Built Ford Tough

I do too, but I'm not very confident with it. NC State thrives off of taking advantage of their size and athletcism down low, but Georgetown is a bigger and longer team. They may not be as athletic as the Wolfpack, but they definitely are bigger which is going to be a problem for NC State. They are going to need Brown and Wood to hit some outside jumpers to open up the paint if they are going to pull off the upset. Wood has already knocked one down, so it is a good start. One thing NC State has in their favour is that they did play against the Princeton offense 4 times this season, although none of those teams had the talent that the Hoyas do.

I can understand Jackson because he has times where he plays like an absolute moron, but why would you hate on Heslip? Him and Acy have been the two most consistent players for Baylor all year and are the only two who you know what you are going to get night in and night out. Obviously they don't have the talent of the other 3 starters, but both of them play within their games, don't force things and are very reliable. Anyways, kind of pissed that I missed all the games after the OSU/Zaga game. Seems like there were some entertaining finishes, would've loved to see Heslip go off and obviously watching Kentucky is always fun. Speaking of Kentucky, if the box score is an accurate representation of how Teague played, nobody is touching them if he keeps this kind of play up. He has always been the weak link and question mark but if he is playing like he did today (again, assuming the box sxore is indicative of his play) this team is unstoppable.

Schedule - All times US/Eastern N.C. State #11 MW vs. Georgetown #3 MW 12:15 pm CBS St. Louis #9 W vs. Michigan St. #1 W 2:45 pm CBS Creighton #8 MW vs. North Carolina #1 MW 5:15 pm CBS Norfolk St. #15 W vs. Florida #7 W 6:10 pm TNT Ohio #13 MW vs. South Florida #12 MW 7:10 pm TBS Lehigh #15 S vs. Xavier #10 S 7:45 pm truTV Purdue #10 MW vs. Kansas #2 MW 8:40 pm TNT Cincinnati #6 E vs. Florida St. #3 E 9:40 pm TBS

Harris chokes at the line and that should probably do it for this game.

Sacre has a serious case of butterfingers. He is having a terrible time catching the ball. Stockton continuing to do an excellent job of setting up his teammates, they just can't convert on his passes. Pangos had a 3 go in and out and then Sacre with the fumbled pass.

Stockton really sparked the Zags when he came in. Gave them a lot of energy. Lets see if they can keep it up with him and the bench and Pangos on the floor.

Buckeyes starting to blow this game open. Craft's defense on Pangos has been absurd. Completely locking him up. In fact, Craft's all around game today has been brilliant. Very impressive showing from him.

Crosby comes back and puts up 5 points in 2 games while playing on the 3rd line against the Rangers and Devils. Not bad.

To add to my point about Nash playing excellent basketball. Ridiculous.

And right on cue, he scores OSU's last 12 points to tie the game up before Craft's layup to end the half gives the Buckeyes the lead. Great first half, especially when you compare it to the K-State/Syracuse game.

10-3 in their last 13 games with wins over the Lakers, Memphis, Dallas and Clippers (twice). They were also right there with the Thunder late and had a 3 point loss to the Jazz, so if a couple of bounces go their way they could easily be 11-2 or 12-1 in their last 13. Nash is playing arguably his best ball of the season so far in March and guys like Dudley, Frye and Brown have also all started to find their game in addition to the consistent play of Gortat and Hill. They are currently 2 games back of the Rockets for the final playoff spot and only 3 games back of 4th. However, Minnesota has struggled without Rubio and Lowry is currently out for Houston without a definitive timetable for his return. They do have quite a few road games to end the season so that may be a problem. Anyways, do you think they have what it takes to sneak into the playoffs in the West?

Screw Stockton to Malone, its all about Stockton to Sacre!

Craft's defense really is something else. I love how he is able to play so aggressive yet rarely finds himself in foul trouble.

Basically, he dominated. He was the reason for the win last night and completely outplayed Conley.

Can Sullinger keep up this perimeter shooting, though? I realize he has made 2 threes already and that he has significantly improved his jumper this season, but it seems really risky to bank on him being able to consistently make that shot. It also greatly reduces the opportunity for 2nd chance points without him inside. It is an interesting idea and if he is able to drag Sacre out of the paint it will open things up inside. I just don't like the idea of banking your success on Sullinger shooting outside jumpers.

I have OSU winning this game, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Gozaga wins this if Pangos is hitting from the outside. That is a concern, though, since Craft is an excellent defender. I kind of worry how effective Sullinger will be as Sacre has the size and length to bother him. OSU are the favourites, but if they take the Zags lightly they will be given a serious test. I'd love to see it as well, since I really don't give a damn about my bracket.

I don't know what it is but the dude just goes to an entirely different level when he is the starting point guard. A lot of it is probably confidence as he isn't looking over his shoulder after every mistake waiting to get benched. Anyways, numbers with him as the starting point guard this season: Team offensive rating 106.7 (season average 100) Bayless averages: 20 ppg, 8 apg, 4 rpg on 51.9 FG% with 2.3 topg Small sample size as it is only 4 games so far (the other 6 he started this year were at the 2) but look his 14 games last year as the starter were similar: 18.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 6.7 apg on 46.7 FG% and 2.9 topg It begs the question, if he puts up these kind of numbers on a consistent basis to close out the season, should he be handed the reigns next season? Obviously if you can get a proven point guard you take him as Bayless is far from proven and has a lot of kinks still needed to work out, but there aren't a lot of options in free agency or the draft.

Lmao. Samuels or not, Syracuse wins that game 100 times out of 100 if they play like they did in the 2nd half.

Ugly first half. Both teams can't hit a shot to save their lives, committing turnovers and neither one has any sort of flow to their offense. Some solid defense has been played, though. Still if either of these teams play like this in the next round against Wisconsin/Vandy, they are going to get destroyed. Syracuse is just lucky K-State can't shoot the three.

K-State got off to a great start but the last few possessions they've played right into Syracuse's hands with quick shots and that enabled the Orange to get out in transition, so it is no surprise that Cuse is on an 11-4 run.

Assuming this: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/219855/Warriors_Could_Have_Dealt_Rush_Kwame_For_Kaman#ixzz1pMIjeXiL is true, which would you prefer? C: Kaman PF: Lee SF: Wright SG: Ellis PG: Curry with Robinson, Thompson, Biedrins, Udoh as primary reserves or C: Bogut PF: Lee SF: Jefferson/Wright SG: Thompson PG: Curry with Jefferson/Wright, Robinson, Rush, Biedrins as primary reserves ??? The Warriors also have a Spurs 1st in the 2nd scenario, if that makes any difference.

Is it just me or are we seeing a lot of situations where a player who was just traded makes his debut with his new team against his old one? It seems like we have been seeing that a lot more often recently.

At least your Final Four "sleeper pick" didn't lose in the 1st (well, technically 2nd) round, lol. I agree about that region being unpredicatable, though. Even if Syracuse had Melo, it would still be very tough to call. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see any of Vandy, OSU, Wisconsin or FSU make it to the F4. I'd be a bit surprised by Cincy, but not that much since that region is so wide open.

So plane issues forced the Raptors to spend the night in Memphis. They will be flying to Charlotte in the morning. Will this have any impact on the game, especially with them coming off an OT game? All from Eric Smith's Twitter:

Trading 3 prospects for Versteeg was a bad deal, but whatever. I don't have a problem with the trades he makes, but he has had some horrid free agent signings. Komisarek Beauchemin (although he got made up for it with the Lupul/Gardiner trade) Armstrong Orr Connolly (can't blame him for the deal, but still turned out to be a huge bust) All of those ended up being terrible signings for Toronto and those are considered to be Burke's big free agency acquisitions. If you are going to be dealing away draft picks and insist on trying to make a futile playoff run every year, you need to strike gold in free agency and Burke has yet to even come close to doing that. It works perfectly fine if you actually execute it. Look at the top teams in the league: Vancouver Top 6: Kesler, Sedins, Burrows, Booth, Raymond/Higgins Bottom 6: Malhotra, Lappiere, Pahlsson, Kassian, Hansen, Raymond/Higgins New York Rangers Top 6: Richards, Gaborik, Stepan, Callahan, Hagelin, Fedotenko Bottom 6: Dubinsky, Boyle, Prust, Rupp, Mitchell, Anisimov Pittsburgh Top 6: Malkin, Crosby, Neal, Kunitz, Dupuis, Sullivan Bottom 6: Cooke, Kennedy, Staal, Adams, Asham, Vitale Boston Top 6: Seguin, Lucic, Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand, Horton (when healthy) Bottom 6: Kelly, Peverley, Thornton, Pouliot, Campbell, Paille Philly Top 6: Giroux, Jager, Hartnell, Briere, JVR, Voracek Bottom 6: Simmonds, Talbot, Couterier, Rinaldo, Schenn, Read Detroit Top 6: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Hudler, Fillpula, Bertuzzi Bottom 6: Cleary, Helm, Abdelkader, Holmstrom, Miller, whoever I could use more examples, but you get my point. Now compare that to Toronto: Top 6: Kessel, Bozak, Lupul, Grabovski, McArthur, Kulemin Bottom 6: Connolly, Steckel, Crabb, Lombardi, Frattin, Brown/Rosehill Other than Brown and Rosehill, who never play at the same time, the Leafs have absolutely no depth in their bottom 6. Steckel is big, but has no grit and Frattin is young and still getting used to the physicallity of the NHL. The top 6/bottom 6 philosophy is still perfectly valid. The problem is that, despite what he says, Burke has never actually followed this strategy. His teams have constantly been full of soft players in the bottom 6. The best teams in the league all have a nice mix of scoring in their top 6 and grit in their bottom 6 as shown above. Some have more offense than others in their bottom 6, but they still have grit and toughness. Just like how some teams have more grit and toughness in their top 6, but they all have high end offensive talent. I think that core has an alright future. Get the right pieces around them and you can make the playoffs, but a bright future? I don't see it. That core to me is one of a perennial 1st/2nd round exit. Also, the reason why it is taking longer than people expected or hoped is because of Burke's impatience. He jumped the gun his first few years with the team and it set them back 3-4 years. I'm not saying he should be fired. I was just saying I couldn't care less if he did. His time should be running out, though, if you ask me. He should have to show some serious progress in the next year or two to not be on thin ice. As for the playoffs comment, a lot of people were still complaining. There were plenty of comments about the Leafs simply outscoring their problems and once Kessel and Lupul came back to earth and weren't putting up 2 points every game this team would struggle and that is exactly what happened. The style they were playing would clearly not work in the playoffs even if they had made it there. Some people just didn't care because it has been so long since Toronto has made the playoffs that they would be fine just to make them, even if it was a 4 game sweep. Firing Wilson was a step in the right direction, but this teams problems are much, much more than simply Wilson.