Austin- Madness Continues (Y&Z)

Here we are once again, on March 27, right in the heart of the NCAA March Madness Tournament. Like everyone else in the nation, my bracket is shot. Shout out to Dayton, Mercer and Gonzaga especially for making this possible. My co-writer Edward has been focusing in on the Midwest bracket, so today I’m going to take my talents to South (beach). First off, my champion predicted Florida Gators have reached the Sweet 16. On March 20, the Gators hosted Albany in Orlando, and had an impressive showing against one of the toughest 16 seeds we’ve seen in a while. Casey Prather and Dorian Finney-Smith combined for 32 points to seal the Gators 12 point victory. Colorado played Pitt later on that night, and the massive front court of the Panthers was dominant en route to a predictable 9-8 upset. Big man Talib Zanna scored 16 points in the first half alone, and the Panthers sealed a 77-48 victory. In San Diego, Virginia Commonwealth University faced off against Stephen F. Austin in a 5-12 seed battle. “Fear the 12 seed” has become the motto of the tournament for me, as 3 of the 4 5-12 games required extra time, and 3 of the four 12 seeds pulled through with upsets. SF Austin had a late 4 point play in OT to help them advance to the next round with a 77-75 victory. UCLA then faced off against Tulsa, and the Bruins, led by sophomore Jordan Adams, held off the Golden Hurricane on their way to a 20 point winning margin. The prior day, in Buffalo, NY, the Buckeyes took on the Flyers of Dayton, and the game went as follows; a Flyer swingman scores on a 10 foot jumper with 4 seconds left, then without a timeout, Ohio State puts the ball in the hands of their clutch senior point guard, Aaron Craft, who attempts a coast-to-coast play, however, he drives into traffic and fails on his floater attempt, and Dayton wins by 1. A shaky Syracuse squad then hosted 14 seed Western Michigan. I was nervous for this game, regardless of the Orangemens’ opponent, since they haven’t played well in quite a while. However, they pulled it together, and played as they had in the beginning of the year, and Cooney led 4 double digit ‘Cuse scorers on the way to a 22 point victory, the largest margin in the South Bracket. 10 Seed Stanford took on the 7 seed New Mexico Lobos, and Cardinal big man Chasson Randle scored 23 points to led the 58-53 upset. Kansas had a decent showing, without big man Joel Embiid, beating Eastern KY by 11.

                We’ll go from the bottom to the top now. So Kansas plays Stanford. This game must have been very frustrating for Jayhawk fans, as the experienced front court that leads Stanford was dominant defensively, and one of the nation’s best players in Andrew Wiggins was held to just 4 points. Stanford comes up with another upset, possibly the biggest of the tournament so far, sealing their spot in the Sweet 16. Then Syracuse took on Dayton, in a game that I was in attendance for. This was quite possibly the worst that I’ve seen the Orange play this year. They scored just 18 points in the first half. Jerami Grant had a quiet night. CJ Fair played well for approximately 2 minutes and was nowhere to be found for the rest of the night. Tyler Ennis was off all night, and the Syracuse big man didn’t help out at all either. Trevor Cooney shot 40% from 3 point range to start this year. In the second half of the year, he’s been shooting just 20% percent. Just an awful game to watch. Ennis had two chances to win the game and was unsuccessful both times, lacking the clutch factor that he had all season long. The worst part about the game was that Dayton didn’t even play well. However, they advance to the Sweet 16 where they’ll play Dayton. That’s all for today, and we’ll most likely finish up the South next week!

Eddie H (Y) - Battle of the East's Best

Well once again I am back to compose another 600 word blog in order to achieve greatness in the Online Publishing class. I am currently all caught up after my vacation that i went on and I could not write any blogs so this will be the last blog of the week for me at least. I believe my co-writer Austin is actually writing a blog as I am composing mine. But we have a little switch up in today's blog that may excite you. As you know for the last couple posts on Take Charge i have been focusing on the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Now there has been a little pause in the action there because they gave the teams that have advanced to the sweet sixteen round a break. So today we will be focusing on the NBA and in particular the huge game we had last night between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. Now this has large play off implications because Miami was only one game back in the loss column to the Pacers and were hoping to make up some ground for the number one seed in the eastern conference. If you follow basketball you know both of these teams have been struggling as of lately and you also know the importance of that number one overall seed. Many people think that it will be Miami and Indiana in the eastern conference finals and if it makes it to the 7th game in the series the home court advantage goes to the 1 seed who ever it is. Home court advantage is very important in basketball and especially in these teams series and they have faced twice and both times the home team has came out victorious. You also should know that these teams do not care for each other as Indiana hopes to finally beat their Eastern conference rival and play for NBA championship. So this game was highly anticipated and looked forward to, the home team in this game was Indiana. In a battle between the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, with both vying for the No. 1 seed, this game lived up to the hype. It was physical, and it went down to the wire. Coming out victorious once again was the team with home court advantage the Indiana Pacers. Indiana rallied from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Heat 84-83, taking a three-game lead over Miami in the chase of the Eastern Conference's top seed. It was one of those rare grudge matches that actually lived up to the hype. The game was extremely physical as many players were nudging, trash talking and taunting all night. Lance Stephenson was ejected midway through the fourth quarter after picking up his second technical foul for celebrating a basket. The angry Stephenson waved his hand at the ref and after leaving the court, had a little temper tantrum. Lebron James once again was the best player on the court by ease. He put the drooping Heat on his back throughout the whole game and gave them a shot at winning. In the end of the game he finished with 38 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists but it just was not enough. Miami had a problem controlling the ball all game as Indiana's defense was forcing steals all over the court, Miami had well over 10 by the end of the game. Indiana played fantastic basketball and the game was very exciting, this will make for a very interesting match up if these two face in the play offs. Just something to think about the Miami Heat so far in March have an overall record of 7-8 could the back to back champions be running out of gas?

Midwest Bracket (V)-Eddie H

Well after a very exciting first and second round of the tournament we expected more of the same right? That is exactly what we got. The NCAA tourney is turning out to be one of the best in the last couple years as top seeds are getting upset in early rounds and every game is ending in thrilling fashion. So lets jump right into the action of the Midwest bracket. Many people said that this was the best bracket out of the four and it is shaping out like it. There has been many fantastic games so far in this bracket and will only be more to come. There were eight teams remaining in the bracket before the third round and now only eight remain. The first is Kentucky. Yes Kentucky as an eight seed upset top seeded undefeated Wichita State in one of the best games of the entire tournament. The game was back and forth the whole time with many lead changes and fantastic shots. The deciding factor of the game was Kentucky's freshmen grew up and showed poise down the stretch of a neck-and-neck game. Four of the Wildcats' five freshmen starters combined for 65 of the Wildcats' 78 points. Julius Randel was tremendous Kentucky coming up with his 20th double double on the year. This ended what has been a historic year for the Shockers and will defiantly be remembered in the history of college basketball for a long time to come. This win advanced Kentucky to another sweet sixteen appearance and kept their championship hopes alive. In the next game the four and five seeds battled. This game was Louisville and St. Louis. The game was very competitive the first half but after that Louisville pulled ahead. Saint. Louis went without scoring for nearly six minutes into the second half. This was due to Louisville defense coming up strong. The final score of the game was 66 to 51. Another interesting fact about the game was that St. Louis didn't make a three point shot all day going 0-15 on the day.This send Louisville into their third straight sweet sixteen appearance and now we have a tremendous match up between two of the most storied schools in college basketball history Kentucky and Louisville the winner will advance into the elite eight game. Our next game was between two teams that have both upset teams in their previous games Mercer and Tennessee. This game wasn't as competitive as the clock struck 12 on Mercer's fairy tale run. Tennessee advanced to the sweet 16 by dominating factor winning by 20 points. Their victory was due to Tennessee's strength and size. The Volunteers dominated the rebounding column and the Bears had no defensive answer in the paint.Our next game was between Michigan and Texas. Texas was hot of recent win where they won a last second shot but they did not have enough to beat the Wolverines of Michigan. Michigan was great on both sides of the ball but especially on the defense side coming up with many steals and blocks. Michigan also turned the ball over fewer than 5 times which is always a key to success. Michigan now advances to their second straight sweet sixteen game and will have an easy game in their eyes as the face the 11 seed Tennessee. But as we have saw so far anything is possible in this tournament and I am sure that it will be a very exciting game to watch. As you can see the Midwest bracket is shaping to be what was expected competitive games and great basketball. 

Midwest Bracket Takes Off. (U)

Well i am back once again to get some of these blogs done in order to raise up my pitiful online publishing grade. Apparently my boss does not care to much when his employees go on vacation and still expects work submitted even if they were enjoying their time on a Caribbean Island. Which in my opinion was not even a good vacation because of the very poor service that i received while on my stay.But back to the topic at hand the NCAA Basketball tournament. The tournaments kicked off since the last time that i have wrote and it has been nothing short of spectacular. With upsets coming all over the bracket and just tremendous games being played. Their are many teams making runs that people thought were almost impossible. Some notable upsets included Dayton who beat the number six seed Ohio State first round and then upset the number three seed Syracuse! Dayton is playing tremendous and now has a opportunity to advance into the elite eight. Dayton will face another team that his notched some upsets, Stanford. Stanford as a 10 seed beat the number 7 seed then beat the number two seed Kansas in a thrilling and compelling game. Three of the 12 seeds in the bracket upset the five seeds. These teams were S.F Austin, Harvard and North Dakota State. They all lost their next games to the four seeds in their respected brackets. UCONN also advanced to the sweet sixteen by winning their first game and then upsetting the number two seed in the east Villanova. I still haven't talked about any team in the Midwest bracket though because that is our main focus for these blogs so i would like to go a little more in depth in each game. I will go forth and beak down the first round match ups. The number one seed Wichita State kept their undefeated streak going notching a dominating win over Cal Poly. Kentucky as the eight seed got past a very good team in Kansas State making for an interesting match up in Kentucky and Wichita State. St. Louis was the only number five seed to get past the first round this year and was very lucky because North Carolina State fell apart at the end of the game and blew a large lead. Louisville made a first round victory as well beating Manhattan. The defending Cardinals had too much offense for Manhattan to handle. Tennessee who won a play in game just to enter the tournament won their first game as a 11 seed and upsetting the six seed UMASS. Our next game was an absolute shocker. Duke was facing Mercer a team many though Duke would pick apart. But Mercer proved they are tough and notched the upset over the 3rd seed and sent Coach K and Javari Parker's blue devils home earlier than many expected. Many people thought that Duke could make a deep run into the tournament. Mercer was the lowest seed to win in the opening round. Our next game was another one as the Texas Longhorns beat the Devils of Arizona State in a fantastic game. Texas and Arizona State were tied going into the last 5 seconds until Texas hit a buzzer beater to win 87 to 85 sending the Devils home packing. In the last game of the Midwest bracket Michigan crushed Wofford and advancing into the next round. In our next blog we will go in detail into the following round and see what teams advance into the sweet 16 and if any more exciting upsets occurred!

Austin- My bracket (X)

Alright, it's that time of the year again. The earliest games of the NCAA 2014 tournament start tonight, however, those are the buy-in games. 3 of those games are in the Midwest bracket, and the fourth is in the south. In the South, I like Florida a lot. They have an easy round 1 game and then play either Colorado or Pitt in the second. I like Pitt to win this game. They have superior size down low, and gave a lot of teams problems with this throughout the season. My next upset comes with SF Austin over VCU. SF Austin has been super hot as of late, and they look to extend their streak. They will most likely play UCLA, who will beat Tulsa. Ohio St and Dayton is next, and I'll take OSU in the rivalry game. Then Syracuse plays West Michigan, and I have the Orange prevailing. Further down the Lobos of NM play the Stanford Cardinal. I have New Mexico here, and then Kansas over Eastern KY. Starting back at the top, I like Florida over Pittt, then UCLA over SF Austin. After that I think 'Cuse-OSU is a toss up. I'll take my Orange for the time being, and then Kansas over the Lobos. Then Florida over UCLA, and another toss up game leaves me taking the Orange once again. So the Bracket finals has Florida over Syracuse, but with the way that the Orange played earlier in the year, I wouldn't be surprised if the Orange bring home the upset and advance to the final 4 for the 2nd straight year. So let's say Syracuse advances, I'd then have them losing most likely to Michigan State, however, if Florida advances, I like them over the Spartans. So I could very possibly see the Gators advancing to the finals and picking up the win.

Midwest Bracket-Edward H (W)

Well because I chose to leave on vacation for so long i am at a need for blogs so in this post of Take Charge I would like to go in depth in the NCAA tourney now that you know a little more about it. In this post I would like to go into the Midwest bracket, analyzers are saying this bracket is the toughest out of the four brackets and would be the most difficult to come out of. First I’ll just go through the top 4 seeds in the bracket. Wichita State is the number one seed they went undefeated this regular season and have dominated most teams they have faced. The number two seed in the bracket is the Michigan Wolverines who many thought were going to be a number one seed until a crushing defeat at the hands of Michigan State in the Big 10 championship game. Duke is the 3 seed and if you have watched them at all this year you know they possess the possible best college basketball player in Jabari Parker. Number 4 is possibly the hottest team in college basketball in Louisville who many also thought could slide in the last number one seed slot. Just looking at these four teams you can see the strength in this bracket along with these phenomenal teams you add Kentucky, Kansas State who will square off in the first round along with Texas and NC State. All these teams are tough opponents and can defiantly making some noise in the bracket. Now I would like to go through and go over each individual match up and predict the champion. Our first match up is Wichita State versus the number 16 seed Caly Poly. Wichita State is among the nation’s best and most fluent teams on offense and defense and should cruise into the second round. Next is an interesting match up in Kentucky versus Kansas Stat. Both good teams but only one can win here and I believe this will be Kentucky due to the fact that Kansas State does not shoot the ball well and Kentucky plays very good defense this doesn't mix well for Kansas St. The next game I have an upset in the no. 12 seed N.C State pulling the victory over St. Louis. T.J Warren is fantastic lately and will bring his team to victory over them. Our next game features Louisville and Manhattan. This one is simple Louisville is rolling and is not going to stop any time soon, Louisville with a big victory. Our next game is between the 6 seed U Mass and either Iowa or Tennessee whoever wins the play-n game. In my eyes U Mass was seeded way to high and will fall early to either of the teams in the play in game. Duke is featured in our next game the will face against Mercer. Duke should have no problem advancing into the second round of the tournament. Now comes another difficult game as Texas will face off against the Devils of Arizona State.  Both teams played in tough conferences and both teams did fairly well, it is my belief well hunch that Texas will come out on top. Our final game in the first round is between Michigan and Wofford. Wofford is a defensively minded team but will not be able to stop the Wolverines as they should beat Wofford soundly. As you can see from the amount of competitive teams in this bracket the Midwest makes for exciting match ups and lots of fun. I will soon be back once again to write another blog because i took a vacation an missed like four. Thank you and goodnight. 

March Madness- Edward H (X)

After some well needed time off I am now back to writing articles for the most popular blog on the internet Take Charge. This is an exciting week to come back as we as a group of writers make a transition from the NBA to the exciting world of College Basketball. If you are even close to a fan of basketball or have a social media website you probably either know or have heard about the NCAA tournament. This tournament first took place in 1939 and over time has evolved into one of the largest and longest sporting events in our great country. The tournament features 64 teams that all have division 1 basketball programs that have earned a ticket into the tournament from their performance throughout the season. These 64 teams battle it out for the title of National Championship and a spot in fame. There is only one word to accurately depict this tournament and that is Madness. The tournament is broken up into 4 different 16- man brackets they are called as such: West, Midwest, South and East. If you win all of your games in your individual bracket you advance to the final 4 were you will battle against the winner of the other 16 man bracket on your side of the entire bracket. For example the winner of the West bracket would end up facing the winner of the Midwest so then the East and the South battle the winners face each other in the National Championship Game. This year the National Championship game takes place in Arlington, Texas. Each year there are always upsets and big games which always add to the excitement of the tournament. It is very likely to see a 15 seed beat a 2 seed or a 14 beating a 3 seed. Just last year Florida Gulf Coast a 15 seed made it to the Sweet Sixteen a tremendous accomplishment. Along with possible upsets the tournament features match ups with teams that usually don't face each other providing fun and interesting games. In each tournament there are four of every seed from 1 to 16. This years four number 1 seeds are Florida, Wichita St, Virginia and Arizona. The overall number 1 seed who in the eye of the committee notched the best regular season based on strength of schedule and out of divisions competition was the Florida Gators. In the past 2 tournaments the overall number 1 seed has won the whole tournament they were Kentucky an 8 seed in this years tournament and last years champion Louisville a 4 seed in the West bracket.  Wichita State was a number 9 seed last year and made it all they way to the round of 4 before suffering defeat to the eventual champions Louisville. This year they have notched a perfect regular season going undefeated, they are defiantly going to be a force in the tournament. Another number 1 seed is the Florida Gators who last year were a 3 seed and made it all the way to the elite 8 before losing to the eventual runner-ups Michigan. Arizona last year was a six seed and ended their tournament with a loss in the sweet 16 to Ohio State. Virginia was not as good last year as they didn't even qualify for the tournament. Each team wants to prove why they were a one seed and get the honor of being called national champions. The journey will be tough, hard fought and all possible effort will be needed to succeed as the competition is as tuff as always. This years tournament should be an exciting event to watch.

Austin (W)

Welcome one and all to yet another great week of online publishing, and welcome once again to the blog that was a vlog, which is most popularly known as Take Charge- the blog all things basketball.  Eddie, my cowriter, no longer chooses to show up to this class very often anymore, so it looks like this will be the only post of the week. So let’s get to it. First of all, the playoff race is heating up in the NBA. In the Eastern Conference, we could potentially see 3 or 4 teams with losing records make the playoffs, which is just downright embarrassing. Indiana is in first place in the conference, but they’ve been slightly cold lately, as Paul George has been on a cold streak in terms of scoring. Regardless, they still hold a 2.0 game advantage on the 2^nd place Miami Heat, who just lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night for the 3^rd time this year. It’s safe to say that in one way or another, those teams will go 1-2 in the playoffs, as they next team in the standings happens to be the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors didn’t make the playoffs last year, but with some young developing talent, they have found themselves in the 3 spot in the conference. They currently hold a 1.0 game advantage over the Chicago Bulls, who hold a 2.0 game advantage over the Brooklyn Nets. Next in the standings is the Washington Wizards, another team who found themselves towards the bottom of the conference last year. John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter are destined to be a power house in the coming years. So remember me saying that. Charlotte and Atlanta round out the Eastern Conference top 8. The New York Knicks are in the 9 spot, behind the Hawks by 3.5 games, but they’ve been heating up as of late. Keep in mind that Carmelo Anthony hasn’t missed the playoffs since he’s joined the league. I expect them to make the playoffs as the 8 seed. Also, Cleveland and Detroit are only .5 games behind the Knicks. So it may get interesting.

Next, we’ll turn our focus to the Western Conference. San Antonio and Oklahoma City are in a battle for the 1 seed, as the Spurs are ahead by only .5 games. The Clippers are in the 3 spot, 2.5 games behind the Thunder, and 1.5 games ahead of the Rockets. Houston is slightly ahead of the Trail Blazers, who seem to have slightly lost the momentum that they had at the start of the year. But either way, they are still a legitimate contender. Golden State, Memphis and Dallas round out the conference. Phoenix and Minnesota are still in that playoff race as well. To state the obvious, for the first time, in basically forever, the Lakers and the Celtics find themselves at the bottom of their respective conferences.

So let’s say the playoffs start today. In the east, Indiana would play Atlanta, an easy, 4 game series for the Pacers. Chicago plays Brooklyn, and that’d be a series for the ages. I could see Brooklyn’s star power giving them the game 7 victory. At the bottom of the bracket, the Heat would defeat the Bobcats in 4 games, and then Toronto and Washington would be another interesting series. Two young, inexperienced teams would make a good match up. I’d have to take Toronto in 6 games. Then the Pacers would beat the Nets, but not without a little trouble. It’d probably take 5 or six games, but they’ll advance. Then the Heat will have no problem with the Raptors, winning in no more than 5 games. The Pacers and the Heat would be an instant classic, but I think that this will be the last year that the Heat beat the Pacers in the playoffs, for a while anyways. We’ll do the West next time. CYA

Austin- Basketball Seasons Heat Up (V)

It's that time of the year again. High school hoops is nearing it's finale, as we are entering the week of the state finals. The only local team remaining is East High School. I couldn't tell you much about them, so let's move on. College basketball is next, and things are heating up here as well. Canisius lost this week, as did Vermont. Today, Kansas, without star big man Joel Embiid, fell as well. As you know, my Syracuse Orangemen have had some tough times as of late. they lost 4 of their last 5 coming into this weekend, with upset losses coming from Boston College and Georgia Tech, and Crucial ACC losses coming from Virginia and Duke. I can only assume that a large reason for their recent troubles are the injury to Jerami Grant. He's been having some back problems, and his play time and production have been limited. However, Grant returned to the lineup today as the Orangemen traveled to Florida State to take on the Seminoles. Cuse picked up a solid, much needed victory. CJ Fair led the Orange with 26 points. Elsewhere in the college word, Andrew Wiggins dropped 40 points today, and Jabari Parker scored a career high 30. We're exactly a week from selection Sunday, And like always, it's going to be a crazy month of March. 

In the NBA world, we saw quite the extraordinary day of basketball as well. Last week LeBron James scored 61 points. since then, in 3 games, he's scored just 51. Why such a turn of events you may ask? Well here's your answer. First of all, LeBron scored 61 against the Charlotte Bobcats. Some basketball conspirators have said 'if James scored 61, but it was against the Bobcats, did he really ever even score 61?' I might actually be the first person to ever say that, but I'm not the biggest LeBron fan if you haven't noticed, so theres that. Second, the Heat were upset by the Bulls in overtime today, and LeBron had another tough day, Bulls guard Jimmy Butler stripped James of the ball at the end of the game to prevent a chance of the Heat scoring, and sending the game to over time. Perhaps the most shocking part of the entire game is that for the first time since December of 2009, LeBron didn't attempt a single free throw. On the western side of the league, the Lakers upset the Thunder as Jodie Meeks scored a career high 42 points. Durant recorded his 3rd career triple double. The Thunder have been a roller coaster of a team since the return of Russell Westbrook, which leaves the lingering question about the future of his time in Oklahoma City. Speaking of futures, rumors have swarmed the league regarding Carmelo Anthony and his possible future with the Knicks. Chances of him playing for the Bulls in the future. This is quite the interesting topic, but in order for this to go through, Carlos Boozer would likely have to be traded to the Knicks, as would another role player, most likely a Jimmy Butler or Ronny Brewer type of player. As expected, Melo denied these reports, but with a 21-40 record, it's unlikely that Anthony will remain in New York, unless they have a top notch off season. In other terms of basketball, my good friend Austin Hopcia brought up an interesting point. He said that Anthony Davis in the 3rd best player in the league right now. Interesting to say the least. Obviously James-Durant go 1-2. But Davis at 3rd? Now obviously this is arguable, considering theres not an official way to figure this out. But if i had to make a list, I think Davis would likely be farther down on the list. James is obviously the best player in the league, and Kevin Durant isnt far behind. however, i think Paul George deserves the 3 spot right now, and Carmelo Anthony the 4. James Harden is also up there on the list. In terms of big men, LaMarcus Aldridge has got to be up there, as does Roy Hibbert and Dwight Howard. Kyrie Irving would probably be the last player to slip in there in front of Davis. Let me know what your rank is. Az Out.