Freshmans to look out for this year in college basketball

Its been a few weeks since the college basketball began...and its been surprising. Many of the surprises thus far have been the upsets and the play from freshman ball players. Some upsets this year have been Gardner-Webb beating Kentucky and Grand-Valley State beating Michigan State. But the real story right know in college basketball is the deep class of this years freshmens.

Lets take a look at some of the freshmens that are making noise in the college ranks. First off a look at Kansas State, Micheal Beasley.



Beasley, in leading the nation with 30 point per game and 20 rebounds per game. He can play three positions and poses a threat with his left-handed ball handling skills. He also plays an aggressive post game and can shoot the rock from the outside as well. Although the Kansas State haven't played big team yet. It will be interesting to see how he plays against a team like Kansas or UCLA. Overall he's been the most dominant freshman forward since former Wake Forest forward Tim Duncan.
One the of most suprising team in college basketball are the Duke Blue Devils. Coack K has never had a young team like the one he has this year, but it doesnt mean he doesn't have talent. Kyle Singler, an All-American leads the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game. This year the Blue Devils have won all three games by 20 points or more. The young Blue Devils are a fast up-down the court team, with high energy. They also play aggressive in the defensive end keeping under 65 points a game. Although youth is not suppose to be factor in a team, for Duke it has.


Memphis sharp-shooter Derek Rose. What a talent. This kid can flat-out play. Memphis return all there players from last year,you add this kid and you have to think the Tigers are the heavy favorite to cut down the nets. Rose in his first four games in college basketball he has scored 16 or more points. The team is 4-0 thanks to he superb leadership style, even though he's only 18-years-old. If i had to pick a player that will have the biggest impact on thier team. I would say that player would be Rose. Memphis is ready to take that step to becoming a championship team. But if Rose starts to slip of as a player, the team will struggle and will get bounce early from Mrach Madness.

Well...Look who might come back.

Are the headlines true, is Alex Rodriguez coming back to the New York Yankees. According to ESPN baseball analyst, Buster Olney, A Rod and the Yankees are nearing a 10 year $275 million dollar contract. What a turn of events.

Just a few weeks ago Rodriguez opted out of his Yankees contract to become a free agent. According to the New York Post, Rodriguez through other parties told the Yankees ownership that he wanted to discuss coming back to the team.

That's how it all began. Blogs started talking about A-Rod coming back so did the newspapers such as the New York Post and the New York Daily News.

When A-Rod opted out,the Yankees had 0 percent chance of coming back. Yankees ownership told Alex that if he opted out of his contract, they would not negotiate with him. Now the stage is set. Both ownership and A-Rod are discussing a contract that would keep him in pinstripes. If he signs now will the fans react? Or is this a set-up so that other A-Rod, to get other teams to bid as well?

College basketball is here...and so are the baby gators.

Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah each left a year early to enter the NBA Draft. So why are the Florida Gators college basketball team name "The baby gators".

Because nine of Billy Donovan scholarship players, five are freshmens and three are sophomores. Donovan has a well-built freshman class led by guards Nick Calathes and Jai Lucas, both who are McDonald's All-American. Also, joining the core is Alex Tyus, Chandler Parson and Adam Allen, who were all top 50 players in high school.

Although Donovan left The Gators to go to the NBA, he came back because he felt it was the wrong decision. If there's one thing Donovan enjoys doing is recruiting. Not only did Donovan had one of the best recruiting class this year, he's already in line to have the best recruiting class coming in next year.

According to scout.com Eloy Vargas, Kenneth Kadji and Allan Chaney have verbally committed to play for the Gators next year. Two of three players are rated in the top 25 in high school. Both classes combine will bring some excitement to the fans in Gainsville, but until then, Coach Donovan will have his hands full with a lot of young and raw talent.

One way or another coach Donovan kids will be dancing very soon. It will not take long for him to get his team back to where they were. The media and the fans are not expecting anything great from this team this year, but just like last year, no one expected the Gators to repeat, and they did.

Yes its a rebuilding mode, and what a class coach Donovan has coming in. But if coach Donovan wins a national title within the next three years, he would have exceeded everyone's expectations, including me.

Baseball season is over.. but Marlins offseason talk begin

The biggest questions surronding the Florida Marlins organizations are? Are they getting a new stadium? and Will third baseman Miguel Cabrera and starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis come back.

The baseball season is over, but the general manager meetings are on the way.

There's alot of trade discussions right now with top these two Marlins players. The organization informed the media as well as other clubs that these two players would be avaliable but only for the right price. Right price you ask?

Right price means young prospect that are lock into minimum contracts for the next four to five years. For example, if any team wants to acquire a Dontrelle Willis or a Miguel Cabrera someone would have to give up a Phillip Hughes or a Joba Chamberlien. Or maybe a Lasting Mileage and Carlos Gomez. While the Yankees are always given up prospect to get good veteran players, this time, they want to grow within the organization and spend money wisely on younger players for the future of the organization.

According to ESPN,

Good players are always in need, that's for sure. I'm not talking specifically about Cabrera or Willis or Dan Uggla or [Hanley] Ramirez," Florida president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said, mentioning many top Marlins. "When you trade really good players, you want really good players in return. You want talent for talent.

Other baseball trade discussion involved the Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon and Chicago White Sox third baseman Joe Crede. Also, there are rumors of New York Mets going after free agent pitcher Carlos Silva.

We can't talk baseball without talking about the 300 million dollar man. Alex Rodriguez has kept quite since he opted out his contract. The questions in the meetings this week was who's interested. So far, in the two long days of meetings, no one was interested.

This is all the big news from the meeting thus far, i'll get back when i hear something new.

Joe Torre was introduced as the new Los Angeles Dodgers manager

In the field of the Dodgers staduim, Joe Torre was made the 8th Dodger manager in franchise history. Torre, will lead a franchise that will celebrate its 50th birthday in Los Angeles.

Torre brings exeptional experience into the Dodgers dug-out; 12 straight playoff appearences, 4 World Series championship, and over 1,200 wins.

Now, Joe Torre doesnt have the superstar players in L.A. than what he had in N.Y. But he still has a good ball club with young talent. Torre, gets to manage top prospects like James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andy LaRoche. He also has some experience players in Juan Pierre, Rafeal Furcal and Nomar Garciaparra.

But the questions is can Torre bring back together a team, that last season couldnt get along. Yes, he can.

If there is one thing that Torre can do is manage players. He was able to handle superstars like Alex Rogriguez, David Justice, Gary Sheffield, and Kyle Farnsworth. He brings great deal of knowledge to the game of baseball and he's also great with the media. In such a place like L.A., Torre will have no problem getting along with the media. He will have great sound bites for the L.A. papers just like he did in New York.

Even though i am a huge Yankees fan, i am extremely happy for Joe Torre and his new team. He deserves it and every Yankee fan should be proud of what Torre did. Don't be surprise if the Dodgers win the World Series within three years.

Miami Dolphins had a bye week... that's a good thing.

This week was a good week for pro Florida football fans, but not for Florida college football. South Florida and the Miami Hurricanes but lost this week to teams like Conneticut and North Carolina State. On the other hand, the 0-8 Miami Dolphins had a bye week this week. But many are wondering what's going on with them?

By the way, did anyone see the way Wes Welker has been playing? The former DOLPHIN has been one of Tom Brady's primary target. He's also a punt and kick returner as well. But ofcourse the Dolphins didn't resign him last season.

It seems that no matter what the Dolphins do, whether its pick up the wrong quaterback in Daunte Culpepper and not Drew Brees, who by the way threw for 445 yards and 3 touchdowns this week. i think its time to shake up things in the Dolphins internal everyday operations. Can the Dolphins organization be shaken up by The Tuna . Acccording to Yahoo sports writer, Jason Cole,

It makes a lot of sense that the Dolphins would be a job he'd be very interested in if it came open," a source close to Parcells said Friday. "But only as the GM. I don't think he'll ever coach again.

I'll tell one thing. Bring Bill Parcells would be a smart move in the part of the Dolphins. He knows football. He has taken teams that needed help, fix them and made them winners. He knows talent when he sees it. The one question on everybodys mind is can Wayne Huzienga give control to Bill Parcells. But like i said, these are just rumors.

How good is Tom Brady?

This was the battle of the two best teams in the NFL and two of the best quarterback in the game. Tom Brady vs. Payton Manning, Indianapolis vs. New England, the battle of the unbeatens.

Indianapolis defense was unbelieveable during the first three quarters of the game. They hold Tom Brady under 150 passing and forced him to throw two interceptions. In the first seven games, Brady threw for 2 interceptions total.

So you know the Colts defense brought the noise to the Patroits. But, that's until the fourth quarter came.

And the world found out why Tom Brady is the best quarterback in the league, right now.

With under five minutes left remaining, Brady rallied New England back down 10 points to beat the Colts 24-20.

i felt the Colts defense let off in the fourth quarter. They didn't cover Patroits wide reciever Wes Welker, the fastest player in the team and they left one of the best reciever, Randy Moss, go deep.

With no running game, the Patroits knew that the only way to win this game was to stay close and throw it in the air. That's exactually what they did.

New York Yankees hire former Florida Marlins manager.

Yes, i am a big Yankees fan and everybody that knows me, knows that. I am very happy with the Yankees decision on making Joe Girardi the new manager.

The former Yankees catcher and broadcaster brings leadership, knowledge and youth to the organization.

I like this move because the Yankees needed to change there style of play. Joe Torre was a quiet and a soft-spoken manager, while Girardi is not. Girardi managed a Florida Marlins team that had the lowest payroll in baseball. He made sure that his players played by the way he managed, aggressively.

Yes i miss Joe Torre, because he was very close with the players. And yes i'm not blaming him for the Yankees mistakes. He doesn't pitch and he doesn't hit, so you really can't blame the guy. But he was in the dug-out, and i felt he kept quiet when he should've spoken out when his team was making mistakes.

Simply, it was time for a change and bringing Joe Girardi will get Yankees fans excited once the season start next year. He will have a different team, now that Alex Rodriguez is gone, but will find the best nine players he has and will put them in the field.

Joe Torre walks out... Yankees search for new manager begins.

After 12 season with the New York Yankees, Joe Torre turn down a one-year offer for $5 million, plus bonus. Torre, who won four championship with the Yankees, leaves the team with one of best performance by a Yankees manager ever.

According to MLB.com writer Bryan Hotch,

I just didn't think it was the right thing for me, or the right thing for my players. Whether they're on my side, or not on my side, any pressure caused by maybe the manager's going to lose his job, that pressure isn't needed when the goal is to win baseball games.

Now the question is? Who will manage the New York Yankees? Some candidates for the job are: former Yankees catcher Joe Girardi and former first baseman, Don Mattingly.

Joe Girardi is honestly ready to take over Joe Torre's job. He's more experience with his managerial experience with the young Florida Marlins. He managed a team that had a low payroll and almost took them to the playoffs. Don Mattingly spent three years as a hitting coach for the Yankees until last year. This year, it was his first season as a bench coach, and showed a lot of patients, as the Yankees bats struggled in the beginning of the season. He worked with A-Rod, Cano and Jason Giambi and Shelly Duncan while they were struggling and eventually the bats woke up. There are also some consideration to current manager for the Cubs, Lou Pinella and former Cardinals manager, Tony LaRussa, but it will be long-offseason before the Yankees have a new manager.

According to MLB.com

There will be a process and I can promise you that process is going to take some time," Cashman said. "I ask for everybody's patience as we review and interview the individuals and make the appropriate recommendations to ownership...

The decision will be made, but it's premature to discuss the criteria right now.The only criteria I can touch on is what Hank and Hal [Steinbrenner] have always spoken, which comes directly from The Boss. Our intent is to continue on our quest for championships. We're very proud of everything we've accomplished over the years.

BCS standings are in...South Florida is # 2.

After 2 top-five teams lost this this week, The standings were shaken up just a little bit. A little school in Tampa is now the # 2 team in the nation. What? South florida is # 2 now?. You mean the Bulls, give me a break.

This is why the BCS standings is a joke and it's overrated. What happens if Ohio State plays South Florida for a national title. What station is going to what to pick up that game. Are you kidding me. Get rid of this thing already (BCS). You might as well put this game on PBS because no one is going to want to advertise it.

South Florida is not the second best team in the country. I have seen that and there is proof of that. I know a there's always one game that will tell you if a team is for real, but last week it wasn't that game.

Against Florida Atlantic University, a team who is ranked somewhere between 70-80 in the nation, came really close to knocking off the bulls. FAU forced USF to four turnovers, out-played them defensively and and scared the green and gold off of them.

Its time to get rid of the Bowl Championship Series standings and bring on the playoffs. Bring in the playoff format. Get the best eight teams in the nation and play in the format. Not only will we know who the best team is, but they will get to showcase that in multiple games.

To be honest with everyone, if the playoff format was to be in effect this year. South Florida would not get out of the first round. And if they did, they would get slap around in the second round, by a team like the Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, or Oklahoma Sooners. No chance what's so ever.