Tuesday Spread Option

1. March Madness is upon us! Pick a #1 seed that has the most chances of an early exit and Why?‬

     

Spencer-

This one is easy for me...Gonzaga. I understand they are a solid team for their conference and they have won 14 games in a row, but that is exactly why they are going to be the first #1 seed to lose. Their conference consists of teams like Portland, Pepperdine, Butler, and BYU. Butler is a pretty solid team but they split the season with them and I don't expect Butler to beat the Indianas, Louisvilles, Miamis and Georgetowns of the tournament this year either. Gonzaga has one other loss on the season to Illinois...a middle of the road Big Ten team that proved they were strong because of the company they are surrounded with in the Big Ten like Michigan State, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio State to name a few.  Gonzaga will falter when they face these teams two of which are in their section of the bracket with Wisconsin and OSU. That being said I think they lose in them in most of my brackets losing in the Sweet Sixteen against Wisconsin but don't be surprised if they even go upset by Pittsburgh in the round of 24. 

Ty-

It is definitely Gonzaga. Although they ended the season as ranked #1 I think that that was just a formality because they had continued to win. In my opinion they aren't as good as the other #1 seeds in the tourney who have been tested by very good teams. The Zags were consistent but against not very good teams in their conference. They were 1 and 2 against teams that where ranked at the time losing to Illinois and Butler. Although those teams were good and it is understandable to lose to them their other opponents in the non conference where ok but not overwhelming. I definitely believe in their frontline of Olynyk and Harris but they are  weaker in their guard play and I think they will more than like be making an early exit. That being said their RPI and BPI is really high and they could surprise all of us but they have been playing cupcake games in their conference the last 2 months.

Zach-

I'm gonna pick Gonzaga to leave early.  Looking at my bracket, I feel that they will have a lot to overcome in their region, especially early. Their second game will have to be either Pitt or Wichita State and neither of those teams are exactly pushovers.  If they do manage to escape that game, they likely have to face Kansas State or Wisconsin who notoriously took down Indiana  in the conference tournament. Some of the other teams they have potential to face are Notre Dame, New Mexico and of course, Ohio State. I also think there are other teams who deserved the #1 spot that Gonzaga got, and they don't have as strong as a team as their seeding shows. They won't leave to early, but I think you can count on them being the first to go.

2. Are you man enough to pick a dark horse in this tournament? And who would your dark horse be? 

Spencer-

I think if there is a year to pick a dark horse this is it...I wish I wasn't restricted to a 6 seed or lower cause I think St. Louis could be a dark horse at a 4 seed, but given the circumstances I wouldn't be surprised to see a Big East team with a lower seed like VIllanova or a Big Ten team with a lower seed like Illinois, or Minnesota make a run through the tournament mostly because those are teams that have beat ranked teams this year, and played in probably the two toughest conferences there are this year. That being said they are battle tested and have some solid talent.  And not to toot my own horn but no team has had more success as a lower seed than Villanova who won it all as an 8 seed back in 1985, and in 29 games as a lower seed they have earned a win 15 of those times.  Food for thought...

Ty-

For no real rhyme or reason I picked California as a 12 seed to win a couple of games in my bracket. But once I started researching it proved my gut feeling. The Golden Bears has beaten Oregon twice, UCLA, and Arizona when they all were ranked or near ranked. The team they play in the first round of the tourney is UNLV and they barely lost to them in the regular season 76-75. I think they can surprise a few people and make it fairly far in the tournament. Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs are averaging 18pts and 15pts a game respectively and can be trouble for any team playing against them. A team that is higher up but might be looked over is 5 seed Saint Louis who has the crippling defense to make it to the final four if they start playing better on offense.

Zach-

I don't really like any dark horse as of right now. But since I am being forced to pick one, I am going to go on record and say that I don't think you should sleep on Memphis, at least for awhile. They didn't have the strongest team this year but they still have potential to pull off some upsets. They should have no problem winning their first game and I think they could beat Michigan State, who lost 8 games this year. They would play Duke after that (likely anyway) who have blown some games this year when they were expected to win.  They would run into trouble in the Elite Eight, but I could see them making a stretch for at least that long.  Not that I picked them. But for blog sake.

3. What would be the most impressive feat for the Miami Heat? Breaking the 33 game record streak or repeating as champion?

Spencer-

I was thinking about this yesterday, and honestly it doesn't matter too much about the streak the streak is the streak. They put a lot of weight on it on ESPN but I think the Heat are just going out trying to play basketball. The bigger thing for me is that you look back to when this team first formed and how it the kind of struggled their way to the finals and lost and people said it wasn't going to work, and laughed at the fact that a super team wasn't winning more, and well I said all along they needed time to mesh and find their roll. The streak to me solidifies the fact that they are the ultimate team and that concepts like that where their are multiple super stars existing together can be successful they just need time. The bigger feat is by far winning the championship, I think Lebron would lose the rest of his doubters with a repeat and I that's the point of playing the sport. Simply winning championships, no one will argue against that. 

Ty-

It is obviously the back to back title because not many teams in the NBA have 1 championship let alone 2! Most of the championships in NBA history belong to the Celtics and Lakers. I'm sure if you asked the Heat they would pick another championship over breaking the win streak record any day. That being said there is only one team that has one that many games in a row and I'm sure the Heat don't mind making history on the way to accomplishing their real goal of winning a championship again. Being a team that can win 33 plus games in a row in route to winning another championship would put them up there for being one of the greatest teams (statistically) in history. The win streak is obviously very hard to do but being able to play at a championship level and have everything break your way 2 years in a row is harder. By the way, that LeBron dunk over Jason Terry was more disrespectful than Deandre's because LeBron stared him down afterwards. James! (Trinidad James voice)

Zach-

I said this last night, the only thing that matters is if you have a ring at the end of the season. You could win 82 games in a row and then lose in the playoffs and suddenly, your just that team who couldn't finish. Not that 33 wins wouldn't be impressive. But remember when the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season and lost the Super Bowl? You think Tom Brady likes to remember that? No, I will be more impressed by a back to back championship. No matter how good your team is, repeating is hard to do. And at the end of the day, I don't think the Heat care if they break the record for most wins in a row. They just want their eight rings.

4. The MLB season starts in a few weeks and every year a team streaks out the gates. Which team do you think has the best chance to start hot this year?

Spencer-

In terms of teams that could get off to a hot start I'd like to say Toronto. I have no faith in them in the AL East winning it just because they took a bunch of guys who failed in one place and moved them north. That being said I could see them coming out strong to begin the year but as the AL, particularly teams in their division start learning their game more and more I think they will fall off. I don't believe Toronto wins that division with the roster they have. If I'm looking at both leagues I'd go with Pittsburgh in the NL. That has been their claim to fame the last few years...start hot...give the fans some hope and then fall off late in the summer. 

Ty-

I think that the sexy pick for most people will be Toronto for most people because of all the moves that they made in the offseason. But they literally got most of their players from the Miami Marlins team that underachieved last year. Yes their pitching is overall better than the Marlins but I can't assume that they are going to start off hot. The team that I think will storm out the gates is the LA Dodgers. There lineup has a lot of potential to be a high powered offense if Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford bounce back from injury plagued years. Couple those guys with Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez then their lineup should be stacked. Adding Zach Greinke in the off-season and a resurgent Josh Beckett can help propel their pitching staff as well. I look for them to start off strong this year.

Zach-

I kind of touched on this in the blog a few weeks ago with my AL East preview. I think the Blue Jays will have a good start out of the gate. They have a lot of confidence in a beefed up roster and reports in Spring Training says they are very excited to start the season. The Yankees are hurt right now and the Red Sox aren't great again so they should be able to take advantage of that. As for the Rays and the Orioles, they will have to compete with them, but I like the Jays in a lot of those pitching match ups, as well as on offense. The fact is, this is one of the best rosters in the AL and I think a lot of teams are going to struggle whenever they have to go north of the border. Toronto is a tough field to play on if you aren't used to turf and if the Jays can string together wins at home, they should be able to carry momentum on the road.