NFL Draft First Round

The first two picks in the NFL draft went as planned. It was said since before the evening began that the Colts would take Stanford quarterback, Andrew Luck, and that Washington would get Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. The Skins traded up to get him prior to the draft.

What surprised me in the first round was the Browns taking another quarterback so early after taking Texas QB, Colt McCoy in 2010. The Browns have indicated that they will start their new QB, Brandon Weenden over McCoy.

The defending super bowl champions, the New York Giants selected David Wilson, a running back out of Virginia TEch.

The runners up, New England Patriots traded their pick to Tampa Bay, who also took a running back, Doug Martin.

And most importantly, my packers took Nick Perry, a defensive end out of USC. Clay Matthews was taken out of USC three years ago in the first round by the Packers and that turned out great for them. Hopefully Perry can bring the same.

Spring Weekend at Bonaventure

Since this is a college sports blog, I decided I should write a little bit about Spring Weekend at St. Bonaventure. The biggest weekend of the year at Bonas involves a giant softball tournament.

Every year, nearly every student on campus participates, and there are usually about 60 teams of about twenty people. Because this takes place on the weekend, a lot of kids drink alcohol before, and during the games. Sports and alcohol usually don't mix, so, almost always, the most uncoordinated softball play you'll ever see happens at Bonaventure this weekend every year.

The games start today, Thursday, and continue to sunday for the championship rounds. Hopefully the weather holds up, it has so far. Good luck to every one and have a great time!

Xavier in Trouble?

ESPN has confirmed that Xavier's Junior Guard, Mark Lyons has decided not to play for the Musketeers next year. It was reported that this stemmed through dfifferences between him and coach Chris Mack.

Lyons would take bad shots and was not smart with the ball, and didnt want to take suggestions from the coaching staff on ways to improve his game for next year., ESPN reported.

This leaves Xavier in some trouble. Four of there five starters will not be returning. Kenny Frease, Tu Holloway, and Andre Walker will also be leaving. The only returning starter is a Freshman, Dez Wells.

The Atlantic Ten will be loosing some other big names as well. St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson and Temple's Ramone Moore will be leaving due to graduation.

Should be an interesting season next year in the A-10. Who will step up?    

Yankees Amazing Comeback Against Red Sox

The one thing I love about Baseball is that its never over until its over. In football, basketball and Hockey, players play against the clock as well as each other. The pace of a game can be slowed when coaches call time outs to stop the clock. In baseball though, there are nine innings, and they don't end until three outs are made in each half of the inning.

Yesterday's Yankee game was a perfect example of this. The Yankees were down 9-0 in the 6th inning and came back to win 15-9. It started with Mark Teixeira's solo home run in the sixth. The yanks were trailing by 8 when Nick Swisher hit a grand-slam in the 7th and then a two-run double in the 8th to put the boys in pinstripes ahead.

Teixeira ended the day with 6 RBIs and homered twice. The last run of the game was by Derek Jeter who   got an RBI single that gave the Yankees their six-run lead.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was quoted after the game saying that the team had hit "rock bottom."

Its always refreshing to see a game like that. I was out of the house all day with other plans and did not get to see the game, but me, and many others felt the game was over when the yankees were down so big so late in the game. I couldn't believe the come back, but it just serves as a reminder never to count out any team in any baseball game. It aint over til its over.

Bona Basketball Prospect

With the Bonnie's men's team receiving some positive national attention for making the NCAA tournament recently, fans can expect the staff to seek out some high-level recruits for the spring signing period.

One player the staff has their eyes on is Clide Geffrard. Clide is a 6-6 senior forward from Blance Ely High School in Florida. During the state championship game, Geffrard had 33 points and 14 rebounds,

He averaged 17.3 points a game with 7.3 rebounds and over 2 steals a game. He would be a great get for the team. Many are shocked that he hasn't signed with a school yet, but he recently had his official visit with St. Bonaventure. Lets hope it went well!

Bubba Watson, Congratualations

What a way to finish out the 2012 Masters and a great showcase of a product from an American University product. University of Georgia graduate, Bubba Watson won his first major earlier this afternoon and won it in style.

During the 2nd playoff hole between Watson and Louis Oosthuizen, it looked as though the green jacket would go to the South African, Oosthuizen. His ball was just shy of the green, while Watson's was deep in the woods. Thanks to an amazing shot by Watson, he was able to get a two stroke lead on Oosthuizen and win his first Masters.

Watson's is an interesting background. He was born in Florida and attended the University of Georgia and in 2010 he lost his father due to throat cancer.  He married a former basketball player, Angie Watson, and in March, the two adopted a baby, Caleb.

Caleb and Angie were not in attendance due to Caleb being so young, but what a great moment and time for the family. Congratulations to Bubba Watson and his family.

Baseball is Back, Start Spreading the News

Its a great time to be a sports fan. Many of us are still glowing from the NCAA tournament action, the hockey playoffs are a game away, the NBA season is getting down to the wire, and oh yea, baseball is back.

I know this forum is supposed to be about college sports, but there aren't many of those going on these days, so I hope you don't mind if I write a little about the pros.

With that being said, it is an interesting time to be a yankee fan, my team. The yanks start CC Sabathia on the mound this weekend against James Shields on opening day in Tampa. The Yankees have picked up a couple of new pitchers, in Micheal Pineda from Seattle and Hiroki Kuroda from the Dodgers. Kuroda is set to start the second game of the series while Pineda is currently on the DL.

On paper, this looks like one of the Yankees strongest starting five in years, with Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes, and Freddy Garcia also in the starting five. It'll be interesting to see if they can deliver. The yankees have been known for choking with great talent.

Lastly, this could very well be closer and my favorite yankee since Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera's last season. Lets hope they get one more for him.

Top Dogs Win Again

I have to admit, every year in the NCAA tournament I root for the underdog. I also root for the upset, the small schools over any big school. Even in the championship game I'll take the underdog, even if it is a powerhouse like Kansas. However, the last three years I have been a "fan" of the loosing team. I pulled for Butler very hard against Duke, and again against UCONN, both years the big names won.

Even last night, I couldn't root for Kentucky. Not after everything Calipari has done, so I rooted for Kansas and was again disappointed. Aside from that, I was also disappointed in Kentucky for another reason. Calipari is notorious for recruiting players, to wherever he coaches, he have no interest in graduating, just going pro after one year and I've always thought that that is bad for the school they attend.

Going to a school knowing you'll play there for just a year leaves no incentive to go to class and God forbid learn anything. It makes the term "Student Athlete" a laughable one. I know Kentucky isn't the only school doing this, for example Feb Melo's horrible GPA at Syracuse, but Calipari is notorious for doing it. Many smaller schools tend to have four year students, which most likely learn a little more. This is why I pull for them every march, and of course my Bonnies.

Kansas vs Kentucky

Two historic programs going at it in the men's college basketball championship game. The last time these teams faced each other was on November, 15th and Kentucky won 75 65. The Wildcats are lead by sharp shooting Sophomore, Doron Lamb and leading scorer, Freshman Anthony Davis.

On paper, this Calipari team looks unbeatable. They find ways to win games, and have only lost two of them this year, once to Vanberbilt, and the other to a good Indiana team early in the season. 

Where this game gets interesting is with Calipari's coaching history. Remember the 2008 final four? Calipari was the Memphis Tiger's coach at the time and they made it to the championship game against, thats right, the Kansas Jay-hawks and they lost due to poor free throw shooting down the stretch. Derek Rose, currently a star on the Chicago Bulls, was on that Memphis team, but due to SAT issues, forced Memphis to vacate some wins under Calipari. 

Because of that issue, Calipari, and Rose, were subject of a lot of criticism, and many don't respect the current Kentucky coach, despite an otherwise impressive resume. Now four years later, Calipari has another shot at the championship against the same team he did four years ago. Is history repeating itself?

Can a Calipari team finally win it all? Or will we have a repeat of the 2008 finals, where just another Calipari team overflowing with talent blew it. I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Atlantic 17?

Temple is most likely going to the Big East in for the 2013/2014 season. One of the Atlantic Ten's best basketball programs will no longer be a dominant member of the conference. Instead, they head for greener pastures with the likes of Villanova, Georgetown, and UCONN.

Fans of the Atlantic Ten should have seen this coming. Bigger name conferences, such as the Big East and Pac 12, have been adopting successful teams from smaller conferences to ensure their own survival in the recent conference shake up/ mess.

Initially, many though this would mean the Atlantic 10 would loose its top programs like Xavier and Dayton. However, the A 10 has been just as active as some of the big conferences in terms of taking actions to ensure it's own survival. So it lost Temple, but now it looks as though it may gain Butler, VCU, and George Mason.

Butler's men's team has been to the championship game the last two years, VCU went to the final four last year, and who could forget MAson's terrific run only a few years back. All three teams have been no stranger to the NCAA tournament, and success in basketball in general. This would be a huge get for the conference, and make the loss of Temple irrelevant.

It doesn't end there, conference officials have also been reportedly talking to Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference about possibly joining the league, though due to distance, this seems slightly unlikely. Should all chips fall into place, this would put the Atlantic 10 at 17 teams, which is a lot. But it is also likely that UMASS and Charlotte will leave to go to football emphasized conferences in the near future.

All we know now is that the future is uncertain, but the league is setting itself up to be stronger than ever, maybe even just as good basketball wise as the Big East when all is said and done.

Bonnies Finish Great Run

"Top Seed Notre Dame demolishes No. 5 St. Bonaventure." That was the headline on ESPN.com once the Fighting Irish defeated the brown and white 79-35. Yes, the score is correct, the bonnies lost by 44 points. I watched the game at a friends house and we were all excited for the game to start. Yes, we knew it was Notre Dame, one of the best teams in the country, but we didn't expect to see the game we saw from the Bonnies, keeping it close would have been nice.

By the second half the game was so out of hand that it was unwatchable. Since then, the game itself has been a rough subject to bring up. The team didn't play like themselves and the score really showed it.

However, in addition to all the "well they had a great run" talk, I'd like to add in another positive spin to this season. SBU will likely never win a national championship in basketball, men's or women's. They had their chance back in the 70's when Lanier blew out his knee. Since then, money has taken over college athletics and SBU simply doesn't have enough to play with the big boys. But to me, thats what makes this school special, and what the girls proved to the country this year. They played their hearts out and what was shown throughout the community was maybe reward enough. For a school this small and a budget even smaller, I think what the team did is incredible. In the end, I'd much rather go to a school like this that looses in the third round with that much passion from the community than to a bigger school that is too used to it to care. Remember, only one school in the country wins the championship, so when all others loose, they can only hope for a ride as fun as the Bonnies gave us this year. 

Bonnies Go Dancing

     As corny as it sounds, I wanted to go to a passionate school for college. I would never admit it to my parents, but I wanted a place where the students cared about where they went, and had pride in their school colors, no matter how bad the sports teams, no matter how bad the weather, no matter how bad the food or roads where. After nearly four years, I'm glad to say I'ev never made a smarter decision than the one to attend St. Bonaventure.

 I've been to many Bona baseball games, soccer games, men’s and women’s basketball games. Many times, they break my heart, but along with most students that I attend school with, we all keep coming back from the next one.

 On Sunday, perhaps one of the best days for Bonaventure sports in the past 30 years, the Bonnies men’s and women’s teams gave this school, this community something that it has been hungry for for 12 years, NCAA tournament Bids.

 I was in Atlantic City when the guys one. I was almost in tears. The pride displayed by all students was remarkable. I've never witnessed passion that great for any place or team.

 At seven o clock on Monday night, there was a selection show to announce where the girls basketball team would play. The Rielly Center went nuts when St. Bonaventure came on the screen.

 We may not be Duke or UNC winning national titles, but the pride and excitement may be greater. I've never been prouder to be a Bonnie at a great school with great people. Go Bonaventure, go brown and white.

 

Bonnies Run Comes to an End

Ask anyone in Western New York about the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team and most will tell you the same thing, "Those girls can really play." Up until last night, the team had not lost since December 29th, against Big East member, Villanova. The Bonnies won every single conference game and made it to the finals of the Atlantic Ten conference tournament against Dayton. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end at some point, which is exactly what happened last night.

My friends and I watched the team embarrass themselves in the first half. At one point, they were down 22 points and couldn’t make a shot or keep from turning the ball over. But like they have all season, the team fought back and made a run before half.

The second half the team came out firing and with under two minutes to go, actually lead the game by one point. Unfortunately, a foul was called, putting Dayton at the line, which would lead to a Flyers lead and an eventual Dayton win.

I, as well as many other Bonnies fans, was heart broken. The team played hard all year and was just minutes away from there first every Conference title, only to have it ripped away by another team. Once I stopped fretting about the loss, it occurred to me that nearly every team in the country in college basketball ends their season on a loss. Unless the team wins the NCAA tournament or the NIT, they are bound to be disappointed at some point. With that being said, the Bonnies had an incredible season, taking the program where it has never been brought before. They fought hard in every game up until the end and game the school positive attention.

Congratulations on a great season and good luck in the NCAA, Bonnies. Don’t let one loss get you down. 

Senior Night After Thoughts

Seniors Da'Quan Cook and Andrew Nicholson were honored on Saturday for Senior night. Cook had nine and Nicholson had 32 in a 81-61 win over the visiting Rhode Island Rams. Nicholson recieved a standing ovation before delivering his second 30 point plus performance of the season. Honoring these two was a joyful occasion, but both will surely be missed.

Both starters have helped take the program out of the Atlantic Ten cellar to becoming relvent again. Even if this team doesn't win, its in every game in large part thanks to those two.

Though their absense will leave a big hole, what they have done for the program will not be forgotten, and that was made apparent on Saturday night. Go bonnies

St. Bonaventure vs Temple

On Wednesday, the Bonnies men's team will attempt to accomplish what they haven't been able to do in ten years. The year was 2002, and the Bonnies were hosting the Temple Owls. JR Bremer lead the Bonnies to a 93, 74 thrashing of the Owls. Since that night in Wednesday night in mid January over a decade ago, the two teams have met at least once a year, with every outcome resulting in a Temple win. Now the Bonnies host Temple at home ten years later.

So what makes Wednesday so different? Why should Bonnie fans even get there hopes up for a win this week when they'd surely be setting themselves up for heartbreak? Because despite how terrible this team plays on the road, the Bonnies have played fantastic at home this season, including double digit wins over very good Richmond and Duquesne teams. The team has not lost at the Rielly Center since December 1st against Arkansas State. Nicholson has been playing like the NBA prospect we've been hoping for recently, and Chris Johnson has really made a name for himself recently.

Temple has lost only five games this season, but two of those have come from teams that Bonaventure has beaten, Richmond and Dayton. I would not be surprised if the team or lost this week, but I do expect a close game. Go Bonnies.

Introduction

Hello everyone. I've decided to start a blog about college sports. Given that I attend St. Bonaventure University, a lot of what I write will have to do with Bonaventure sports teams. However, I will also be offering my opinion on other popular topics in the college sports world.

I'd like to start this blog with a background of who I am and why I'm writing on this topic. I'm a native of upstate New York but have moved around a lot. I've lived in different college towns and experienced different attitudes towards college sports, most notably Chestertown, Maryland that lives and breaths Washington College Lacrosse and Newark, Delaware who's football team went to the National Championship when I lived there.

Coming to Bonaventure only enchanced my intrigue of college sports, particularly basketball, which is a large part of the culture here. This is a topic I feel comfortable writing about and hope that others can benfit from. More to come soon. Enjoy!