Unfortunately, this isn’t Sportscenter and I don’t have  the resources to do a fancy intro.  Although, many would agree, the College Basketball Invitational doesn’t deserve a fancy intro.  One might be asking yourself, why do I care about the CBI?  Well, I know it doesn’t have the sex appeal that the NCAA Tourny does, and to tell the truth, there is very little out there is as much fun as the NCAA Tournament.  And I know its not quite the tournament that the NIT puts on, but the CBI’s goal is to compete with the NIT. But here you go, here is the Seattlesportsblog official predictions for the CBI Tourny. 

 First the Bracket.  For those who want to take a look, print it out and fill one out.  Check it out here.  For those who just want the CBI website, here you go.  As you may see, the website has a lovely picture of our favorite turnover machine, Justin Dentmon.

 The Teams -

• Bradley
• Brown
• Cincinnati
• Houston
• Miami (Ohio)
• Nevada
• Ohio
• Old Dominion
• Richmond
• Rider
• Tulsa
• Utah
• UTEP
• Valparaiso
• Virginia
• Washington

These are the 16 teams that accepted the bid’s for this tournament.  As you can easily see, there are some decent teams in this field.  Although, not a lot of big names (Washington ,Virginia, and Cincinnati are the only big conferences schools), but teams like Nevada, Old Dominion, Utah have all been forces in the NCAA tournament in the past.

Tuesday’s games-

Richmond at Virginia – Virginia (15-15, 5-11) has had a disappointing season, they excepted a lot more, especially when being led by super talent Sean Singletary.  Richmond also had a bit of a disappointing, only posting a 16-14 overall record and a 9-7 record in an average A-10 conference.  If I had 1 game I was sure I was going to predict correctly, its UVA over Richmond.  Winner – Virginia.

Rider at Old Dominion – I watched Rider (23-10, 13-5) a few times this year, and I have to say, they are a good looking team.  Rider ended the year on a hot streak, only losing to a hotter team in Siena in the MAAC finals.  They may be from a small conference, but I really like these guys.  Old Dominion (17-15, 11-7 CAA) on the other hand, were average at best this year.  They did nothing to separate themselves in the conference, that is why this is my first upset of the CBI.  Winner – Rider

Brown at Ohio – This is arguably Browns (19-9, 11-3 Ivy league) best team in the schools history.  They are led by two outstanding scorers, Mark McAndrew and Damon Huffman, Brown will have no issues putting points on the board.  Ohio (19-12, 9-7 MAC), a lot like Old Dominion were average at best in an average conference.  They are led by a very good senior, Leon Williams, but I am taking Brown in my second upset of the tournament.  Winner – Brown

Houston at Nevada -  This is a matchup of two teams the east coast may not be familiar with.  Especially a team like Nevada (21-11, 12-4 WAC), who is known on the west coast of having a very good basketball program.  They frequent the NCAA tournament and personally a fan favorite of mine.  Nevada has a terrific backcourt and can score from anywhere on the court.  Houston (22-9, 11-5 C-USA) put together a great season from a conference that was dominated by Memphis.  This is by far the best matchup in the first round, as both these teams could beat anyone in this tournament.  As for the CBI, if this game is on TV and you have nothing to watch, tune into this one.  Winner – Nevada.

 Wednesday’s games-

Cincinnati at Bradley – Cincinnati (13-18 overall, 8-10 BIG EAST), had a rough season, and it will probably end on a bad note, since they are playing a very decent Bradley (17-15 overall, 9-9 MVC) team.  I have a hard time picking a team to win a post season conference when they just posted a 13-18 record.  Cincinnati may be the big east, but cmon, win some games.  Bradley is coming from the up and coming Missouri Valley who always suprise teams from the bigger conferences.  Winner – Bradley.

Miami (OH) at Tulsa – Miami (17-15 overall, 9-7 MAC) in my mind is a lesser version of Ohio.  I don’t see them making it out of the first round, just like their counterparts from Ohio.  Tulsa (20-13 overall, 8-8 C-USA), may not be as good as Houston, another C-USA team, but I see them being a lot better than Miami.  Winner – Tulsa

Valparaiso at Washington – This isnt the same Valparaiso (21-13 overall, 9-9 Horizon) team that beat Mississippi State that we remember from years ago.  And if you don’t remember, check out this great shot here.    The power of the Horizon, cannot and will not beat the power of the Pac-10.  Washington (16-16 overall, 7-11 Pac-10) may have had a disappointing overall season, but they have been playing their best basketball at the end of the year, and if John Brockman is healthy for this game, I see Washington rolling on it beautiful fashion.  Winner – Washington

Utah at UTEP – Another matchup of good west coast teams.  Utah (17-14 overall, 7-9 MWC) struggled this year, but they have the ability to play with anyone.  They took Washington earlier in the year, down to the wire in Seattle.  UTEP (19-13 overall, 8-8 Conference USA) was stuck in the middle of the C-USA, a lot like Tulsa, the only problem is I cannot see UTEP beating Utah, even at home.  Winner – Utah

There are my predictions for the first round of the tournament.  The second round would look like this

• Washington vs Nevada – which would be a fantastic matchup, which I see Washington winning, but close
• Virginia vs Rider – its hard to take a school from the MAAC over a school from the ACC.
• Utah vs Tulsa – For some reason, I am riding the Utah train, seeing them win this one also.  The MWC is a good conference.
• Bradley vs Brown – Battle of the B’s.  Bradley ends that great season Brown season.

Semifinals -

• Washington vs UVA – this is a type of game that should be ment for the finals, since they are the two biggest names in the tournament.  But, since the Pac-10 is far superior than the ACC, I have to pick Washington.
• Utah vs Bradley – Gosh, I cannot believe I like Utah in this matchup, whats wrong with me?

Finals -

• Washington vs Utah – UW beat them once already, and they can do it two more times (The CBI finals are a best of 3 series.)

This is just a link.  But a very important one, especially for those who want to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

 Here is a letter from the Save our Sonics organization to the owners for the NBA teams.

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/sonics/index.html#022607

I know the world revolves around New York.  New York has to be the best and greatest at everything, yatta yatta yatta.  But here in Seattle, we have a saying, “New York Sucks!”.  I know you cannot wear those shirts at Safeco field, but who cares.  I am here to tell you, that the Seattle Mariners has the best rotation in baseball.  Not the New York Yankees, or Mets (even with Santana) or even those babies in Boston (waaa waaa, the patriots lost, get over it!)  The best is in the west, and to be more exact, the pacific northwest.

How many teams can claim that they have a 16 game winner as their number 5 starter?  Not very few.  I can name a team that does have a 16 game winner as their number 5.  The Seattle Mariners, thanks to Miguel Batista.  You can read about it more here.  Miggy, as we in Seattle like to call him, posted a 16-11 record with a 4.29 ERA last year.  You may tell me, “So what?  Its not like he won the Cy young or anything.”  Go look at your number 5 and get back to me in the morning.

Miggy!

All this talk about how good the M’s number 5 is, I forgot to mention our 1 and 2 starters.  Erik Bedard (I know, if you read from a few days ago, my fellow writer Robby bitched about this pick up, and if you havent read it, check it out here,) and the “King” Felix Hernandez.  Only a few times can claim a front two that is as anywhere as good as that.  (Mets and Dbacks maybe?).  Felix last year, at 20 years old mind you, posted 14-7 season, 3.92 ERA and 165 K’s in 190 innings.  Thats sexy.  Combine that with newly acquired ace, Erik Bedard, the Mariners will be a forced to deal with. 

Quick prediction – Felix Hernendaz and Erik Bedard will combine for over 3 million strikeouts!

Rounding out the starting 5, is Carlos Silva, a FA pickup from the Twins, who is known as an inning eater.  He may have not had the best numbers last year, but pitching in the Metrodome very few do (unless your name is Johan Santana).  Crafty lefty Jarod Washburn is the number 4.  Although, he has been quite a disappointment for the Mariners, he is being dropped from the number 2 spot to 4, where we will benefit greatly from the removed pressure being the number 2.

The Mariners starting 5 with last years stats.

Erik Bedard – 13-5.  3.16 ERA

Felix Hernandez – 14-7.  3.92 ERA

Carlos Silva – 13-14.  4.19 ERA

Jarod Washburn – 10-15.  4.32 ERA

Miguel Batista – 16-11.  4.29 ERA

I don’t care about the NBA. I’m 6′2, but I’m White, large, and can’t dunk. Sure, I can set screens and grab rebounds, but if Shaq and I ran a race, we would finish in a tie.

In the past few weeks, there’s been a mass exodus from the Eastern Division where the rest of the country finally gets their collective heads out of their collective asses and realizes there’s an opposite coast to this country. Maybe the other teams are just bowing out to “The Boston 3″ (Where the two new acquisitions were from the west) and giving their talent away, but guys have been coming to the West in droves. There was Gasol to the Lakers, Shaq to the Suns, Kidd to the Mavericks (after he held out until the Writer’s Strike was over), and I guess Bibby didn’t get the message and went east. So, what did our amazing Sonics do to compete?

Brent Barry returns to the Sonics. I know of him, rather then the guy we traded away. He’s the guy that shoots 3’s? We need some points, so I think that’s a good deal. I know some guys on the Sonics, but besides Durant and Green, I couldn’t pick them out from the cast of Semi-Pro. Obviously, we’re rebuilding so Oklahoma can have the Sonics a few years from now when they’re amazing. The upside here is that we get a first round draft pick out of this deal. So what if it’s the Spurs spot in the draft, it’s still a first round draft pick. First round picks are still good in basketball, right?

The Mariner’s start spring training games in a while, and when that starts to happen you’ll get my baseball preview. I predicted the Indians to go to the World Series last year, so I was wrong by one game. Believe me, I’m much better at this baseball thing than basketball. Ever since the league allowed the shorts to go past their crotch, I’ve lost faith in basketball. Sigh, I miss Jack Sikma. Kids, Google up his amazing shorts.

I am starting a new section.  Seattle Sports Legends.  For the first edition, we will be reliving one of Seattle’s favorite stars (before all the kids and drugs) – the Reign Man himself.  Shawn Kemp.

First and foremost, this isnt about the Shawn Kemp outside of the court.  We are all aware of his legal problems.  (If not you can see them here.)  I am here to pay tribute to the amazing basketball player that help define Seattle sports during the glory years of the Seattle Supersonics. 

The Beginning 

Shawn Kemp was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics (1st round, 17th pick) in 1989.  Although, he started only 1 game his rookie year, it was easy to note that his impact was going to big.  His 2nd year in the league is when this future superstar hit it big.  He was promoted to starter during the middle of the season and from there became of force to reckon with.  During the ‘90-’91 season he averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds, and finished runner up in the slam dunk compition.

Look at this young slim Shawn Kemp.

The Supes glory years.

Starting in the ‘91-’92 season the Seattle Supersonics were starting to take off.  The team was play above .500 basketball and the team was led by young superstars, Gary “The Glove” Payton and Shawn “The Reign Man” Kemp.  This young duo was known for ally-op dunks and tremenous teamwork.  During these next years, Shawn Kemp averaged a double-double until his last years in Seattle, ‘96-’97.  During this time, Shawn kemp more of less, was a freak!  Just look at these monster jams.

 What Shawn Kemp has ment to Seattle.

Kemp was a star.  Being a star in a city like Seattle is very unique.  People become attached to their icons here.  Just look at this last year when Ken Griffey Jr. returned to Seattle.  (Mariner fans boo’d our own pitcher when he threw to first during Griffey’s at bat).  Watching Kemp and Payton together was a thing of beauty.  They led the Sonics to a 60+ win season, a trip to the finals, and most importantly Kemp made Seattle proud of their sonics (which we still are Mr. Bennett, lets see OKC support a team that is as bad as they are now).

Shawn Kemp, a toast to you!!

If you haven’t been paying attention (and thanks to ESPN, most like you haven’t), Eric Bedard from the Orioles has been traded to my Seattle Mariners for five players including pimp prospects Adam Jones and Chris Tillman, plus stud George Sherrill and two other minor leaguers. Don’t get me wrong I like Bedard, especially as a left handed number 1 starter. I just don’t believe that we need to sell the farm for this guy.

For years, the Mariners have been straddling against two philosophies of how to create a baseball team. First, do what the Yankees do and sign high priced free agents and try and win now. The other way is to do that the A’s do and keep bringing up guys through the system and build toward the future. This have been a very successful way to manufacture successful teams (See: Rockies, Indians, Diamondbacks, Oakland (half of the time), Twins, Milwaukee (this past year)). In 2004, the Mariners lost a million games (note: that’s called a hyperbole) so they rightfully brought up young guys from the minors to get some big league experience.

Bavasi, in all of his wisdom, tried to do both philosophies at the same time. He brought up guys as well as traded for older players, trying to both compete and have younger guys. There was pressure to win now (which I don’t understand, we’re not in New York and winning’s a new thing for Seattle teams) as well as use guys from our system. Everything was botched, and Bavasi went out to try and improve the team at the cost of the future.

Bavasi went out and signed or traded for Beltre (not bad, but too expensive), Sexson (A bad, bad choice as Safeco needs a left-handed power hitter like Delgado, who was also a free agent that year), Washburn (too much money, not effect enough), Carl Everett (A horrible choice), Weaver (I thought it might be a good choice for a year contract, I was wrong), Mateo (Ugh), and Ramirez (I miss Soriano), Pokey Reese (oh, he didn’t play, that’s right) and Vidro (because every AL team needs a switch hitting DH who only hits 6 HRs a year who can’t play defense). The only moves that have worked has been Jose Guillen, the problem I have with him is that he wasn’t left handed, and Johjima who was from Japan so it’s all good.

So, in almost all the moves Bavasi has done in his GM career with the Mariners have been really horrible decisions. Yet, somehow they propelled us to six games out last year (blame the over use of the bullpen and the lack of offense for the collapse during the summer). And he gave away one of our brightest future stars (Jones) for a starting pitcher who has had some shoulder problems. Somehow, I feel this will come back and blow up in our face and Jones will be a multi-time All-Star, like these kinds of deals always go south for the team that gave anyway a ton of talent for one guy (Ask Cleveland how they got Sizemore).

This is the make it or break it year for here. If the M’s don’t do anything, we will struggle for years as he’ll keep making the same mistakes for years to come. He’s going to re-sign Ibanez (don’t), Sexson (don’t) and Washburn (don’t). Of course, if they do well, we’ll be stuck with them for years as well. Sigh. And this is what Bavasi said about the Bedard deal:

“Their goal was to come away with two Adam Jones-type guys,” said GM Bill Bavasi. “Our goal was to give them one.”

So he thinks 5 = 2 and 2 = 1. F*ck.

Hi, I’m Robby. Being a friend of Matt’s, I was able to fandangle my way to write for his blog. If you like my stuff, go to my movie blog: mnoss.wordpress.com. Sometimes Matt writes there as well. If I let him…

But, I have some exciting news today; exciting if you like golf. The PGA has decided to have the 2015 US Open in Tacoma’s new Chambers Bay golf course. Yeah, that classic golf course that everyone and their father has played that opened up last year. Wait a sec: Tacoma, last year? At least by 2015, the citizens of Tacoma get rid of the famous “Aroma of Tacoma.” We don’t need to see Tiger Woods barfing on the 7th tee.

As with anything that has a national spotlight that takes place here in the North West (besides the fact that New Yorkers believe that we’re in Canada), it’s a municipal golf course. It’s public? Nice, looks like Matt and I are going to have to play on it to see how it goes. Let me just go to their website and schedule a tee time…

$171 for 18 holes? AND $35 to bring Jeeves to hold my bags as my caddy? You’ve got to be kidding. This is Tacoma, not Pebble Beach. Oh, if we live in Pierce County, we get a discount. Of course, I would expect a discount if I lived in that county. I’d call it smell tax.

But seriously, the course looks very nice; like it belongs in Hawaii. Luckily, it looks like from all of the pics, it doesn’t seem like you can see the city from the course. So it’s got that going for it, which is nice.

This is probably the most exciting/over-hyped day in College football.  This is the day were we look over and decide by high school stats, how good a bunch of 18 year old kids are and how well they will do in college.

But outside of that, who cares!  Lets take a look at this years class for our Washington Huskies.

First and foremost, our overall ranking.

scout.com – 14th overall in the nation

rivals.com – 25th overall in the nation

Although – they may to two different numbers, most agree with Tyrone Willingham is bringing in a great class.  Scout.com has this years class 3rd in the Pac-10 only behind USC and UCLA.  We can compare it to Wazzu’s ranking, which is worst in the pac-10 by both websites.  (75 and 87 overall respectively). 

Gems of the class -

Kavario Middleton(TE) - Heavily recruited by LSU and other major program, he stayed home in Washington to play with Tyrone Willingham and our Washington Huskies.  He recently told KJR-AM that he will indeed be playing TE at the University of Washington.  This kid is blessed with everything except the ability to walk on water (Which in fact only Jake Locker can do).  Here is a clip of him, being compared to some trash player that choose Notre Dame…ewww

Johri Fogerson(RB) – AP High School player of the year in the state of Washington.  Rushed for 2545 yards and 35 touchdowns as a senior at O’dea.

Jermaine Kearse(WR)- Teammate of previously mentioned Kavario Middleton.  Caught 54 passes for 904 yards his senior year.  Named to the 3A All-State team.

Chris Polk(WR) – Originally committed to USC (So you know he is good).  UW stole him from USC, and now he enrolled early, so technically he is considered part of last years class.

Everrette Thompson (DE) – This kid is a total stud, had 60 tackles and 17 sacks as a senior.  6-6 255lbs, he will be a good one.
Alameda Ta’amu(DL) – Will be a beast in the middle of our line for years to come.  6-2 348lbs.  That’s all we need to know….he is a biiig boy.

Here is a list of the rest of the UW recruits.

Dominique Blackman QB 6-5 250 Carson, Calif. (Carson HS)
Demitrius BronsonRB 5-10 215 Kent, Wash. (Kentwood HS)
Cody BrunsWR 5-11 168 Prosser, Wash. (Prosser HS)
Allen CarrollOL 6-4 300 Oakland, Calif. (McClymonds HS)
Terrance DaileyRB 5-10 194 Vacaville, Calif. (Vacaville HS)
David Freeman RB 5-7 190 Inglewood, Calif. (Inglewood HS)
Justin GlennCB 5-11 185 Mukilteo, Wash. (Kamiak HS)
Anthony GobernCB 6-0 176 Fair Oaks, Calif. (Del Campo HS)
Mykenna IkeharaOL 6-3 291 Mililani, Hawaii (Kamehameha HS)
Jermaine KearseWR 6-1 180 Lakewood, Wash. (Lakes HS)
Senio KelemeteDL 6-4 260 Seattle, Wash. (Evergreen HS)
Luther Leonard QB 6-2 193 Seattle, Wash. (Evergreen HS)
Adam LongCB 5-10 168 Los Angeles, Calif. (St. Bernard HS)
Kurt Mangum LB 6-2 240 Chandler, Ariz. (Chandler HS)
Craig NobleDL 6-3 300 Los Angeles, Calif. (Taft HS)
Jordan PolkWR 5-8 161 Portland, Ore. (Lincoln HS)
Bradly RousselLB 5-11 207 Baton Rouge, La. (Redemptorist HS)
Drew SchaeferOL 6-5 275 Sammamish, Wash. (Eastlake HS)
Vince TaylorS 6-2 198 Issaquah, Wash. (Eastside Catholic HS)
Terence ThomasOL 6-8 305 Caldwell, Idaho (Caldwell HS)
Greg WalkerS 5-11 198 Bellflower, Calif. (St. Bernard HS)

For more info, go to the UW recruiting central website.

http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/wash-recruiting-central.html

The sonics had a brief view of what a successful basketball team looked like.  Until the Bulls came to town.

The Sonics, who rode into yesterday games with a 3 game winning streak, saw it snapped by the Chicago Bulls, 118-108.  The Bulls were led by Joe Smith and his 25 points.  The supes were led by Wally-world himself, with 21 and our stellar rookie sensation out of the University of Texas, Kevin Durant, dropped 20.

This winning streak was fun while it lasted, especially losing 35 of our previous 44 games.  All isn’t lost though, it could be worse, this brief winning streak the sonics went on, created some breathing room from being in the cellar of the Northwest conference, as the anemic Timberwolves sit at 10-37.

The sonics next game at Sacramento.

Cougars lose to Stanford in OT.   Stanford took it to the Washington schools this weekend, beatin both UW and WSU.

Most importantly this should knock off all those annoying cougar fans off their high horse.  And if Washington beats Cal in 30 minutes, Washington will be 4-5 in the Pac-10 while Washington State is 5-4 at the mid way point.