Tomorrow kicks off the LEC season, a great time for a preview both the men and the women:
men:
1) Keene state. They have the best player in the league this year (Ryan Martin) and 4 starters back from a team that finished 19-8 and beat undefeated Middlebury. However, that same roster lost 4 of 5 to close the season blowing a 2 game lead with 3 to play in the process.
2) Rhode Island College. Lost some big scorers in Mike Akinrola and Mason Choice, however they have some good playmakers coming back in Tom DeCiantis and Tahrike Carter. Bob Walsh is one of the best coach in the conference. They usually struggle early on, but turn it on in mid January.
3) Western Connecticut. They lose 4 of 5 starters and all time school scoring leader DaQuan Brooks is currently playing with the Maine Red Claws of the NBDL. They have good outside shooters, Russ Payton back after missing last year and will have more balanced scoring this year then the last 4 season.
4) Eastern Connecticut. Another Connecticut state school that loses 4 starters. Brian Salzillo played well at the conclusion of the season, and their hopeful to get Mike Garrow back this season after he missed all but 10 games last year.
5) Southern Maine. They play well at home. Since the conference isn't nearly as good this year as it was last year no reason they can't go 5-2/6-1 in home conference games this year
6) Plymouth. Another team that plays well at home and has to take advantage of a down year.
7) Massachusetts-Dartmouth. They finished 5th last year. Last year they compiled a 7-7 record, but they went 1-7 against the four teams that finished above them and 6-0 against the 3 teams that finished below them. Losing their 3 best players, I don't like them, but the coaches do, pegging them 5th in the preseason poll.
8) Massachusetts-Boston. 6 of their top 7 scorers from last year were freshmen. The cupboard isn't at all bare, but I think they'll struggle this year
Official preseason poll: http://littleeast.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/news/20111213-mbkb-preseasonpoll
women:
1) Western Connecticut. Play great defense and have 4 of 5 starters back from a year ago.
2) UMass-Dartmouth. As long as they can keep Colleen Moriarty and Erika Bordeman on the court all season they'll be a threat. Like Western, they only lose 1 starter.
3) Southern Maine. They rarely lose at home which bodes well. They lose all conference selection Courtney Cochran but bring in Rebecca Knight, a division 1 transfer from the University of Maine who will help immensely.
4) UMass-Boston. Kirsten Morrison is the reigning LEC rookie of the year and Lauren Perra also averaged double figures, but they need a 3rd option.
5) Plymouth state. Colleen O'Hara and Kellie Walsh are two great guards that can score the ball. They've gone 2-26 in their last 28 LEC games however.
6) Eastern Connecticut. After a massive team suspension last season at New Years which derailed a team that was having a good season up until that point will look towards stability this year.
7) Rhode Island College. Massive graduation loss as 4 of their 5 starters graduated, and their coach departed.
8) Keene state. Another team that suffered mass graduation as they lose 4 of 5 starters. Siobhan Carnall will be leading the Owls and how she goes, so goes the Owls. This is going to be an extremely young team.
Official preseason poll: http://littleeast.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/news/20121113-wbkb-preseasonpoll
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Max answer's ATH questions
Around the Horn like PTI is a show that airs on ESPN. Unlike PTI, ATH is a sort of a "roundtable" discussion with 4 sports writers from across the country. I will answer the roundtable discussion topics as if they were directed at me. This is from Friday November 2 ATH.
First word:
How much will Thunder miss Harden?
I've been saying for the last year that the Thunder should trade Russell Westbrook. He's selfish on offense, doesn't look to give Kevin Durant the ball who is the star of the team, and just makes terrible decisions with the basketball. The Thunder traded James Harden right before the start of the season who was the 6th man of the year and was their team leader. Without Harden they have no leadership. On the final shot of the game vs. the Spurs, Westbrook got lost on defense and that set up Parker for the game-winner.
Which undefeated team is most likely to lose?
As we know none of the main team's lost (Alabama, Oregon, Kansas state & Notre Dame all won) and the other two undefeateds, Louisville & Ohio state also survived the weekend. To come back to this topic I would've said none of them, but to pick one I probably would've gone with Oregon losing to USC. Oregon really hasn't played anyone this year and USC beat them last year up in Eugene, Oregon.
Buy or sell: this is when a panlist "buys" (agrees) or "sells" (disagrees) with the topic at hand
Will travel issues affect game vs. Giants?
Sell. Due to hurricane Sandy that raveged the East coast last week, the Steelers will fly out to their game at New York Giants the day of the game. Per NFL policy teams fly out the day prior and some teams, usually playing across the country fly out 2 days prior. Plenty of people take a 7:00 AM flight from Pittsburgh to Newark, do business in New York for the day, take a 7:30 PM flight back from Newark to Pittsburgh, get back to their house at 10:00 PM and go to work in downtown Pittsburgh the next morning. The flight from Pittsburgh to Newark is like 45 minutes, it'll probably take the Steelers longer to bus from Newark to the Meadowlands then the flight will.
Note: Pittsburgh won the game 24-20 on a late TD in the 4th.
RG3 would rather be compared to Rodgers?
Sell. He's more comparable to Newton in the NFL, but more comparable to Rodgers in college. Both Rodgers at Cal and RG3 at Baylor were pretty much unknown until their junior seasons, but RG3 can run as well as Newton can, and until RG3 and or Newton can win a super bowl neither of them can be compared to Rodgers
Wants critics to shut up?
Buy. Its 3 games out of an 82 game season. Granted the Lakers haven't won a game yet this year (0-8 preseason, 0-3 so far in the regular season), the Lakers don't know how and shouldn't be running the Princeton offense, and aside from Kobe Bryant & Dwight Howard have looked awful on the offensive end, they still have 79 games left. In 2010, the Miami Heat started 9-8 with LeBron James, DWayne Wade and Chris Bosh yet made the NBA finals that year, the Lakers just need some time for Dwight Howard & Steve Nash to co-exist with Kobe Bryant. The Lakers will be fine.
Lightning round: Like the first word except shorter answers
Says Falcons don't get enough respect?
Their 8-0, the only unbeaten team in football at the halfway mark, but they play in Atlanta. If this was New York, they'd be all over the news and people would say their overrated, so you just can't win. The Chicago Bears & Houston Texans (both 7-1) might actually be better overall, but the only way to settle that is on the field.
First word:
How much will Thunder miss Harden?
I've been saying for the last year that the Thunder should trade Russell Westbrook. He's selfish on offense, doesn't look to give Kevin Durant the ball who is the star of the team, and just makes terrible decisions with the basketball. The Thunder traded James Harden right before the start of the season who was the 6th man of the year and was their team leader. Without Harden they have no leadership. On the final shot of the game vs. the Spurs, Westbrook got lost on defense and that set up Parker for the game-winner.
Which undefeated team is most likely to lose?
As we know none of the main team's lost (Alabama, Oregon, Kansas state & Notre Dame all won) and the other two undefeateds, Louisville & Ohio state also survived the weekend. To come back to this topic I would've said none of them, but to pick one I probably would've gone with Oregon losing to USC. Oregon really hasn't played anyone this year and USC beat them last year up in Eugene, Oregon.
Buy or sell: this is when a panlist "buys" (agrees) or "sells" (disagrees) with the topic at hand
Will travel issues affect game vs. Giants?
Sell. Due to hurricane Sandy that raveged the East coast last week, the Steelers will fly out to their game at New York Giants the day of the game. Per NFL policy teams fly out the day prior and some teams, usually playing across the country fly out 2 days prior. Plenty of people take a 7:00 AM flight from Pittsburgh to Newark, do business in New York for the day, take a 7:30 PM flight back from Newark to Pittsburgh, get back to their house at 10:00 PM and go to work in downtown Pittsburgh the next morning. The flight from Pittsburgh to Newark is like 45 minutes, it'll probably take the Steelers longer to bus from Newark to the Meadowlands then the flight will.
Note: Pittsburgh won the game 24-20 on a late TD in the 4th.
RG3 would rather be compared to Rodgers?
Sell. He's more comparable to Newton in the NFL, but more comparable to Rodgers in college. Both Rodgers at Cal and RG3 at Baylor were pretty much unknown until their junior seasons, but RG3 can run as well as Newton can, and until RG3 and or Newton can win a super bowl neither of them can be compared to Rodgers
Wants critics to shut up?
Buy. Its 3 games out of an 82 game season. Granted the Lakers haven't won a game yet this year (0-8 preseason, 0-3 so far in the regular season), the Lakers don't know how and shouldn't be running the Princeton offense, and aside from Kobe Bryant & Dwight Howard have looked awful on the offensive end, they still have 79 games left. In 2010, the Miami Heat started 9-8 with LeBron James, DWayne Wade and Chris Bosh yet made the NBA finals that year, the Lakers just need some time for Dwight Howard & Steve Nash to co-exist with Kobe Bryant. The Lakers will be fine.
Lightning round: Like the first word except shorter answers
Says Falcons don't get enough respect?
Their 8-0, the only unbeaten team in football at the halfway mark, but they play in Atlanta. If this was New York, they'd be all over the news and people would say their overrated, so you just can't win. The Chicago Bears & Houston Texans (both 7-1) might actually be better overall, but the only way to settle that is on the field.
Week 10 winners and losers
Winners:
Louisville. They won by more then 10 points for the first time since September 8. QB Teddy Bridgewater had another monster game throwing for 324 yards and 5 touchdowns. He's leading a team that is 9-0 and should be in the heisman discussion.
Notre Dame. They were down 20-6 to begin the 4th quarter and 20-12 with under 3 minutes to go and rallied to force OT against Pittsburgh. After both teams kicked field goals in the 1st OT, ND fumbled on their 2nd OT possessions and the Irish survived a missed Pitt field goal that would have won it. Pitt kicked a FG their 3rd OT possession and ND won it with a touchdown on their possessions to get them to 9-0 for the first time since 1993 and kick them squarely in the hunt for the national championship.
Army. Beat Air Force for only the 2nd time since 1996 and will leave the Army vs. Navy game in Philadelphia on December 8 for the Commander-in-Chief's trophy which goes to either Army/Navy/or Air Force whichever team wins the most games in a season. Army hasn't won the trophy since 1996.
San Jose state. With a 42-13 win over Idaho, improved to 7-2 on the season and look to be on their way to only their second bowl game since 1990, and first since the 2006 New Mexico Bowl. With a win next week @ New Mexico state, SJSU would match their 3 previous seasons wins total.
Indiana. Recorded a 24-21 win over Indiana and control their own destiny for a BCS bowl appearance. Even though ohio state & Penn state are the two best teams in the Big 10 conference, and both school's are in Indiana's division, both of them are ineligible for the conference championship. If Indiana can win their next 4 games, even though they'd only be 8-5, they'd be playing in a BCS bowl.
Losers:
Les Miles (LSU coach). LSU suffered a 24-21 loss to Alabama and some of Miles' calls had a lot to do with it. In the 2nd quarter of a 7-3 game, he went for a fake field goal on 4th down and 12 which Alabama snuffed out. After scoring a touchdown to make the score 14-10, Miles attempted an on-sides kick on the insuing kick off which was recovered by Alabama. In the 4th quarter, after LSU took the lead, Miles attempted to go for it on a 4th and 1 instead of attempting a 41 yard field goal with one of the best kickers in the SEC; Spencer Ware got stuffed for no gain for a turnover on downs. The biggest downfall for Miles occured after Drew Alleman missed his second field goal of the game to keep it a 17-14 game. After holding Alabama in check for most of the second half (up until that possession, Alabama had 5 possessions; 4 resulted in a 3 and out and the 5th [off of the LSU onsides kick attempt] resulted in a fumble) Miles decides to play a prevent defense which lead Alabama to drive down the field for the winning touchdown.
USC defense. They have given up over 1300 yards the last 2 games, including getting gashed for 426 yards on the ground by the spread offense of Oregon. Kenjon Barner for Oregon had an exceptionally good day; 38 attempts for 321 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Colorado rushing game. The Buffalo's are one of the most hapless teams in football. As if getting outscored 168-20 over their last 3 games isn't bad enough, yesterday against Stanford their 3 quarterbacks got sacked 8 times for a loss of 42 yards which resulted in the Buffalos as a team having 21 rushing attempts which went for negative 21 yards, meaning you had 21 more rushing yards watching this game then the whole team did.
Kentucky. The Wildcats have lost 9 games this year, 7 of which were by 13 or more points. The latest casualty a 40-0 pounding at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores resulted in the firing of Kentucky coach Joker Phillips.
Arizona. After beating USC last week, they had no such luck against LA's other school, losing 66-10 in the Rose Bowl to UCLA. UCLA started the game up 28-0 and the score was 42-3 at halftime. They got outgained 611-257 in the game.
Projected BCS standings:
1) Alabama
2) Kansas state
3) Notre Dame
4) Oregon
5) Georgia.
Top 4 remain unchanged. Notre Dame was pushed to overtime against a not good Pitt team, but Oregon gave up 51 points to USC and only win because they scored 62. And unlike in the polls, here at Max's Sports Blog we don't move down teams if they win, even if they win on a defensive safety getting 0 offensive yards, so since the top 4 won, they remain the same as last week. Georgia, who was #6 last week takes last week's #5 spot (LSU) in my rankings.
#6 Florida
#7 South Carolina
#8 Florida state
#9 Louisville
#10 Oregon state.
Florida, South Carolina, Florida state & Louisville all move up 1 spot. I moved Oregon state to #10 because to me they've been more impressive then LSU.
How I think they'll play out: Oregon jumps Notre Dame for 3rd, and LSU ends up somewhere around 7th or 8th in the rankings.
Louisville. They won by more then 10 points for the first time since September 8. QB Teddy Bridgewater had another monster game throwing for 324 yards and 5 touchdowns. He's leading a team that is 9-0 and should be in the heisman discussion.
Notre Dame. They were down 20-6 to begin the 4th quarter and 20-12 with under 3 minutes to go and rallied to force OT against Pittsburgh. After both teams kicked field goals in the 1st OT, ND fumbled on their 2nd OT possessions and the Irish survived a missed Pitt field goal that would have won it. Pitt kicked a FG their 3rd OT possession and ND won it with a touchdown on their possessions to get them to 9-0 for the first time since 1993 and kick them squarely in the hunt for the national championship.
Army. Beat Air Force for only the 2nd time since 1996 and will leave the Army vs. Navy game in Philadelphia on December 8 for the Commander-in-Chief's trophy which goes to either Army/Navy/or Air Force whichever team wins the most games in a season. Army hasn't won the trophy since 1996.
San Jose state. With a 42-13 win over Idaho, improved to 7-2 on the season and look to be on their way to only their second bowl game since 1990, and first since the 2006 New Mexico Bowl. With a win next week @ New Mexico state, SJSU would match their 3 previous seasons wins total.
Indiana. Recorded a 24-21 win over Indiana and control their own destiny for a BCS bowl appearance. Even though ohio state & Penn state are the two best teams in the Big 10 conference, and both school's are in Indiana's division, both of them are ineligible for the conference championship. If Indiana can win their next 4 games, even though they'd only be 8-5, they'd be playing in a BCS bowl.
Losers:
Les Miles (LSU coach). LSU suffered a 24-21 loss to Alabama and some of Miles' calls had a lot to do with it. In the 2nd quarter of a 7-3 game, he went for a fake field goal on 4th down and 12 which Alabama snuffed out. After scoring a touchdown to make the score 14-10, Miles attempted an on-sides kick on the insuing kick off which was recovered by Alabama. In the 4th quarter, after LSU took the lead, Miles attempted to go for it on a 4th and 1 instead of attempting a 41 yard field goal with one of the best kickers in the SEC; Spencer Ware got stuffed for no gain for a turnover on downs. The biggest downfall for Miles occured after Drew Alleman missed his second field goal of the game to keep it a 17-14 game. After holding Alabama in check for most of the second half (up until that possession, Alabama had 5 possessions; 4 resulted in a 3 and out and the 5th [off of the LSU onsides kick attempt] resulted in a fumble) Miles decides to play a prevent defense which lead Alabama to drive down the field for the winning touchdown.
USC defense. They have given up over 1300 yards the last 2 games, including getting gashed for 426 yards on the ground by the spread offense of Oregon. Kenjon Barner for Oregon had an exceptionally good day; 38 attempts for 321 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Colorado rushing game. The Buffalo's are one of the most hapless teams in football. As if getting outscored 168-20 over their last 3 games isn't bad enough, yesterday against Stanford their 3 quarterbacks got sacked 8 times for a loss of 42 yards which resulted in the Buffalos as a team having 21 rushing attempts which went for negative 21 yards, meaning you had 21 more rushing yards watching this game then the whole team did.
Kentucky. The Wildcats have lost 9 games this year, 7 of which were by 13 or more points. The latest casualty a 40-0 pounding at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores resulted in the firing of Kentucky coach Joker Phillips.
Arizona. After beating USC last week, they had no such luck against LA's other school, losing 66-10 in the Rose Bowl to UCLA. UCLA started the game up 28-0 and the score was 42-3 at halftime. They got outgained 611-257 in the game.
Projected BCS standings:
1) Alabama
2) Kansas state
3) Notre Dame
4) Oregon
5) Georgia.
Top 4 remain unchanged. Notre Dame was pushed to overtime against a not good Pitt team, but Oregon gave up 51 points to USC and only win because they scored 62. And unlike in the polls, here at Max's Sports Blog we don't move down teams if they win, even if they win on a defensive safety getting 0 offensive yards, so since the top 4 won, they remain the same as last week. Georgia, who was #6 last week takes last week's #5 spot (LSU) in my rankings.
#6 Florida
#7 South Carolina
#8 Florida state
#9 Louisville
#10 Oregon state.
Florida, South Carolina, Florida state & Louisville all move up 1 spot. I moved Oregon state to #10 because to me they've been more impressive then LSU.
How I think they'll play out: Oregon jumps Notre Dame for 3rd, and LSU ends up somewhere around 7th or 8th in the rankings.
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