Bleacher Report - Articles by matt stevens

College Basketball: Are There Any Seniors Left?

matt stevens — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:42:01 -0500

What happened to the good old days when all players stayed through their four years of college and then went on to the NBA? Why the sudden—and relatively recent—change?

Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Luold Deng, Greg Oden, and Josh McRoberts all are victims of early college exits in favor of pro ball play.

Yes, of course I am aware that all of these players had extreme talent and would not have been challenged very much in another year with the NCAA. Still, it would have increased the quality of college play.

I know the NBA's financial offers are appealing, but I think there should be a rule requiring that student athletes stay in school at least until their junior year. In my opinion, this would make college basketball a much better game and it would be even more intense than it already is.

Those who do stay for all four years usually reap the benefits.

One example of this is J.J. Redick, who broke the ACC scoring record and also the three-point record.

And after the Florida Gators won the NCAA Title in 2005-2006 all of their sophomores and one junior decided to come back instead of leaving early for the NBA. The result? Back-to-back NCAA Championships.

I know that this rule may never come into effect—at least not for some time. But think of this: I am also a very big NCAAW fan, and very rarely do you see a woman leave more than a year early for the NBA. I believe that it’s because of this that the games are so much more amazing and the talent so much better.

Just imagine if Kevin Durant had stayed in Texas this year, or if LeBron James were playing for a school right now. How intense would that have been?

NCAA Tournament Bracketology: Picking the Field

matt stevens — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:34:51 -0500

The brackets this year should be one of the easier ones to predict in the last couple of years.

First of all, the number one seeds seem pretty obvious to me. Tennessee, Duke, North Carolina and I believe that Kansas will sneak back up and get a top seed when they win their conference tournament.

The reason that I think Kansas will get a number one seed is because in my opinion after the loss to Tennessee, I think that Memphis will start to fade and eventually lose in their conference tournament.

Yes, I said it they are finally going to lose to one of the little, almost Division II schools in their conference.

Now the second seeds. I will start off by saying that even though UCLA has started to falter down the stretch, I think that they are still a shoe in for a number two seed.

Another team that is hopeful of a number two seed, would have to be the Texas Longhorns. If their guards can shoot, and drive, then they can compete with the best of all teams.

Then, there are Memphis Tigers. I think that they are a talented team, but if they don't win their very weak conference tournament, then their lack of strength in the schedule could push them back to a number two seed.

The last team I believe will slide into the number two slot, would have to be the Wisconsin Badgers. Since their blowout loss to the Duke Blue Devils, they have really been playing inspired basketball, and they are just starting to peak at the right time.

The number three seeds probably do not need that much explaining, so I'm just going to list them out. They include, Stanford,Georgetown,Xavier and Louisville.

The last seeds that I'm going to discuss are the number four seeds. First of all, I think that Indiana will be a contender for at least a four seed, maybe even higher. Notre Dame and Vanderbilt will also make good enough runs toward the end of the season to reach a number four seed. The last four seeded team I think will be a two horse race between Connecticut and Purdue.

Whoever goes further into their own conference tournaments will probably get the last number four seed.

Can the Lakers Contend for a Title?

matt stevens — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:17:19 -0500

It has been a long time since the Los Angeles Lakers have had a reasonable shot at winning the NBA Championship.

I do think, however, that they have a great shot at winning it this year thanks to the Memphis Grizzlies for their gift of Pau Gasol, and also to the maturing Andrew Bynum.

With the Lakers frontcourt of Gasol and Bynum, it could be the best in the league. I know that this is a bold statement considering the Suns acquired Shaq recently, and have the wonderful presence of Amare Stoudemire, but I do believe that Gasol and Bynum are overall better players then Stoudemire and Shaq.

Another thing about the Lakers that hasn't yet been discussed, is about the new-found leadership of the best player in the NBA and who could be the greatest player to ever play the game. Kobe Bryant doesn't have to put up 45 points a game to have the Lakers keep up with other good teams.

If Kobe can still put up 20 points a game, and dish out assists to their two big men. And as long as he doesnt forget about Derek Fisher, then the Lakers will be fine come playoff time. They might be making Shaq wish that he had never left the Lakers in the first place.