NIT Bound

As expected, the Arizona State Sun Devils were not one of the 65 teams that received an NCAA Tournament at-large bid on Selection Sunday. Instead the Sun Devils will be competing in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which starts on Tuesday. ASU is one of the four #1 seeds in the 32-team tournament, and will start off by hosting the #8 seed Jacksonville Dolphins Tuesday night.

If the Sun Devils beat the Dolphins then they will move on to the round of 16, and face the winner of Seton Hall- Texas Tech, who are the #4 and #5 seeds respectively. My Sports Lounge co-host Andrew Gruman told me that ASU will likely have to play Seton Hall or Texas Tech on the road, since Wells Fargo Arena will be hosting the Women's NCAA Tournament, and the Women's NIT next weekend (Of course this is all assuming that ASU beats Jacksonville in the first place). If the Sun Devils have to go on the road, then I would not be surprised to see them lose in the round of 16, but what do I know? After all I picked ASU to beat Stanford in the Pac-10 Tournament, and look what happened there.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't upset that ASU is in the NIT. It's disappointing knowing that the Sun Devils could have easily been in the NCAA Tournament. Even though ASU likely would have lost in the first round, getting to the tournament would have been a major accomplishment in itself, especially when you consider that this year's tournament berth would have come after losing James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, who accounted for 68% of ASU's offense last year, to the NBA draft.

I'm hoping that ASU going to the NIT will send the message to Coach Herb Sendek that he needs to put together a tougher out of conference schedule. ASU has won 20 or more games in Sendek's last three seasons here in Tempe, yet they have just one NCAA Tournament appearance to show for it. A big reason for the NIT berths is because of the weak out of conference opponents that ASU plays. This season the Sun Devils played teams like Western Illinois, USC Upstate, San Francisco, and Delaware State, to name a few. That's four wins that you can essentially throw away, because the NCAA Tournament selection committee is not impressed by those cupcake opponents.

Look at the Pac-10 Champion California Golden Bears for example: They had just one more win in the Pac-10 than ASU, but they had a highly respectable out of conference schedule in which they played teams like Syracuse, Ohio State, and New Mexico, who are all teams that are a #3 seed or higher in the NCAA Tournament. Even though Cal lost all three of those games, in addition to other high RPI games, a loss to a team with a good RPI is more respectable and resinates more with the committee rather than a win over a cupcake team. Don't get me wrong, I love Coach Sendek, and he's done a marvelous job rebuilding the ASU Basketball program, but it seems to me that he and ASU favor easy wins rather than challenging themselves.

Another example of a tough out of conference schedule paying off is back in 2008, when Arizona got in the NCAA Tournament over ASU. Even though the Sun Devils had a better overall record (19-12) than Arizona (19-14) and even though the Sun Devils swept Arizona during the regular season, the Wildcats still made the NCAA Tournament over ASU. Why? Because the Cats had a top five schedule while the Sun Devils had a horrible out of conference schedule. ASU must win games and play tough competition in order to get more respect from the selection committee.

With that being said, I do believe Herb will schedule a tougher out of conference in the next couple seasons. ASU is a more established program now than it was two or three years ago, so I've got to think that big name teams will have no problem facing the Sun Devils. Not only will a tougher out of conference schedule help ASU's future tournament chances, but it will also put more people in Wells Fargo arena.

For now I'm sure the only thing Coach Sendek and company are focused on is Jacksonville. The game is Tuesday night, at 8:oo p.m. on ESPN2. Here's to hoping that ASU comes out strong and plays with some fire. Go Devils!

Crumbling on the Big Stage

I've got friends who grew up as ASU fans that have repeatedly told me that they've suffered from "ASU heartbreaks" for over 20 years. I didn't understand what they were referring to since I never really followed ASU football and basketball until last year, however after last night's Pac-10 Quarterfinal game against Stanford, I finally realized what they meant when they referred to "ASU heartbreaks."

The #2 seeded Sun Devils laid an egg last night, as they lost to the #7 seed Stanford Cardinal 70-61. I wrote in my preview of the game that the only way Stanford would win is if ASU couldn't hit their outside shots, and if Stanford was able to pick apart ASU's zone defense. Unfortunately both of those scenarios took place, as the Sun Devils shot just 39% from the field, while Stanford shot 55%. ASU committed 17 turnovers in the game, against a Stanford team that ranked last in the Pac-10 in nearly every defensive statistical category.

ASU's loss most likely means that they will not receive an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Had the Sun Devils defeated Stanford, I think they would have been in since so many other bubble teams lost yesterday. ASU will now have to wait until Selection Sunday to learn their postseason fate, but in the meantime they can reflect on how they played one of their worst games in arguably the most important game of the year. The Sun Devils beat Stanford twice in the regular season, yet when the stakes were high, they came out looking lethargic and looking like a team that figured that they would win if they simply just showed up to the arena. It looked like they were playing with no sense of urgency, where as Stanford was the team that played with more desperation, as they were up by as many as 15 points in the second half.

There are still some people that believe ASU should be in the NCAA Tournament, but to be completely honest, ASU has no business being the big dance. If you really look closely at their record and the opponents that they played, there is nothing impressive that stands out. ASU's best win of the year was against San Diego State, who's in fourth place in the Mountain West Conference. ASU had a record of 3-6 in the "big games of the year," take a look:

Duke 64- ASU 53

Baylor 64- ASU 61

ASU 55- San Diego State 52

ASU 71- Washington 46

Arizona 77- ASU 58

California 78- ASU 70

Washington 79- ASU 56

ASU 73- Arizona 69

California 62- ASU 46

Sure ASU has a 22-10 record, but seven of those wins came against garbage opponents: Western Illinois, Texas State, San Francisco, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Delaware State, UC Santa Barbara, and USC Upstate. ASU has won 20 or more games in the last three seasons, but they will only have one NCAA Tournament appearance to show for it assuming they don't get an at-large bid this year.

I think the loss to Stanford is so painful for Sun Devil fans because expectations were so low at the beginning of the season, and no one could have imagined that ASU would get over 20 wins or even be in a position to make the NCAA Tournament. The fact that ASU worked so hard to be on the verge of getting an at-large bid, then let it all slip away with a terrible effort against a terrible team is heartbreaking. Like I said before, I believe the Sun Devils would have been in the NCAA Tournament had they defeated Stanford. Could you imagine how impressive back-to-back tournament berths would have looked for the ASU program, especially considering that this year's team would have made it a year after losing James Harden and Jeff Pendegraph, who accounted for 68% of ASU's offense last year to the NBA? Instead the Sun Devils will likely settle for the NIT for the second time in three seasons, in what is certainly another case of "ASU heartbreaks."

Anyways the Pac-10 Tournament Semi-finals are tonight, and I will be there live at Staples Center. Here are my picks for the two games.

#1 Cal vs #5 UCLA: my pick- UCLA

#3 Washington vs #7 Stanford: my pick- Washington

My record in my quarterfinals picks: 3-1 (Correctly picked UCLA, Cal, and Washington. I picked ASU to beat Stanford.)

Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinals Predictions Part 2

I correctly picked both winners in the early session of the Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinals, now let's see if I can correctly pick the late session winners too. Here are my quick thoughts and predictions.

#2 Arizona State vs #7 Stanford

The Sun Devils swept the season series with the Cardinal, and what stood out in both games was the dominance of ASU senior center Eric Boateng. Take a look at his combined stats from the two meetings

14-of-14 shooting from the field

32 points

13 rebounds.

The fact is Stanford has nobody down low that can match up with Boateng, which the senior used to his advantage in both games during the regular season. Other than Landry Fields and Jeremy Green, Stanford really doesn't have anyone to turn to in a "must score situation". The Sun Devils' defense gave Stanford numerous problems during the regular season, and I expect much of the same in tonight's game. ASU has won eight of its last 10 games and has surprised everyone with their regular season accomplishments, in which they finished 22-9 a year after losing 68% of its offense to the NBA. The Sun Devils must win tonight's game if they want to get an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, and I think Pac-10 Coach of the Year Herb Sendek will have his team ready to play. A big key in determining ASU's fate will be by how well they shoot the ball from the field. The Sun Devils are 40-2 in the Herb Sendek era when they shoot 50% or better from the floor. Despite their recent struggles, Rihards Kuksiks, and Ty Abbott should pick up their play. The only way ASU will lose this game is if they struggle from the floor, and if Stanford is able to pick apart the zone defense.

My pick- Arizona State

#3 Washington vs #6 Oregon State

Washington, who has won the last six meetings against the Beavers, was a team that everyone thought would be contending for a Pac-10 Title at the beginning of the season. Now the Huskies, who were the once ranked in the top 25, must win the Pac-10 Tournament in order to be in the NCAA Tournament. Washington is led by Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas, who players that can take over a game at any given time like when the Huskies defeated the Beavers 82-70 just five days ago. Washington will also need a strong performance from Matthew Bryan-Amaning, who has formed into one of the top players for the Huskies. The key to this game is the turnovers. Oregon State is one of the best defensive teams in the Pac-10, as they implement a 1-3-1 zone that is tough to break down. Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year Seth Tarver and the Beavers led the Pac-10 in steals during the regular season, and a lot of their offense comes in transition scoring. If the Huskies turn the ball over a lot, then the Beavs could pull off the upset. Despite Washington struggling on the road this season, I still think they are the second best team in the Pac-10 behind Cal. They are very athletic, and their style of play suits very well in a tournament. Unless Washington struggles hitting their shots, I see them winning this one and moving on to the semi-finals.

My pick- Washington

Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinals Predictions

I'm back home for Spring Break. In less than two months I will be home for the summer. It's amazing how fast the time goes. It seemed like it was just the other day that I was at ASU Basketball Media Day getting ready for the 2009-2010 regular season, and now four months later it's time for the postseason tournaments.

The 2010 Pac-10 Tournament started last night with the play-in game, as the 8th seeded Oregon Ducks defeated the 9th seeded Washington State Cougars 82-80 in overtime. The quarterfinals begin in about 40 minutes, so here are my quick thoughts and predictions for each game, starting with the early session.

#4 Arizona Wildcats vs #5 UCLA Bruins:

UA defeated UCLA both times in the regular season. The two teams met in Tucson last weekend in a game that ended in dramatic fashion, as the Wildcats were down by as many as 13 points in the second half, but followed the lead of Nic Wise in a furious comeback that propelled the Cats to a 78-73 win. UCLA then proceeded to lose its following game to Arizona State, as the Bruins only managed to put up 46 points against the Sun Devils' stout zone defense. Despite the fact that UA has had UCLA's number this year, it's hard for me to envision them beating the Bruins three times in one season, and especially since UCLA is coming off of two bad losses. Ben Howland will most certainly have the Bruins ready given that he's had four days to prepare for the Cats. These two historically rich teams have a lot to play for, as winning the Pac-10 Tournament is the only way either team can make the NCAA Tournament ( Arizona has the longest NCAA Tournament appearance streak in the nation at 25). Since USC is banned from the tournament due to NCAA violations, UCLA will be the only team representing Los Angeles, and therefore will have more fans in attendance than any other team, giving them the home-court feel, which I think will help spark the Bruins to victory.

My pick- UCLA

#1 California vs #8 Oregon

This game should be an easy win for Cal, who is clearly the hottest team in the Pac-10 right now. The conference champions have won seven of their last eight games, and their margin of victory has been in double-digits for all seven of those wins. Cal also has the advantage in the fact that they will be playing an Oregon team that had to play a late overtime game less than 18 hours ago. While Oregon may have Tajuan Porter, who showed last night that he can take over a game offensively, the fact is Cal has too many weapons for most teams in the Pac-10 to handle. The Bears' big senior combination of Patrick Christopher, Jamal Boykin, Theo Robertson, and the Pac-10 Player of the Year Jerome Randle all average more than 12 points per game, and should prove to be way too much for Oregon. This should be the last game in the Ducks' season, and the last game in the Oregon coaching career of Ernie Kent.

My pick- Cal

My predictions for the late games will be coming in a couple of hours.

Trade Deadline Talk

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, and Los Angeles Clippers completed a three-way trade that sent Antawn Jamison and Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland, Al Thornton, Zydrunas Ilgauskaus, and a 1st round pick to Washington, and Drew Gooden to Los Angeles.

This is a big move on Cleveland's part, as they are clearly doing whatever it takes to try to keep LeBron James from signing with another team this summer. By bringing in Jamison, the Cavs get a versatile 6'9 forward that averages 20.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Before they traded for Jamison, the Cavs were rumored to possibly be trading for Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns. Danny Ferry and the Cleveland management want to show LeBron that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win a title THIS season, even if it means trading away a guy in Ilgauskas who was the face of the Cavs before LeBron showed up.

On paper this looks like a great move for a Cleveland team that already has the best record in the NBA (43-11), and perhaps the best player in the game in James. But in my opinion this move may actually hurt Cleveland more than it helps them. Now you probably think I'm crazy for saying that, but let me explain my reasoning here.

I think we can all agree that Cleveland is the clear cut favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals, and rightly so given the way that they have played this season. Now we can probably also agree that the team they would face should they get to the finals is the Los Angeles Lakers. The Cavs have beaten the Lakers twice this season, including once without their All-Star point guard Mo Williams. I think one of the main reasons why the Cavs had so much success against the Lakers is because Zydrunas Ilgauskas gave the Cavs the size to matchup with the Lakers big men, as he and Shaquille O'Neal would guard Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Lamar Odom is a matchup problem for any team the Lakers face, but now the Cavs just gave away one of their two seven-footers for a guy who's three inches shorter, and certainly is not as much of a presence down low.

If the Lakers and the Cavs do face each other in the finals, the Lakers will have almost every matchup to their advantage, with the exception being LeBron James and Mo Williams. Think about it, now the only true presence down low the Cavs have is Shaquille O'Neal. You can't tell me Shaq is going to play 35+ minutes in an NBA Finals game, because we all now that won't happen. He's old, and he'll get too tired if he does. In the two games against the Lakers this season, Shaq only played 22 and 28 minutes. The Lakers now have Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol to throw at Shaq, in addition to the 6'11 Odom who is a huge matchup problem from the start.

I'm not saying Ilgauskas was the reason why the Cavs beat the Lakers, but it certainly didn't hurt having him in the lineup. Jamison is a better scorer and rebounder on paper than Z has ever been, but you also have to consider that Jamison was the number one option on a mediocre Washington team, where as in Cleveland he could be the number three option once Mo Williams returns from his injury.

A lot of basketball experts always talk about how important team chemistry is, and how critical it is to not mess with anything when a team is rolling. The Cavs are currently on a 13-game winning streak, yet they just traded away an important piece to their team. I don't cover the Cavs and I'm not an expert, so I very well could be wrong, but I'm assuming that Ilgauskas was a great guy to have in the locker room, and that he was probably very well liked by his teammates given that he had played all of his 12 seasons in the NBA in Cleveland.

I'm not as worried about this move as other Laker fans are. The Lakers are still the team to beat, but they have clearly had problems with Cleveland this season, and that has a lot of Laker fans worried. When you really look at it, this move may have just reversed the roles and put the Lakers in the drivers seat to win another title should they face the Cavs in the finals. I could be completely wrong about all of this, but hey, only time will tell if this was the right move for Cleveland.

Dunk Contest Letdown

I'm not sure NBA in-game dunks translate well to a competition, because if that was the case then I could guarantee that Shannon Brown would have won the 2010 NBA Dunk Contest, a contest that will certainly go down as one of the worst in history. I'm not sure what went wrong with Shannon's performance. Maybe he had stage fright, or maybe he was overhyped, but one thing I don't understand is why people I'm friends with had so much hate for the Los Angeles Lakers' reserve after the contest.

For about a month and a half I had been one of many that had been hyping the movement for Shannon to be in the dunk contest. The movement simply became known as "LetShannonDunk", a website whose title states its purpose. The website got recognition shortly after its launch, as ESPN SportsCenter Anchor Robert Flores and TNT's Marv Albert and Kenny Smith gave the site shoutouts during live broadcasts. On January 18th it was announced that Shannon Brown would be a participant in the dunk contest, along with Gerald Wallace, Nate Robinson, and either DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon.

As soon as I found out who the other participants were, I immediately assumed Shannon would win because of one reason: he has had the best dunks of all the participants this season. From his ridiculous highlight reel poster dunk in the preseason to his dunks in which he jumps like a kangaroo , Shannon has electrified Laker fans around the world with his amazing vertical leap.

With that being said, Shannon was a huge letdown in the contest on Saturday night. Both of his dunks were subpar, at least for Shannon's standards and for dunk contest standards. His dunks were dunks that would've brought a regular season crowd to its feet, but not a crowd that was expecting to watch the best dunkers in the league.

In his first attempt, Shannon attempted a 360 Statue of Liberty, but he missed, which surprised just about everyone, including himself. He then went on to take off from the foul line area and switched from his right hand to his left hand in a dunk that scored a 38 from the judges. In his second attempt, Shannon attempted to do a double-pump dunk on an alley-oop from Kobe Bryant, but he overjumped the pass and had to settle for a left handed slam that scored a 40.

So after all of the hype and all of the expectations people had for Shannon, he didn't even make it out of the first round. Was I disappointed? Absolutely. I truly believed Shannon was going to win the contest, especially after he said a couple of weeks ago that he had some special ideas up his sleeve. But you know what? It's not the end of the world. At the end of the day the only thing I and other Laker fans hope to see Shannon do is help the Lakers win another NBA Championship. This is an obvious statement, but I'd rather see Shannon sport another ring than hoist up a slam dunk contest trophy any day of the week

I was amused over the fact that some people I go to school with thought I'd be heartbroken if Shannon didn't win the contest. A perfect example of this is with the sports director of the Blaze. He put the following on his twitter a few minutes after Shannon was eliminated: "The NBA wishes they never LetShannonDunk. He really let down his fans who supported his campaign." I found that funny because he only has 27 followers, none of whom are Laker fans other than me. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he wouldn't even know what LetShannonDunk was if he hadn't seen my tweets, so why not just joke around to my face as opposed to try to mock me indirectly?

I also heard from a friend that someone was rooting for anyone other than Shannon for the simple fact that he did not want to hear me "shoving it in everyone's face" had Shannon won. I love the fact that people know I'm a dedicated Laker fan, but come on I really wouldn't be doing much trash talking if Shannon Brown had won a dunk contest. It would have been great had it happened, but all I care about is the Lakers winning another title. Like I said before, I still believe Shannon Brown is the best in-game dunker out of the four that participated in the contest. In-game dunks may just not translate well to a competition.

One final word for those reading this: the guy who launched LetShannonDunk.com is an ASU alum, and is a friend of mine. So I hope all you morons from ASU that were mocking LetShannonDunk take that into consideration after reading this.

Second Semester

I told all of you in one of my final posts in 2009 that I would do my best to avoid month long breaks in between posts, and I apologize because I haven't lived up to that promise yet. This is my first post of 2010, so now I really mean it when I say that I will not go another month without updating this blog.

Second semester at ASU is underway, and I've had about three weeks to get adjusted to my new schedule and classes. I'm already a lot busier than I was last semester, and I'm not at my apartment nearly as much as I was in the fall. I'm writing this and listening to ESPN Radio in an edit bay on the third floor of the Cronkite School. I'll give you a little rundown of my day to day schedule so you can see what I'm up to as I did in first semester.

Monday's and Wednesday's

11:00 a.m.- I wake up, take a shower, eat some lunch, and do any homework that I forgot to do the night before, or was just too lazy to do. I'm up at 7 a.m. on Tuesday's and Thursday's, so that's why I sleep late on Monday's and Wednesday's. (I'm 20 years old, I need my rest, so cut me come slack)

1:00 p.m.- I board the shuttle headed from Tempe to Downtown Phoenix. It's about a 20 minute drive and there's usually a lot of people on the bus. There's always a person on his or her cell phone the entire ride, or a group of people talking very loud, so I pop in my Ipod touch and enjoy my playlist of Lil' Wayne and other rap artists.

1:30 p.m.- I arrive at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, and usually stop at the local Starbucks for a few minutes before I start my first class.

2:00 p.m.- First class of the day: Spanish Conversation and Composition. This class is very similar to the Spanish 5 class I took in my senior year of high school, the only difference is that my professor is very attractive, so it's safe to say that I enjoy all of the hour and 15 minutes of class time.

3:15 p.m.- Class is over and I have a break until 6:20 p.m. I usually go up to the third floor of the Cronkite building and hang out in one of the edit bays, kind of like what I'm doing at this very moment. I catch up on 24 and other T.V. shows I missed, in addition to listening to LA Sports Live and the Mason and Ireland Show on 710 ESPN.

6:20 p.m.- Final class of the day: Videography. Interesting class, as I'm learning how to shoot video packages. We're learning the basics of filming since we're just starting, but we get to use very nice equipment and my professor is a videographer for Fox, so he knows what he's doing.

8:30 p.m.- Done with classes, and I get on the shuttle headed back to Tempe. I spend the remainder of the night hanging out at my apartment.

Tuesday's

7:00 a.m.- Wake up bright and early for morning class.

8:00 a.m.- On the shuttle headed back downtown, and instead of listening to my Ipod on the way, I take a 20 minute nap.

9:00 a.m.- First class of the day: World Literature. The only reason why I'm taking this class is because the professor who teaches it is the same professor I had for an English class last year. She's very easy, so I think it's safe for me to guarantee that I will get an A in this class.

10:15 a.m. Done with class, and I've got about an hour and a half break. During this time I watch a replay WWE Monday Night Raw online, since I usually don't get to watch it live since my roomates are wrestling haters.

12:00 p.m.- Final class of the day: Political Science. I'm really not into politics, so maybe this class will change my ways and I'll be motivated to pay more attention once I'm done with the class? (Psh, who am I kidding, I still won't care about politics after this class, the only reason why I'm taking it is because it's a required course.)

1:15 p.m.- Done with class for the day, on the shuttle back to Tempe.

4:15 p.m.- I arrive at the Blaze studios, and get ready for an on-air update that I do at 4:30.

5:00 p.m.- Update is done, and now I'm on-the-air for The Squared Circle, one of my two radio shows I do at the Blaze. The Squared Circle is a wrestling show, where me and my co-hosts discuss the latest news and events in the world of the WWE. Now I know you probably think that an on-air show about wrestling is a joke, but it gives me practice and let's face it, if I can talk about wrestling for an hour, then I can probably talk about anything.

6:00 p.m.- The Squared Circle is done, and now I have an hour break before I go on-the-air for The Sports Lounge. I'm hungry, so I go right across the street to the best burger joint in Tempe, The Chuckbox. I get my bacon cheeseburger and onion rings, and then head back to the Blaze to do some prep work.

7:00p.m.- I'm on-the-air for The Sports Lounge, and unlike the Squared Circle, we talk about real sports.

8:00 p.m.- Sports Lounge is done, and I head back to my apartment for the remainder of the night.

Thursday's- Same schedule as Tuesday's, except I don't have my radio shows in the afternoon/evening. My roomates and I have a tradition to go to Buffalo Wild Wings every Thursday night. We all order 24 boneless wings, eat as much as we can, and then bring the rest back as leftovers. Thursday nights also mark the beginning of the weekend for me, since I don't have any classes on Friday's.

Friday-Sunday consists of my roomates and I watching a lot of sports, catching up on sleep, and going to parties. I'm having a blast with second semester thus far, I'll keep you posted as the semester progresses.

Don't want to wait for my new posts? Then check out my twitter and become a follower to see what I'm up to on a daily basis.