Monday Morning Mehta 3/20/06
Edition # 154
March 20, 2006
After an exciting first weekend of the NCAA tournament, most people still have their brackets in tact as all 4 # 1 seeds, 2 # 2 seeds and 2 # 3 seeds advance to the Sweet 16. This coming weekend is where we separate the contenders from the pretenders though. Let's breakdown the first two rounds and look ahead to the Sweet 16.
Atlanta Bracket (Thursday games - LSU/Duke -6.5 7:10pm EST & West Virg/Texas -5 apprx 9:40pm)
Big upset out of this bracket is Iowa. They blew a big 2nd half lead and Steve Alford's seniors go out on a very sour note after winning the Big 12 tourney. I always try to pick against teams that play average ball most of the season, then get hot and win their conference tournament (see Syracuse also). I don't see too many teams giving Duke a hard time in this bracket, and the West Virginia/Texas matchup should be a great game. Look for Duke to cut down the nets in Atlanta and West Virginia remains my wild card.
Oakland Bracket (Thursday games - Brad/Memphis -7 7:27pm & Gonzaga/UCLA -4 apprx. 9:57pm)
Bradley is the real shocker here. The mid majors deserve a ton of credit for their play in this tournament. Not only do they have 4 teams in the Sweet 16 (I'll count Gonzaga as a mid-major), but they had great performances from many other schools. The Big 10 was the obvious big loser of the tournament. UCLA is probably playing the best basketball of anyone in this bracket, but Memphis has been solid after a shaky 1st half vs. Oral Roberts also. I'll stick with UCLA in this bracket but Gonzaga showed everyone something as they won despite a poor performance by Adam Morrison on Saturday.
Washington Bracket (Friday games GMU/Wich St. Pk 7:27pm & Wash/UConn -6 apprx. 9:57pm)
Michigan St. and North Carolina proved to be pretenders in this bracket. I think UConn & Nova got raw deals, getting Kentucky & Arizona as 8 seeds while Duke got UNC Wilm/GW and Memphis got Arkansas/Bucknell. Those two teams are very talented. UConn just seems to be a team that plays when it feels like. They can easily get burned in one of these next two games, but if they want to play, nobody is beating them. The talent is unreal on that team. UConn cuts down the nets.
Minneapolis Bracket (Friday games Nova -3/BC 7:10pm & GTown/Fla -3 apprx. 9:40pm)
Villanova advances to the Sweet 16 with two victories in which they never were behind at any point. Seems like an easy road, but something just isn't right with this team right now. My key to Nova advancing is the play of Kyle Lowry. If he penetrates and is aggressive as he was for portions of the 2nd half yesterday, this team has legitimate National title hopes. If they depend on Randy Foye and Allan Ray too much, that may cause problems in the next two games. One other note from this bracket, is the play of Georgetown center Roy Hibbert. The guy has been amazing and almost unstoppable. I still have all four of my final four picks alive, and I'm not straying from Villanova. BC might be a bigger team, but the Nova guards will put too much pressure on the BC guards and won't allow Craig Smith and Jared Dudley to get the ball in spots where they can take advantage.
NFL - Eagles
Eagles start off the first week and a half of free agency with not much of a bang. I really like the Darren Howard signing, but he was hurt most of last season and has had some injury questions. But for now, I'll give them credit for that one. After that, they signed a backup QB, a backup TE, a guy who's been a 3rd string WR most of his career, and a cheap starting LB who hasn't done much in 3 seasons. Not exactly moves that are going to propel them back to the Super Bowl. The offensive line needs help, and probably badly. Jon Runyan is close to signing with the Patriots, while Tra Thomas' health is still in question. And since the Eagles made it clear when they went after LeCharles Bentley that they don't like Hank Fraley, that leaves them in really bad shape in what is now considered the 2nd most important position (the OL unit) on the team (after QB).
The signing of Terrell Owens to the Cowboys came as no surprise to anyone. What shocked everyone was how much money Owens got. A $5 million signing bonus and a $5 million salary this season. $10 mill pretty much guaranteed, unless they cut him before the season starts. Owens & Rosenhaus get the last laugh in the end, as they got exactly what they wanted. If you turn your volume on and go to www.terrellowens.com - Owens lets you know how happy he is via song.
Baseball
The World Baseball Classic Final is tonight with Japan facing Cuba. The U.S. team was a big disappointment but the managing is what cost them the most from what I saw. Buck Martinez played an all-star game while all the other countries were playing a playoff game. That being said, I'll be interested in seeing this again next year. The U.S. players complained about not being ready to play, but nobody else is either.
NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser
- Few points from around the league.....This year, the recipient of "The Mike Keenan Award" given out annually to the coach who's yelling and screaming style works initially but eventually his team gets sick of his act and they wind up turning on him is given to Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford. The 'Nucks might miss the playoffs, there's reports of internal strife, and rumors are Todd Bertuzzi wants out because he can't stand Crawford.....Sidney Crosby's reputation for being a punk is growing by leaps and bounds. The latest guy to call him out was Senator Daniel Alfredsson. Last week he called Crosby a "baby" and said he "starts crying" after every hit.....the Bruins have lost 5 in a row including 4 straight after the Samsonov trade. E.J. Hradek wrote on the Worldwide Leaders' website that as far as the Boston papers are concerned the Bruins don't exist, it's all Red Sox all the time.....Speaking of stupid Bruin trades Joe Thorton just took over the overall NHL scoring lead last week.....Martin Brodeur was yanked from back to back games last week. Once while playing the Penguins then against the Islanders.
- Writing for MMM is just like arriving at a strip club right at shift change, timing is everything. Last week I had planned to write a blurb about how impressed I was with the NHL referees and their continued commitment to calling obstruction penalties even as the playoffs are growing near. I had planned to write that blurb but I got caught up with writing my self serving, only funny to me, crap and I forgot it. Well this week I read that the NHL officials are in the midst of negotiating a new 4 year contract. Ahhhh.....NOW I know why the officials are behaving so diligently, they want more dough!! It all makes sense now, look for the officials to sign a new deal and then go back to their usual lazy penalty calling ways down the stretch next year.
- The Flyers beat the Panthers 4 - 0 last Wednesday because, well, because they're the Panthers. The Flyers dominated the Cats at both ends of the ice and for a fleeting moment I thought that maybe the Flyers had gotten their act together. Then they played the Lightning. The Flyers played a sloppy game, taking penalty after penalty after penalty, giving the Lightning a couple of 5 on 3 power plays which the Bolts promptly buried. The Lightning won 6 - 3. The Flyers came back and beat Atlanta 4 - 2 and played well but the thing with beating mediocre teams and bad teams is that they generally don't make the playoffs, even in the NHL, so you have to beat good teams in order to prove that your team is a threat. Right now I'd say priority number one for the Flyers is to win the division. Currently they're two points out. That way they have home ice advantage, at least for a round maybe two, in the playoffs. Plus their first round opponent would be a beatable Devils team and not the dangerous Sabres.
Comments:
saurinmeht@gmail.com
ewwasser@hotmail.com
March 20, 2006
After an exciting first weekend of the NCAA tournament, most people still have their brackets in tact as all 4 # 1 seeds, 2 # 2 seeds and 2 # 3 seeds advance to the Sweet 16. This coming weekend is where we separate the contenders from the pretenders though. Let's breakdown the first two rounds and look ahead to the Sweet 16.
Atlanta Bracket (Thursday games - LSU/Duke -6.5 7:10pm EST & West Virg/Texas -5 apprx 9:40pm)
Big upset out of this bracket is Iowa. They blew a big 2nd half lead and Steve Alford's seniors go out on a very sour note after winning the Big 12 tourney. I always try to pick against teams that play average ball most of the season, then get hot and win their conference tournament (see Syracuse also). I don't see too many teams giving Duke a hard time in this bracket, and the West Virginia/Texas matchup should be a great game. Look for Duke to cut down the nets in Atlanta and West Virginia remains my wild card.
Oakland Bracket (Thursday games - Brad/Memphis -7 7:27pm & Gonzaga/UCLA -4 apprx. 9:57pm)
Bradley is the real shocker here. The mid majors deserve a ton of credit for their play in this tournament. Not only do they have 4 teams in the Sweet 16 (I'll count Gonzaga as a mid-major), but they had great performances from many other schools. The Big 10 was the obvious big loser of the tournament. UCLA is probably playing the best basketball of anyone in this bracket, but Memphis has been solid after a shaky 1st half vs. Oral Roberts also. I'll stick with UCLA in this bracket but Gonzaga showed everyone something as they won despite a poor performance by Adam Morrison on Saturday.
Washington Bracket (Friday games GMU/Wich St. Pk 7:27pm & Wash/UConn -6 apprx. 9:57pm)
Michigan St. and North Carolina proved to be pretenders in this bracket. I think UConn & Nova got raw deals, getting Kentucky & Arizona as 8 seeds while Duke got UNC Wilm/GW and Memphis got Arkansas/Bucknell. Those two teams are very talented. UConn just seems to be a team that plays when it feels like. They can easily get burned in one of these next two games, but if they want to play, nobody is beating them. The talent is unreal on that team. UConn cuts down the nets.
Minneapolis Bracket (Friday games Nova -3/BC 7:10pm & GTown/Fla -3 apprx. 9:40pm)
Villanova advances to the Sweet 16 with two victories in which they never were behind at any point. Seems like an easy road, but something just isn't right with this team right now. My key to Nova advancing is the play of Kyle Lowry. If he penetrates and is aggressive as he was for portions of the 2nd half yesterday, this team has legitimate National title hopes. If they depend on Randy Foye and Allan Ray too much, that may cause problems in the next two games. One other note from this bracket, is the play of Georgetown center Roy Hibbert. The guy has been amazing and almost unstoppable. I still have all four of my final four picks alive, and I'm not straying from Villanova. BC might be a bigger team, but the Nova guards will put too much pressure on the BC guards and won't allow Craig Smith and Jared Dudley to get the ball in spots where they can take advantage.
NFL - Eagles
Eagles start off the first week and a half of free agency with not much of a bang. I really like the Darren Howard signing, but he was hurt most of last season and has had some injury questions. But for now, I'll give them credit for that one. After that, they signed a backup QB, a backup TE, a guy who's been a 3rd string WR most of his career, and a cheap starting LB who hasn't done much in 3 seasons. Not exactly moves that are going to propel them back to the Super Bowl. The offensive line needs help, and probably badly. Jon Runyan is close to signing with the Patriots, while Tra Thomas' health is still in question. And since the Eagles made it clear when they went after LeCharles Bentley that they don't like Hank Fraley, that leaves them in really bad shape in what is now considered the 2nd most important position (the OL unit) on the team (after QB).
The signing of Terrell Owens to the Cowboys came as no surprise to anyone. What shocked everyone was how much money Owens got. A $5 million signing bonus and a $5 million salary this season. $10 mill pretty much guaranteed, unless they cut him before the season starts. Owens & Rosenhaus get the last laugh in the end, as they got exactly what they wanted. If you turn your volume on and go to www.terrellowens.com - Owens lets you know how happy he is via song.
Baseball
The World Baseball Classic Final is tonight with Japan facing Cuba. The U.S. team was a big disappointment but the managing is what cost them the most from what I saw. Buck Martinez played an all-star game while all the other countries were playing a playoff game. That being said, I'll be interested in seeing this again next year. The U.S. players complained about not being ready to play, but nobody else is either.
NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser
- Few points from around the league.....This year, the recipient of "The Mike Keenan Award" given out annually to the coach who's yelling and screaming style works initially but eventually his team gets sick of his act and they wind up turning on him is given to Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford. The 'Nucks might miss the playoffs, there's reports of internal strife, and rumors are Todd Bertuzzi wants out because he can't stand Crawford.....Sidney Crosby's reputation for being a punk is growing by leaps and bounds. The latest guy to call him out was Senator Daniel Alfredsson. Last week he called Crosby a "baby" and said he "starts crying" after every hit.....the Bruins have lost 5 in a row including 4 straight after the Samsonov trade. E.J. Hradek wrote on the Worldwide Leaders' website that as far as the Boston papers are concerned the Bruins don't exist, it's all Red Sox all the time.....Speaking of stupid Bruin trades Joe Thorton just took over the overall NHL scoring lead last week.....Martin Brodeur was yanked from back to back games last week. Once while playing the Penguins then against the Islanders.
- Writing for MMM is just like arriving at a strip club right at shift change, timing is everything. Last week I had planned to write a blurb about how impressed I was with the NHL referees and their continued commitment to calling obstruction penalties even as the playoffs are growing near. I had planned to write that blurb but I got caught up with writing my self serving, only funny to me, crap and I forgot it. Well this week I read that the NHL officials are in the midst of negotiating a new 4 year contract. Ahhhh.....NOW I know why the officials are behaving so diligently, they want more dough!! It all makes sense now, look for the officials to sign a new deal and then go back to their usual lazy penalty calling ways down the stretch next year.
- The Flyers beat the Panthers 4 - 0 last Wednesday because, well, because they're the Panthers. The Flyers dominated the Cats at both ends of the ice and for a fleeting moment I thought that maybe the Flyers had gotten their act together. Then they played the Lightning. The Flyers played a sloppy game, taking penalty after penalty after penalty, giving the Lightning a couple of 5 on 3 power plays which the Bolts promptly buried. The Lightning won 6 - 3. The Flyers came back and beat Atlanta 4 - 2 and played well but the thing with beating mediocre teams and bad teams is that they generally don't make the playoffs, even in the NHL, so you have to beat good teams in order to prove that your team is a threat. Right now I'd say priority number one for the Flyers is to win the division. Currently they're two points out. That way they have home ice advantage, at least for a round maybe two, in the playoffs. Plus their first round opponent would be a beatable Devils team and not the dangerous Sabres.
Comments:
saurinmeht@gmail.com
ewwasser@hotmail.com
posted by Monday Morning Mehta at 10:37 AM
1 Comments:
Staples got their money's worth on my BRACKET BREAKERS. They renewed their contract for another 5 years.
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