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.

Preview Extravaganza

#22 Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-1, 1-1) at Iowa Hawkeyes (11-4, 1-1)

This should be interesting as it is the Gophers first road game in the Big Ten this year. On paper it should be an easy win as Iowa appears to be in the bottom third of the Big Ten.
Here is Iowa's Resume:

Wins to showcase:

• Vs. Kansas St. (11-3) 65-63
• Vs. Iowa St. (11-4) 73-57

Loses to hide from:

• at Drake (12-4) 43-60
  
• vs. West Virginia (11-3) 68-87 (The size of defeat is the issue not the quality of teams)

Assets:

• 3-pt shooting: 1st in conference with 40.9%
• Free Throws: 2nd in conference with 74.3%
• Defense: 1st in conference with 55.9 ppg
  

Deficiencies:

• Rebounding: last in conference with 30.9. Second to last has 34.5
• Size: Cyrus Tate is tallest starter at 6-8, Andrew Brommer is tallest player at 6-9
• Scoring: 9th in conference with 64.7 ppg

The Gophers so far this season struggle with teams that are athletic and strong on the boards. This is the opposite of what Iowa is, they stand around the arc and lack any size. They would be the type of team they should handle. What the Gophers will need to do to win is similar to when they play Northwestern push the pace and make them play their tempo and guard the perimeter.

Interesting things to watch

• Minnesota connections: Anthony Tucker is the leading scorer with 11.8 ppg but has been suspended for public intoxication and has been reportedly been fighting mono. It is unknown how much he will play. Andrew Brommer (1.5 ppg 1.2 rebs) was recruited by Dan Monson but once Tubby came in he made it clear Brommer should look elsewhere. Instead we got RSIII and Colt 45. It should be a pleasant reminder of what the talent was before Tubby rolled into town
• How the newcomers respond to a Big Ten road game. It should be interesting how Joseph, Iverson and RSIII play in a hostile environment. It should be easier for the post players as they will not face anyone with similar size. It will be more important to see how Joseph handle running the point with the crowd on top of him.

Prediction

This is the type of game the Gophers need to win to clear a path to the NCAAs. They should be able to beat them with their athletisicm and size down low. If the crowd gets to the freshman, the Gophers should be able to rely on Nolen, Johnson and Westbrook. I think this gam might be close for awhile but the Gophers should pull it out.

Gophers 67, Hawkeyes 57

Check out the preview on the Daily Gopher, I will be on their during the game on their live thread.

Here is my thoughts on the College Football National Championship in Miami.
#2 Oklahoma Sooners (12-1) Vs. #1 Florida Gators (12-1)

On paper this should be a great game, but some previous bowl games give some indication on the outcome of this game. In the Alamo Bowl Missouri's offense struggled with Northwestern holding them to 311 total yards. In the Holiday Bowl a mediocre Oregon got 565 yards and beat Oklahoma State 42-31. In the Cotton Bowl Texas Tech gave up 515 yards to Ole Miss (the team that beat Florida) and lost 47-34. Then in the Fiesta Bowl Texas struggled and lucked into beating an Ohio State team that had absolutely no passing game 24-21. That means the average score of the other four top Big 12 teams have lost 33.25 - 29.75. That might not seem like much but they were prohibitive favorites in all of the games.

I think Oklahoma will have offensive success but they have not faced defensive speed like they will see in Florida. Florida has too much speed and athleticism. It will be a fast, exciting, high scoring game but I think Oklahoma will struggle to keep up with Florida. It is important to note one fact that seems to be overlooked in the last 4 BCS games Oklahoma has been in they have lost all 4 being outscored 167 - 103 with losses to West Virginia and Boise State. The last BCS win was a Rose Bowl win over Washington State in 2002.

Prediction: Florida Gators 48, Oklahoma Sooners 38