Final Four 2012

NFL Week 1 Predictions

Hey world!!! I know I haven’t blogged about anything in awhile but I’m starting up again. I was gone for the summer and never had a chance to write about anything. Now that I’m at school I have some extra time to spare.

Since the NFL starts tomorrow with the Packers vs. the Saints, I’m going to give you my predictions for all the week one games. So make some bets and win some money!!

New Orleans Saints vs. Green bay Packers

This is defiantly a great way to start out the season. The past two champions will battle it out. The is without a doubt the game of the week. Both teams have a high powered offense and that will make this game pretty high scoring. The Packers will still be hot and they have my pick this week. They have a better defense and they still have the momentum from winning the super bowl.

Packers win 34-24.

Detroit Lions vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Detroit went 4-0 in the preseason and they will continue to win as long as Stafford doesn’t get injured. Lions win 28-13.

Atlanta Falcons vs. Chicago Bears

The Falcons are the team to watch out for this season. I’m expecting a big year for Matt Ryan and the team. Falcons win.

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns                                                                                            

This is a match-up of two not good teams. The Bengals don’t really have a quarterback or a defense and the Browns; well the Browns just aren’t good. This isn’t going to be the most exciting game to watch but I’m going to go with the Browns winning this one.

Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs

This is a easy prediction. The Bills are pretty terrible. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is starting and you never know what to expect from him. The Chiefs are on the rise, Matt Cassel is starting, Dwayne Bowe is receiving and Jamaal Charles is running. Expect this one to be a blowout. Chiefs win easily.

Philadelphia Eagles vs. St. Louis Rams

The eagles added a bunch of good players to their team. Michael Vick is healthy and is geared up for another monster season. Eagles win.

Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Well, Matt Hasselbeck is the starting QB for the Titans and Luck McCown is starting for the Jags. I can’t imagine this game being close but you never know. Chris Johnson will run all over the Jags with ease. Titans win.

Pittsburg Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens

Now this game has defense written all over it. The Steelers and the Ravens have a great history against each other. The Ravens lost to the Steelers in the playoffs last year and they want revenge and they just might get it. Expect this to be a close one but I still have the Steelers winning this one.

Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans

With Peyton Manning not playing this will make this pick that much easier. Texans win.

Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals

I’m not a big fan of Cam Newton or Kevin Kolb. I’m not really sure who will win but expect a lot of turnovers on both sides. I’m going to go with the Cardinals winning this one based on their offensives players.

Minnesota Vikings vs. San Diego Chargers

Now that McNabb is on the Viking, the Vikings actually have a shot. They still have the best running back in the game in Adrian Peterson. They don’t have many receivers but they don’t need any. San Diego always seems to have a good season but they can just never make it through the playoffs. I’m going to go with the upset on this one and pick the Vikings to pull it out.

Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers

Both teams are not the most exciting teams to watch but I have the 49ers winning this one quite easily.

New York Giants vs. Washington Redskins

This one is simple. Redskins are terrible and the Giants aren't Giants win.

Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Jets

This is a very interesting game. Romo is back from his injury, and is looking to have a breakout season. The Jets are primed to go deep this year. They have one of the better defenses in the league. They brought in Plexico for some depth in the wide receiver category. Jets win this one.

New England Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins

For some reason whenever Miami plays the Patriots they always seem to play very good and they beat them sometimes too. But not this time. Patriots win.

Oakland Raiders vs. Denver Broncos

For some strange reason I’m feeling the Raiders on this one, so I’m going to go with the upset and say Raiders win.

NCAA National Championship Game

So tonight at 9:23pm the NCAA Tournament will come to a close and a champion will be crowned.  On one side is the Butler Bulldogs, the so-called underdog even though they were in the national championship game last year. On the other side is the Connecticut Huskies, who have never lost in tournament play this year. It looks to be a great game

The Connecticut Huskies has one of the best players in the college basketball, Kemba Walker. Kemba should be the NCAA player of the year but that award ended up going to BYU Guard, Jimmer Fredette. The Huskies coach Jim Calhoun is going for his 3^rd national championship and if he wins he will become the fifth coach in history to win three titles.

Butler on the other hand will be looking for their first NCAA championship in basketball since 1929, which is before the tournament began. Butler was the runner-up to Duke last year, so they will be looking to get to that next level and win. Just for Butler to be back there in back-to-back years is remarkable considering they are a mid-major school that doesn’t have the money or recruitment resources to get big name players from high school.

In this game I have UConn winning. I had UConn winning in my bracket so I am going to stick with them. UConn is bigger and faster than Butler but I think Butler will be able to control the flow of this game but I don’t think they have an answer for Kemba Walker or freshman sensation Jeremy Lamb. If Butler does win, it will be a great story for college basketball. Butlers coach, Brad Stevens, who is only 33 will be able to coach at any college he wants but he will probably stay with Butler.

UConn wins 67-60

Weekend Wrap-Up

So the weekend festivities are over and by that I mean the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament have been complete. There were a few big upsets in the first three rounds and a number one seed has fallen.  Pittsburg lost to the number eight seed Butler. I was very surprised that they lost but I was surprised at how they lost. Pittsburg lost with no time left to a Butler free throw. If I was one of those refs I would have never called that foul and just let the game go into over time, but I guess that’s why I am not a ref. I had Pittsburg going to the Elite Eight but it looks like that’s not gonna happen.

Another big upset was Virginia Commonwealth. You might be asking yourself who in the world is Virginia Commonwealth, but don’t ask me cause I have no idea just like you. VCU beat Georgetown and Purdue. Beating Georgetown wasn’t as big of an upset as Purdue. I almost put Purdue in my Final Four but VCU blew them out and now VCU is on its way to play Florida St in the Sweet Sixteen. An 11^th seed versus a 10^th seed in the sweet sixteen, I love it.

Other than those upsets nothing too crazy happened.  Syracuse did lose to Marquette, which was a little surprising in my mind, but Marquette has a good basketball squad.

As for the number one seed in the whole tournament, well let’s just say their doing just fine with blowout wins against both UTSA and George Mason. Now they get to play Kentucky, which will be a good game but I have Ohio St winning that game as well.

As for my Finial Four picks, their all still in. In the East region I have Ohio St. In the West region I have the Connecticut Huskies, led by player of the year Kemba Walker. In the Southwest region I have Kansas beating either VCU or Florida State to play against the Southeast region champ Brigham Young University. 

Tournament Time

Since the brackets came out last night I have been putting my picks together to try to make the perfect bracket. First of all there were a few snubs that didn’t get in the tournament. Colorado defiantly should have made the tournament. They beat Kansas State three times; they also beat Texas and Missouri. Another team that didn’t get in that should have is Virginia Tech. Their big win came against Duke. Every other team that beat Duke made the tournament. They also have a win against Penn State. 

Now lets talk about the Tournament and the East Region.

Ohio St has the hardest road to the Final Four. Them being the number one seed in the tournament should have given them an easier road but not in this case. In the east there is North Carolina, Syracuse, Kentucky, Washington, and George Mason.  I have one upset in the East and that is Marquette over Xavier. Kentucky is the team to look out for in the East, it is very possible for them to pull the upset over Ohio St. Overall I have Ohio St winning against North Carolina to make it to the Final Four.

The West Region

Duke is the number one seed, which is well deserved. They destroyed North Carolina in the ACC Championship and they will be looking to do the same thing in the West. I have a couple upsets in the first round in the West region. I have Oakland over Texas and Penn State over Temple. Oakland has a very good team and they have a seven footer, who is bound to go to the NBA, Keith Benson. It will be a high scoring game and it will be one of the biggest upsets of the tournament.  In this region I have UConn winning and beating Duke in the Elite eight to go to the Final Four. Kemba Walker is the National Player of the Year, and he has been virtually unstoppable. He can create his own shot and he can take over a game when he was too.

The Southwest Region

Kansas has a tough road. Their first round game against Boston University is going to be a shootout. Kansas has been upset in the first round in the past and it will be interesting to see how Kansas does against BU So look out for the upset. Georgetown could be the sleeper in this region. They have some big wins against Missouri, Memphis, Louisville, Villanova, and Syracuse. Don’t be surprised if Georgetown goes far in the Southwest Region. In the first round I don’t have any upsets but I do have Illinois over UNLV. Purdue is another team to watch out for. They have a very good team and the Big Ten Player of the Year, JaJuan Johnson. I have Purdue going to the Semi-Finals in the southwest against Kansas. But I think Kansas has the experience and the players to win that game.

Southeast Region

Now Pittsburgh has the easiest road to the Final Four out of all of the number one seeds. Florida is the number two seed, which is not deserved. They are a very overrated team. They have losses to Kentucky and Ohio and overall they had an easy schedule during the season. The first round upsets I have in this region are Belmont over Wisconsin and Michigan State over UCLA. I don’t think Wisconsin will be over to get over their loss against Penn State, where they scored a pathetic 33 points. Also Michigan State has Tom Izzo, who is one of the best Tournament coaches ever. If Kalin Lucas is healthy and plays up to his potential MSU should win. BYU and Jimmer should get the job done in their first couple games but I have them losing to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh going to the Final Four.

My Final Four picks are Ohio State, UConn, Pittsburgh and Kansas. I will post my winner in my next update so stay tuned!

The Big Trades

So Carmelo Anthony finally got his wish, to be a New York Knick.  He was born in Brooklyn and played at Syracuse University. So it was just a matter of time until he was back playing in New York. The trade also included Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. Chauncey Billups is going to be the most important player in this trade other than Melo. Billups is an NBA champion and a veteran. He knows how to win and that is what the Knicks are going to need to learn. The Knicks gave up a lot in order to get this trade done. They traded Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick and also 3 million dollars in cash. The Nuggets got a lot younger with this trade but their future is uncertain right now.

During their first game together, the Knicks won.  Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds. Chauncey Billups scored 21, with 8 assits and 6 rebounds. The game was against Bucks so it wasn’t much of a test for the Knicks. The Knicks play Miami on Sunday, February 27 so that will be a great game to show what the Knicks are made of.

Another surprising trade that happened this morning was Deron Williams being traded to the New Jersey Nets. Nobody saw this trade coming, not even Deron Williams. He found out he was traded watching SportscCenter.  Utah received Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, two first-round draft picks and cash. This isn’t too bad of a trade for Utah. They get Devin Harris, who has been to the All-Star game was a point guard and Derrick Favors is a very young player with loads of potential.

The Nets brought in Deron Williams for the sole purpose of getting a big name player to sign with them in the offseason. Possibly Dwight Howard. Deron Willams is one of the best point guards in the league and a lot of players would love to play with him. The Bobcats were also interested in trading for Deron Williams but the Nets beat them to the punch. Deron Williams will defiantly help improve the Nets but they are still pretty bad. The Nets are looking toward the future and this is a good way to start.

Super-Bowl XLV

Its that time of the year again. Super-bowl time. Everyone around the world will gather around his or her televisions to watch the biggest sporting event of the year.  Get your chicken wings ready, and get you’re beer nice and cold because it’s going to be one hell of a game.

Kick-off is at 6:29pm at the billion-dollar Cowboy Stadium. The Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburg Steelers are two great franchises. The Vince Lombardi Trophy is obviously named after the great coach of the Packers and the Steelers have won six NFL championships.

The Steelers have the experience.  The Packers have Aaron Rodgers. Who will win? I do not know. Personally I am not a very big fan of the Pittsburg Steelers but they are a great game. They have been there before and if they win they become a dynasty, winning three championships in the last six years. The Steelers won in 2005 and in 2008. The Steelers have the better defense but not the better offense. The Packers have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, Aaron Rodgers. In Super-Bowl XLV, I can’t imagine the Packers running the ball a whole lot. They will air it out and put the ball in the hands of their quarterback. Both teams have great defenses. Pittsburg has the Defensive Player of the Year, which is Troy Polamalu. The Steelers also have the hardest hitting linebacker in the game, which is James Harrison. The Packers have the great young linebacker, Clay Matthews and the experienced cornerback in Charles Woodson. Both teams are very evenly matched, so it will be very hard to pick a winner. I believe its time for the Championship Trophy to go back home. If Aaron Rodgers has a great game, the Packers will win. The Packers offense is very explosive and versatile; it is going to be hard to stop them. Now don’t get me wrong, I will not be surprised if the Steelers win, but I think it’s the Packers time to win.

Packers win Super bowl XLV 31-24.