Archive for March, 2009
Sweet 16 heat up March Madness
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
We’re down to the final 16 teams.
And when we only have 16 teams remaining in the biggest tourney of college hoops, that only means one thing, the regional semifinals of the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament is on with only two more rounds to go before we determine which two teams will be advancing to play for the national title.
There’s no more room for error. And as far as the Louisville Cardinals are concerned, they shouldn’t allow themselves to make the same mistakes they made against Siena if they still have plans of advancing to the 2009 NCAA Final Four.
Sure, all four no.1 seeds in the tournament advanced but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals when these Sienna Saints refused to cooperative. You see, the Cardinals had a comfortable double-digit lead over Sienna and it did look like Louisville was on its way to advancing comfortably. But when the Saints, all of a sudden, erased that huge lead, the Cardinals started to panic.
For a team that has the overall no.1 seed in the tournament, Louisville struggling this early into the bracket was surprising. And while their fellow no.1 seeds like the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers all took care of business as expected, Louisville struggling against Sienna in round two was surprising, and a reason to be concerned about if you’re a Cardinals fan.
If it wasn’t for Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino challenging his team, they wouldn’t be able to hold on to a 79-72 win. Pitino called a timeout after the Saints made a late rally. He told his team, ‘’you’ve got to prove to yourselves now you’re a great basketball team.’’ Luckily for him, his senior Terrence Williams got the message.
Terrence Williams led the Cardinals to counter…
Miami Heat V Memphis Grizzlies
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Homecourt.
That’s what the Miami Heat have been gunning for lately in the final stretch of the 2009 NBA basketball season. As of this writing, Miami is sitting on 5th place with only four games behind the Hawks who currently have the no.4 seed in the East.
Homecourt advantage is vital to any team’s success in the playoffs. Just ask the Boston Celtics last year. And judging by the way Dwyane Wade has been playing as of late, it certainly looks like Wade knows the job they need to accomplish is as clear as crystal.
Just ask the Detroit Pistons who, thanks to D-Wade, continued their freefall in the Eastern Conference. Yes, the Pistons lost again, losing this time to the Miami Heat, 101-96. And as always, D-Wade was a huge factor.
After initially being listed as doubtful for their tiff with the Pistons, Dwyane Wade scored a game high 39 points. However, Wade’s scoring output wasn’t the story but rather his defense. Wade blocked two shots in the final 22 seconds while Udonis Haslem scored six points in 6.3 seconds to come up with a win over the struggling Pistons.
Detroit led for almost the entire contest and appeared ready to pull within a game of fifth-place Miami. But thanks to Wade and Haslem who desperately want to get that precious homecourt advantage if ever they make it to the 2009 NBA Playoffs, they made sure it didn’t happen.
The Heat will welcome the Memphis Grizzlies next to…
UNC kicks off 2009 March Madness
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
And they have the Radford Highlanders first.
Aside from the fact that North Carolina is the ONLY no.1 seeded team not coming out of the Big East, the Tar Heels are coming in the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament looking to win the national title in Tyler Hansbrough’s last hurrah. Hansbrough has been the face of UNC the last four years and it is only fitting for them to go and win the big one in Hansbrough’s senior year.
But will North Carolina be a good bandwagon to ride on to win a lot of dough until the end of the tournament? Sure, they have Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson but can these guys be enough for UNC to end up with the national title?
No.1 has been a tenuous position atop the polls all year and the North Carolina Tar Heels demonstrated this again last week, when they were dumped by the Florida State Seminoles in the ACC semi-finals. They were beat 73-70, failing to cover as 8.5-point favorites.
While the Tar Heels were hot down the stretch going 16-4 straight up in their last 20 games, they were far from profitable for their backers, as they limped to a 7-13 mark against the spread.
Bettors actually made out okay in the tilt between UNC and Florida State, as the No.1 team in the nation was only getting 54 percent of the betting action at the online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.COM (you just know I had to mention those guys right?) by tip-off. It appears many had this one handicapped right, feeling that was too many points to lay.
SPORTSBETTING.COM reported steady early action flowing in on UNC to win the South Region of the bracket this year, but bettors have been less enthusiastic so far on the Tar Heels to win it all. Perhaps the visions of them dropping that game to the Seminoles is still fresh.
They are still the favorites to cut the…
Your 2009 March Madness Bracket!
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Championship Week is finally over, setting us up for the biggest tournament in college hoops.
In case you didn’t get that, the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament will start things off on March 19, when round one of the 64-team tournament begins. The road for the college basketball national title officially begins and in case you haven’t felt it yet, March Madness is finally here.
The Louisville Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Connecticut Huskies have the Big East on the verge of putting up a huge impact in the tournament as all three teams from the conference are seeded no.1 this March.
The only no.1 seeded team not coming out of the Big East is the North Carolina Tar Heels of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Tar Heels, despite losing in the ACC conference tournament, is seeded no.1 in the South division after securing the ACC regular season title.
The Louisville Cardinals are the top overall seed in the tournament and will play in the Midwest. Although they have fellow Big East rivals like the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers seeded at no.1 in the West and East divisions respectively, Louisville still is the Big East team to beat.
Unlike the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Louisville Cardinals are the only no.1 seeded team to win their conference tournament. And with a basketball genius like Rick Pitino running the team from the sidelines, Louisville will be a tough out in the tournament indeed.
The Duke Blue Devils wound up with the second seed with Pittsburgh in the East division despite winning the ACC tournament, beating the Florida State team the Tar Heels had lost to the day before. But since North Carolina swept Duke in the regular season, no.2 was the best they can do.
The Memphis Tigers got snubbed for…
Can Broncos keep Jay Cutler happy?
Monday, March 16th, 2009
It looks like the transition in the Broncos franchise has not been a smooth one.
And while CHANGE in Denver went to a positive direction as far as the Nuggets are concerned, the same can’t be said of the Broncos coming to the 2009-10 NFL football season.
You see, for those of you who didn’t know, the Denver Broncos tried to acquire Matt Cassel as they shopped starting quarterback Jay Cutler for a willing trading partner. Unfortunately, the Patriots already had a deal with the Chiefs and Cassel ended up moving to Kansas City. That left Denver’s quarterback situation in disarray and now they have a young up and coming star itching to leave.
You can’t really blame Jay Cutler. I mean, after everything you have done for the team, they’re still willing to get rid of you just because a new head coach walks in who feels the quarterback he worked with last season suits better to Denver.
I’m referring to Josh McDaniels, the guy who took over the head coaching job in Denver when Mike Shanahan was let go. He worked under the New England Patriots coaching staff last season when Matt Cassel, the guy he wanted in Denver, was starting in place for the injured Tom Brady.
Now as the new head coach in Denver, it looks like Josh McDaniels has a lot of fixing to do with regards to his starting quarterback.
Apparently, the situation between McDaniels and Jay Cutler has gone from bad to worse. You see, there was a conference call between the disgruntled quarterback and the Broncos management and unfortunately for their fans, NOTHING was worked out.
In the conference call, the Broncos’ brass was…
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