All right here it is, don't have a lot of time for explaining, but who needs it anymore. I see some trades impacting things a little, but the top 10 seems fairly in order at this point.
1. St. Louis: Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
2. Detroit: Ndamakoung Suh, DT, Nebraska
3. Tampa Bay: Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma
4. Washington: Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma. First shake-up here, indications seem to point to Washington favoring Williams over Okung.
5. Kansas City: Eric Berry, S, Tennessee. It also seems like KC is high on Berry here.
6. Seattle: Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State
7. Cleveland: Derrick Morgan, DE, Georgia Tech. Holmgren opts for his pick of the top defensive end.
8. Oakland: Jason Pierre Paul, DE-OLB, South Florida. Al Davis can't wait to snap up this athletic freak.
9. Buffalo: Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame. Bulaga is available, but the Bills are so desperate for a QB, I think Clausen has been their guy for some time now.
10. Jacksonville: Rolando McClain, ILB, Alabama
11. Denver: Maurkice Pouncey, G, Florida
12. *TRADE* Philadelphia: Earl Thomas, S, Texas
13. San Francisco: Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
14. Seattle: C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson
15. New York Giants: Joe Haden, CB, Florida
16. Tennessee: Dan Williams, DT, Tennessee
17. *TRADE* Green Bay: Brian Bulaga, OT, Iowa
18. Pittsburgh: Mike Iupati, G, Idaho
19. Atlanta: Brandon Grahm, DE-OLB, Michigan
20. Houston: Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State
21. Cincinnati: Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma State
22. New England: Jerry Hughes, DE-OLB, TCU
23. *TRADE* San Francisco: Kareem Jackson, Alabama
24. *TRADE* Miami: Sergio Kindle, DE-OLB, Texas
25. Baltimore: Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma
26. Arizona: Sean Weatherspoon, OLB, Missouri
27. Dallas: Bruce Campbell, OT, Maryland
28. San Diego: Ryan Matthews, RB, Fresno State
29. New York Jets: Jared Oderick, DT, Penn State
30. Minnesota: Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers
31. Indianapolis: Roger Saffold, OT, Indiana
32. New Orleans: Carlos Dunlap, DE, Florida
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
March Madness in Review: March Insanity
Well when you look at my bracket specifically, it's totally fallen apart. My elite eight was particularly ugly, and of course my national champion has been defeated. That being said, I think you can take some nice things away from my insight. Duke pretty much lived up to my billing, particularly the play of Nolan Smith, in advancing to the final four, and at least I have them in the championship game. My number two sleeper, Murray State, provided a nice first round upset over Vanderbilt, and in the second round nearly beat final four team, Butler, so I'll take that as a good call. Ohio State's top five didn't hold up against Tennessee, but Evan Turner certainly did his part. Pretty much no one has more than two final four teams left, and most have lost their champions as well, with all this considered, I think my bracket performed somewhat admirably, yet very average. But I think the biggest thing to take away from the first couple weeks as a whole, is the importance of seeding in a particularly week field, and the randomness of how easy one teams path might end up after the first weekend. Take Michigan State, a team that really isn't that good, having to beat no team higher than four, and winning all the games by extremely narrow margins. This team probably benefited from early upsets more than anyone else. Compare them to Butler, who took on a tough one and two seed, in making their final four appearance. Duke's only real test was Baylor and a hobbled yet feisty Purdue squad, and that was without any major upsets in the region (Villanova was vastly overrated). While Michigan State benefited from early upsets, Duke had an extremely favorable path. Meanwhile West Virginia and Butler were able to overcome the top seeds--who were not particularly strong this year.
Now onto my final four picks. I always thought it was unfair how analysts got to make new picks every week, even though their earlier picks had all ready lost. But here I am providing my insight, on some other person's bracket. Anyway, with Michigan State against Butler, I simply have to pick Butler here. Butler's defense is better than Tennessee's and really Michigan State could have easily lost to Tennessee. People are trending to look at Butler as the surprise team in the tourney, but I think MSU's final four inclusion was much more unlikely, especially considering the loss of Kalin Lucas. This considered, I view Butler as the favorite, and even though Tom Izzo is a NCAA tournament wizard, I think his magic stops short here. Butler is certainly an underdog in general terms, but they really have a solid team, that plays very good defense and also shoots the ball extremely well. As for Duke against West Virginia, I won't stray from my initial pick of Duke to go the championship game. This pick is fairly simple: Duke is like Kentucky in that it can defend and rebound well, but different in that they can also shoot well. That will be the difference, and not Joe Mazzula, again.
As for the championship game, I think this will be incredibly hard fought. Butler and Duke, both have strong winning mentalities and neither team is going to give this one up. Both teams have good guard play, and a slashing forward in Kyle Singler and Gordon Hayward. I think Ronald Nored is an underrated player for Butler, and I can feel him playing well in the final four. Ultimately I think Duke gets a few breaks from the refs, and uses their inside advantage to squeeze out a narrow victory. I think Butler could win the championship, but it would almost be too good a story, and so I pick NCAA giant Duke. At least you feel more clean about Coach K. winning it than if someone like John Calipari were to do so.
Now onto my final four picks. I always thought it was unfair how analysts got to make new picks every week, even though their earlier picks had all ready lost. But here I am providing my insight, on some other person's bracket. Anyway, with Michigan State against Butler, I simply have to pick Butler here. Butler's defense is better than Tennessee's and really Michigan State could have easily lost to Tennessee. People are trending to look at Butler as the surprise team in the tourney, but I think MSU's final four inclusion was much more unlikely, especially considering the loss of Kalin Lucas. This considered, I view Butler as the favorite, and even though Tom Izzo is a NCAA tournament wizard, I think his magic stops short here. Butler is certainly an underdog in general terms, but they really have a solid team, that plays very good defense and also shoots the ball extremely well. As for Duke against West Virginia, I won't stray from my initial pick of Duke to go the championship game. This pick is fairly simple: Duke is like Kentucky in that it can defend and rebound well, but different in that they can also shoot well. That will be the difference, and not Joe Mazzula, again.
As for the championship game, I think this will be incredibly hard fought. Butler and Duke, both have strong winning mentalities and neither team is going to give this one up. Both teams have good guard play, and a slashing forward in Kyle Singler and Gordon Hayward. I think Ronald Nored is an underrated player for Butler, and I can feel him playing well in the final four. Ultimately I think Duke gets a few breaks from the refs, and uses their inside advantage to squeeze out a narrow victory. I think Butler could win the championship, but it would almost be too good a story, and so I pick NCAA giant Duke. At least you feel more clean about Coach K. winning it than if someone like John Calipari were to do so.
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