The On Deck Circle

This article is a weekly feature submitted by Trevor Smith.

HANGOVER HEADACHES: HEADLINES
And Then There Were Two: Kansas and Memphis. One team stomped their old coach, the other stomped out national doubts. Now, both are headed to the Finals Monday night. Memphis slayed UCLA 78-63 on Saturday to improve to an astounding 38-1 and in doing so laid claim to the winningest season ever. Three other teams (Duke, Illinois and UNLV) had 37-win seasons; none cut down the nets. But don’t tell that to Derrick “Chicago’s Finest” Rose” and the Tigers. The All-World freshman sensation finished with 25 points and 9 rebounds as images of Carmelo’s run fluttered in Billy Packer’s head. In the other semifinal, Kansas punched UNC in the mouth, burned their house down, and spit on their grave…all before half. Down 40-12(!) at one point, Carolina did manage to make a game of it, getting within 5 late in the second half, but they ran out of gas and failed to pull off the biggest Final Four comeback ever. The way the Jayhawks savaged the Heels early, one would have to think Roy’s boys must have had the wrong start time. That leaves us with an extremely intriguing match-up for Monday night. Cue up “One Shining Moment” and pass the popcorn.

CP3…MVP? It certainly looks as though Chris Paul is headed that way, as he had 16 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds on Sunday to lift the suddenly-heavyweight New Orleans Hornets to a franchise record of 54 wins with a 108-96 victory over the Warriors. The pride of Wake Forest hardly did it himself though, as Peja and Mr. West each scored 25 points to help N.O. win its 11th straight home game. Elsewhere, The Big German had 32 points in a season-saving win over Phoenix and the Mavs inched another step closer to getting knocked out by the Spurs in the first round. Nowitzki lead a fourth-quarter rally to come back from 13 points down in the fourth to take out the Phoenix Suns 105-98. Despite what those Sparq commercial tell us, Captain Canada’s better was not better than Dirk’s better, his fast not faster, and his dirt not dirtier.

Break Up the Jays: With a 7-4 win Sunday over the Red Sox at the House that Joe Carter built, Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the World Series champions. Frank Thomas had a grand slam, Vernon Wells added a two-run job and Accardo picked up his third save of the young season. Doc Halladay gave up four runs and eight hits in eight innings, striking out six. Boston’s power numbers seem to have been a victim of the brutal US exchange rate, as they were missing all weekend: Ortiz and ManRam finished 3-for-22 with two RBIs in the series. Boston has now lost seven straight in Toronto; good home cooking, eh?

ASPIRIN AND COFFEE: ODDS AND ENDS
NHL Playoffs Set: The most interesting series will be Pittsburgh v. Ottawa. The best series (by a Texas-mile) will be Anaheim v. Dallas. The sleeper that might just sneak into June are the Avs. The Imaginary Player’s pick for the Cup is Sharks over Canadiens. And the best golfers will be the Leafs, of course.

Tigers fall to 0-6: Good thing I didn’t drink the Kool-Aid and pick them to win the World Series this year…wait…dammit. As always, I’m an idiot.

Jerryd Bayless Goes Pro: The Arizona freshman very well could be another Monta Ellis with his blend of speed, playmaking, and agility. Then again, DRose looks to be another DWade, so he is still only the second best guard available.

151- 147: No that is not the range of SAT scores of Memphis’ starting five…it’s the final from the Seattle-Denver game Sunday night. KD topped Melo in the battle of BMore (though Marlo and Avon got next).

This article is a weekly feature submitted by Trevor Smith.