Lost Faces in the Crowd

-Keefe
TRISTAN BESSE

New Bedford, MA > Baseball

This must have slipped through the fingers of the people at SI roughly 7 years ago, but luckily we here at the Sports Brief are bringing it back to life. It's our first edition of "Lost Faces in the Crowd." Why not start with one of our own. That's right, Tristan Besse is our first subject. His accomplishments will no longer go unnoticed by the masses. Here is the actual write-up following the game on that fateful afternoon.

The following is courtesy of Jana Brown.

Besse '02 Throws a No-Hitter 5/16/2001

What a day it was for SPS pitcher and slugger Tristan Besse '02. Besse not only threw a no-hitter in the Big Red baseball team's 15-3 win over St. Mark's, but he also went five for five from the plate with a double, two triples, and five runs scored.

St. Mark's scored all of its runs in the second inning off an error, three walks, a hit batsmen, and a wild pitch. Besse then settled down and retired the next 18 batters he faced, striking out 12. St. Paul's (6-6) scored two runs each in the first, second and fourth innings before exploding for five in the sixth and four more runs in the seventh inning to break open the game.

In the first inning, SPS scored on respective singles by Besse and Brian Sharkey '02 to open the game. A walk to Mike Hutchins '02 (3-4, 2B, 3B, 5 RBIs ) loaded the bases, setting the stage for Ryan Davey's '01 (1-4, 3 RBIs) two-RBI double. In the second inning, Kris Desmarais '03 (2-4, 2 runs) beat out a one-out infield hit, stole second and scored on a double by Besse. Besse took third on a passed ball and Sharkey drove him in on a groundout to short. Besse smacked a one-out single in the fourth inning, stole second base and scored on a Kent Frees '01 (2-4, 3B, 3 runs) triple over the right fielder's head. Frees then scored when Hutchins hit a two-out single left field.

Desmarais led off the sixth inning with a line-drive single to right center, and scored on Besse's triple into the left-center gap. Sharkey and Frees walked to load the bases, and a wild pitch scored Besse and moved the others to second and third. Hutchins drove them in with a double and took third base on a wild pitch. Davey continued to produce with runners in scoring position by lifting a sacrifice fly that scored Hutchins and gave SPS an 11-3 advantage.

The SPS bats stayed alive in the seventh as Besse tripled with two outs and scored on a passed ball. Allin Bond '03 reached first on an error, Frees singled, and an opposite-field triple by Hutchins drove in two runs for his fourth and fifth RBIs of the game. Hutchins scored on a wild pitch to round out the scoring. Hutchins is now batting .576, putting him at the top of the ISL, and has an incredible 1.000 slugging percentage.

What a shame that we scored 15 runs and I can't find my way into the write up. What happened there? I did play in this game, and was a part of history, you'll just have to take my word for it. Hope you enjoyed it.

Re-tooling my bracket and other thoughts on March Madness

As I assess the damage of the trainwreck that is my bracket, I realize that for a guy who clearly overanalyzed his picks, things really aren’t that bad. If UNC, Kansas and UCLA all make the Final Four, I could very easily still win my office pool. As far as my battle with the rest of America on ESPN.com and wgamradio.com? Probably not, but at least my championship team, Kansas, is still in it.

The most frustrating part for me this year is that I talked myself out of some very critical picks. I did some research on Monday, then took time Tuesday to do a preliminary take on the brackets. Wednesday, I finalized my picks. Here was my thought process moving through the bracket on Tuesday.:

Georgetown sucks, but so does UMBC. Gonzaga is overrated so I like Davidson, and Curry is lights out and did I mention how much I hate Georgetown? Davidson to upset G’town!

The following day:

Ugh, I love Davidson here but it’s a safer pick to go with G’town. I’ll have them losing to USC since I hate them so much. That makes up for it, right? Alright let’s do it.

Nice. Not only did USC suck against Kansas State, but Davidson overcame a 16-point deficit to shock the Hoyas and left me wondering what could have been. Meanwhile, in the West bracket, the following occurred:

I absolutely love the depth of the Big East. Huggins is a great coach, solid experience, and Duke is the root of all evil in college hoops. I hate just looking at Coach K. Possibly the only time I root for UNC, or every college hoops team for that matter is when they play Duke. Take ‘em over Belmont but West Virginia prevails in an upset! Xavier-WVU it is!

The following day:

Ugh, I’m feeling nauseous having to make this pick. Duke is a bit streaky, and they rely on shooting, but I feel like their experience will overcome the Mountaineers here. I love the Big East but I don’t feel safe making this pick. Let’s go with Duke.

Great. Your 0 for 2, pal. You can really pick ‘em. Try your luck back in the MidWest bracket:

Alright Villanova is my upset special out of the Big East. They played G’town tough and should have won that game earlier this year. Scottie Reynolds is the man and Clemson can’t hit free throws. Keep it close then capitalize, boys!

The following day:

Ugh, Clemson is riding such a hot streak, and I feel like whoever wins this game is going to the sweet 16 to face Siena b/c Vanderbilt is over-rated and sucks. Plus I hate their home court. I should never see a Coach patrolling the sidelines on the baseline. Plus Villanova disappointed me in the Big East tourney game against G’town. I thought they’d make a run, and I was surprised they even got in. Clemson to the Sweet 16 it is!

Awesome. Make it 0 for 3. Any others? Why not! Let’s move back over to the West:

UConn is so deep and talented. AJ Price is arguably the best PG in the country and they’ve played surprisingly well. This could be the surprise team of the tourney. I like them over San Diego and they’ll smoke either Drake or Western Kentucky. Hmm…I look ahead and see a 1999 finals re-match with Duke looming in the future. Let’s make it happen. Even better, their athleticism and talent bests Duke and off to the Final Four and Championship Game we go!

The following day:

What am I thinking? Let’s not try and reinvent the wheel here. UConn will probably handle San Diego and Drake-Western Kentucky, but UCLA is legit and I like the Pac-10’s best team to the championship game. Enough with this UConn obsession.

Alright, thank god I talked myself out of that. I’m trying to tell myself that that alone justifies the rest of the non-picks I missed on. Plus I’m hearing a lot of people rode the UConn bandwagon and got burned, so I’m patting myself on the back for jumping off when I did. It was like one of those Final Destination movies where you have a dream that AJ Price gets severely injured in the first game and wake up to realize you should get off that damn plane. That’s what I sorta did here, although I left some luggage on the plane and got burned a bit leaving them in the Sweet 16. Oh well.

By the way, am I the only one that thinks the FD trilogy is one of the greatest of all time? The acting is comparable the Saw movies, the plot is consistent throughout because it works in so many ways. And the way they kill people is top-notch. My favorite is still from FD3 at the county fair when the token Asian dies after having a pole lodged through her chest. That in itself is great, but the fact that they actually had her fall to her knees and slide down the pole was award-winning.

But back to hoops, here’s a revelation from the Tourney: Rebounding has been a major factor in these games. On a hunch, I took a look at the first day of action, a sample size of 16 games. Winning teams were 15-1 in the rebounding category and 8-3 with four games dead even in the offensive rebounding category. Those against the norm here were typically out shooting their opponents by over 10% to make up for their indiscretions down low. And then there was the Xavier-Georgia game, where the Musketeers went 27 of 33 from the stripe. Georgia? They were 3 of 5. Something tells me that free-throw shooting is just as important come tourney time, which leads me to my newly constructed Sweet 16, second chance bracket:

South Region

Michigan State over Memphis
I like Tom Izzo with time to prepare. Neitzel is a great point guard who can be a real difference maker when he’s on. Just look at the Pitt game. I thought Pitt was a Final Four contender, but Michigan State is playing solid basketball and rebounding well. I like them to keep it close throughout, then tactically send Memphis to the line down the stretch. The Tigers were 46.9% from the stripe in the game against Mississippi State and legitimately could have blown it. The Spartans prevail.

Texas over Stanford
Damion James better be physical inside, or else those Lopez brothers will dictate the outcome of this game. For the record, I can’t stand everything about those two. Something about twins just really grinds my gears, unless of course you’re talking about Julius and Vincent Benedict – how could you not love those two. But maybe it’s the long hair, or the fact that their named Robin (my mother’s name) and Brook, which by the way are both names of females. Anyway, DJ Augustin and AJ Abrams will go on a tear and Texas wins. Besides, I’m not rooting for a school that turned down Jessie Spano.

West Region

UCLA over Western Kentucky
Lee and Brazelton will make this interesting, but UCLA is too athletic, too deep and too talented for this team. WKU will be outclassed and Kevin Love will continue his ascent to the top of the draft boards.

Xavier over West Virginia
I honestly don’t know who wins this game, but I’m going with Xavier because I have them in the Elite 8 and need them to win in order to keep my brackets even respectable at this point. If they lose, it’s not entirely bad, as the leader in my office pool has Duke in the Finals and the guy in 2nd place has Xavier in the Finals. I could still win because everyone is doing just as bad as me.

East Region

UNC over Washington State
WSU is an ugly team to watch, but Hansborough and the Tar Heels are peaking, having dropped a C-note in each of its first two games and demolishing inferior teams. They’re handling the opposition exactly as an upper echelon team should, and for that, I think they prevail here.

Louisville over Tennessee
Lofton may be hurt and the Cardinals are shooting at an unbelievable clip and holding opponents to less than 40% in the tournament. Volunteers haven’t looked impressive yet, and Louisville easily handled a tough Oklahoma squad. Look for Pitino & Co. to set up a showdown with UNC in the Elite 8.

MidWest Region

Kansas over Villanova
I like Kansas to win the whole thing.

Wisconsin over Davidson
As good as Curry is, Wisconsin has some athletic guards that will focus on shutting down the best player in the tournament. One man can only carry a team so far, and the clock strikes midnight here for this year’s best Cinderella story.

Elite 8

Kansas over Wisconsin
UNC over Lousiville
Texas over Michigan State
UCLA over Xavier

Final Four

Kansas over UNC
UCLA over Texas

Championship Game
Kansas over UCLA

I’ll try again next weekend after I watch these predictions fall to sh*t, too. Enjoy the games.

C-Webb: Baggy Shorts and Much More

-Keefe


One of my all-time favorite basketball players is set to announce his retirement today. Chris Webber revolutionized the game, and if you don’t think so watch an ESPN Classic game in the 80’s or earlier and check out the shorts, socks, shoes, and hair cuts. Yes, it’s safe to say C-Webb, along with the greatest freshmen class in college basketball history with Jalen Rose, Juwon Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson, changed the game. But more than just looks and trends Webber became one of the very best players the last generation.

Webber played the majority of his career in the Western Conference that was just a breeding ground for the best power forwards in basketball. Six of his first ten years (before the knee injury) he played in the West, as a rookie with Golden State and then most successfully with the Sacramento Kings. Night in and night out he put up monster numbers while facing off against the likes of Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Dirk Nowitzki, Elton Brand, and on and on. Webber was right at the top of that list with those current and future Hall of Famers. This poses the question.

Is Chris Webber a Hall of Famer?

I am a huge stat guy. Maybe I take them into account more than I should, but some numbers simply can’t be ignored. You’ve all seen this before by now as any article about Webber is mentioning it. He is one of just 6 players in NBA history to average 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists, along with Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, Larry Bird, (all in the Hall of Fame), and current star Kevin Garnett.

Career averages: 20.7 pts., 9.8 reb., 4.2 asts.

How incredible is that? Look at the company he’s sharing. Only 4 players have finished their careers with those kinds of numbers. Does it get a whole lot more exclusive than that? If you weren’t sure whether C-Webb should be in Springfield, those numbers are pretty convincing. Some would argue about team success, and how truly great players make everyone else around them that much better. Webber turned around 3 franchises in a row. Golden State had 34 wins the year before trading on draft day for Webber, then had 50 in his rookie year, returning to the playoffs. In fact his rookie year, 93-94 was the last time the team hit the 50 win plateau. The Washington Bullets were in the mist of a long playoff drought, but in his 3rd season with the team (96-97) he led the team in points and rebounds (over 20 & 10) and back to the post season for the first time since 1987-1988. Then perhaps his greatest turn around was with the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings had made the playoffs once from 86-87 to 97-98. Immediately the deal to send Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe to Washington for Webber paid dividends. The team made the playoffs in the West each and every year he was in the state capitol. Although he never advanced to the NBA Finals he did lead the Kings to a franchise record 61 wins in 2001-2002 where they lost in 7 to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers squad. The Kings had a 3-2 lead in the series just to see it slip away. I’ll give them the title had they gotten by LA seeing as how the Lakers walked past the Nets in a clean sweep. That was the closest Webber ever got to winning the championship in the NBA.

Getting close to winning a title in college, however, takes on a whole new meaning. Obviously Webber is famous for calling time out his sophomore year against Eric Montross (former Celtics 1st round pick), and UNC when they didn’t have any left in the NCAA Championship game. Michigan was down 73-71 at the time, in fact he traveled first and there was no call, then he called the time out they did not have. Clearly a mistake, but there is no guarantee they win the game if he does not take the TO. It’s a misnomer that the Wolverines cut the nets down if C-Webb knows how many fulls and 30s they have left, they were still down 2. I’m not making excuses for him, that’s just a fact.

Despite not winning a ring, I say Chris Webber has done enough to make the Hall of Fame. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton all played their entire careers without winning a title. It’s not a prerequisite for making the Hall. Take a look at some of the accomplishments by Webber in his storied basketball career, and tell me what you think.

Highlights/ Honors/ Awards:

National High School Player of the Year
1st Team All American 1993
Led Michigan to back-to-back National Championship Games
NCAA All Tournament 1st Team 1992, 1993
Averaged a double-double both years at Michigan
1st overall pick in 1993 draft
NBA Rookie of the Year 1993-1994
All-Rookie Team 1993-1994
15 seasons in the league
10 seasons averaging 20+ points per game
5 time NBA All-Star
All-NBA 1st Team (2000-2001)
All-NBA 2nd Team (98-99, 01-02, 02-03)
All-NBA 3rd Team (1999-2000)
Top 10 in MVP vote 5 times
Led NBA in Rebounds per game (1998-1999)
Dated Tyra Banks

Dallas: We Have A Problem

-Keefe




























March Madness continues on Thursday, let's take a moment to look at one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Western Conference has been exciting all season long, with 9 teams deserving of making the playoffs. The 9th team in the West could have 50 wins. They could host a series in the East instead they will be on the couch or up in the club sooner rather than later. Just a few weeks left to play it looked as though the team with 2 starters on the West All-Stars (Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthoney), and last year's Defensive Player of the Year (Marcus Camby) would miss out on the post season. The dominant story lines focused on the big trades with stars on new teams, Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Kidd, and the incredible 22 game winning streak by the Houston Rockets. Throw the performances by Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul and you had an unbelievable year, let's get to the playoffs!

Well with 12 games left to play on the season for the Dallas Mavericks the 2006-2007 league MVP Dirk Nowitzki went down with a left leg injury. It looked nasty.

After adding Mr. Triple Double to a team that had the best record in the NBA a year ago, this team was worried about how far they could go this year, and avoid a first round upset. Now, will they make it? 44-26, more wins than every East team not named Celtics, Pistons, or Magic, and they have to sweat out the final dozen games of the year. Currently the Mavs reside in the 7th spot out West, .5 game up on the Warriors, and 2 games up on the Nuggets.


So the question remains, do the Dallas Mavericks make the playoffs?


Schedule:

LA Clippers
@ Denver
@ Golden State
@ LA Clippers
Golden State
@ LA Lakers
@ Phoenix
Seattle
Utah
@ Portland
@ Seattle
New Orleans

That's 7 out of 12 games against teams with 42+ wins, and they have to do this without Dirk. Does Jason Kidd have enough left in the tank? Looks like a brutal stretch of games there, GS probably passes them for 7th, but now can Denver do enough to steal the last spot away from Dallas? Something to keep an eye on as you await the Sweet 16. Hope your bracket is doing better than mine. Chances are... it is.

Keefe's Picks on the Record

Here are my picks for the tourney so you can follow along. Scroll down to see Besse's picks as well. Keepin it simple like Bess and going just with winners. Enjoy, and goodluck with your bracket.

East

North Carolina over Mt. St. Mary's
Indiana over Arkansas
Notre Dame over George Mason
Washington State over Winthrop
Saint Joseph's over Oklahoma
Louisville over Boise State
Butler over South Alabama
Tennessee over American

North Carolina over Indiana
Notre Dame over Washington State
Louisville over Saint Joseph's
Tennessee over Butler

North Carolina over Notre Dame
Tennessee over Louisville

Midwest

Kansas over Portland State
Kent State over UNLV
Villanova over Clemson
Vanderbilt over Siena
USC over Kansas State
Wisconsin over Cal St. Fullerton
Davidson over Gonzaga
Georgetown over UMBC

Kansas over Kent State
Vanderbilt over Villanova
USC over Wisconsin
Georgetown over Davidson

Vanderbilt over Kansas
USC over Georgetown

South

Memphis over Texas-Arlington
Oregon over Mississippi State
Temple over Michigan State
Pittsburgh over Oral Roberts
Marquette over Kentucky
Stanford over Cornell
St. Mary's over Miami
Texas over Austin Peay

Memphis over Oregon
Pittsburgh over Temple
Marquette over Stanford
Texas over St. Mary's

Memphis over Pittsburgh
Texas over Marquette

West

UCLA over Mississippi Valley State
Texas A&M ove BYU
Drake over Western Kentucky
UConn over San Diego
Purdue over Baylor
Xavier over Georgia
West Virginia over Arizona
Duke over Belmont

UCLA over A&M
UConn over Drake
Xavier over Purdue
West Virginia over Duke

UCLA over UConn
West Virginia over Xavier

Elite 8

Tennessee over North Carolina
USC over Vanderbilt
Memphis over Texas
UCLA over West Virginia

Final 4

Tennessee over USC
UCLA over Memphis

Championship

Tennessee over UCLA 77-71

Besse Predicts the Madness that will ensue

Editor's note: I decided to go Bobby Knight style and just give you the winners. The reason? Because no matter how much I may claim to know about college hoops, it gets thrown out the window this time of year. I did decide on a few changes from my column the other day, particularly deciding Duke would make it to the Sweet 16 and that Georgetown will last that long, as well.

East

First Round
UNC over Mt. St. Mary's
Indiana over Arkansas
Notre Dame over George Mason
Wash. St. over Winthrop
St. Joe's over Oklahoma
Louisville over Boise St.
Butler over South Alabama
Tennessee over American

Second round
UNC over Indiana
Notre Dame over Wash. St.
Louisville over St. Joe's
Tennesse over Butler

Third round
UNC over Notre Dame
Louisville over Tennessee

Midwest

First round
Kansas over Portland St.
UNLV over Kent St.
Clemson over 'Nova
Siena over Vandy
USC over K-State
Wisconsin over Cal St. Fullerton
Davidson over Gonzaga
G'town over UMBC

Second round
Kansas over UNLV
Siena over Clemosn
USC over Wisconsin
G'town over Davidson

Third round
Kansas over Siena
USC over G'town

South

First round
Memphis over Texas-Arlington
Miss St. over Oregon
Temple over Michigan St.
Pitt over Oral Roberts
Marquette over Kentucky
Standford over Cornell
St. Mary's over Miami
Texas over Austin Peay

Second round
Memphis over Miss St.
Pitt over Temple
Marquette over Stanford
Texas over St. Mary's

Third round
Pitt over Memphis
Marquette over Texas

West

First round
UCLA over Miss Valley St.
BYU over Texas A&M
Drake over Western Kentucky
UConn over San Diego
Purdue over Baylor
Xavier over Georgia
WVU over 'Zona
Duke over Belmont

Second round
UCLA over BYU
UConn over Drake
Xavier over Purdue
Duke over WVU

Third round
UCLA over UConn
Xavier over Duke

Elite 8
UNC over Louisville
Kansas over USC
Pitt over Marquette
UCLA over Xavier

Final Four
Kansas over UNC
UCLA over Pitt

Kansas cuts the nets with a 78-74 win over UCLA.

Maddening through March Madness

I absolutely love March Madness and the bracket phenomenon for several reasons. First is the fact that you can win stuff. Who doesn’t love that? There are pools at your office, pools with your friends, teammates, family members and even random people you’ve never even heard of. For most of these you pony up $10, $15, or $20 dollars and hope your Cinderella upset special that you have going to the Final Four doesn’t lose in the 1st round. If you’re Rick Neuheisel, you bet five grand and get fired from your day job. But look, aside from the money to be won in small, local pools, if you fill out a perfect bracket on almost any website, it is dishing out ten grand along with 42” flat screen TV’s and other gift certificates, memberships, etc. You can’t beat that. Given there are millions of people participating, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to think every year that this is the year you’ll reign triumphant.

Second is that college hoops is far better than college football bowl season because every game, excluding tonight’s Play-in game, truly means something. I don’t get off as much watching Utah and Navy duel it out in the Poinsettia Bowl as I may watching the likes of Coppin State/Mount St. Mary’s, Mississippi Valley State, Portland State and Texas-Arlington try to become the first 16-seed to knock off a 1-seed. It may not have happened yet, but at some point in the future, whether it’s Thursday, Friday or 100 years from now, a small, unknown group of collegiates will pull a modern day miracle that will eventually result in the making of a Disney movie. And chances are they’ll get trounced in their second-round game.

Now you may argue that bowl season is great because of the BCS v. non-BCS matchups that evolve and you can pick winners and win prizes much like March Madness, but let’s face it, there were only 12 bowl games I counted that I actually cared about this past year, and eight of them came on January 1st or after. From the 1st round to the Sweet-16, Elite-8, Final Four and Championship game, every game is impactful because of the tournament style of play. In boxing, the classic adage is that styles make fights, and the same can be said about sports in general. Some teams matchup better against others and that’s what makes following each and every game so exciting. This is why the BCS and college football should move to a tournament style playoff format, but that’s for another article on another day.

My last love of brackets is sifting through the copious amounts of possibilities that run through my head. There are endless possibilities, and I assume only Leah Ulrich is capable of calculating the total number of brackets you’d have to fill out in order to guarantee yourself a perfect version. This is the same woman who accused Keefe and I of cheating on a Stats test. After telling her the reason we had the exact same answers in Part B of the exam of purely coincidental (despite the fact that we sat next to each other) it was her contention that the possibility of that happening was mathematically impossible. She even went as far as to provide a statistical percentage which she had calculated. Bottom line, we were too tough a nut to crack. Sorry, Leah.

But I digress.

In lieu of filling out my official bracket, I will settle with providing you five options/theories to follow when working your way through each region:

1) The “ESPN analyst minus Bobby Knight” Theorem:
Anyone watch Selection Sunday? If so, you’d see that Jay Bilas shocked the world by putting all 1 and 2-seeds in the Elite 8. That’s real riveting stuff, Jay. Why don’t you go ahead and take the least amount of risk with your bracket because you’re afraid to take a chance on something you really believe in fearing that it won’t work out and you’ll lose all credibility. Oh wait, that’s exactly what you did, and everyone else on that panel of “experts” except for Bobby Knight, who put Louisville and Pitt in the Final Four and had Pitt winning it all. I admire Knight for doing that, and in my eyes is the only one who kept any sense of dignity when that special went off the air.

2) The “Teams you wanna root for” Theorem:
There’s nothing worse than watching the games and wanting one team you like to win. Or if it’s UNC or Duke, wanting one team to lose, badly. But what’s even worse is wanting that yet knowing that you have the team doing the exact opposite in your bracket. Yikes! This is the case for me with Notre Dame and USC, my two favorite college hoops teams. I am giving ND a pass into the Sweet 16, but UNC will be there, as well, and as much as I want the luck of the Irish to carry them to hoops glory, I’m a realist. USC, meanwhile, could be knocked out in the 1st round, but I like them enough to put them in the Elite 8, so I’m doing it because I want to root for that. So that’s theorem number 2: root for the teams you want to win all the way through so you’re never faced with the aforementioned dilemma. You can happily watch your way through the entire bracket if all your teams win, and if they lose? Well, that sucks, but at least you’re cheering for them during the games.
3) The “Cinderella” Theorem:
It’s hard not to after teams like George Mason, Valparaiso and Butler have put the Madness in March Madness. So be that guy, looking for all the possible upsets and visualizing various Cinderella teams making it to the Final Four. If you get lucky with one of them and ride ‘em to the end, you could pull out the victory if they beat everyone else’s title team earlier in the tournament.

4) The “Complete, Statistical, Number Crunching” Theorem:
You just analyzed every single team’s record, roster size, statistics and RPI numbers for the three days straight. You were probably the last person to finalize your bracket in every pool you’re taking part of. You’ve dissected every first round game for an hour apiece and thoroughly thought styles and matchups. Eventually, you determine the best possible odds/probability that UNC and Kansas will play in the dream Final Four matchup and Memphis and Duke will be lucky to make it into the Sweet 16, never mind the advancing past it. Chances are you overthought your bracket the entire time and it will have more red than green come next Monday. Good luck to you, sir.
5) The “Oh my god what is March Madness anywayyy” Theorem:
My favorite theorem, basically proven true by Bill Simmons and his incredibly under informed wife. She has outpicked him the last two years with zero breakdown and analysis of the game. I’m considering doing it in one bracket just to see how it plays out. Essentially you put yourself in the perspective of a female, knowing nothing about college hoops, or sports in general, and picking winners on the following criteria: attractive uniform colors, cute mascot/team names, picking teams from states you enjoy vacationing in, eliminating teams from states or universities where an ex-bf that cheated on you is from, hot star players or coaches whom you’ve seen or heard of only because he was on TV when your bf was generously flipping from ESPN to your LifeTime movie on commercials, or more than likely, vice versa.

Obviously treat the criteria loosely as I’m not expecting that many of your readers have had a boyfriend cheat on you; feel free to substitute with girlfriend when necessary. But try it, because chances are that Wendy from Accounts payable or Joyce at the reception desk will be taking home the prize pool of money.

Now I still haven’t released my bracket because I’m waiting on the winner of tonight’s ever-important, high impact Play-in game that could change the outlook of brackets nationwide. Hey, if Coppin State wins, I may ride them the Final Four. If not, well then I’d say North Carolina should advance to the field of 32 with ease.

But for now, below are some thoughts on top of Keefe’s that I’ve had while perusing all four regions endlessly over the past couple days.

- As Keefe pointed out, it’s disappointing that USC and Kansas State are paired up in the 1st round. I understand the excitement of showcasing two of the top freshman in the nation, but these are two teams who could arguably make a run through the tournament together. I like USC here because Tim Floyd will throw a weird D at Beasley and Mayo will take over; plus K-State has been sliding as of late.
- The winner of the aforementioned freshman showcase most likely faces Wisconsin, another bummer. The Badgers are deep and loaded with Brian Butch as the big man leading the way. But again, I like USC to make a run here, they’re battle tested and could go deep.
- Clemson-Villanova is the second 1st round matchup I hate. ‘Nova could be a surprising but I also like how well Clemson has played as of late. Unfortunately, one will be gone early.
- Tyler Hansborough could face three straight opponents with top notch big men in Indiana (DJ White), Notre Dame (Luke Harangody) and Louisville (David Padgett). If he leads UNC through that murderer’s row, then I may finally warm up to the kid.
- Along those lines, UNC faces the toughest route to title town. UCLA has the easiest. Memphis will be the first 1-seed to fall.
- Get off the bandwagon all you Georgia fans. They will lose in the 1st round to Xavier, which is poised to make a run to the Sweet 16. I have them eventually losing to West Virginia (sorry, Rich), who will take out Duke to punch their ticket to the Elite 8 against UCLA.
My upset special is Davidson, twice in a row.
- Look for Stephen Curry & Co. to clean out Gonzaga, who comes in with less fanfare than ever this year. Then it’s on to Georgetown, who I have found to be overrated all season long. They have gotten zero production off the bench and if Davidson can prevent them from getting off 3’s, they could make it 24 consecutive wins.

I’ll have my finalized bracket picks in tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this for now.

Quick Take on the Bracket

-Keefe

Before the bracket was announced on Sunday I thought of a few teams I liked as "sleepers" in this year's tournament. The freshmen, as pointed out in previous articles, have taken over college basketball the last few years. Therefore, how could O.J. Mayo's USC team and Michael Beasley & Bill Walker's Kansas State squad both not make a serious run in the dance as dark horse teams? Well if they have to play each other in the 1st round, that's how. In the Midwest region you will see #6 USC vs. #11 K-State set for Thursday. Not what I was looking for. Other quick notes on the bracket:

*Similar to USC and K-State, I really liked Jerryd Bayliss and Arizona as well as West Virginia. Maybe they can pull off some upsets? Also playing each other. Check out the West region 7 vs. 10 match up.

*The number 1 seeds are a combined 127-9. It's hard to imagine UNC, Kansas, UCLA, or Memphis losing prior to the Elite 8. But that's why they call it March Madness, right?

*UNC doesn't have to leave their state until the Final 4.

*As Besse pointed out yesterday, you could have an Elite 8 of: Notre Dame vs. Louisville, Villanova vs. Georgetown, Pittsburgh vs. Marquette, UConn vs. West Virginia. Haha looks like the same teams that participated in the Big East quarters last week in MSG.

*Mascot Breakdown: 65 teams, 5 Wildcats, 5 Eagles (counting the Golden Eagles from Marquette and Oral Roberts), but I give the edge to the dogs. 5 Bulldogs, along with 1 Hoyas, 1 Retrievers, and 1 Huskies.

*My early lean on the Final 4: Tennessee, USC, Memphis, UCLA.

*Double digit seeds to look out for: Villanova, Davidson, Temple, Saint Mary's.

*Besse will enlighten everyone with his thoughts on the bracket as well, so keep reading.

Sox in '08 trying to avoid another '06

Fresh off the team’s second World Series title in the last four years, I implore Sox fans not to forget 2006. Need I remind you it was only two years ago that Boston failed to make the post-season, winning only 86 games and finishing 3rd, yes 3rd in the American League East. While the team’s batting average was about ten points lower in ’06 than last year’s title team, the 2006 club swatted 26 more homeruns paced by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, who combined for almost 100 bombs between them. The problem wasn’t hitting. Many teams, particularly this century, have won titles without prodigious lineups, i.e. the Angels (2002) and Marlins (2003) are the most obvious examples; the Cardinals (2006) didn’t even win 90 games but were the beneficiaries of a weak NL Central division.

The problem that season for the Sox was its pitching. During the offseason, the Sox traded Hanley Ramirez and no-hit pitcher Anibel Sanchez to the Marlins (along with others) for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, the proverbial throw-in. The team countered that move by trading Bronson Arroyo to the Reds for Wily Mo Pena and a bag of Ken Griffey, Jr. autographed baseballs. At the time, the trade was lauded due to the depth of pitching in the Sox clubhouse and the need for a big bat off the bench. But karma exists, and it came out in droves once Opening Day rolled around.

The starting rotation of Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, ’05 All-Star Matt Clement and crafty veteran David Wells was formidable. Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon were young stars on the rise, with the latter taking over closer duties when Keith Foulke pulled a “Way Back” Wasdin. But Wakefield, Clement and Wells all went down. Lester raced out to a 7-2 start to his career but was later diagnosed with cancer. Jason Johnson, Kyle Snyder, Lenny Dinardo and Kason Gabbard were called in to hold down the fort and at that point you’ll find more talent down in Southie at a Yawkey League game.

Which brings us to 2008. The Sox didn’t bite on the Johan Santana deal, opting to stick with the young talent in Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester that provided The Nation with a no-hitter and Game 4 of the World Series back in ‘07. The team had six options already and the Santana deal would have cut it to five and depleted a wealth of young talent at the same time. Essentially, they were facing the same problem as 2006: too many pitchers, too much depth. I know a little about a lot of a things, and one of those things is that you can NEVER have too much starting pitching. So for the Red Sox, it was the move they didn’t make that was the team’s best off-season move.

After Schilling went down, that depth became all the more important and Theo reacted by taking a flyer on Bartolo Colon, which I wrote about earlier. But the Beckett injury is the most concerning. This is a muscle issue in his back, not a broken bone or a tired arm. Which begs the question: after last season, did he do anything except BBQ, drink beer and hunt? Instead of squatting down to light the fire or camp out underneath an oak tree, maybe he should have had a couple hundred pounds on his back getting ready for the season. A bona fide ace just went down, and with some disconcerting efforts in Spring Training thus far, that deep staff is could suddenly be looking barren again.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is still a number three in my eyes. Until he finds the strike zone with two pitches (never mind three) on a consistent basis, he won’t be effective against another team’s number 1 or 2 pitcher. Wakefield is a crapshoot. Roll the dice, because odds are he’ll go down at some point. And with two youngsters who are still trying to find an identity at the major league level, that Colon signing suddenly becomes more important and critical than originally thought. The Sox are going to need him to return to old form quickly whether they like it or not. I know Theo and his team of doctors had this glorified throwing program mapped out, but it’s time to toss that out the window. If he can’t at least develop into a number 3 or 4 by Opening Day, the Yankees and Blue Jays could return the favor from April and May of last year.

The bottom line is this: While it’s arguable as to whether Theo did the right thing by balking on the Santana deal or not, you can’t predict injuries. With this flurry of injury and mediocrity hitting the Sox since camp opened, it looks pretty good right now. Had it been made, you may be looking at a rotation of Santana, Matsusaka, Wakefield, Snyder and Colon with Beckett on the DL. Drop Beckett in at the top of that rotation and that’s arguable the best in the game, right? Sure, but regardless of Beckett’s impending health issuess, you’re stuck with a barren coffer of eligible starters thereafter. As in that ’06 core of Johnson, Dinardo…well you get the point.

Instead, the team will go in with more youth and obviously more question marks. But if Beckett, Colon and down the road even Schilling return (although that’s a stretch), the possibility of more depth will benefit this club upon entering that critical stretch in August and September. With Papelbon, Okajima, Delcarmen, a rejuvenated Mike Timlin and Snyder holding court in that bullpen, it will be important for the starters to give the Sox five or six solid innings, keeping the team within striking distance before handing it over for its shutdown bullpen. If that can happen, this thing will turn into a classic horse race, with the Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays all staying close until Tito finally cracks the whip coming down the home stretch and pulls it out in the nick of time. If not, the Sox horse will stumble out of the gate and never recover, finishing a distant 3rd in the East and Wild Card races.

-Bess

Gerald Green: Dunked Out

-Keefe


When Gerald Green blew out the candle on that cup cake in the Slam Dunk contest I doubt he wished to be waived by the Houston Rockets. Well last weekend that became true. What makes this story even sadder is the recent entry on the Sports Brief where I went through the NBA and listed all 53 players who could still be playing college basketball. Gerald Green was very much on this list; in fact he would be a junior, presumably at Oklahoma State, where he committed to.

The 22 year old played nearly 3 full seasons in the league for a combined 3 teams, the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, and most recently the Houston Rockets. Growing up in Houston, Green was thrilled at the move on the deadline, and excited to get a chance to play for his hometown team. Yeah didn’t make a lot of since to me either. Green played in just 29 games for the worst team in the West and just over 12 minutes when he did get in. Now he gets traded to a team who hasn’t lost in years and are currently hosting a 1st round series. How is he going to play there? I’ll answer that, he won’t. Green managed to get on the court just once in his 3 weeks with the Rockets for a grand total of 4 minutes.

As a Celtics fan I closely watched Green’s first 2 years in the NBA. It all started on draft night in 2005. The Celts had the 18th overall pick and two 2nd rounders. What kind of moves could they make? It was the last year for players to enter the league straight out of high school. Perhaps the C’s would go to that well again as they have taken Kendrick Perkins and Al Jefferson in previous drafts. Green according to most experts was a sure fire lottery pick. Well he wasn’t. Maybe those teams knew something. Green “fell” to 18 in the draft, and he was supposed to be such a steal. Most people thought he would go 6 to the Trail Blazers. Instead Portland went with another kid from high school in Martell Webster. The picks kept coming, Bynum, a couple foreign players, 2 from UNC, Antoine Wright, on and on. Hey that Green kid is still on the board. They pulled the trigger on the player with perhaps the most potential in the entire draft.



While we’re here, by selecting Gerald Green with the 18th overall pick you might be wondering, who else could they have taken. The list really starts and ends with 2nd round steal Monta Ellis. Yeah they took the wrong high school kid. But other players who followed Green in the 1st round include: Jarrett Jack, Luther Head, Hakim Warrick, Jason Maxiell, Linas Kleiza, and David Lee. In the 2nd round the Celtics kept both there picks and went with Ryan Gomes (career numbers better than Greens in points, rebounds, assists, and steals, also played in 54, and counting, more games), and they picked Orien Greene, because they had to take someone.

Green did not exactly burst on to the NBA scene following the draft. He played in just 32 games, starting 3, as he was up and down all year to the D-League. He showed some improvement in his second season playing exclusively with the big club. In 81 games, 26 starts, Green average 10.4 points per game. Of course he did most of this during the tank-a-thon that was the Boston Celtics 2006-2007 season. He was the perfect player for that debacle. Zero defense, I mean none at all, but he can obviously dunk and can be fun to watch. He scored 33 points in a game at Atlanta last year, shot 5-5 from behind the arc vs. the Bucks. The last 25 games of the season Green scored double figures in 14 of them. You just never knew what Green would show up. Would it be the guy who posted 33, 22, and 21 in three straight games or would it be the guy who scores a total of 13 points the following three games shooting 4-26 from the floor and 1-13 from deep? Way too inconsistent.

Despite nights where he looked like a guy who could get 20+ a night for an entire season and winning the dunk contest, the only thing the Celtics won last year, Boston traded him away. And as crazy as it is to say some people actually thought the Celtics gave up too much to get KG. Can you believe that? Trust me, in New England some thought Gerald Green would be the next Joe Johnson. Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff for Garnett. I still get a kick out of it. But some people, who I’m sure would not admit it now, didn’t want to part with both Big Al and Green. Ha.

When Green could not crack the lineup with the young Timberwolves I saw that as a horrible sign for his NBA prospects. What’s next for this kid? Maybe this will motivate him to work harder. That had always been the knock against him. In the off season he could join a team where he might fit in, and be back in the league. You’ve seen guys who declare for the draft, don’t get picked, and then bounce around other organization and finally reach their goals. But how many guys are in the league so young, have mild success (I’ll say winning a dunk contest, and averaging 10+ for a season is mild success), and then get waived come back and make it? It’s going to be tough, but with all that talent some team will likely take a chance. The question remains will Green make the most of that chance?

If a team does not go after Green, like the 17 franchises picking ahead of Boston back in 2005, what are his options? I hear Greece is nice this time of year. He may want to start at lower levels of European ball. And how would his game correlate over seas? It’s going to be difficult. I think his best bet would be to join the And 1 Mix Tape Tour. I bet Green is better than the Helicopter. And 1 and Green would be the perfect marriage. Green gives them a little more basketball creditability, while And 1 give Green a place to play and some sneakers. Make it happen And 1. For Gerald Green maybe all is not lost, his former teammate Rafer Alston (Skip to my Lou) made a nice career for himself after playing street ball. Something to think about.

Good luck with all that... 1.0

-Keefe

In the words of the great Jerry Seinfeld after George Costanza told him all his deep dark secrets and everything he was capable of, “good luck with all that.” It was an episode in which Jerry had become way to emotional and affectionate, and George “scared him straight.” That phrase became one of my all time favorites. I use it 5-10 times in a given week. You say “good luck,” but its in regard to an impossible situation, like thank God I don’t have to deal with (insert your problem here). So without further ado I would like to “wish” the following people, places, and things, a warm “good luck.”

To Aaron Rodgers for taking over as starting QB in Green Bay for Brett “I wouldn’t be surprised if they waived the 5 year rule to induct players in the Hall of Fame, because of how much everyone is in love with him” Favre. But take solace in the fact that Dan Marino was replaced in Miami… by Jay Fielder, Damon Huard, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feely, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, and John Beck. Oh yeah and Favre broke all of Marino’s records, won a Super Bowl, and is the only attraction in Green Bay. Good luck with all that.

To the Oakland Raiders for spending $105 million on 2 players coming off knee surgeries. Javon Walker and Tommy Kelly missed a combined 17 games last season, and you want to pay them 105 million bucks? Good luck with all that.

To the next poor guy who has to fight Anderson Silva. Even if you have body armor, a chain gun, or a light saber, good luck with all that.

To Bill Parcells for coming back and leading the Miami Dolphins from the front office. Trying to get the Fish back to the playoffs? (Scroll up to see QBs they’ve used since Marino.) Well at least their first round pick from last year, Ted Ginn, doesn’t suck. Will they take a return man with the #1 overall this year? Good luck with all that.

To Coco Crisp who thinks he’s battling for the starting centerfield job. It’s hard enough to find a way to start over someone who is better, Jacoby Ellsbury, but to go into spring training with a bum groin and a root canal? That’s brutal. Good luck with all that. (At least he’s got something to fall back on; make sure your sound is on.) http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=155900964

To the Sports Brief with Besse and Keefe for taking nearly 6 months off and then returning to action at the start of 2008. You think retooling with the addition of pictures and polls will make up for the fact that you walked out on all of your fans like Bobby Petrino? Good luck with all that.

Speaking of walking out on your fans, to all the sitcoms returning from the writers strike. Am I the only one who has lost interest in these shows? Good luck with all that.

To the Phoenix Suns trying to host a 1st round playoff series. The Suns are currently just as close to missing out on the postseason as they are to the top spot in the West, which they had at the time of the awful Shaq trade. With the Diesel in the lineup they are 4-5. (Note: when I first wrote this it was prior to their win over the Spurs, and they were 3-5, but I still feel very much the same way.) As soon as the trade happened I went on record and said they would fall out of the top 4, now they might just fall out of the playoffs all together. In the wide open West they were better off with the nucleus from last year’s team, (Nash, Amare, Marion), and if they really wanted to deal Marion get something in return. Top 4 spot in the conference may be a lost cause; they need to work on staying in the top 8. Good luck with all of that.

To Britney Spears… she’s 26 years old right now, if I set the over/under at 27.5 anyone taking the over? Good luck with all of that.

Keep reading the Brief and tell your friends. Coming soon we’ll have fantasy baseball outlooks, MLB predictions, NCAA tournament preview, NFL 1st round mock draft, and much much more.

UFC Rankings as of 3.6.08

-Bess


Heavyweight

1. Randy Couture
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Tim Sylvia
4. Brandon Vera
5. Fabricio Verdum
6. Andrei Arlovski
7. Frank Mir
8. Heath Herring
9. Chieck Kongo
10. Brock Lesnar


Notes: This division got better overnight for me, largely due to UFC 81. Brock Lesnar showed that while he’s got a serious hole in his game (jiu-jitsu, or lack thereof) he is a force on his feet and with his ground and pound game. But Mir’s conditioning and expertise on the mat reigned surpreme, and I’m looking for a Mir-Sylvia rematch. Couture stays up there for now; I’d love to see him fight Nog. If he wins there, he can go fight Fedor in a phone booth for all I care. He’ll have earned it.



Light Heavyweight

1. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
2. Dan Henderson
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Keith Jardine
5. Chuck Liddell
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
8. Thiago Silva
9. Rashad Evans
10. Tito Ortiz


Notes: The Light Heavyweight landscape doesn’t change much as there were no significant fights in this weight class over the next month. That all changes at UFC 84 and 85. Rua is out in his match with Liddell, and “Sugah” Rashad has offered to sacrifice himself to the gods. The only question now is, who fights Thiago Silva? This guy has looked dangerous so far and I thought his fight with Evans would be a good test for both fighters. The Wanderlei-Jardine matchup is interesting because a win for the Dean justifies a title shot, yet a win for Silva will maintain relevancy in the sport.



Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Rich Franklin
4. Yushin Okami
5. Nate Marquardt
6. Patrick Cote
7. Travis Lutter
8. Dean Lister
9. Thales Leites
10. Chris Leben


Notes: Not a whole lot changes here for me, either. Silva is downright scary. I’m scared of him right now while I type this, and you should be shivering in fear as you read this. Poor Henderson is the second best fighter in two different weight classes after losing to both champions. How frustrating is that? Cote and Marquadt each looked impressive in wins over McFredries and Horn, respectively. But the men in front of them are too good to move out of the way. While Okami is still ranked 4th after his win over a still punch drunk Evan Tanner (no pun intended), I think he deserves a title shot here. Okami, aside from Cote, is the only guy in the top 7 that Silva hasn’t fought (or demolished). Leben, meanwhile, is the gatekeeper to the middleweight division. I love this guy. I wish he could fight every day, whether it’s in the Octagon, the middle of the street or by the back booth of a bar somewhere.



Welterweight

1. Georges “Rush” St. Pierre
2. Matt Serra
3. Jon Fitch
4. Karo Parysian
5. Matt Hughes
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Marcus Davis
8. Diego Sanchez
9. Josh Burkman
10. Mike Swick


Notes: GSP is the “interim” champ, and unless he gets caught again, he’ll dominate Serra in their rematch. Meanwhile, the UFC can exhale after Fitch, Koscheck and Sanchez all passed their tests at UFC 82. I thought Hazelett deserved more of a chance after dominating the first round over “Kos,” but oh well. Sanchez had his fire back, and I would love a rematch with Koscheck to settle that one. Parysian fights Thiago Alves at UFN 13 and needs a win to maintain any hopes of a title shot. Meanwhile, Fitch looks like he’s next in line. Why not a title eliminator?


Lightweight

1. B.J. Penn
2. Sean Sherk
3. Joe Stevenson
4. Roger Huerta
5. Kenny Florian
6. Clay Guida
7. Frankie Edgar
8. Tyson Griffin
9. Din Thomas
10. Joe Lauzon


Notes: Penn challenges Silva and St. Pierre for moniker of Best P4P in the World. This guy is so flexible he could suck a fart out of his butt. Can I say that here? Anyway, UFC 84 is a big night for this division, because if Penn wins, I seriously question whether he’ll stick around to clean out this division, which he should have no problem doing. Florian and Lauzon will be a good test for both men. While this division is stacked with depth and talent, I think there’s a significant gap between the top 2 spots and the rest of the division. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone else in the top 10 steps up as a legitimate threat for the title in 2008.

Now This Would Be March Madness

-Keefe



It’s that time of the year. March. Everyone in world will fill out a bracket in a couple weeks and hope and pray a team they never heard of either pulls an upset or doesn’t shock the world by sending their team home. You hear the arguments that the college game is better than the pros. “It’s team basketball.” “There’s no ego.” Well some could counter and say, especially a couple years ago there was no talent. Bill Simmons pointed out that just a couple years ago Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick were the best players in the college game. Really? And people like this better?

There was also an article written a couple years ago that outlined what the NCAA tournament could possibly look like if players could not leave early. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and another season of Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor at UConn made up the article. It was a great read. I’m not trying to recreate that piece, rather I’m just pointing out all the players that could actually still be playing college hoops, and it’s quite remarkable, even with the rule that you can’t jump to the draft following high school.

Here is each NBA team with their players that could still be in college. The college team they played for is in parenthesis and if they did not attend, where they committed or signed with is in italics. Take a look…

Atlanta Hawks: Josh Smith (Indiana), Marvin Williams (North Carolina), Al Horford (Florida).

Boston Celtics: Glen Davis (LSU), Rajon Rondo (Kentucky), Gabe Pruitt (USC).

Charlotte Bobcats: None

Chicago Bulls: Tyrus Thomas (LSU), Joakim Noah (Florida), JamesOn Curry (Oklahoma State), Cedric Simmons (NC State).

Cleveland Cavaliers: Daniel Gibson (Texas).

Dallas Mavericks: None.

Denver Nuggets: J.R. Smith (North Carolina), Taurean Green (Florida)

Detroit Pistons: Aaron Afflalo (UCLA), Amir Johnson (Louisville), Rodney Stuckey (Eastern Washington).

Golden State Warriors: Monta Ellis (Mississippi State), Brandan Wright (North Carolina), Patrick O’Bryant (Bradley).

Houston Rockets: Gerald Green (Oklahoma State).

Indiana Pacers: Shawne Williams (Memphis).

Los Angeles Clippers: Shaun Livingston (Duke).

Los Angeles Lakers: Jordan Farmar (UCLA), Andrew Bynum (UConn).

Memphis Grizzlies: Rudy Gay (UConn), Mike Conley Jr. (Ohio State), Javaris Critteton (Georgia Tech), Kyle Lowry (Villanova).

Miami Heat: Daequan Cook (Ohio State), Dorrell Wright (No Idea).

Milwaukee Bucks: None. (Duke probably could have paid Yi to come.)

Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson (Arkansas), Sebastian Telfair (Louisville), Corey Brewer (Florida).


New Jersey Nets: Sean Williams (Boston College).

New Orleans Hornets: Julian Wright (Kansas).

New York Knicks: Randolph Morris (Kentucky), Wilson Chandler (DePaul).

Orlando Magic: Dwight Howard (Some very lucky school).

Philadelphia 76ers: Louis Williams (Georgia), Thaddeus Young (Georgia Tech), Jason Smith (Colorado State).

Phoenix Suns: None.

Portland Trail Blazers: Greg Oden (Ohio State), LaMarcus Aldridge (Texas), Josh McRoberts (Duke), Martell Webster (No College).

Sacramento Kings: Spencer Hawes (Washington).

San Antonio Spurs: None.

Seattle Super Sonics: Kevin Durant (Texas), Jeff Green (Georgetown), Robert Swift (USC).

Toronto Raptors: None.

Utah Jazz: C.J. Miles (Texas).

Washington Wizards: Nick Young (USC), Andray Blatche (No College), Dominic McGuire (Fresno State).

(How about those Texas Longhorns? They could have a lineup of Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, C.J. Miles, Daniel Gibson, and D.J. Augustin with A.J. Abrams coming off the bench. Good lord. UNC would add Marvin Williams, J.R. Smith, and Brandan Wright to their team which is already #1 in the country, and UConn could team up Rudy Gay and Andrew Bynum to their solid nucleus.)

By my count that’s 53 players currently in the NBA who would still be hitting the books and playing on “Big Monday’s” and “Super Tuesday’s” if they couldn’t leave early. How exciting would March Madness be with this talent level? Tyler Hansborough has had a great season, don’t get me wrong, but he would be hard pressed to even be Honorable Mention All – American with the likes of Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, Kevin Durant, Andrew Bynum, and Monta Ellis on the scene. I mean even Marvin Williams and Brandan Wright on his own team would be stealing some of the hype.

If it wasn’t for the “no high school players in the draft” rule, most of the best players in the country would not even be there this year. Michael Beasley (got to be the player of the year), Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, O.J. Mayo, Bill Walker (would be in the NBA if not for the rule), DeAndre Jordan, Jerryd Bayless, and Kevin Love make this year’s bracket much richer in talent. How watered down would it be without these guys?

Obviously a “4 years of college” rule would be ridiculous, but imagine the level of play. The high school rule was a step supposedly put in place to help the NBA, and it probably has, however college basketball has benefited even more. The rule is just 2 years old and we could see back-to-back freshmen win Player of the Year. (Durant and Beasley). We thought the Oden/ Durant rivalry was great, and I’d have to say this year’s freshmen class as a whole is even better.
Button line: what was a good move for the NBA, has become a great move for college basketball.

(Just for fun, if it was a 4-year must rule, LeBron James and Chris Paul would be leading a solid rookie class in the NBA right now…)

A couple things to get off my chest...

I'll post my updated UFC rankings sometime this week, but before I do that, I have to rant on a few things.

Now I have to warn you, none of which I am about to rant about is sports-related, but it all happened en route to a sporting event (Celtics game v. the Bobcats) last Friday night. So I'll make an exception.

This is a classic "Grind my gears" session ala Peter Griffin. So to get things started properly, without further ado:

Ya know what really grinds my gears?

For anyone that has ever lived in a city or at least taken public transit, you know how frustrating the T, or subway train, can be. Not only are they undersized and not roomy enough with sufficient seating, but the drivers constantly pump the brake. So as I stood on the train the other night holding on for dear life, a top 10 pet peeve of mine occurred. The train was packed as it usually is after work and particularly before a Celtics/Bruins game on a train heading into North Station. Mind you, I'm holding onto a pole while standing in the middle of the train car. As we approach a stop still traveling at full speed, the driver comes over the loudspeaker and announces, "...approaching Haymaaahhket, train doors open on the right."

Well, some d-bag promptly rose from his seat and tried to get by me. Again, the train was still moving at full speed. Eventually, he forced me to remove my hand from the pole so he could get by and position himself directly in front of the door. Again, the train is still moving at full speed at this point. Naturally, this called for the driver to pump the brake. Terrific. Had it not been for my go-go gadget arm of sorts, I would have landed in the lap of some hobo who probably spent the entire day camped outside Dunkin Donuts until he'd "earned" enough to get a train ride to the liquor store.

Listen, a piece of advice for anyone riding the train or bus anywhere. If you've gotta get off, you'll have plenty of time. You're not the only one, so don't think the driver is going to assume due to 3 seconds of inactivity that no one is getting off and will shut the door on you. Not only are you one of many getting off, but people are getting on, too. So stay in your freakin' seat and wait till the train stops. You're only inconveniencing everyone else around you and like I said, had it not been for a magical extension of my arm, I may have wiped out.

Ya know what else really grinds my gears?

When you're waiting for a cab and someone just walks right up and stands to the left of you. Anyone with half a brain can do the logical breakdown and realize that when hailing a cab, traffic will be heading from left to right. The other night I had been trying to hail a cab for at least 10 minutes. Not only someone walk right up and stand on my left, but it was a chick, and she was hot.

How do you combat that?

Cab drivers will stop for a hot chick any day of the week. And it's harder for me to get pissed at someone if she's goddess-like. I let out the it's loud enough for you to hear but you probably won't really hear nor give a crap if you do verbal complaint by voicing, "Are you f*cking kidding me with that as a cab pulled up and practically opened the door for her.

Unbelievable. If you see someone standing on a sidewalk blatantly hailing a cab, feel free to stand on their right and wait for the next one after them. Just because there isn't formal line doesn't mean you can't form one. And if you're going to do it, be a guy so I have a reason to yell at you and possibly fight you.

Finally, there's one last thing that really grinds my gears.

Cab drivers with Blackberry's. What's the reasoning? Got some important e-mails you need to keep up on while driving customers? Unless cab stands are sending out alerts for drivers via e-mail, there's no logical reason for a cab driver to have a better phone than I do.

In more pleasant news, the Celtics held off a pesky Bobcat squad for a 108-100 win. Thanks to Celtic Steve for the tickets. If you're looking for a new kitchen or bath in your home, call him at Kitchens and Bath. How's that for a shameless plug?

-Bess

UFC Rankings (3-3-08)

-Keefe

Heavyweight:

1. Randy Couture
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Tim Sylvia
4. Andrei Arlovski
5. Fabricio Werdum
6. Brandon Vera
7. Frank Mir
8. Gabriel Gonzaga
9. Heath Herring
10. Cheick Kongo


Light Heavyweight:

1. Quinton Jackson
2. Dan Henderson
3. Maurcio ‘Shogun’ Rua
4. Chuck Liddell
5. Keith Jardine
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Lyoto Machida
8. Wanderlei Silva
9. Tito Ortiz
10. Thiago Silva


Middleweight:

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Rich Franklin
4. Nathan Marquardt
5. Yushin Okami
6. Travis Lutter
7. Chris Leben
8. Patrick Cote
9. Jason MacDonald
10. Nathan Quarry


Welterweight:

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Matt Serra
3. Jon Fitch
4. Matt Hughes
5. Josh Koscheck
6. Karo Parisyan
7. Diego Sanchez
8. Marcus Davis
9. Mike Swick
10. Josh Burkman


Lightweight:

1. BJ Penn
2. Sean Sherk
3. Joe Stevenson
4. Kenny Florian
5. Roger Huerta
6. Frankie Edgar
7. Tyson Griffin
8. Din Thomas
9. Spencer Fisher
10. Clay Guida