Off Topic, But my Favorite

So I am sitting at my computer (yeah we finally are rolling with internet in our place...what a relief) and I just watched the first long sports highlight that I have watched since being in Italy. I love reading Bill Simmons, and he's the best blogger in the world, so I figured now that I have a blog I could throw a little sports into the mix.

Honestly, it has been so weird not knowing everything that is going on in the sporting world like I do when I am at home. Sure, I still follow the Illini religiously, but outside of that, unless it has been a headline on ESPN mobile, I haven't read it. So when I watched the sportscenter highlight of the day from yesterday, it made me miss sports, and especially college basketball.

So many people talk about how college basketball trumps the NBA, and up until recently I have been a strong supporter of that arguement. The NBA had a huge down period where players, like Larry Hughes, who only cared about themselves and their contracts ruled "the league". Last year's playoffs really changed the NBA. You had guys like LeBron, KG and Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, and Kobe (even Melo is starting to get it, and Wade is back) all leading their teams in the playoffs. You could see it in their body language, these guys really wanted to win games. When the NBA has guys like them (and even younger players like Roy and Rose, who truly turn it on when it matters...Beasley is a whole different story, but I could talk about that for hours...) playing with that level of skill the NBA is dirty.

But to what I originally wanted to write about...The highlight that I keep referring to was Pitt-UConn. I liked Pitt a lot last year, and they disappointed a little (although Westbrook definitely got a way with one in the tourney…) but this team is incredible to watch. The fire that those guys I mentioned above have is what makes them special. Pitt has two guys on their team who play with that fire, and I haven’t even talked about Sam Young yet. Levance Fields and DeJuan Blair are two of my favorite players in college basketball, and both starters on my all-thug team (with DeJuan Summers, Tyler Smith, and Chester Frazier…that team would win a lot of games). Fields doesn’t make mistakes and has a knack for hitting big shots in the course of the game, he’s just a gamer. Blair is the strongest player in college hoops. He puts up games that only a few others can (see Spencer Griffin, Thabeet, and Harrangody) and just scares people. They both show so much fire and emotion, the way the game should be played (uhh Davis, DMac please take notes) that others around them have to be intense. So yeah, this team is good and my February guarantee NCAA title winner (check back in March and April for a new team).

JK