Just Some Thoughts... 2/16/12

1. Basketball in Mississippi can just be abysmal sometimes. Now would be about that time.

MSU has dropped 2 straight to completely inferior teams. Why? Well in my opinion, they are simply tired. For a good stretch, they played a 7- man rotation.

I am writing this during the skull dragging that is the Vanderbilt @ Ole Miss game. Vandy is up 23, but that is close considering how bad it was earlier in the game.

Southern Miss is still having a very solid season, but just suffered a loss at the hands of a horrendous UAB team.

2. Baseball season starts tomorrow!!!!!!
Ole Miss opens up in Ft. Worth, TX against a consensus preseason top-15 team in TCU. Mississippi State opens up with a Washington State team trying to regain momentum. USM opens up against a paltry Nicholls State in Hattiesburg. All 3 teams have a great chance at making it to the postseason this year.

3. It's official. I'm Linsane. Jeremy Lin has emerged as the best story in the NBA since the 3- point line. He has brought the New York Knicks back to a .500 record but more importantly revamped a bored fan base. Here's the good part: Carmelo Anthony isn't even playing with the team yet (due to a injury). How Carmelo is going to fit Lin (See what I did there?)with this new dynamic surrounding the team is going to be very interesting to watch. Carmelo just doesn't seem like the type to give away the spotlight and be happy about it. Hopefully 'Melo realizes the ultimate truth: America is Linfected with Linsanity. (+10 points for me)

Any thoughts/ comments/ questions? Thanks for reading!

Bracketology 2/8/12

I've been looking at a lot of bracketologies recently. And since it's something that interests me, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Note: This would be the tournament if it started today.

1 seeds:
(overall #1) Kentucky
Syracuse
Ohio State
Missouri

2 seeds:
North Carolina
Baylor
Florida
Duke

3 seeds:
Kansas
Michigan State
Georgetown
Florida State

4 seeds:
Murray State
Indiana
Wisconsin
Michigan

5 seeds:
Saint Mary's
San Diego State
Creighton
UNLV

6 seeds:
Louisville
Marquette
Mississippi State
Temple

7 seeds:
Vanderbilt
West Virginia
UConn
Illinois

8 seeds:
Virginia
Gonzaga
Harvard
Alabama

9 seeds:
Notre Dame
California
Wichita State
Memphis

10 seeds:
Southern Miss
Saint Louis
Kansas State
BYU

11 seeds:
New Mexico
North Carolina State
Cincinnati
Iowa State

12 seeds:
Ole Miss/ Arizona
Xavier
Arizona
Purdue/ Seton Hall

13 seeds:
Northwestern
Iona
Xavier
Middle Tennessee State

14 seeds:
Nevada
Cleveland State
Texas
Akron

15 seeds:
Long Beach State
Oral Roberts
Wyoming
Northern Iowa

16 seeds:
Mississippi Valley
Belmont
Bucknell/ Weber State
Drexel/ Davidson

Any comments on any seeding or anyone I left out.? Thanks for reading!

Just Some Thoughts... 2/4/12

Is has been a great weekend in sports. And do you know what is the best part about it? IT'S NOT OVER YET!

1. Super Bowl. That's all I need to say. Here's what I think. Tom Brady and the Patriots offense might be too much for the Giants Secondary (there are no pro-browlers in it.) If there is any reason for the Giants to win, it's probably the best one: their super hot.

Patriots 38, Giants 35.

2. A great day of college basketball. State played a close one with Auburn and pulled it out. MSU was smoking from behind the three point line. In my opinion, the only reason that Auburn was in this game was simple. They shot 31 free throws.

I did not get to watch the entire Ole Miss game. The 2 overtime periods (which I watched) were interesting to say the least. As has become a pattern of late, Ole Miss found a way to lose. Ole Miss is so close to winning big, it's not funny. Andy Kennedy is a good coach and UM should keep him.

Southern Miss is better than I expected. With a big time win against Memphis, the golden eagles are demanding some national attention. In my opinion, this could be a top-25 team.

This could be the first time in a long time (or ever) that all of Mississippi's big 3 schools make it too the big dance.

3. In a few weeks, baseball season starts. Man I'm super excited. All of the "big 3" in Mississippi brought in excellent recruiting classes. Southern Miss has a very good chance of wining the C-USA championship. MSU and Ole Miss's chances of winning a SEC championship? Eh... Not so much. The SEC is straight-up loaded.

4, Shout out to the Madison Central boys and girls soccer teams and the boys basketball team. Both soccer teams had great seasons, just coming up short in the playoffs. The boys basketball team has had more success than in recent memory. They won district for the first time since I can remember. But I haven't kept up with it either, so take that for what it's worth.

Any comments/ questions/ thoughts? Thanks for reading!

Just Some Thoughts... 1/25/12

1. Wow. I just watched a great game. If you missed it, LSU just gave MSU a complete run for their money. The game ended in a steal by Dee Bost (something MSU has become accustomed to). Some stats that jump out to me:
A. MSU outrebounded LSU 40-23. MSU had 17 offensive rebounds .
B. Arnett Moultrie had 28 points and 12 rebounds. He's on the top of my (imaginary) SEC player of the year ballot right now. He's also a Wooden award finalist as well.
C. LSU shot 52% from behind the 3 point line. 11-21(!!!).

2. Ole Miss has a huge match up tomorrow against Florida (@Ole Miss). I think one of the key match ups will be to see if Ole Miss' 3 point shooters can keep up with Florida's 3 point shooters. Ole Miss averages 3 3-pointers per game.

3. Is anyone going to watch the probowl? I'm not. Just not interested in watching people play football with nothing on the line. In the case of professional all-star games, I side with the MLB. That all-star game at least decides which league will have home field advantage.

4. Alabama lost @ South Carolina. That is just another great example of how there is not one game on anyone's schedule that is a "gimme".

Any comments/ thoughts/ questions? Thanks for reading!

Just Some Thoughts... 1/21/12

Wow!!!! What a great day of college basketball!!!

1. I know that polls mean nothing, but I personally don't think Mississippi State will fall in the polls this week. That Vanderbilt win was HUGE. Speaking of polls, we will have a new number 1. And in my opinion, that team should (and will) be Kentucky.

2. Ole Miss pulled out an awesome win at Georgia today. They played very well and continued to play solid basketball for the second straight game. It looks like to me that Andy Kennedy is doing his best coaching under pressure.

3. A crazy day for the top 10 in college basketball. #1 Syracuse fell to Notre Dame without major player Fab Melo (all-name team, right?) #3 Baylor lost at home to #5 Missouri in a close game #4 Duke broke a 45- game home winning streak on a last second shot to Florida State.

4. My picks for this weekend:
Baltimore (35%) @ New England (65%)- New England's offense will just be too much for Baltimore's Offense to keep up with.
New York Giants (55%) @ San Francisco 49's (45%)- This is the most intriguing match up of this weekend. My gut just tells me that Eli will be clutch this weekend.

Any thoughts/ comments/ questions? Thanks for reading!

Just Some Thoughts... 1/15/12

It's been a rather exciting weekend in sports. Let's get to talking about it.

1. The Saints lost to the 49's this past Saturday. It was exciting game. Congrats to the Niners and their fans. It's been a while since they've won at all. The Saints had a record-breaking season and it was a success if you ask me.

2. Tebow-Mania is over (at least for this year). Does anyone else think that Tim has made this season very memorable? He is a great story and I can't wait to pull for him next year.

3. Eli and the Giants knocked off the top seeded Packers today. Does it seem like 2008 again? I personally like the Giants to win it all now.

4. College Basketball in the state of Mississippi. Ole Miss lost to Auburn(@ AU) in 2OT by 1 point. Yes, you heard that right. Ole Miss lost to Auburn. Mississippi State beat Alabama in a close one at the Hump. I think this win will help the bulldogs in the long run. With all of that said, boy am I looking forward to this Wednesday. Mississippi State @ Ole Miss. It ought to be a good game. Look for the Rebs to press the dogs in the backcourt. And look for MSU to get the ball inside to Moultrie for easy points ( UM can't hang with the MSU frontcourt).

Any thoughts/comments/questions? Thanks for reading!

Just Some Thoughts...1/11/12

 I think its important to continue to post on the blog (even during the "off season"), so I'm gonna try to write in the blog several times a week. KEYWORD: TRY. This is a new feature I'm going to write when I don't have much else to write about. So here I go. 

1. Shout out to Lane Myers, who says he doesn't keep up with the blog (he obviously does). He won the blog's college bowl mania challenge with a 98.8%(!!!) accuracy. I will say this for Lane: It's about time he wins something (he's a Tennessee Volunteer). 

2.Congrats to the University of Alabama on their most recent national championship! They were obviously the better team (this time). Some ideas here: a) Is Alabama the #1 team in the nation? (I think so.) b) Will this hurt the SEC's chances of having another all SEC national championship in the BCS-era? (I don't think it will matter. All signs point to a "plus-one" system next year.)

3.As I was writing this, I watched USM lose to Memphis yet again in basketball. Then this thought popped into my head: Has USM EVER  beaten Memphis? I looked it up. Memphis leads USM 63-23 (according to the UM website).

4.I guess I have underestimated the importance of home-court advantage in college basketball. Two examples: a) Logic would tell you that Mississippi State would have beaten Arkansas badly. Not at Bud-Walton Arena. They thrashed MSU.  b) Also as I am writing this, Ole Miss is beating Arkansas by 9 points early in the second half at the Tad- Pad. The only thing (in my opinion) that could explain this abnormal occurence? Home- Court advantage.

5.My picks this weekend in the playoffs with a percentage (picks in bold caps):

Denver (30%) @ New England (70%)- I am SO pulling for Tim Tebow. 

Texans (35%) @ Ravens (65%)- This game doesn't interest me much.

Giants (40%) @ Green Bay (60%)- Good match up. It will ultimately come down to the giants ability (or inability) to score.

Saints (55%) @ 49's (45%) - I don't think there is any defense that can stop this offense. 

Any thoughts/ comments/questions? Thanks for reading!