Must See Sports – Fourth Weekend of March 2011

There is SO much going on in the sports world right now. The NCAA Tournament is building up to an exciting conclusion. Major League Baseball Spring Training is heading into its final week. The NBA regular season is approaching its final 10 games. The NFL…. Oh, wait…there is no NFL.


Thursday, March 24 and Friday, March 25

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Regional Semifinals

The NCAA Tournament is the main event in March. It resumes tonight, with the winners of tonight’s and tomorrow’s games advancing to the Elite 8, one game away from the Final Four. Beyond the Big Dance, the pickings are pretty slim this Thursday and Friday, and rightfully so.

The Hat Trick ran a Part 1 and Part 2 of the Sweet 16 earlier in the week with a breakdown of the action. Feel free to use it as a reference, like an encyclopedia (or a supermarket tabloid).


Saturday, March 26

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West and Southeast Regional Finals

Like I said, the pickings are slim come tournament time. You wouldn’t schedule a marquis matchup at the same time as the Super Bowl, would you? Well, the NBA (the only one of the “big three” sports in season, at the moment) has not lost that point either!


Sunday, March 27

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East and Southwest Regional Finals

The Final Four will be complete after these matches. I wonder what you call the downtime between Saturday’s and Sunday’s games from the “Elite 8” round. The “Superb 6”…? What about the remaining teams immediately following the first game of Sunday? Would they be the “Fantastic Five”? Things that make you go, “hmmm,”….


NBA
Portland Trailblazers at Oklahoma City Thunder

Finally, some professional action! The Blazers are in a tight four way race with the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Hornets, and Memphis Grizzlies to better their positioning in the lower half of the Western conference playoff seedings. Oklahoma City is pursuing a long shot, late season push to catch the Dallas Mavericks and avoid being possibly having to go on the road for most of a best of seven series with the San Antonio Spurs, who have been all but invincible at home, in the second round of the playoffs.

The Thunder are at home and it remains unclear whether or not forward Marcus Camby and his 10 rebounds per night, on a team that often struggles under the boards, with be available by Sunday due to an ankle injury.

Advantage: Thunder

LaMarcus Aldridge of the Blazers 1

Monday, March 28 and Tuesday, March 29

NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Regional Finals

There is very little to pick from on the NBA’s list of offerings, unless you live in a market carrying the Miami Heat at the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night. You can see LeBron throw his powder into the air of Cleveland sports sanctuary turned mausoleum Quicken Loans Arena, benefiting an extra dozen Cleveland Police officers brought in for additional security, but will likely do little more than see the Heatles for free.

I do not pretend to have much depth of knowledge about the women’s college game, but, that said, I would be stunned to not see the Connecticut Huskies and Tennessee Lady Volunteers advance to the women’s Elite Eight…again. Can anyone tell me the last time one of these two teams did NOT reach the Regional Finals? The first one with the correct answer gets a shout out in the next Hat Trick! Don’t blow up the comments box at once, everyone.

(crickets chirping)

If The King does this, again, in Cleveland, it will give me the feeling that he is still punching his opponent after the referee declared a TKO. 2

Wednesday, March 30

New Jersey Nets at New York Knicks

The Nets travel across the Turnpike to Madison Square Garden to take on the slumping Knicks. While the Nets have been hopelessly (all but) eliminated from the playoffs for quite some time, there is a ray of hope for the future. The Nets, winners of 6 of their last 10, have a winning record this month, words one has not heard in quite some time. I have not followed the Nets closely, but I do not need to to know that the acquisition of All-Star point guard Deron Williams accounts for much of the turnaround.

Deron Williams has wasted no time in making his presence felt with the Nets, 6-4 in the month of march (as of this morning). 3

The Knicks’ shining star is fading quickly. The Philadelphia 76ers, left for dead in the earlier part of the season, have surpassed the Knicks and taken over sixth place in the Eastern Conference. While a fall into 8th place (let alone from the playoff picture altogether) is unlikely for the slumping Knicks, it is now a possibility, albeit a slim one. Their swagger has cooled substantially, having lost seven of their last eight games. The Nets have averaged 99 points per game in March, 5 points per game above their season average. A surging Nets team with a star player playing like he has something to prove (and, if so, he is proving it) faces a Knicks team that still believes it can out shoot everyone and defense be damned. This just in, Knicks: you have the second best offense in the NBA and a losing record.

Advantage: Nets


Don’t forget to vote in the fan polls!


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1) Image from theurbandaily.com
2) Image from collegemagazine.com
3) Image from netsarescorching.com