You come at the King, You best not miss

While many predicted Kentucky would stroll through to the final four without a hiccup, they knew Notre Dame would prove a worthy challenger. Still double digit underdogs, the Irish came into the game with nothing to lose and everything to gain riding a perfect Cinderella, feel good story. After all, coach Mike Brey’s mother had passed away earlier and this had all the potential to be a historic win for the Irish.

As the game progressed through its course, it seemed as though Notre Dame had Kentucky right where they wanted them. They had made some key shots, Zach Auguste was getting whatever he wanted and role players such as Steve Vasturia were contributing big time. Tied at half time at 31 apiece, it was obvious Kentucky was in a fight. The drubbing they delivered to West Virginia wasn't going to be replicated on Saturday night. Then  came the second half, and Kentucky’s big men went to work. With Lebron James in attendance, Karl-Anthony Towns went to work, literally. Towns ended up with 25 points and simply couldn't be stopped and Kentucky’s defense came to the rescue. Unable to stop Notre Dame for much of the game, the Wildcats stopped the Irish three times in a row at the end to win 68-66 with Jerian grant’s desperation three to win the game catching nothing but air.

Saturday was perhaps more about Notre Dame than Kentucky, as Mike Brey put it, the Irish “emptied the tank” and gave it all they had but came agonizingly close to hamper Kentucky’s run to set the table. The Wildcats will now head to Indianapolis to face the Wisconsin Badgers who were able to knock out Arizona for a second consecutive year. Two wins away from achieving an unprecedented 40-0 record, the message to Kentucky’s opponents is a quote from The Wire “You come at the King, You best not miss.” 

New Zealand vs Australia: Cricket World Cup Final

As blog posts go, I try to write about different sport subjects every week. From the world of boxing to soccer, there is much more to the global sport spectrum than one sees on SportsCenter on nightly basis. So, it is only fitting that I dedicate a blog post to the world of cricket. On Saturday night, a new champion will be crowned and while a very few on this side of globe will care; the rest of the world turns its attention to Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG.)

The Cricket World Cup Final will be settled between co-hosts Australia and New Zealand. The 4-time champion Aussies were able to defeat defending champion India in the semi-final while the Kiwi’s got past South Africa in search of a maiden world cup championship. New Zealand comes into the match in-form and unbeaten throughout the tournament beating Australia in the group stages by one-wicket (similar to a walk-off home run in baseball), while the Aussies have the benefit of playing in front of their home crowd.

The final will be the pedigree of Australia and their hostile 100,000 crowd vs. a hungry New Zealand team that is ready to announce itself to the world. New Zealand Captain Brendon McCullum has gotten the best out of his side so far, and went all Ben-Hur on his pre match presser saying  “We'll play with the humility which we've played with throughout this campaign as well. And hopefully the big fella upstairs shines on us when the pressure situations come into play."

 While much of the global sporting world will pay close attention to the events taking place at MCG on Saturday night, and if New Zealand can overcome Australia for their first World Cup title, much of U.S will be focusing on the events of March Madness (which has been boring this year) and spring training baseball but then again, some sports aren't meant for everyone. 

Get Boring Out of Here

When I wrote last week about the ugly brand of basketball being played by much of the teams participating in the NCAA tournament and regular season games being very dull and boring to watch for casual fans, it wasn’t intended to one team or league. It was a sad truth concerning the college basketball landscape. The game has changed so much that now 90% of us only care about the name in the front and not in the back. All while, a decade ago it was the exact opposite. The likes of Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Al Horford, and Derrick Rose were all recognizable within the landscape of the game but now the stars of the game are completely taken out due to the style of the game changing. 

The flag bearer for this style is none other than University of Virginia coach Tony Bennett who embodies the grind out, bite your nail, 44-40 victory. So when, UVA lost to Tom Izzo’s Michigan State for the second consecutive year, it was a reminder that the tedious, uninteresting, defensive minded Bennett needs to change his style if he has hopes of succeeding when it actually counts.

The problem with the style of play implemented by the likes of Bennett is that it brings a lot of wins to the table in the regular season because at the college level, scoring comes at a premium and being an excellent defensive team ensures that your team has a chance to win night in and night out. Come tournament time however, the scenario changes. Go up against a talented team such as Michigan State and you get toasted.

Hopefully other coaches will soon realize that in order to win when it counts, a grinded out, low scoring game is highly ineffective and talented individuals have the ability to send you home packing. College basketball needs to be more exciting and over-coaching simply needs to stop because it’s killing the game.  

This is What Rock Bottom Looks Like

When Roberto Mancini took over from Walter Mazzarri, the Inter faithful felt like a much needed change had taken place. The pragmatic Mazzarri and his persistence of 3-5-2 had finally given way to a man who was seen a hero to club’s fans. In 2004, Mancini brought Inter its first title since 1989. A changing of the guard was in place and many saw Inter as a legitimate contender for the Champions League. A strong backing from the management in the January transfer window combined with a string of good results had put Inter in the driver’s seat. Then, just as quickly as the situation seemed to be restored, Mancini’s Inter collapsed.

On Sunday, Inter traveled to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to face a spirited Sampdoria side that has overachieved this season. A wasteful Inter saw chances come and go, then a momen of magic from Sampdoria’s Eder changed the game. Midway through the second half, the Brazilian’s wonder striker

gave the home team a narrow 1-0 win and brought Inter, it’s 6^th consecutive defeat in all competition. The defeat meant Mancini’s team is out of contention for European places and has casted doubts over his reigns on the team next year.

An Inter team that once ruled Italian and European football is now in lowly 9^th place in standings, an incredible 30 points behind champions elect Juventus. In half a decade, the Nerazzurri went from winning every trophy possible to being limbo in Serie A. Who knows what holds for the team in the future, but it sure doesn't look pretty. 

March Madness: A double edged sword for NCAA Basketball

With the NFL season over, Baseball players getting ready in Florida and Arizona, and the NBA season not having reached the playoff stage yet, March is dedicated to College Basketball. The frenzy surrounding “March Madness” takes over the country and attracts a large demographic of the public, even those who are completely clueless about the sport and don’t follow it on regular basis. Extensive media coverage, added with everyone making their “bracket” and the money of Corporate America behind NCAA, college basketball has now turned into a one month sport.

Attendance for division I men’s games is down for the seventh straight season according to the Associated Press, TV ratings for CBS and ESPN are down as well. A lot of this has to do with the current format of the regular season. Unlike any other sport, No regular season college basketball is really must-win. Every team can afford to have a bad night, and second, third and fourth chances come regularly to teams. A horrible team during the regular season can put a string of wins together in the conference tournament and make it to the big dance. Combine that with the recent shuffling of the conferences, lower scoring games and an uncanny number of timeouts and fouls called at the end of the games and regular season games for college basketballs have taken away from the fun and importance of regular season games.

College Basketball is still a big deal, and as we all root for a Cinderella team or debate about Kentucky’s chances of running the table, it will be a wicked few weeks but it still doesn't take away us from asking ourselves, what’s the point of having a regular season. 

Marcus Mariota's Pro Day, A Lose-Lose Situation

When Marcus Mariota stepped out for his pro-day at Oregon this past week, it was a lose-lose situation for the Quarterback no matter what he did on the field. Mariota, who is slated to be the second QB drafted after Jameis Winston had nothing to gain from his work-out. Nearly, the entire league was in attendance to see the Heisman Trophy winner throw selected passes to his receivers.

Mariota didn’t awe the scouts at the workout and seemingly left some still wondering the same questions as when they walked in, Can he consistently throw the deep ball? For all intents and purposes, Mariota will be picked anywhere between 2-7 on draft day. What he did during his pro-day could only hurt his draft stock. Questions about Mariota have always been the same, can he run a pro-style offense, Does he have the arm strength to compete in the NFL and can he throw the long ball. His workout however didn’t really answer any of those questions. So, what was the point of the workout? Mariota did miss a few targets during the routine, so does that mean we should write him-off.

Before jumping to any ludicrous conclusions about Mariota and how he will fare in the pro’s, it’s important to take a step back and look at a similar scenario which took place exactly 12 months ago. Coming out of college, Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater was facing similar questions to Mariota. On his pro-day, Bridgewater completely blew it to a point that he fell from being a guaranteed top 10 pick to being drafted 32^nd by the Minnesota Vikings. Bridgewater did admirably well in his rookie seasons, much better in fact than Blake Bortles the 3^rd pick who struggled to settle into Jaguars team and Johnny Manziel, the 22^nd pick who ended up in rehab after his first season. Pro-days can make you look great, as the case with Bortles, but with Mariota, it was a lose-lose situation, we’ll have to wait and see where he gets drafted in a few weeks.

Inter's Champions League Hopes Fade Away

Inter Milan’s hopes of reaching the champions league went up in smoke after their defeat at home to Fiorentina at the weekend. The Nerazzurri coming off a impressive run of games where they had beaten Celtic in Europa league and won three consecutive league games folded against the Viola and saw their efforts to reach third place and qualify for Champions League fade away.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini rotated his side a bit after the midweek game and rested influential playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri instead putting his faith on German striker Lukas Podolski. The misfiring striker put in abysmal performance on the field and was replaced by Shaqiri in the second half. The Swiss playmaker did his best to turn the game around but at the end it was a case of too little too late. Mancini after the game was obviously not happy with Podolski’s performance saying “Podolski needs to do more. His performances aren't sufficient at the moment and he knows that better than anyone.”

The result leaves Inter at eight place with 35 points, 10 points behind third place Napoli who also lost on Sunday to Torino. Reaching third place now seems very difficult and unattainable, perhaps next week’s fixture between Inter and Napoli be a better indicator of where things are headed.

Inter’s best hope of reaching the Champions league is winning the Europa league. The Italians are set to go head to head with Wolfsburg in the next round and might focus all their efforts on the Europa League rather than the Serie A. The next month or two will be a big indicator of where the club is headed as it desperately needs the extra revenue that is brought in by reaching the Champions League.

Mourinho Does it Again

Entering Saturday’s Capital One Cup final between Chelsea and Tottenham, many were expecting an open end to end match like the two teams encounter earlier on in the season, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho made sure that wouldn’t be the case right from the starting line-up.  

Tottenham beat Chelsea on New Year’s Day 5-3 in the league, to date the worst defeat of the season by the blues. The spurs best players in that game, Dane Christian Eriksen and England striker Harry Kane had miles of space to operate and left Chelsea with no chance. Chelsea manager, Mourinho who always has a trick up his sleeve when it comes to cup finals and rarely loses when he gets that far in the competition made sure that wouldn’t be the case by introducing a line-up that left many scratching their heads. With his best defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic suspended, Mourinho threw in young French defender Kourt Zouma. 20 year old Zouma who has burst into the scene was a surprise inclusion to the team but proved the doubters wrong.

Although it was an evenly south game, Chelsea didn’t let Tottenham operate as freely in the middle of the park and at the end cruised to a 2-0 win over their London rivals, lifting the first cup of the season. Favorites to win the Barclays Premier League and still going strong in the UEFA Champions league, Chelsea fans still have higher hopes than just the Capital One Cup but it’s a start in the right direction. One thing is for certain, when it comes to finals, Mourinho rarely loses as his track is simply astonishing.