Keyrock

CBS bringing out Allie LaForce for the Dayton/Syracuse game. SWOON!

The score at the half for the St. Louis/Louisville game is 16-25. That is not a misprint. Here are a couple really sad combined stats: Field Goals Made 15 Turnovers 21 Some of it is good defense, but a lot of it is these teams having a masonry convention.

Man, this St. Louis/Louisville game is tough to watch, and I can't even blame the refs. I'm too lazy to look up stats, but it seems like the teams are shooting a combined 5%. At this rate, this game will finish 32 to 40 or something like that.

That seems like a decent place to go with the series, although I dread what they will do to the history. I'll just play it like I play AssCreed2 (the only AssCreed game I've own so far), which is to say, I'll completely ignore the story and play it like a rooftop jumping simulator. I must say, from the pictures and the trailer I've seen, those are some mighty fine looking rooftops.

No big deal. Actually the stats surprised me. I figured Miami had been feasting on the pathetic East. Agreed. Those stats can be slightly misleading though. Here's another stat: Versus teams at .500 or above: Miami 21-11 .6563 OKC 26-13 .6667 This suggests that a fair number of those wins for the Heat against the West came against the bottom dwellers. To be fair, OKC has been feasting on bottom dwellers when they've played them, though they haven't played bottom dwellers as often. Versus team below .500 Miami 26-9 .7429 OKC 25-5 .8333 Basically, against good teams, Miami and OKC are about even and while Miami has been very good against the bottom dwellers, OKC has beer spectacular, which accounts for OKC's mildly better record. Edit: @Leferd - Speaking of poor drafting in the 1st round, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Cleveland. Over the last 3 years they've had two #1s and two #4s. They've turned that into Kyrie and a bunch of mediocre at best.

My bad, kgambit, typo on my part. Fixed now.

Not meaningless. Only 30 players in the entire league average at least 1 block per game (not surprisingly almost exclusively centers and power forwards). Also, Durant averages more than double that of LeBron, a significant margin any way you look at it. You're right, that are definitely some other blindfolded Lebron supporters out there that refuse to acknowledge what has been happening this year. I'm saying that Durant has been having a better season than LeBron, but not by a huge margin. Seems straight forward and consistent enough to me. Speaking of meaningless arguments, you're arguing about this year's MVP using things that happened last year and in the playoffs, whereas MVP is a regular season award (hence why they have a separate MVP for the finals). But hey it's not like we ever saw LeBron fold in the playoffs when he was younger, oh wait, we did. Several times. For once, you actually posted something correct: Miami vs. East 28-13 .6829 vs. West 19-7 .7308 OKC vs. East 22-6 .7857 vs. West 29-12 .7073 Because they can afford to on account of playing in a super weak conference. Fun fact, the Phoenix Suns would currently not make the playoffs, but if they were in the Eastern Conference, they would be a 3 seed. Statistically, Durant has been better than LeBron. By my own eye test (which is of course quite subjective) Durant has been better by virtue of LeBron taking some nights off (from an effort standpoint) while Durant has played defense hard all year. Which, again, plays into the fact that Durant has had to play harder all year while LeBron has had the luxury of being able to take nights off due to playing in an easy conference. When they both try their hardest, I still think LeBron is a better defender, but not by a wide margin. More fun stats: Triple Doubles this season: Durant 3 LeBron 0 Double Doubles this season: Durant 25 LeBron 10

Maybe he's a necrophiliac. Did you stick around to see if he did anything else with the corpse?

You'll be happy to know that you will find yourself in a significantly more uncomfortable setting later on.

I'm playing Wooooooohoooooohooooohoooooo March Madness! Video games, what are video games?

Coastal Carolina made it super exciting and interesting for a half, but ultimately, the dream of a 16 beating a 1 was quickly squashed in the second half. Oh well.

Durant took 32 shots because he had to, he doesn't have a choice. Westbrook can't stay on the court and when Durant passes the ball to other guys they miss wide open shots by comical distances and yet KD's assist numbers are rather close to LeBron's. KD played 50+ minutes tonight because he had to, that's what it took to win the game. If he didn't play 50+ minutes and shoot 32 times the Thunder would have lost, plain and simple. It's called doing whatever it takes to win the game and it's exactly what being a MVP is all about. The object of the game is to win the game. Unlike the Heat, the Thunder can't afford to lose because they play in a real conference, not in a children's playpen. If the Heat go on a losing streak they still get a 2 seed. if the Thunder go on a losing streak they could fall all the way to a 5 seed. LeBron is a better defender, but not by nearly as big a margin as he used to be, KD is much improved. LeBron is a better passer, but again, the margin has narrowed. KD is a better rebounder and shotblocker (shockingly). While LeBron has a higher FG%, LeBron and KD have an identical PPS (points per shot), which is the purest scoring efficiency stat out there IMHO (fun fact, only DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard have higher PPS than KD and LeBron). So KD scores almost 5 1/2 more points per game at the exact same shooting efficiency as LeBron. KD has straight up been better this season by stats, by the eye test, by whatever fair and reasonable measure you want to use. If KD wins the MVP this year it won't be a bogus MVP win like when Barkley won over MJ because it was "his turn". He will certainly have earned it. But, by all means, go on and live in your fantasy world where LeBron is still 100X better than anyone else (mind you, he is still way better than anyone not named Kevin Durant). Everybody else lives in the real world where KD has straight up outplayed LeBron this year, though not be a large margin, as LeBron has been great.

So, with approximately a dozen games left, Durant is clearly in the lead for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy: Current Stats: PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 3% STL BLK Kevin Durant 32.2 7.7 5.6 50.7 86.8 40.9 1.3 0.8 LeBron James 26.8 6.9 6.4 57.1 74.4 38.0 1.6 0.3 The stats are in Durant's favor, but not overwhelmingly so. Durant plays in a much harder conference and the Thunder have had a harder strength of schedule, which plays in Durant's favor. Both players have had hot streaks, with Durant having a longer and more impressive streak. LeBron has had the more impressive singular game with his unearthly 61 point performance. The biggest difference at this point is consistency. LeBron has had some slumps (by his standards) while Durant hasn't had anything remotely resembling a slump all season long, he's been good, great, or unbelievable all season long. If the two were to wind up in basically a tie then Durant would likely get the nod because of the "don't want to give LeBron a 3rd straight" and "it's KD's turn" bullcrap, but the fact is that KD has simply been better this season so far. Long story short, it's KD's MVP to lose at this point. LeBron would either have to go on a ridiculous tear for the remainder of the season (which is definitely possible) or KD would have to go into a deep slump (which is highly unlikely given how consistent he's been) for LeBron to pass KD down the stretch. I'm not ready to say Durant is a better player than LeBron, because things like that aren't decided in a single season (and LeBron is definitely better over his career and over the last 3 years or so), but it's a conversation now, whereas before LeBron was FAR AND AWAY the best player in the NBA and no one else was in his league. KD is in the same league as LeBron now.

I switched over to the Thunder/Raptors game just as it went into overtime, and boy am I glad I did. KD was straight beastin', draining shots, getting rebounds, blocking a shot, and trying to get assists, but no one not named Kevin Durant could hit the broad side of a barn in the 1st OT. The Thunder should have won it easily in that 1st OT with dudes getting st00pid open shots to ice the game and missing again and again (Fish was missing by so much it was comical). Lowry made a clutch 3 and the game went to a second OT. In the second OT the Raptors took over and built a 8 point game with some 45 seconds left. Game over, right? Not quite. The Thunder clawed their way back in with KD making buckets, Fish finally making something, and the Raptors missing free throws. Then, with the Thunder down by 2 and 1.7 seconds left, KD drained a 3 for the W from about 5 feet beyond the arc with a dude all over him, just straight pure. KD's final beastly stats: 51 points 12 rebounds 7 assists. The MVP race ain't over yet, but Durant definitely helped his cause tonight. The bad news: Westbrook left the game with a "knee sprain" after he collided with Lowry. I'm hoping it's really only a sprain and he'll be back for the playoffs, but I'm definitely very worried he's just become Derrick Rose 2.0.

Great googly moogly this Providence/UNC game is fun! March Madness is just the best. Basketball isn't even my favorite sport, but March Madness is far and away the most fun sports watching time of the year, any year. So ridiculously entertaining. Edit: Oh man, this Providence/UNC game is giving me such a boner. So back and forth so freakin' good! It's clear that UNC is the more physically talented team, but Providence is just so scrappy and playing with so much heart. This is the best!

Pfft, you guys can make all the weight jokes you want. Check out how rugged that beard is: Sex appeal level = OVER 9000!

So when the brackets came out there seemed to be a lot of grumbling with people hating on Wichita State getting a 1 seed. While all the other 1 seeds so far have won, none of them have done so impressively. Meanwhile, Wichita State is STRAIGHT MURDERING Cal Poly right now.

After watching a highly entertaining Kansas/Eastern Kentucky game I switched over to OK State/Gonzaga. Ugh, what a disappointment. Freakin' Whistle Fest 2014. This game is nearly unwatchable. Edit: Switched over to George Washington/Memphis because that OK St/Gonzaga game was just way too brutal to watch.

Does it feature any gratuitous GabeN shots?

I'm drinking The Good Stuff: Magnificent potato vodka made in Poland, where vodka was invented. Don't let any Russian or Scandinavian tell you otherwise.

March Madness is so great. Duke just got bounced in the 1st round. This.... This is so great... I told myself I wouldn't get emotional... /breathes heavily //wipes away tears of joy

Yeah, losing the original voice files is a bummer, the game does look quite pretty, though.

I don't think I've ever used the term 'douchewaffle' before, but now I just might have to start using it.

^ Yikes. I do have a proper vise and all the necessary equipment at work, but the idea of going at a $350 chip with a hammer doesn't sit well with me. I'd probably feel less queasy with the scoring it with a razor knife method then using a hammer and a block of wood. I really hope Intel follows through with their claims and puts some proper quality thermal paste between the chip and heatspreader. Soldered on would be the best, but that ain't gonna happen. Spend a few bucks for some Arctic Silver, you cheap ass bastards!