Stephen Curry is the Real Deal

After watching last nights game between Davidson and Oklahoma I am predicting right now that one of the two superstars from last nights game, Stephen Curry or Blake Griffin, will be the National Player of the Year. Hands down the best guard and the best power forward in the nation graced us college hoops fans with a game to remember last night.

Griffin had 25 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, while Oklahoma freshmen and high school McDonald’s All-American Willie Warren added 20 points and the Sooners overcame the highest scoring game of Stephen Curry’s young career to beat No. 21 Davidson 82-78 on Tuesday night in Oklahoma.

Did I mention the highest scoring game of Curry’s career?  Oh yea, Curry just scored 44 points on 12-for-29 shooting and went 6-for-15 from 3-point range, and single-handedly brought the Wildcats back from a 21-point deficit with his incredible shooting.

Young bucks, WATCH this kid shoot.  STUDY his form.  He is the most pure shooter to come along in a while and I cannot wait to catch more of his games on national TV.  I’m pulling for Davidson to make some noise this year.

Which 1 Will Come Out on Top?

Davidson had Kansas by on the ropes last night only to lose it in the final 90 seconds of play.  I don’t care what anyone says, Stephen Curry is the real deal and proving to a lot of big-time coaches, that the little kid with a naughty jumper can still play and DOMINATE games.  He has to be the unanimous decision for tourney MVP after dropping 40 on Gonzaga, 30 on Georgetown, 33 against Wisconsin, and 25 against Kansas.  This kid has a bright future and just put himself on the map as the NBA Draft nears.   Sources say that Curry has made himself an early 2nd round pick after not even being on any draft boards prior to the Tournament.  Scratch that, according to ESPN.com, Curry says he will return. Look out for Davidson next year folks.

With the Kansas Jayhawks ending Davidson’s miracle run last night 59 – 57 at Ford Field in Detroit, we now have our Final Four set.  For the first time in NCAA Tournament history we have all four #1 seeds in the Big Dance. 

Ben Howland’s UCLA Bruins will face John Calipari’s gangsta squad, Memphis, at 6:07 PM on Saturday from the Alamo Dome.

Roy William’s Tar Heels and Bill Self’s Jayhawks will follow with the tip-off scheduled for 8:47 PM.

Predictions to come Friday.

NCAA Tourney Talk: Midwest and South Regions

MIDWEST Region – Ford Field Detroit, MI
Davidson vs. Wisconsin (-5.5) 7:10

Chris – Can Stephen Curry, who has dropped 70 points in Davidson’s first 2 games, continue the Wildcats magic carpet ride going? No. The physical, hard-nosed Badger led by perhaps the best defensive player in the country Michael Flowers, will keep Curry in check and look for the Badgers to cruise into the Elite 8 on Sunday.

Curry is the fourth-leading scorer in the nation at 25.7 points a game, and is first with 152 3-pointers. And he has willed Davidson to victory with memorable 2nd half performances against Gonzaga and Georgetown. The mighty Badgers however, allow only 53.9 points a game, best in the country, and have allowed only seven opponents to score more than 60 points. Don’t necessarily look for Davidson to be kept in the 60’s, but going to far over would be surprising. The Badgers strong defense and their unheralded, solid, balanced offense will prevail. Badgers cover easy.
The Pick: Badgers cover easy. WISC 76 DAV 63

Brian – UPSET SPECIAL. Sorry Badger fans, I am just not sold on Wisconsin yet. Yea they have some big guys, and yea they have a great defender in Flowers and a good coach in Bo Ryan but they play in the BIG TEN people.

Davidson has a great coach of their own in Bob McKillop and a phenomenal scorer in Stephen Curry (my MVP of the tourney so far). Davidson also has a very tough schedule throughout the year playing a lot of ACC and tobacco road teams. Everyone said that when Davidson beat Georgetown it wasn’t that big of an upset. Well why should this game be any different, Wisconsin and Georgetown are very similar in a lot of ways. In my mind Davidson is the underdog with the best chance of advancing to the Elite 8, so I am sticking with the Cinderella here and going out on a limb.
The Pick: Upset city here, Curry goes off for 27. DAV 74 WISC 68

Villanova vs. Kansas (-12.5) 9:40

Chris – Alright 215 fans, Friday night, prime-time main event, Wildcats vs. Jayhawks. Villanova is looking to pull the biggest upset in NCAA tourney history since… they knocked off Georgetown in ’85.

It’s not going to happen. Rock, chalk, Jayhawks will be sung all night as Brandon Rush, Darrel Arthur, and Darnell Jackson will be too strong inside. Villanova’s only stones throw of coming close a victory will be if Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher catch fire and combine to drop 60. Doubt that will happen, Nova’s unexpected run ends tonight in Detroit.
The Pick: Jayhawks cover. KAN 81 NOVA 61

Brian – Well sorry to say, the last Philly school will be bounced from the tourney tonight. Jay Wright has his kids playing great right now, but I just don’t think there is any way they can match up against Kansas, arguably THE most talented team in this tournament.

Dante Cunningham will have his work cut out for him with Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun inside.

Is Corey Stokes going to match up on Brandon Rush? Corey Fisher on Russel Robinson or Mario Chalmers?
The Pick: The Jayhawks control the game from the beginning. Dante Cunningham gets in early foul trouble and Kansas takes huge advantage going on a big run. Villanova cannot get back into it and the Jayhawks move on. KAN 83 NOVA 67

SOUTH REGIONAL – Reliant Stadium Houston, TX
Stanford vs. Texas (-2) 7:10

Chris – On paper, this looks like the match-up of the night, the Cardinal who was runner-up in the Pac-10, and Texas the runner-up in the Big 12. I see Texas easily handling Stanford in this one as well.

Stanford does not come close to having enough offensive fire power to keep up with the high scoring Longhorns. Texas has more then enough size to handle the Lopez brothers with the 6-10 Connor Atchley and 6-10, 299-pound Dexter Pittman coming off the bench.
The Pick: A.J. Abrams, D.J. Augustin, Damion James will have no problem scoring as the Longhorns will look impressive with a double digit victory. TEX 77 STAN 59

Brian – I think the Lopez twins are overrated and bunch of losers. I see Texas taking over early and controlling the game the rest of the way. Damion James will blow by both of the Lopez stiffs and look for the Texas 2 step combo of AJ and DJ to straight up school the Stanford guards.
The Pick: Texas rolls. TEX 82 STAN 68

Michigan State vs. Memphis (-5) 9:57

Chris – Probably the game of the night. After a closer then needed to be second round victory vs. Mississippi St, many are calling for the Spartan victory. The Tigers look vulnerable and every one knows of there free throw shooting deficiencies down the stretch.

Look for this game to be on the see-saw all night as Kalin Lucas and Drew Neitzel go basket for basket with Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts in company in a game that will come down the final possessions. The question is going to be will the Tigers horrendous FT shooting eliminate them 2 games earlier then they dreamed? The answer will be not tonight as the Tigers will be able to make free throws in clutch situations.
The Pick: Look for the Tigers to advance but Michigan State to cover. MEM 73 MSU 70

Brian – Tough game to pick here, I see this being one of the better games of the eve. Highly underrated Michigan State led by legendary coach Tom Izzo is playing great team basketball right now and have basically cruised through the first two rounds. Drew Neitzel has found his stroke again and looks sensational running the Spartan offense.

However, Memphis is loaded with NBA type talent in CDR, Derrick Rose (incredible first two rounds, averaging over 17 pts per), and Joey Dorsey will be on point. Like Chris said though, Memphis’s FT shooting is the worst in the Tournament by far (of the teams left). With all of these games being very close and competitive, it could be the Achilles heal for the Tigers.
The Pick: Derrick Rose and Joey Dorsey are too much to handle for the Neitzel, Izzo and the Spartans. Due to the poor FT shooting MSU covers however. MEM 78 MSU 74

Let the Madness Begin….

On a beautiful St. Patrick’s day here in the (215), I was finally able to sit down and take some time to dissect the official bracket.  There are some incredible first round match-ups and I am super juiced that I took off Thursday and Friday in order to watch.  A three day work week followed by the best two days of college basketball followed by the weekend.  Ahh can’t get much better then that folks.  In the following post I will take an inside peak at some of the first round match-ups that you CANNOT miss as well as an in-depth look at the Philly schools and their respective match-ups.  I will also disclose some of my upset picks for the first round of play to take place later this week. 

1st Round Must See TV

• No. 6 USC vs No. 11 Kansas State – Freshmen sensations Michael Beast-ley and OJ Mayo will grace the court together in Omaha on the first day of tourney play Thursday.  The top two freshmen phenoms in the country square off against each other in what could possibly be the most talked about first round match-up in decades. 

  

  Not only will this game feature the top two freshmen, another storyline that is intriguing is that K States other freshman stud, Bill Walker, has been best friends with OJ Mayo since elementary school.  The two were teammates at North College Hill High School in Cincinnati and, as you can prbably guess, North College Hill was pretty damn good. Behind Mayo and Walker North College Hill won two state titles and ranked among the nation’s best teams. But before their senior seasons, the Ohio high school association had ruled Walker ineligible, and Mayo bolted to Huntington High (W. Va.).  This game is going to be amazing to watch and I am pumped already, too bad one of these awesome freshmen has to take an early exit. 

• No. 7 Gonzaga vs No. 10 Davidson – Davidson, one of the top mid-major schools of this year, gets to face off against the top mid-majors of last year, Gonzaga.  We will once again get to see the sharp shooting of Del Curry’s son, Stephen, who is averaging 25.1 points per game on the season.  This game will basically be a home game for Davidson as they only have to travel 100 miles to Raleigh and could prove to be a huge advantage while the Zags have to venture 2,000+ miles cross country for their first round match-up against a team that cannot be taken lightly.

How does the (215) stack up?

• No. 5 Michigan St. vs No. 12 Temple – My immediate reaction to this game is that it is going to be an awesome one.  Temple is coming off of an Atlantic 10 Championship and have not lost a game since February 23rd.  Michigan State led by legendary coach Tom Izzo and PG Drew Neitzel recently just lost to boring Wisconsin and Brian Butch (such a loser) in a semifinal Big 10 match-up.  Fran Dunphy will definitely have his teams spirits high and ready to rock and roll. I am taking the Owls with the first round upset here over the Spartans because Big 10 basketball is a joke this year and absolutely sucks to watch.  Who can honestly say they watched the Big 10 Tournament this weekend when the ACC and Big 12 Tournaments were being televised at the same time?  Besides Indiana, its slow, boring, and downright awful to watch.  Temple’s uptempo brand of city basketball should be able to stun the Spartans and pull off the upset.  C’mon Temple, make me look good here.
• No. 5 Clemson vs No. 12 Villanova – Clemson made a great run in the ACC Tournament beating Duke and losing a heart-breaker to UNC on Sunday.  They were in that game until the end and had a legitimate shot at knocking off the #1 ranked Tar Heels but could not make their free throws down the stretch and could not seem to box out Player of the Year favorite, Tyler Hansbrough.  Clemson is very athletic and big inside and could be tough for the smaller Wildcats of Villanova.  Although Villanova’s speed and shooting should make this game a thriller.  Villanova made a remarkable comeback against top seed Georgetown in the Big East tourney but came up short in the final ten minutes of the second half.  I am once again going with the (215) and my heart in this first round match-up and picking ‘Nova to advance with the win.
• No. 6 Oklahoma vs No. 11 St. Joe’s – Sorry Hawk fans, but St Joe’s is the only Philadelphia team I see losing in the first round of play.  The unfavorable match-up of perennial Big 12 powerhouse Oklahoma does not look good for Phil Martelli’s squad.  Blake Griffin is a beast inside and I don’t see anyone on St Joe’s being able to stop him.  It doesn’t make any sense to me how St. Joe’s warranted a #11 seed after losing to Temple (a #12 seed)  in the Atlantic 10 Championship game.  They both went 21-12 on the season yet Temple had a better conference record of 11-5 (St. Joe’s 9-7).  Either way, Temple should have been ranked higher, however, I feel they have a move favorable first round match-up against Michigan State from the Big 10.  

Upset City

• No. 14 Cornell over No. 3 Stanford – Stanford is full of stiffs aka the Lopez Losers.  People that think this guy Brook is going to be a serious NBA player.  Puhh – lease, at best a career backup center reminding me of a one Bill Cartwright.  He can’t move, has maybe two moves from the post and is most likely a douchebag in real life.  I believe Cornell also got robbed by receiving the 14 seed and definitely deserved higher.   They themselves have a 7 footer who looks much cooler then the Lopez’s combined, so I’m going with Cornell.   
• No. 14 Georgia over No. 3 Xavier – Xavier is a very overrated 3 seed in my mind.  They recently just lost to St. Joe’s by 8 and never really seemed to get on track in that game.  Georgia on the other hand is hot right now, coming off two huge wins in the SAME day over Kentucky and Mississippi State and taking the SEC Championship.  After going 4-12 in the SEC during season play Georgia could be one of the hottest teams at the moment and I am taking them with the HUGE upset over Xavier.
• No. 10 St. Mary’s over No. 7 Miami – Hey look who’s back, the Miami Hurricanes.  It has been a while since Miami has been able to place a contender in the field of 65 and even though they cracked the bubble this year, I see them taking a very early exit thanks to the Gaels of St. Mary’s. 

Other Close Match-ups and Possible Upsets

• No. 7 WVU vs No. 10 Arizona (sorry Snakes – buddy is a huge WV fan)
• No. 4 UCONN vs. No. 13 San Diego (SD is good)