Hey there guys,
Yesterday was an iffy kind of day for me. Picks wise I mean. Other than that it was pretty god. Slept for a Giant majority of it. But I digress. In the SEC I went 0-1 as Florida fell just short of taking down Vanderbilt 60-64, in the NBA I went 4-0 as the Heat took hold of the 8th spot of the playoffs with a 4 point win over the Warriors behind Miami's 35 points and 12 assists, and Oklahoma City defeated Sacramento behind the double-doubles of the Thunders two young stars, Kevin Durant (39pts 10rbs) and Russell Westbrook (30pts 13ast). In the NHL I went 7-5 as Blake Comeau's hat trick propelled the Islanders to upset the Blackhawks, Justin Peters stopped 32 shots as the Hurricanes took down the Maple Leafs up in Toronto, and Jonathan Quick knocked down 31 shots as the Kings upset the Stars in Dallas. I really only have one thing I feel like talking about today, and that is Football, so I'll discuss the who the Rams should take as the first pick in the draft, and which young QB I would want to lead my team. Today has some pretty solid SEC games as Alabama tries to stop their offensive woes at South Carolina, Arkansas heads to Tennessee, Miss State keeps fighting for their NCAA life as they head to Auburn, and Kentucky looks to rebound from their second loss of the season (both on the road) at Georgia (upset Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.) In the NBA there are some pretty good games as well as Detroit heads to New York for a low marquee game but what should be a fun game to watch, Memphis heads to New Orleans as both battle for playoff spots, and Oklahoma City, a better road team than home team, heads to Denver to take on the struggling Nuggets. Should be fun to watch. In the NHL we get to see the return of Alexander Ovechkin and Ryan Miller as both play in their first game back from the Olympics as the Capitals take on the Sabres in Buffalo and the Flyers take on the Panthers in Florida in what should be a pretty good game. Hope you guys enjoy.
My Thoughts.....
-NFL, Ram's First Pick, Young QBs, and Orlando Pace
There has been a lot of speculation in recent days as to who the St. Louis Rams should pick with the first pick of the NFL Draft. And while I keep hearing from talking heads in the Media that they are going to go with Ndamakong Suh, and the Rams keep saying that they are going to take the best player available, and the "experts" saying that they are going to take Gerald McCoy, I really believe they are going to take a Quarterback. Mark Bulger has essentially cleaned out his locker and the Rams aren't necessarily hurting at DT. Oh and by the way I want you to think of the dominant defensive tackles and tell me the last time one of them lead his team to a championship? How many Super Bowl rings did Cortez Kennedy get in the 90's during a more run oriented NFL? The Seahawks never won more than 10 games during his 11 year career. How many rings does Albert Haynesworth have? Ole Albert here was apart of some winning teams in Tennessee, but the Titans never went to the Super Bowl while Haynesworth was apart of the team. How about the Williams brothers (not related) in Minnesota? Those are two very good defensive tackles that START together and, again, no Super Bowl appearances. Look at the consistantly good teams over the past few seasons, Dallas, Indianapolis, New England, Philadelphia, and just recently the New Orleans Saints and the Arizona Cardinals. They all have great QBs. Romo, Manning, Brady, McNabb, Brees, and Warner. The Vikings experienced a lovely resurgence because of Brett Favre. Great Quarterbacks are what will turn around your team. A good YOUNG QB can also accelerate the rebuilding process. The Ravens went to the playoffs 1 time from 2004-2007. Joe Flacco has been in the NFL two years. The Ravens have gone to the playoffs both of those years. Hell the Ravens, since their Super Bowl win in the 2000 season, went to the playoffs 3 times before Flacco got there, and they were a grand total of 1-3 in those 4 playoff games. Joe Flacco is 3-2 in two years. St. Louis, if you care about turning around your program then listen to me, DRAFT A QUARTERBACK. And I say go with Sam Bradford. I will give you more reasons in my upcoming draft rankings but I really like Bradfords talent. Facts are that both Quarterbacks were surrounded by 4-5 star talent during the entire career and Bradford won games, and went to big time bowl games, while Clausen enjoyed one bowl game, THE HAWAII BOWL. That is it. Both played in passing offenses as well. I have to think that Bradford is the better quarterback here. Think St. Louis. Think.
Speaking of young Quarterbacks lets have a look at the top 2 quarterbacks in each of the past 3 drafts, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, and Jimmy Clausen. I'm going to quickly rank them, worst to first, and why:
6 - Jimmy Clausen - Talent all around him, and yet he only went to one bowl game, the Hawaii bowl. He had the benefit of two great receivers, including the best receiver in the country last season in Golden Tate. Not to mention I have to question how mature this kid is. He reminds me alot of Ryan Leaf, talent aplenty, yet is too messed up in the head. The talent is there but I have to look elsewhere.
5 - Mark Sanchez - Yeah he's a talented Quarterback, but I wonder how much of the NY Jets this past season was him or was it the #1 rushing offense and #1 defense, in the NFL. Mark Sanchez threw for over 200 yards only as many times as his QB ranking was less than 50! (4 times). I think he greatly overhyped, but we will see in the coming seasons.
4 - Sam Bradford - Great Talent, but full of himself. Once asked if there was anything he wasn't good at, Bradford replied with "No." With a serious face. After being injured and hearing that his season was over, Bradford did not talk about his team, but instead kept wondering why this was happening to him. When asked about his team, he replied with more "why is this happening to me" questions and then said he was going to go to the NFL after the season. Still a great Quarterback.
3 - Matthew Stafford - Just as you have to wonder how much of the success of the Jets was on Mark Sanchez, you have to wonder how much of the Lions failure was on Matthew Stafford. They have virtually the same numbers (Sanchez 53.8% 12td-20int 63.0passrat, Stafford 53.3% 13td-20int 61.0passrat) and Sanchez won 9 games while Stafford won 2. What I like the most about Stafford is willingness to play hurt if it means he can still help his team win a game.
2 - Joe Flacco - as previously mentioned before the 2nd year quarterback out of Delaware has lead his Ravens to the playoffs in both of his season as QB. Oh and by the way that 3-2 playoff record as a starter, all 5 of those games were on the road. In the Playoffs. Yeah. I would have him #1 if he hadn't struggled for a short period of time this past season.
1 - Matt Ryan - Matty Ice as they like to call him as show tremendous skills as a QB and I think that the Falcons are a couple of good drafts as away from being an elite team with Ryan leading the way.
My last thought on the NFL is going to be about Orlando Pace. He is a Hall of Famer. He was cut by the Bears this past season, but after spending 12 seasons with the Rams, in which he made the Pro Bowl 7 times, 3 times as a starter, and has one Super Bowl ring, I really think that Pace is a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate.
My Picks.....
SEC Men's Basketball
Alabama 14-14 (4-10) @ South Carolina 14-14 (5-9)
6:00 PM
ESPNU
Line: SC -3
Players to Watch: Bama G Mikhail Torrance 15.5ppg 5.1apg 0.8spg, Bama F JaMychal Green 14.8ppg 7.2rpg 1.7bpg, SC G Devan Downey 22.5ppg 3.6apg 2.8spg
Preview: The coldest team in the SEC (Bama) gets to go on the road to face the one man team (SC). Now I love how Anthony Grant is building the Crimson Tide, defense first. But he has yet to find a real offense for this team. This is the worst offensive team in the SEC. This may be the game though where they might be able to get into an offensive rhythm, granted this is the second to last game of the season. South Carolina is one of, if not the, worst defense in the SEC. But they have Devan Downey. And Devan Downey is ridiculous.
South Carolina by 8
Arkansas 14-15 (7-7) @ #16/#13 Tennessee 21-7 (9-5)
6:00 PM
ESPN 360
Line: Tenn -11.5
Players to Watch: Ark G Rotnei Clarke 15.ppg 8 1.2apg 1.1spg, Tenn G Bobby Maze 9.4ppg 3.2apg 0.7spg
Preview: Arkansas has not been playing that great as of recent, and Tennessee is coming off an upset of Kentucky. I like Tennessee to win this one, and without much of a hangover, essentially because they can still fight for a higher and higher seed in the NCAA Tournament and a loss here would kill that.
Tennessee by 21
Mississippi State 21-8 (9-5) @ Auburn 14-15 (5-9)
7:00 PM
ESPN 360
Line: MSU -2
Players to Watch: MSU G Dee Bost 12.5ppg 5.2apg 1.2spg, MSU F Jarvis Varnado 13.5ppg 10.9rpg 4.9bpg, Aub G DeWayne Reed 16.0ppg 4.3apg 1.4spg, Aub F Lucas Hargrove 13.1ppg 7.0rpg 0.4bpg
Preview: This should be fun to watch in the rematch of 3-point only offenses. The big difference here is that Mississippi State has Jarvis Varnado, and despite the decent play of Lucas Hargrove, he will not be much against the NCAA's all time leading shot blocker.
Mississippi State by 6
#3/#3 Kentucky 27-2 (12-2) @ Georgia 13-14 (5-9)
7:00 PM
ESPN 360
Line: Kent -8
Players to Watch: Kent G John Wall 16.8ppg 6.2apg 1.8spg, Kent F DeMarcus Cousins 16.2ppg 10.3rpg 1.7bpg, Kent F Patrick Patterson 14.9ppg 7.6rpg 1.2bpg, UGA G Dustin Ware 8.3ppg 3.4apg 1.0spg, UGA F Trey Thompkins 17.9ppg 8.1rpg 1.1ppg
Preview: Georgia has a knack for upsetting teams at home and they played Kentucky close in their last meetin OH! and Kentucky lost this past weekend against Tennessee! All that said I think Kentucky will play this game with a chip on their shoulder. Kentucky big.
Kentucky by 10
NBA
*Game of the Day*
thunder @ NUGGETS (-7.5) by 1
The Rest:
76ers @ HAWKS (-8.5) by 12
warriors @ MAGIC (-15) by 16
bobcats @ CELTICS (-4.5) by 7
CAVALIERS (-9.5) by 20 @ nets
pistons @ KNICKS (-3.5) by 1
grizzlies @ HORNETS (-1.5) by 3
wizards @ BUCKS (-10) by 7
timberwolves @ MAVERICKS (-14) by 19
kings @ ROCKETS (-7) by 6
pacers @ TRAIL BLAZERS (-8.5) by 24
SUNS (-3) by 6 @ clippers
NHL
CAPITALS @ sabres
CANUCKS @ red wings <-----UPSET
FLYERS @ panthers
oilers @ BLACKHAWKS
wild @ FLAMES
avalanche @ DUCKS
Alright guys just let me know what you think, if you have any ideas or questions just let me know.
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