Friday, December 7, 2007

Utah Jazz, national championship, Party Poopers

Well, so far the Utah Jazz are doing better than I expected. Due to Andrei Kirilenko no longer complaining, and just playing (great) ball, the improvement of Ronnie Brewer, and the improved seasons of Boozer and Williams, the Jazz have the third-best record in the Western Conference at 13-6.
Unfortunately, Tuesday night they lost to the lowly Sacramento Kings 119-109 in northern California. Tonight, they face the San Antonio Spurs in Texas on ESPN, in a huge game that has Western Conference top-finish implications.
The Spurs are 11-0 at home, but will probably be without Tim Duncan. The Jazz franchise hasn't won in San Antonio since 1999, when John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek were leading the crew. Jerry Sloan would obviously still remember that one, since he was the head coach back then too (like he has been for 20 years).
The BCS is a very convoluted system, and this year's wild, unexpected finish in the last week of the season- both #1 Missouri and #2 West Virginia lost- proves the need for a playoff. However, given what college football has now with the BCS National Championship, I think the pairings are correct with Ohio State and LSU.
In Logan, Utah, at the HPER Basketball Court 1, the Party Poopers fell in the next round of the playoffs 14-31, 21-32 to McLovin. McLovin was a HUGE team with massive buffaloes who could also shoot from the outside- up to 5 feet behind the three-point line. If they do not win the entire tournament, I would be shocked.