The Waiting Game

The Buckeye Nation has to patiently sit, wait and hope that the Oklahoma Sooners can knock off #1 Missouri in the Big XII Championship game on Saturday. If Mizzou can knock off the Sooners, they're headed to New Orleans to compete for the National title likely against #2 West Virginia. The Mountaineers are playing Pittsburgh, coached by Dave Wannstedt. Um, I think I've said enough about how badly the 'Neers are going to beat up on Pitt (even though it's a big rivalry game, but c'mon WVU are a Pat White injury away from blowing out each and every team in the Big (L)East).

As you can probably tell from the previous sentence, I think the Big East is the most overrated, overblown conference in recent history. Do people really think the Big East is that good? I'm not saying the Big Ten is any good, because its not. Connecticut is probably the second best team in their conference. Do you think UConn can go toe to toe with Michigan or Illinois? I doubt it. Neither could South Florida, Louisville or Rutgers.

Is this me making fun of West Virginia's accomplishments over the past season? Absolutely not. West Virginia might just be the best team in the nation. Not LSU, not USC, not anyone else. The trio of QB Pat White, RB Steve Slaton and WR Darius Raynaud is as good as you get. Can any defense shut these guys down? WVU seem to be on a mission towards New Orleans and at this point, no one in the Big East is going to stop them.

Could the Buckeye defense do it? History says no. Florida manhandled Ohio State with a spread offense in last year's BCS title game and the Fightin' Illini knocked off the Bucks 28-21 in the Horseshoe using a spread. Cincinnati almost ended the Mountaineers title hopes in a 28-23 Mountaineer victory and pending a Oklahoma win, I expect Coach Tressel to watch that film once or twice. WVU's offense is obviously great. White and Slaton have never faced a defense with as much talent on it as the Buckeyes have. If the front four could eat up the WVU linemen and let Laurianitis and Freeman roam free, it could potentially be a great matchup for the Buckeyes. I, however was hoping for a WVU upset and LSU to roll into New Orleans. I wanted no part of the Pat White and the spread and wanted everything to do with Matt Flynn (who's bad) and LSU's dynamic rushing attack.

If Mizzou does beat Oklahoma, then Ohio State will be headed to where all Buckeye fans thought we'd be heading on November 17th and that's the Rose Bowl. Quite the consolation prize, huh? If USC hammers UCLA (and if Mizzou wins, I hope they do), the nation better get ready for three straight years of Ohio State Vs. USC talk. The Buckeyes and Trojans are playing a home and home series starting next season in LA (really looking forward to a junior Chris "Beanie" Wells against a most likely vaunted USC defensive front). There would be no better way to end the season for Coach Tressel (except for winning the BCS title of course) then winning the potential "Who's the #1 team in the land next year?" game in the most prestigious bowl, the Rose Bowl.

Not to toot my own horn or anything (oh, who am I kidding? I made this thing so my predictions can be posted somewhere) but it seems I was right in my Ohio State preseason prediction when all of the experts were riding the Michigan and Wisconsin bandwagons real hard. As I posted in this blog, anything less then the BCS would be a huge disappointment, with an enitrely possible shot of the BCS title (I thought it would take a 12-0 record to get there, but I think the Bucks will take what they can get). People need to realize that Coach Tressel has put a stranglehold on the Big Ten. As Michigan prestiege slowly dwindles by disappointing season after disappointing season, the Buckeyes are glad to take over the reins as the most dominant team in the conference.

So, this Saturday I'll be watching the West Virginia/Pittsburgh and Missouri/Oklahoma rooting hard for Pitt and OU. Maybe in the long run it will be better for the Buckeyes for both teams to win, maybe it won't. Maybe not making a trip to New Orleans will inspire Vernon Gholston, Malcolm Jenkins, James Laurianitis and Brian Robiskie (rumor around OSU campus is that Gholston, Jenkins and Robiskie are near locks to enter the draft) to return to school for their senior seasons. Here's to hoping that the seniors, like Kirk Barton who could have left for the NFL draft, can go out as not only Big Ten champions, but also National Champions.

NBA Western Conference Preview

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2007-08 NBA Sleeper Team of the Year, The Memphis Grizzlies! Believe it or not, but this team all of a sudden has the potential to be a very good team. Remember they made their first playoff appearance two years ago thanks mostly in part to Pau Gasol. All of a sudden, this roster is really deep. Here's a quick run through...

C/PF: Pau Gasol, Darko Milicic, Stromile Swift, Andre Brown, Brian Cardinal, Hakim Warrick
SF/SG: Rudy Gay, Mike Miller, Tarence Kinsey, Juan Carlos Navarro, Casey Jacobsen
PG: Damon Stoudamire, Kyle Lowry, Mike Conley Jr.

Throw this roster on the court to play "Phoenix Suns" style basketball and I'll give you a potential 6-8 seed in the playoffs. This roster is very well put together for the first year of this uptempo offense with new head coach Marc Iavaroni they should be a ton of fun to watch. I've always wanted to see one of my favorite collegiate players of all-time in Hakim Warrick play the Boris Diaw role and my wish might have been granted.

The reason of the success of this team will come through the point guard play. The Grizz have a great trio right now with a proven veteran in Damon Stoudamire, a 2nd year guy in Kyle Lowry(although he only played in 10 games due to injury), and the #4 pick in the NBA draft and my favorite college player from last year in Mike Conley Jr. Life will be made easy for whatever point guard is on the court with an array of weapons. In the post, it's one of the most reliable and underrated players in the Association in Pau Gasol. If you want to drive and kick to a shooter, you have Mike Miller (or Casey Jacobsen if he gets PT). You have athleticism all over the court with Hakim Warrick, Stromile Swift and Rudy Gay leading the way.

What might be the biggest addition to the Memphis roster is Gasol's Spaniard buddy, Juan Carlos Navarro. "La Bombas" adds an explosive scorer to the Memphis arsenal that might have head too much athleticism last year and not enough players with real skill. With Navarro, came comfort for Pau Gasol, which will add keep the all-star in Memphis (almost traded to the Bulls during the season and off-season).

You can expect to see the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs this season as a 6-8 seed thanks to Coach Iavaroni, Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, whatever point guard breaks out and yes, Darko Milicic.

Western Conference Contenders

The Cream of the Crop:
San Antonio Spurs-The best team in the Association. Not much has to be said about the Spurs. Tim Duncan leads the way with his right hand men Tony Parker-Longoria and Manu Ginobili. Watch Ime Udoka grow before our eyes into the next Bruce Bowen thanks to Bowen himself and the best coach in the Association (that includes Phil Jackson) in Greg Popovich. They might not leave the season as the one seed, but once no one will want to face this team come playoffs.

Dallas Mavericks-Can the Mavs get it together after their playoff meltdown against the Golden State Warriors? My guess is Dirk Nowitzki is going to come back better than ever and on a mission to show the league that the playoffs were a fluke. Returning the corp of their 67 win team with only a few additions, mainly second round rookies. If this team can play with a chip on their shoulder, they could return to the NBA Finals. If not, look for the Spurs or Suns to send the Mavs packing in the second round.

Phoenix Suns-I don't understand the moves that rookie general manager Steve Kerr made. When he traded Kurt Thomas I thought he must have a move up his sleeve to deal the only man on the roster who can remotely guard Tim Duncan. Turns out I was wrong. The Suns big man currently consist of Amare Stoudemire (great player, but can't slowdown Duncan), Boris Diaw, Sean Marks and Brian Skinner. Sure, Shawn Marion can guard some bigs, but without someone to guard Tim Duncan, can they really beat the Spurs? Can they stick around with a healthy Yao or Dirk? With the current state of this roster, you'll probably need a superhuman effort by Steve Nash to bring Phoenix the title. With that said, I wouldn't bet against an angry Suns team in the playoffs.

Denver Nuggets-This team all depends on how Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson have progressed as teammates. If they have learned to play together, you might have the highest scoring team in the league. A lot of experts are jumping on this team as potential Western Conference champions. With Melo, AI and Marcus Camby as their big three they also have J.R. Smith, Nene, Kenyon Martin (if hes healthy), Eduardo Najera, Chucky Atkins and Linas Kleiza helping them out. I see them as fifth best in the West behind the Spurs, Suns, Jazz and Mavericks, just ahead of the Rockets.

Utah Jazz-Love this team. They're probably still a little young and not quite as good as the Big 3. However, this team is a very good one as displayed in the playoffs last year. Led by Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, this is one of the more talented teams in the league. I think life will be easier on Williams this season as Ronnie Brewer should come into his own and rookie Morris Almond will help stretch the floor and fill a shooting role for the Jazz. There is a sticky situation with Andrei Kirilenko who is butting heads with head coach Jerry Sloan and Jazz management. A trade could be coming soon, but the Jazz won't trade him without good value in return.

The Pretender:
Houston Rockets-This team looks great on paper. With a roster that includes Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Luis Scola, Shane Battier, Steve Francis, Rafer Alston, Luther Head, Bonzi Wells, among others you would think I, like most people, would buy into the Houston hype for this season. Yao looked great last year up until his injury. For the first time in his career, he was dominating everyone. The emergence of Yao makes life easier on T-Mac and the others.

I don't know if it's just me, but this team is fatally flawed. Let's start off with the trio of point guards. I hate putting point in front of guard when describing your classic shoot first players in Mike James and Steve Francis (I don't see a difference in these players, except Francis is more athletic). I'm not big on playground legend Rafer "Skip to my Lou" Alston either. The second thing I dislike about this team is the fact that T-Mac and Yao, up until this point in their careers, have won nothing. In all fairness, if this team was in the East I would probably have them in the conference finals at least. In the West I'll take San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix everyday of the week. They might even get ran off the court by uptempo teams like Memphis and Golden State. I'm not giving this team any chance of making it out of the second round of the playoffs.

The Sleepers:
Memphis Grizzlies-As stated above. Like the Bucks in my Eastern Conference preview, I don't think they have any real shot of winning it all and will have a hard time getting out the first, but there is no doubt in my mind that they won't be in the playoffs (pending an injury to Gasol).

New Orleans Hornets: This team was 3 games out the playoffs last season. They didn't have Chris Paul for 18 games and Peja Stojakovic for 69 games. This is the year that Chris Paul will get his respect, as a lot of critics have seemed to side with Deron Williams (a fantastic player in his own right) as the better of the two young point guards because of what Williams did last season in the playoffs. Here's the thing, the Jazz have more talent then the Hornets. Chris Paul is the better point guard.

A front court of David West and Tyson Chandler is one I really like. West is more of the banger and scorer that compliments Paul. Chandler is there to play some defense, simple as that. The signing of Morris Peterson was a great one as insurance for another Peja injury. The bench isn't very deep, but I do like rookie Julian Wright. If some of you remember, I picked Wright as one of my prospects that I wasn't high on when I was talking about potential draftees. However, Chris Paul is one of the guys who makes everyone around him better, a truly special player. Julian Wright and all of that athleticism will benefit greatly from running alongside Paul and will have a successful rookie campaign catching oops from Paul.


Season Predictions:
NBA Finals: San Antonio Spurs over the Boston Celtics in 6

MVP: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant, Seattle Sonics
Most Improved: Darko Milicic, Memphis Grizzlies
Sixth Man: Monta Ellis, Golden State Warriors
Coach of the Year: Greg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs .If the Celtics get the #1 seed in the East, Doc Rivers will probably get the award even though Pops is a superior coach compared to Rivers (which is an understatement). The reason that the Spurs will beat the Celtics in the NBA Finals, if it were to happen, would be the coaching difference. Pops, one of the best coaches there is and Doc Rivers, who is not in any discussion regarding good coaches.

Off Topic: Ohio State beat Penn State 37-17. The game was never even scary. The way that Brian Robiskie shredded one of the best corners in the nation, Justin King was a thing of pure beauty. Chris "Beanie" Wells had his way with the Penn State rush defense and Todd Boeckman did what he wanted to do with the Penn State secondary. Keep hating America, please keep on hating. Tell us we're going to lose to Wisconsin. Tell us that the Juice will be let loose on the Buckeye defense. Tell us this is the year that Henne and Hart finally get a victory against the vaunted Buckeyes. Please, just keep hating because we love it. I love Ohio State football.

Ohio State Football Preview

Football is about a month away from kickoff and I'm extremely excited. I'd have no interested in watching sports right now if the Cubs weren't one game out of first place. But anyways, let's get to my favorite sports team, the OHIO STATE BUCKEYES.

Coming off the national championship loss to Florida, a lot of people seem to be doubting the Bucks because who they lost (Troy Smith, Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, Antonio Pittman). Troy will be a huge loss obviously. Troy was everything you would want in your college quarterback. Athletic, good enough arm, great leader and a winner. I'm going to have to think long and hard throughout the years whether or not I think I enjoyed the Troy Smith era more then the Craig Krenzel (my favorite Buckeye ever, closely followed by A.J. Hawk)era. Whatever happened to that phrase defense wins championships? I'll break that down a little later with position-by-position breakdowns.

Here's a look (and my predictions) of the schedule for this season.

Sept. 1st Vs. Youngstown State
-Easy win. This game is essentially Jim Tressel allowing a team his used to coach to make some dough and play against the big boys.

Sept. 8th Vs. Akron
-Another easy win. Helping out the surrounding Ohio schools and keeping them in their place is what the Bucks do.

Sept. 15th @ Washington
-Some are calling it a potential slip-up, but I'm not seeing it. We give new QB Todd Boeckman enough time through practice and the first two games to catch up to game speed. Plus, who is going to stop the beast named Beanie Wells at running back? Simple answer: Not going to happen.

Sept. 22nd Vs. Northwestern
-Another game that will be won and be won handily. Sure, Northwestern has a great little running back in Tyrell Sutton, but we have the Legion of Doom (the OSU linebacking corp led by James "The Animal" Larianitis). It'll be a cold day in hell before the Wildcats beat the Buckeyes in the Shoe.

Sept. 29th @ Minnesota
-The easy schedule continues. Like Northwestern, Minny has a good runningback in Amir Pinnex, but lack fire power and I'm sure those Gopher fans are going to miss Bryan Cupito, I know I sure will.

Oct. 6th @ Purdue
-Kirk Herbstreit said this could be a potential upset. I forget his complete words, but I know he's expecting the Buckeyes to roll into Sappy Valley undefeated. This should be another win and more confidence boaster to Boeckman (pronounced Beckman apparently. Silent O? He'll always be Bo-eckman or Bo-Bo for now on to me anyhow).

Oct. 13th Vs. Kent State
-Easy win. See Akron/Youngstown State for the rest.

Oct. 20th Vs. Michigan State
-MSU sucks. It's as simple as that. I look forward to watching this game with one of my roommates who's an MSU fan. Mark, this one is going to get bad.

Oct. 27th @ Penn State
-The scariest game on the schedule for me. I remember sitting in my dorm room two years ago watching the last time the Bucks traveled to Sappy Valley. I've never been so angry after a football game in my life. I've been depressed plenty of times (see: last BCS National Championship and Super Bowl), but never have I been this angry. When you can barely hear the announcers because of how loud the stadium is, that's pretty damn impressive, so kudos to the boys and girls in Sappy Valley. If Anthony Morelli can actually play to his potential and same with Derrick Williams, the offense should be highly effective. Not to mention Dan Connor on the other side of the ball scares the crap out of me. If Boeckman can handle the pressure of playing in front of a huge and rowdy crowd, the Bucks will pull it off. If he wilts under pressure, this will be 2005 all over again.

Nov. 3rd Vs. Wisconsin
-I'm not buying this Wisconsin hype. Who exactly did they beat? Arkansas? A one-dimensional team with an atrocious (that's putting it nicely) QB? Iowa? Penn State? They played one very good team and that was Michigan, who was in control of that game from start to finish. How people have them ranked above the Bucks is beyond me. They lost the best player on their team by light years in Joe Thomas. If P.J. Hill thinks he's going to be able to run for days this year, he'll probably be sadly mistaken. If you think I'm wrong, go watch clips of P.J. Hill on YouTube but keep your eye on the mammoth of a man in Joe Thomas clear the way. Wisconsin is NOT better then Ohio State. Anything less then a win here and I'll be shocked.

Nov. 10th Vs. Illinois
-Illinois gave the Buckeyes a scare last year making the game intense in the closing minutes of the 4th quarter. It's hard to predict the Illini this year because it really all depends on the growth and maturation of Juice Williams and how all the freshman Ron Zook brought in will contribute as freshman. Namely Arrenlious Benn, one of the top receivers in his high school class. If Benn can become Juice's safety net, the offense might light up a few scoreboards. The Illini also have RB Rashard Mendenhall and TE Jeff Cumberland are also playmakers. CB Vontae Davis (brother of TE Vernon Davis, SF 49ers)is one of the best up-and-coming CB's in the nation. In the Shoe, this game should be a double digit Buckeye win since the Illini are still probably two years away from the success they had during Kurt Kittner's senior season.

Nov. 17th @ The Big House, Michigan
-The best rivarly in college football. Let's get this out in the open. There is no college athlete in any sport ever that I have the hatred that I do for QB Chad Henne. Unless Chad Henne beats Ohio State, finishes in the Heisman Top 5 and leads Michigan to the National Championship I'll refuse for the rest of my life to believe he's a good player. I'd say he could redeem himself by winning a Super Bowl or two, but he'd better be hoped to be drafted by the Bears, Colts, Saints or Patriots so he can be a third string QB and pick up the glory that comes with being a third string QB. Chad Henne will never be a successful NFL QB or human being. But enough of my ranting about him. One man that scares me on scUM is tackle Jake Long, who is the definition of brute strength. He'll likely be matched up with "The Incredible Hulk" Vernon Gholston, which will make a very entertaining battle in the trenches. I will never pick Michigan over Ohio State for a few reasons. One, I'm a huge Ohio State homer. Two, Chad Henne is 0-3 vs. the Buckeyes. Three, Lloyd Carr is 1-5 vs. Jim Tressel. Until these trends stop the Bucks could have my little brother playing QB and I'd pick the Buckeyes to win. Tressel is Ann Arbor's worst nightmare.

To me, it is entirely possible that the Buckeyes run the table and potentially head to another championship game. If there are two or more undefeated teams, the Bucks could be on the outside looking in though with a weak schedule that includes 2 MAC teams, 1 D-1AA team and probably only 3 teams worth any sort of consideration of being in the Top 25. Anything less then a BCS game appearance would be a disappointment. Here's to Boeckman putting on his best Craig Krenzel impersonation.

Next Update: Position-by-Position Breakdown

The Worst Year of My Life

Well, it's official. 2007 is the worst year I'll ever live. For those who don't know I'll list four of my favorite sport teams and how they ended their season.

Ohio State Football-Lost to Florida in the National Championship game 41-14.
Chicago Bears-Lost Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts 29-17.
Ohio State Basketball-Lost the NCAA National Championship 84-75 to the Florida Gators.
Cleveland Cavaliers-Got swept (4-0) vs. the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.

As you can see by my previous post, I said the Cavs would win the NBA Finals in seven games. Clearly, I was blinded by the greatness that is LeBron James and I refused to believe anyone could possibly lose four championship games in a year, but I did it. The only team of mine that has completed a season that has not played for the championship was the Chicago Blackhawks, who instead locked up the #1 pick in the upcoming NHL entry draft. I'd like to thank Bill Wirtz and the Blackhawks organization for not getting my hopes this season, although I was hoping for a playoff push, but when can you do when your one offensive weapon (Marty Havlat) had injury problems throughout the season. Oh well, Patrick Kane will be the savior!

Here's my bold prediction for the rest of 2007 (seeing as I'm the unlucky charm of 07): Chicago Cubs win the NL Central, win the Pennant and drop the World Series to the AL representative, Cleveland Indians (continuing the AL Central's dominance of the AL).

It's 1:30 AM and I'm not tired and have nothing to do so I'm going to blog about something. Give me a minute to think, I'll probably talk about my second favorite June event (behind my birthday), the NBA draft.

Okay, so I got sidetracked by a bratwurst and an amusing chat about McGruff and frogs. Good times Dale, good times.

I have decided to stop the blog here for the night. Family Guy is on in seven minutes. NBA draft write-ups will follow in the coming days. Drafts on June 28th.