NBA: Top Five

  1. Memphis: They handled their first test with Gonzaga, but Tennessee still lies ahead. Coach Calipari said that he possibly sees his team losing a couple of games this season. They are the last of the undefeated.
  2. Kansas: The 35 point route of Nebraska only strengthens the statement. Kansas is for real. And they haven’t even played their best basketball the last couple of weeks. The loss to Kansas State may be a blessing in disguise.
  3. Utah: This team knows how to play. They are as solid as a shovel in cement, especially when playing at home.
  4. Cleveland: They are slowly climbing the ladder in the Eastern Conference. Don’t count out another lengthy run into the post season by LeBron’s crew.
  5. Phoenix: Losing to Minnesota? Is that a good idea? And then losing to San Antonio - who had just lost to Seattle. Negative by association. Under college basketball switch 1 and 2 rankings around and added a little to the end of both teams.

 

NBA: Bottom Five

  1. Miami: Talks of Dwayne Wade being traded, Shaq is injured, they have one of the worst records in the league, and are 5-16 at home. Were they really in the Finals a few years ago?
  2. Seattle: 1-for-fifteen. And the question remains on who really wants the team...Seattle or Oklahoma.
  3. Minnesota: The team is starting to gel. They have been playing as a team lately which has allowed GM Kevin McHale to show his face.
  4. New Jersey: Losers of nine straight. You know it’s bad when Jason Kidd wants out.
  5. San Antonio: You cannot contend when you have a losing record on the road. It doesn’t matter if you are a great team...you lose some of that greatness with it. And losing to Seattle doesn’t help either.

 

College Basketball: Top Five

  1. Kansas: The 35 point route of Nebraska only strengthens
    the statement. Kansas is for real. And they haven’t even played their
    best basketball the last couple of weeks.
  2. Memphis: They
    handled their first test with Gonzaga, but Tennessee still lies ahead.
    Coach Calipari said that he possibly sees his team losing a couple of
    games this season.
  3. Xavier: Yes, they struggled at the
    beginning of the A-10 schedule. However, look at the positives and tell
    me they are not one of the most underrated teams in the country. Watch
    out Kansas and Memphis.
  4. Duke: People kept ignoring them and
    now they are talking about ignoring them. Can’t it just be said that
    Coach K will have a quality squad and no one should be surprised?
  5. Georgetown:
    They got lucky with the win over West Virginia. If the ‘Eers would have
    hit a few more foul shots it would have been over. The Hoyas are barely
    sneaking by as of late.

Teams on the edge of the court: UNLV, UCLA, Michigan St., North Carolina, Louisville

 

College Basketball: Bottom Five

Can we play against the high school down the street?

  1. NJIT: The closest margin of defeat is nine points to Lehigh and Stony Brook. Will they win before the season is over? Six games remain before the story is told.
  2. Princeton: They are 3-12 this season. What happened to the team that used to be the heart of the Ivy League?
  3. Sacramento State: They beat Montana State...and a couple of non-DI schools. Not good.
  4. Oregon State: They have the only losing record in the Pac-10 and fired their coach midway through the season. Corvalis townspeople can’t wait for the baseball season.
  5. Northwestern: The play tough but can’t win. At least they have the heart-felt story of Kevin Coble to look back upon

 

NHL: Top Five

  1. Detroit: Another solid week. The team put together a solid (.750 winning percentage) first half of the season.
  2. Ottawa: They are playing like an all-star team even when they lose. That means bad news to their opponents.
  3. Boston: 28 out of 29 saves from the net in the two games before the all-star break. A very solid team.
  4. Minnesota: They look like they will keep in a fight for the tough Northwest division until the end. Goaltending was stellar this last week.
  5. Pittsburgh: They have played well and have looked dangerous night in and night out. That is until they found out Sidney Crosby is out 6-8 weeks. They haven’t won since.

 

NHL: Bottom Five

Did their momma forget to teach them how to skate?

  1. Tampa: They actually won a game. Only to follow it with getting doubled up by Ottawa.
  2. Toronto: They have changed GM’s. That’s never a good sign. Going 4-6 before the all-star break was the best they’ve played all season.
  3. Edmonton: They lost to Tampa who can’t seem to do anything but lose. Enough said.
  4. Atlanta: Five straight losses heading into the all-star break. They started out the year good, but have slowly started to slide further and further.
  5. Florida: How do you beat the best team in the Eastern Conference and still manage to be in the bottom five? By following that up with a loss. One should never celebrate too early.