College football preseason top 25

1. Alabama

All the stars are back. I don't see Alabama winning it all again, but they're the best team in the country to start. QB Greg McElroy has not lost a game as a starter since 8th grade! Plus the Crimson Tide has possibly the two best running backs in the SEC and WR A.J. Green is a true star. The defense will be the question this year.

2. Ohio State

Terrelle Pryor will determine how far the Buckeyes go but the front 7 on the other side of the ball will put him in the situation to win each week. Pryor's two leading receivers, DeVier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher, return after each vastly improved last season.

3. Florida

Lost their offensive and defensive stalwarts including possibly the best college football player ever. But my goodness that was a great recruiting class--11 all americans and 18 ESPNU top 150 recruits. John Brantley is no Tim Tebow, but who is? And Brantley needs to be John Brantley and nobody else. He's a legit player, and showed it last year late in blow-outs and filling in when Tebow was concussed.

4. Boise State

How does a team win a BCS bowl and then return 21 of 22 starters?! The goal this season is not to lose focus during their boring WAC schedule. But that only matters if they can beat Virginia Tech Sept. 6 on FedEx Field. Kellen Moore is my early favorite to win the Heisman. He is 16-1 as a starter and threw 39 TD's and only 3 INT's, and only has one game with multiple picks in his two-year career.

5. Texas

Garrett Gilbert won't have to face a defense like Alabama'a until Oct 16 @ Nebraska. That should give him time to warm up especially with home games against Rice and Wyoming to start the season. The Longhorns will presumably utilize the downhill running game more than last season, but if Gilbert can work well with all the playmakers at receiver, this offense will be dangerous yet again.

6. TCU

The most balanced team in the country returns 9 starters on offense and 6 on defense. Andy Dalton will have to play even better than last year (when he was the MWC Offensive POY) for TCU to finish the regular season undefeated again. The opening game against Oregon St. will test a defensive front that lost the MWC defensive POY, Jerry Hughes.

7. Nebraska

Nebraska has an incredible group of corners headlined by Prince Amukamara which will keep them in games in the always pass-happy Big 12. Also, they return 9 starters on offense.

8. North Carolina

The best defense in the country. There are 5 Tar Heel defenders on the preseason all-ACC team. And maybe T.J. Yates will play up to his potential finally. He threw 15 int's last season including 6 in UNC's four losses. The return of Zack Pianalto is huge for Yates and North Carolina's offense. Last year, after an ankle injury (and a season ending fibula fracture in 2008) UNC went 2-3 in his absence and won four straight when he returned.

9. Oklahoma

Despite Oklahoma's huge disappointment last season, Landry Jones played quite well. If you take out his 5 int game against Nebraska, Jones threw 26 td's and 9 picks. If their young defense steps up, OU can compete for a Big 12 crown again.

10.Iowa

Iowa lost four starters from the offensive line and they will count heavily on Ricky Stanzi. Remember Iowa was undefeated (10-0) when Stanzi was healthy. Adrian Clayborn was 3rd in the Big 10 and tenth in the nation last year with 11 sacks. This Iowa defense is sturdy against the run and pass.

11.Wisconsin

With Iowa and Ohio State at home plus no Penn State on the schedule, Wisconsin could win the Big 10. Big 10 offensive player of the year John Clay returns after rushing for over 1,500 yards and scoring 18 touchdowns. Does Wisconsin have another Heisman winning running back in its future?

12. Virginia Tech

Tyrod Taylor is now a senior with 28 starts under his belt, but only 2009 was a good season statistically for Taylor. Virginia Tech also bring back ACC rookie of the year tail back Ryan Williams and 2008 1,000-yard rusher Darren Evans (who missed 2009 with a knee injury) for an extremely potent rushing attack with Taylor who rushed for 1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns in three seasons at quarterback. However, VT loses an all-ACC kicker and punter, so how will Frank Beamer's great special teams turn out this year in close ACC games?

13. Miami

The schedule is pretty tough for Miami, but nothing like the 4-game gauntlet to start last year. Non-conference games @Ohio St. and @Pitt and only 2-3 "gimme" games (Florida A&M, Duke and Virginia). If Jacory Harris can be more consistent this year, he'll be back in the Heisman discussion. When Harris threw more picks than TD's, Miami was 0-3. Equal or more TD's than INT's-- 9-0.

14. Florida State

Christian Ponder and all 5 starting offensive linemen return and Jimbo Fisher has been waiting for this season for a long time. Even though FSU brings back all eleven starters on offense, only one was a all-ACC performer last season.

15. Oregon State

The Rodgers brothers have really sparked this offense the last two years. Jacquizz Rodgers scored 22 touchdowns last year and rushed for over 1,400 yards. Count on his continuing that success since three years starter Sean Canfield is now on the Saints' roster.

16. Georgia Tech

QB Josh Nesbitt returns with all four leading wing backs, but fullback Jonathan Dwyer moved on to the NFL. Paul Johnson's triple action attack brings back over 2,200 yards rushing and 30 rushing touchdowns, but loses WR Demaryius Thomas and his big play abilities on the outside. The Yellow Jackets first ACC game will be Sept 18 @North Carolina, so both sides will quickly discover just how good they are. I give the edge to the Tar Hell defense.

17. Cincinnati

The departure of Marty Gilyard will be tougher for the Bearcats to overcome than QB Tony Pike. Zach Collaros went 5-0 filling in for Pike last season, but Gilyard was the heart of soul of this team. Collaros will still have all-Big East WR Armon Binns and TE Ben Guidugli to throw to. The other obvious question mark is how new head coach Butch Jones will do in his first year after Brian Kelly took his talents to South Bend.

18. LSU

Even with all the talent that LSU always has, the Tigers only bring back one all-SEC performer, but he is a good one. CB Patrick Peterson was the #8 recruit in the ESPNU 150 and he has not disappointed. QB Jordan Jefferson is like a poor man's Terrelle Pryor, but he was very consistent last year. He'll need to continue to improve to survive non-conference games against North Carolina and West Virginia, plus games @FL, Auburn and Arkansas and Alabama and Tennessee coming to visit Baton Rouge.

19. Arkansas
Ryan Mallet is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and he has a pretty solid group of receivers to throw to including Greg Childs and Joe Adams. However, the Razorbacks had the worst pass defense in the SEC last year.

20. Oregon

The Ducks have the talent to go toe-to-toe with anybody, but this program has been in the news all summer for all the wrong reasons. Jeremiah Masoli was kicked off the team and may end up at Ole Miss. And Masoli was only one of six players arrested in a span of a little of a month, including star tail-back LaMichael James who rushed for a Pac 10 freshman record 1,546 yards last season. James will miss the opener, but watch for Oregon to get back on track later and still be in the Pac 10 title hunt.

21. West Virginia

The Mountaineer offense has great speed in the backfield and in the slot backs. Noel Devine is a serious Heisman candidate after accumulating over 3,800 yards and 24 touchdowns in his three seasons. Four starters from the o-line also return and nine from the defense, four of whom garnered all-Big East awards. The linebackers are especially talented. Expect West Virginia to contend in the steadily progressing Big East.

22. Utah

Everyone on the Mountain West will be looking to knock off the newest member of the recently minted Pac 12. Jordan Wynn was very effective last year as the starter the second half of the season, but the expectations are much higher for the team and his offense especially, which returns 8 starters.

23. Georgia

The Bulldogs have a combined 127 starts coming back on the offensive line. We need only look back to the 2008 Clemson team to see the immense importance of an experienced o-line to facilitate the weapons on offense. The main weapon is two-time all-SEC first teamer A.J. Green. Since Green arrived in Athens, the 'Dogs are undefeated when Green goes for 100 yards receiving. The biggest question is at quarterback. Redshirt freshman Aaron Murray looks to be the guy, and A.J. Green agrees completely: “From day one, I saw it in Aaron. He was preparing like he was the starter... he was going to have the best opportunity to compete, put us in the place to win a lot of games." (college-football.suite101.com)

24. Pitt

Pitt might have the most talent returning to the Big East, but has a tougher non-conference schedule with early games @Utah and vs. Miami (FL). Tailback Dion Lewis was the first player since Michael Vick to earn Big East freshman of the year and player of the year, and he was also a unanimous choice for all-Big East first team.

25. BYU

One of the best recruiting classes comes in this year and Jake Heaps should be the starter this fall. The Cougars have tons of depth at RB and WR and experience at OL. However, where tight ends are used so much in this offense, the departure of Andrew George and all-american Dennis Pitta will hurt. And while the secondary remains intact, the front 7 (with only Jordan Pendleton returning as a starter) will be tested early, especially week 2 in Colorado Springs against Air Force's option attack.

Also received consideration: Penn St, UConn, Auburn, Temple, Washington, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Stanford, Michigan.

NBA Preview

Finally! I have an outlet for all this knowledge and all these thoughts and opinions that have crowded my brain for years! Obviously, my focus will be on the Jazz and their potential and such, but I'll try to be slightly impartial. Let's get right into it---

Atlantic Division:
This is still Boston's division and I'd be very surprised to see anybody seriously contend for the title unless NY gets Chris Paul. Boston will have a better record this year than last because they'll be more healthy and a little rejuvenated after their finals appearance last year, but they won't push for the best record in the conference by far.
New York will be improved but not near the point where they hoped to be at the beginning of the summer. Amare and Raymond Felton will provide some punch that they've lacked for a long time.
Toronto. New Jersey, Philadelphia... get ready for next year's lottery. However, each has a very solid rookie this year that should get plenty of time this year. Ed Davis was very impressive in the Las Vegas this summer. He looked better there than he ever did at UNC. And Derrick Favors dominated at times. Those times were few and far between but he should impress this season. As for Evan Turner, he needs to get used to playing without the ball. He looked lost at times in Orlando. He'll be a solid player eventually, but I don't think he was as NBA-ready as the scouts projected.

Central Division:
The central division is a 2-team race but don't expect Milwaukee to seriously challenge Chicago at the top of this division. The Bulls filled every hole this offseason. They have the bruiser, the low-post scorer, the shooter, the slasher and the facilitator. Luol Deng, James Johnson, Taj Gibson and C.J. Watson are not as well known as the veterans Miami got to fill out their bench, but they will produce, mark my words. This team will have something to prove all year. They saw The Decision. They hear about the Big 3 every day. They will come out working hard each game to show that they belong in that talk with the Florida teams.
Milwaukee has two great pieces (Jennings and Bogut) but they have a lot of money invested into Michael Redd, Drew Gooden and Corey Maggette. So I dont see them continuing to progress they way they did last year, but they'll be a solid playoff team for years to come.
The best player on Cleveland's roster is now 34 years old. The entire team was structured around helping LeBron James so if Mo Williams can shoulder a slight portion of that load this team could make the playoffs but I wouldnt hold my breath if I was in Cleveland..well maybe I would, it's pretty gross there.
Indiana has Tyler Hansbrough and they just found out the Pacers aren't leaving town so it's a great year for them. Lance Stephenson, rookie out of Cincinnati, will be fun to watch this year.
After seven straight seasons of at least 50 wins, the Pistons completely dropped out the last two seasons. And after making a splash last summer in signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, both struggled terribly last season where their stats dropped in basically every category. If they can turn it around, and Greg Monroe and Austin Daye and the other younglings can step in and fill their bench roles well, expect Detroit to vastly improve on their 27 wins from last season.

Southeast Division:
Best Division in the league. Miami will claim the division title after the greatest free agency period ever. Just as many supposed, veterans from all around came willing to sacrifice dough for a ring. I, for one, was really hoping to see the Penny Hardaway to the Heat rumors come to fruition (or at least get Little Penny!!). Unless Orlando is able to acquire Chris Paul, Miami will win this division but all four meetings between these two will be amazing.
Because this is a family blog, I'll turn a little time over to my beautiful wife, Amanda:
"jason is weird!!! and this is not our blog but it is his blog because it's about sports and i don't wannt to be a part of a sports blog! we can make a family one but i don;t want to be in this one!!!!" Thank you, Amanda.
Don't forget that Atlanta is here, too. Could this be the year they break through and really play in the playoffs? With the vast improvement of Miami and Chicago with Orlando and Boston still there, I would say not likely.
Charlotte could end up in last place in this division after making the playoffs last season. I don't think Washington will make that big of a jump with John Wall, but its possible. He will be a superstar. Another player that impressed me in the summer league was the Bobcats' Gerald Henderson. He only played 8 minutes per game last year but he'll play a bigger role this year. Best case scenario for Charlotte: trade for Chris Paul using their log jam of wings that include Henderson, Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace and take on Emeka Okafor's contract in exchange for Erick Dampier's expiring contract.
Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins said this when Dampier was aqcuired from Dallas: “You have to consider that contract is probably one of the most valuable contracts in the league,” Higgins said. “The flexibility is the beautiful part of having Erick’s deal, maybe not so much for Erick himself as a player, but for the franchise itself.” (Yahoo! Sports) Can you imagine your new boss saying this about you?! We don't care about having him play for us, we just want to trade him as soon as possible. Ouch...

Now before we get to the Western Conference, let's take a look at this chart. The top 8 active scorers in the playoffs with number of games played and scoring average. Notice anything? All but Wade are infamously known as being able to score in the playoffs but never lead a team to victory. Minus Wade, Titles: 0 Finals appearances: 3.

Player Playoff games played Scoring average

1	Allen Iverson	71																						29.7
2	LeBron James	60																						29.4
3	Tracy McGrady	38																						28.5
4	Brandon Roy	6																						26.7
5	Vince Carter	42																						25.9
6	Dwyane Wade	61																						25.7
7	Dirk Nowitzki	97																						25.5
8	Elton Brand	12																						25.4

Northwest Division:
This will be the most competitive division in the league. Denver has everybody back, Utah will be improved, and Oklahoma City is definitely one of the most intriguing teams in the league. With an average age of 24, the Thunder are the youngest team in the league, so I think they're still a year away from challenging seriously for the conference. This year they could win the division, but again, I think they're too young. And throw in Portland with the addition of Wes Matthews and possibly a healthy Greg Oden and this will be a great 4-team race.
Every once in a while we have the privilege of watching someone "get it". Deron Williams found out that he can dominate and that will continue this season. Also considering the fact that the Jazz improved on their biggest weakness, length, this offseaon.

Boozer 6'8" -> Jefferson 6'10" Korver 6'6" -> Heyward 6'8" and Matthews 6'4" -> Bell 6'7" When the Jazz win the division this year, thank LeBron and Chris Paul. Their leaving to greener pastures and DWill's negative comments forced the front office to make the trade for Al Jefferson.
Looking at Minnesota's roster, one would think they would improve on that 15-67 record from last year so count of David Kahn making a last second move to ship Kevin Love and Jonny Flynn to China in exchange for Stephon Marbury and God Shamgod.

Pacific Division:
I hate the Lakers. 6/24
Phoenix may be just as good even without Amare Stoudemire IF Lopez and Frye play up to their height and talent. And hopefully Earl Clark will continue to improve. However, without Amare they will not reach the western conference finals.
Golden State will be much improved this season and possibly challenge for a playoff spot. But they'll finish around 10th. David Lee was a big get and Stephon Curry could be an all-star this year. Seriously. Sacramento will be close to this as well but they're probably 2 years from the playoffs. Demarcus Cousins will be one of the best centers in the league in 5 years. And the Clippers needed to get a big free agent to really get into the playoff picture, but Eric Bledsoe was a very good pick up and obviously Blake Griffin is going to be a beast when he gets back into the full swing of things.

Southwest Division:
Dallas has as much talent as anybody in this conference. Expect to see them get the 2 seed again next year, but the real question is how will they do in the playoffs? Getting Tyson Chandler might help when they get to playoffs because of his defense and rebounding. He'll never take over a game, but Dallas doesn't need somebody like that. They have Dirk. Chandler has only averaged double digit points in a season once, but he can definitely get you 10 boards and 2-3 blocks.

San Antonio has done a great job of collecting young talent while keeping their aging core. George Hill has been everything a team could want from a back up point guard. He averaged 12.4 points, shot a solid percentage all around and had an assist to turnover ratio better than 2:1. Add in DeJuan Blair, James Anderson and Tiago Splitter, who won't be superstars in this league but will be very solid starters in a few years. Tim Duncan-- this guy is incredible. He's averaged ten or more rebounds every year in the league and at least 18 points every year. His numbers may drop slightly as Splitter starts his NBA career and Blair gets more time, but Duncan still has quite a bit of gas in the tank, which means the Spurs still have another playoff run or two in them with this group.

Meanwhile, Houston, Memphis and New Orleans are all wishing they could play in the eastern conference. With Yao back, the Rockets are a good bet to sneak back into the playoffs but in the west they may have to win 50 games to secure that 8 seed. Six and eighth seeds, Portland and Oklahoma City, are getting better and the seventh seeded Spurs will look to improve from last year's slow start that put them on the road in the playoffs. So topping any of the lower seeds in the west will not be easy. Memphis and New Orleans will most likely end up out of the playoff picture near the end of the season, but Memphis, I think, will rebound next season and make the playoffs for the first time since '06 and maybe even win a game this time! (The Grizz have a combined 0-12 playoff record in 3 appearances.) New Orleans is in trouble. A disgruntled superstar, aging wings, a 6'9" very overpaid center (whom they aqcuired by trading their 7'1" overpaid center. Explain that one to me, please) While Paul is publicly stating that he is happy with managements plans for the future, the execs are using this to keep control and hopefully pull in better offers from Orlando, New York, New Jersey and Charlotte.

Eastern Conference

1. Miami

2. Chicago

3. Orlando

4. Boston

5. Atlanta

6. Milwaukee

7. Charlotte

8. New York

9. Detroit

10. Washington

11. Cleveland

12. Toronto

13. Indiana

14. Philly

15. New Jersey

Western Conference
1. Los Angeles

2. Dallas

3. Utah

4. Oklahoma City

5. Denver

6. San Antonio

7. Portland

8. Houston

9. Phoenix

10. Memphis

11. Golden State

12. Sacramento

13. LA Clippers

14. New Orleans

15. Minnesota

Playoffs

Miami 4 New York 1

Chicago 4 Charlotte 1

Orlando 4 Milwaukee 2

Boston 4 Atlanta 3

LA Lakers 4 Phoenix 0

Dallas 4 Portland 3

Utah 4 San Antonio 2

Oklahoma City 4 Denver 3

Miami 4 Boston 3

Chicago 4 Orlando 2

LA Lakers 4 Oklahoma City 3

Utah 4 Dallas 2

Miami 4 Chicago 3

LA Lakers 4 Utah 3

Miami 4 LA Lakers 1

I cannot wait for the Miami-Chicago series! At the end of game 7, I don't think Chicago will have an answer for LeBron and D-Wade, but if anybody in this league can knock Dwyane's Heat, it's the Bulls.

Wow, that took longer than I thought. And I should probably go back and check all this garbage I just typed..hmm... Well everybody let me know what you think!



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11 August 2010--
The Hornets have worked out a trade for Trevor Ariza, and it should be official soon. They'll send Darren Collison and James Posey to the Pacers, and the Nets are also involved in the deal. This doesn't have a huge impact on the final standings in my NBA preview, but it will most definitely move New Orleans up from the #14 spot (which I chose when it was assumed that Chris Paul was as good as gone). The Hornets will be in position to battle for a playoff spot, but without a legitimate big, they won't get out of the first round, if they make it. Houston, however, got worse by trading Ariza for Courtney Lee, and I'm not sure now that they are a playoff team. We'll see in the next few days if draft picks are involved, but we know that Houston is saving major money in this deal, which could help their future, but will hurt their chances this season.

I'm starting a blog.

I doubt anyone will really care but I'm starting a blog. Amanda will have some stuff too and we'll get family pics on here asap, but mostly the posts will be my thought/rants about whatever I choose. First on the list are my projections and predictions on the upcoming sports seasons because I really only talk to Amanda and Shelly (on facebook, of course) and they literally could not care any less about that the blog will listen..the blog always listens. I'll do NFL or NBA first and go from there. I'll do some research and get those done and some pictures up early next week! Thanks everybody