Is this year's Final Four the best ever?
Yes. And it's not just because there are 4 #1 seeds. It's because three of the teams are among the top 5 programs in the country and combine for 31 National Championships. It's also because there are so many future stars playing in these games. This is a product of the NBA Draft Eligibility rule that forces players to go to college for at least a year. The quality in the NBA and the NCAA has gone up as a result. By the way, I'm changing my pick to Memphis beating UCLA. I still like UNC winning it all.
Are the Tigers done after starting 0-4?
No. I am convinced this is actually going to help them in the long run. A lot of analysts selected them to win the AL Central and many picked them to win the World Series. They have many new pieces that they are trying to fit together (Cabrera, Renteria, Jones, Clete Thomas) some position changes (Guillen to 1st, Inge filling in at 3rd and CF) and some injuries (Granderson and now Sheffield). Trust me, it's going to get worse. After their current home series against the White Sox, they are at Boston, at CWS, Minnesota, at Cleveland, and at Toronto. On April 21, I predict they will be 8-12. They will take over in the month of May.
How good will the Redwings be in the playoffs?
Mediocre. Newsflash: the NHL regular season ends this weekend. The Redwings wrapped up the President's Trophy the other night for the 4th time in 6 seasons. They have been so up and down this season (good in Oct, Dec, Jan, and Mar; average in Nov; horrible in Feb). They were 13-9 vs. the 6 worst teams in the NHL and 5-3 vs. their most likely 1st round opponent, Nashville. I think they will lose in the 2nd round.
Should the NBA change its playoff format?
Yes. When you have a team that will miss the playoffs in the West, but would rank 4th in the East, it's time to do something. What is the goal of any kind of playoff seeding? To provide the teams that performed best during the regular season a reward early in the tournament and to have the best two teams play at the end. By record, the best two teams are the Pistons and Celtics. Of course, this current format benefits the Pistons, who have easy matchups the first few rounds while the teams in the West are fighting it out.
The answer isn't realigning the conferences; they have a logical geographic division between East and West. I think the answer is throwing conferences out the window come playoff time and seeding teams like the NCAA tournament. That would allow all teams who performed better during the regular season an easier opponent in the first round. To show how significant of a difference this would make consider that if the playoffs began right now, the 52-24 Lakers would play Cleveland (42-34) rather than Houston (51-25). Besides Golden State's surprising run last year, the NBA playoffs have been pretty boring over the past few years. Mixed seeding seems more necessary and would add an interesting twist to the format.
2 comments:
I really hate saying this is the best Final Four ever...right now. On paper, yes, it's the best. But if all three games are blowouts, is it really the best? As far as players, coaches, storylines, prestige, it's got it all, but I will reserve judgement until after the games are played.
I agree the Tigers are not done. I think they'll finish a very respectable 20-30 games over .500, strong in second place, and in the wild card hunt. That bullpen...oye.
I hope you're wrong about the Wings. It's ridiculous how excited people are about the Capitals down here! That Ovechkin kid is really pumping people up with a playoff push. There's been a lot of chatter dedicated to Caps hockey lately, and to be honest, I'm glad. I want the NHL to get stronger again, and that starts with generating more fan interest.
I think I'm more of a traditionalist, and would like the East-West separation. Your proposed idea of seeding is intriguing, though- this year especially. I would like to get rid putting the top 3-spots for division winners, regardless of records. Seed each conference based soley on wins or losses. If you win your division and have have 8th best record, well, congrats on being division champs, but you're going to be the #8 seed. Enjoy those games against #1.
What I meant to say is that these 4 teams are more impressive (coaches, prestige, players) than any other Final 4. Also, these teams are better than any other Final 4 group. I'm not saying the games will be the best ever.
Ovechkin has taken over as one of the best players in the NHL. That star power is what they're missing.
The division winner seeds aren't making a big impact on the playoffs. Right now in the East, the division winners would still be the top 3 based purely on record. Plus, with only 6 games difference between top and bottom in the West, the teams are all fairly even.
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