to start this all again. New Mexico is currently down seven to Wyoming with two minutes to play, so their bubble might be bursting tonight. It was a great day of basketball capped by one of the best games I’ve ever seen.

      1:25 AM: The Orangemen finally prevailed, 127-117 (6 OT). Syracuse plays a ton of zone and I think that gave them an advantage in a game of this length. When you’re playing man to man, you have to go from side to side (of the half court) to cover your guy. When you’re in a zone, you just cover an area, so there’s less running involved. Over the course of a regular 40-minute game, it doesn’t make that much of a difference, but if you give a player the choice of playing 70 minutes of man-to-man or 70 minutes of zone, they’ll pick zone. Zone simply requires less effort, and I think the Orangemen had more in the tank at the end. I’m exhausted and I didn’t play a minute. What a great game…

      1:07 AM: This is insane. This UConn/Syracuse game just went to a 6TH OVERTIME! Forget about the winner having any gas left in the tank for tomorrow night. Hell, they might not even show up to play.

      12:57 AM: Bill Rafferty with the line of the night, “These guys are so tired they’re going to need cabs to get to the other end of the court.” A.J. Price has been great in the last two OTs.

      12:47 AM: Wow, what a game in New York. UConn and Syracuse are in a 5TH OVERTIME. My TiVo ran out of space at the end of the second overtime, so I checked the internet to see who won and I saw that the game was still going on. So I flipped it on and watched the 4th OT. Hasheem Thabeet just fouled out, but Syracuse couldn’t finish at the rim with time winding down. Five more minutes.

      11:06 PM:       USC just beat Cal in a tight one, so the Trojans are still alive for an NCAA berth. Mizzou is controlling its game against Texas Tech as is Boston College in its game versus Virginia. UConn and Syracuse are battling with about nine minutes left on ESPN. The Huskies are up two and probably need the win if they hope to secure a #1 seed next week.

      10:00 PM: USC is beating Cal by 15 at halftime. The Trojans are a team that could play their way into a bid with a few wins in the Pac-10 tourney. Their RPI (61) and SOS (27) aren’t bad, but they’re 0-4 against Top 25 RPI teams.

      9:17 PM: Down goes Pitt! Down goes Oklahoma! The Panthers lost to a very good West Virginia team that was helped by DeJuan Blair’s foul trouble. Watch out for the Mountaineers in the tourney. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State nipped Oklahoma in a great game, which means that the top two seeds in the Big 12 tourney have been knocked out (and Missouri has yet to play). OSU was already in, but now the door is open for a team like Baylor or Texas Tech to get a bid by winning the tourney. The other three teams still alive – OSU, Mizzou and Texas — are already in. In the ACC, Maryland beat NC State to keep the Terps’ slim NCAA hopes alive. They really need to win another game or two to have a legit shot.

      Continue reading »

      College Basketball, Fantasy Football, March Madness, Television

      How much better off would the Blazers be had they drafted Durant instead of Oden?

      March 12, 2009 /

      No one can fault the job that Portland GM Kevin Pritchard has done so far. In 2005, when he was the Blazers’ interim coach, he reportedly advised then-GM John Nash and Steve Patterson to draft Chris Paul at #3, but the duo instead decided to trade the pick and ended up with Martell Webster at #6. He was promoted to assistant GM in 2006, and was involved in a series of deals that resulted in the acquisition of the draft rights of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. In 2007, he was promoted to general manager. That summer, in addition to drafting Greg Oden, he turned Zach Randolph into a trade exception that he used to steal Rudy Fernandez from the Phoenix Suns.

      Other than an ill-advised threat to sue anyone that tried to sign Darius Miles, it’s tough to second-guess anything that Pritchard has done in Portland.

      But what if he had drafted Kevin Durant instead of Greg Oden? How much better off would the franchise be with Durant on the roster?

      Continue reading »

      Fantasy Football, NBA, NBA Draft, Rumors & Gossip

      Athlete Profile: Matthew Stafford

      March 12, 2009 /

      What should you know about Matthew Stafford? Well according to him, “I can dunk.” Stafford’s calm, amiable demeanor on and off the field has played an important part in his rise to the upper echelons of college football. Now that he’s on the verge of becoming, at the very least, a top 10 draft pick, those easy-going manners will be put to the test. Stafford should be able to take it though, because he’s certainly had to adapt before.

      Born in Tampa, Florida, Stafford moved to Dunwoody, Georgia while his father completed a graduate degree at none other than Matthew’s own future college: The University of Georgia. But before he ever got there, his father finished school and the whole family moved to Dallas.

      Getting uprooted again and bustled into the big city, however, certainly had its advantages.

      In an odd stroke of coincidence, Stafford was childhood friends and little league teammates with, Clayton Kershaw, one baseball’s rising star pitchers (currently with the Dodgers). Up until high school, Stafford was pulling a solid Bo Jackson by playing baseball (as a shortstop) and football. Prior to starting his senior year though, Stafford gave up baseball in order to focus on football. Focus for Stafford being something we lesser mortals can only dream of.

      During his senior year at Highland Park High, Stafford led the team to its first 15-0 record while compiling more than 4,000 yards passing, 38 touchdowns, and only six interceptions over the course of the season. Naturally, Stafford’s team went on to win the state championship in their division, which was the school’s first title in nearly 50 years. Awards immediately followed: The 2005 Parade Magazine All-America Team, the USA Today Pre-Season Super 25, and the 2005 EA Sports National Player of the Year.

      Stafford was definitely on the fast track from there.

      Following his senior season, he graduated early and enrolled in his father’s alma mater, the University of Georgia. While not initially the starting quarterback, he was awarded the role before his freshman year was out and struggled a little before finding his rhythm the following season. As a sophomore, anyone who hadn’t been paying attention to the new powerhouse in the SEC woke up and heard the name Stafford. By the end of the year, Stafford had chalked up an average of 194.1 passing yards per game, 19 TDs, and a couple of rushing touchdowns just for good measure.

      Stafford’s final year of collegiate sports started with the University of Georgia Bulldogs finding themselves atop both the AP and USA Today polls for the first time in the school’s history. While the Bulldogs were unable to follow through on the consensus prediction, Stafford still had a stellar season, breaking his own records time and again. 2008 saw the star quarterback first throw for a then career-high 275 yards against Georgia Southern University. That performance was soon followed by 310 yards against the Volunteers, 376 against Kentucky, and 408 yards in a losing effort against Georgia Tech. Georgia went on to defeat Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl and Stafford was named the game’s MVP.

      Stafford’s stats do nothing to belie the fact that he is one of the great pocket passers in college football. While his ability to scramble has some room for improvement, he possesses reliable speed and can adapt when the play breaks. His long range passing, the cornerstone of his talent, helps make up for his faults as well, sending bullets in for first downs or bombs out to the end zone. Completing around 60 percent of his passers last year tells us of the accuracy of his artillery as well.

      After that great last season, sportswriters across the country began making predictions. What do you suppose would happen if Matthew Stafford dropped out and entered the draft? When would he be selected? It’d have to be #1 right? The rumor mill was in full swing. What teams would be interested in a quarterback with good decision-making abilities and a freakishly powerful arm? Rather than finish his degree, upon completion of his junior year Stafford opted to find out. Stafford’s been all over TV lately, getting asked the same questions over and over again, being told barely amusing anecdotes in the 10 minute preamble to the recitation of his own personal FAQ, and trying his best to be excited about whatever team it seems is interested in him at the time without possibly offending the others that might be his new best friend come April.

      Whether or not Stafford becomes the next mega-star quarterback in the NFL remains to be see. It could certainly be true. Besides, even if the fickle luck of the NFL changes on him, he made not have a degree to fall back on, but he can still dunk.

      Latest on Stafford

      The Lions, having the first pick in this year’s draft, are the favorites to get Stafford. He has even publicly stated his favorable opinion of working with the team from the ground up. However, recent comments by Detroit head coach Jim Schwartz indicate a distinct possibility that the Lions will be looking to reconstruct their team from the offensive and defensive lines first, rather than placing all their aspirations on a star quarterback. The scouting combine last week has done nothing to dissuade that opinion either, though nothing is as of yet confirmed.

      Career

      Matthew Stafford Bio at Georgiadogs.com
      Matthew Stafford Bio at Georgiadogs.com has season and career stats.

      News and Commentary

      ’09 NFL Draft: Top 10 QB Prospects
      Matthew Stafford named one of the top 10 QB prospects by Sports Illustrated.

      Stafford Named To Davey O’Brien Award Watch List
      Stafford Named Semifinalist For 2008 O’Brien Quarterback Award

      Stafford nominated for the award for best quarterback of 2008.

      UGA Sports Player of the Week – Matthew Stafford

      Matthew Stafford named player of the week for 8/31/08.

      Stafford Says

      On becoming a Detroit Lion
      “I’d love to be a part of something like that. I’m a competitive guy and love a challenge, and that would definitely be a fun situation for me.”

      Sources and links:

      About.com
      Online Athens Blogs
      Wikipedia

      NFL, NFL Draft

      Don Banks Mock Draft 3.0

      March 12, 2009 /

      SI.com’s Don Banks has the Lions taking Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith with the first overall pick in April’s draft.

      1. Lions – Jason Smith, Baylor
      With six weeks and two days remaining before the draft, I’m still not buying that the Lions are going to take their $30 million-plus gamble on Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, a junior who looks like anything but a sure thing. I reserve the right to read the tea leaves differently at some point, but the Lions’ smart play to me would be to play it safe at No. 1 with either Smith or linebacker Aaron Curry, and then explore getting a quarterback like Kansas State’s Josh Freeman with a slight trade down from No. 20, or with their second-rounder at 33.

      2. Rams – Eugene Monroe, Virginia
      No Orlando Pace in Rams horns any more should make this the biggest no-brainer of the top five. St. Louis badly needs an offensive tackle, and it picked the right year to be in that position.

      3. Chiefs – Aaron Curry, Wake Forest
      The Chiefs can’t possibly miss in this slot. If the Lions go quarterback at the top, K.C. will have their pick between Curry, the draft’s cleanest prospect, and one of the top two offensive tackles. If Detroit goes for Curry, the Chiefs still get the tackle they need in either Smith or Monroe. And if the Lions and Rams both go offensive tackle, Kansas City winds up with the defensive play-maker it lacks in Curry.

      4. Seahawks – B.J. Raji, Boston College
      This is how free agency and the draft are supposed to work in tandem. The Seahawks signed T.J. Houshmandzadeh this month, so they don’t have to take Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree any more. And they added ex-Packers defensive tackle Colin Cole to replace the departed Rocky Bernard, so Raji isn’t a must-have either. But quality defensive tackles are always prized and much tougher to find than starting receivers.

      5. Browns – Everette Brown, Florida State
      This is much higher than I had Brown going in my last mock (to Miami at No. 25), but Cleveland’s need is for an edge pass-rusher at outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense, and there just aren’t that many choices to be had in that department. Plenty of mocks have the Browns going for Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo, but I hear the Browns don’t like him all that much.

      That’s a pretty solid top 5, although Brown is a major reach at No. 5. Still, as Banks notes, the Browns are in desperate need of a pass rusher and need one, if not two starting linebackers for next season.

      Banks has Michael Crabtree falling to the Raiders at No. 7, which certainly makes sense given Al Davis’s desire to land the flashy pick. Banks also has Mark Sanchez (No. 8 to Jacksonville) being selected before Matthew Stafford (No. 10 to San Francisco), which is sure a trend that other mock drafts will surely to follow if they haven’t already. (If you’re looking for my two cents, I don’t think there’s any way Sanchez goes ahead of Stafford, but crazier things have happened.)


      Click here to check out the rest of Banks’ mock      .

      College Football, NFL, NFL Draft

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