Eating Crow 60% of the time ...

NCAA

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to give me an outlet to make bold predictions. When you’re in the business of making such predictions, you teeter between being a genius and an asshole.

With the Memphis Tigers, I’m probably the latter. I don’t think I slept on Memphis. I knew how talented they were, I just didn’t think they could hold it together for five to six games.

I expected them to shoot poorly from the line (which they only did against Mississippi St.), to play undisciplined on offense and to have defensive lapses. I though John Calipari’s lax method of coaching, at least offensively, would come back to haunt them. I was definitely wrong.

Perhaps what was most foolish was I didn’t even give them a chance to win. I now find myself wondering if that was just an omission or was I really dumb enough to think that Memphis didn’t have a chance to win the championship.

They have clamped down on defense, and while they still don’t run many plays on offense, they are far more superior from an athletic standpoint then probably 60 of the teams in the tournament.

They made UCLA look like one of the Cal St. teams, in terms of athletic ability. Their performance was very overwhelming.

Now, the only team standing in their way is Kansas. Kansas, as I did write earlier, probably has the best combination of depth, coaching, and athleticism of any team in the tournament. Normally, I’d rant and rave about how Memphis didn’t have a chance, but I’m too embarrassed to do that.

Out of all the foolish predictions I’ve made, not giving Memphis a chance to get to even the Elite Eight has to be the worst, hands down. Therefore, there will not be a tale of the tape from me today. I really don’t have a clue who will win. From an analytical standpoint, I think Kansas should be able to take them down.

However, after watching them dismantle Texas and UCLA in their last two games, I’m not comfortable picking against Memphis. Regardless of who wins, this game should be a high scoring game and very fun to watch.

MLB

I haven’t written anything about baseball yet. The reason why is because I’m just not into it right now. This year’s tournament and the NBA have been so good, I just don’t care to turn on a game or look at stats and rosters and try to predict who is going to do what.
I’ll probably start following baseball more after tonight, when the only other game in town is the NBA.

NBA

Speaking of the NBA, the Western Conference playoff race between Dallas, Denver, and Golden State for the last two playoff spots is going to come down to the wire. From a viewing standpoint, I’d rather see Denver and G-State make it than Dallas. However, with Dirk coming back early, it seems as if Dallas is going to make it in fairly easily.

What’s most important is that Chris Paul wins the MVP. He’s going nuts right now, and recorded his fourth career triple-double last night.

On March 16, I first used this space to campaign for Paul to win the MVP. Here were his stats then:

21.4 pts, 11.2 ast, 3.9 reb, 2.7 stl, 49% FG, 36% 3PT, 87% FT

Here are his stats now:

21.5 pts, 11.5 ast, 4.0 reb, 2.7 stl, 49% FG, 37% 3PT, 85% FT

In just three weeks he’s been able to improve his scoring, rebounding, and assist average. He now leads the league in assists and steals and has his team in the playoffs and headed for the #1 overall seed in the Western Conference. Please, give this man the MVP.