NBA All-Star game breakdown

Okay so the West won 152-149. In other words, there was no defense.

It was a record-setting night in terms of total points and for Kobe Bryant who passed Michael Jordan for most points ever in All-Star games after scoring 27 points.

Photo courtesy ESPN.com

But this night was not about Kobe, nor was it about Blake Griffin's high-flying dunks or Russell Westbrook's insanely high energy level.

This All-Star game was a duel between the two best players in the NBA: LeBron James and Kevin Durant. The two went back and forth all night, trying to outdo their counterpart. It should come as no surprise that each scored 36 points. LeBron uncharacteristically cashed in on six threes and sparked the East's comeback after trailing by over 20 points. But it was Durant who earned the MVP honors becuase the West did hang on for the victory.

It is my hope that this duel was foreshadowing what we will see in the NBA Finals. Heat-Thunder. They are the two best teams in the NBA with the two best players in the league. A LeBron-Wade and Durant-Westbrook finals would certainly be an entertaining one.

I'm not sure any team is capable of beating the Heat in a seven-game series, but the Thunder would have the best chance of doing so simply becuase Durant is that good. He is the best pure scorer in the league right now without question.

On another note-- with the Olympics drawing near, this might be the best Olympic squad since the "Dream Team" with MJ, Bird and Magic. This version will likely have LeBron, Wade, Durant, Bryant, Rose, Paul, Howard, Carmelo and Griffin. Can somebody say unbeatable?

Mason stumbles on the road again

Coming off five straight wins, including an impressive comeback against VCU and a key win in the ESPN BracketBuster contest, the Patriots once again hit a road block playing outside of Fairfax.

 Mike Morrison was the lone bright spot against Northeastern.

They lost an 85-82 overtime decision against Northeastern Wednesday night, a team that is just 13-15 overall. This is nothing new for the Patriots, however, as they have struggled all season playing away from home. The loss at Delaware on Feb. 1 snapped a six-game winning streak and ended Mason's hopes of an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.

The disappointing Northeastern loss dropped the Patriots to 8-6 in away games, including games played in neutral sites. On the other hand, they are 15-1 in the Patriot Center, coming off a year in which they went undefeated at home, a perfect 14-0. Thus they are 29-1 in their last 30 home games, but for some reason just can't win on the road.

The season got off to a rough start for the Patriots as they suffered really bad losses against Florida International on a neutral site and at Florida Atlantic, setting the tone for the rest of the season in terms of playing on the road.

This problem is not unique to Mason, however, as winning on the road in college basketball is no easy chore. But the teams who earn at-large bids are those who overcome the adversity and take down quality opponents away from home. Nothing impresses the NCAA committee more than beating somebody in their own gym.

Unfortunately for Mason, they have no games left in the Patriot Center. They play at VCU on Saturday in the season finale and then head back to Richmond for the CAA Tournament. Their only hope of reaching the Big Dance is to win three straight games in the tournament, something this team hasn't proven they're capable of doing.

There's hope in Washington for the Nationals

The Nationals' legitimacy as a Major League franchise has been in question ever since they returned to D.C. in 2005. With die-hard Redskins and Capitals fans (and maybe even Wizards fans) throughout the Washington region, Nats fans are hard to come by these days.

However, those fans have reason for optimism in 2012.

Stephen Strasburg (photo courtesy Google Images)

In terms of starting pitching, the club added starting pitchers Gio Gonzalez from the A's and Edwin Jackson from the Cardinals. Gonzalez was a big-time pickup, as he is certainly one of top-15 pitchers in baseball. These guys will be added to the rotation with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmerman and John Lannan.


I would expect a Strasburg-Gonzalez-Zimmerman-Jackson-Lannan rotation.

The Nats also will have solid relief pitching as they retained Tyler Clippard and closer Drew Storen, both of whom are very talented. In addition, they picked up Brad Lidge, one of the best closers ever in baseball.

Outside of the pitchers, the squad also has some very solid bats. Key contributors Michael Morse, Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa are all returning in 2012, along with the stars Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth. Werth struggled last season by his standards, but perhaps he will be more comfortable in D.C. this season, especially now that he has a much improved supporting cast.

The baseball world will also be exposed to 19-year-old Bryce Harper for the first time. He is currently listed as a right-fielder, the same position as Werth, so he will likely be asked to move around as he gradually gets playing time as the season goes on.

This is a well-rounded, deep team that can actually make some noise in the league, so don't be surprised when you hear about the Nats' success in the next few months.

Sherrod Wright buzzer-beats VCU

With 3.8 seconds left on the clock and George Mason trailing by two points in-bounding the ball from the opposite baseline, the chances of escaping with a victory were slim to none.

But don't tell that to Sherrod Wright.

Wright, the redshirt sophomore guard, recieved the ball from senior leader Ryan Pearson just inside of the half-court line, turned, took three dribbles, and launched. Nothing but the bottom.

“I made the shot of my dreams,” said Wright during the post-game press conference.

Sherrod Wright (right) and Paris Bennett celebrate the win.

This was by far the best Mason game I've ever been to, and how fortunate for me that it came at the end of my senior year. It's hard to believe the BracketBuster game Saturday will be my last game ever as a Mason student.

But let's get back to Sherrod Wright.

With all of the hype surrounding the Mason-VCU rivalry entering the game and with the two squads dead-locked for first place in the CAA prior to the tip, the Patriots' epic comeback was all the more impressive.

Although Wright's shot will be the one remembered for years to come, the Patriots were down by five points with 30 seconds left, and VCU went 5-of-6 from the free throw line over the last 30 seconds. I'm no math wiz, but down five, five free throws... that means Mason scored 11 points in the final 30 seconds. Wow.

With four different players -- Wright, Pearson, Vaughn Gray and Vertrail Vaughns -- all knocking down big-time shots, it was truly a team comeback for the ages.

After the game, head coach Paul Hewitt said (women: stop reading here), “This is the best Valentine’s Day I’ve had in a long time,” and I'm sure all of the Mason faithful agree.

Now does it compare to the Duke comeback against arch-rival UNC? Maybe not, but it sure was close. And I'm glad my teams came out on top in both instant classics.

Maybe Duke did have a chance after all...

Okay, so I said Duke had absolutely no chance to beat Carolina... unless they made lots of threes. As it turns out, even though Duke did win the game, I was correct. And if you don't believe me, feel free to read the post below.

Austin Rivers with the buzzer beater - Photo courtesy Google Images

Actually, I was as correct as anybody could ever be, considering Duke got badly outplayed and really should have lost had it not been for the aid of 14 three-pointers, plus the greatest trey in Duke basketball recent history.

By my estimation, this was the greatest Duke-UNC game of all time. There have been some great ones no doubt. Certainly many great ones occurred long before I was born, but I am a pretty vigorous studier of the history of the game, especially when it comes to Duke. Plus, I have been to about 10 Duke-UNC games in my life. I was even at the previously considered "best game" in 1995 when Jeff Capel hit a half-court buzzer beater to send the game into overtime, before Carolina won in double OT.

Obviously the best game in the rivalry depends on which shade of blue you prefer, but for those of us rocking royal blue today in honor of last night's miracle performance, this was undoubtedly the best game ever in the storied history of the rivalry.

So I've been talking for a while now and haven't even mentioned the guy who hit the shot... Austin Rivers. Wow, 29 points and six threes in his first (and probably last) visit to the Dean Dome. On a team full of veteran guards like Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, it was the freshman Rivers who put the team on his back throughout the game and especially down the stretch when Duke trailed by double-digits.

That team from Chapel Hill will be out for blood (royal blue blood) when they come to Cameron Indoor in March, so I am a little worried. But this time, I am not going to say Duke has no chance.

And yes, I will be at that game.

Duke vs. UNC

I have been a die-hard Duke fan all of my life, so it pains me to say this... there is absolutely no way Duke should beat UNC tomorrow night. Of course anything can happen - that's the beauty of college basketball - but UNC is just too good and Duke really isn't playing well right now at all.

With the team Carolina has with Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Tyler Zeller and Kendall Marshall, they should never lose a game. I fully expected this team to go undefeated this year, but (as usual) UNC has games in which they just don't show up (a.k.a. the Florida State game). But, there is no chance of this happening against Duke.

Austin Rivers -- Photo courtesy Google Images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, Duke does not look good right now, mainly defensively. The guards - Austin Rivers, Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins - are all offensive-minded players who aren't great defenders. They continuously get beat off the dribble, forcing the bigs to help off their man. Then comes the other problem in the Duke D; they are not rotating well after the big man goes to help. This has led to lots of wide open layups, quite unusual for a Duke team.

Duke's only hope to topple this UNC team that basically already has an NBA roster is to knock down threes, lots of threes. They will need to catch fire tomorrow night. But, to be honest, I am just praying that it's not a blowout, especially since they are already coming off of a loss to Miami on Sunday.

And it all comes down to this... Super Bowl XLVI

I am no Patriots fan. And I am certainly no Giants fan.

However, I'm sure Patriots and Giants fans alike can agree that the references to the '08 Super Bowl are getting old, to say the least. As a practicing sports journalist, I understand that storylines and making connections to the great history of the game are ever important, but enough is enough.

Photo retrieved from Google Images

Once the Conference Championship matchups were set--Ravens-Patriots and 49ers-Giants--there was essentially no hope. The Super Bowl was destined to be one of two things: "The Harbaugh Bowl" or "The Rematch." To be honest, I was hoping for the former because that would have at least made for a justified media hysteria, and it's just an intriguing story. "The Rematch," on the other hand, is an over-emphasized story that really has nothing to do with the guys who will be on the field Sunday.

Aside from my little rant about the media, there is a game to be played.

Who would have thought it would be Eli who would be playing in his second Super Bowl in the house that Peyton built against Peyton's former rival, Tom Brady? Seemingly out of nowhere, Eli has become one of the game's elite quarterbacks armed with three outstanding receivers--Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham. With the double-teams and covering packages that are expected from the Patriots' secondary on Nicks and Cruz, look for Manningham to have a big game. Plus, with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs getting back into form lately, the G-Men's offense has been almost unstoppable.

Not to mention their elite defensive front line with guys like Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora.

With all that being said, it must seem like I am picking the Giants to win. False. The Patriots have one thing the Giants don't... Tom Brady.

Patriots win 28-24.

Why Lamar?

And George Mason will play... Lamar??

As both a fan and a reporter for the Mason men's basketball team, I was of course hoping for a big-time Brackebuster matchup. Unfortunately for the Patriots, they lack any quality wins outside of CAA competition, and they were relying on this game to give them that crucial marquee victory. Although they have a solid 18-5 record and are alone in first atop the CAA standings at 10-1, they had one of the weaker strengths of schedule in country prior to entering conference play.

Teams like Mason who often float under the radar depend on the Bracketbuster game to elevate their RPIs every year. Last year the Patriots got a good draw playing at Northern Iowa, just one year removed from taking down Kansas in the Big Dance. This year, however, the Patriots drew Lamar.

Lamar is 13-8 overall and are just 4-3 in the Southland Conference, not to mention they have dropped three of their last five decisions. So how did Mason, a known commodity in college basketball who is in first in what is considered an elite mid-major conference draw a team that is in sixth place in an almost unheard of conference?

Some of the blame can be placed on the Patriots for not scheduling tougher games earlier in the season, but Lamar was certainly not what the players and fans were hopeful for, as a win will do nothing for their RPI and a loss would essentially destroy any chance at an at-large bid.

Of course none of this RPI talks even matter if the Patriots take care of business in the CAA Tournament, but that is never an easy task in a highly competitive conference.