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In the mid to late 90’s the Gonzaga Bulldogs basically created the term “Cinderella team.” Year after year they would enter the NCAA March Madness tournament as a double digit seed, and year after year, they would advance to as far as the Great Eight. Gonzaga opened the door to the rest of the country to show that just because they don’t come from one of the powerhouse conferences they can play some basketball. In the last couple of years Gonzaga has been in the top-25 rankings, as they are this year.

The Oklahoma Sooners are generally regarded as a football school, but they are also pretty competitive in basketball. One of the reasons they are competitive this year is the play of freshman Blake Griffin. Griffin leads his team in both points and rebounds with 13 and eight a game, respectfully.

Gonzaga is led by four separate players in double-digit scoring. The name at the top of that list it Sophomore Matt Bouldin. Bouldin is averaging 13 a game and nearly five rebounds a contest.

Despite the game being in Oklahoma, I am going to take the Bulldogs. Gonzaga has beat tougher teams then Oklahoma has lost to. Gonzaga hasn’t played many games on the road however, so I wouldn’t be entirely shocked by an Oklahoma victory. A lot of early season games are decided more from home court advantage, then a huge talent gap.

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A great early, non-conference, top ten battles will take place when the Duke Blue Devils take on the Pittsburgh Panthers. One of the exciting features of this game will be the fact that not many people know much about either team. Duke, of course, is always named among the top teams in the country, but this year they are playing a squad that doesn’t have the experience, or the name power, of teams in the past. Pittsburgh, which having enjoyed some success recently, hasn’t always been a basketball powerhouse. Needless to say, a lot of questions will be answered in this game.

Duke is led by sophomore Gerald Henderson. Henderson is averaging 13.6 points a game, and also over five rebounds a contest. Freshman Kyle Singler is also averaging 13.6 a game. This is a prime example of how many young players the Duke fans are relying on to take them to the promise land of another NCAA championship.

Pittsburgh relies on junior Sam Young. Young is averaging 18 points a game. Altogether four out of the five Panther starters are averaging double digits. In a tough contest, I am going to favor the Panthers just because the game is at their home court, and that they are a little bit older and more ready for these kinds of games. If they were meeting at the end of the season, when the Dukies have more experience, I may have picked them.

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The Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets are a pair of teams that have been showing signs of improvement the last few years, but have been unable to make the lead to the upper echelon teams in the league. The Rockets have arguably two of the most talented players in the league in Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. On the other hand, the Nuggets have some great talent of their own, featuring one of the best point-guards in league history, Allen Iverson, and former Syracuse star, Carmelo Anthony. To this point in the season the duo of Iverson and Anthony have faired better, leading their team to above .500 records while the Rockets have struggled to win more then they’ve lost, despite an apparent plethora of talent.

McGrady is among the top scorers in the league, averaging 24.6 a game. Yao Ming is averaging a double-double, and has started to show he can play well in an up tempo style offense, which they’ll need against the running Nuggets.

In this contest I think the Nuggets will come out ahead. They are playing a lot better recently, making them serious contenders in the West. While the Rockets appear to have the talent they have failed to prove they our worthy of any contention roles. Iverson, and his 25.3 a game will be enough to get them over the hump in this one.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers may have a record to scoff at during this present time, but just recently they got their entire team back together. Lebron James and Larry Hughes have both missed time due to injuries this year, but as James told the NBA earlier in the year, have fun getting your wins now, because we’ll be back soon enough. They get to test that theory when Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers come to town.

Bryant is second to James in scoring with 27.2 points per game. He also leads the team with 5.1 assists per contest. He has severely lacked help since Shaquille O’Neal left the team a few years ago, after all, those are huge shoes to fill. Andrew Bynum has stepped up lately; averaging nearly ten rebounds a game, but it’s not nearly enough to expect the Lakers to make any kind of serious post season run.

Despite the poor start, it appears the Cavaliers will be able to turn things around. As stated, they are getting healthy, which leads one to believe they can perhaps make it to another NBA Finals. The problem with them is that they also lack much of a supporting cast, and if they were in the West, they’d probably be about where the Lakers are, which is seventh or eight place per season. With the Cavs’ back at full strength I favor them in a close ball game in this one, probably by five points or less.

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In an important AFC game a battle of 9-4 games, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers will attempt to jockey themselves into a better playoff position. But, these teams are heading in different directions.

The Steelers played the New England Patriots well for a half, but were then outscored 17-0 in the second half, blowing the game completely open. Another negative thing that came out of that game, other than the loss, was that safety Anthony Wright had guaranteed a victory over the undefeated Pats. Most of the older veterans on the team didn’t appreciate that, and neither did the coach. Overall, the last four games for the Steelers haven’t been up to par to their usual standards. First, they lost a game to the New York Jets in overtime, and followed that up with a 3-0 victory over the winless Dolphins. We should cut them some slack in that game, because the weather was awful, leaving the field a watered down mess, but, still they were only able to score three points. The next game they seemed to be getting out of the rut, defeating Cincinnati 24-10. Then of course, came the loss, with the wrong prediction, coming at the hands of the Pats. However, the Steelers still have a top notch defense, and with a couple victories down the stretch, they can be sitting pretty in the playoffs, perhaps with a chance to play the Patriots again.

The Jaguars have been playing really well lately, including hanging with the defending Super Bowl champions, the Indianapolis Colts, losing 28-25. Even with that loss, they have won four out of their last five, including a victory over the Carolina Panthers this past week 37-6. Their quarterback David Garrard has only thrown one interception this year, to go along with 13 touchdowns, but that included three missed games due to injury. Its play like that that will keep them in any game, as long as he can continue to limit his mistakes, and remember to hand off the ball to Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. Both players are averaging over 4.5 yards a carry, and have combined for 11 touchdowns. For a long time Taylor has been one of the most underrated players in the league, but injuries have kept him on the backburner. Jones-Drew had a breakout season last year, and after starting a bit slow this year, has also came alive, making the Jacksonville offense something to leave defenses worrying about.

Pittsburgh is very tough at home, winning all their games there this year. But, they are coming off a few lackluster performances the last four weeks, or so. I am going to lean towards Jacksonville in a minor upset because they are on a roll. I take the Jaguars 27-24, in a game that could go either way.

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The Spurs get a taste of the highest scorer in the league when they meet Kobe Bryant in an interesting NBA match-up. While Bryant is having a great year, averaging 27.2 points a contest, it’s his supporting cast that’s a problem. Bryant has been a bit of a one man show, but he is passing the ball more then usual, and it shows. He is also leading the team with just under five assists a contest. There are some bright spots among the younger players, namely Andrew Bynum, who leads the team with over ten rebounds a contest. However, while they have a decent core of young players, they appear to be nowhere ready to face the best teams in the west. Among those teams are the San Antonio Spurs, who are off to another great start.

Like usual, the Spurs are beating teams with a solid approach, none of the high flying stuff you may see from other teams. Tony Parker, one of the most underrated guards in the league, leads the Spurs with 20 points and seven assists a contest. They also still have Tim Duncan. Duncan may appear to have started to lose a step, but he’s still right up there among the very best of the NBA power forwards. I favor the Spurs in this one because they are rolling and the Lakers, despite Kobe Bryant, don’t have near enough firepower to hang with the more experienced San Antonio Spurs.

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The Washington Wizards are doing their best to hover right around the .500 mark despite there best player Gilbert Arenas being out for at least another two and a half months. On the other hand you have the Miami Heat to appear to have all of their best players in order, but they are already more than ten games below .500. In years past the Heat have a routine of just coasting through the playoffs before turning it on. However, if they don’t begin to put their foot on the pedal a little harder then they will be coasting outside of a playoff position.

In Arenas’ absensce a few Wizards have been stepping it up, namely Caron Butler. Butler is averaging a team high, and a career high, 23 points a contest. The Wizards have finished .500 or better the last three seasons, after years of sitting near the bottom of the league.

Dwaye Wade is leading the Heat in scoring with 20 a game, but that’s been about the only bright spot. Shaq is getting old, and can’t play with the same energy that made him one of the best centers of all time. I predict the Wizards to win this contest until the Heat can show me a little something better. Like I said, they have all of their players, they just aren’t meshing right now. I’ll take the Wiz Kids in this one by about ten or more points.

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Both Princeton and Penn State were hoping their seasons would start off a little better, but a win against each other may get either school on the right track. The Tigers usually do very well in their conference of the Ivy League. Much of that success can be attributed to the offense that was created by coaches at their school, simply named “The Princeton Offense.” For non-basketball purists, it’s basically a offense designed using a lot of passing and off the ball screen in attempt to get their players open. Because they are an Ivy league school they know that they don’t have the athletes to compete with the bigger and more athletic teams. So, they use an offense based on smarts, rather than skill, in an attempt to confuse the opponent. While it hasn’t worked well lately, it has done them wonders in the past, including some of the biggest upsets in college history.

You may know Penn State more for their football, but they also want to be known as a basketball school. Their best basketball player is senior Geary Claxton. While Claxton has been able to keep his team in a few games, they’ve ultimately lost more then they have won. Because Penn State has performed better against the same type of competition then Princeton, I favor them in this game. However, I don’t see either team making much noise in the grand scheme of the basketball world.

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In a battle of Ohio rivals, the Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Xavier Musketeers. In years past it is usually the Bearcats who would dominate this rivalry, but Xavier has taken the better of it in most recent times. Xavier has a team that features a starting lineup of three seniors, a junior, and a sophomore. If you take a look around the country you are lucky to see three seniors starting for any team due to most of them dropping out early for the big bucks of the NBA. The best of the bunch is possibly junior B.J. Raymond who leads the team with 13.1 points a game. 13.1 points a game may not seem like much, but when you consider that six players on the team average double digits, you get an idea of how well spread out this offense is.

Cincy is struggling a bit, but they do have a very talented sophomore named Deonta Vaughn. Vaughn leads the team in points in assists with 16 and 5, respectively. The Bearcats have already suffered a number of losses you would have never expect in years past, including those to Belmont and Bowling Green. Because Xavier is on a role, and a lot more talented then those squads, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I predict Xavier to have a fairly easy time in this one. However, it’s a rivalry game, so you never know. Still, all signs point to Xavier.

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After the New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts in a dramatic come from behind victory fans of the NFL thought the Steelers might be the only thing left keeping the Patriots from a perfect season. But, Pittsburgh then went on to lose to the lowly New York Jets, which made people wonder how they could ever contend with the Patriots. Also, all three of their losses have come on the road. Not that you ever want to play New England, but playing them at home might be one of the toughest things to do in all of sports, not just football. Even with all those negatives, they could possibly still pose the biggest threat, not just as much as a originally though. Leading the Steelers will be former Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger. “Big Ben” is enjoying his best season, statistically, this year. His 106 rating is nearly 15 points better than his career average. He has passed for 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions to go along with a completion percentage of right around 67. His main target, Hines Ward, is now the all time leader in TD receptions in Pittsburgh history. This year he has caught nearly 50 balls, despite missing three games due to injury. He is fully healthy now, so he could be a challenge to the Patriots secondary. One thing is for sure, they will need to put up more than the three points they did against Miami on Monday night football two weeks ago.

This just in: The Patriots are good, really really good. If you’ve read any of my stories this year you will constantly see the big names come up. There is the leading candidate for NFL MVP Tom Brady, and his 39 touchdowns. Then there is Randy Moss, who at 16 TD’s, is just a few scores from being the all-record leader. Can’t forget about Wes Welker, either. Before this year you probably never heard of him. This year he is on pace to catch 100 balls and have over 10 touchdowns. The Patriots 442 team points this year is by far and away the best in the league. They can also run the ball too, both Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris are averaging nearly 4.5 yards per carry. The other side of the ball is nearly as dominate, as they are among the top five in every major defensive category. Usually a team either has the best offense or the best defense. Is there any wonder why this team is being considered as the best ever” The 1972 Miami Dolphins could be moving over soon enough.

Despite the Patriots struggling a bit against the Philadelphia Eagles, I’m still going to go out on a limb and pick them as the favorite in this game. While some feel the game can be close, I disagree. The Pats have away of shutting people up who think a certain team will give them some troubles. Early in the season people said that about the Redskins. A 52-7 score changed their tune greatly. I feel the Patriots will win by a comfortable margin of 20 points, or more.

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