Hello,
BYU defeated Southern Mississippi last night 79-62, an impressive victory in a game that I didn't think BYU was going to win. BYU had never won a NIT road game ever. USM hadn't lost a game at home against a non-conference opponent in 5 years. Also USM had only lost one home game in the final two years. All three of those streaks came to an end yesterday. Brock Zylstra had the game of his life. He scored 23 points, including hitting 5 3 pointers in the first half. He's going out on a personal high in his senior year. With this win BYU advances to New York and the NIT semi-finals. The Cougars will play the Baylor Bears on Tuesday. It should be a good game. Go Cougars.
Now for all you folks that have your snarky comments ready to go, chill. I do realize this is only the NIT, which means BYU is battling to be the 69th best team in the nation. And no one has ever chanted "We're # 69, We're # 69". I also realize that if BYU had their druthers that they would have preferred to play in the NCAA Tournament. That all being said, I'm just enjoying the ride. Anytime BYU can play in the postseason in fine with me. (Unlike the Dallas Cowboys, at least they can reach the postseason.)
Miami hadn't lost for 52 days, that's until they lost last night to the Bulls. It seems the Bulls resorted to old school Detroit Pistons thuggery to win the game. Chicago won the battle, but not the war. Ending the Heats 27 game winning streak will be the highlight of the Bulls season. When the season is over the Bulls will be a distant memory. They'll be lucky to get to the second round in the inconsequential Eastern Conference playoffs. The teams to beat in the Leastern Conference remains all of the following: the Heat.
Since I bag on Dwight Howard so much, I need to give him props when he has a great game. And last night he certainly had a great statistical game. Howard shot 9 of 13 from the field on his way to scoring 25 points. He also added 16 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 blocks. I can see a bit why people are so willing to throw so much money at him. Overall a very impressive game. However his weakness did flare up when he only made 7 of 17 free throws. Seriously if I was foolish enough to sign Howard to any kind of a contract I would tie free throw shooting to how much money he makes. You can damn well bet that he then would be out practicing.
Also the Lakers suffered a big loss when Ron Arrest, the artest formerly known as Ron, when he injured his knee. NOT! Please the Lakers put all their money into their big 4 players and the rest are scrubs. Arrest is one of the scrubs, he just happens to start. I'd be very surprised the Lakers miss him that much. Since he'll be out for 6 weeks, that means he'll be out for the rest of the season. I'm sure someone will miss him- it just won't be me or Lakers fans.
I augh that ESPN refers to the wimpy tussle between the Jazz, the Lakers and the Mavericks for the 8th seed in the Western Conference as a "race". A race are you kidding me? The team who finally captures the 8th seed will be the team that has failed the least, nothing more. Both the Lakers and the Mavericks have a good chance of failing again tonight. Kobe got away with a clear foul on Ricky Rubio last night or Rubio could have tied the game from the line. I do realize it wasn't much of a foul, but it was still a foul. If that had been Kobe fouled like that, the referees probably would have called a flagrant 2 and banned Rubio from the league. Fortunately for the Lakers and the Mavs, there will be real basketball on tonight. #lovemarchmadness
File this under the something I thought I'd never see department:
"Video review by the league office confirmed that Kobe Bryant fouled [Ricky] Rubio while Rubio was in his shooting motion," the league said on its website. "Rubio should have been awarded three free throws." (Thanks again to ESPN, via the Associated Press.)
Later on in the article the AP writer states that there's a perception that "that superstar players are treated differently by the officials". Yes that's very much the perception and many times I also think it's the reality. That's one of the reasons why people hate the Lakers so much. They have the superstar players, the money and get the benefit of the doubt. And come on whether the officials will ever acknowledge it or not, everyone knows who the NBA wants in the NBA Finals. The League would kill for Lakers-Knicks, too bad both teams suck so much.
The same thing happens in college basketball, yes I'm looking at you Duke.
We have reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, the second week in the three best weeks of the sports year. Of the four games tonight, honestly the only game I care about is "my" Shockers taking on the Explorers of La Salle. (Obviously the Shockers aren't really my team, my allegiances swing blue in BYU and North Carolina. However I've adopted Wichita State and FGCU for the duration of this tournament.) This will be the first game this tournament that the Shockers are favored. Tomorrow night I'll be cheering for the FGCU Eagles and the Michigan State Spartans. It's about time for Duke to have their final early flame out.
I could watch this play over and over again and in fact have. Hope we see a few more dunks like this:
Although Reggie Miller's "are you kidding me?" isn't that cool of a catch phrase.
themusicaddict
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