Underrated Big East Players

  The Big East is a very difficult conference, with unknown teams upsetting a highly ranked team.  C.J. Fair of the Syracuse Orange scores many more points than other teammates and leads his team in rebounds.  He is a player who runs the court and this season in recent games has been playing 38 minutes per game.  He is a humble player who doesn't get too amped up after a big play. "Fair is Unfair" is a common thing that people put onto their posters for Syracuse.  Fair is an excellent three-point shooter and can drive to the hoop quickly.  He is skinny but muscles his way to the basket.  With his ability to shoot and drive to the basket, he will improve a plethora of NBA teams.  The other underrated player in the Big East is Davante Gardner from the Marquette Golden Eagles.  Marquette is also an underrated team.  Davante Gardner is coming off the bench and is an excellent sixth man player.  He has a broad body and uses that size to box people out.  Coaches look for this in players; that they use their body to do what they are supposed to do.  He can also make a jump shot.  When Syracuse came to play the Golden Eagles, he made a jump shot from the elbow, surprising many of the spectators.  Defenders don't usually think big men can make jump shots.  He is like C.J. Fair in many ways, including their ability to drive to the basket and shoot.  These players muscle their way to the basket.  Davante Gardner and C.J, Fair are underrated players in the Big East and lead their teams to victories.  By Ameen I.

New Number One

  The Gonzaga Bulldogs have taken the number one spot for the first time in school history.  Miami lost to Duke in Cameron Indoor while Ryan Kelly was on fire.  Kansas State fended off Baylor with a last second shot.  Now is the time for teams to start winning important games in their conferences.  Also, Indiana was upset by the Minnesota Golden Gophers.  In many minds and mine, Ryan Kelly of the Duke blue Devils is the player of the week.  In March, anything can happen; upsets.  March Madness is nearing and many games are already having a playoff environments to them.  The following is the list of the top 25 teams in the AP Top 25 Poll.

1) Gonzaga

2) Indiana
3) Duke
4) Kansas
5) Georgetown
6) Miami (FL)
7) Michigan
8) Louisville
9) Kansas State
10) Michigan State
11) Florida
12) New Mexico
13) Oklahoma State
14) Ohio State
15) Marquette
16) Saint Louis
17) Syracuse
18) Arizona
19) Oregon
20) Pittsburgh
21) Virginia Commonwealth
22) Wisconsin
23) UCLA
24) Notre Dame
25) Memphis                                                                                                                         By Ameen I.

Wolverines Barely Pull it Off

The Michigan Wolverines thought with only a few minutes left and their 10 point lead winding down, they thought that overtime was unavoidable. Until Trey Burke had a steal from Michigan State point guard, Keith Appling, with only 26 seconds left. Burke would finish the play with a dunk to put the Wolverines up 58-56 and 22 seconds later Derrick Nix couldn't tie the game at the stripe with only 8 seconds left. Even though he did make one. The final score would be 57-58 Wolverines.

Wooden Award candidate Trey Burke almost won this game single handedly. Since he was the only player in double figures except for Mitch McGary who had 11 points. Trey Burke had 21 and 8 assists. Trey Burke had to work especially hard because of  the fact that Nik Stauskas was only physically able to play 4 minutes.

Unlike the Wolverines the Michigan State Spartans had plenty of help from any one,as Nix had 8 rebounds and 7 points. The biggest players for the Spartans were quite obviously Adreian Payne and Gary Harris. Payne lead the Spartans in both rebounds and points with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Harris was a close second with 16 points, but only 4 rebounds.

Do you think that the Wolverines will be number one again this year? I don't. Post your answer in the comments!

By David B.

Garza out for Opener

Matt Garza is probably best starting pitcher on the Chicago Cubs, the only player close to him is Jeff Samardzija who was probably as consistent as Garza with an ERA of 3.81 and a record of 9-13, while Garza posted a 5-7 and a very similar ERA of 3.91.

Garza is currently experiencing recurring pain in his back. He first injured the spot on Feb. 17 during the first week of spring training. The injury just got worse and Garza now is scheduled to be on the D.L for opening day and Jeff Samardzija will replace him.

"Now we know it is just time," Garza said. "We pushed it and pushed it hard. Everything felt great. Now it is the body saying, let's take a little more time."

By David B.

ACC

  The ACC is one of the toughest conferences in the country.  I think the two powerhouse teams in the ACC are Duke and Miami.  Most people are raving about Ryan Kelly's performance last night against the hurricanes, by dumping 36 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 1 block after missing almost 2 months with an injury.  However, I want to see more performances by Kelly like this for him to be a candidate for the ACC Player of the Year.  In my opinion, the ACC Player of the Year Award should go to there people; Shane Larkin, Kenny Kadji, and Mason Plumlee.  Shane Larkin puts up a significant amount of points every game and gets his team energized.  For example, when Miami upset Duke in January, Larkin slapped the floor in excitement and the rest of the team started to do so too.  Last night he scored 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Kenny Kadji is a player who can do everything.  He can pass, shoot, and dribble.  i think the fact that shocks people the most is the fact that he is 6 feet 11 inches and can still bury deep threes.  He also runs the floor and dunks the ball, which also gets the team pumped up.  This May he is going to turn 25.  I think one of the reasons the hurricanes are doing so good is that they are a very experienced team, with 6 seniors and 3 juniors on their roster.  Mason Plumlee is a very good player, with only one downside.  He is only a 67% free-throw shooter.  Many spectators have pointed out that he gets the ball about 16 feet from the basket, then plows his way through to the basket to score.  He only has to take one dribble.  Also, the fact that he is more on the humble side proves that he won't make many mistakes while celebrating.  The only mistake mason Plumlee made yesterday was when he out-threw Seth Curry with :50 seconds left, turning it over.  Other than that, i think he is an amazing player.  All of these players are capable of scoring in big ways, and to lead their teams to victories when needed.  I am disappointed because I am not hearing much about C.J. Leslie from NC State.  Last year he was scarring the opposing team, just by being there.  Now, everyone is talking about Shane Larkin.  Leslie needs to step it up so he can be the player he used to be.

By Ameen I.

Cardinals Attack

  Today, Big East foes were facing off in front of a crowd of 31,000.  After Syracuse had upset Louisville earlier in Big East play, the Cardinals were seeking revenge.  The Orange were riding on a two game-losing for the second time this season.  This game was low scoring and close throughout.  C.J. Fair got hot in the middle of the first half, with a halftime score of only 23-19 Louisville.  Syracuse couldn't get their shots to fall in, many of them rattling out of the rim.  Syracuse, however, came back in the second half strong and on fire.  They couldn't be contained and got the crowd fired up.  In fact, Syracuse was playing so well, the fans started to do the wave throughout the whole stadium.  However, in the last 90 seconds, Syracuse turned the ball over and Louisville took the lead.  The Orange couldn't score and couldn't contain the Cardinals.  Since Syracuse couldn't score enough, the final score was 58-53 Cardinals.  Gorgui Dieng did an amazing job for Louisville with 11 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.  None of the Syracuse players could contain him.  Michael Carter-Williams was the leader for the Orange, and had 11 points, 7 boards, 6 assists, and 1 steal.  I think the real players of the game should be Russ Smith from Louisville and C.J. Fair for Syracuse.  Russ Smith scored 18 points to go along with 1 steal, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds.  Peyton Siva only had 1 steal, 4 assists, and 1 rebound.  He didn't have any points in this game.  In the whole season against Syracuse, Siva only scored 2 points.  C.J. Fair had 19 points, 1 block, 1 steal, and 6 rebounds.  He got Syracuse fired up by scoring 6 straight points for the Orange while getting the crowd loud too.  I don't think he receives enough credit.  Fair is scoring many of the Orange's points and played 38 minutes against Louisville.  Also, DaJuan Coleman returned and played for the first time in about four weeks after suffering a knee injury.  Louisville did a great job of getting behind the 2-3 zone and getting passes into the paint.

By Ameen I.

A New Side of LeBron

The Miami Heat simply can't lose,they pulled off another win even though LeBron James only made 4 field goals. The Memphis Grizzlies had an unlikely performer themselves with Marc Gasol a center pulling of 24 points, and a very likely 9 rebounds.

On top of the Grizzlies Marc Gasol they also, had plenty of help from Zach Randolph and Mike Conley, both players having 14 points. Conley also had a whopping total of 8 assists, Randolph had only 1 assist but had 9 boards. So how did the Grizzlies not walk out of Miami with a win? They were beaten by the LeBron James, but in a style of game he doesn't usually play with, facilitating. He had 10 assists 18 points, and 8 rebounds, most of the assists lead to Dwayne Wade. Lebron helped him add up a total of 22 points. Also, Chis Bosh was being his usual self with 13 points, but surprisingly only 6 boards. All these lead to a final score of 98-91, Heat on top.


Do you think that the Heat's winning streak of 13 is in jeopardy against the Knicks on Sunday? I do because Carmelo Anthony has had a hot hand lately and Tyson Chandler has been doing great with rebounds. Post your opinion in the comments!