Sweet 16

The round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament had some interesting matchups and another upset. In the first game on Thursday night, Xavier built a 16 point lead on West Virginia. West Virginia was able to make a comeback and send the game into overtime. B.J. Raymond, guard for Xavier, scored all of his eight points in overtime, including two clutch three pointers to help Xavier win. The other three games were blowouts, with North Carolina defeating Washington State, UCLA defeating Western Kentucky, and Louisvile beating Tennessee. On Friday, the blowout them continued. Davidson defeated Wisconsin by 17, Texas defeated Stanford by 20, Kansas defeated Villanova by 15, and Memphis defeated Michigan State by 18. Davidson's win against Wisconsin was an upset, with star Stephen Curry scoring 33 points and 22 in the second half. Curry has scored more than 30 points in all three tournament games. He has also scored more than 20 points in the second half in all three games as well. Davidson's win puts them in the Elite 8 with a matchup against Kansas. Other Elite 8 matchups include Texas against Memphis, Xavier against UCLA, and North Carolina against Louisville. Will Davidson beat Kansas also and make it to the Final Four? Will a #1 seed lose in the Elite 8? If so, which one will it be?

Webber Retires

Chris Webber, power forward for the Golden State Warriors, has announced that he is retiring. Webber signed with the Warriors midway into this season, hoping to play with a team that was able to contend. But Webber just wasn't fit enough to last longer. Webber has been battling chronic knee problems for a while and it has affected his play and his movement the past couple of seasons. Now he cannot deal with the pain anymore. A career that seemed so promising once he was drafted now ends without any championships. Webber is one of just six NBA players in history to average in a career at least 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. The others are Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Billy Cunningham, and Kevin Garnett. Webber has been a 5 time all star and he was on the All NBA First Team once. Webber, although, won't be remembered for the good things he provided on the court. He'll be remembered for not providing a championship at the college or pro level after having so much promise. He was at the University of Michigan for two seasons. His freshman year was a dominant year for Michigan in which they had five freshmen as starters. They blew away the competition during the regular seasons and NCAA Tournaments. But they lost two straight national championship games. The second, against North Carolina, in which he called the famous timeout in which he didn't have any, was his last game as a college basketball player. He played for the Warriors his rookie season and won Rookie of the Year honors. But his dissatisfaction with coach Don Nelson led to his trade to the Washington Bullets. After a couple of seasons with the Bullets, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings, where, along with Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, and Vlade Divac, formed a team that almost went to the NBA Finals in 2002. Was Chris Webber good enough for the Hall of Fame? Was Chris Webber a true leader on his teams in the pros? What if Webber won a NCAA championship and a NBA title?

Dirk Out Indefinitely

Dirk Nowitzki, all-star forward for the Dallas Mavericks, is going to be out indefinitely after an MRI revealed a high ankle sprain and a mild knee sprain. Nowitzki was injured Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs after landing on Ime Udoka after he blocked his shot. His ankle rolled up underneath him very violently and he was on the floor immediately in obvious pain. It looked a lot worse at first sight, but the MRI revealed that it wasn't a serious season ending injury. The Mavericks are currently in seventh place in the Western Conference playoff race right now. The Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets are right behind them respectively. The Mavericks already lost a game earlier this season without Nowitzki. That was during the Houston Rockets' 22 game winning streak. The Rockets won that game in Dallas 113-98 to win their 17th straight game. The Mavericks have a tough upcoming schedule, with five of their next seven games against Western Conference teams with winning records. How good are the Mavericks without Nowitzki? Will Nowitzki's injury eliminate the Mavericks from playoff contention? Do you think Nowitzki will come sooner than expected?

NCAA Tournament Second Round

The second round of the NCAA Tournament had its share of good games as well. In an upset in Washington D.C., the West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Duke Blue Devils 73-67 to eliminate the second seeded Blue Devils. West Virginia's strong play came on in the second half, when they outscored Duke by 11 to control the game. The matchup between Marquette and Stanford was a good one as well. Trent Johnson, head coach for the Stanford Cardinals, was ejected in the first half. Stanford ended up winning 82-81 in overtime on Brook Lopez's game winning basket with 1.3 seconds left. Brook finished with 30 points, while his twin brother Robin, scored 18. The matchup between #1 seeded UCLA and Texas A&M was also a good defensive battle. UCLA won 51-49, on Darren Collison's game winning layup with 9 seconds left. Georgetown and Davidson was also a great matchup. Georgetown was up 11 at halftime, when Stephen Curry of Davidson was not knocking down his shots. He started knocking them down in the second half, scoring 25 points in the second half. Davidson beat Georgetown in an upset 74-70 to advance. Butler and Tennessee was also a good game and the first time two 30 win teams have met in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee had its share of problems but pulled it out in the end, winning 76-71 in overtime. All four #1 seeds made it to the Sweet 16, but two #2 seeds(Georgetown and Duke), lost in the second round. What Sweet 16 matchups are you most looking forward to? Who has been impressive in the first two rounds so far? Who is the most vulnerable team so far?

NCAA Tournament First Round

The first round of the NCAA Tournament provided history and games that were thrillers. The game between Duke and Belmont was an amazing game. Duke, who is the second seed went up against a 15th seeded Belmont team and had lots of trouble. Belmont was knocking down their outside shots and keeping the game close throughout. Belmont led 70-69 when Duke's Gerald Henderson went coast to coast for the layup with 11 seconds left for the game winner. Duke survived and will play West Virginia, who beat Arizona, in the second round game. In the matchup with outstanding freshmen Michael Beasley of Kansas State and O.J. Mayo of USC, Beasley dominated. Beasley was in foul trouble but still ended up with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Mayo had 20, with a couple of them coming in garbage time. Kansas State, with the good play of other players dominated, beating USC 80-67 to advance to the second round and face Wisconsin, who beat Cal St. Fullerton. The second day of the first round provided history. In the four first round games in Tampa, Florida, all four had the lower seeds winning. First, Western Kentucky beat Drake 101-99 in overtime on a buzzer beating three pointer by Ty Rogers. In the biggest upset of the day, San Diego beat UConn 70-69 on a game winning jumper from De'Jon Jackson. San Diego and Western Kentucky will face off in the second round. In the third game from Tampa, Siena beat Vanderbilt in a shocking upset 83-62. In the final game in Tampa, Villanova beat Clemson in an upset 75-69, after Clemson was leading by as many as 18 points. Siena and Villanova will face off in the second round. Has the tournament been exciting so far? Who had the most convincing win in the first round? Which team is in danger of losing in an upset?

Rockets Win Streak Stopped at 22

The Houston Rockets, who had a 22 game winning streak coming into Tuesday night's game against the Boston Celtics, lost to the Celtics to end their winning streak. The Celtics beat the Rockets 94-74, in a dominating defensive performance that saw the Celtics hold Rockets' star Tracy McGrady to only 8 points and only 11 field goal attempts. The Rockets scored a season low 34 points in the second half, as the Celtics defense were able to stop others like Rafer Alston and Shane Battier from having good games when McGrady wasn't playing at his best. This is also the Rockets first loss since center Yao Ming went down for the season with a stress fracture in his foot. The Rockets have found numerous ways to beat their opponents without Yao, until they met the team with the best record in the NBA. The Rockets last loss was on January 27, when they lost a home game to the Utah Jazz, whom they also lost to in the first round of the NBA playoffs last season. Since that loss, the Rockets won 22 straight, winning all of their games in February. They haven't played the best competition, as they have played the New Orleans Hornets twice without David West. They also beat the Dallas Mavericks without Dirk Nowitzki and they beat the Los Angeles Lakers without Pau Gasol. Is this streak from the Rockets impressive? How far will the Rockets go in the playoffs? Are the Rockets a better team without Yao Ming?

Selection Sunday

The 65 teams who will participate in the NCAA Tournament were revealed today, and there were a couple of surprises in the teams who were selected and the teams who weren't. The Atlantic 10 conference, who has a reputation as a soft conference that doesn't want the mid major recognition, got three teams in the NCAA Tournament with Xavier, conference champions Temple, and St. Joseph's. St. Joseph's was on the bubble because they lost the conference championship game to Temple. It seems as if their resume was enough to get them into the tournament, as they will play Oklahoma in the East region on Friday in Alabama. Another surprise was Villanova. Villanova made it to the tournament, despite bad losses to Rutgers and Depaul. They did win one game in the Big East tournament, which was a rout of Syracuse in the first round. Syracuse previously defeated Villanova in Philadelphia earlier this season. They will play Clemson in the Midwest region on Friday in Tampa. Baylor was another team not expected to receive a bid. They started off strong in the season, but lost a lot of games down the stretch and then lost to Colorado in the Big 12 tournament opener. They will play Purdue in the West region on Thursday in Washington D.C. Teams that may have snubbed from a tournament bid was Virginia Commonwealth. They had a good record at 24-7 but their soft schedule may have cost them a bid. They also lost to George Mason in their conference tournament, costing them a sure bid. The four teams who received #1's were North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and UCLA. All of these teams made it beyond the Sweet 16 in last season's tournament. North Carolina received the overall #1 spot. Which team will win the tournament? Which teams will upset a good team?

Nuggets Score NBA Season High 168 Points

The Denver Nuggets, lead by Carmelo Anthony's 26 points, defeated the Seattle Supersonics 168-116. This amount of points came in regulation, which is the third highest total amount of points by one team in an NBA regular season game without going into overtime. This game had balanced scoring as well. Allen Iverson had 24 points behind Anthony's leading 26. Kenyon Martin also had 23 for the Nuggets, who have won three in a row by blowouts. They are now one and a half games behind the Golden State Warriors for the final playoff spot in the crowded Western Conference. They also reached 40 wins with the victory, which has been their fastest to 40 wins since the 1987-1988 season. The Nuggets were very efficient as a team from the field, shooting 69 percent from the field in the first quarter and scoring 48 points. They had 84 at halftime, in which they were leading by 26 points. The Supersonics were lead by rookie Kevin Durant, who had 23 points. 15 of those 23 points came in the second quarter, in which the Nuggets scored their lowest quarter point total with 36. The Supersonics, who are among the league's worst NBA teams, have now fallen to 16-51 in their rebuilding season. Are the Nuggets a playoff team? Will they make the playoffs? If the Nuggets do make the playoffs, do they pose a threat to any team in the conference?

Favre Retires

Brett Favre, the Green Bay Packers quarterback who has just come off one of his best seasons in quite a while, has decided to retire. Favre, who led the Packers to the NFC Championship game this past season, has said that he can still play but his desire to prepare for the games is not where it should be. Favre, who was the face of the Packers franchise since the Vince Lombardi era, has played 17 seasons. 16 of those seasons were with the Packers. Favre has started 253 straight games since starting his first game with the Packers back in 1992. This past season, he passed Dan Marino for the most touchdown passes as a quarterback and he also surpassed Marino's career passing yards mark. He also has the most wins as a starting quarterback. Favre has led the Packers back to dominance after they were irrelevant in the 1980's and the early 1990's. He led them to a Super Bowl victory in 1996 against the New England Patriots and also led them to the Super Bowl the next year, when they lost to the Denver Broncos. Favre has been known as one of the most durable quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, as he has battled many injuries and still manages to start every game for more than 15 years straight. Favre is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks to play in the NFL, and now he can wait for the Hall of Fame in 5 years. Was the decision of Favre to retire surprising? How will the Packers do without him next season? Is Aaron Rodgers, the Packers starting quarterback for next season, capable of leading the Packers like Favre?