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The Detroit Pistons have shown that they are still a team to be reckoned with. A couple of weeks ago they defeated the Boston Celtics, at the Garden, feeding them a nice big slice of humble pie. With that, the Pistons have been accused of only stepping up to the plate when something important is on the line, such as their pride. A game in Toronto might not motivate them as much as say a game in Boston. However, the Pistons say their time will come in the playoffs. With a team that’s been together so long, you are inclined to believe them. After all they’ve routinely been in the eastern conference finals, and won a title, in the last half decade.

Toronto made waves last year by playing well, and even making the playoffs. They also have one of the best players that many have not really even heard of, Chris Bosh. Bosh has been offered more lucrative contracts to play in bigger American cities, but he says the Toronto lifestyle suits him just fine, and that he wants to make them a contender as opposed to just going to another team. Bosh is nearly averaging a double-double with 20.4 points and 9.2 rebounds a contest.

I will favor Billups in company in this one. They have high expectations to live up to now that they have beaten the Celtics. Also, the Pistons have a better road record then Toronto has home record, which could spell trouble for the Raptors.

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This year the football teams of Ohio State and Illinois have better teams, although not by too much. It also seems that Illinois has more than a fair chance of duplicated their effort on the football field, and beating Ohio State again on the court.

The Buckeyes are the defending national runner-ups, but lost a good majority of their team to graduation or the NBA draft, most noticeably Greg Oden. Despite dropping three games already, they seem to be a team that has beaten just about everyone you feel they should, while losing to the big guns such as UNC, Texas A&M, and the much improved Butler. The problem with those games is that they lost by a fairly wide margin. Not enough to not be competitive, but enough to make you wonder if they’ll be able to compete with any of the bigger schools this season.

The Fighting Illini is nearly in the same boat at the Buckeyes. They beat who they should, but can’t seem quite able to compete with the big boys. Illinois also has a loss to Miami of Ohio, which isn’t exactly a powerhouse school, but has been close to knocking off big boys all year.

This game is truly a pick-um. I know I say this a lot, but I truly believe the home court advantage in college sports, and that’s why I’m favoring Illinois here as well. Even though they dropped the Miami game at home, I still favor the energy of the crowd, in a conference game, will be enough to pull their home team through.

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This game is the very definition of two teams heading in opposite directions. The Chicago Bulls fired head coach Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve (Happy Holidays indeed) and as of this writing are sitting seven games under .500. They are showing few signs of turning things around, and it could just be a long season altogether. Portland on the other hand, also of this writing, are on a current 11 game winning streak. What makes this an even greater accomplishment is that they are doing it without their number one draft pick of last year Greg Oden, who went down with an injury very early into the preseason. The Trail Blazers have looked like two separate teams between now and the first set of games at the beginning of the season. Their record on the road is only 3-9, which may give the Bulls some help, yet Portland is probably just playing a little too well for them right now.

The Trail Blazers are riding the wings of another young player, second year man Brandon Roy. Roy is averaging 19 points and 5.6 rebounds a game, but his leadership has been the real quality. During the current winning streak Roy has shown up time and time again in the clutch when needed. At such a young age it’s amazing he has been able to demand the type of respect he has.

Despite the poor road record I will still favor the red hot Trail Blazers over the icy cold Bulls.

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The Bruins have responded well since their first loss of the season, and will look to move even farther up the ranks with a victory over the 22nd ranked Stanford Cardinals. It won’t be an easy task, considering Stanford has only lost once this year, and are undefeated at home. They do have the tools to do it though.

Freshman Kevin Love has continued the tradition of great centers to suit up in a UCLA uniform. He is averaging 16.7 points and 10.3 rebounds a game. He has been very consistent in his play, and has even stepped up against some of their tougher opponents. Speaking of traditions, Josh Shipp is the third Shipp brother to play for UCLA. This Shipp is averaging 14.8 points a game, and is one of the leaders on the team.

Stanford has some pretty decent players too, most noticeably sophomore Brooke Lopez. Lopez leads his team with just under 20 points and exactly five rebounds a game. The seven footer is coming into his own, and could be a menace come tournament time because not a lot of teams have seven footers, let alone formidable ones. Lopez missed the first part of the season, as well.

This is a tough call because Stanford’s lone loss came to unheralded Siena, and it’s hard to look past that when they are playing UCLA. Being the Cardinals are playing at home, it could obviously go either way, but for now I’m going to favor the Bruins on the road.

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After a long, hard fought, NFL season we have finally reached the conclusion of the regular season. While the season has been filled with good games, sometimes it’s hard to find one the very last week of the season because so many things have already been determined. At the time of this writing the Minnesota Vikings may or may not be in the playoffs. If they beat the Redskins they are in, if they didn’t, then they need this game against the Broncos very badly. Pretty much every other game in the final week of the season has very little meaning on the outcome of the playoffs. If the Patriots beat the Dolphins this week, which there is no reason they shouldn’t, then New England will be looking to complete a perfect season by beating the New York Giants.

The Minnesota Vikings found gold in the NFL draft when they were lucky enough to draft Adrian Peterson. Some teams passed up on him due to some injuries he received while in college, but everything appears to be fine with him now, despite some unrelated injuries early in the season. He is averaging 5.9 yards per carry, the highest in the league. If he can bump that average up to six a carry, which he was at for the majority of the year, he will become the first person to do that since Barry Sanders. He has ran for 1278 yards and scored 12 times as well. Often times the Vikings have won ugly during their current five game winning streak (once again, as of this writing) but they continue to win nevertheless. The play of quarterback Tavaris Jackson has continually gotten better, but they are playing him in a very simple offensive plan that allows him to keep mistakes to a minimum. Many NFL experts predict that Jackson won’t allow his team to advance deep into the playoffs because the defenses will be like any he has ever seen before, but just to get to the playoffs will be a nice reward for the young Vikings team.

The Broncos have been eliminated from playoff contention for quite a while. They played well at times, but their lack of consistency, particularly from the quarterback play of Jay Cutler. Cutler is still expected to be a very good quarterback in the near future, but his time to show it is coming soon.

Denver could very well play the role of spoiler here, allowing either the Redskins or New Orleans Saints to sneak into the playoffs. Denver is generally tough at home, despite a 41-3 loss to San Diego in the middle of the season. Like I said, I have no way of determining what the situation will be in the time of this game, but a lot of Redskins and Saints fans could be rooting for Denver like they are their own home team.

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In a battle between two teams who are just barely missing out in the top teams in the nation, the North Carolina Wolf pack with take on the Seton Hall Pirates. The Pirates have actually gotten off to a very decent start, winning seven of nine as of this writing. However, they have lost two out of three, as well. The good start can be attributed to three of the five starters averaging double digit points. The leader of that trio is Brian Laing who is averaging just over 20 a contest. He is also averaging over eight rebounds a game, showing he too is a senior leader. They’ve had a very solid one, a 74-60 win at Virginia.

The Wolfpack also have a very solid win over Villanova, also on the road, but they have also dropped two out of three. While the Pirates are led by a senior, North Carolina is led by one of the most exciting freshman in the country. J.J. Hickson is averaging 18 points and eight assists per game. He is among the top in both of those categories compared to other freshman. The problem with the Wolfpack right now is that young and the inconsistency of the play right now.

This game could go either way, and it’s important game for both, as they look to get some solid wins before conference play begins. I will favor the Hall by a few points because of the fact they are playing at home, and despite the couple of losses, seem to be the more consistent of teams.

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The Nevada Wolf Pack will have the daunting task of heading to North Carolina and trying to knock off the number one ranked team in all of the land. In order to do this they will need to have huge games, bigger games then they’ve ever had before, from their star players. Currently leading the team in points with 18.8 a game is senior guard Marcus Kemp. The Wolfpack have four losses at the time of this writing, but they have been fairly competitive in all of those games. But, then again, they weren’t playing the number one team in the country in those games either. The best team that Nevada has beat in Santa Clara, a team UNC would probably have a field day with.

One of the reasons they are off to such a hot, and undefeated, start is the play of junior forward Tyler Hansbrough. Hansbrough is nearly averaging a double-double with 21.8 points and 9.8 rebounds a game. Over the last couple of years Hansbrough has become one of the best players in the NCAA and most likely will be a top five, or even three pick, in the next NBA draft if he chooses to forgo his senior season.

No surprise here, but I’m picking UNC to win this one in a route. Nevada doesn’t have near the firepower to keep up with the Tar Heels. To top it off, they are going to try to defeat North Carolina at home, not a likely proposition.

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At the time of this writing the Boston Celtics have a 20-2 record and seem a viable contender for not only the NBA championship, but they also may be able to break the record of the 72-10 Chicago Bulls, led my Michael Jordan, if they can keep this up. Seattle is well under .500, but if there is any good news coming out of facing the Celtics, it’s that the Supersonics are playing them at home, where Boston has lost both of their games. The Supersonics also have leading rookie of the year candidate Kevin Durant on their team, which means even if they are losing, they get a chance to see one of the best players in the NBA, and at such a young age, every time out.

I’ve wrote about the Celtics already so many times this year because nearly every one of their games is on national TV. They have three of the best players in the game on the same team. Kevin Garnett can switch between power forward and center, and be equally effective at both spots. Ray Allen has arguably been the best shooter in the league for the last decade, which he continues to prove in the green uniform. Finally, Paul Pierce is finally getting recognition for being one of the best players, after a few years of playing on a down and out team. Too make matters worse for opposing teams; they are also the best defensive unit in the league. Yeah, we now see why they are on pace to break all kinds of records.

My Pick: The Boston Celtics

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The game between the Cavs and the Mavs features two teams who had hoped to get off to a little bit better of a start then they have.  The Mavericks have almost lost more games then they did then last season and we are only less than a third through the season.  The Cavaliers made it to the NBA finals last year, but at this pace they won’t make it to even the playoffs. 

While Dallas doesn’t really have an excuse for their early season woes, Cleveland does.  They have had a lot of injury and contract problems.  Larry Hughes missed the early part of the season with a bad knee, and James missed a handful of games with an injured finger.  However, as James warned the rest of the league, “Get your wins now,” because once they all comeback from injury they will be fine.  Well, they are all back now.  James is averaging nearly 30 points a game, and Hughes has been playing with a hot streak as well.

Dallas is still good, and they have an impressive home record, only losing twice as of this writing.  Everyone says they will turn around soon, and with Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard on your team, who are we to disagree.  Because of the high energy the Mavericks play with at home I will pick them to win this game, and I too believe they will start to pick it up and will be more of a force in the playoffs this year than last year where they lost in the first round to the eight seeded Golden State Warriors. 

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At this point of the NFL season many games start to lose their luster because the playoff scenario has already been determined for so many games.  But, the match-up between the Redskins and the Vikings is turning into the most important game of the season for these squads.  The winner of this game will find themselves in the drivers’ seat for the final Wildcard playoff spot in the tight NFC race, with just one game remaining in the regular season. 

The Washington Redskins had thought their season was over for sure when emerging quarterback Jason Campbell went down with a season ending injury.  They had to resort to backup Todd Collins who hadn’t started a game since 1997.  He should be rewarded for sticking around the league that long without playing, but he should be doubly rewarded with the way he has played since stepping in.  In the two games he’s seen action he has thrown for two touchdowns and no interceptions while compiling a decent quarterback rating of 95.6 percent.  He has also show an ability to finish important game deciding drives, something Campbell had been struggling with all year.  Collins has been a breath of fresh air for fans of the Redskins.  Despite not playing in years, he has shown a grasp of the offense you would expect from a ten year starter.

The Vikings were not expected to play this way at the beginning of the season, but then they realized they had one of the biggest playmakers to come into the league in years on their team.  Adrian Peterson has had a monster year, despite missing two games to injury early in the season.  Peterson has ran for exactly 1200 yards this year, while averaging an amazing 6.1 yards per carry.  Peterson had a goal of 1800 yards for the season, but while that goal appears to be out of reach, he will still likely be the NFL league leader at the end of the season.  He has scampered to the end zone 11 times, ten on the ground, and one from a pass.  Earlier in the season Peterson broke the all-time rushing record for a game when he ran for 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers.  I’m not sure if that was on his lists of accomplishments, but I’m sure he’s happy to have it anyway.  The Vikings have won five out of their last six games, making them one of the hottest teams in the NFL.

This is a very tough game to predict, with so much on the line.  Since they are playing in Minnesota, and they’ve been playing so well, I think I might favor them by just a couple of points.  The Redskins defense allows them to stay in almost every game, so one play here or there could change the way this game goes, but for now, I’ll go with the purple and gold. 

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