NCAA Nat'l Champs

I picked Memphis.  At least they got to the title game.  Came in 138,746th (or something like that) in the foxsports.com bracket challenge.  Pretty bad for having 43 picks right, especially since I don't spend every waking moment breaking down game film of North Central Kentucky State Tech to see if they're good for an upset.

Congrats to Kansas.

NFL Draft

Less than a month away, and still no clue who the #1 is, or should be.  Part of this is because Miami has roughly 48 roster spots that could use immediate improvement.

I really dislike Bill Parcells, but if he can pull off a rebuild of this team, I'll have no choice but to give him credit (it will still hurt tremendously, but I'll do it).

New Minimum Age for NBA Draft

I like it.  I was all for a 2 year wait (at least) after high school all along. 

The big debate all along seems to be that, since these "kids" are 18, and thus "adults" by legal definition, it is their right to earn a living in the NBA.  No, it's not.  As a few have already mentioned (Lisa for example), businesses and business owners each have their own personal rules regarding their hiring practices.  If the NBA (THE employer and parent business owner) and the team owners are in favor of a longer wait before "hiring" these youngsters, more power to them.

As for the mess with these kids going to college for a brief amount of time, when they obviously have little to no interest in getting an education...Well, I say if they don't want to "waste" their precious youth playing for nothing (which is another debate, since they all get scholarships...for an education...to play ball), then they can go play in Europe.

One rebuttal to this stance is that the kids won't get the exposure by NBA scouts and will get drafted lower than they should when they become eligible.

What I'd like to know is....Are you serious?  Yao Ming was drafted #1 overall several years back, and he played in China.  Yi (whatever his last name is, or how you spell it) was drafted 6th just last year, and the team that took him (thanks Herb, by the way...sarcastically) seen almost nothing of him prior to selecting him.

Trust me, if these kids go to Europe out of high school with the hype current kids are getting, teams will remember to send a scout over to watch them.  Teams are already sending scouts over to find the next great Euro-born player anyway.  I think they'll be ok, and they'll make a little money to support their families in the process.

NBA MVP

We're back to debating that Kevin Garnett should get it.  Maybe he's worthy, maybe not.  I really don't know as I rarely watch the NBA anymore.  What I don't understand is, why is he more worthy than Chris Paul (I sure am arguing in favor of him alot, aren't I?)?

Garnett plays on the best team in the league, hands down.  That's all fine and dandy, but he's also playing with 2 other NBA superstars in Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.  Who is Chris Paul playing with again?  Oh yeah, career underachiever Tyson Chandler and David West (who I really like by the way).

Paul is putting up ridiculous numbers.  But when he plays poorly, the Hornets tend to lose.  Garnett has missed a few games (from what I remember anyway) and the C's seemed to do just fine while he was out.

Garnett is easily the MVP of that team, and the Eastern Conference.  Heck, just his ability to motivate Allen and Pierce into workout fiends gets him this award.  But of the entire league?

My vote is still with Paul.  (Sorry Kobe and Lebron lovers....really, I am)

More Predictions

The NCAA tourney is barely over....Kansas is far from done celebrating, and North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis are far from done being disappointed in coming up short.  Yet somehow, early early early predictions on next season's top 25 are coming out like quarters from a change machine.

I guarantee you half the teams anybody (and that means "experts" and schmendrick bloggers alike) puts on their lists won't finish within 5 spots of where you have them now.  at least half a dozen won't even be in the top 25, and 3 won't make the field of 65 (or however many it is by next season).

Are sportswriters this sport-specific that they can only write about ONE sport now?  And if so, is there absolutely nothing else to write about already...just 2 days after the tourney ended?

But since this is what sportswriters do anymore (make stupid, early predictions, speculate, create news that isn't there, etc...), let me throw in a few early NCAA basketball predictions for next year.  Mine might be more accurate.

Duke will fall early (*too early, according to the experts) in the tourney.

Bill Self will get back to the Sweet 16....as coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

Billy Packer, Ricky Vitale, and Jay Bilas will continue to annoy everyone within earshot.

Brent Musberger still won't be able to pronounce Wisconsin correctly.

Erin Andrews will still look hot, but be absolutely useless in trying to give me any useful basketball information.

Somebody who has no business at all even being in the tournament will make the Sweet 16.

The debate will rage on regarding expanding the field to 257 (we'll still need a play-in game no doubt).

Bo Ryan's team will over-achieve.

The Big Ten will be down...again (even though 1 "expert" has both Michigan State and Purdue in his top ten...but what do you expect?  MSU still has Izzy McIzzo, and Purdue was the feel good story of the year with all their freshmen).

Kelvin Sampson will get another job he doesn't deserve.

Eddie Sutton's favorite former player, Doug Gotlieb, will quit ESPN to devote his life to defending Sutton's alcoholism and subsequent bad decision making.