Last season the A’s finished the season 14 games under .500 and they ranked dead last in the league in attendance. Do the A’s have any chance to win back their fans? Hard to say and while there are a lot of question marks on offense Oakland does have a legit pitching staff.
After suffering a long losing streak the Knicks are back on track and they have won 4 straight. However, they only have a 1/2 game lead over the red-hot Milwaukee Bucks for the 8th and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After meeting just once since the turn of the century in a 2009 NCAA tournament regional final showdown, the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans will once again meet up with the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals, this time aiming to exact a little revenge on that 1959 88-81 loss, in Thursday’s West Regional semifinals in the Valley of the Sun.
There seems to be no real compelling storyline for the Wisconsin Badgers right now. All they have done to this point is what they are supposed to: crushing a small conference foe and playing a competitive game against Vanderbilt.
Sweet 16
#4 Wisconsin Badgers (26-9) vs #1 Syracuse Orange (33-2)
Thursday March 22
East Region – Boston, MA
7:15PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed
Spread: 120.5
O/U: Syracuse -3.5
Wisconsin
In my mind this is a very dangerous team because they very rarely beat themselves. The Orange are no slouches but if they can win they might face off with Ohio State in the Elite Eight.
That would be fun.
With the focus on Kendall Marshall’s wrist injury many are forgetting the best point guard around might just play for the Badgers. He doesn’t have the gaudy assist number, and is forced to lead the team in scoring, but there are none in the college game better at controlling a game than Jordan Taylor.
It will be interesting to see how Wisconsin attacks that zone, especially with their bigs, who shoot the ball so well from the outside.
Syracuse
Well no Fab Melo – no problem…so far. They had one close game and one, not the only problem was they came in the reverse order with UNC Asheville giving the Orange a serious scare from #16 seed line. Against a shorthanded Kansas State squad they had a much easier time. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Over the two games no single player has stood out.
A great show of depth but usually teams have that one player that steps forward this time of year.
When you play Syracuse you know what you are going to get.
I think this might be a game where they might want to force tempo a little more and be more aggressive offensively and defensively. They have a huge advantage in terms of depth even with Melo out.
Looking forward to getting a nice look at guard Dion Waiters on the grand stage.
He has quietly become their best player.
Spread Pick: Wisconsin +3.5
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Syracuse 69 – Wisconsin 67
The Los Angeles Cippers head into their Wednesday night showdown with Oklahoma CIty playing pretty good basketball (winning 3 of 4 going into Tuesday night).
The Dallas Mavericks who have won four in a row, will be well-rested and waiting for the Los Angeles Lakers to roll into the Big D on Wednesday.
The recently red-hot Utah Jazz will play host to an Oklahoma City Thunder team that despite handing the Jazz five straight losses, will look to get back on the rails by stringing together two wins for the first time since early March when the teams meet on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
It is just another lost season for the Toronto Raptors. With forward Andrea Bargnani out for a big chunk of the year this team has been struggling big time to score points.
Memphis had a great run in the postseason last year. The team started slowly this year, but they have rebounded nicely to get to 25-18 on the season.
Although the Los Angeles Dodgers had an “almost” NL MVP winner and a Cy Young winner in 2011, that’s pretty much all they had. Amid the continued ownership turmoil, the team made very few acquisitions during the offseason to better their 82-79 third place finish.
The San Francisco Giants had a pretty good year last year, but came up eight games short of the division champion Arizona Diamondbacks, ultimately settling for a disappointing second place finish. So how will the Giants do in 2012?
The Magic are coming off a tough loss to the Miami Heat where they only scored 81 points and tonight face a Bulls’ team that has the league’s 2nd ranked defense.
While the Mavs have won 3 straight games, including an impressive win over the Spurs in their last game, they have lost 7 straight on the road.
Minnesota really struggled down the stretch in the regular season, which cost them a shot at the Big Dance, but they looked good in their opening round win in the NIT.
While Tennessee did not make the Big Dance they ended the season well winning 4 of their last 5 games and they had no problem winning in the opening round of the NIT.
Some college giants have been slain so far in the Big Dance, but all the #1 seeds are still alive and can Creighton pull off the shocker facing a UNC team that is stacked and has the best frontcourt in the nation?
