It is a Great Day in Sports

My hand might suffer a little carpal tunnel tonight as I will be furiously switching between the NCAA National Championship and the Twins Season Opener. These are the days where I wish I had two TVs in the same room.

National Championship

If you watched UNC play MSU in Ford Field in Dec. 3rd in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, you had two thoughts. North Carolina is unbeatable and will walk to a national title and MSU will not be back to Ford Field. Well, UNC has proven throughout the season that they can be beaten and MSU has clubbed and clawed it's way into a rematch.

Why UNC will win: They are far and away the most talented team in the NCAA. This team doesn't even rely or use Hansborough that much this year. This team when it focuses can beat any team by 20 points. They are determined to win after all coming back to avenge last year's loss to Kansas.

Why MSU will win: They are the most underrated 2 seed in the history of the tournament. People are acting as if this is some Cinderella story but they are a 2 seed and if they had won the Big Ten tournament they would have been a 1 seed. This team can play fast and they can play slow. They will outrebound any team by 15. This team played UNC before without Goran Suton who has been an absolute force this tournament and should be able to control Hansborough. This team has a decided home field advantage and plenty of momentum.

Who will win: Teams have overlooked MSU all tournament only to get smacked in the mouth. UNC will not be overlooking them but they have to be thinking they are overwhelming favorites after beating them in December. The difference comes down to two things. One is the coaching, Roy Williams is a good coach and a great recruiter, but Tom Izzo is a wizard. He has outcoached Bill Self, Rick Pitino and Jim Calhoun this year. Williams is just not the game coach that Izzo is. The other difference is defense. UNC has faced this team before but they are a completely different team with Suton in the game. They will be a tougher defense than UNC has seen all year and the one UNC weakness is that they are a little soft. If MSU starts out hot and gets a lead this could be a magical night in Detroit.

Michigan St. 75, UNC 71

Opening Day

One of the best days of the year will only be diminished by the Dome for one more time. That said there is plenty of excitement surrounding the 2009 Minnesota Twins. This should be a great game with the duel between Felix Hernandez and Liriano. Seattle might steal this game due to Hernandez but the Seattle Lineup with out Ichiro is a joke. Here are the opening day lineups:

Minnesota
LF Denard Span
2B Alexi Casilla
RF Michael Cuddyer
1B Justin Morneau
DH Jason Kubel
3B Joe Crede
CF Carlos Gomez
C Mike Redmond
SS Nick Punto

Seattle
LF Endy Chavez
CF Franklin Guetierrez
DH Mike Sweeney
3B Adrian Beltre
RF Ken Griffey Jr.
2B Jose Lopez
1B Russell Branyan
C Kenji Johjima
SS Yuniesky Betancourt

Every one is looking at Young sitting and trying to read into it and make something out of it. Someone had to sit in the first game and it was Delmon Young. That being said I'm not surprised it is Delmon Young. Gardenhire loves Cuddyer and I see Gardenhire giving him all the chances in the world. I would guess it is going to be a lot of rotating and I would expect Young will be in the lineup on Tuesday. In place of who in the lineup I have no idea but this thing should play itself out that by the middle of June we will have three regular starters in the outfield and the odd man out.