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May 21st 2018

What a weekend in sports.

Justify won the Preakness. Now there will be excitement galore in New York in three weeks. Will the Belmont Stakes produce a Triple Crown winner?

The Las Vegas Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup finals in year one of existence. That is an incredible story.

The Tampa Bay Lightning won three straight to take the lead in the eastern Conference final.

The NBA playoffs rolled on, and baseball had some exciting moments too. The Dodgers swept the Nationals, Oakland swept the Blue Jays in Toronto.

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May 14th, 2018

Sarasota was the sports capital of the world on Friday night. Thanks to everyone involved in the 13th annual Dick Vitale gala.

We raised over $3.7 million for cancer research. Over the 13 years, we have now gone over $25 million for kids battling the dreaded disease.

Our honorees gave great speeches. Thanks to Jim Harbaugh, Mike Greenberg, Leonard Hamilton, Chris Berman and Shelley Smith. There were over 80 sports celebrities, including all of the Final Four coaches, David Robinson and Grant Hill, to name a few.

We need to beat the disease. It was a special evening for the V Foundation.

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May 7th, 2018

It looks like Boston and Clevland will go to the NBA Eastern Conference finals, barring a miracle comeback.

LeBron James showed why he is The King with another game-winning shot. Brad Stevens is showing why he is one of the best young coaches in the sport.

Jayson Tatum is showing why I said last year that he should go numero uno in the draft.

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April 30th 2018

King James showed why he is one of the best of all-time.

He put up 45 points as the Cavaliers edged the Pacers in game seven. For Cleveland, it was more than just James. Tristan Thompson put up a double-double. George Hill came back from injury to contribute. Kevin Love hit a couple of big threes in the fourth quarter.

Now Cleveland faces a challenge against Toronto.

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April 23rd 2018

The NBA playoffs have provided a lot of 3exciting moments already.

Anthony Davis scored 47 points as the Pelicans swept the Blazers. San Antonio got a win over Golden State to avoid a sweep. Miami and Philadelphia have battled it out.

One surprise is the 1 vs. 8 matchup in the East. John Wall has beendoing it all. What looked like a blowout series is now 2-2. Big Blue Nation had to be proud of Wall on Sunday. Washington had a strong finish and now we have a tight series.

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April 16th, 2018

The NBA playoffs are under way. Stars are shining like Ben Simmons, Klay Thompson and Victor Oladipo.

The Cavaliers were disappointing in putting up 80 points vs. the Pacers.

Golden State was impressive against the Spurs. The Pelicans beat Portland. The Celtics snuck past Milwaukee.

This is a great time of the year.

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April 9th 2018

College basketball season ended a week ago, but there has been plenty of news.

Players declaring for the NBA draft. Coaching changes. A lot going on.

There are players transferring, grad transfers landing at Division I schools. There is not much of an off-season with recruiting and so much news.

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April 2nd, 2018

What a memorable college basketball weekend.

Notre Dame edged Connecticut and Mississippi State to win the national title. Villanova and Michigan advanced to the men’s title game.

Excitement galore, baby!

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March 26th, 2018

We have an exciting final Four ahead next weekend.

Loyola of Chicago meets Michigan, the first time the MVC and Big Ten have met in the Final Four since 1979. That year was Magic Johnson and Michigan State beating Larry Bird and Indiana State.

Villanova and Kansas meet in the other semifinal. Jay Wright's team is looking for a hattrick vs. the Big 12 after beating West Virginia and Texas Tech. This contest features Jalen Brunson vs. Devonte Graham.

Should be fun in San Antonio.

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March 19th, 2018

March Madness is in full swing and it has been awesome!

We have seen new stars shine, upset city like never before in UMBC, buzzer beaters like Michigan's Jordan Poole against Houston. 

The cream has been rising to the top. Villanova, Kansas, Duke, Kentucky have all advanced to the Sweet 16.

i"m enjoying my hits  on SportsCenter, covering the tournament.

The road to San Antonio will be interesting. One week til we know which teams are in the Final Four!

 

Click for my March Madness 2018 updates!

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March 12th, 2018

The field is set and March Madness will be special.

I feel for some of the teams r\that were left out. They could sate their case, but the committee thought otherwise. I was surprised that Oklahoma State did not make it. Forget about numbers, the Cowboys beat Kansas twice, won at West Virginia, beat Texas Tech and Florida State. That shoud have been enough to get in. 

Now comes the fun. Looking for a first-round upset, I think Charleston of the CAA will battle a shorthanded Auburn team. Bruce Pearl did a great job but his team could be vulnerable.

March Madness is here. Arizona State and Oklahoma struggled down the stretch and got in. We will see if someone can make a run like VCU and George Mason in the past.

My picks to make the Final Four: Villanova, Virginia, Michigan State and Gonzaga. I like the Spartans to cut down the nets.

Click for my updates.

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March 5th, 2018

I love Championship week!

Teams that have had a tough season get another opportunity to make a run at the big dance. Favorites get the chance to work on their resume and improve their seed. Winning a conference tournament is something you remember the rest of your life. Nobody can take that experience away from you and you become a hero for years.

This has been a 3acky season , so you never know which tea, can surprise. We already saw a buzzer beater getting Radford in. Lipscomb made it to the tourney for the first time. Michigan had a special run to win the Big Ten tourney.

I am excited to be calling the WCC in Las Vegas and the SEC in St. Louis. It should be awesome with a capital A! Gonzaga hasn’t missed the WCC final since 1997! That is an amazing stream of conference final appearances.

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February 26th, 2018

I love college basketball, but the past few days were very tough for the sport.

First there was the Yahoo Sports report dealing all sorts of allegations involving former and current NCAA players. Pat Forde detailed all sorts of things, and it left a major black cloud. Two players — Eric Davis of Texas and Malik Pope of San Diego State—were held out of weekend games pending further investigation.

I was crushed reading this, but not shocked at these alleged happenings. The sleazy characters prey on these kids when they are in eighth grade. This is a nightmare for the NCAA and college basketball. 

Then came the ESPN bombshell that Arizona coach Sean Miller was caught on a wiretap talking about a $100,000 payout to star center DeAndre Ayton. Miller and the school mutually agreed that the step away from the team for Saturday’s game at Oregon, with the Wildcats lost in overtime. Ayton played in that contest.

Arizona must clean house, starting with Sean Miller. There is no place for making efforts to buy players. I believe the Wildcats must be banned from March Madness if all of this is true and the wiretap is pretty amazing proof. Ayton should be declared ineligible if he took the alleged cash mentioned in FBI report.

It is simple. Ban them for using an ineligible player. Miller has now ruined his coaching career.

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February 19th, 2018

We are just a few weeks away from Selection Sunday. March Madness should be very exciting because it is wide open.

There are so many teams on the bubble, so the end of the regular season, and Championship Week, will be vital. Each week you see so many surprising results. 

One team that has been struggling is Oklahoma. Five straight losses and 2-8 over the last 10 games. Trae Young and company need to straighten things out. 

One team coming on is Baylor. The Bears got a big win over Texas Tech.

This is a great time of the season.

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February 12th, 2018

The NCAA committee has come out with their rankings.

Villanova, Virginia, Xavier and Purdue are the 1-seeds.

Michigan State, which beat Purdue Saturday, was a 3-seed. Are there 10 better teams than the Spartans in America?

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February 5th, 2018

There were several great sports stories over the weekend.

Duke was stunned by St.John’s. Texas knocked off Oklahoma. Washington beat Arizona on a buzzer-beater.

I enjoyed calling the Alabama-florida game.

The highlight of the weekend took place in Minnesota. Eagles over Patriots. Congrats to coach Pederson, Nick Foles, Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman and the entire team. Underdogs through the playoffs, they beat Tom Brady and company.

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January 29th, 2018

I had a great time calling the Baylor-Florida game over the weekend. The Gators were on fire with trifectas in the win. Chris Chiozza had a big game for Florida.

Kentucky got a big win at West Virginia. Never count John Calipari and his young ‘Cats out. They rallied in the second half to get a big W, the first over a ranked team this season.

There were a lot of upsets last wee. Penn State handed Ohio State its first league loss of the season. NC State and Virginia Tech beat North Carolina, South Carolina beat Florida. And Mississippi Valley State won its first game of the season!

It has been a fun season so far.

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January 22nd, 2018

The Super Bowl is set as Tom Brady and the Patriots advanced with a comeback win over the Jaguars in the AFC Championship. It did not took good when the Pats trailed 20-10. Rob Gronkowski was injured and lost for the rest of the game.

Brady threw two touchdowns to Danny Amendola and New England moved to a record 10th Super Bowl. Congrats to Bill Belichick and his team. 

Next up is a showdown against the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. Nick Foles and company trailed Minnesota 7-0 before putting up 38 straight points. 

Two great fan bases will go to Minnesota for the Super Bowl.

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January 15th, 2018

Kentucky showed some toughness late during its win over Vanderbilt over the weekend. Big Blue Nation had to be smiling. Vandy staged a late challenge.

John Calipari’s team survived a gutty effort by the Commodores. The ‘Cats are young but can make noise in the tough SEC. Calipari can motivate this team as they move forward. I enjoyed calling their game on Saturday.

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January 8th, 2018

I was so impressed with Virginia and its defense holding North Carolina to 49 points. The Cavaliers make the extra pass to get good shots. Tony Bennett has a legit Final Four contender.

Tough weekend for blue bloods Duke, Kentucky and Not Carolina. The Blue Devil loss was stunning as NC State had been blown out by Notre Dame earlier in the week.

West Virginia got a big win over Oklahoma.

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Quote of the Week

 
“Caitlin Clark of Iowa is a special player with great shooting range."
-Dick Vitale