Player to watch in 2011: Larry Gibbs

Every year in college football, a team has a couple role players from the previous season step up and have standout seasons. This year the San Diego Aztecs have one on defense in #93 Larry Gibbs, a Senior from Ramona High School in Riverside, CA. Last season Gibbs showed promise when, in his first bit of meaningful playing time, sacked Colorado State Quarterback Pete Thomas. With his play in that game, it showed that the young Defensive End was ready to step in and contribute on a down to down basis.

Coming off a 9-4 (5-3 in conference) year in 2010, the Aztecs are primed to make a legitimate run at the Mountain West Conference title and will need players to step up and be clutch, especially against teams like Boise St. and TCU. Having seen Gibbs play since his High School days, I have seen the maturation in his game. Once a player looking to land the “hit stick” on his opposition, Gibbs is now a wrap-up tackler with good field vision. At 6’0 240 lbs, Gibbs could be labeled undersized, but with his quick first step and determination to drag down the ball carrier, Gibbs’ game could be compared to another “small” pass rusher in the Denver Broncos’ Elvis Dumervil, who has been very successful in his career. With Quarterbacks like Denard Robinson of Michigan and Kellen Moore of Boise St on this years schedule, a sack or two in those games could elevate his profile into more scouts  eyes and more W’s in his teams back pocket.

 

Darren Sims, Jr

http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/481175/larry-gibbs

War Eagle!!!

After tonights game I hope to be ordering an “Auburn Tigers National Champion” t-shirt. Having been a fan of Auburn for the last 9 years, i’ve seen really good players and teams come through the system. In 2004 Auburn should have played for the National Title but thats old news now. This season’s team is arguably better than that team, and is undefeated and read to take on the Pac 10′s Oregon Ducks.  Hopefully Cam Newton and co. will be able to wear down the Oregon defense and Nick Fairley and the defense will be able to slow down Chip Kelly’s video game offense and win this game. It should be a slugfest as both teams score and score fast. I think Auburn’s front seven will be the key to the game. If Fairley and co can get in the backfield and disrupt the flow of Darron Thomas, it will be a long night for Oregon. Auburn will have trouble stopping the pass so stuffing the run will be the key. Oregon will be looking to slow down Cam Newton and they may have early success but I think the bigger Auburn line will wear down the Oregon defense by running it right at em and chewing up clock. I believe Auburn wins the National Championship tonight in a thrilling 45-41 game and Cam Newton will be Most Outstanding Player. WAR EAGLE!

Darren

R.I.P John Wooden

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/news/story?id=5253601

One of the greatest basketball coaches of all-time, the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden passed away at 99 years of age. Wooden passed of natural causes at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Wooden coached for 27 years, winning ten National Championships, including a crazy 7 in a row, jumpstarted the careers of Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and changed the way the game was coached by many people. Wooden is,was,and always will be a legend and posted numbers that are highly unlikely to be matched. Coach Wooden was to UCLA as much as George Washington was to the United States of America. (Yes he is that symbolic). Wooden will be missed.

Darren

Calipari tweets “I’ll be back at Kentucky”

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5188662

After last nights’ loss to the Boston Celtics, the Lebron James free agent saga unofficially began. James and his agent(s) have said he will explore his options and many believe he is headed to the NEw York Knicks. Well one person who wont be going with him is Kentucky Wildcats basketball coach John Calipari. After some speculation that he could get hired on wherever James ends up, Calipari shot thos rumors down by tweeting, “I’ve said many times that I’ve got the best job in the country. Still the speculation runs wild and I can’t stop that. I want to address this with the Big Blue Nation one last time, I will be coaching at Kentucky next year. Now let’s finish what we started!”

This was obviously going to be shot down as just a couple weeks ago Calipari was on ESPN radio saying how much fun he had last year and how he likes the challenge of the collge game. One other thing that makes me believe he wont go pro is that he’s a tough sell against the likes of Phil Jackson, Doc Rivers, Greg Poppovich etc due to the fact that he’s never won at the NBA level. I think Calipari stays and Lebron goes to one of five places, the Knicks, back to Cleveland, the Nets, the Clippers or the Bulls with an outside shot of him going to the Spurs (older,playoff experienced team who could string some moves and get him). Good luck to Coach Calipari and to Lebron this summer and next year.

Darren

NCAA releases women AP All Americans

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=5040771

Today the NCAA released it AP All-American teams, (1st,2nd,3rd), and with no suprise Maya Moore of UCONN headed the pack with her third time being a first team All-American. Teaming with her were her UCONN teammate Tina Charles, Nebraska’s Kelsey Griffin, Virginia’s Monica Wright, and Ohio State’s Jantel Lavender.While I agree with the team to a certain extent, I believe Second-team All-American Brittney Griner of Baylor should’ve replaced someone on this list. Griner, in my opinion, is the most dominant player in the game and probably top 5 all-time. She single handedly changed games for Baylor this season and I believe got short changed due to her incident earlier this season. But that is just my opinion.

Teaming with Griner on the Second-Team were Oklahoma State’s Andrea Riley, Stanford’s Jayne Appel and sophomore Nnemka Ogwumike, Middle Tennessee State’s Alysha Clark. The Third-Team consisted of Oklahoma’s Danielle Robinson, Duke’s Jasmine Thomas, Kentucky’s Victoria Dunlap, Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne and Xavier’s Amber Harris. Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne is back in the game and it was good to see her have success this season and earn these honors. Congrats to all of the girls receiving All-American honors.

Darren

NCAA Sweet Sixteen preview (West/East Regions)

In what has been an exciting and suprising tournament, the NCAA tournament continues tonight with the opening Sweet Sixteen games. The West and East regions continue play tonight, while the Midwest and South regions suit up tomorrow. In the West region, we have #1 Syracuse locking horns with #5 Butler, and #2 Kansas St meeting up with #6 Xavier. Both of these games are interesting matchups and should provide solid entertainment.

First off with the Cuse/Butler game, Butler, a very good positional defense team, will be looking to slow down Wesley Johnson and the Orangemen. The way Butler wins this game is by shooting Cuse right out of their zone defense. Butler can shoot the lights out and if they get off to a quick start the Orangemen will fall. In my opinion Butler can win this game but will need to play 40 minutes of solid basketball to do so. My pick: Butler by 1

Next up with Kansas St and Xavier. I was suprised that Xavier got this far as I had them losing to Pittsburgh in my bracket. Kansas St had cruised past North Texas and worked a little bit against BYU, but tonight they will need to slow down a hungry Xavier team who could very well pull off the upset. I think Kansas St will need to work the inside and wear down Xavier and once the opening comes out on the perimeter, knock em down and put em away. My pick: Kansas St by 6

Now on to the East Region. John Wall and Kentucky face off with suprise Cornell in a game that many will have thier eyes on. Wall and Kentucky like to get out and run, dunk, and clean up the misses on offense and Cornell will have to limit Kentucky’s transition buckets in order to win. I think Cornell has a shot but I don’t see Kentucky losing at this point. Wall and Demarcus Cousins should control this game and easily win. My pick: Kentucky by 10

In the game i’m most looking forward to tonight, Isaiah Thomas and co. will go head up with West Virginia. This game will be high scoring and down to the wire in my personal opinion. After losing guard Darrell Bryant, West Virgina will be a man down and Washington is not the team to be down against. Thomas and Quincy Pondexter can both shoot and rack up the points and will look to get out early on West Virginia and shoot them to their tournament graves. Da’Sean Butler and co. will have to step it up a little bit tonight and bring it, especially on the defensive end. The Huskies are on a roll and I think it could continue tonight. My pick: Washington by 1

Daren

2010 NCAA Bracket 1st Rd thoughts

Well its March Madness time once again. 65 teams battling it out for the right to be crowned “NCAA National Champions.” Who will it be this year? Defending champs North Carolina are a #4 seed… In the NIT, meaning we will not have a repeat champion. There are some stars in the tourney, John Wall of Kentucky and Evan Turner of Ohio State lead the pack, and there are some “unknown” teams and some suprises as usual. I will give you my thoughts on some of the 1sr round matchups so lets go.

The #1 seeds for this year are; Kentucky,Duke,Kansas and Syracuse. All four teams should easily advance to the next round with my guess being none of them keep the game close and all win by at least 10. I see all the #2 seeds advancing as well, (Ohio St,Kansas St, Villanova and West Virginia). Easy enough there. Upsets will happen this year, as they do annually, and one I can see happening is #13 Murray St over #4 Vanderbilt. Murray St is one of those teams that can shoot the ball and if they get going early it will be hell for Vandy to keep up. One suprise tourney appearance is Houston. Houston has not been in the Tournament in years, 18 to be exact, and will give Maryland fits in its effort to become a strong basketball school once again.

I think the 1st round of play will be highlighted by guys like Evan Turner, Tweety Carter (Baylor), John Wall and Sherron Collins (Kansas) having big games and putting their teams into the rd of 32. Look out though as this is the time of the year when guys kick it up a notch and shine. Last year it was Memphis’ Roburt Sullie who nailed 10 3-pointers and had an amazing game. Whoever does so this year will surely help his team out in a big way. This bracket is filled with alot of good teams and if the favorites Kentucky and Kansas happen to falter, who knows who will end up on top.

Darren

Army bball fired head coach

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4499339

 

After posting a terrible 22-76 record in the Patriot league, the Black Knights fired head coach Jim Crews. Gene Marshall will take over the reigns in the meantime. Its a shame that our military atheltics cannot compete at the level of some of the other division 1 schools. Hopefully Armys change in coaches will benefit the academy and allow them to improve in basketball.

Darren

Stephen Strasburg-The buzz

As most people know, Stephen Strasburg was drafted #1 overall by the Washington Nationals. Straburg, a pitcher at San Diego St, has been givin the label of “The best college pitcher in NCAA history.” Many compare his buzz to that of Mark Prior when he came out of college back in 2001. Many baseball fans remember Prior getting the biggest bonus in history ($10.5 million), and remember the long list of injuries he’s suffered over his career. The Nationals have til August 17th to sign Strasburg and more than likely will break the Cubs record by offering anywhere from $20 million on up to $50 million. Is he worth it?

Many view Strasburg as a talented,young,hard-throwing righty with so much upside that he might not even need to pitch in the minor leagues. I was able to get in contact with a major league scout (who asked to be anonimous), what he thought about Strasburg. “He has all the tools to be successful at the Major League level now. He has great control, great focus and I wouldnt be suprised to see him win a Cy Young at an early age.” Could we see another Roger Clemens type career from Strasburg? (Minus the PEDs alligations) From what ive seen from him I wouldnt be all that suprised to see him win a couple Cy Young awards.

The buzz around San Diego St. in regards to baseball and Stephen Strasburg is at an all-time high. First you have a Hall Of Famer in coach Tony Gwynn, you have a team that made it into the NCAA playoffs, and you have the #1 pick in the MLB draft at your school. I asked Larry Gibbs, a sophomore defensive lineman for the football team, what he thought of the Strasburg situation at school. “Its crazy! You can’t go anywhere without someone talking about him or baseball. He’s very talented and the publicity for him is well deserved. He’s a beast and will do well at the next level.” In my opinion when scouts,major league general managers, national media outlets, and athletes from other sports are all endorsing you, you have TALENT.

You may ask, “Has he peformed well enough to have all this buzz?” or “Is he really worth all that money?” In short the answer is he has pitched outstanding in his college career and he is worth a record signing bonus. He has done everything from striking out 23 in a game (vs Utah),to tossing a no-hitter (vs Air Force), to going 13-1 with and ERA of 1.32 and a K/BB ratio of 195/19. If I were the Nationals i’d offer up around $20-25 million and get him signed ASAP. Washington needs a player of his magnitude because things arent going very well for them at the moment (last in the NL East,20GB). The impact this man will have on the team and the MLB will be beneficial for all parties involved an many fans,myself included, will be tuning in every 5th day to a Nationals game to see what he does in the Big Leagues.

 

Darren