The spring games have ended and college coaches have all gotten a feel for what their team is about. Some teams like Oklahoma have to look for some people to replace their best players like Heisman trophy winner Baker Mayfield. Other teams look to avenge their losses from last year and attempt to win a national championship like the Georgia Bulldogs who came so close to winning but were defeated by the powerhouse of college football Alabama. The race to the playoffs will begin soon and there are a few teams who look like they will make a name for themselves early.
Alabama Crimson Tide- Roll Tide is coming off of another championship, their second in three years after being in the playoffs all 4 years since it has been created. They also lost a lot of talent but they have a core of young players that can definitely step up to the plate. They are in a bit of a quarterback controversy right now. Jalen Hurts has been the starter for 3 years now, but in the middle of the championship game last year he was benched and replaced by Tua Tagliavia the polynesian gunslinger. There have been rumors that Hurts will transfer but I don’t think Alabama needs him to be successful. Clemson Tigers- The Tigers have also been to two championships and have won 1 against Alabama. They have a great leader at quarterback with Kelly Bryant who now has a year of experience under his belt after starting last year and making it to a bowl game. Clemson didn’t lose many good players if any at all so they will have a very experienced team as a whole to get them back to the playoffs. Not to mention this experienced team destroyed a good Miami team in their bowl game last year. They put up 38 points on a talented Miami defense and most of the offense that put up these numbers is coming back. They were in the playoffs this year but lost to Alabama again in the semifinal. Kelly Bryant has been working hard and something tells me he didn’t take that loss lightly. Ohio State Buckeyes- The Buckeyes also are having a quarterback controversy, but with 3 great talents. Joe Burrow has said he plans to transfer which leaves us with two great quarterbacks Tate Martell and Dwayne Haskins. As of now I would imagine Haskins would be the starter since he got playing time when J.T. Barrett went out with a knee injury. Ohio State did lose some key players but most of their offense will be back and their defense will be headlined by the return of Nick Bosa the prolific pass rusher. Georgia Bulldogs-The Bulldogs are looking to avenge their loss in last year's championship after having the lead for the majority of the game. Jake Fromm is back after a terrific freshman year. I am in love with his style of play and leadership and the way he carries himself. I believe he can help Georgia get to the playoffs again. They lost their two running backs and star linebacker Roquan Smith, yet they still have the return of talented d-line returning and a good receiving core for Fromm to throw to. They even have a running back Deandre Swift who proved he can get the job done just like the two starters they had last year. Obviously college football is unpredictable and these teams are just a few familiar faces of the playoffs. I imagine that at least two of these teams will make it to the playoffs. If not they will definitely still have successful seasons.
0 Comments
The NBA playoffs have had a great start and they seem to gain more and more popularity every year. A lot of intriguing storylines have started to develop throughout the first couple of series.
Will the King Be Dethroned?- LeBron James has obviously shown that he is the greatest player in the world as of right now. He has been to 7 straight finals and is rearing his head towards another one. Yet, this may be his hardest path to the finals since his first one in 2008. He doesn’t have another superstar to help him in games. Kevin Love is the next closest in talent but he is very inconsistent which causes me to not label him a superstar. Teams in the east go better while the Cavs potentially got worse. LeBon to me already looks exhausted from a tough series with the Indiana Pacers and he should be tired if he has to put up 40 points a night. I guess that’s what it takes to be the greatest. Simmons Vs. Mitchell- Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell have been going through a bit of a feud for the Rookie of the Year award. Both players deserve the award, but I would like to see Mitchell win it. He broke Michael Jordan's record for most points in a rookie’s first two playoff games. He also brought a Jazz team to the playoffs and won a series with them after they just traded their best player (Gordon Hayward) this past offseason. Not to mention they missed the playoffs with Hayward. Simmons has also made his way into the history books being only the second rookie to record a triple-double in the playoffs. Simmons also led his team to a first round win as well. Mitchell has thrown out the fact that by definition Simmons isn’t a rookie considering he was drafted last year but didn’t play all season due to injury. Where Is Kawhi?- Kawhi Leonard has been injured for a majority of the NBA season, but he was cleared to play a long time ago. He hasn’t come back to the San Antonio Spurs at all and he looks like he doesn't plan to. This opens up plenty of questions like if he is going to a new team next year. I think someone in the organization made Leonard angry. It could have been Coach Popovich or maybe he’s just not satisfied with the team. Why Are People Ignoring the Warriors?- People have always talked about the teams they think are going to the Finals but people haven’t been really talking about the Warriors. However they should; the Warriors are still a good team. They just got Steph Curry back from injury and he looks like he’s in midseason form. Durant is becoming a stronger defensive force each game and Klay and Dray are both playing well. They play amazing defense as a team and they can score in many different ways but their most efficient way of scoring is from the three point line. Once these perimeter shots start to pile up, the Warriors can turn a two point lead into an eleven point lead in just seconds. Bob Knight was probably the second best college basketball coach after John Wooden. His best and longest tenure was at Indiana University but he coached a number of other teams besides Indiana. He maintained a 902-371 record throughout his career and was really known for some of the quotes that he would make; some would call them influential others would call them harsh. Mostly notably, he was known for his fiery spirit; ESPN recently released a 30 for 30 documentary about Bob Knight called Last Days of Knight.
My first problem with the documentary is that it wasn’t shown on television at all and instead shown on ESPN Plus. This is an issue because now the show can’t get as much exposure because you have to pay to subscribe. Overall, I thought the documentary was really good especially for someone around my age because it shed light on a subject that I was really unfamiliar with. I had only heard of Bob Knight, but I never got to see actual footage of his teams. The best part of the film was that it was told from the perspective of a journalist, Robert Abbott. He wanted to figure out why All-American players were leaving Indiana’s program for no specific reason. Through his research, Abbott found that Indiana was winning games, but the players were unsatisfied with their situation on the team and the cause was Knight. I also love that Abbott tried his best to not put Knight in a bad light.Abbott praised him for becoming a national champion at age 35 and having the only undefeated national championship team. He didn’t want to make Knight look bad, he just wanted to investigate a problem. He even went as far as showing all the good things that other players had said about him. I also loved that he interviewed a lot of important people in the college basketball and journalism world. People like Dick Vitale who is one of my favorite sports broadcasters ever. Al lot of these people praised how good of coach and person Bob Knight was and they were surprised about some of the things he had done. The documentary was exceptional to me, just like most 30 for 30’s are. It helped me understand the situations that a journalist can be in and what happened to one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. A journalist can be put under pressure to write something that is not necessarily true or they can go against what people think and give people the truth that they need to see. The sport of men's lacrosse as a whole has risen in popularity around the country. At first I wasn’t too interested in it myself but once Worthington Kilbourne got a state championship in 2016, the sport started to gain my attention. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of attention at the pro level and the pro players don’t get paid very much either. Despite the lack of pro popularity, lacrosse season has just started and college teams are ready to make a run for a title. Only 46 NCAA tournaments have been held and in that span only ten different teams have won a championship. The Ohio State Buckeyes almost broke that streak last year but unfortunately came up short. In case you are new to the sport here are some of the most historic programs in the country.
Duke University- What is Duke not good at should be the real question. Duke seems to produce a talented team every year. Duke hadn’t won their first championship until to 2010 and they have won 3 as of today. Although this is less than a lot of other teams, I put them on the list because they are a really hard team to beat especially in the playoffs. They have been a runner up for the title multiple times and they usually lose in the playoffs to some team on this list. University of Virginia- If you know just a little bit about lacrosse, you should know that the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia area is one of the best areas for the sport. Virginia won the second lacrosse championship ever and they have won five in total. I think another thing that makes Virginia a great lacrosse school is that they play in the ACC conference which has a lot of great teams including Duke and they have an ability to win close games. 4 of their 5 championship games in school history were decided by at least 2 goals. Syracuse University- Syracuse is also known for its prestigious lacrosse program. They are in the ACC conference, but the reason why I added them to the list is because they have technically won 10 championships which would mean they have the most in the history of the NCAA lacrosse tournament. There was a scandal that caused them to vacate 3 championships that they had won in a row, yet Syracuse never fails to impress us every year. University of North Carolina- Last but not least is North Carolina. North Carolina, just like Duke, is a talented school when it comes to athletics, and also like Duke they are in the ACC. They are an amazing lacrosse team every year and always give teams a run for their money in the tournament. They have 5 titles which is tied for third in the NCAA. The reason they made the list is because they are one of the most persistent teams in tournament history. They have won championships even when they aren’t ranked the highest. Honorable Mention- John Hopkins, Maryland,Princeton, Cornell This year’s NFL free agency has been pretty crazy and there are lots of new faces in lots of new places. While some teams took advantage of the talent that was on the board others just sat back and watched as some of their rivals picked up top notch players.
Los Angeles Rams- The Rams are by far my pre-season favorite. They were already loaded with talent. Unfortunately, they were sent out of the playoffs early last year by the Atlanta Falcons in a close, which I expected considering they are a very young team. They have a stellar defense headlined by the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald. They also had the Offensive Player of the year in Todd Gurley. After free agency they added Ndamukong Suh another scary defensive tackle and two elite corners with Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib. Their biggest addition was getting Brandin Cooks to join the team after being Tom Brady’s best target last year. If they get the team to mesh together Hollywood might have a champion. Tennessee Titans- The Titans were looking to improve after ending their playoff drought this season. They released Demarco Murray which shows that they are ready to invest in Derrick Henry the former heisman winner. I am also a huge fan of Marcus Mariota, the Titans speedy quarterback. They went and signed Malcolm Butler after he was benched by the Patriots in the Super Bowl for reasons still unknown. They also stole Dion Lewis from the Patriots who is a great catcher for the running back position and a great kick returner. I think the Titans will definitely find themselves back in the playoffs. Cleveland Browns- Yes I am aware that Cleveland has went 1-31 in the past two season combined, but after the trades they made and with the draft picks they have, Cleveland may be one step away from becoming a good team. They traded for Tyrod Taylor from the Bills who has shown signs of light since he came to the league. They also got Jarvis Landry from the Dolphins who has proven that he is an elite wide receiver. They also picked up former Buckeye Carlos Hyde who is a pretty good running back and Damarious Randall from the Packers a good cover corner. They also have the 1st and 4th pick in the draft which can help add even more talent to the roster along with plenty of other picks in the draft. I am very excited to see what the Browns can do next season. The Columbus Blue Jackets have been on a roll as of late which is really exciting for the franchise and the city. The team went on a 10 game win streak taking down some of the better teams in the NHL. This is good because if the Jackets want to make a playoff push, like I expect they will, they need to be prepared for higher ranked teams. What also really impressed me about the Blue Jackets is that a lot of these games were close and came down to the final seconds or maybe even overtime to decide the winner and the Blue Jackets excelled in these situations. This will also help them figure out how to close out games in the Playoffs as well.
Unfortunately the injury bug has reared its head toward Columbus. Injuries have begun to pile up at the most important time for the Jackets - the Playoffs. . The biggest injury for Columbus was Nick Foligno getting hurt in the loss against the St.Louis Blues on March 24th He is said to be out for 2-4 weeks but he could miss the regular season and some of the Playoffs according to USA Today. This is detrimental because not only were there some injuries to the team already, but to have a captain injured could really hurt - not to mention this is Foligno’s second time being injured. They really need him to go deep into the playoffs.Yet, the Blue Jackets were in this same situation last year of having big injuries and they did not push the panic button. If the playoffs started today they would be playing the Penguins again, like last year, and I think the outcome would be the same if not worse. Hopefully, the Columbus Blue Jackets can get healthy and get back on track and prove me wrong. High School football has become huge over the past couple of years. People love watching big time prospects from different schools compete at the high school level before they are shipped off to some of our favorite college teams. There are some teams that seem to have a huge advantage over the competition every year and they sometimes have to even play a national schedule so they can play better competition. A new season of QB1: Beyond The Lights just came out and it inspired to right a column on the top high school programs.
Bishop Gorman(Las Vegas, Nevada)- Gorman seems to always impress every year. They had one of the best high school quarterbacks in Tate Martell who is now at The Ohio State University. They have also beaten big teams in other places like St. John Bosco in California and Cedar Hill who is one the better programs in Texas. I am also in love with their uniforms every week. The chrome orange helmets are a nice touch. IMG Academy(Bradenton, Florida)- IMG Academy recruits some of the best players in the country to come play for one team. They have plenty notable alumni in football and in almost all other sports.They are practically an all star team but they are human. A lot of their recruits have had successful careers in college and some the NFL and the biggest that comes to my mind is Cam Newton. Bottom line is top recruits come to IMG to get better nd IMG has the coaches to do that. DeSoto( Desoto, Texas)and Cedar Hill (Cedar Hill, Texas)- Desoto has emerged as one of the premiere programs in Texas, which is one of the biggest states for football. Their biggest current NFL player that has graduated from their school is Super Bowl L MVP Von Miller. Cedar Hill is Desoto’s bitter rival and the two teams have been competing for the best team in Texas. Cedar Hill has won two state titles which is where it has it’s advantage over Desoto as Desoto won its first state title in 2016. Yet DeSoto has beat Cedar Hill more since the rivalry started. St.John Bosco (Bellflower, CA)- Probably one of, if not the best, teams in California every year. California has some competition, but usually Bosco will find some way to dominate it. They are also a premiere school for other sports. Josh Rosen who is a sleeper in this year’s NFL draft graduated from Bosco. They won a national title in 2013 and plenty of divisional titles. There are plenty more powerhouse schools across the country but these are five that stand above the others in my opinion. I am excited to see how things shake out next season with these teams having new players. We’re almost finished with the second half of the NBA season and it’s been a great one so far. This season is finally not a Cavs and Warriors dominate the league type of season and the MVP race has been great. From the looks of it, it seems like James Harden might take home the trophy because he’s almost averaging a triple-double and he is carrying the best team in the league; he is obviously hungry for a championship.
Yet I think there is one guy that people forget about a lot who I should win MVP. The MVP, to me, should be given to the player who if you took them off the team, the team would immediately tank. If that was the case, James Harden wouldn’t win and neither would Kevin Durant or Steph Curry. LeBron definitely would be in the running but the man I think would fits that definition the most is Anthony Davis. Now hear me out. In the month of February Davis went ballistic averaging 35 POINTS! That stat alone is insane but there is more. He also averaged 11.2 rebounds and 9 assists. Davis’s star teammate Demarcus Cousins tore his achilles earlier this year and immediately it seemed like the New Orleans Pelicans Playoff hopes were completely destroyed. Yet here we are in March and Davis is putting the team on his back and the Pelicans have climbed to a 5th seed spot for now. If you check my predictions from earlier this year I thought they would have the 6th seed WITH Demarcus Cousins. Yet, Davis is overachieving without Cousins which is crazy to me. As of right now I believe he is by far the best power forward in the NBA when he is healthy. He plays defense and good offense; he is a loyal player and they are winning a decent amount of games. Davis has put up historic numbers over the past couple of months and he has become a one man wrecking crew. Not to knock his teammates or anything but Davis has by far been the most valuable player this season and I think he is the underdog for the award but very deserving of it. The NFL Combine has just recently ended, which is the biggest showcase for young draft prospects to show their skills to NFL coaches and earn some trust. In past years the combine has shown it can hurt your draft stock or improve your stock. Some guys who I didn’t expect to succeed did, while other guys that I wanted to succeed didn’t.
The Winners Shaquem Griffin(University of Central Florida) Linebacker- Shaquem Griffin amazed not only me but plenty of other NFL coaches and players. He ran a 4.38 40 which is faster than a lot of the NFL’s best like Odell Beckham Jr. and Ezekiel Elliott. He repped out 20 bench press reps which is pretty good for how much he weighs and he had a decent broad jump. Did I mention he did all this with one hand? Griffin has been playing college football with one hand for a while and he wasn’t even invited to the combine at first. After an outcry on social media by his supporters he finally got his invitation and he definitely did impress. Josh Allen(Wyoming) Quarterback- Josh Allen impressed me the most out of all of the quarterbacks. He was absolutely launching the ball to the other receivers. He threw the ball almost 70 yards at one point in the drills. He definitely needed to do something to solidify his position as a key player in the draft and I think he did that. Allen was a late bloomer in college; I remember randomly hearing an NFL coach on social media say that he was the most pro style quarterback in the draft. I thought to myself “Wyoming?” Who could be an NFL player from one of the smallest division 1 schools?”. I am telling you right now this kid is the real deal and I can’t wait to see what he can do. The Losers Lamar Jackson (Louisville) Quarterback- Jackson is probably my favorite player in the draft. He finally told all of the doubters that he is truly a quarterback and he doesn’t want to play any other position. I was excited to see what he could do but some things didn’t go well for him. For one, Lamar Jackson has never really been under center; he’s always played out of the shotgun. So when he dropped back from under center at the combine, he looked a little uncomfortable and his dropback was a little sloppy. I felt like he wasn’t throwing the ball to the best of his ability. Sam Darnold (University of Southern California) Quarterback- Darnold didn’t even participate in throwing drills. No offense to the guy, but he’s not very athletic and he did the two main drills that a quarterback needs athleticism for. He ran a slow 40 and had the second worst vertical jump. The combine was important for Darnold because he had the most turnovers by any player in the FBS colleges. The draft will be in April and will be exciting to see teams add a new piece of talent to their squads but will they make the right choice. This weekend is UFC 222 and it looks like it could be a good one.The event is headlined by a championship fight between Cris Cyborg from Brazil and Yana Kunitskaya from Russia. Cyborg is probably the best female UFC fighter since Ronda Rousey who was the first woman to win a fight and a title in the UFC. Not to mention Cyborg beat Rousey and Holly Holm another talented fighter in the women’s bantamweight. So what better topic to talk about than the best current fighters in each weight class in the UFC?
Heavyweight- Stipe Miocic (18-2): This may be a little biased considering Miocic is from Ohio but trust me this is one scary man in the octagon. He just came off a huge victory against Francis Ngannou who I thought would win but Miocic proved that he was in much better shape and he defended his belt well. Miocic is known for his speed the most. Light Heavyweight- Daniel Cormier (20-1): Now this may need an asterisk next to it because Jon Jones is definitely better than Cormier. Jones has failed multiple drug tests even after he took Cormier’s belt. Don’t get me confused Cormier is an amazing fighter who has trained multiple other fighters in the UFC but he is one of the best wrestlers in the game right now. Light Heavyweight is one of the more competitive divisions so to have the belt this long is a great achievement. Middleweight- Yoel Romero (13-2): Romero has started to become one of my favorite fighters to watch because he has been the underdog multiple times and has somehow come out with what looks like an easy victory. I’ve seen him knockout Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman both really talented fighters who once had a belt in this division. The thing I love the most about Romero is how once he looks like he is being lazy or not paying attention, that is when he is the most dangerous. He is incredibly athletic. Welterweight- Tyron Woodley (18-3-1): Now my actual favorite fighter as of right now is Tyron Woodley. He is the champion of this division and he also won some wrestling championships in college. He is also very explosive and he compliments his wrestling with his boxing skills.His best win would have to be against Robbie Lawler to win the title. Before then Lawler was known as the king of that division but Woodley made a name for himself after beating him. There’s so many things you could compliment him on and he’ll probably keep his belt for a while. Lightweight/ Featherweight- Conor McGregor (21-3): This guy is so good that he went to boxing to fight one of the greatest boxers of all time and he actually put up a fight surprisingly. He is one of the few guys to have a belt in two weight classes. Whether you like him or not, he is probably one of the best fighters the UFC has ever seen at the moment; he has the title belt in the Featherweight division but still hasn’t come back to the UFC since fighting Floyd Mayweather. Bantamweight- TJ Dillashaw (16-3): Dillashaw has been the champion for a while and rightly so. He’s been tearing his division a part for almost 4 years. He’s known a lot for his wrestling and his ability to control fights from the ground. When he first won the belt in 2014 he was a huge underdog and he somehow pulled out an amazing victory. That fight will forever be in my memories as on of the best UFC fights I’ve seen. Flyweight- Demetrious Johnson (27-2-1): Johnson is an amazing fighter hands down and probably the best fighter in the UFC right now. The current flyweight champion is known for his ability to not get tired during a fight which can be devastating to some opponents. He is also known for his speed and athleticism including his celebrations which usually involve a backflip or two. Bantamweight (Women’s): Cris Cyborg (19-1) : I wouldn’t be surprised if she was an actual Cyborg. She has defeated Ronda Rousey and basically is the reason why Rousey quit the UFC. She beat Holly Holm who also beat Ronda Rousey and she beat them with no decision from the judges needed. I feel like she doesn’t get the hype she deserves because she is flat out winning fights usually by knockout. She is definitely the scariest woman probably in sports right now. You can check the UFC’s actual rankings on their website and be sure to tune in to the pay per view UFC 222 this weekend to see Cyborg and other great fighters in action. |
Kaleb DaveKaleb is a second year staff member. His column highlights a variety of sports topics. Archives
May 2018
|