Improving The Stock

This week in Indianapolis Indiana is the NFL scouting combine, where the top college players go to show off their skills to the scouts of all 32 NFL scouts. Participating in many drills and activities based on their position. Many high profile quarterbacks are entered in this years draft, but out of those Quarterbacks the one most scouts say is impressing them the most is the former West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown.

Brown is a 6'4 223 pound quarterback, which is a great size for the NFL. He came into the combine with questions about his decision making and accuracy, but so far in the combine he has done nothing but impress the scouts in those two areas, increasing his draft stock incredibly. Adam Kaplan a senior NFL writer said "No quarterback has helped himself more from late-January through late February. I can't see how Brown makes it out of the third round based on his upside alone." referring to Brown.

Going from a possibly undrafted quarterback to a possible first, second or third round pick is a huge improvement. On most lists he is moving above huge college stars like Colt McCoy and Jevan Snead. Who both were looked at as first round or even top 10 picks. A lot of people figured after his Gator Bowl injury this year it might be the last we would see of Jarrett, but with these recent developments its just brings smiles to the faces of many a people who like to see the success of a kid they used to watch every Saturday.

Showing the Toughness

Most teams, when down to an unranked opponent by 11 at halftime and 16 five minutes into the second half, would roll over and just kinda stop playing. Thats the situation the number 6 West Virginia Mountaineers faced on Saturday up in Madison Square Garden. Against a St. Johns team on a four game skid and a 2-7 record in confrence play.
After a timeout with 17 miunutes left in the half coach Bob Huggins talked to his team which was down 16 points. After that speach they seemed to come out with a burning desire to come back and win the game.
The team came out on fire, not missing a single three point shot in the second half, Da'sean Butler lead all socrers with 33 points going 7-7 from three point territory. It was just a truly remarkable comeback as they took the lead with nine minutes left in the game and just kept pouring it on from there. Going from being down by 16 points to a win by 19 just shows the heart and the ability to turn it on when needed which will be huge come tournament time. I honestly can see this team making the elite eight and making a push toward the national championship this year.

Beast of the East

So far this season the Cats have been very impressive, with most of the spotlight being shone on starting point guard John Wall, but as of late the focus might be moving toward another star player on the roster.
Lately the cats have been looking toward DeMarcus Cousins to step up and play at a higher level and boy has he stepped up to the plate. He is leading the nation in rebounds and points per minute. With his performance Saturday matched up with one of the better centers in the nation, he established his dominance in the paint. Tossing him around like a rag doll and having his way in the post. Averaging 16 points and 9 rebounds a game, he has some of the best numbers in a nation at his position.
There is one downfall when it comes to DeMarcus though. He tends to have trouble staying on the court. Foul trouble has been an issue from the start of the season with him. Based on the stats he would be averaging about 40 points and 24 rebounds if he were to play all 40 minutes in a game, which are some incredible numbers for anyone to average.

NIT to Number One?

Here in Lexington, Kentucky nothing is bigger than the University of Kentucky's Men's Basketball team. After the firing of former head coach Tubby Smith three years ago, we were looking into bringing in the next best coach to return the program to its traditional greatness, but we ended up going in the opposite direction. We hired former Texas A&M head coach Billy Gillespie, which at the time seemed like a great hire due to Gillespie's great coaching resume, but after a dismal first season entitling barely sneaking into the NCAA tournament and a second season where the most winning program in college basketball history got invited to the NIT? Yeah, he definitely got run out of town, along with a DUI.
This season though, after the huge hire of John Calipari and the number one recruiting class in the nation, the Cats have made an amazing turn around. If the Cats go out and take care of business this Saturday against the Arkansas Razorbacks, then they will lock up the title of number one team in the nation. Isn't that just remarkable, going from not being labeled as one of the top 65 teams in the nation to the possible number one team in the nation. That is one of the greatest turnarounds in the programs long and historic existence, and with the possible National Championship in the future this team has the chance to leave their mark on the bluegrass forever.

Consistently Inconsistant

Off to one of the best starts in school history the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team has been playing very well of late. Behind stars John Wall, Patrick Patterson, Demarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe the cats have manages to jump out to an 18-0 record and a number two ranking in both major polls, but there is one piece of the puzzle that could make this team one of the best of all time, and its not missing, its just not producing. Darius Miller is the name of this piece of the puzzle.
Darius is a sophmore forward who played a key roll in what little success the wildcats had last year and was bright bulb in the dim chandelier of the Kentucky BAsketball program, but after the firing of former head coach Billy Gillespie and the hiring of John Calipari and the new dribble drive offense Miller's future started to look even brighter. Yet so far this season he hasn't been living up to the expectations, and its not that the talent isn't there, he has his moments of greatness and glimpses of what he can do, but he is so inconsistant.
He is the key, if he can start producing on a more consistant basis this could be one of the best teams in the history of college basketball in its entirety. Everyone in Big Blue Nation knows that its there, they are just waiting for him to shine.

The Great Wall

One of the most amazingly smooth things i have ever seen in my life is the transition of John Wall going from High School Basketball to playing at one of the most prestiged basketball schools in the nation. He went from a senior in high school to coming out and destroying people on the next level. He is leading the team in scoring, assists and in steals, and that is for the number two team in the nation? Thats insane. How does the kid do it? Its quite remarkable.