After an exciting opening week of
Major League Baseball and weekend full of Final 4 action, the madness
continues. Who will bask in the joy of college basketball's ultimate celebration? Whose story will echo as One Shining Moment?
Tonight, the No. 1 overall seed
Louisville Cardinals will face the fourth-seeded Michigan Wolverines. Meanwhile,
the Cincinnati Reds continue their unenviable schedule to start the season with
a three-game series beginning today at National League Central Division rival
St. Louis.
The only day of the year I typically root
for Ohio State is the day the Buckeyes play Michigan, so it’s hard to root for
Michigan, even if they are the underdog. As my luck would have it, should
Michigan prevail, I will win $50 in a small bracket, so it’s not hard to guess
where my rooting interest lies tonight.
In any other circumstance, I would be
cheering for Louisville. It’s not hard to root for the Cardinals after seeing
the team come together in the face of Kevin Ware’s gruesome broken leg injury.
I waited for Louisville’s collapse in the following minutes. Duke typically seizes
upon any opportunity it gets, but Louisville played through the adversity and surprisingly
triumphed.
The Cardinals roster also features a
Cincinnati native in forward Chane Behanan, an Aiken graduate. Behanan spurned
the Cincinnati Bearcats in favor of rival Louisville. It hurts to see a guy
like Behanan choose to leave for another opportunity. Imagine where the ’Cats
could have been the past two seasons with Behanan. Nonetheless, it’s nice to
see a hometown guy playing an integral role and reaching such a stage as the
NCAA Championship game.
I anticipate a fast-paced, though not
necessarily high-scoring game. On paper, I like the matchup. As much as it
pains me to root for Michigan, I recognize the team’s talent. Trey Burke has further
developed into a leader as the tournament has progressed. Burke and fellow
guard Tim Hardaway Jr. represent one of the toughest frontcourts in the nation.
Fittingly, they’ll battle against an equally impressive guard duo in Peyton
Siva and Russ Smith.
With an improving Caris LeVert, a
one-time Ohio University commit, and surging Mitch McGary, this will be no “cake-walk”
for Louisville.
Ohio, by the way, is the last team to defeat Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.
My prediction: Michigan 65,
Louisville 62
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On the baseball front, the NL
Central-leading Reds begin their first road trip of the season at the
second-place Cardinals. St. Louis will play host to Cincinnati for the
Cardinals’ home-opener 4:15 p.m. today. The Reds enter the three-game series
with a one-game lead on the Cards.
Through six games, I’m pleased with
the Reds’ 4-2 record after facing back-to-back tough opponents in the Los
Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Washington Nationals.
One of my main criticisms of the Reds
in recent years is Cincinnati underperforms against baseball’s best arms. The
Reds showed they can match the offensive firepower of the Angels and Sunday,
Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto out-dueled Nationals standout Stephen Strasburg, even
though Cueto did not have his best stuff.
Hopefully, the Reds can take two of
three from the Cardinals to maintain hold of the Central and keep the momentum
moving forward.
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In other news, I should be back to
covering some West Virginia high school sports this week for The Charleston
Daily Mail.
I have not been able to cover
anything since the WVSSAC boys basketball state tournament in early March. On
two occasions, I had an assigned baseball game rained/snowed out. Last week, my
assigned softball game was cancelled due to rain.
This week, I’m scheduled for two
track stories and a baseball article.
I’ll be heading to Poca High School
Tuesday evening to interview Buffalo runner Dylan Rich for a feature that will
appear in Wednesday’s Daily Mail sports section. Rich, a distance runner, has
improved to become one of the area’s top runners and could be one of state’s
few challengers to perennial threat Jacob Burcham, of Cabell Midland.
In addition, on Tuesday, I will look
to interview some other local track athletes and coaches as I put together a
preview on George Washington’s upcoming home track meet. That preview article
will run in Friday’s sports section of the Daily Mail.
On Wednesday evening, I’ll be at St.
Albans as the Red Dragons baseball team will play host to the Capital Cougars. I’ve
yet to research either team really, but from my preseason previews, I know St.
Albans is a youthful bunch. No matter the outcome, I’m very much looking
forward to covering my first baseball game of the season. Look for that article
in Thursday’s edition of the Daily Mail.
Thanks for visiting the blog. I’ll be
posting supplemental updates throughout the week of my coverage with The Daily
Mail.
Later in the week, I plan to hit on
some Ohio Bobcats football as I plan to visit Athens for the annual Green-White
Spring Game on Saturday.
Great read! ;)
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