So sorry Boston and Memphis. You did a great job trying not to win games but alas the basketball gods have past judgement on you. Your disrepect of the game will not go unpunished. Not only will neither of you get the top pick in the 07 NBA Draft but you won't land in the top three.

I don't know if the Celtics and Grizzlies tried to lose every game they played after the All Star break but it sure looked like it and with players like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant mortal locks to enter the draft it all made sense. The only problem is lottery spots are selected via, well, a lottery. Trying to lose games only increases your chances but it doesn't guarantee you anything. Obviously. Unfortunately, next season someone will undoubtedly tank the second half of the year in attempts to get the next big thing and hopefully they'll fail just as the C's and Grizz did. Remember what Herm so eloquently taught us, you play to win the game!

I like swagger. I like confidence. I even like a little bit of cockiness and arrogance. I have these qualities myself. With that said, this disturbs me. No wonder they call us Gen En as in Generation Entitlement.  A lot of what's wrong with sports can be found right there. I know who I blame but you decided for yourselves.

So Tubby Smith is finally gone. People like Dicky Vitale want to chastise the Kentucky basketball fans for being so hard on their coach. For not being happy with NCAA berths and 26 wins per season. Rick Pitino even went as far as to say UK would be set back decades if they let Tubby go. The "experts" are idiots.

This is Kentucky basketball we're talking about. Most wins ever. Second most national titles ever. Averaging 26 wins is irrelavant at Rupp. National Championships are all that matter and rightfully so. Besides, winning 26 isn't all that impressive when you play 35 virtually every year. Honestly, 22-12 while getting paid $2.5 million per year at UK is downright pathetic.

Of course Pitino is going to defend Tubby Smith. Ricky P. had zero problems out recruiting Smith and his Louisville program is, without question, the number 1 college hoops program in the state. I'm sure UK fans wanted to gouge their own eyes when Rupp Arena was a sea of red led by the architect of their return to glory in the 90's.

Don't tell me Tubby was a great coach because he won a title either. Adolph Rupp could've coached that 98 team to a championship. No, not if he were still alive. I mean, literally in his current state.

The bottom line is Tubby Smith, albeit a good coach and they say he's a good man, needed to go and Kentucky needed to move on. Maybe Vitale will call a few more Minnesota games next season. 

Durant. Oden. Law IV. Brooks. Green and Hibbert. Noah, Horford and Brewer. Wright and Rush. Afflalo. They all are going to be major players in the 2007 NCAA Tournament but the great deciders are from Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have size up front with Tyler Hansbrough and Brandon Wright. They have depth in the backcourt with Ty Lawson, Wayne Eliington, Bobby Frasor and Wes Miller. They've got Reyshawn Terry to remind them of how tough this road to a national championship is considering he won one in 2004. They've got one of the best head coaches in the country in Roy Williams.

The biggest problem facing Carolina is their overall youth. In a perfect world Ty Lawson would be a fifth year senior with 120+ games under his belt giving him the experience to put all of his guys exactly where they needed to be when the frenetic pace of their fast break offense was slowed and they had to play a half court game. However, when you're going to face a pair of Longhorn freshmen in Kevin Durant and point guard D.J. Augustin (barring a major upset) then experience is a moot point.

There are a few chinks in the armor. UNC is 1-3 in games decided by 5 points or less which shows either a lack of heart or a lack of experience. Of their 6 losses, 4 were on the road and 1 was on a neutral site which shows a a lack of discipline in front of less-friendly and plain hostile corwds. Or maybe they just got beat for no other reason than the other team being hungrier and ultimately better that day or days in Virginia Tech's case.

At the end of the day North Carolina has more firepower than any other team in this tournament and an offensive scheme that can break the will of any opponent they draw. Get ready for a great title game. UNC over Florida.

I'm not a professional. I'm not Bill Simmons. I'm not Rick Reilly. I'm not Peter Schrager. I'm not Matthew Zemek. I don't get paid to do this and I don't act as if my view is the gospel. I'm here to give an opinion. My opinion. I try to make it as intelligent as possible. Am I good at this? I don't know but let's just say I'm not about to quit my day job. I respect anybody who opposes anything I may post. That's not a problem. The problem comes when disrespect supercedes diagreement.

Please understand that I'm not angry. I'm not even disturbed; however, I think the difference between the two should be defined in the realm of the blogosphere. To disagree in a comment is to voice an intellegent counterpoint to that which you have read. To disrespect is to attack the person that wrote the point which you have read. Being that I try to keep this as light-hearted yet intellectual as possible, I don't expect, nor should I, to be attacked as a man. We are all here because of our love of sports and our desire to be heard. Some want to use this as a platform to show their ability in hopes of opening doors for themselves in the field of sports writing. Others just want their blog to be an avenue to express their opinions. Whatever your aim, I support you. I hope you get everything from this that you hope to. Not suprisingly, there are those who simply want to emit obscenities and utterly ridiculous thoughts because of some strange sense of bravado they feel. I, as many of us here, have no patience for that.

If you disagree with anything I've communicated then so be it. If you think I am the biggest #### with internet access then so be it. Regardless of what you feel about me or anyone who's written a blog you've read, please trade the disrespect for disagreement. For those who are capable and competent enough to actually voice an opposing idea, thank you. For those who have thought enough of my posts to my blog to read and respond to them, thank you. For everybody else I simply ask this of you: Don't let your ignorance define you.