NFL Draft: N2N

With the college football season over it is now time to turn our heads towards the 2011 nfl draft. Everyone is familiar with Cam Newton, Patrick Peterson and Nick Fairly, but what about the other guys, the guys that might not go in the first round but have the potential to be stars. The first player in our nfl draft: need to know is UNC DT Marvin Austin.

Stats: Coming out of high school Austin was ranked as the 3rd best prospect in country and was the USA Today's National Defensive Player of the Year. In 2007 Austin was named to the freshman All-American team and was First Team Freshmen All ACC Team.

Freshmen yr: 26 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 4 sacks
Sophomore yr: 38 tackles, 1 sack, 1 int
Junior yr: 42 tackles, 4 sacks

You may wonder why there are no stats for Austin's senior season and there is a good reason for that. Austin missed the entire season after he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for accepting illegal benefits from agents. Several Tar Heel players were suspended for accepting benefits from agents however Austin was the only player kicked off the team.

Analysis:
Pass rush: Austin has a good initial burst off the snap. Strong hands to grasp and discard the blocker and demonstrates good use of swim and rip moves to gain clearance. Good straight-line speed, agility and balance to track the quarterback. Good use of leverage and boasts a powerful leg drive for the bull rush. Austin will also get his hands up and disrupt throws. On the downside he is not always disciplined or assignment sound.

Run defense: He is quick enough to slip through a gap and disrupt the timing of running plays. Good size and power to control his gap responsibility. he does have a tendency to play upright, negating his own power. Reacts quickly to the attempted cut block, sprawling and re-gaining his balance quickly by pushing off cutting offensive lineman. Good hustle laterally and downfield. Good vision and footwork to keep his feet while making his way to the ballcarrier.

Explosion: Again Austin has a good initial burst off the snap. Flashes a quick first step, vertically and laterally, to penetrate gaps and destroy the play. Good upper-body strength to shock his opponent and knock him back. Likes to make the flashy hit. Will gather for the big hit on an unsuspecting ballcarrier.

Strength: Good upper- and lower-body strength to hold up at the point of attack. Has an explosive shove to knock pass blockers aside on his way to the quarterback. Does need to improve his bulk and power to split double-teams as a nose guard, but he can hold up long enough to create a pile. 

Tackling: Above average balance and lateral agility to break down in tight quarters and make the open-field tackle against small and quick athletes. Good strength to pull down ballcarriers while being occupied by blockers. Good hustle laterally and downfield. Austin is very willing to leave his feet and lunge at ballcarriers, resulting in some big hits.

Intangibles: The downside of Marvin Austin is not on the field but rather off it. He was suspended for the entire 2010 season after an NCAA investigation found that he'd accepted gifts from an agent. Characterized by those close to the team as "talented, but selfish." Highly touted prep prospect that was rated the No. 1 at his position and top 10 overall by most recruiting experts.

Projection: First round talent who will slip into the 2nd round due to off the field issues.

Wednesday's Picks

Portland-2 vs. Sacramento: The Kings are the worst team in the West and if wasn't for the Cavs they would be the worst team in the NBA. With an overall record of 9-30 the Kings are just 6-15 at home and in their last 52 home games they are 16-34-2 ATS. In the head to head department Portland has won 7 in a row against the Kings going 4-2-1 ATS in those 7 games. Portland enters tonight's game winners of two in a row while the Kings have lost 5 of 6. LaMarcus Aldridge is coming off another star studded performance going for 37 points and 12 rebounds.
Pick: Portland

Texas A&M +7 vs Texas: Texas A&M is 16-1 and ranked 10th in the country yet they are still not getting a lot of respect from people. A&M is coming off a thrilling OT victory against Missouri 91-89, in that game Khris Middelton went for 28 points. Texas is no slouch either with a record of 14-3 and going 8-2 in their last 10. A&M comes into tonight's matchup on a 13 game win streak and are 12-3 ATS in their last 15 Big 12 games. Texas on the other hand is 6-20-1 ATS in their last 27 Big 12 games.
Pick: Texas A&M

Season record- 2-4

Tuesday's Picks

Hawks+ 6.5 vs Miami: The heat are on a three game losing streak and are hoping that a home game against the hawks is just what the doctor ordered. LeBron James looks to return to lineup from his sprained ankle and will be a game time decision. Chris bosh has already been ruled out for the matchup. With no bosh and James a game time decision the hawks look like a good bet. Atlanta comes into the game winners of 6 out of their last 7 and will look to beat Miami for the first time since November of 2009.
Pick: Atlanta

Georgetown- 3.5 vs. Seton Hall: The hoyas come stumbling into this game wining just once in their last four games, luckily for them they get to face a Seton Hall team they have beaten 5 out of the last 6 times. The pirates haven't faired any better than Georgetown going just 2-6 in their past 8 games. Jeremy Hazell is back for the Pirates after being shot in New York. Hazell's presence will help but the combination of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark will be too much for Seton Hall.
Pick: Georgetown

Kentucky- 4.5 vs Alabama: Kentucky has dominated the Tide of late going 8-2 in the last 10 match-ups and tonights tilt should be no different. The young wildcats have really come together as of late winning 9 of 10 and covering in all but one of those games. Terrence Jones has asserted himself as one of the best players in the country and Brandon Knight is finding his groove now scoring 19 points in his last outing. The Tide who have yet to lose at home will need a miracle if they want to remain perfect at home on the season.
Pick: Kentucky

Monday's best bets: NBA

Home team in bold
Utah -4.5 vs Washington: Utah has won 6 out of the last 7 meetings between these two teams going 4-2-1 ATS in their meetings. The Jazz are on a three game win streak and are coming off a 22 point victory over the Cavs, in all three of those games the Jazz covered. As for Washington, they have alternated wins and loses in their last 5 games, winning their last. Following that logic they should lose. Despite Washington's road woes (0-19) they have played fairly well at home (11-8). The x factor is Deron Williams who is coming off a 26 point 9 assist game and looks to extend the jazz's winning streak to four games.
Pick: Utah

Dallas- 4 vs Detroit: Dallas has dominated the pistons of late taken 7 out of the last 8 games, however they are just 3-5 ATS. Detroit is a team currently in turmoil, on the verge of blowing up their entire team. Teams that usually begin to look to mail in the season in January are usually a safe bet to go against. This will be Dirk's second game back from injury as he attempts to get back into the flow of things. In his last game Dirk had just 7 points in 15 minuets. Expect Dirk to play closer to 30 minuets as Dallas looks to stop a 5 game losing streak.
Pick: Dallas

Ali goes off

Senior co-captain Madina Ali scored a career high 32 points while adding 10 rebounds to help the sixth ranked mountaineers defeat the Syracuse Orange 70-61.

With the win the mountaineers not only extend their home win streak to 29 games, but they also get some much wanted revenge against a Syracuse team that beat them by 19 the last time they met. The win improves WVU to 17-1 and 4-1 in Big East play while the loss drops Syracuse to 13-4 and 1-3 in Big East play.

The mountaineers needed all 32 of Madina Ali’s points, as she and Liz Repella were the only Mountaineers to score in double figures. Perhaps no points were bigger than the three pointer Ali hit with 3:48 remaining to put WVU up 6, a margin Syracuse could not come back from. “When Madina has her feet set, I give her the green light right there when her feet set” said coach Carey.

Coach Carey was also happy to see the team bounce back after their first loss of the season, “They came back and fought hard, I told them after the game we made mistakes I’m not gonna even go over them. I was proud of them; they came out and played with a lot of heart, we did what we had to do to win.”

Madina Ali was certainly the star of the show tonight however. Liz Repella, the only other mountaineer in double digits with 12 points said it was Ali who carried the team on her back, “she was everywhere tonight, everywhere. Rebounding, scoring, she hit a three, she was doing everything and umm wow she played an awesome game today and she really picked us up and put us on her shoulders.”

The 32 points was the first time Ali has ever scored 30 or more points in a game and she said coming into this game she had a chip on her shoulder “ Coach Carey really told us that you know we had to go out there and prove something not only to the fans but to prove it to ourselves that we can do this and we are capable of making shots.”

On the defensive side of things, things were not a one-man effort but rather a team effort. The mountaineers came together to hold Syracuse to 39% from the field and 27% from three.

Syracuse’s leading scorer Kayla Alexander was held to just 4 points in 22 minuets. Syracuse’s leading scorer Elashier Hall finished the game with a team high 20 points while also grabbing 7 rebounding.

The mountaineers will take on Marshall next Wednesday in Charleston, tipoff is set for 5:30

Darko Being Darko

First off, Darko Milicic has FINALLY been developing into a solid player, he had 14 points in this game. However, when you are drafted before Carmelo Anthony and in that famous 2003 class, you have to expect the jokes to continue when blunders like this occur. The cruel part about all this, at this point, Darko is 1 up on both Carmelo and Lebron for rings, 1-0 (2004 Pistons). Talk about charity....

To make
him feel better, he's not alone....

Divisional Picks

Todays two game are both rematches of regular season games. The bears lost in week 6 to seattle 23-20 while the Pats and Jets split their regular season matchup with the Pats beating the Jets 45-3 in the last meeting. Without further ado todays picks.

Bears-10 vs Seattle
Seattle was 2-6 on the road in the regular season with one of those wins coming in Chicago. The bears will be out for revenge on sunday and will utilize Matt Forte early and often against Seattle's 27th ranked run defense.
In their first meeting Seattle got after Cutler for the tune of 6 sacks, while holding Forte and Taylor to 42 yards on 12 carries. Cutler finished that game 17-39 for 290 yards. For Seattle, Matt Hasselback went 25-40 for 242 yards and a touchdown, while Mike Williams caught 10 balls for 123 yards.
The road team is 4-1 ATS in their last five meetings. Jay Cutler will be making his first ever playoff start which may be something to key an eye on. Expect the bears to use that week off to get after Hasselback and don't expect Mike Williams to have another 100+ game.
Prediction: Bears 28-13

Pats-9.5 vs Jets
The last time these two teams met was in week 13 in Foxboro when the Pats embarrassed the Jets 45-3. In the second half of the season the Patriots have been 6-2 ATS while going 8-0 in those games. During that stretch the Pats have scored 31 points or more in each game and held their opponents to 15.6 ppg. The Jets have been doing a lot of talking all week and finally Sunday we will see if they can back it up.
It really comes down to do you trust Mark Sanchez to cover a 9.5 line in Foxboro against Brady who will have extra motivation after all the smack talk the Jets have talked? Expect one of Brady's greatest performances today against the Jets.
Prediction: Pats 35-17