Wednesday January 13

UVA Men’s Basketball: versus #18 Georgia Tech

The UVA men’s basketball team (9-4, 1-0) was written off at the start of the season, predicted to finish eleventh or twelfth (out of 12) in the ACC by most “experts.” While that still could happen, I do not think it will (and as of press time they were tied for 1^st, this will mark the only time that will be true so Cavalier fans enjoy it while it lasts). I also do not think anyone expected the new coach Tony Bennett to be able to instill his defense first attitude so quickly. Bennett did inherit a young team with lots of potential, but they were certainly not used to doing anything but living and dying by the three, let alone defense. Even with all the adjustments on the fly both the team and the coach have had to make, they have only let up over 70 points once, and that was in the first game. Albeit not the strongest out of conference schedule, opposing teams are averaging only 59 points a game against the Cavaliers. In the Cavs four losses this year, three have them come by 5 or less points, including a tip-in as time expired loss at Auburn. I would not be surprised if the Cavs finish 6-10 in the ACC and beat UNC-Wilmington to finish off Bennett’s first regular season with a winning record of 15-14. The future is further brightened by the fact that we already have five recruits signed for next year headlined by two ESPN U top 100 players.

In the Cavaliers second game against a ranked opponent this season; they take on a Georgia Tech team very different than last year. After finishing last in the ACC, Georgia Tech had a recruiting class for the ages as they got four ESPN U top 100 players headlined by the #1 ranked Power Forward (and #2 ranked overall) Derrick Favors. Favors (11.7ppg, 8.7rpg) and Gani Lawal (15.4ppg, 9.4rpg) will be the x-factors in this game as the undersized Cavaliers will have to throw every “big” forward at them plus guards to stand a chance at stopping either around the basket. Though the future is getting brighter for UVA men’s basketball, barring the best game multiple UVA players have ever had, expect Georgia Tech to take care of business like they did against Duke last weekend.

Friday January 15

NBA: Phoenix Suns at Atlanta Hawks

Yes, you are reading correctly. The NBA game of the week is the Phoenix Suns at the Atlanta Hawks. This game will be a fast paced and high scoring, pitting the highest scoring team per game in the West against the highest scoring team per game in the East. Better yet, the Suns, though 24-14 and very much a playoff contender, allow the second most points per game. Both teams are currently sitting fourth in their respective conferences and will not be playing back to back, assuring a full lineup of stars playing almost the whole game. One interesting point to note, while both teams play up-tempo basketball, the average age of the starting lineup for the Hawks is below 26 while the starting lineup for the Suns is slightly over 30. Will youth or experience prevail? Given it is the middle of an east coast trip for the Suns versus a home stand for the Hawks, expect the Hawks to take this one with both teams scoring over 100 points.

Saturday January 16

Premiership: Manchester City at Everton

In the past month, Manchester City have fired Mark Hughes and brought in former Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini and former Arsenal and Inter Milan defensive midfielder Patrick Vieira. Though I never agreed with the hiring of Hughes to right the City ship to begin with, his firing was done after a win and after he was doing a respectable job; losing only twice in seventeen Premiership games as well as guiding them to the Carling Cup Semifinals. Hughes had to do all of that with a bunch of players that were bought in the past six months and for the most part had never played with each other. I wish Hughes all the best and do not think it will be too long before we see him at the helm of a Premiership or Championship side. Since Mancini took over, Man City have won four straight (three in the league, one the FA Cup fourth round matchup) and allowed only one goal. Mancini also made sure to bring in Vieira to have more leadership in a locker room full of young talent with no real leader. They will look to take their momentum to Goodison Park.

Everton on the other hand, have done very little this year differently from the past three where they finished in the top 6 (good enough to qualify for a spot in the former UEFA Cup/ present Europa League) apart from winning as many games. They started the season losing three of their first four and struggled against weaker opponents. After a heartbreaking loss to cross-town rivals Liverpool at the end of November, Everton seem to have gotten back on track. They have an unbeaten streak of six Premiership games which included draws with four teams (1^st place Chelsea, 3^rd place Arsenal, 5^th place Tottenham, 7^th place Birmingham City) in the top 7. Everton has just brought in USA Captain Landon Donovan to shore up their midfield and if he continues to play like he did against Arsenal they will look like geniuses. Expect a low scoring, hard fought contest ending in a draw or another heartbreaking loss for Everton.

NFL: Playoffs; NFC Divisional Round, Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints

I am sure by now every Packer fan is sick of hearing about it, but last week’s Wild-Card matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals was phenomenal. It re-wrote the record books with the amount of points scored, first downs reached, and total yards accumulated. A football fan without a team in the playoffs might (with good reason) ask themselves if that was the climax of the playoffs (with maybe only the commercials of the Super Bowl enough to make it the climax). I am not of this belief, in fact I think this game between the Cardinals and the Saints might be an even better battle of the passing game versus terrible secondaries. Though I do not agree with benching starts the last two games of the season (a discussion for another day), the three game losing streak to end the season for the Saints, who could have gone undefeated, should not matter. That said I do think it will take a quarter to a quarter and a half for Drew Brees to be as accurate as usual and his receivers to be in sync, something that would not have happened if they did not bench the starters so much. I think that the Cardinals left it all on the field against the Packers though, were lucky to pull out the victory, and can only keep pulling off these upsets so many times before they meet a team too good for them to upset. The Saints are that team and will be more than well rested. Expect the Saints to crush the Cardinals in a game that could see another 90+ combined points scored.

NFL: Playoffs; AFC Divisional Round, Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts

Like the Cardinals, the Ravens are trying to repeat last year’s upset specials. Again the Ravens were the lowest seed in the playoffs and again they take on the number 1 seed in the Divisional Round. This time though, they face four time MVP Peyton Manning (as opposed to Kerry Collins) and indoors. Though I would love to see the gritty Ravens defense stop the Colts like they did against the Wes Welker-less Patriots, I just do not see it happening. The Colts passing game was the second best overall this season in yards per game and the Ravens passing defense was only tied for eighth best. Expect the Colts to win this game, but not in a blowout.

Sunday January 17

NFL: Playoffs; NFC Divisional Round, Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings

The Dallas Cowboys have their first playoff win in 14 years under their belt, but they did it at home. Can they win on the road? Tony Romo is not the epitome of “clutch” but his performance against the fairly strong Eagles Defense, and more importantly his lack of mistakes, will need to be recreated against the much peskier Vikings defense. Felix Jones will also need to have another breakout game. On the defensive end, neutralizing Adrian Peterson will be key. If the run game is not working, Brett Favre does not have it in him to beat you if he has to pass over 40 times. In three of the last four games where Favre passed over 40 times, the Vikings lost. Weather will not be a factor in the dome. Given the last three games of the regular season and the destruction of the Eagles last week, I expect the red hot Cowboys to beat the Vikings who have struggled as of late.

NFL: Playoffs; AFC Divisional Round, New York Jets at San Diego Chargers

I still cannot get over the fact the only New York football team in the playoffs are the Jets with a first year quarterback and first year coach. Yet again, it still should not be a surprise though, given that the Jets had the best passing defense and the best rushing offense during the regular season. One must also note that the Jets offense would be nothing without UVA alums starting running back Thomas Jones and Offensive Tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson. While the San Diego Chargers are on an 11 game winning streak and are my prediction for winning the Super Bowl, they have the second worst rushing offense and have the 20^th best rushing defense. If the Jets can shut down the Chargers’ 5^th best passing offense, do not be surprised if the Jets pull off the unthinkable. If Sanchez can limit his mistakes to a maximum of one interception or fumble and pass with such accuracy as last week, the Jets may just be the Cardinals/Ravens of last year. Though Darrelle Revis is arguably the best cornerback in the league and will shut down Vincent Jackson, he won’t be covering Antonio Gates who will be the x-factor in this game. Expect the Chargers to pull out a close one like they did against the Giants earlier in the regular season.

Thursday November 12

NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat

I know it is very, very early in the NBA season and thus most of these games don’t matter that much. Regardless, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat are easily two of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are also easily two of the most exciting players to watch in the league. With two good teams and two superstars this is easily the game of the week in this early NBA season. Wade will look to continue his streak of having the team high in points as he has had the team high for all six games this season for the Heat. James will look to continue his streak of having the team high in assists as he has had the team high in all seven games this season for the Cavaliers. Based on the inconsistency of the Cavaliers and the fact they will play back to back nights in Florida against top Eastern Conference teams (they play the Orlando Magic the night before) while the Heat play the terrible Washington Wizards and then have a day off, expect the Heat to take this one.

Friday November 13

College Basketball: Morehead State at Kentucky

Much like the NBA, college basketball is just starting up, making the rankings almost useless and the games not very good. Most of the big time programs are playing much weaker teams to prepare for their conference games. Kentucky is no different. Though Morehead State at Kentucky will not even be a close game, the reason this game is on this hallowed list of what to watch for this week is because it will be the first real game for the freshman point guard (soon to be) sensation John Wall. He was ranked #1 for point guards for the Class of 2009 and was in the top 2 in the nation overall (depending on the source he was one or two). Wall can jump out the gym, is a great passer, has nice handle and finishes beautifully. You don’t have to take my word for it check out one of his high school video compilations here. He’s even predicted to be the number one pick in the NBA draft in June 2010 according to nbadraft.net. Along with the introduction of John Wall to everyone on the collegiate level, this game marks the start of the new other John’s era; John Calipari. After impressive runs with UMass and Memphis (and an unimpressive run sandwiched between the impressive runs with the New Jersey Nets), the 50 year old Calipari will look to bring national championships back to the program that currently has the most wins in college basketball history and the second most national championships.

Saturday November 14

World Cup Qualifying UEFA Playoffs, first leg: France At Ireland

This game is easily the best of the four UEFA playoff games with Russia likely to crush small Slovenia, Portugal more than likely to run all over even smaller Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ukraine versus Greece not really featuring a side nearly as exciting as either France or Ireland. Unfortunately there is a cloud of unfairness surrounding these games with UEFA changing up the draw rules. Instead of randomly selecting who would play, the top four teams were ranked and then randomly drawn an opponent from the four remaining teams. This allowed UEFA to be sure that Portugal France and Russia wouldn’t be playing each other and thus giving them an easier chance to make it to the World Cup in South Africa this coming summer. Of course when things are not left to chance there is no such thing as the “luck of the irish”, so Ireland not only drew 2006 World Cup Finalist France but have to play the second and final leg at France. After missing out on the European Championships in 2008 and 2004 as well as the World Cup in 2006, Ireland looks doomed to miss out on yet another major championship. The Irish are a scrappy side and did well to get here though, so they can’t be ruled out until the full 180 minutes (and extra time) has been played. That said, expect a draw at best for the first leg and for France to secure itself a place in South Africa at the end of the second leg.

College Football: Iowa at Ohio State

Iowa were nicknamed the cardiac kids after come back victories after being down to start the fourth quarter against Northern Iowa, at Penn State, at Michigan State and versus Indiana. They were off to their best start in school history with whispers of winning the Big Ten and even being in the BCS title game. Then they played a mediocre Northwestern at home. After looking like they were going to cruise to victory having gone up 10-0, one ankle crushing forced fumble in the endzone during the second quarter has all but ended Iowa’s hopes for their first outright title since 1985 and their first title since sharing it with Michigan in 2004. With Quarterback Ricky Stanzi now needing ankle surgery, Iowa will be without its most important offensive piece this Saturday. Ohio State has had a different story. After barely beating Navy and barely losing to USC to start the season, Ohio State has crushed their opponents save a slip up miserable Purdue in mid-October that threatened to possibly end their streak of four consecutive Big Ten titles. Now this game looks to be the decider in the Big Ten. With Ohio State basically at full strength and at home while Iowa is without their prized quarterback, expect Vegas to have undervalued the spread on this game as the Buckeyes crush and assure themselves a fifth consecutive Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl bid.

Sunday November 15

NFL: New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts

I know that Monday Night Football’s matchup between the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the surprising start Denver Broncos was a hard game not to put on this list, but the NFL game of the week has to go the game with its top two quarterbacks facing off. Reigning MVP Peyton Manning will look to keep the Indianapolis Colts perfect as they host the New England Patriots. In the past ten years, these two teams have the most wins in the regular season; with the Colts having six more wins overall. After two slip up losses for the Patriots, they look like they have finally found a rhythm. Both losses were away games though, making this away game all the more crucial for the Pats to establish themselves as more than just good at home. The Colts are one of two undefeated teams still left at week 10 along with the New Orleans Saints. The past two games though they have been very unimpressive and walked away with victories over the mediocre San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans by the skin of their teeth. They also haven’t really faced another solid team yet. This game will be a good measuring stick for both teams involved. I thought during the 2007-8 season that Manning for sure would stop the Patriot juggernaut that went undefeated in the regular season, this year I think Tom Brady will stop the Colts. Expect a close game but for the only remaining undefeated team in week 11 to be the Saints.