What I've Learned This Year

I have learned many ideas and concepts this year, and I would like to share a few.  First of all, i have come to the realization that in College Basketball it is impossible to be successful without a good point guard.  In college it is so important to have someone who settles everyone down, and starts up the offense every play.  If you take a look at the past NCAA champions you can see the trend in point guards.  2011 had Kemba Walker from Uconn, 2010 had Nolan Smith from Duke, and 2009 had Ty Lawson out of UNC.  I feel that point guard is easily the most important position if a team wants to be successful in college basketball.  Something else I realized is that coaching is incredibly important.  Sometimes it is easy to forget that these athletes are mostly 18-22 years old, and need proper guidance from their coach.  If you look at teams from last year's tournament, such as VCU and Butler, it seems like their players thoroughly respect their coach and that translates to their success.

NBA Finals

I know the blog is all about College Basketball, although I'm going to change it up for a post and talk about the Finals.  That is, the NBA finals.  The Miami Heat have a 2-1 lead in the series against the Dallas Mavericks, and game four is on tonight in Dallas.  This is basically a must win game for the Mavericks, and they are going to need to climb on the back of their best player, Dirk Nowitzki.  Nowitzki has carried the Mavericks throughout the whole playoffs, leading them to the Finals.  The 7 foot big man can shoot, dribble, and rebound, and has one of the most diverse games in the NBA.  With help from Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, and Tyson Chandler, I think the Mavericks have what it takes to come back and win the 'chip.

College

Nearing the end of my junior year in high school, college is right around the corner, and it is something I am looking forward to.  Having so much more freedom, and being able to do what seems like it is going to be extremely fun, and I can't wait to make my decision on where I am going.  Not only does the college life seem fun, but I am also really looking forward to following the athletics of the college I attend.  I most intently follow basketball but it would also be interesting to watch other games such as football, tennis, racquetball, or curling.  I think it would be awesome to go to a Division I school that is a powerhouse in basketball such as UNC or Kentucky, but it would also be interesting to attend a smaller school like Davidson, Ball State, or Loyola-Marymount.  No matter what, I am always going to be interested in my school's athletics.

Spring Season

Spring is upon us, and summer is nearing right around the corner.  Although the college basketball season is over for 2010-2011, there have been many important decisions made over the course of the spring.  Many players made the decision to leave college early to enter the NBA draft, such as Kemba Walker from UConn and Brandon Knight from Kentucky.  Kyrie Irving decided to leave Duke after his freshman season and is projected by many people to be the number one pick in the draft this summer.  Another player would include Derrick Williams who left Arizona after his sophomore season and is most likely going to be a top 3 selection in the draft.  Many high school players have also made their decisions this spring as to what college they will be attending in the next few years.  North Carolina signed two juniors this spring who will be playing for them starting in 2012.  Point guard Marcus Paige out of Linn-Mar High school is headed to Chapel Hill and he is the #21 ranked player in the class of 2012 according to ESPN.  The Tar Heels also signed wing player J.P. Tokoto, who is the #31 ranked player, and should be an excellent addition to the team.  Although the season is over, spring may just be the most important time of the year concerning college basketball.

Morehead St.=Me being the man

So Morehead St. has been the first big upset of this NCAA tournament, and only 2% of America chose them to beat Louisville in the field of 64.  I am proud to say that I was part of that 2%, and it was not complete luck.  I knew that Morehead had the leading rebounder in the nation, Kenneth Faried, who also averages 17 ppg.  I felt like Morehead had a solid team, and it ended up working out.  I also chose Morehead St. to go to the sweet sixteen, and at this point I probably sound crazy.  It doesn't sound so crazy when you hear that they are playing the 12 seed in their bracket, Richmond, who they could easily get another victory against.  Once again, I am proud to say that I chose the upset, when I had Richmond beating Vanderbilt.  So with the 12 vs. 13 matchup I chose Morehead State moving on.  I had a perfect bracket going until the night games, where Michigan State, Missouri, and St. Johns really disappointed me.  Although, I'm still in good shape for my pool that I'm in, where I'm sitting at second place in pool that has 31 people.  I want Morehead to move on to the sweet sixteen extremely bad, and I can't wait for the game.  In conclusion, I also can't wait to see UNC absolutely put the smack down on Long Island tonight.

UNC climbing up the rankings

During my last post I mentioned how the North Carolina Men's basketball team, had moved to number 19 in the country.  Well, the Tar Heels have been on a tear recently and have moved into the top 10 and are now the number 7 team in the country.  They were propelled after a win against #3 Duke on their home floor, and it also gave the Tar Heels the regular season championship for the ACC conference, and the top seed for the end of year ACC conference tournament.  Other than UNC, Ohio St. and Kansas are still looking extremely promising, and the BYU cougars are starting to drop after their recent loss of their 3rd leading scorer and best rebounder, Brandon Davies, who was suspended for violating the schools honor code.  I still think that Florida could be a team to watch coming into the tournament, and Georgetown could be a dark horse while sitting at #22, and are being lead by one of the best shooters in the country, senior Austin Freeman.  I cannot wait for selection Sunday, and I think that my Tar Heels can still earn one of the four number one seeds in the tournament.

March Madness right around the corner

The NCAA basketball tournament is coming up starting on March 15th and there are so many possibilities of what can happen.  My favorite team, the North Carolina Tar heels, are finally pulling themselves together and are climbing up the rankings where they are now at the 19 spot in the nation.  Duke has locked in at an overrated number one spot, and is most likely going to drop down once they play my Tar Heels on March 5th.  Other teams that I think are looking promising include Florida (the alma-mater of my favorite NBA player, Matt Bonner) with their two strong guards, Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker.  Kansas and Ohio State are always strong teams when it comes to the big dance, and there are a few other teams that look promising.  The dark horse team heading into March has to be BYU led by the nation's leading scorer Jimmer Fredette.  With these teams being said, it doesn't make much difference because the Tar Heels are still going all the way.