Blitz

How does everyone feel about it? Some of the ratings have me turned off to the game already, but I'm hoping to find a good roster update before diving into Franchise mode.

Yea, Dallas' offense was incredible last year. Romo can be a SuperBowl winning quarterback, he just needs a defense that doesn't require him to put up three-four touchdowns a game to be competitive. I think our starters on defense are capable, they just need quality depth. You saw that with New York last year, if you can just roll in new guys on the line and keep them fresh, you have a huge leg up.

Deron Williams staying with the Nets and the Bobcats winning the NBA title this year have roughly the same statistical likelihood of happening Unless Dwight forces his way to New Jersey. I'm not counting out the Lakers making a deal where they get both Deron and Dwight.

Witcha State just lost, meaning there will be two teams from the MVC in the tourney.

That actually crossed my mind. Apparently the locker room is fed up with Odom, and if he doesn't get it together in the next couple of games, I think he'll be gone.

I really want to see him committed and get back into form. He'd be an awesome addition to the team, and considering his production this year, it would be like making a mid season trade without giving up anything. With a wide open field this year, an Odom giving us 12-15 a game might make us contenders again.

A lot of people have been talking about Odom the past couple weeks in Dallas. Our support as fans go about as far as the other player's in the locker room does. Apparently the latest drama in his life has been about his father in LA being ill. That would completely warrant a trip from Odom, but with his wife on talk shows talking about the two going to strip clubs and such while the Mavs go through the toughest stretch of the season (9 games in 12 days), it makes you wonder about Odom. I wish nothing but the best for the guy, but if it has taken him this long to get to a place mentally to play ball, maybe it's time to hang it up.

Odom actually has a year guaranteed on his contract for next year, about $2.4M, but the assumption is Dallas will send the money as part of the deal so they can cut him. I can't see him playing on the Mavs again after the humiliation of playing in the D-League.

I would be shocked if Brees and the Saints don't work it out. He single handedly kept that franchise alive during and afterHurricane Katrina, gave them a SuperBowl, and consistent contenders. His demands are a tad outrageous, and I think they'll settle somewhere in between each other's offers.

Ray Rice is supposed to get the franchise tag today.

One deal discussed on Dallas sports radio this afternoon was a deal centered around: Boston gets: Lamar Odom Phoenix gets: Rajon Rondo Dallas gets: Steve Nash Of course, there'd be more to the deal, but it centers around Phoenix getting a great deal for Nash, Boston cleaning up a ton of cap space for next year and Nash reuniting with Dirk in Dallas.

I don't think you can argue where the Pistons went the year immediately following the draft...but look where they are now. They've completely whiffed as an organization since that Finals loss to the Spurs.

I'm going to a game in San Antonio on Sunday night, so there will be at least one pseudo-Nuggets fan at that game.

Well Marquette just lost their shot at a #1 seed. ESPN Insider has the current number ones as Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse and Kansas. 2 seeds are North Carolina, Missouri, Duke and Ohio State. 3 seeds are Baylor, Georgetown, Michigan and Marquette. 4 seeds are Louisville, Florida, Indiana, Wisconsin.

It depends on your view of the big man. Did Dallas win last year moreso because of Chandler or Dirk? the Celtics may have gone back to back if Perkins doesn't hurt his knee, but Garnett was their best big before the team got old. Gasol plays like a little man and Bynum's health issues always come up late in the year, at least when he's not assaulting JJ Barea I'm not saying that size isn't important. I'm just saying that the low post big man is largely irrelevant in the NBA right now. Miami, OKC and Chicago have the best records in the league and other than Perkins or Noah I don't think any old school "big" on those teams necessarily would be a must have addition to any other playoff caliber team. Guys like Durant, Bosh on the other hand would be more valuable to pretty much any team in the league. I guess what I'm saying is that an athletic 6'6-6'8 guy is more of a necessity in the league than someone over 7 feet tall and yet the big, stiff trees still get drafted ahead of them most of the time simply because they are tall. Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum are the only two traditional bigs who anyone would draft in the top 30 or 40 if you had a dispersal draft of everyone in the league right now, and I don't know that they would be picked in the top 10 simply because neither guy is going to lead you to a title on their own, or as the main piece of a duo/trio. Dallas wouldn't have won without Tyson Chandler. Granted, we wouldn't have won without Dirk, either, but TC brought some nasty to our defense that we had never seen before in Dallas. Look at us this year, we're probably the same team (if not better in other spots), minus TC, and we don't really scare anyone as far as being a title contender.

Why did Detroit even want another big man? Didn't they still have both Wallace's under contract?

#1 seeds? Kentucky, Kansas, Duke or UNC, Syracuse?

Texas is team A, Mississippi State is team B. Both are on the bubble, and I think you'd give the nod to Texas there. They're in a deeper conference and have actually pulled through .500 so far, compared to Mississippi State who's on a five game losing streak.

If they are making continuations of games, I want to see a Red/Blue 2 before anything else.

Maybe they assume people will be out of the house on Friday night and will have better things to do than watch football. Or they could death trap us into watching the game Wednesday night.

Yea, Darko's confidence was shattered during his tenure in Detroit. He had monumental expectations put on his from draft day, not just because of his position, but because of those around him. He never averaged more than seven minutes per game while he was there, but after getting playing time on the Magic he started 7.6 PPG and 2.1 BPG in just 20.9 minutes. Those are solid averages for just under two quarters, especially for a guy who was basically left for dead by the league.

Mystery Team A: 18-11 (8-8), RPI: 55, SOS: 29 Mystery Team B: 19-10 (6-8), RPI: 63, SOS: 68 You'd take team A, right?

I guess the system I have in mind is more for intended to create league depth. Sure, there are those that can make it in the NBA based soley on their athleticism or size. But if players were slowly integrated into the NBA instead of thrust into the league with high expectations they may stand a better chance of succeeding. It would be interesting to see what two years of development and maturity could have done to guys like Sebastian Telfair, Darko Milicic, and Shaun Livingston.

I think a good numbers of athletes will still go to college. The competition will be better in college than it would be in the NBDL, meaning the 20 year old coming out of University of Kentucky will be considerably better than the 20 year old coming out of the Bakersfield Jam. I'd argue that being on a stage like the NBDL, the way it's currently configured, would stunt a player's growth and he might never meet his potential.

Okay EWB community, let's figure out who's in the tournament and who's out. I'll post who's expected to get automatic invites based on conference tournament wins, and then we'll fill out the rest. America East: Stony Brook, 20-8 (14-2) Atlantic 10: Temple, 22-6 (11-3) ACC: Duke, 25-4 (12-2) North Carolina, Florida State Atlantic Sun: Belmont, 24-7 (16-2) Big 12: Kansas, 25-5 (15-2) Baylor, Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas State Big East: Syracuse, 29-1 (16-1) Marquette, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame Big Sky: Weber State, 23-4 (14-1) Big South: UNC-Asheville, 21-9 (16-2) Big Ten: Michigan State, 24-5 (13-3) Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin Big West: Long Beach State, 21-7 (14-0) Colonial Athletic Association: Drexel, 25-5 (16-2) Conference USA: Memphis, 21-8 (11-3) Horizon League: Valparaiso, 21-10 (14-4) Ivy League: Harvard, 24-4 (10-2) MAAC: Iona, 24-6 (15-3) Mid-American: Akron, 20-9 (12-2) MEAC: Savannah State, 20-10 (13-2) Missouri Valley: Wichita State, 26-4 (16-2) Mountain West: UNLV, 24-6 (8-4) San Diego State, New Mexico Northeast: LIU Brooklyn, 22-8 (16-2) Ohio Valley: Murray State, 28-1 (15-1) Pac-12: Washington, 20-8 (13-3) Patriot League: Bucknell, 22-8 (12-2) SEC: Kentucky, 28-1 (14-0) Florida, Vanderbilt Southern: Davidson, 22-7 (16-2) Southland: Texas-Arlington, 22-6 (14-0) SWAC: Mississippi Valley State, 18-11 (17-0) Summit League: Oral Roberts, 26-5 (17-1) Sun Belt: Middle Tennessee, 25-5 (14-2) West Coast: Saint Mary's, 25-5 (14-2) WAC: Nevada, 23-5 (11-1) That's 31 automatic invites, out of the 68 invites. Let's fill out the rest.