Final Four Picks

And oh so much more....

Well folks, this is another depressing time of year - after Monday another exciting season of college basketball comes to a close. We've still got NBA playoffs and college baseball, but after that comes yet another summer of discontent (trying to get into/follow baseball before August is absolutely brutal). An added bonus is we've got the Masters coming up next weekend - I love watching golf on television and for the first time I may actually record and watch all 4 rounds this year!! Oh wait, I'm still a parent aren't I? We'll see how that plays out...

But anyway, let's not fret too soon - we've got the 4 top teams of the tournament facing off this weekend. Now surely these games will be better than the previous two rounds, right? Please? Seriously, this could be one of the best final fours we've seen in a long time. I mean, can you honestly pick a clear favorite in either game this Saturday? There's not one scenario that would surprise me here as these 4 top dogs are very good.

UNC vs. Kansas:
You'll see this reoccurring theme in my pick for both games - a solid inside/outside duo is very tough to beat and UNC may have one of the best (as does UCLA, but more on that below). I'm talking Hansbrough and Lawson. The TH has been playing this tournament I'm having trouble figuring out what Kansas is going to do to stop him. Bill Self is a great coach and he's coaching, easily, the deepest team which may serve him quite well, but let's be honest - these guys have all had a week off and will come in to Saturday rested. What will be more interesting to watch is Kansas' game plan because I think they're going to have to add some wrinkles defensively.

We know all about TH and there's no question about it - he's the X-factor for the Tarheels. As Tyler goes, so goes Carolina. If Kansas can keep him from any rhythm then they will be in good shape. On the flip side, Mario Chalmers could be the saving grace for the Jayhawks. We know what Brandon Rush can do and no doubt he'll get his points and make some noise, but Chalmers' defense is going to be key. He's one of the best thieves in the league, but with a lot of steals comes a lot of over-aggressive play which can lead to open layups or jump shots which is not what you want to give to Carolina. And keep an eye on Sasha Kaun - he probably won't torch the 'Heels, but he'll be pulling plenty of Hansbrough duty on defense and he's usually good for a key offensive rebound late in a game. Could be the difference, but I'm going with Carolina here - Kansas has had quite a bit of luck up to this point in terms of competition (8 seed is highest seed they've played....and it was UNLV). Don't get me wrong, when you get to the sweet 16 all of the teams are obviously good, but they really have dodged a bullet and UNC will be too tough.

North Carolina - 74
Kansas - 70

UCLA vs. Memphis:
Say it with me everyone - a solid big man/point guard combo usually spells success. After watching Memphis dismantle a very good Texas team in likely their most impressive game of the year I started wondering if anyone could beat Memphis down the stretch. Yea, I think so. UCLA's game plan is simple (or simply stated I should say): slow the game down and keep doing what got you here which is play your inside/outside game. Memphis on the other hand has to try and run the Bruins out of the gym. I have no doubt that Memphis CAN do this, I just don't know if they'll be able to for 40 minutes.

During that debacle against Texas I was most impressed with Memphis' defense - something I don't think I've said once in Calipari's tenure. They absolutely smothered the Longhorns and even kept DJ Augustin off kilter for most of that game - and he just happens to be the best point guard in the country (Sorry Darren Collison, but it's true). I'm most interested to see how UCLA is able to handle that defensive intensity. On the flip side (and most notably), Memphis doesn't have anyone can match up with Kevin Love in the paint and I think this could be the X-factor. I know he's only a freshman playing in his first final four, but this is the team's third consecutive appearance and clearly their coach knows what he's doing. I'm taking the Love train in this one - another close one.

UCLA - 82
Memphis - 80

Another interesting note....none of these four teams have played each other this year. What does that mean? These games will likely come down to coaching and game plans. Very exciting.

And finally, congratulations to last year's NCAA finalist, Ohio State, for winning the NIT. You can now lay claim to being the 66th best team in the country.

NBA - Down the Stretch:

• My Lakers currently sit in third place - they've got the easiest schedule by a mile, but that doesn't mean they necessarily play the easiest teams. They're tough games are at home (Mavs tonight) and they should be feeling good with Gasol back in the lineup (which is HUGE). When the regular season ends and if the Lakers maintain the 3 seed (or even slip more) I'll look back to those consecutive home losses to Charlotte and Memphis as the key games. Ugh, those losses still make me sick. Hey support players - IT IS TIME TO STEP UP!!!!
  
• I'm not doubting how talented New Orleans is right now - not at all, but I still say the playoffs are a whole other ball of wax and the game really does change. Teams will focus on and be able to stop that pick and roll they run so beautifully and when they do those Hornets will be in trouble. Regardless of seed, these guys go out in first or second round.
  
• In this wild and crazy playoff race in the west the Spurs continue to quietly lurk below the radar....remember, they're still the defending champs.
  
• How in the world have the mavs fallen so far so fast with very little roster change? I'm not sure it's that big of a deal that Dirk is back.Don't get me wrong, they're certainly better with him than without him, but weren't they in a hole before he was hurt? IF these guys make the playoffs (big if at this point) no way they pass the first round - and Avery will be out of a job. I'm wondering when the collective Mavs organization will fully appreciated how bad of a move that Jason Kidd trade was? Or are they there already?
  
• Phoenix and Houston - does anyone have any idea what these guys will do come playoff time? I really don't know what to expect. Shaq is turning the ball over and unfathomable number of times a game...half of his shot attempts which is mind boggling.
  
• Is there anything to really talk about in the east???? Yea, it's Boston, Detroit and everyone else. And by the way - I read a snippet from an article the other night about this and I just might agree with it - you shouldn't be allowed to make the playoffs with a losing record. Of course that would leave only 5 or 6 teams in the east playoffs....
• I'll say this again - the western conference playoffs should be some of the best we've seen in quite some time. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm looking forward to some NBA games. Now if only we can get the commissioner to fix the mindless, stupid playoff schedules. Easily the most incomprehensible format in all of sports.
  

MVP Race:
So as best I can tell the MVP award has come to this: 1) Garnett, 2) Kobe, 3) Chris Paul, 4) Lebron. Can't disagree with that entirely (thank God we moved past that love affair with Steve Nash who literally stole at least one MVP from Kobe). Look, I'm a huge Garnett fan and I have been since his first day in the league - I love his work ethic, his demeanor on the court and the fact that he's a really good guy (no off-court troubles). And I know the Celtics have made a miraculous turnaround from just a year ago, but have do we forget that he also has 2 of the best shooters in the league on his team in Pierce and Allen? In fact, Paul Pierce is one of the most prolific scorers in the last 5 years so let's not pretend like this was a team of chumps an Garnett came in and turned a bunch of scrubs into the best team in the league.

Meanwhile, Lebron is being praised for carrying his team into the playoffs for 2 consecutive years with no real help at all. I wonder, why does Lebron get so much praise for something that Kobe has done the past 2 years as well...in the the superior conference? No doubt the media and talking heads don't want to anoint Kobe as MVP (obvious double standard going on with him) and perhaps rightfully so. He hasn't been the post boy for functional team guy of late, but you can't deny that when the competition starts he's 100% focused and driven. And I've got news for folks out there screaming "what about Gasol???" - this team was the top team in the West prior to the Gasol trade AND were in the middle of a huge road trip where they were 5-2 at the time. Yes, the Lakers have improved over the last couple of years, but it's not Kobe, it must be Phil or something else. Meanwhile, when the Cavs start playing better it's all because Lebron is making them better. Give me a break. Lakers will be in the Western Conference finals (that's as far as I've got them going) while the Cavs will be ousted in the first round.

It will be astonishing to me if Kobe goes through his entire career without ever winning the MVP - he is now, has been for at least the last 3 or 4 years and probably will be for the next few years, the best player on the planet. How about some acknowledgment of that? Kobe's like the "Put Down Posse" of the NBA - no love.

I know I rant on this topic a lot, but it's really a head scratcher for me. I wouldn't have much issue with Garnett winning this year as I mentioned above, but this really should be about Garnett and Kobe.

Random College Football Thought:
Been reading a bit about Rich Rodriguez's start at Michigan including response to the spring drills - he essentially came in and completely changed everything about how this program looks at and prepares for football. I know it's been tough on him with a bunch of guys bolting the program, but mark my words, within 2-3 years he'll have Michigan football back on top of the college football world. As the sign in their practice facility says - "those who choose to stay will be champions". Believe it.

Non Sports Thoughts for the Week:

Rotten Apple (WARNING: Soap Box moment) - So I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger on an iPhone this past weekend after my refurbished crackberry finally died (it did me right for over a year I must say) AND after learning my company is not supporting blackberry any longer. Let me get this out of the way - the device is great and I love the interface with everything - email, contacts, text messages, etc. Pretty good piece of equipment in and of itself.

BUT, with that said, it was a HORRIBLE experience a) purchasing the phone from an AT&T store, and b) activating and syncing the phone with my contacts. I blame Apple for this 100%. Look, we all know AT&T (and Verizon, and Sprint, etc., etc.) are crap - cell phone service providers have no idea what the words "customer service" means, that's no surprise. But Apple's insistence on developing their technology so that it runs ONLY on their technology is beyond frustrating - here's a brief summary of the experience

• The people in the AT&T store, literally, didn't know sh*t about the iPhone. The rep helping us admitted she didn't and the store manager was pathetic - she told us a few things about the phone and about the setup that were simply not true...not even close.
  
• You can't set up the phone where you buy it (at least not at an at&t store) - you have to do it online and you have to have an itunes account (see how they begin sucking you to their world there?). I don't have a problem with this really (online activation), but I'd sure like to have the option - more on this below...
• I couldn't the contacts from my old phone to my new phone. Why? Because my version of blackberry isn't compatible with Mac. Yes, I had to enter them in by hand. You see, Apple chose to create/design a completely different SIM card/chip so that piece of critical technology with other AT&T phones is obsolete.
  
• During the setup phase, I selected "replace iPhone with an old phone on existing account" - it didn't replace it, it just added it.
  
• Went back to the AT&T store to get their help to straighten it out and the response was, "I can't help you, you need to call AT&T." My response: "Aren't you AT&T?"...
  
• There are no instructions, FAQs or troubleshooting for setting up the email - and for outgoing email we had to go through the AT&T server (this was really for Ciara, I use mine for work so sync it with work server) - this is not documented anywhere.
  
• I can't tell you how many times I heard this when asking about compatibility with my current stuff, "well apple recommends that you use their X device". Oh really, no sh&t - you mean they want more of my money? By the way, the iPhone only supports the Jaw Bone (most expensive blue tooth headset out there) or the apple head sets.
• Finally, back to the activation, if I'm going to spend $400 on a phone/device I sure as hell expect to be able to hand my old phone over and say, "I want plan X and I want all my contacts moved over - I'll be back in 20 minutes to pick up my new phone and be ready to go." Is that unreasonable?
  
• And so on and so forth...

Apple's logic flies in the face of the entire mode of progress in the technology and consumer electronic market of the last 15 years which centers around interoperability....that's extremely frustrating. The exception to this is iTunes which was, I believe, the biggest catalyst to their growth and expansion in the average consumer's home over the last 5 years. Great program/idea that iTunes.

Look, Apple makes great products, for the most part. But, much of the substance behind their sales is "our stuff is cooler" which is true in most instances, but it doesn't mean it's cost effective. Remember when Microsoft was dubbed the "evil empire" about 10 years ago? If you fell into that camp then (and you knew why), you should probably feel the same about apple as they are far worse. I use a Mac for work (although my work IT doesn't support Mac - figure that one out), have a Mac at home and I own an iPod. All are good products - Mac computers are far easier to use/more intuitive and as best I can tell, are far more stable. So yes, I'm happy with their products, but this experience has given me a much more critical eye of their organization and strategy as a whole which seems to be "we're cooler so use our technology and only our technology."

The Office - New episodes start next Thursday....can't wait!!!

Shameless Confession - I absolutely love the VH-1 show Rock of Love with Brett Michaels. Love it.

Tournament History

As crazy as it seems this is the very first time we've had all number 1 seeds in the Final Four. How about that?

So much for my "every other round" theory - what a lame Elite Eight round....especially for all of those Longhorn fans. Ugh. Surely this Final Four will be a much better couple of games than the last four we've been subjected to. Right? Please?

But about those Horns. Man, talk about sketchy - they follow up arguably one of their best all around performances in a year or more with one of their worst. Memphis looked like they could beat Texas 10 out of 10 times they play - they absolutely dominated from beginning to end. They sure picked a hell of a time to break out of their decade-long free throw shooting slump. It was painful and depressing to watch.

Will be interesting to see what DJ Augustin does. I have been saying and will continue to say that he's gone...and probably not thinking too hard about it. Of course I'm basing this on what I've seen in mock drafts where I've seen him fall anywhere from 6 to 8.....either way that's a HUGE payday. Could he improve by coming back another year? He's certainly a premier natural talent in terms of college players - he came into this league and could compete with the best from day 1. But, in his first two years he's gone through some slumps of 4 or more games. Not a huge black eye, but he hasn't put together a complete season in terms of what he's capable of doing.

He may find that as get starts talking to scouts and "consultants" that he's more of a mid-round pick (which is still big, guaranteed bucks) in which case I can see him thinking about it. Who knows at this point, but if he's a top 10 pick, he's gone.

Personally, I think he could come back for one more year and not necessarily raise his stock as much as raise his preparedness for the next level. But, that's a risky gamble that he won't get hurt...especially when it may not have any impact on his pay day. We'll see. I'll tell you this - if he comes back, Texas should be a consensus pre-season number 1 next year. They will bring that entire team back. Even if he doesn't come back, they've got a hell of a team with James, Mason, Atchley, Pittman, Johnson and Abrams. That's good.

I think regardless Barnes needs to give Pittman and Johnson some very specific workout programs that emphasize fundamentals and conditioning. Those guys play balls-to-the wall every game, but they both have a tendency to get out of control. In Johnson's defense he was only hear for half a year (and he's a freshman). Not sure what any recruiting status/buzz is around Texas, but I think we all agree that a true, inside presence is the one and only hole at this point. That and depth, but I'll take this top 7 over a lesser 9. If he can bring in another center/power forward type player who can compete immediately (like a lot of his players have been able to do) they should be a great team...with or without DJ.

Final Four:
Memphis...who knew. I really didn't expect them to make it of all the final four teams. Yea, my bad on that one - again, they looked dominant. If I'm UCLA and I'm watching tape of the Texas game I'm pretty worried.

Do you realize that the highest-seeded opponent that Kansas played was an 8 seed? UNLV second round. Not sure that means much at this point, but an interesting fact. Meanwhile, UNC is playing a 3, 4 and 8 seed. The Tarheels are looking pretty darn impressive right now. I would like to see a Big 12 team win it all (I'm definitely out of the money in my bracket), and Kansas is definitely a great team, but I think UNC has too much. I'm taking the Heels are going back to the finals.

North Carolina - 74
Kansas - 70

I don't know what else to say about Memphis - they played a flawless game on Sunday and if they play like that they could probably beat the Knicks. No question that UCLA is more seasoned overall than the Tigers, but Memphis beat a very physical and tough Michigan State team AND a very fast, tough defensive Texas team - in one weekend.

Granted, UCLA has definitely not benefited from the upset bug quite as much as Kansas, but they've played some tight games against formidable competition. Whereas Memphis has 5 guys who can run you up and down the court, UCLA has the ideal "basketball" combo of a true (and very good) big man and a guard who can dish and score. I can't imagine that Memphis will play on the same level that they did against Texas and I think UCLA will be able to control the game quite a bit better than Texas could (or didn't at all). I'm taking UCLA in a dogfight....and because they're the only team I've still got alive in my bracket.

UCLA - 86
Memphis - 80