This is BIG Monday

Recapping the weekend:

I went 5-2 on college basketball picks missing on Texas (more on this later) and Gonzaga who both looked completely lost and hardly Top 25 material.

My record for the year is now up to 17-9. Pretty decent for a first timer. If anyone has requests for games to pick leading up to a weekend, just send it in by Thursday night and hopefully your wish will be granted.

In other news, did anyone notice that the Pro Bowl happened?

No?

Me neither, that is until I read the KC Star and realized that Tony G now holds records for the most receptions and receiving yards in Pro Bowl history. He is also tied for the most TD catches in Pro Bowl history. Not that he really cares (just like Larry "Man Crush" Fitzgerald really cares about the MVP of the Pro Bowl after losing the Souper Dee Duper Bowl), but it is a nice resume builder for the Hall of Fame.

While we are on the topic of football, since my last lengthy post news came out from the NFL heads of officiating that they blew a critical call in the Souper Bowl! The touchdown celebration from Santonio Holmes on the game winning touchdown was completely illegal. It should have been a 15 yard penalty (duh!) and the reason the call was missed was because it was too far after the play was over.

Umm.... isn't the referees job to watch the whole game for any infraction?

I know what you're thinking, "Shocked and Appalled, Shocked and Appalled."

Except, not.

We knew the refs blew the call by at least Monday, and it took until Thursday for this news to come out from the NFL. Again, if this had been Pittsburgh getting robbed of 15 yards on the final drive of the game, the keywords from the media would have been chaos, riot and anarchy.


I also have to mention a couple baseball references. First, my Royals avoided arbitration with Mark Teahan and signed him to a one-year deal. Good move for one of the most versatile players on the team (and starting second baseman???!?!?!?); Let's just hope that he can find his stroke at the plate again.

Secondly, there is a boat load of new steroids allegations. These mostly involve A-Rod, which doesn't really surprise me. The problem I have with the allegations is that (don't think I am defending anyone because steroids have just ruined the game completely) they are from a report in 2003 of 750 players in which 104 of them tested positive to see if random screening was necessary.

My issues with this include:
-There are 103 players other than A-Rod who tested positive.
-MLB did a preliminary test to see if testing was necessary. If you need a test to see if you need to test (say that 10 times fast) you have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on! Seriously, this just confirms my belief that Bud Selig has had absolutely no idea what is going on in the sport that he is the commissioner of and there needs to be changes.
-This test isolates 750 players in MLB, but what if those that did not get tested had a higher percentage of positive tests? 104/750= 13.86%. Roughly 1 in 7. Probably the 1's in this equation made more money, got better stats, won more awards and put a ton of good solid players who didn't cheat in the minor leagues.
-104 players tested positive for steroids. OK, cool. But as a professional drug dealer, I have to think about how many other drugs there were circulating around baseball. What about amphetamine (Ritalin, Adderall) abuse in the league? Those who didn't have attention deficit disorders would use these to get more "zoned in" to the games and focus better. Drugs, Drugs, Drugs, Steroids, Steroids, Steroids.



Enough depressing talk (can I get a Prozac??!) and on to something a little more fun. College Basketball.

This weekend was filled with upsets (the rankings are about to get as wild as a drunken game of Hungry Hungry Hippos) and College Basketball is finally the center of national attention with the end of the NFL season.

The most intriguing thing so far is how conferences have been shaken up (Yahtzee!) since the start of conference play.

List #9:
Conference shakeups you should know about:
1. The Big East has 2 previously ranked teams (Georgetown and Notre Dame) with records of 4-7 and 3-7 in league play! South Florida has as many conference wins (3) as Notre Dame does.
2. There are 5 teams in division I basketball with undefeated conference records out of 31 leagues. Kansas (8-0) and Oklahoma (9-0) in the Big 12, Princeton (4-0) in the Ivy League, Gonazaga (8-0) in the West Coast, Utah State (11-0) in the WAC and Memphis (8-0) in Conference USA. Memphis has a 50 game conference winning streak.
3. The team with the best record in the SEC is not Tennessee or Florida. It's LSU with a 7-1 record. Last year the team only won 6 conference games and finished 13-17.
4. The ACC (in my opinion is the best conference in the nation) is so muddled, that a loss by Boston College this weekend dropped them from 3rd to 7th. Not only that, the last team to beat #1 in the polls (Georgia Tech) has only one conference win.
5. The Summit League is being led by North Dakota State (12-1 in conference) who is in their first year of eligibility for postseason play because they joined Division I so recently.
6. The Colonial Athletic Association, with NCAA Cinderellas George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion is being led by Northeastern (11-2).
7. The Big 12's top team is Oklahoma. The teams occupying spots 2-5 are all from the North division (KU, Mizzou, Kstate, and Nebraska)

More on the Big 12 because that's what I truly follow and most of my readers like to hear about. To put into perspective how monumental the standings of the league are let me break down the last 5 years of standings.

07-08
1.KU, Texas
3.KState
4.Oklahoma, Baylor
6.A&M

06-07
1.KU
2.Texas A&M
3.Texas
4.Kstate
5.Tech
6.Mizzou

05-06
1.KU, Texas
3.Oklahoma
4.A&M
5.Colorado
6.Nebraska

04-05
1.KU, Oklahoma
3.Okie State
4.Tech
5.Texas
6.Iowa State

03-04
1.Okie State
2.KU, Texas
4.Colorado
5.Tech, Mizzou

I did the top 6 each year because that represents the top half each year. I know you are looking at the standings thinking, "What are you getting at sports guru who also deals drugs to children for a living?"

The top 6 in the league each of the past 5 years has featured no more than 3 teams from the north. When reviewing all standings for the Big 12, there has never been more than 3 teams from the north finish in the top 6.

That is why the standings (as they stand now) are so shocking. Not only are there 4 north teams in the top 6, there are 4 north teams in the top 5!

That even includes the game tonight featuring Kansas (8-0) at Mizzou (7-2).

Big Monday = West Virginia @ Pitt and KU @ MU in a pair of rivalry games!

Pitt takes care of Huggy Bear and the Mountaineers with a win at home. I don't think too many of you will argue with that. Pitt already won in West Virginia by 12. I don't expect this game to be much different.

In the Big 12 matchup (If you didn't get it already Big Monday features matchups from the Big East and the Big 12; Catchy huh?) The Jayhawks take a lot of momentum into the showdown with Mizzou who has won 3 straight and 7 of 8. Both teams should be ranked (not available now) and are playing for bragging right in the Border War.

Now as a KU fan, I am completely obligated to pick KU regardless of anything else. And I will. KU wins this game. Sure, the game is in Columbia, Mizzou is a four point favorite and Paige Arena, er, Mizzou Arena rarely sells out. But picking MU is like picking your nose; Nothing good comes out of it.

Here's why KU will win.

Mizzou plays fast. Really fast. They lead the Big 12 in scoring.

KU plays fast too. KU has some of the quickest guards in the conference (Hello, Mighty Mouse) and they have big men that can run the floor as well as any in the country.

KU also has big guys that are huge (Cole-nan the Barbarian, coming off of an 18 rebound game) and have found a third scoring option in Mario Little to complement the other super heroes on the team. Little is shooting 62.8% and is not a big man. He takes a ton of mid range jumpers and will have plenty of opportunities to get shots in a fast paced game tonight.

KU has also found a way to make 3's when it counts. With defenses closing in on Collins at crunch time, they leave Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar open on the wings to put in 3's at 41% and 46% respectively. Plus, the two Kansas natives play defense.


8 hours to game time! Get Extreme!

DDSF