Ohio State to the Final Four

By Brian M.

Ohio State beat Syracuse 77-70. The last Big Ten team alive has a shot of going to the national title. Aaron Craft fouled out, but he was still able to give a performance of 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jared Sullinger was the leading scorer with 19 points, followed by Lenzelle Smith Jr. With 18 points. For Syracuse, Triche led scoring with 15 points.

Ohio State will play the winner of the North Carolina/Kansas game in the Final Four.

Louisville goes to the Final Four

By Brian M.

Rick Pitino made the Final Four for the sixth time in his career. His Louisville Cardinals defeated the Florida Gators by a score of 72-68. Louisville played intense just at the right time, finishing the game on an 18-3 run. This was even done when star guard Payton Siva fouled out with 9 points in 26 minutes played. Russ Smith was the leading scorer for the Cardinals with 19 points.

Other great performances from Louisville include Chane Behanan, who finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

From Florida, Erik Murphy and Bradley Beal each scored 14 points, and Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton each scored 12 points. Walker also finished with 7 assists, Boynton with 6.

Louisville will await the winner of the Baylor/Kentucky game tomorrow for next week’s Final Four.

Louisville has shown much improvement since the beginning of the season as they make their way to the Final Four.

 

Punishments for the Saints

By Brian M.

I would just like to quickly put out that the NFL made very smart decisions of their punishments on the New Orleans Saints. The suspensions of Sean Payton, Greg Williams, and Mickey Loomis. Player safety is a big issue in the NFL, and I think this decision shows to everybody that the NFL cares about the safety of its players. I like the Saints, but this kind of action is dangerous and terrible to the NFL. Don’t players already get paid to hit people? I guess it’s better when you get paid more to hit targets. I just wanted to quickly put this out and would like to praise the NFL in making good decisions.

The NFL made harsh put good punishments to the Saints.

NCAA Sum-up: From the First Round to the Sweet Sixteen

By Brian M.

Wow, the only word I could use to describe this March. It all started in the “Second” Round (Round of 64). Two #2 seeds falling to teams that had won their first ever game in the NCAA Tournament. All #1 seeds made it past this round, and surprisingly 3 of those teams have still managed to make it past all this madness. Michigan State is the only #1 seed to lose. One play in team won (South Florida) and Ohio (#13 seed) almost beat the #1 seed North Carolina.

Almost every higher seed team won their Sweet 16 game, except for Michigan State and Marquette. Coming into the Elite Eight, there are two #2 vs. #1 games (all on the same side of the bracket). Exciting match-ups include Syracuse vs. Ohio State and North Carolina vs. Kansas, but the other two games aren’t too bad themselves. Possession and defense will make up these exciting games, which will determine the Final Four.

Kentucky has proved to stand where they are right now in the tournament as a #1 seed.

Game of the Week Recap

By Brian M.

Here’s the sum-up:

Final score: North Carolina 88, Duke 70.

North Carolina had a strong showing on Saturday against their big rival, Duke. The Duke Blue Devils weren’t slaughtered the entire game, though. In the second half, Duke outscored the Tar Heels 46-40, but were outscored in the first half 48-24. A disappointing first half for the Blue Devils dropped them down to second place in the regular season for the ACC conference. It was Senior Night that night, and the cheerful moods were spoiled by a terrible defeat over a tough team.

In other college news, Illinois State almost upset the #25 team Creighton in the Missouri Conference Championship, almost gaining a spot in their first NCAA tournament in over twenty years. ISU lost in overtime 83-79

Jeremy Lin

Brian M.

At the beginning of the NBA season, one basketball player kept going back and forth between the NBA and the Developmental League. This smart Harvard graduate made his way into the professional Knicks roster, and made a statement while filling in for teammates. If you haven’t already heard of him, his name is Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Lin is a very young, talented player. He may not be like LeBron or Rose in my opinion, he is still close to that grouping. He is one of the best point guards in the NBA, and he’s been so good lately that teams have to double team him very hard to stop him on defense. That’s one of his major weaknesses. That may be what it takes to stop Lin-sanity.

Jeremy Lin has been a huge clutch player.for the Knicks, scoring game-winning free-throws, three-pointers, or just making good shots. This is a Lin-sane player, and within two weeks his Jersey became the highest selling in the NBA. But sometimes it seems that he forces things to happen on the court. He has been very good at getting his team involved in play, but sometimes he’ll get himself trapped in the lane while driving. The double team makes Lin very vulnerable. If he improves his skills even more, and gets himself out of those trap situations, I’m excited to see the Knicks in the playoffs. The Heat knew how to play Lin. He needs to make sure he knows how to fight and adjust to all different defenses. I’m excited to see Lin in the future.

Game of the Week: North Carolina vs. Duke

One of the most exciting rivalries in college basketball comes to the big test saturday. The last time these two teams met this season, Duke overcame a 15-point deficit to beat North Carolina on a game-winning three-pointer by Austin Rivers. Duke, being the #6 team in the nation, has a chance of beating the #3 team again. The winner of this game will be the top team in the ACC, so there is a lot of conference anticipation as well as rivalry anticipation.

Duke has one thing they can’t do again: let North Carolina take a large lead. The last time these teams met, Duke almost let UNC get out of their hands. The talented freshman Austin Rivers is an amazing point guard with rebound support from Mason Plumlee. On the other hand, North Carolina has talented players such as Harrison Barnes and John Henson.

This game is definitely going to come down to the turnovers and possession. Especially for Duke, having the ball is really going to be an advantage. But nothing can be compared to the amazing 8 mile rivalry between two of the best teams in college basketball.

 

Adrian Peterson

Adrian didn’t have his normal season this year. He had trouble with running against the big time D-fences like te 49ers but when your one of the best running-backs that’s just something you have to be able to do. If you can’t, you’ll probebly be fired.

Eventhough that could happen, I don’t think Adrian will be fired at all. He’s just too valuable. I think that if he really works hard in the off-season, he’ll be a real threat on offense.

Kyle S.