Ohio St. Buckeyes - Kansas Jayhawks Final Four In-Game Analysis

#2 Kansas Jayhawks vs #2 Ohio St. Buckeyes in the Final Four in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Superdome:


First Half Score: #2 Ohio St. 34 - #2 Kansas 25

Aside from Thomas Robinson heating up for the Jayhawks towards the ladder stage of the first half, Kansas was simply unable to get anything going on the offensive end of the floor. Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Craft made things miserable for the Kansas guards with his tenacious pressure and quickness. Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson were a combined 3 of 10 from the field and they also coughed up the ball up 5 times. The Jayhawks, like they have in every game this tournament aside from the Midwest Regional Final against North Carolina, severely struggled to score, especially when Thomas Robinson was being harassed inside and not getting the ball in a position to score. Kansas will need a huge half out of Thomas Robinson and for Travis Releford, Elijah Johnson, and Tyshawn Taylor to hit some jump shots if they want to get things going offensively.

As always, Jared Sullinger has come to play, as the big man has 7 points and 5 rebounds but a great sign for the Buckeyes is how well William Buford is playing. Buford, who has severely struggled shooting the ball in the tournament as he is a combined 13 for 44 including 7 for 21 from three in four tourney games, has been great in the first half. Buford was 3 for 3 from the field including 2 for 2 from three and had 8 points. Ohio St., as a team, has shot terrific from behind the arc, as they have made 5 of their 9 three point attempts.


Final Score: #2 Kansas 64 - #2 Ohio St. 62

From the beginning of the second half, the Jayhawks looked like a completely different team offensively. They came out firing on all cylinders, as they were able to establish Thomas Robinson in the post and get Elijah Johnson to hit some jump shots. Thomas Robinson was unbelievable in the paint and scored 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting. He was very aggressive and was able to get to the free throw line 6 times in the second frame.

Just as big as Kansas's ability to finally found some offense was the ineffectiveness of Ohio St. on that side of the ball. The Buckeyes struggled to find a scorer when Deshaun Thomas was on the bench due to foul trouble. Thomas had just 2 points in the entire second half and was only able to play limited minutes. Although William Buford once again put together a solid half as he added 11 points, Jared Sullinger really struggled to score. Jeff Withey's length really caused Sullinger a lot of problems, as the big man was 2 for 11 from the field in the second frame and Withey had 7 blocks.

Kansas was also able to overcome 17 turnovers including a costly one by Tyshawn Taylor with 3 seconds remaining. However, the Jayhawks would not allow the Buckeyes to get a three point attempt off in the final seconds, as Memphis allowed them to do in the 2008 NCAA title game.

Kansas will make their 9th NCAA title game appearance and they will be in their 3rd championship game in the last 9 years since 2003 including their 2nd in the last 4 years. Kansas now has a 9-5 record in the National Semifinals.

Kansas will be looking for their 4th NCAA championship in program history and their second since they beat Memphis four years ago in 2008 and that coaching match-up, like this one, will be Bill Self against John Calipari.

Kentucky Wildcats - Louisville Cardinals Final Four In-Game Analysis

#1 Kentucky Wildcats vs #4 Louisville in the Final Four in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Superdome:


First Half Score: #1 Kentucky 35 - #4 Louisville 28

All things considered, Rick Pitino should be pleased with his teams first half performance, as the Cardinals trail by just 7 at halftime. Although throughout the first half it felt like Kentucky was controlling the game and had a commanding hold on the lead, Louisville was able to stick around and keep the game tight. The Cardinals have kept themself within striking distance of the Wildcats, which is all they could have hoped for after the first frame.

Louisville is having trouble securing the basketball, as they turned the ball over 9 times in the first half. The Cardinals turned the ball over just 6 times in their entire West Regional Final against Florida. Although the Cardinals need Peyton Siva to get into the paint to get some open looks for his teammates, Siva over penetrated during the first half. He got too deep in the lane and struggled to pass or score over the length of Kentucky's front court. Siva failed to score in the first half, while he turned the ball over 3 times.

Although Kentucky got a solid performance out of Kyle Wiltjer during the first half, as he was able to stretch Louisville's match-up zone with his three point shooting ability, the Wildcats could have really used Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Gilchrist picked up his second foul with 13:47 remaining in the half and wasn't able to be a major factor because of his limited playing time. Gilchrist was scoreless and attempted just one shot during the half.

Finally, Louisville will have to do a much better job of stopping Kentucky's dribble penetration. The Wildcats were 15 of 25 (60%) from the field because must of their field goals were coming on layups after drives to the bucket, especially from Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb. When Louisville was able to keep Kentucky out of the lane, the Wildcats shot just 1 of 5 from behind the arc.


Final Score: #1 Kentucky 69 - #4 Louisville 61

Kentucky showed an incredible amount of resilience and grit in their victory over Louisville. After it appeared that the Wildcats were going to run away with the game as they began the half on a 11-6 run to extend their lead to 12, Louisville came roaring back to tie the game at 49 with a little over 9 minutes to play. Despite the fact that Kentucky's wasn't getting things to go their way including on the glass, which Louisville dominated in the second half, they kept making plays to keep the lead.

Although everybody rants about the outstanding freshmen and sophomores that Kentucky has, their senior Darius Miller proved to be huge in the second half. Miller had 9 points in the second frame and hit a huge three to put the Wildcats up by 7 with just over 5 minutes remaining in the game. Miller's three deflated the Cardinals, who had been fighting the entire half to get back into the game, and put an end to their comeback effort.

The Wildcats were led by their two outstanding All-American freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist down the stretch. They combined for 17 of Kentucky's final 26 points and Anthony Davis's length and shot blocking ability caused Louisville all sorts of problems when they tried to score in the lane in the final 5 minutes. Davis had 3 blocks to go along with 7 rebounds in the second half, as he did a much better job of keeping Chane Behanan and especially Gorgui Dieng off the offensive glass in the final few minutes of the game. Louisville had just one offensive rebound in the final 6 minutes.

Kentucky can now say that they own the Bluegrass state after knocking off their heated rivals in their first ever Final Four meeting.

Louisville now has a record of 2-7 in the National Semifinals including 0-2 in their two appearances in the Final Four with Rick Pitino.

The Wildcats will be making their 11th appearance in the NCAA championship game and their first since Rick Pitino led them to the National Championship 14 years ago back in 1998. Kentucky's 11 NCAA title game appearances are the second most all-time and are just one behind UCLA's 12 final appearances. Kentucky is now 11-4 in school history in the National Semifinals.

The Wildcats are now just one win away from capturing their 8th NCAA Championship.

Chelsea Isn't Having As Bad Of A Year As It May Appear

After finishing second in the Premier League last year, things were looking very promising for the Chelsea Blues coming into this season. They had qualified for the Champions League for the ninth straight year since 2002 and were in prime position to win their fourth Premier League championship since the 2004-2005 season.

Chelsea's billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich, who had been notorious around football for constantly firing managers, thought that he had finally found a long term solution to Chelsea's managerial woes. Since Abramovich became owner of Chelsea in June of 2003, the club had been through 7 managers including 6 in just under two years from September of 2007 to June of 2009.

However, after firing Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea went after Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas. AVB had just finished out his first season with F.C. Porto where he had tremendous success. Porto finished undefeated in the league and they also captured the Portuguese Supercup, the Portuguese Cup, and the UEFA Europa League. AVB became the first manager to lead his Portuguese side to an undefeated season since Jimmy Hagan was at the helm of Benfica when the team went without a loss during the 1972-1973 season. AVB also looked like a terrific hire for Chelsea because he was just 33 at the time and it appeared that if he got the job, he would be able to give Chelsea long term stability at the manager spot because of his youth.

Abramovich was able to lure AVB to Chelsea, as the Blues bought out his contract with F.C. Porto and paid 15 million euros for the services of the Portuguese manager, the most expensive transfer ever by a manager.

Chelsea fans were also very excited for the season to come because they anticipated a lot better football out of Fernando Torres. Torres, whose transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea was the third-most expensive fee in history and broke the British transfer record at 79.5 million dollars, was obviously an enormous bust in his half of a season with Chelsea last year. The Spanish striker struggled mightily to find his place in the Chelsea squad, especially when he played along side of fellow striker Didier Drogba. Torres was scoreless in his first 13 games with Chelsea and only scored 1 goal with Chelsea in his 18 games with the club after the transfer.

With the worst year of his carrer behind him, many expected El Niño to perform much better with Chelsea in 2011-2012. He would be much more comfortable playing with the same guys for the second year and he couldn't be much worse than he was the previous year.

The expectations were surging out of the roof for Chelsea before the year and they may have been even too high for the team despite all of their talent. All things concerned, although Chelsea isn't having the season they may have been dreaming of before the year, it isn't nearly as bad as it may seem at first.

The experiment with André Villas-Boas turned out to be more of a disappointment than any Chelsea fan could have imagined. He lasted only 10 months with the club and coached the Blues in just 27 league matches.

AVB came under hursh criticism for his line-up and substitution selections. AVB put Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, and Michael Essien on the bench for the first leg of the Blues round of 16 Champions League match-up against Italian side Napoli, which the team later lost at the Stadio San Paolo 3-1.

Not only did AVB garner criticism for his managerial tactics, but he also lost control of the players in the club. Ashley Cole told AVB, "I came here to win medals and trophies, but I'm never going to do that with your tactics."

Villas-Boas had an extremely poor relationship with many of his other players as well including Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou.

Lampard said about his manager, "I think, from the outside, you can probably see that it's not been ideal but the important thing is not to focus on individual relationships too much." Lampard told Villas-Boas after he wasn't apart of the starting 11 against Napoli, "I thought I should have be playing."

Salomon Kalou said, "I was told by the previous manager [Villas-Boas] that I was not allowed to play because I didn't sign a contract. Maybe he was building a new team and thinking I wasn't part of the future. That was a really big frustration and it has been a difficult season for me not being involved. I always worked hard and showed there was no reason why I shouldn't be in the team. It's not about money but playing time."

Aside from the shocking ineffectiveness of Villas-Boas and managerial turmoil surrounding the club, Chelsea has also encountered numerous other difficult and unexpected problems that have prevented them from playing at their highest quality all season.

Chelsea captain John Terry has been through a tumultuous year. On October 23, in a West London derby between Chelsea and Queen's Park Rangers, John Terry reportedly racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. Terry came under immense criticism and was stripped of his England national team captaincy because of the allegations. The issue has obviously been a large distraction for Terry, who has been charged with using racist language.

The centre back also missed significant time due to a knee injury in February, which he needed to have surgery on. The Chelsea captain missed over a month because of the knee and Chelsea severely struggled without him in the starting team. The Blues were 1-1-2 without Terry including losses to Everton and West Bronwich Albion in the Premier League. They also lost a Champions League game to Napoli without Terry, where their defense was pick apart by Napoli's talented attack led by Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Marek Hamsik.

Chelsea has also had problems finding the right combination of midfielders to stick into their 4-3-3. Since the return of Michael Essien in January from his knee injury, Chelsea has been tinkering with all sorts of different guys in the middle of the field. Essien, Ramires, Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel, Raul Meireles, and even Juan Mata and Florent Malouda at times have all been playing in the midfield, which has made it difficult for Chelsea to get in a flow because of all the different lineups.

Finally, people are beginning to question if Fernando Torres will ever return to the same player who scored 24 goals during the 2007-2008 season with Liverpool. Although Torres has shown improvements this year, as he has done a nice job of setting up his teammates for goal scoring opportunities, El Niño can't manage to do what he was brought in for, to score goals. Torres has scored just 2 goal in 24 Premier League appearances and the striker hasn't scored a goal in the EPL in over 7 months since September 24, 2011.

Considering the huge managerial mishap and the turmoil amongst the players with AVB at the helm, Chelsea isn't sitting in too bad of a position. Although they obviously aren't living up to expectations and most likely will not finish in the top 3 for the first time since the 2002-2003 season, the Blues are having as good of a season as could have been expected with their situation and they actually still have an opportunity to have a magical finish to the year. Although a Premier League title is out of the question, Chelsea isn't having as bad as a year as many people are assuming they are.

Despite the fact that Chelsea had a stretch from December 17 to March 3 where the team was 3-6-3 and failed to pick up wins against Fulham, Aston Villa, Norwich City, Swansea City, Everton, and West Bromwich Albion, the Blues are in fifth place in the EPL and are just 5 points behind fourth place Tottenham with 8 games remaining. Tottenham also has their next three games against teams that are in the top 11 of the Premier League wit Sunderland, Swansea City, and Norwich City.

Chelsea reached the quarterfinals of the Football League Cup, which is the furthest run they have made in the cup since they finished as the runners-up in the 2007-2008 tournament. They were one of just 6 Premier League teams to appear in the quarterfinals.

Chelsea is also in the semifinals of the FA Cup, where they will play London rival Tottenham with the victor moving on to play the Liverpool/Everton winner in the FA Cup final. The Blues have made it to at least the quarterfinals of the FA Cup for the 6th time in the last 7 years and they will be looking to win their fourth FA Cup since they won the 2006-2007 cup.

Finally and most importantly, Chelsea is one of only eight teams and the only team from the Premier League that remains in the Champions League.

Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is "obsessed" with winning the Champions League. He said, "There is no question of that in my mind. Abramovich has very much nailed his colours to the mast in that respect; I've felt that for quite a while with him. But to have an obsession with winning the European Cup can stretch you a wee bit. It's a fantastic competition but, at the end of the day, it is also a very difficult competition to win. All the best teams are there."

However, the Champions League final in Munich doesn't sit too far away from Chelsea. Despite the fact that Chelsea has made the Champions League for nine consecutive years, they are actually having one of their most successful runs in the competition this year.

After the Blues looked all but finished in the tournament when they were going into the second leg of their round of 16 match-up with Napoli trailing 3 goals to 1, they were able to pull out a miracle by knocking off the Italian side 4-1 in the second leg to advance. Branislav Ivanovic's goal in the 105th minute completed Chelsea's shocking comeback and put Chelsea through to the quarterfinals.

After getting a favorable draw with Benfica in the final eight, Chelsea were able to get a key 1-0 victory away in Portugal at the Estadio da Luz. They now sit only one game away from reaching their first semifinal since the 2008-2009 Champions League.

Kentucky Wildcats - Baylor Bears South Regional Finals In-Game Analysis

#1 Kentucky Wildcats vs #3 Baylor Bears in the South Regional Finals in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome:

First Half Score: #1 Kentucky 42 - #3 Baylor 22

The first 5 minutes of the game were better than Scott Drew could have imagined for his Baylor ball club. The Bears took an early 10-5 lead and they were executing very well offensively. Their length on the defensive end was causing Kentucky issues in the half-court, as Quincy Miller had two blocks on Marquis Teague, who was struggling to score with the athleticism of Baylor's frontcourt.

After John Calipari called a timeout to settle his guys down, the half totally changed course. From that timeout until the end of the half, Kentucky went on a 37-12 run. Baylor had multiple scoring droughts, which all lasted at least 3 minutes and their missed field goals as well as their carelessness with the ball lead to numerous easy buckets for the Wildcats in transition. Baylor shot 4 for 20 (20%) for the rest of the half and had 9 turnovers. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis were able to get out on the fastbreak and score easy layups and dunks in transition, as Kentucky fed off the missed shots and changes of possession. Gilchrist's ability to drive into the lane put pressure on Baylor's defense, as he had 17 first half points.

If Baylor wants to get back into the game, their star forward Perry Jones III will have to be much more effective. In the first half, Perry Jones was 1 for 5 from the field and had just 2 points and one rebound to go along with his 3 turnovers. 


Final Score: #1 Kentucky 82 - #3 Baylor 70 (Not as close as the score indicates)

Although Baylor played much better in the second half and made some runs to get back into the game, they fell way to far behind in the first half. Every time the Bears put some buckets together, the Wildcats just needed to put a few good possessions together to keep their lead in double digits. After Brady Heslip nailed a three with a little under 9 minutes remaining to get the Bears within 13 points, Baylor expanded to much energy crawling back and Kentucky needed just three quality possessions to bring their lead back up to 20.

The scariest moment of the second half came within the first few minutes when Anthony Davis was fouled by Perry Jones III and the two forwards collided. The SEC Player of the Year stayed down on the floor and appeared to have a knee injury. However, Kentucky fans were able to breathe again because Davis returned to the game just a few minutes later and played major minutes for the rest of the half.

The Wildcats will be making their 15th appearance in the Final Four and their second straight after Brandon Knight lead Kentucky to the National Semifinals last year. Kentucky is now one of only four schools along with Duke (15), North Carolina (18), and UCLA (18) to have reached at least 15 Final Fours.

The Wildcats will be looking for their 8th National Championship and close the gap between them and UCLA, which has won 11 National Championships.

John Calipari will be making his 2nd Final Four appearance (Calipari made the Final Four in 1996 as the head coach of UMass and 2008 as the head coach of Memphis, but both appearances were later vacated by the NCAA due to violations). Calipari joins Adolph Rupp (6), Joe Hall (3), Rick Pitino (3), and Tubby Smith (1) as the only Kentucky coaches to take the Wildcats to the Final Four. He will be looking to become the 5th Kentucky coach to win a National Championship.

Louisville Cardinals - Florida Gators West Regional Finals In-Game Analysis

#4 Louisville vs #7 Florida in the West Regional Finals in Phoenix:

First Half Score: #7 Florida 41 - #4 Louisville 33

The first half was all about the three point shooting of Florida. The Gators high-powered offense attack, which ranked 2nd in the SEC only behind Kentucky in scoring per game during the season, was predicated on the three point ball. During the regular season, the Gators were 4th in the NCAA in three point attempts per game at 25 and led the nation in three point makes at just under 10 per game. The Gators caused Louisville so many problems from behind the arc because they spread the floor with all of their three point shooters. Erving Walker had 2 three pointers, Kenny Boynton hit two threes, Bradley Beal opened the game with two early three point field goals, and Florida's versatile forward Erik Murphy added two threes during the first half. The Gators were 8 of 11 from three point land and shot the ball at a ridiculously high 72.7 percent from deep.

Although Florida deserves a lot of credit for knocking down their jump shots, Louisville needs to do a much better job of identifying and closing out shooters. During the half, Erving Walker hit two three pointers from the top of the key within a minute of each other and both times there wasn't a Cardinal defender in sight. Florida is way to good of a shooting team to be getting wide open looks from three. The Cardinals also need to stop getting sucked in by penetration and leaving open three point shooters.

Louisville's full court pressure forced 5 Gator turnovers but it also led to open three point field goals in transition for Florida. Although the Cardinals forced 15 turnovers against Michigan St. in the regional semifinals with their backcourt press, they may need to loosen up the pressure to prevent the Florida three point shooting.

The Cardinals may also need to get out of their matchup zone and instead just play man to man defense.

Louisville really struggled offensively when Peyton Siva went to the bench with his 2nd foul with 6:45 remaining in the first half. Siva did a terrific job of creating open jump shots and layups for his teammates by penetrating into the lane and attacking the rim. Siva had 5 points and 5 assists before he had to go to the bench for the rest of the half. When Siva went out, Louisville was down 22-21. By the end of the half, Florida was leading 41-33.

If Florida continues to shot this well from three, they will make their 5th Final Four appearance in school history and their 4th under head coach Billy Donovan.

Final Score: #4 Louisville 72 - #7 Florida 68

After being red hot from three during the first half, Florida severely struggled from behind the arc during the second half and this led to prolonged scoring droughts for the Gators. After a Patric Young dunk with 8:14 remaining in regulation put the Gators up 65-54, Florida scored just three points for the rest of the game and made just one field goal on 12 shot attempts down the stretch. The Gators were 0 for 9 in the second half from three, as their offense spurted without the long ball.

Although foul trouble to Peyton Siva, Kyle Kuric, and Chane Behanan plagued the Cardinals, they were able to overcome the foul issues and get major buckets in the second half, especially from Russ Smith and Chane Behanan. Smith had 10 points in the second half including two huge free throws with 16 seconds left to put the Cardinals up by three and force the Gators into taking three point attempts in the final seconds to try and tie the game. Smith and Behanan combined for 24 of Louisville's final 26 points and led the 26-14 Cardinal run in the final 12 minutes.

For their fourth straight tournament game, Louisville and their pressure defense forced a ton of turnovers. They forced Florida into 8 turnovers in the second half and frustrated the Gator guards by guarding them tight up and down the floor and giving them no space to dribble penetrate.

Rick Pitino has done it again. Pitino, who is the only coach to ever lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to the Final Four, will be returning to the National Semifinals for the 6th time and the 2nd time at the helm of Louisville. Pitino joins Denny Crum (6), Tom Izzo (6) Adolph Rupp (6), Roy Williams (7), Mike Krzyzewski (11), Dean Smith (11), and John Wooden (12) as the only coaches to have reached at least 6 Final Fours.

It will be Louisville's 9th Final Four appearance and just their second in the last 26 years since 1986. Louisville joins Ohio St. (10), Kansas (13), Kentucky (14), Duke (15), North Carolina (18), and UCLA (18) as the only schools to have reached at least 9 Final Fours.

The Cardinals will be looking for their first National Championship since 1986 when Pervis Ellison became the second player, at the time, to ever win the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player award as a freshman joining only Arnie Ferrin when he did so in 1944 for Utah.

If the Kentucky Wildcats are able to knock off the Baylor Bears in the South Regional Finals, it would set up an unbelievable Final Four matchup between the hated rivals from the Bluegrass State. It would be the Kentucky rivals 5th matchup in the tournament and 1st in the Final Four and 1st since they met in the 1984 Sweet 16.

Balance Can Win In The Regular Season But Every Team Needs A Star To Win A NBA Title

With the NBA shortened 66 game season, every team has had to rely on their bench much heavier than in normal NBA years. The back-to-backs-to-backs and the 4 games in 5 night stretches have intensified the importance of having guys provide quality minutes off the bench, so that starters can get some rest after playing heavy minutes in previous games.

Kevin Love's league lead of 39.5 minutes per game is the least minutes per game by a league leader since Kelly Tripucka of the Detroit Pistons lead the league with 38.9 minutes per game during the 1982-1983 season, which was nearly 30 yeas ago. This shows that starters are playing much less than in usual years and that bench players are getting the opportunity to play much more often.

The compressed season has resulted in bench players like Jordan Crawford of the Washington Wizards, Nicolas Batum of the Portland Trail Blazers, and Courtney Lee of the Houston Rockets having the best seasons of their respective careers because of the extended playing time they are receiving.

With starters playing less minutes and bench guys having more of an impact than normal, scoring is much more balanced among teams. There are only 12 players in the entire league who are averaging at least 20 points per game and there are just 4 guys from the east scoring in the 20's. In comparison, during the 2007-2008 NBA season there were 27 guys that averaged at least 20 points per game for the year. The last time less than 12 players averaged at least 20 points per game was over 45 years ago during the 1965-1966 season when just 11 guys averaged at least 20 per game and that was during the age of Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and John Havlicek.

Even more so than most other teams, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Indiana Pacers, and the Denver Nuggets are winning with balanced scoring and without a superstar.

The 76ers are 4th in the East and leading the Atlantic division over the Celtics and Knicks after they finished 7th in the conference last year. They are a very strong defense team and have great length with perimeter players like Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala. The 76ers lead the NBA in points against, as they are allowing a league low of 87.5 points per game as well as opponent field goal percentage, as they are holding the opposition to 41.8% shooting from the field. Philadelphia plays as a unit defensively and they have great help defense and team rebounding.

The Pacers, who finished 8th in the East last season, currently sit in 5th place in the conference. Indiana has been very effective at taking advantage of games that they should win by not looking over their opponents and getting the victory. The Pacers are 18-4 against teams from both conferences that are currently not sitting in one of the eight playoff spots (Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwovles, Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Hornets).

The Nuggets are tied for 5th in the muddled middle of the pack of the Western Conference and sit just a half a game behind the fourth place Dallas Mavericks. They are just one of three teams in the Western Conference that has a winning record on the road along with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs.

Aside from the Denver Nuggets, no team has their leading scoring averaging less than 15.7 points per game, which the 76ers leading scorer Lou Williams is averaging, yet Philly is leading their division. Williams, who comes off the bench for Philadelphia, is among a cast of characters who constantly contribute for the 76ers. Williams, Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young, Andre Iguodala, and Elton Brand are all averaging at least 10 points per game, while the Sixers have 8 guys scoring at least 8 points per game. In fact, Philly had 7 guys scoring in double figures during the month of January.

Of the 76ers, Pacers, and Nuggets, Indiana has the best scoring threat and go to guy when they need a bucket with small forward Danny Granger. Granger, who has averaged 23.5 points per game over the last three seasons, is taking less field goal attempts per game this year and is leading Indiana's balanced attack at 17.8 points per game. The Pacers have 8 players with Granger, Roy Hibbert, Paul George, David West, Leandro Barbosa (who the team acquired from the Toronto Raptors in a mid-season trade), Darren Collison, Tyler Hansbrough, and George Hill averaging more than 9 points per game.

The Denver Nuggets, who lead the NBA at 103.7 points per game, have their leading scorer Ty Lawson at just 15.4 points per game, which is the least for a teams leading scorer. However, the Denver Nuggets score by committee and have a host of guys who can put the ball in the bucket. The Nuggets have 9 guys with Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, JaVale McGee (who the team acquired from the Washington Wizards in a mid-season trade), Al Harrington, Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler (who recently returned to the team after playing in China), Andre Miller, Corey Brewer, and Kenneth Faried averaging at least 9 points per game.

Although the 76ers, Pacers, and Nuggets have shown that you can be a very successful team and make the postseason without a star player and a group of role players that play very well collectively, to win in the postseason you need at least one star player who can take over the game.

Since 1980, the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, and San Antonio Spurs have won 24 of the 32 NBA championships and all of them have been lead by at least one superstar player.

When the Lakers won their NBA titles in 1980 and 1982, they had 19-time All-Star and 6-time MVP Kareem Abdual-Jabbar in the post along with 12-time All-Star and 3-time MVP Magic Johnson at point guard. When they captured the NBA crown in 1985, 1987, and 1988, they had Jabbar and Johnson leading the way along with a young, new forward out of North Carolina, James Worthy, who like Jabbar and Johnson would be a future NBA Hall of Famer and would be named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

When the Lakers had their three-peat from 2000-2002, they were lead by two of the top 10 greatest players in NBA history with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Shaq, won won the NBA Finals MVP in all three series, was a dominate and unstoppable force in the post. In the 2000 playoffs, Shaq averaged 30.4 points and 15.4 rebounds per game. In the 2001 playoffs, Shaq averaged 30.7 points and 15.4 rebounds per game. When the Lakers repeated in 2009-2010, they were led by huge scoring outputs from Kobe Bryant, who proved that he could win a title without Shaq.

The Celtics titles in 1981, 1984, and 1986 were a large part due to the Celtics star three players Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale and most notably Bird, who was the finals MVP in two of those three series. Led by Bird, a 12-time All-Star and 3-time MVP, the Celtics were able to knock off the Rockets in 81' and 86' and the Lakers in that great 7 game series in 1984. In that series in 1984, Bird averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds and was the star that the Celtics needed to will them to the title.

The 2008 Celtics were led by their "Big Three" of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen and they were able to knock off the Lakers in 6 games in the NBA Finals. Although the Celtics weren't a deep team, they were led by three stars that all contributed to the title.

The Bulls 6 championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1998 were obviously on the back of the greatest player to ever play the game Michael Jordan. Jordan, a 6-time NBA Finals MVP, has an unlimited amount of playoff moments that will be remembered forever including his flu game in game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals and his game winning shot win the series against the Utah Jazz in game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals. Jordan also had help from star Scottie Pippen, who was a great defender, which shows with his 8 appearances on the NBA All-defensive first team.

The Spurs dynasty that won 4 NBA titles in 9 years from 1999 to 2007, were all led by the greatest power forward in NBA history, Tim Duncan. Duncan had the help of "The Admiral" and NBA MVP David Robinson for the Spurs first two titles. Duncan and Robinson formed "The Twin Towers" down low for the Spurs and resulted in one of the greatest tandems in the frontcourt in NBA history.

The 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, which swept the Los Angeles Lakers in 4 games, was full of superstars as well. Moses Malone, who was a 12-time All-Star and 3-time NBA MVP, averaged 25.8 points and 18 rebounds in the series against L.A. and was named the deservedly Finals MVP. Not to mention that the 76ers had the great Dr.J on that championship team as well.

The Detroit Pistons repeated as NBA champions in 1989-1990, and like all of these other clubs to have won an NBA title, they had at least one great superstar. Detroit was lead by one of the greatest backcourts in NBA history with Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. In the two NBA finals combined, they lost 1 game and Dumars won the finals MVP in 1989, while Isiah won it the following year.

Like the Pistons, the Houston Rockets repeated in 1994-1995. After playing together in college at Houston as apart of "Phi Slama Jama", NBA legends Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon reunited to win two two straight titles in the NBA. "Akeem The Dream", a 12-time All-Star and 2-time Defensive Player of the Year, won the finals MVP in both series, but the Rockets also got a large contribution from 10-time All-Star Clyde "the Glide" Drexler.

The Heat won the NBA title in 2006 in 6 games over the Dallas Mavericks. The great Shaquille O'Neal was able to help push the Heat over the top and Dwayne Wade, 8-time All-Star, won the finals MVP after pulling the Heat back from 2 games down in the series. Wade averaged 34.7 points per game in the finals including a 42 and 43 point outburst in games 3 and 5 respectively.

Last year, 11-time All-Star and one of the greatest foreign players to ever play in the NBA, Dirk Nowitzki, led the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA title in franchise history. Dirk, who took home Finals MVP honors, averaged 27.7 points for the entire playoffs.

The only team in the last 32 years since 1980 to win the NBA championship without a star but rather with a group of talented players that all contributed with very even and balanced scoring was the 2004 Detroit Pistons. Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Ben Wallace were all solid players for the Pistons, but they didn't have a go-to-guy. The Pistons didn't have a player who averaged more than 18 points per game. Nonetheless, they managed to win the NBA title with great defense intensity in 5 games over the Lakers.

When thinking about what teams are going to make a run at the NBA title, look back at the past 32 years. Of the NBA champions since 1980, 31 of them have had at least one star and only one team has won a title without a star player but rather with balanced scoring. Although the 76ers, Pacers, and Nuggets are getting it done in the regular season without one main scoring threat, when the playoffs come around, a team will need at least one star player to walk away with the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Depth Could Be A Problem For Kentucky And North Carolina

Despite the shocking upsets sustained by Missouri and Duke at the hands of Norfolk St. and Lehigh in the first round, many of the top seeds were able to survive and advance onto the sweet 16. For the first time since 2009, all four number 1 seeds have reached the regional semifinals, as two years ago number 1 overall seed Kansas fell to Northern Iowa in the second round and last year top seeded Pittsburgh lost to Butler in the round of 32.

However, many of the top seeds may face problems in their sweet 16 match-ups because of a lack of depth.

By now everybody has seen Christian Watford's three point shot at the buzzer to knock off the top ranked Kentucky Wildcats at Assembly Hall during the regular season. Before Watford's incredible shot in the final seconds was even possible, the Hoosiers did a lot of other small things to put them in that position and one of them was exploiting Kentucky's lack of depth.

Aside from Darius Miller, who is a spectacular 6th man for the Wildcats, Kentucky doesn't play any other bench player significant minutes. In fact, only 7 Wildcats average at least 7 minutes per game. In comparison, Indiana has 10 guys who play at least 8 minutes per game.

In their loss to Indiana, Anthony Davis wasn't a huge factor on either end of the court because the Hoosiers tried to force the ball inside to Cody Zeller so that they could get the SEC player of the year into foul trouble. Davis played just 24 minutes in the loss and Kentucky severely struggled without him on the floor, as they were outscored by 12 points when Davis was on the bench. After his third foul with 17:35 remaining in the second half, Davis looked tentative because he didn't want to foul out. From the 17:35 mark until the end of the game, Davis was held scoreless and grabbed just 3 rebounds.

Although Davis can have games where he looks great offensively by grabbing offensive rebounds and getting alley-up passes from Marquis Teague and others, Kentucky can hold the fort without him on the offensive end of the floor. The Wildcats have many other offensive threats, as Doron Lamb and Darius Miller can stroke the three ball as well as slash into the lane, while Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist provide scoring in the paint.

The Wildcats really miss Davis's presence on the defensive end of the floor. Davis is a terrific rebounder and he holds Kentucky's single-season shot blocking record and he will likely break Jarvis Varnado's SEC single-season shot blocking record by the end of the season. Without Davis blocking or changing shots, the Wildcats sometimes struggle to get stops defensively when Eloy Vargas, Kyle Wiltjer, or a smaller line-up is on the floor.

Indiana will try and pound the post and get Davis into early foul trouble because the Wildcats are so much less effective without him on the floor.

With North Carolina's 87-73 victory over Creighton in the third round, the Tar Heels were one step closer to reaching their ultimate goal of winning a National Championship, which would be Carolina's 6th in program history and 3rd since 2005. However, the Tar Heels actually took a step backward rather than a step forward from their victory because of the injury sustained in the second half by their phenomenal point guard Kendall Marshall. Roy Williams reiterated that point by saying, "When you go to the Sweet 16, it's supposed to be a lot more fun than this."

With a little under 11 minutes remaining in the game, Marshall was driving into the lane when he was fouled by Creighton's Ethan Wragge. Marshall hit the floor hard on his non-shooting right hand. Although Marshall stayed in the game and continued to play, Tar Heel fans got horrible news following the victory. Marshall fractured a bone in his right wrist on that play and he had surgery on the injured wrist on Monday. Roy Williams said that Carolina is preparing "100 percent" to play without their starting point guard and Bob Cousy Award finalist.

If Marshall is unable to play against Ohio, it will be a huge loss for the Tar Heels. The second-team All-ACC selection is Carolina's most important player and is the leader of their offense. Marshall, who set the ACC single season assist record this season, is the facilitator of the Tar Heels high-powered attack.

There isn't a better college basketball team at getting out on the fastbreak after a turnover or a missed field goal attempt than Carolina and that transition is always led by Marshall. He has terrific court vision and is the best point guard in the nation at getting the ball up the floor to open players. Marshall's ability to see the floor leads to easy buckets for the Tar Heels, especially for Tyler Zeller, who has formed a terrific connection with Marshall, as he runs the court incredibly well. Marshall is also terrific at dribble penetration, which opens up jump shots and three pointers for Reggie Bullock, P.J. Hairston, and Harrison Barnes. Marshall is extremely smart on the floor and is always conscious of getting Harrison Barnes and John Henson involved in the flow of the offense.

Carolina has also needed Marshall's scoring ability recently. In the Tar Heels last 6 outings, Marshall is averaging just under 15 points a game and Carolina is 5-1 in that stretch with their only loss coming in a tight ACC championship game against Florida St.. Carolina will miss the scoring threat that Marshall can pose when he is attacking the rim and his ability to get into the lane and finish.

Earlier in the year, Carolina may have been much more adept to deal with an injury to Marshall. However, Dexter Strickland, who could also run the point, suffered a season ending injury against Virginia Tech when he tore his ACL in that game. The Tar Heels lost his much-needed ball handling ability for the rest of the year. Had Strickland been available for Carolina, he would have been able to step in nicely for the injured Marshall.

Carolina now has to play without Marshall and with uncertainty in their backcourt. Marshall leads the Tar Heels in minutes and he played at least 30 minutes in every ACC game, which shows not only his importance to the team, but also the lack of playing time and experience that other Tar Heels have had at the point guard position.

Stilman White is one option for Roy Williams at the point position. However, White has played springily throughout the season and is just a freshman. White could also have some problems on the defensive end of the floor guarding Ohio's quick backcourt players like their two leading scorer D.J. Copper and Walter Offutt.

Williams could also try to move Justin Watts over from shooting guard to point guard. Watts, who is a senior, is a long 6-5 guard that could be very disruptive on the defensive end of the floor against Ohio's guards.

Williams is trying to stress to White and Watts, "One thing I'm trying to get them to understand is, you can help us by not hurting us. Don't try to be Kendall Marshall; be what you are. Secure the basketball, don't put the ball in jeopardy, and move the ball up the floor as quick as you can dribble or pass. Make the easiest play... I think it will be kind of like a quarterback in football. We've got other good players, don't you try to be the dominating factor in the game; get the ball to those other guys and let them make plays."

The Tar Heels are going to greatly miss Kendall Marshall. He is Carolina's floor general and they are not nearly the same team without him on the floor.

Norfolk St. And Lehigh Are Attempting To Make History Once Again

There is no debating that the champion of college basketball will be crowned on April 2 at the Superdome in New Orleans. The winner of the Big Dance isn't crowned after the first week of the tournament, as the tourney can't be won in the first week, it can only be lost. The odds are that the winner of the NCAA tournament will likely be one of the powerhouse programs of college basketball like a Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse, Michigan St., or Kansas.

Although fans love the cinderella stories, the lowest seeded team to ever win the National Championship was Villanova when they shocked top seeded Georgetown as an 8 seed in the 1985 title game. For the past 33 years since 1979, the champion of college basketball has been a top two seed 24 times and a top three seed 29 times. In fact, the tourney winner has only been seeded four or lower 4 times in the last 33 tournaments (Arizona as a 4 seed in 1997, NCST as a 6 seed in 1983, Kansas as a 6 seed in 1988, and Villanova as an 8 seed in 1985).

The tournament almost always goes through the top seeds as well. Only three times in tournament history has a one seed not appeared in the Final Four (1980 with #2 Louisville, #5 Iowa, #6 Purdue, and #8 UCLA, 2006 with #2 UCLA, #3 Florida, #4 LSU, and #11 George Mason, and 2011 with #3 Connecticut, #4 Kentucky, #8 Butler, and #11 VCU) and only once in the history of the tourney has there not been a one or two seed in the Final Four (2011).

Although history has shown that the top seeds dominate the tournament, the cinderella stories and the upsets of the first week make the tourney the best month of sports. The mid-majors make up the aspect of the tournament which people love, which is the underdog story of the small school that is happy to be in the big dance going up against the powerhouse basketball program. The stunning results of the first week of the tournament make up the madness of March. Despite the fact that champions are crowned in the final weekend of the tourney, the fun and the bracket busting of the big dance comes in the first week and that is what makes March great.

Although the ultimate upset of a number 16 seed knocking off a number 1 seed has not yet occurred in the big dance, this year's tourney got the greatest pair of shockers in the history of the tournament.

Before this year, since the tournament expanded to at least 64 teams in 1985, a 15 seed had beaten a 2 seed just 4 times and 15 seeds had a combined record of 4-108 in the tournament. In 1991, Richmond became the first 15 seed to advance to the round of 32 when they beat 2nd seeded Syracuse. Two years later Steve Nash and Santa Clara shocked Arizona 64-61 in an upset for the ages. In 1997, Coppin St. beat South Carolina by 13 points as a 15 seed and Hampton followed them up in 2001 when they beat 2nd seeded Iowa St. after the Cyclones missed a shot at the buzzer, which would have won them the game. In 27 years from 1985 to 2011, only four times has a 15 seed won a game in the tournament.

In this year's tourney after a mediocre first day, everybody's bracket was flipped upset down on Friday. After just 4 victories in 27 years, two 15 seeds pulled off the unthinkable by knocking off two 2 seeds.

Coming into the tournament, Norfolk St. hadn't beaten a tournament team all season and they suffered a 31 point loss to Marquette during their non-conference play. Missouri was an incredible 30-4, finished the season ranked number 3 in the country, won the Big 12 tournament for the 2nd time in the last 18 years since 1994, and received its best seed in the tournament since they were a 1 seed in 1994.

A popular final four pick from the west region, the Tigers shot better than 52 percent from the floor, 44 percent from three, and Marcus Denmon, Phil Pressey, and Michael Dixon all scored at least 20 points. Just purely looking at those numbers, anybody would have expected Mizzou to advance with shooting like that.

However, Norfolk St. was all over the boards, as they outrebounded Missouri 35-23. Every time Missouri scored, the Spartans answered and they were able to stay with the Tigers the entire game. When Norfolk needed to make some stops defensively, they shut the Tigers down. For more than 3 minutes from the 5:09 mark to the 2:02 mark, Mizzou was scoreless and went from leading by 1 to trailing by 6 during that span. Norfolk was able to complete the upset after a Phil Pressey miss at the buzzer and the Spartans "messed up some brackets" as Kyle O'Quinn rightly put it.

Mizzou lost their first round game of the tourney for the first time since they lost to North Carolina in the 2000 NCAA tournament and it was just their third loss in the first round of the tourney since 1993. Norfolk State's victory came in their first ever NCAA tournament appearance.

Although Duke got a 2 seed in the tournament and were led by their terrific three-point shooting and their first-team All-ACC guard Austin Rivers, the Blue Devils greatly overachieved all season under Coach K. If the Dukies were struggling behind the arc, they could easily be upset in the tournament, especially with their third leading scorer Ryan Kelly out with a foot injury. However, most would have expected that upset to come later on in the tournament, as Duke was 26-1 in NCAA first round games under Mike Krzyzewski and they were squaring off against Lehigh, who had never won an NCAA tournament game in school history.

However, Duke had no answer for two-time Patriot League Player of the Year C.J. McCollum, as the junior guard scored 30 points while adding 6 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists. He carried the Mountain Hawks, especially in the second half when he scored 18 points including 7 points in the final 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Lehigh was also very fortunate to catch Duke on a day where they were severely struggling for three point land. The Blue Devils were 6 of 26 from behind the arc (23.1%), as Seth Curry and Austin Rivers, Duke's two leading scorers, shot a combined 3 of 14 from three. This was a major factoring in Duke being bounced from the tournament, as Lehigh advanced with a shocking 75-70 victory.

Norfolk St. and Lehigh have already made history and they will always be remembered for pulling off two of the biggest upsets in tournament history. Both the Spartans and the Mountain Hawks will be looking to make more history on Sunday.

A 15 seed has never advanced to the regional semifinals. In 1991, Richmond was unable to keep up its momentum after its victory over Syracuse and lost to Temple in the second round 77-64. In 1993, Temple once again knocked off a 15 seed in the round of 32, as they beat Santa Clara 68-57. Coppin St. was the closest to ever advancing to the sweet 16, as Texas narrowly beat them in 1997 by one point. Hampton was unable to keep up the intensity in their second round game, as they were blown out by Georgetown 76-57.

Both Norfolk St. and Lehigh will once again be going into their second round games with no pressure. Nobody expected them to advance this far and nobody is expecting them to move on to the sweet 16, so they are playing with house money.

However, both teams will face challenges in becoming the first ever 15 seed to win two games in the tournament.

If Florida's guards are shooting well from behind the arc, they will be very difficult for Norfolk to beat, as Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, and Bradley Beal can all stroke the three ball.

Lehigh may have trouble with Xavier's Kenny Frease, as they have a difficult time defending big men. The Mountain Hawks don't have a player tall than 6-9. In the first round, Mason Plumlee exploited Lehigh's lack of size, as he was a perfect 9 of 9 from the field and had 19 points. If the Blue Devils went to Plumlee more often down in the post, the result of the game may have been very different. Mason only took one shot in the final 10 minutes and 30 seconds of the game. Xavier will not forget to give the ball to Frease down low because he will have a mismatch with Lehigh's smaller forwards.

Bubble Teams Were A Big Winner From Murray State's Victory Over Tennessee St.

For bubble teams throughout college basketball, the two weeks of championship week are long and very strenuous.

Not only do bubbles teams have to worry about winning the difficult and pressure filled games in front of them, but they also have to hope that the teams who are locks to make the NCAA tournament win their conference tournaments. If the locks secure the automatic bid from their conference, other teams who wouldn't have made the NCAA tournament without winning their conference title aren't stealing automatic selections and shrinking the size of the bubbles by stealing bids.

For example, in 2010 Utah St. was a lock to make the tourney, but New Mexico St. won the WAC conference tournament. Therefore, the conference got two bids to the NCAA tournament and stole a bid from another bubble team.

That same year, UTEP was going to the big dance no matter how far they advanced in the Conference USA tournament. Therefore, when Houston beat the Miners in the conference title game, the Cougars stole a bid from another bubble team, as the conference received two bids to the dance.

Thus, teams like Illinois and Virginia Tech, who might have made the tournament if Utah St. and UTEP had won their conference tournaments, were left on the outside looking in because their were two less spots available in the big dance because of the bid stealers.

Aside from their own games of course, all the eyes of the bubbles teams and especially their fans, were on the Ohio Valley Conference Finals in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

The Murray St. Racers have been one of the darlings of college basketball all season long. The Ohio Valley regular season champs began the season 23-0 with victories over non-conference tournament bound teams like Southern Miss and Memphis on the road. Although the Racers fell at home to Tennessee St. 72-68, all doubt of them not receiving an at-large selection were squashed when they manhandled a very quality Saint Mary's team, who is likely going to be a 6 or 7 seed in the tournament, in BrackBusters 65-51 at home.

Therefore, with Murray St. 29-1 coming into the Ohio Valley Conference finals against Tennessee St., they were a lock for the NCAA tournament. The Racers were still playing for a lot however. They were looking to finish the regular season in the top 10 of both polls, win their 15th Ohio Valley conference tournament and 3rd consecutive, and get a 5 or 6 seed in the big dance.

Despite this, if the Racers lost, they were still secured that they were going to the tournament, but if Tennessee St. got the victory, they would be stealing a bid from a bubble team. The Tigers were 20-11 coming into the OVC title game and were not going to receive a bid unless they won the conference tourney championship game.

Bubble teams, coaches, and fans had to sweat out a tight OVC final and pray that the Racers would come out victorious.

In the first half, neither team was able to create any sort of separation, as the biggest lead of the half was 3 points. The teams exchanged buckets for most of the half and there were 8 lead changes. The Racers led by just two points at half but a concern was that they weren't getting any scoring from players other than guards Donte Poole and Isaiah Canaan. Aside from Poole and Canaan, the rest of the Murray St. team had just 11 points in the first half.

While most fans would have expected the Racers to make some runs in the second half, the Tigers were the team that almost pulled away. They came out of halftime in the first 5 minutes on a 11-4 run and went ahead 38-31. After Murray St. pulled the game back, Tennessee St. went on another run. After trailing 43-42 with 8:06 remaining, the Tigers went on another impressive 8-0 run to take the lead 50-43 with just 5:38 remaining.

Although things looked gleam for bubbles teams around the country, Murray St. would give them a sigh of relief. The Racers didn't allow Tennessee St. to score in the final 3:48 of the game and were able to escape with a 54-52 victory.

With 40 seconds left, Patrick Miller had a costly turnover for the Tigers. He picked up his dribble and got trapped in the corner and when he tried to force a pass to Robert Covington who was coming off of a screen, he threw an errant pass and the ball went into the backcourt and out of bounds. With 12 seconds left, Tennessee St. double teamed Isaiah Canaan and wouldn't let the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and 19 point per game scorer take the final shot. He dished the ball off to Jewuan Long, who drove into the lane and banked in a floater for his second field goal of the entire game. The Tigers had one last chance, but to the pleasure of bubble teams throughout the country, Robert Covington missed a desperation three as time expired.

Although bubble teams escaped with a "victory" with Murray State's win over Tennessee St., the work for them has only begun. Not only do they have to focus and win critical games down the stretch but they also have to hope that some other conference tournaments go their way.

Bubble teams are now going to be very intrigued with the outcome of the Missouri Conference finals at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. If Wichita St. had beaten Illinois St. in the semifinals, the MVC championship game would only have been for seeding in the NCAA tournament. However, the Red Birds pulled off the major upset and knocked off the Shockers and dealt them their first loss since January.

Now, they will take on Creighton, who like Wichita St., is going to be in the NCAA tournament, as they are 27-5 with wins over UAB on the road, San Diego St. on the road, Northwestern, Wichita St, on the road, and Long Beach St. Illinois St. is not going to make the tournament unless they pull off another major upset and stun the Bluejays to win their first conference tourney crown since 1998. With a Red Birds win, the bubble field would shrink and cause a lot of stress teams like South Florida, Texas, Colorado St., Northwestern, Xavier, and VCU.

Since South Florida finished 6th in the Big East, they will receive a first round bye in the Big East tournament. They also avoided having to play tournament bound teams like UConn and Seton Hall in the second round unlike the 7th seeded Louisville Cardinals, who could play Seton Hall, and the 8th seeded West Virginia Mountaineers, who could played UConn. South Florida will play the winner of the #14 Villanova and #11 Rutgers game. If the Bulls advance to the quarterfinals, they would take on #3 Notre Dame. South Florida beat Villanova twice during the regular season and also knocked off Rutgers at home. However, they lost to Notre Dame by 11 on the road in South Bend.

Since the Big 12 now only has 10 teams, 6 teams receive a bye to the quarterfinals and the 6th seeded team is the Texas Longhorns. They will take on the 3rd seeded Iowa St. Cyclones in the quarters with the winner likely playing #2 Missouri in one semifinal. Texas played Iowa St. tough on the road and lost by just 6 points and then beat the Cyclones at home in Austin by 7. In order to beat Iowa St., the Longhorns front-court will have to contain Royce White, who averaged 14.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and shot 45 percent from the field in the two games against Texas.

The Colorado St. Rams are the 4th seed in the Mountain West tournament and will take on 5th seeded TCU in the quarterfinals. The Horn Frogs caused the Rams a lot of trouble in the regular season, as TCU took Colorado St. to double overtime on the road, and then beat them by 4 at home. In both games, TCU killed Colorado St. from three point range. They made 12 threes in the two matchups and hit on more than 41 percent of their attempts. The Rams will have to get out on TCU's shooters, especially Hank Thorns, who made 7 threes in the two games combined. If Colorado St. can get past the tricky Horn Frogs, they will likely play a rubber game with #1 seeded San Diego St. Aztecs, who they beat by 17 at home in the regular season.

With a 10-6 record in conference play and a victory over St. Bonaventure, Xavier is the 3rd seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. The Musketeers will play the #6 Dayton and #11 George Washington winner in the quarterfinals. If the Flyers win, they will be a difficult matchup for Xavier as they beat them by 15 at home and then lost to them in a tight overtime game in Cincinnati. If Xavier is able to get by that test in the quarters, they would likely play 2nd seeded St. Louis, who is a lock to be in the NCAA tournament and has a 24-6 record.

DeSean Jackson Doesn't Deserve To Be Making Top Five Receiver Money

When the NFLPA and the owners agreed to a deal to end the lockout last offseason, the talk of the league and the media was surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles. The Birds, who won the NFC East in 2010, made a huge splash in free agency by spending a ton of money. They signed quarterback Vince Young, running back Ronnie Brown, defensive end Jason Babin, defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, while they also traded for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Vince Young went as far as saying that his new team was a "Dream Team."

However, the so called "Dream Team" didn't come anywhere near the hype. The Eagles began the season 1-4 and after a week 13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Birds were sitting at 4-8. Michael Vick was banged up all season long and missed three key games in the middle of the season with a rib injury, while their defense was very susceptible to the run. The Eagles finished the year just 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007 and just the 3rd time in the last 12 years since 2000.

Although the Eagles struggles and their major disappointment can not be pegged or blamed on one guy, DeSean Jackson was a major reason for their poor year. He arguably had the worst season of his young career and seemed distracted on and off the field with his contract issues.

In fact, Jackson said referring to his contract situation, "I can admit to certain things affecting me during the season. I just want to apologize. I probably could have handled it a little bit different... I can't really get frustrated over contract situations, or if I'm not paid how I think I should be, whatever the case may be. I can't really allow that to go on as a professional." Jackson seemed to struggle to stay focus throughout the season and was even deactivated for the Eagles week 10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals because he was late for a team meeting that week.

There is no doubt that DeSean Jackson is one of the quickest guys in the entire NFL and he has an incredible ability to make big plays down the field with his speed. He is often able to get behind the secondary and he gives the Eagles a very difficult vertical passing game to defend against. Among receivers with at least 45 catches last seaon, Jackson's average yards per catch of 16.6 ranked 9th in the entire league.

After making just 600,000 dollars last season, Jackson will be receiving a big, one-year payday this offseason. The Eagles placed their franchise tag on their wide receiver and he will receive at least 9.4 million next season, as Jackson will receive the average of the top five salaries of wide receivers. However, DeSean Jackson doesn't deserve to be making top five receiver money and isn't in the same class as receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Steve Smith, or Andre Johnson.

Jackson isn't a receiver who is going to catch a lot of balls and he can even disappear a lot of times during the course of a game. He struggles to make an impact in games when opposing defenses are not allowing him to get the ball down the field but only underneath.

Jackson's 58 receptions during the season were the least catches among receivers who had at least 960 receiving yards. Jackson didn't have a game all season where he had more than 6 catches and had four or less receptions in 10 games. In fact, in those 10 games he averaged just 42 receiving yards including 3 games where he didn't eclipse 30 yards. It isn't like Jackson isn't targeted enough as well, as he had 104 targets in 15 games last season. He had more targets than other top receivers like Dez Bryant of the Cowboys and Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson of the Packers, but all three of those receivers had more catches than Jackson.

Jackson has games where he is unstoppable and is constantly causing the defense trouble but he also has games where you forget he is on the field and that is not something that happens to a big time receiver. Jackson had 7 games where he had less than 50 receiving yards. To put that in perspective, Roddy White had just 2 games with less than 50 yards and Calvin Johnson had just 3 games with less than 50 yards.

Jackson even struggled to make big plays this year. He had just 15 plays of 20 plus yards all season, which ranked tied for 21st in the NFL. He also had just 247 yards after catch, which ranked 71st in the NFL.

Since Jackson is only 5'10'', when he is not causing havoc to an opposing team's secondary by making big plays, he is not going to be much of an issue because he is diminutive in size and will not cause too many problems in the red zone. He had just 4 touchdowns this season and just 6 in 2010. His 4 touchdowns were tied for 63rd in the NFL.

Make no mistake about it, Jackson is a quality wide receiver and is an important piece of the Eagles team if they want to make a run at the Lombardi Trophy next season. Jackson has had over 900 yards and led the Birds in receiving in all four of his NFL seasons. However, he has never finished in the top 11 in receiving yards and in the top 9 in touchdowns. Jackson is a valuable component of the Eagles but doesn't deserve to be making top five receiver money.

Mississippi St. Is a Very Dangerous Bubble Team

Every year in March after Selection Sunday rolls around, there is a ridiculous and almost absurd amount of attention paid on discussing the last few teams who just get into the tournament and the teams who find themselves on the outside looking in (just as Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg how that feels). All the hoopla surrounding the last four at-large selections is often irrelevant, as these teams will have to win a playoff game just to receive a double-digit seed and have a tumultuous path to just win a few games in the tournament. Only three double-digits seeds have ever made it to the Final Four (LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006, and VCU in 2011).

However, recent history has shown that any team can make a run in the tournament, as every team is 0-0 in the field of 68. Just last year, VCU was one of the last four teams to make it into the tourney as an at-large after many people vehemently opposed the Rams making the Big Dance at all. The Rams got hot after their opening round victory over USC and won 4 straight game en route to the Final Four as an 11 seed.

Mississippi St. is a bubble team that could cause a lot of trouble for higher seeds and make a run deep in the dance. However, the Bulldogs have to focus on turning their season around and getting an invite to the tournament first and foremost.

Mississippi St. is a team that is currently not playing good basketball and the Bulldogs, who were once firmly in the tournament, are now treading on thin air. After starting off SEC play with a 6-3 record including an incredible overtime victory on the road over Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs have been having some real issues. They have dropped 5 of their last 6 conference games including losses to Auburn, who is 4-10 in conference, Georgia, who is also 4-10 in conference, and LSU, who isn't above .500 as well.

The Bulldogs seem to be having some major chemistry issues and problems playing together, which is always difficult to reconcile when you have a guy like Renardo Sidney, who was suspended last year for behavioral issues including a fight he got into with a teammate.

However, the Bulldogs have enough talent and size in the post to cause a lot of teams trouble in the tournament. Arnett Moultrie is averaging a double-double with 16 points and just under 11 rebounds per game. The 6-11 UTEP transfer forms a formidable duo with Renardo Sidney, when his head is straight and he is able to stay on the floor, down in the paint.

The Bulldogs even have a versatile guard with Dee Bost to complement the post play. Bost is averaging just under 16 points and over 5 assists per game and is able to stretch the floor with his ability to hit the three.

The Bulldogs showed their potential in their tight loss to Kentucky at home, as they lead convincingly at half 41-28 before faltering down the stretch. If Mississippi St. can pick up some momentum with some victories in the SEC tournament, they have enough talent to cause a scare to some higher seeded teams in the Big Dance.

There is no doubt that the Bulldogs will be motivated to make the tourney. Mississippi St. has made just 10 tournament appearances in program history. To put that in perspective with other SEC teams, only Ole Miss with 6 tournament appearances and Auburn and Georgia with 8 tournament appearances have made less tourney appearances than Mississippi St. The Bulldogs haven't made the Big Dance since back in 2009. In fact, Mississippi St. hasn't made it past the second round since 1996 when they made it all the way to the Final Four as a 5 seed behind the play of Darryl Wilson, Marcus Bullard, and Erick Dampier.