NBA Power Rankings

By Mike Walsh

1. Celtics (17-2)- So good that I was shocked when they lost a game. Once we see them against the top 8 in the West on the road, we’ll know if they are ready this year to actually win a title and not be finals fodder for the Western Conference representative.

2. Spurs (17-4)- They are a machine. With Duncan down Ginobili has been great. We all know they will be in the Western Conference Finals whether we like it or not.

3. Magic (16-6)- Dwight Howard is an MVP candidate. As advertised, they have the best frontline in the east and maybe in the league. They play together well and everyone on the team knows their roll.

4. Suns (16-6)- Chugging along like the last few years. They don’t look as good as last year, but they are still damn good. Still, I feel like their window of opportunity closed last year with Robert Horry’s cheap shot on Nash and the subsequent suspensions.

5. Pistons (15-6)- I hate them. They don’t have anyone that I am interested in watching. They have gone away from grinding out games and opened up the offense under Flip. Unfortunately for them, they still essentially have the same team that has come up short the last few years. And Lebron single handedly beat them last year.

6. Jazz (13-9)- A little bit inconsistent and a much different look for a Jerry Sloan team has me a little confused (both scoring and giving up a lot more points). Still, they can match up favorably with just about everyone in the West.

7. Hornets (14-7)- CP3! I’m not sure that there is an adequate adjective to describe the combination of youth, talent and athleticism that Paul possesses. I don’t trust the Hornets as a team, but as long as they have Paul healthy, they have to be up here.

8. Mavericks (14-8)- As long as Dirk finds his stroke the Mavs will be a top 4 seed. Although after watching him so far this year, he doesn’t look hungry. I am anxious to see if Cuban goes after Kidd.

9. Nuggets (13-8)- I watched part of a Nuggets game the other night and Najera was launching threes, Iverson was passing, and Camby looked old. I have no idea what to make of this team, but I think they are good and possibly scary when running on all cylinders.

10. Lakers (12-8)- You know what you are getting from Kobe every night; namely passionate play from the best player in the league. The question is what will his teammates bring from game to game? So far it’s been consistently inconsistent.

11. Warriors (12-9)- The most entertaining team in the league. The big question is can they keep winning with such bad rebounding and FT numbers. Or if they can improve those numbers.

12. Raptors (12-10)- They were hanging around and looking feisty without TJ Ford and Chris Bosh. Ford comes back, looks good, and then he almost gets decapitated last night. If Bosh is healthy they are good. If he’s not, look for them to drop in the rankings.

13. Cavs (10-12)- Witness.

14. Rockets (11-11)- I’m not convinced the Rockets will be an elite Western Conference team. If they regress this year, someone needs to go. But no one will because they will never trade Yao or T-Mac. And so it goes.

15. Wizards (11-10)- Caron Butler is damn good. The Lakers have to be upset about giving him up. Although he would only get 5 shots a game in LA. If only Agent Zero wasn’t hurt so they could trade him for a true point guard and some more help for Caron and Antawn. The ESPN trade machine was down, so I couldn’t see if a Bibby for Arenas trade is feasible.

16. Pacers (10-11)- I hate Dunleavy Jr. He haunted my dreams during his tenure at Golden State. Of course now he is more confident and is becoming a scorer. Still, I don’t trust this team to keep up this pace. And it’s not even that great of a pace.

17. Bulls (7-12)- OK, we’re back on track, right? Um…right? I think so, but we’ll see. If you shoot under .400 as a team you won’t win many games. It’s science.

18. Hawks (10-11)- You have to love the eastern conference. A conference in which the Hawks can emerge as a playoff contender when they still aren’t really ready for prime time. They do have a lot of young talent. I guess that is bound to happen when you pick in the lottery for 15 straight years. Al Horford is a double-double waiting to happen every night. Could you imagine if they had Chris Paul instead of Marvin Williams? *Gulp*

19. Blazers (9-12)- The Warriors play them tonight at Portland and I am horrified. They are playing great at home and seem to have good chemistry. They will only get better. They could be scary next year with another lottery pick in their future.

20. Kings (8-12)- They are battling without two of their three best players. This either means they will go on a run when they are healthy or, more likely, they are better off without Bibby.

21. Nets ( 9-13)- Stuck being too good for the lottery and too bad to do anything in the spring. A Kidd trade makes less sense than a Carter or Jefferson trade to me, considering they are the same exact player. However, since good point guards are like good pitchers in baseball, Kidd will get them more in return.

22. Grizzlies (6-15)- All they do is lose close games. Someone once said that any game that is decided by less than ten points is on the coaches. Hmmm….They might be a playoff team in the east.

23. Bucks (8-12)- This team is hard to figure. They seem to have a lot of good pieces, but it’s not coming together on the court. Has anyone figured out why Charlie Villanueva shaves his eye brows? What if Yi and Bogut shave their eye brows as a team unity thing? Can one of the 11 Bucks fans make this happen?

24. Heat (6-15)- With Wade coming back and being well, himself, things should improve for the Heat, even if Shaq smells like formaldehyde. At least he’s only getting paid 20 million a year through 2010. Yikes.

25. Bobcats (7-12)- They’re so young and talented! They have assets! They suck.

26. Clippers (8-12)- After a fast start, its back to reality. No Brand and no Livingston was bound to catch up to them. If they end up with the #1 pick and get Brand and Livingston back at full strength next year? Dear God.

27. 76ers (8-13)- Sifting through the wreckage that was the Billy King era should be fun to watch. I am surprised they have 8 wins.

28. Sonics (5-17)- It’s been difficult to watch Kevin Durant get thrown to the wolves every night. I feel like the Sonics are owned by Rachel Phelps, the owner of the Indians in Major League. They will be bad enough that the city will be disinterested enough to let them move. Maybe Durant’s intro music should be ‘Wild Thing’.

29. Knicks (6-14)- Just an abomination. The mecca of basketball in the United States has turned into a cavern of boos and chants calling for the firing of various coaches and execs throughout the organization. And if Stephon Marbury asks you to get into the back seat of his car, bring something to sit on.

30. Timberwolves (3-16)- Um, go Vikings?

It's time for a playoff in college football

By Paul Hunt

It’s time for a national championship game in college football folks. Have you ever heard a single friend, ESPN analyist, sportswriter, fellow blogger, or massively drunk fellow sports bar patron has ever speculated to you the need for a BCS style system in any other sport.? Outside of perhaps "The Onion" the idea hasn’t been floated even once. So here is the 2007 twelve-team playoff. Here is an example (NOT A PREDICTION) of how it would look if all the highest seeds won each game.

2007
First Round- Dec. 9
No. 8 Kansas vs. No. 9 West Virginia- Lawrence, Kansas
No. 7 USC vs. No. 10 Hawaii- Los Angeles, California
No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 11 Arizona State (Option A)- Columbia, Missouri
No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 12 BYU (Option B)- Athens, Georgia

Elite 8- Dec. 16
No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 8 Kansas- Columbus, Ohio
No. 2 LSU vs. No. 7 USC- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
No. 3 Virginia Tech vs. No. 6 Missouri- Blacksburg, Virginia
No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Georgia- Orange Bowl

Semifinals- Dec. 23
No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Oklahoma- Rose Bowl
No. 2 LSU vs. No. 3 Virginia Tech- Fiesta Bowl

Championship Game- Jan. 1
No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 LSU- Sugar Bowl

Seedings- Following the conclusion of the regular season and all conference championship games, the top ten teams in the BCS poll fill the top 10.

Next the option A and B teams need to be determined. Option A and B selection starts with the No. 11 team and moves down the BCS poll. Both option A&B teams must be:
1. The highest ranked independent team or
2. A Conference champion or Co-Champion or
3. The highest ranked team in it’s conference

Locations- The Sugar, Rose, Orange and Fiesta Bowls shall be locked into 4 four year cycle hosting the championship game, semi finals and the No. 4 team versus the No. 5/Option B in the first round, which respects and continues the current national championship cycle.

For example:
Sugar Bowl as National Championship in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Orange Bowl as National Championship in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017
Rose Bowl as National Championship in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
Fiesta Bowl as National Championship in 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019

The three highest ranked teams get a bye and a second round home game. No. 4 gets a bye but plays at a neutral sight, the first bowl game. The first round games would be hosted by the higher ranked teams. I originally planned to have all games at a pre-determined bowl location but it would have been a logistical nightmare especially for fans.

Advantages

1. Familiarity- A twelve team playoff with a first round bye week for the four strongest teams, would be immediately comfortable and recognizable to Pro-football fans. The national champion will always be one of the top four teams in the country or will have to get through one of the top four teams in the country.

2. Selectivity- I’ve seen other playoff proposals in the works including Dan Wetzel’s 16 team of them he feels the need to guarantee all conference winners a spot, but occasionally you get a real logjam of mediocre teams or a conference champion who slips by. Take a look at the 2005 season using this structure.

2005
1. USC, Pac-10 Champ
2. Texas, Big 12 Champ
3. Penn State, Big 10 Champ
4. Ohio St., Big 10
5. Oregon, Pac-10
6. Notre Dame, Ind.
7. Georgia, SEC Champ
8. Miami, ACC
9. Auburn, SEC
10. Virginia Tech, ACC
+
11. West Virginia, Big East Champ-Option A
14. TCU, Mountain West Champ-Option B

Under my playoff system a BCS conference champion isn’t guaranteed a spot, for example the respectable but hardly spectacular 2005 Florida State Seminoles. Even after Florida State beat No. 5 Virginia Tech 27-22 in the ACC Championship game their new No. 22 ranking and (5-3) (8-4) records still ranked no better then 4th in the ACC below No. 8 Miami (6-2) (9-2), No. 10 Virginia Tech (7-1) (10-2), No. 21 Boston College (5-3) (8-3). The new twelve team playoff would have still included the ACC through Miami and Virginia Tech. Rarely but occasionally an entire BCS conference might be shut out. Most every year the six BCS conferences are all included, a few at large teams and the only the top few non-BCS conferences.

3. New Year’s day- The National Championship game would always fall on New Years Day which would allow the entire country to watch more readily then on January 6th, 7th or 8th.

Criticisms:

1. Too many teams- It’s pretty hard to say this system allows to many teams in. Pro football has 12 of 32 teams in the playoffs. Major League Baseball has 8 of 30. The NBA and NFL both have 16 out of 30. Here only 12 out of 119 qualify.

2. A conference champion could be left out- Sometimes the system might exclude one of the six BCS Conference champions, and occasionally one of the conferences itself, but only in a year where the conference and it’s champion and it’s conference is truly mediocre.

3. A non BCS Champion- It could happen but that team would face a collosal test that would remove any doubt about their legitamacy. This year Hawaii would have travel to L.A. to play USC in the first round, then play a rested LSU team in Baton Rouge then two additional games against higher ranked teams and concluding the season at 16-0.

4. Deminishing the regular season- I don’t think any team would feel they can let up. Take the Missouri Tigers now a former No. 1 team. Under the new system instead of a first round bye and then a home game, they have to play in the first round and if they win go to Blacksburg Virginia to play a rested Virginia Tech. For many teams the final few weeks would not be a fight for a lucrative BCS bowl but a fight for the national title itself.