By Ray Bennett
Sunday March 11th, 2012
After a week of thrilling conference tournaments, the road to New Orleans has been paved. For the next three weeks, 68 teams will fight for a chance to win the Division I National Championship.
The NCAA announced the field of 68 teams for the 74th Division I Men's Basketball tournament on Sunday. Beginning on Tuesday with the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio, those teams will try to win six or seven consecutive games for a chance to be crowned Division I National Champions.
For the second consecutive year, the 68 teams are separated into 16 team regions: The East, West, Midwest and South. The winners of those regions will then play in the Final Four, which will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The number one overall seed in this year's tournament is the Kentucky Wildcats out of the Southeastern Conference. The Wildcats, coached by John Calipari, had an overall season record of 32-2 this season, winning the regular season SEC title. Kentucky was ranked number one in the Associated Press media and USA Today coaches polls nine times out of seventeen weeks, being in the top spot for the last seven.
Kentucky will play out of the South Region, playing the winner of Mississippi Valley State/Western Kentucky for their 2nd Round game. The winner of that game will play the winner of a game between South Region number eight Iowa State out of the Big XII and last year's National Champion UConn Huskies, seeded at number nine.
The South Region also includes ACC power Duke as a number two seed. They'll play Patriot League Champion Lehigh in the 2nd round. The winner will play either Notre Dame (7) or Xavier (10).
Other matchups in the South also feature Mountain West Tournament Champions New Mexico (6) playing Pac-12 Tournament winner Colorado (11), Big XII Tournament runner-up Baylor (3) against Tournament newcomer South Dakota State (14) out of the Summit League, Missouri Valley At-Large Wichita State (5) versus Colonial champion and 2011 Final Four participant VCU (12) and Big Ten school Indiana (4), who is in the Tournament for the first time since 2008, playing Western Athletic Conference winner New Mexico State (13).
Big Ten regular season and tournament champions Michigan State will be the top seed out of the West Region. The Spartans, with an overall record of 27-7, are the only team out of the four top seeds to win their conference tournament.
Michigan State will play their 2nd round game against Northeast Conference Champion Long Island. Big XII Tournament champion Missouri is the number two seed out of the West. They will face Norfolk State, making their first tournament appearance out of the Mideastern Athletic Conference.
Other matchups in the West include Memphis (8), champions out of Conference-USA playing Atlantic-10 school Saint Louis (9), Big East At-Large Marquette (3) playing either Brigham Young or Iona as the fourteen seed, SEC regular season runner-up Florida (7) squaring Virginia (10) out of the ACC, Ohio Valley champion Murray State (6) facing Mountain West team Colorado State (11) and Mountain West Tournament victor New Mexico (5) versus Long Beach State (12) out of the Big West.
The 32-2 Syracuse Orange, the Big East regular season champions, was named the East Region's number one seed. Syracuse will face off against UNC Asheville out of the Big South Conference in their 2nd Round opener. Big Ten Tournament runner-up Ohio State was named the number two seed in the East. They will play Loyola (MD), making their first tournament appearance since 1994, out of the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The East Region also features Big XII At-Large Kansas State (8) facing C-USA At-Large Southern Miss (9), perennial tournament contender Gonzaga (7) playing Big East school West Virgina (10), ACC tournament winners Florida State (3) against A-10 tournament champion St. Bonaventure (14), Big East Tournament runner-up Cincinnati (6) doing battle with Big XII school Texas (11), Big Ten power Wisconsin (4) playing Montana (13) out of the Big Sky Conference and Vanderbilt (5), who defeated Kentucky in the SEC title game on Sunday, going up against Ivy League champion Harvard (12), who are playing in their first tournament since 1946.
The North Carolina Tar Heels, the regular season champions out of the ACC, will head the Midwest Region as their top seed. North Carolina will start their tournament run against either Southland champion Lamar or America East champion Vermont. Big XII regular season winner Kansas is the two seed out of the Midwest. The Jayhawks draw Detroit out of the Horizon League for their 2nd Round matchup.
The remaining matchups in the Midwest Region include MVC tournament winner Creighton (8) playing Alabama (9) out of the SEC, West Coast Conference champion Saint Mary's of California (7) facing Big Ten At-Large Purdue (10), Big East power Georgetown (3) drawing Belmont (14) out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, MWC runner-up San Diego State (6) up against North Carolina State (11), Big Ten regular season co-champion Michigan (4) facing Ohio out of the Mid-American Conference and A-10 regular season champions Temple (5) playing either California or South Florida as a twelve seed.
The Tournament officially begins on Tuesday with the first two games of the First Four at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The first half of 2nd Round games start on Thursday at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the KFC Yum! Center Louisville, Kentucky. 3rd Round games will be played at those locations on Saturday
The other half of 2nd Round games start on Friday and are located at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee and the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Those locations will finish out the 3rd Round on Sunday March 18th.
The Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight will be held on March 22-25. The TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts and US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona will hold the East and West Region's part March 22nd and 24th. The Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri and Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia will hold the Midwest and South Region's portion of the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight March 23rd and 25th.
The Final Four in New Orleans will begin with the National Semifinal games on March 31st. The National Championship game will be held two days later on April 2nd pitting the winner of the East/West matchup against the winner of the Midwest/South game.
CBS will once again team with Turner Broadcasting for television coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Tru TV will air the First Four games. CBS, TBS, TNT and Tru TV will broadcast the 2nd and 3rd round games, with the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight airing the following week on CBS and TBS. The Final Four and National Championship game will air for the 31st consecutive year on CBS.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Doleman, Martin head 2012 Class of Pro Football Hall of Fame
By Ray Bennett
Saturday February 4, 2012
Every year on the day before the Super Bowl, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio, select a group of retired veteran players, coaches and owners that left their mark on the game. This year, the committee picked six players that best represent that benchmark.
The 2012 Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was announced on Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana, the location of this year's Super Bowl. The Class of 2012 will be represented by former Patriots and Jets running back Curtis Martin, former Vikings, Falcons and 49ers defensive end Chris Doleman, former Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, former Saints and Chiefs offensive tackle Willie Roaf and two former Steelers: center Dermontti Dawson and cornerback Jack Butler.
The class was narrowed down from fifteen modern-era semi-finalists to a group of ten finalists. The final ten is then reduced to an eligible list of five. Those final five players need at least an eighty percent yes vote among the committee to get in.
The other two semi-finalists are former players that played in the NFL before the Super Bowl and AFL-NFL merger-eras. The senior committee can only pick one of those two players.
The biggest name on this list is eleven-year veteran running back Curtis Martin. Martin, in his second year of eligibility, started his career with the New England Patriots in 1995 after getting drafted in the 3rd round out of Pittsburgh. In his rookie season, he ran for 1487 yards and 14 touchdowns on his way to the offensive rookie of the year award. He scored 14 TD's again in his second season, even though his rushing yardage from his rookie year dropped to 1152 yards.
That year, the Patriots made it to Super Bowl XXXI, only to lose to the Green Bay Packers. Martin had 42 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards and a TD in what would be his only Super Bowl appearance.
After rushing for 1160 yards and 4 TD's in 1997, Martin signed with the New York Jets as a restricted free agent for the 1998 season and beyond. From '98 to 2005, Martin was one of the most dominant running backs in the league. In his tenure with the Jets, Martin ran for 10,302 yards, an all-time Jets record, and scored 58 of his 90 career rushing TD's. Injuries forced Martin to an early retirement at the age of 33 after missing the entire 2006 season.
In ten of his eleven seasons, Martin ran for over 1000 yards, the second player in NFL history to do this, next to Barry Sanders. Martin finished his career with 14,101 rushing yards, 4th all-time in NFL history behind Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Emmett Smith. He also was selected to five Pro Bowls ('95, '96, '98, '01, '04). He's also the oldest player to lead the league in rushing yards in a single season in 2004 at the age of 31.
Another former University of Pittsburgh player, DE/LB Chris Doleman, will join Martin in this year's Hall of Fame Class. A former fourth-overall draft pick, Doleman, who played the NFL for fifteen years for three different teams, was a feared defensive stalwart throughout his career. In 1989, Doleman set a Minnesota Vikings team record for sacks in a season with 21, the fourth highest in league history. That team record stood for twenty-two years until Jared Allen broke the record with 22 sacks this past season.
Doleman played for the Vikings from 1985 to 1993. He also had stints with the Atlanta Falcons from 1994-1995 and the San Francisco 49ers from 1996-1998. After spending one more year with the Vikings in 1999, Doleman retired with 150.5 career sacks and 8 Pro Bowl appearances ('87-'90, '92, '93, '95, '97). Doleman is also a member of the NFL's 1990's All-Decade Team.
Throughout his entire eleven-season career, Cortez Kennedy was the anchor of the Seattle Seahawks defensive line. A highly touted first round draft pick out of Miami (FL), Kennedy's career got off to a slow start in his rookie year after holding out until two days before the start of the 1990 season. The next year he turned things around, earning himself his first of six consecutive Pro Bowl selections. In 1992, despite his team only going 2-14, Kennedy won the league's Defensive Player of the Year award after leading the NFL with 14 sacks.
After retiring from the NFL, Kennedy compiled 668 tackles and 58 sacks in his eleven seasons. He was also selected 8 Pro Bowls ('91-'96, '98, '99) and is also a member of the NFL's 1990's All-Decade Team.
Dermontti Dawson is considered one of the best centers to ever play in the modern-era of the NFL. In a career that spanned thirteen seasons from 1988-2000, Dawson filled the shoes of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, after he retired before his second year in the league. He started in 181 of his 184 career games, being selected to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1992-1998 and was awarded the 1996 Offensive Lineman of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association.
Offensive Tackle Willie Roaf was a dependable blocker throughout his entire thirteen-season career. Drafted eighth overall by the New Orleans Saints in 1993, Roaf went on to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1994-2000. After spending nine years with the Saints, Roaf signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002, where he would go to four more Pro Bowls by the time he retired before the 2006 season. Roaf started in all of his 189 career games and is a member of both the NFL's 1990's and 2000's All-Decade Teams.
Former Steelers Defensive Back Jack Butler was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Senior committee, beating out former Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins offensive lineman Dick Stanfel, who played in the NFL from 1952 to 1958. An undrafted rookie out of St. Bonaventure University, Butler spent his entire nine-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1951-1959. In his playing days, Butler was considered one of the best defensive backs in the league.
In his rookie season, Butler had five interceptions. In 1953, he had a then career best nine interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Four seasons later in 1957, he led the NFL with ten interceptions, four of them coming in one game against the Redskins. Butler was named to four straight Pro Bowls in his final four seasons from 1956-1959. Butler finished his career with 52 interceptions and is a member of the NFL's 1950's All Decade Team.
These six players beat out a list of eleven other eligible former players, coaches and owners. The other eleven semi-finalists include former RB Jerome Bettis, wide receivers Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed, OL Will Shields, DE/LB's Charles Haley and Kevin Greene, DB Aeneas Williams, head coach Bill Parcells and former 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame also announced that it's facilities will undergo major renovations. It will be the biggest of it's kind in the Hall of Fame's 50 year history. The enshrinement ceremony will take place on August 4th.
Saturday February 4, 2012
Every year on the day before the Super Bowl, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio, select a group of retired veteran players, coaches and owners that left their mark on the game. This year, the committee picked six players that best represent that benchmark.
The 2012 Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was announced on Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana, the location of this year's Super Bowl. The Class of 2012 will be represented by former Patriots and Jets running back Curtis Martin, former Vikings, Falcons and 49ers defensive end Chris Doleman, former Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, former Saints and Chiefs offensive tackle Willie Roaf and two former Steelers: center Dermontti Dawson and cornerback Jack Butler.
The class was narrowed down from fifteen modern-era semi-finalists to a group of ten finalists. The final ten is then reduced to an eligible list of five. Those final five players need at least an eighty percent yes vote among the committee to get in.
The other two semi-finalists are former players that played in the NFL before the Super Bowl and AFL-NFL merger-eras. The senior committee can only pick one of those two players.
The biggest name on this list is eleven-year veteran running back Curtis Martin. Martin, in his second year of eligibility, started his career with the New England Patriots in 1995 after getting drafted in the 3rd round out of Pittsburgh. In his rookie season, he ran for 1487 yards and 14 touchdowns on his way to the offensive rookie of the year award. He scored 14 TD's again in his second season, even though his rushing yardage from his rookie year dropped to 1152 yards.
That year, the Patriots made it to Super Bowl XXXI, only to lose to the Green Bay Packers. Martin had 42 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards and a TD in what would be his only Super Bowl appearance.
After rushing for 1160 yards and 4 TD's in 1997, Martin signed with the New York Jets as a restricted free agent for the 1998 season and beyond. From '98 to 2005, Martin was one of the most dominant running backs in the league. In his tenure with the Jets, Martin ran for 10,302 yards, an all-time Jets record, and scored 58 of his 90 career rushing TD's. Injuries forced Martin to an early retirement at the age of 33 after missing the entire 2006 season.
In ten of his eleven seasons, Martin ran for over 1000 yards, the second player in NFL history to do this, next to Barry Sanders. Martin finished his career with 14,101 rushing yards, 4th all-time in NFL history behind Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Emmett Smith. He also was selected to five Pro Bowls ('95, '96, '98, '01, '04). He's also the oldest player to lead the league in rushing yards in a single season in 2004 at the age of 31.
Another former University of Pittsburgh player, DE/LB Chris Doleman, will join Martin in this year's Hall of Fame Class. A former fourth-overall draft pick, Doleman, who played the NFL for fifteen years for three different teams, was a feared defensive stalwart throughout his career. In 1989, Doleman set a Minnesota Vikings team record for sacks in a season with 21, the fourth highest in league history. That team record stood for twenty-two years until Jared Allen broke the record with 22 sacks this past season.
Doleman played for the Vikings from 1985 to 1993. He also had stints with the Atlanta Falcons from 1994-1995 and the San Francisco 49ers from 1996-1998. After spending one more year with the Vikings in 1999, Doleman retired with 150.5 career sacks and 8 Pro Bowl appearances ('87-'90, '92, '93, '95, '97). Doleman is also a member of the NFL's 1990's All-Decade Team.
Throughout his entire eleven-season career, Cortez Kennedy was the anchor of the Seattle Seahawks defensive line. A highly touted first round draft pick out of Miami (FL), Kennedy's career got off to a slow start in his rookie year after holding out until two days before the start of the 1990 season. The next year he turned things around, earning himself his first of six consecutive Pro Bowl selections. In 1992, despite his team only going 2-14, Kennedy won the league's Defensive Player of the Year award after leading the NFL with 14 sacks.
After retiring from the NFL, Kennedy compiled 668 tackles and 58 sacks in his eleven seasons. He was also selected 8 Pro Bowls ('91-'96, '98, '99) and is also a member of the NFL's 1990's All-Decade Team.
Dermontti Dawson is considered one of the best centers to ever play in the modern-era of the NFL. In a career that spanned thirteen seasons from 1988-2000, Dawson filled the shoes of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, after he retired before his second year in the league. He started in 181 of his 184 career games, being selected to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1992-1998 and was awarded the 1996 Offensive Lineman of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association.
Offensive Tackle Willie Roaf was a dependable blocker throughout his entire thirteen-season career. Drafted eighth overall by the New Orleans Saints in 1993, Roaf went on to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1994-2000. After spending nine years with the Saints, Roaf signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002, where he would go to four more Pro Bowls by the time he retired before the 2006 season. Roaf started in all of his 189 career games and is a member of both the NFL's 1990's and 2000's All-Decade Teams.
Former Steelers Defensive Back Jack Butler was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Senior committee, beating out former Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins offensive lineman Dick Stanfel, who played in the NFL from 1952 to 1958. An undrafted rookie out of St. Bonaventure University, Butler spent his entire nine-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1951-1959. In his playing days, Butler was considered one of the best defensive backs in the league.
In his rookie season, Butler had five interceptions. In 1953, he had a then career best nine interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Four seasons later in 1957, he led the NFL with ten interceptions, four of them coming in one game against the Redskins. Butler was named to four straight Pro Bowls in his final four seasons from 1956-1959. Butler finished his career with 52 interceptions and is a member of the NFL's 1950's All Decade Team.
These six players beat out a list of eleven other eligible former players, coaches and owners. The other eleven semi-finalists include former RB Jerome Bettis, wide receivers Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed, OL Will Shields, DE/LB's Charles Haley and Kevin Greene, DB Aeneas Williams, head coach Bill Parcells and former 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame also announced that it's facilities will undergo major renovations. It will be the biggest of it's kind in the Hall of Fame's 50 year history. The enshrinement ceremony will take place on August 4th.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tigers DH Martinez might miss 2012 season after ACL tear
By Raymond Bennett
Tuesday January 17, 2012
In 2011, Victor Martinez was an important piece to a Detroit Tigers team that won the AL Central and went all the way to the American League Championship Series. However, a serious injury may have impacted the Tigers chances of repeating as division champions.
Reports surfaced on Tuesday that Martinez, 33, tore his left anterior cruciate ligament during an offseason conditioning session at the Tigers spring training facility in Lakeland, FL. The injury will require surgery, which may result in Martinez missing a large portion or the entire 2012 MLB season.
Martinez was a contributing factor, along with AL Cy Young and MVP pitcher Justin Verlander and power-hitting first baseman Miguel Cabrera, in bringing the Tigers their first division championship in 24 years last season. In his first year in a Tigers uniform, the nearly full-time designated hitter had a career-high in batting average with .330, 12 home runs and 103 RBI. He also had a league-leading .394 average with runners in scoring position.
The loss of the 11-year veteran, who has also played for the Indians and Red Sox, couldn't come at a worse time for the Tigers as they have had a quiet offseason. So far this offseason, the Tigers have resigned IF Ramon Santiago, signed veteran relief pitcher Octavio Dotel and just agreed to deals with outfielder Delmon Young, and pitchers Rick Porcello and Phil Coke during salary arbitration.
Once news broke of Martinez's possible season-ending injury, rumors of available free agents the Tigers could sign as short-term replacements began to heat up. Among those names that have come up since the story broke include former Brewers 1B Prince Fielder, veteran OF/DH and one-time Tiger Johnny Damon, and former Yankees and A's DH Hideki Matsui among others. The Tigers are also one of six preferred teams of free agent Cuban-defect OF Yoennis Cespedes.
If the Tigers end up signing Cespedes, one of their players on the 25 man roster would have to move to the now vacant DH-slot. The most logical choice would be Young, who hit 8 of his 12 home runs last season after his acquisition from Minnesota late in the 2011 season. Young also has been known to be a below average, error prone outfielder, leading the Majors last year in errors among regular left fielders (7). A switch to DH might solve both problems for Young and the Tigers.
Tuesday January 17, 2012
In 2011, Victor Martinez was an important piece to a Detroit Tigers team that won the AL Central and went all the way to the American League Championship Series. However, a serious injury may have impacted the Tigers chances of repeating as division champions.
Reports surfaced on Tuesday that Martinez, 33, tore his left anterior cruciate ligament during an offseason conditioning session at the Tigers spring training facility in Lakeland, FL. The injury will require surgery, which may result in Martinez missing a large portion or the entire 2012 MLB season.
Martinez was a contributing factor, along with AL Cy Young and MVP pitcher Justin Verlander and power-hitting first baseman Miguel Cabrera, in bringing the Tigers their first division championship in 24 years last season. In his first year in a Tigers uniform, the nearly full-time designated hitter had a career-high in batting average with .330, 12 home runs and 103 RBI. He also had a league-leading .394 average with runners in scoring position.
The loss of the 11-year veteran, who has also played for the Indians and Red Sox, couldn't come at a worse time for the Tigers as they have had a quiet offseason. So far this offseason, the Tigers have resigned IF Ramon Santiago, signed veteran relief pitcher Octavio Dotel and just agreed to deals with outfielder Delmon Young, and pitchers Rick Porcello and Phil Coke during salary arbitration.
Once news broke of Martinez's possible season-ending injury, rumors of available free agents the Tigers could sign as short-term replacements began to heat up. Among those names that have come up since the story broke include former Brewers 1B Prince Fielder, veteran OF/DH and one-time Tiger Johnny Damon, and former Yankees and A's DH Hideki Matsui among others. The Tigers are also one of six preferred teams of free agent Cuban-defect OF Yoennis Cespedes.
If the Tigers end up signing Cespedes, one of their players on the 25 man roster would have to move to the now vacant DH-slot. The most logical choice would be Young, who hit 8 of his 12 home runs last season after his acquisition from Minnesota late in the 2011 season. Young also has been known to be a below average, error prone outfielder, leading the Majors last year in errors among regular left fielders (7). A switch to DH might solve both problems for Young and the Tigers.
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