Fantasy Basketball - Pick-up of the Week

One of the most conflicting things about fantasy basketball is season ending injuries. While most people don't wish an injury on any athlete, you have to take advantage of injuries (especially season ending injuries) on fantasy values. On Sunday morning, as soon as I heard that Michael Redd was out for the season with ACL and MCL tears, I immediately went to see how I could fit Ramon Sessions (PG - SG) on my fantasy squad. Sessions was available in about 70% of leagues.

Due to how my squad is currently constructed, it didn't make sense for me to pick him up. I would've had to make multiple moves (i.e. drop/add another player, or make a trade) to make it happen. In the end, it wasn't worth it (for me at least) since my team is soooo stacked! (I can hear the other owners now, but I can talk as much trash as I want since I'm 13.5 games ahead of everyone else!) Anyway, back to the topic on hand. Sessions is a must pick up. With the increased minutes, he'll instantly be a 15-18 points a game scorer and probably average around 6 assists. He would add more assists, but it seems that Scott Skiles is intent on letting Luke Ridnour get the majority of minutes at the point, so many of Sessions' minutes will be off the ball. If given the opportunity to run the point full time, he would put up numbers similar to what he did last April when he averaged a double-double when inserted into the starting line-up. (FYI.... In his first game without Redd, Session had the following line - 18 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 3 stls)

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

March Madness - Final Four Candidates

I know most people don't pay attention to basketball until after the Super Bowl, but here are a list of 6 teams (in no particular order), that I think have a chance to make the Final Four at Ford Field in Detroit this year.

-New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) - Ahhh... not really. I just want to give them some pub for finally ending their 51 game losing streak. This will probably be their ONLY mention EVER on this site.

-North Carolina - Despite their two recent losses, they are still the overwhelming favorite to make the Final Four and win the NCAA title. Obviously, the Tar Heels are lead by senior Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina's all-time leading scorer. (BTW, did you see Bob Knight breakdown officials not calling traveling violations? He showed Psycho T take 5 STEPS against Michigan State, and not get called for travelling! It's no wonder it's so hard to stop him!) UNC has the most embarrassment of riches in college basketball, similar USC football.

-Michigan State - Speaking of Michigan State, they also have what it takes to make it to the Final Four and get some home cooking. Despite the inconsistencies (i.e. loss to Northwestern at home, blowout loss to UNC), Tom Izzo will have the Big Ten leading Spartans ready come tournament time. They will be lead by Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan, and Goran Suton. Freshman Delvon Roe is getting better every game, while recovering from microfracture knee surgery.

-Connecticut - The trio of A.J. Price, Kemba Walker, and Hasheem Thabeet are the leading players for UConn. Thabeet is the most physically imposing player in college basketball at 7-3 and 260 lbs.

-Pitt - The Panthers have a nice mix of inside-outside with DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, and Levance Fields to win the tough Big East Conference. That should carry over to their Final Four run as well.

-Oklahoma - In my opinion, Blake Griffin is the most complete big man in college basketball, and will be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft whenever he decides to come out. As much as we were impressed with Michael Beasley last year, Griffin is better. He may not have better scoring stats, but he is a better player.


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

LeBron James a Cleveland Brown?

By now, you've all seen the State Farm commercial that was released on 1/18 with LeBron James having a press conference announcing that he's signing with the Cleveland Browns. It's kinda funny because the day before at the gym, I actually talked to a few friends about that very topic. What made me think about it was watching the NFL playoffs and highlights of Larry Fitzgerald. You throw the ball up there, and no matter what, he's coming down with it. LeBron was an All-State WR in high school in Ohio. Imagine him lining up at WR at 6'8" and 250 lbs. Similar to the NBA, there's no one in the league that could check him. The original 6 Pro Bowl CBs in this years game are "listed" at 6'2", 5'10", 5'11", 5'9", 6'1", and 5'10". The tallest of the bunch is Nnamdi Asomugha, (who BTW, is the best CB in the league but most people don't know him) and LeBron has 6 INCHES on him. We haven't even discussed the difference in vertical leap. It would be a QB's dream........ just throw it in his vicinity, and he'll get it. Double or triple covered? No problem, just throw it about 13 feet high, he'll get it. He would be a red zone nightmare! Covered one-on-one? Easy TD. Double covered? TD to LeBron, or one less defender in the box for running play or pass to opposite side. If you're a defensive coordinator, what do you do?

I personally think he would be just as much trouble on the defensive side as a pass rush specialist. As my friend CO and I said on Saturday, think Mario Williams' size with Julius Peppers' speed. Yikes! Single season sack record? It would no longer be Michael Strahans' (with an assist from Brett Favre).

I know going to the Browns is a fantasy, but most people think if he changes teams, it would be to the New York Knicks, when he becomes a free agent. In Mike D'Antoni's system, he could easily average a triple-double over the season. How would these fantasy basketball numbers look? I'd say about 35 points, 12 boards, 11 assists a game. I personally don't see that happening either, especially with Cleveland having the 2nd best record in the NBA right now. King James is looking for the NBA title this year. Browns and Knicks fans can dream, but Cavs fans only need to say one word. WITNESS!!


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Barry Bonds in the Clear?

Yesterday's Y! Sports report that the Clear actually was legal and was not considered a steroid when Barry Bonds was "allegedly" taking it (or was it "knowingly") had me thinking. Are you telling me that the face of the "Steroids Era" in baseball, really didn't take steroids? Technically, he didn't, since the government didn't consider it a steroid until January 2005, well after the BALCO operation was shut down. The article actually goes on to say that experts haven't even confirmed if the Clear actually enhances muscle growth (which is what anabolic steroid does), and is only "technically" classified as a steroid.

So Bonds reputation takes a major hit, along with many other MLB players, and the substance they are accused of taking hasn't been "proven" if it really helps. How ironic! Bonds will never get his good name back... uh.. strike that. Bonds will never have the "steroid stain" removed from his name. (Get that man some Shout!) The "good news" for Bonds is that it will make it easier to beat the perjury case against him that starts on March 2. Kinda hard to prove someone is lying about taking an illegal steroid when the drug in question wasn't illegal or a steroid in the first place.

The next question is will any team take a shot at signing him this coming year.


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Heisman Race 2009

The race for the Heisman Trophy in 2009 just got alittle more interesting. With the underclassman deadline for declaring for the 2009 NFL Draft passing yesterday, all three finalists decided to stay return for another season. Will all three have good enough seasons to return as finalists? Will Tim Tebow or Sam Bradford win their 2nd Heisman Trophy, or will Colt McCoy will his 1st?

My initial reaction is that it would be Colt McCoy, since the Heisman only has one person in history who has won it twice (Archie Griffin). But since all three will have overwhelming expectations that will be hard to live up to, the best answer may be, if I can borrow a line from Brewster's Millions, "None of the Above".

My darkhorse candidate would be Jahvid Best from Cal. He ended last season with 194 carries, 1580 yards (8.1 ypc), and 15 TDs. Cal just needs to finish in the Top 10-15 to legitimize his candidacy. Who's your favorite?


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

BCS Championship Game vs. Playoffs? (Part 2)

As I stated in Part 1 of this series, I would have preferred if the Florida win against Oklahoma for the National Championship would have been a result of a playoff system. If I were to put a playoff system together, it would go like this.

32 teams would make the playoffs, in two 16 team tournaments. We'll call the tournaments the NCAA and NIT (original, right?). The top 16 teams would play in the NCAA tournament, and the 2nd tier (next 16 teams) would play in the NIT. All 11 conference champions would automatically qualify for post season play, but not necessarily in the NCAA bracket (that means you Conference USA and Sun Belt). This would reduce the number of teams in post season play from a ridiculous 68 teams (57%) to 32 teams (27%). Allowing only 32 teams would make sure that only the top teams get rewarded for their seasons. No more 6-6 or 7-5 teams playing into December.

A selection committee would select and seed each team into the brackets. Games for the NCAA tournament would be played at rotating neutral regional sites, while the NIT tournament would be played at home sites until the championship game. This would allow for games to be played in the Northeast and Midwest, so Southern and West Coast teams won't automatically have a travel advantage.

Games would begin mid-December (after finals) and continue on four consecutive weekends, with games played on Friday and Saturday. This will help with the consistency of game play. No more taking 7 weeks off before playing in the post season. No temptations of missing curfew and getting suspended while spending a whole week on South Beach. No academic casualties (at least not until the championship game).

I didn't want to address the money issue as much, but just think how much more money NCAA member schools would make if they cut out the middle man (Bowl games/Bowl committee). Most teams are lucky to break-even with bowl trips. To guarantee a bowl bid to the Motor City Bowl, Florida Atlantic opted NOT to take their bowl payout AND guaranteed a total amount of ticket sales. They lost money on travel and took a loss on the tickets. This money could definitely help non-revenue sports and Title IX compliance at member schools.

16 teams would include all teams worthy of Championship consideration. The regular season will still be important, because it takes alot to be in the top 16. It will give teams a mulligan for one bad showing, an injury, a suspension, death in family, or any other reason a star player may miss a game. Here's a hypothetical. What would have been the backlash if Florida State would have had one loss, and the game they lost was the game Myron Rolle missed because of his Rhodes scholarship interview?

This change would also likely increase the likelihood of intersectional rivalries in the regular season (e.g. Ohio State vs. USC, Ohio State vs. Texas), since one loss won't hurt your championship aspirations as much. You also won't have teams (or fans) feel they were disrespected in not making the BCS Championship game (I'm talking to you Texas fans), because it would be settled where it should be. ON THE FIELD!!


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

BCS Championship Game vs Playoffs? (Part One)

Reflecting on Florida's 24-14 win against Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game last night, I wondered how much better this game would have been if Oklahoma and Florida would have beaten Texas and USC, respectively, last week for the right to play in this game. If we had a playoff, we wouldn't have Mack Brown lobbying for votes, Utah saying they're being disrespected since they are the only undefeated FBS (formally 1-A) school, and USC not playing for the championship when they think they are the best team in the country (and they are).

President-Elect Obama, I got this, go ahead and focus on creating those three million jobs. I'll make the proposal for a playoff for college football. Let's list some quick reasons why we don't currently have a playoff system.

1. Tradition of the Bowl Games. Would you want to be the person responsible for killing the Rose Bowl aka "The Granddaddy of Them All"? The first post season bowl game was put on by the Tournament of Roses in 1902. That year Michigan (10-0) defeated Stanford (3-1-2) 49-0, in a game that Stanford gave up in the 3rd quarter. This is biggest reason people give for not changing to a playoff system. Why does the NCAA and member institutions continue to let independent entities control the crowning of the "National Champion" and more importantly THE MONEY?

2. 68 teams participate in the post season (currently 34 bowl games), mostly at destination locations. University presidents, big money alumni, and fans like to travel to watch their teams during the holidays in warm weather locations (minus Motor City Bowl in Detroit and International Bowl in Toronto). It also allows 68 teams to conduct extra practices for their team and to develop younger players. Do we really need over half the teams in the FBS in the post-season?

3. The season would be too long. Currently, most great teams play 14 games (12 regular season games [13 if you play a road game at Hawaii], one conference championship game, one bowl game). If you have a 16 team playoff, the maximum amount of games teams would play in a championship game is 17. The number of games would increase for a "handful" of teams, but you would actually have most teams finish the season before they currently do. There is currently 6-7 weeks between the end of the regular season and the bowl games.

4. It would diminish regular season. Most teams playing in the "National Championship Game" has zero or one loss, so you have no margin for error in the regular season. No margin of error includes no accommodation for injuries, suspensions, etc. during the season. Right now, the most intriguing game is only the "National Championship Game". If we had a playoff, ALL playoff games would be intriguing. The drama of the regular season wouldn't change at all. Do you really think that any fewer viewers would have watched the OU/Texas, Texas/Texas Tech, etc... if we had a playoff system? I got a quick answer for you.... NO!

Part Two of this blog will be posted on Tuesday January 13, 2009.


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

After the Bowl Losses: The Big Ten on the Rise?

After Ohio State’s loss to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl last night, you’ll probably see articles suggesting that the Big Ten is terrible because of their 1-6 bowl record. Or the Big Ten needs to give back their automatic BCS spot because of their recent woes in the BCS games. Or the Big Ten Champion should play the MAC Champion in the Motor City Bowl. People, please stop over-reacting!

We know that people typically remember the last thing that they see. For the Big Ten, the lasting impression from the last three Bowl Seasons are two “National Championship Game” losses from Ohio State and two BCS losses this season (Penn State losing to USC in the Rose Bowl, and Ohio State losing to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl). Ohio State lost that first “National Championship Game” to Florida, although people forget that they probably should have been playing conference arch-rival Michigan instead.

In case you’ve forgotten, that season both Ohio State and Michigan were 11-0 and ranked #1 and #2 respectively, going into their season ending classic. Ohio State won that game 42-39, and the voters deemed that they were still the #1 and #2 teams in the country in the polls and in the BCS after the game. They were on a collision course for a “National Championship Game” rematch, until media groupthink came into play. The sentiment was that people didn’t want to see a rematch, or Michigan shouldn’t be in the game because they didn’t win their conference. Subsequently, Michigan was jumped by Florida when the Gators won the SEC Championship Game. Voters who changed their vote should feel ashamed. (BTW… Voters were sure to put Texas into the Title Game this season without a Big 12 Title, had Oklahoma lost to Missouri in the Big 12 Title Game). Had Michigan played in that game (and guaranteed Big Ten National Champion), would the Big Ten be looked at differently? Absolutely!

I can’t fault Penn State losing to a pro team in USC by two touchdowns. Nor can I fault Ohio State’s three point lost to Texas with 16 seconds left. Ohio State definitely had opportunities to “seal the deal” during the Longhorn’s last drive if they didn’t commit the personal foul penalty, or if they made the stop on the 4th down attempt. They lost to a great Texas team, who had public sentiment to play in this year’s “National Championship Game” instead of Oklahoma.

As far as the other Big Ten Bowl Teams, in the conference’s only victory Iowa dominated South Carolina. If Michigan State put touchdowns on the board in the 1st half against pre-season #1 Georgia instead of field goals, Michigan State should have won. Northwestern should have beaten Missouri, in its overtime loss. Wisconsin and Minnesota were both overmatched in their bowl games.

Match-ups are the reason the Big Ten didn’t do as well this year. All told, out of the 6 Big Ten losses in bowl games, three teams were ranked #1 at one point during the season (Georgia, USC, and Texas), one team was ranked as high as #2 (Missouri), and two teams were ranked as high as #15 (Kansas and Florida State). Although you never like to lose, they didn’t lose to slouches either.

The Big Ten isn’t that far away from being considered an “elite” conference. Ohio State will contend for National Championships the next 2-3 years with Terrelle Pryor leading them. Penn State will be competitive on the national scene. Michigan State is a team to look for in the future (as early as 2009, but definitely 2010), due to Mark Dantonio’s coaching and the good recruiting classes he is accumulating. Any of these three teams can and will win BCS games or the BCS Title.

Besides, the conference with the best overall record is the Pac-10 with a 5-0 record. Does anybody think any team other than USC is any good? USC’s only loss was to Oregon State, who was dominated by Penn State and lost to Utah. Oregon State won its bowl game against Pitt by the score of 3-0. That is not a typo. 3-0.

Talk to me in two years, and let’s see if we’ll be having this discussion. We probably will, but it won’t be in reference to the Big Ten.

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com