After the Madness

It's all downhill from here.

Nah, it's gonna be ok with a little softball to be played and a little Razorback baseball to help us keep our sanity. Every year the Blitz crew spends several months after the NCAA tournament waiting on Hog football to get going.

Yes, there are MLB and NBA games(including the playoffs), but March Madness marks the end of the excitement for us most of the time. It's a sad day watching the title game, especially when Duke wins it, because it means we are down to baseball and the latest football gossip.

Another trip to Omaha for the Hogs is a real possibility, but my opinion of baseball has been well documented (I'm not a big fan). So I will suffer through this with the hope and expectation that the football season will be one for the ages.

I can't wait to get a review together and talk about the outlook for the season and the stars on both sides of the ball up on the Hill. Like my excellent tourney picks (insert sarcasm) I will be laying down the analysis sometime in the summer for the football season, and hopefully I will be able to predict with accuracy a banner year.

After all, I had West Virginia!

The Decade's Best: 10-6

Ok, let me preface this entire list with a few bits of information.

First, each of these teams are national champions, so we all know each of them were very good. I had to differentiate between them in some way, so I came up with a simple formula. Everyone starts out even, then can receive bonus points or deductions.

+5 for the "Bullseye" factor- Meaning the team came in to the season highly regarded and expected to win, and were able to win it all with the added pressure.

+3 for current NBA stars- The most subjective of the bonuses, I see Carmelo Anthony as the biggest star of all the players on these teams, and while Steve Blake, Mike Dunleavy, and Maurice Peterson are all serviceable NBA players, they are not in the league of Anthony, Carlos Boozer, or Ben Gordon.

+2 for conference strength- The Big East is king these days, but it wasn't long ago the ACC was the dominant conference. These two conferences will receive bonuses.

-2 Overall record- The more consistent a team can be throughout the year, the more impressive their winning looks. So the conference strength and record should balance out the tough conference schedules of several of these teams. Any more than 4 losses and the team loses 2 points.

So teams 10-6 are as follows, feel free to disagree!

10.) 2000 Michigan State 26-7 (-2): No NBA bonus and a -2 for losing 7 games take a very good team to a -2 on the scale.

9.) 2003 Syracuse 30-5 (+1): Carmelo single handedly won the championship and gives the team 3 bonus points to offset the -2 for losing 5 games.

8.) 2002 Maryland 30-4 (+2): Juan Dixon and Steve Blake carried a very good team through a rugged ACC, splitting with defending national champ Duke and gets the +2 for conference strength.

7.) 2008 Kansas 37-3 (+3): Six of the players from this team are headed to or already in the NBA, however Mario Chalmers is the only one of note today. His +3 bonus puts them at number 7.

6.) 2006 Florida 33-6 (+4): The team before the team, these Gators got hot at the right time and receive bonuses for the next year's NBA haul of Al Horford and Joakim Noah, and lose two points for the 6 losses.

There are many surprises to come and I am absolutely sure there will be disagreements about teams we will put 1-5. Let us know what you think, because the subjectivity of this list will lend to plenty of debate!

LeBron #6?

  LeBron James says he is going to change his number to six from 23 in honor of Michael Jordan.  James states that 23 should be retired all over the NBA because of the greatness Michael Jordan, who is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all-time.  

The only problem with this gesture is that he is going from 23 to six and six is the number of the greatest winner in NBA history, Bill Russell.  Russell appeared in 13 NBA finals as a Boston Celtic winning 11 of them and winning atleast one as a player/coach, which is unheard of these days. 

Of course, honoring Jordan is something that the NBA should probably do.  In fact, it had been bantered around to change the NBA logo to the Jordan logo.  But shouldn't Russell be honored?  Russell won five more titles than Jordan.  Of course, these titles come in a different time and it seems competition was much greater in the time of Jordan because Russell was one of the tallest players in the NBA at that time at 6'9."  Russell is not to blame for this he played the competition that was put in front of him and absolutely dominated it.  Russell is one of the greatest rebounders of all-time, but his greatest attribute is being a great leader of men for this Russell should be honored.  

In my opinion James is doing the right thing but if he is going to change his number six is not the number that he should change it to.  My suggestion is 2 because by the time he is done he will be considered the 2nd greatest player of all-time.