Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Mitchell Report, Minnesota and More College Hoops

Everyone is still reeling from the Mitchell Report but I remembered what I love most about this time of year is that THERE IS NO BASEBALL. But I will mention a couple of things: First, Mark McGwire's name never came up in the Report. A lot of people that came up we knew about but I was suprised McGwire's name wasn't on the list. I don't think it validates him but it will make the people who kept him out of the Hall for this reason think twice the next time.

Also, why is it such an excuse for other players to use the "I only used it once or twice excuse,"? That's not an excuse and doesn't validate cheating.

College hoops season is making its last few runs through non-conference season and the rest of this week offers some great matchups before the big time kicks off:

Wednesday - Bradley at Butler - whoever wins will have another notch in their belt come tourney time

Memphis at Cincinatti - an old C-USA rivlary

UNC Ashville at Tennessee - Ashville could suprise them

Arizona at UNLV - With Kevin O'Neill at the helm the Cats are finally playing some D. Also watch for freshman Jerryd Bayless from Arizona, he's battling O.J. Mayo for Pac-10 freshman of the year.

USF makes a return trip to Wake Forest.

And just for watching: UNC plays tonight and so does Michigan State and Texas A&M.

Thursday - The big one tonight is when Duke travels to Pitt. Its the first big road game of many for the Blue Devils. In the nightcap Gonzaga plays Oklahoma.

Friday - Clemson and DePaul play in Puerto Rico. Friday is soft but that because that's the NBA's big night and Saturday has a lot of good matches.

Satruday - Georgetown at Memphis - The winner of this game may have a shot at being the number 1 team next week. Also, there will be a lot of talent on the floor with Roy Hibbert, DaJuan Summers, Jesse Sapp and Jonathan Wallace of GT and Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey of Memphis. There will be three stud freshmen logging major minutes in Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Derrick Rose.

UCLA at Michigan - UCLA will win but and it will be a great time to finally watch the Bruins at full strength.

Texas and Michigan State in Detroit. Great time to watch the Longhorns D.J. Augustin matchup with MSU's Drew Neitzel. Kevin Durant got all of the pub but Augustin has had Texas cruising through this season. Texas may not have Durant but may be a better team now and Augustin is a big part of that.

Tennessee at Xavier - Great battle of two uptempo teams with solid guards.



Lastly, I've said it once and I'll say it again, Minnesota will be a rough matchup in the playoffs. I will also add Jacksonville to that list. A cold weather built team that plays in Florida. If they can run like that they can beat anybody.

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