The fascinating thing about the days leading up to a NBA Draft is the “experts”, the movers and shakers in many franchises’ war rooms, start to believe the hype around the young adults that they are about to make very rich. No matter if you are Blake Griffin, Eric Maynor, Wayne Ellington, or Brandon Jennings, the team that selects those players are drafting as much on potential as anything else. In essence, the word potential is the optimism that all 30 teams have at the start of training camp. Title contenders feel they have the potential of winning it all, while some very bad teams feel new players and a new attitude can equal the potential of having a special season. Our latest, and next to last Mock Draft(last one on Thursday, just hours before the actual one), shows little movement at the top, however some players are starting to see their names bounce in and out of the lottery.
1. Clippers – Blake Griffin – The only drama surrounding this pick is whether being named to be the coverboy for NCAA 2010 video game will cause a Madden-like curse. [click to continue…]
Taking an early look at this week’s Sweet 16 games starting this Thursday, there are some very attractive games, and some that will have coaches working overtime the next few days. One of the games that I believe could produce our first number 1 seed to go down is when 1 seed Pitt plays 4 seed Xavier Thursday night. While Memphis vs. Missouri may be the spotlight game of the night according to CBS, one can argue that Pitt will have a tougher match up Thursday than if they survive and play either Duke or Villanova Saturday.
The Musketeers can play with Pitt on a neutral floor, and the Panthers have yet to show the killer instinct needed to win it all. With the pressure clearly on Pitt and Jamie Dixon to get past the Sweet 16 to the Final Four for the first time in 35 years, the road to Detroit will not be easy at all in Boston this weekend. If Dejaun Blair stays out of foul trouble, it will be hard for Xavier, or anyone else, to stop them in this tournament. However, Xavier’s Senior tandem of Derrick Brown and B.J. Raymond seem to be on a mission, and it will be very interesting to see how things go if the game is tied with four minutes to go.
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