NCAA Round 1/Michigan vs. Clemson

Big win for Michigan. It was very ugly, but Michigan pulled it out. I think at one point in the second half they were up 16, and CBS where I was flipped the game to Nova/American. At that point I really didn't even watch the Nova game. I was watching the scoreboard the whole time the lead went from 16 to 12 to 8 to 6.. then suddenly the game flipped back on. Anyways.. If I were to say Michigan played great then it would be a complete lie. They were very sloppy passing and had way too many turnovers. Did anyone else sit there praying while Novak was shooting free throws? I don't think I can handle something like that again..

On to our next game.. I really think we can beat Oklahoma. It'll all come down to 3 things which are all pretty obvious. It's not rocket science when it comes to OU and Michigan basketball this year. For us to win we will have to slow down Blake Griffin, rebound our best against a big team, and shoot the 3 well. I think if we shoot the 3 great then we could slack off in the other two aspects, but relying on the 3 ball is not something you want to do.

After yesterday I was 12-3 with losses with BYU (to this minute I still don't know why I picked them), Butler, and Illinios (didn't realize they didn't have their PG). One more bad thing is that I had Illinois beating Zaga.. Yikes! It's all good though. I'm gonna go perfect today to make up for it..

Recap..

Michigan lost by 5 to the Badgers yesterday, so a win at Minnesota is a must. They too are on the bubble, so a loss to them would really hurt. If we can't pull out a W at Minnesota then we need to win 2 in the Big Ten Tourny.. Let's hope they can get big on the road..

Big Day..

With Michigan's win over ranked Purdue the other day, Michigan is very much going to be in the running to get one of the last at large bids for the NCAA Tournament. Today is a huge day for them though. With the win over Purdue, they now have 4 quality wins (UCLA, Duke, Illinois). If Michigan were to pull out a W over the Badgers at Wisconsin and 1 win in the Big Ten Tournament then it's almost guaranteed they would get in. They would have at least a .500 record in the Big Ten, 2 wins against top 5 teams, and they would be at least 6-4 (not great, but not bad) in their last 10 games.

Today I'm looking for Manny and Sims to have big games. If they don't then there is no way Michigan will win on the road. I'm expecting a low scoring game, and because I always pick Michigan to win unless they're playing Hasheem Thabeet, I predict a 52-48 win over the Badgers.

Post NBA All Star Game

First off, I'd like to state that I'm not a huge NBA fan by any means. I love the Pistons, and will watch any of their games when they're on TV, but other than that I don't care if the Celtics are playing the Lakers, or if the Lakers are playing the All Celtics team. It just doesn't matter to me. I do enjoy watching any all star game festivities. I watch the NHL Skills challenges, the NBA festivities, and will watch the MLB Home Run Derby every year. Of these 3 I feel like the NBA's all star events are by far the best at entertaining, but they do it all wrong. Nothing against the players that participated in the 3 point shootout, and the point guard challenge, but who are these guys? The point guard challenge had some great players in it, but it left out probably the best point guard in the last 5 years Steve Nash! His selection was a no brainer because the All Star Game was being held in Phoenix. I really hope that he declined the offer from the NBA to be in that contest. Now, when it comes to the 3 point shootout it gets crazy. Who is Roger Mason Jr.? How does Jason Kapono have a chance at 3 peating? That's just crazy and that's not even the end of it. I didn't know half of the players in that contest. The NBA needs to fix that soon.. Here are other comments and concerns from the NBA All Start Game this past weekend..

Reggie Miller: He killed me the whole time I was watching. The All Star Game is supposed to be a fun event where players show off their amazing skills, yet you hear him complaining and getting pissed that Derrick Rose didn't hussle during the point guard event. RELAX REGGIE! And another thing.. Did he really say Jergens at one point during the event?

Kevin Rudolf's "Half Time" Show: Wow, was that a bad performance or what. Someone even posted on wikipedia that it was a shitty performance during the show (See link above). I really like the song "Let it Rock", but that sounded nothing like it. Does anyone realize how old Rudolf is? He's 25, but damn does he look like he's 40. The "Half Time" show had two funny and exciting parts to it. The first was the dancers on stage who were unbelievably hot, and the second was the random guy in white trying to pump up the croud during the song. You know who I'm talking about. The guy that every 5 seconds would randomly yell "C'mon!", "Yea!", "Rock!", and "Get up!". The guy was a joke. I busted out laughing every time he yelled something. If there was a favorite part of the performance it had to be watching those dancers in orange while the guy in white looked like a fool.

How My Predictions Turned Out: OK, so I only got 1 of the 3 right, but I picked the upset of the century! Everyone this side of the Mississippi was picking Howard to win the dunk contest, but instead he did one sick dunk and the rest were lame. Robinson on the other hand used some props (Howard himself), and did some crazy dunks just because he's so tiny. Parker let me down in his event. I figured the crafty veteran would pull out the W, but I failed to realize that French athletes just don't win anything. And as for Rashard Lewis.. You let me down! Don't guarantee a win and not come up with the W!

NBA All-Star Weekend

Is it sad that I'm genuinely excited about the "Pistons" winning the random shooting spots and mix of old, woman, and bad NBA player (except for Duncan) shootout challenge? "Twinkle Toes" was draining shots while the announcers kept calling him that ridiculously bad nickname. I don't know the girl, but she shot that first 3 pretty smooth, and then Afflalo did alright I guess. Why would the NBA take random players like Afflalo and Fisher? Fisher used to be a dirty shooter and I'll admit he was pretty good tonight, but why?! David Stern needs to figure it out, and why is Steve Nash not in the Skills Challenge? He's always in it and it's in Phoenix!

Predictions:
Skills Challenge winner- The Frenchy, Tony Parker
3 Point Challenge- Rashard Lewis (He guaranteed victory earlier.. Easy choice)
Slam Dunk Contest- Robinson (Didn't want to pick the obvious, plus everyone loves a little man that can jump)

Pistons vs Bulls

Looks like I spoke too soon.. Pistons lose another game. One they should have had. Frustration has set in at this point.

Recap of Weekend

Hey guys, sorry about the lack of posting on here, but I had a crazy jam packed weekend. I think from now on I'll only be able to post about 2-3 times a week which I think will really get me writing about the good stuff.. Anyways..

Michigan lost to UConn. I didn't see the game, but I saw some of the stats and saw that it was pretty close the whole game. Thabeet ended up with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks which was lower than my prediction. Like one person said though, Adrien had a great game and really lead them it looks like.

Michigan also lost to MSU tonight. The game was brutal form what I saw. We scored 15 points in the first half! Our offense is bad right now and it looks like no one wants to take a shot. It's like they only take shots when it's wide open. If not, then they just keep passing it around till the buzzer goes off to give the ball to the other team.. A win out of one of the two past games would have been nice for the resume, but let's just say I wasn't expecting a win the way we've been playing.

Pistons lost to the Suns. It's sad to watch them now. I don't think I've seen them win on TV once. They got the game within 4 points at one point and gave it right back to them. Oh well.. It looks like they are about to pull out a W against the Bulls tonight.