Taj Gibson's Dunks

The top two dunks of this year's playoffs goes to Chicago Bulls' backup power forward Taj Gibson, who had two monstrous slams in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat today.

Gary Williams Retires

After 21 years of coaching the University of Maryland basketball team, legendary head coach Gary Williams has retired - first reported by Fox Sports.

We, Maryland students, alumni and former players and fans alike are: "stunned", "surprised" and "shocked" by this sudden departure. One ESPN user, 1951 USF Dons, said it best:

"Nobody EVER did more with less. He is the only coach to win a National Championship without an [McDonald's] All-American on his roster. All the best, Coach. Fear the Turtle!!!"

We'll Miss You, Gary!

Why NBA Fans Hate Kobe (And Players that Complain)

Take a look:

NBA Fights of the Year

After a tumultuous season - one in which we saw "Ben Wallace with Range" - a.k.a. Kevin Love and an NBA player (Blake Griffin) dunking on people (I'm looking at you, Timothy Mozgov), it's time for the NBA Playoffs. Before I get ahead of myself, I will do a recap of a certain sort. You've seen the top blocks/assists/steals/dunks/plays/WTF moments of the year before, so I'll do something different: the top NBA fights of the year. So, here we go!

Jordan Williams Declares for the NBA Draft

Yes, according to ESPN980 - the local ESPN radio station - "Sophomore Jordan Williams has filed paperwork to enter his name into the NBA Draft, Maryland head coach Gary Williams announced Tuesday."

The most likely case is that he is just 'testing the waters', and this year being a bad year in terms of star-studded-caliber players joining the draft, there is a slim chance that he will be drafted.

But because Jordan did not sign with an agent, there is a strong likelihood that he will come back and play for the Terps in his junior year.

Sports Commercial of the Day

Adidas has posted a new advertisement/commercial on Youtube that has NBA MVP in-waiting and Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, Argentina and Barcelona stud Lionel Messi, former England player and current Los Angeles Galaxy player David Beckham, pop singer Katy Perry, and rapper B.o.B. Check it out:

My 2011 NCAA Tourney Picks

 Like I do every year, I make multiple NCAA basketball brackets to see how my predictions fare. Year-in and year-out, I am disappointed. Last year, I had Kansas in the National Championship game - when Ali Farokhmanesh and Northern Iowa upset them in the second round, I, along with millions of other competitors, were severely shocked. The same was true with Kentucky as well, as they bowed out early. But 2006 was the exception: I had predicted the PERFECT Final Four and National Championship game of Florida versus Ohio State.

Enough about the past. It's all about the present. If you want to compare my picks with a friend's, check out The Daily Darsh.

Now with my selections, going from East to Southwest:
(Upsets in BOLD)

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Refs Ruin Big East Game

In case you have not heard about the biggest story the past two hours, it was how Rutgers University got robbed of a chance to tie or possibly win in their first-round matchup against St. John's at the famous Madison Square Garden; I'll also discuss how this game reminded me of the "Ruffin the Puffin" problem that took place nine years ago.

First, some background:

The referees at this game, Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton, have been calling a very inconsistant game - or so I have heard. I just tuned in the last 17 seconds left of the game. But what happened in the last seven seconds will live in infamy.

Rutgers is set to inbound the ball from the opposing end and no timeouts left. They are down by two points with seven seconds left in the game. The player throws it to their own three-point-line, where the ball is deflected by one Rutgers' player and two St. Johns' players (mistake #1) into the hands of Rutgers forward Justin Brownlee. Brownlee, not knowing how much time is left on the clock, streaks down the left side of the court - without dribbling (mistake #2) - and steps out-of-bounds (mistake #3) with 1.7 seconds left.

The referees at this point are: a) Talking to the Rutgers' head coach about mistake #1; b) Looking half-heartedly at Brownlee; c)Not paying attention to the game.

The refs called nothing as the buzzer sounded - walking into the tunnel immediately while the coaches and players were shaking hands. As one of my friends would say: "Un-F***ing-believable."

Here's the last seven seconds, in real speed:





The referees should NOT be allowed to ref any Big East tournament game in the near future (basically, they should be suspended indefinitely), based on what they did in this important first-round match. ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas also agrees with me:

Here's what ESPN's Scott Van Pelt and Bill Simmons also tweeted:

@notthefakeSVP: To be fair, Rutgers still would have needed to make a bucket with 1.7 but my God - the refs just stopped working the game. Pitiful

@sportsguy33: Tim Donaghy thinks the 3 Rutgers-Johnnie's refs were superb today.

This Big East game reminded me of a game that occurred in the NBA nine years ago - the infamous Michael Ruffin game. In this case, the Raptors, down by 3 (99-96), were inbounding in a similar situation to the Rutgers game. Washington Wizard power forward Michael Ruffin immediately caught the pass at the similar spot, then flung the ball straight up in the air. Ex-Toronto Raptors' guard Morris Peterson then flung a miracle three-point shot that banked in to tie the game. (The Wiz, out of bewilderment, ended up losing badly in OT)






In both cases, there was some stupidity involved with a certain person on the court, and that there was a terrible, egregious ending for one team (the Wizards and the Scarlet Knights).

So, that's the Controversial Sports News of the Day.

Signing off, Sameer.

Scott Van Pelt Rant

In case you did not hear, University of Maryland alumnus and current ESPN commentator/Radio Host Scott Van Pelt went on a three-minute, sixteen second tirade against the Maryland students and how they were NOT at yesterday's Florida State - Maryland basketball game (that included me).

Here's my take on yesterday's situation:

Yesterday was Wednesday and the start of exam week. So, many of my friends were studying for upcoming exams (that were not necessarily on Thursday); also, with the previous losses to Boston College and Virginia Tech (both sweeps), I, along with many other students, thought Maryland will NOT make the tourney (the NCAA tournament in mid-March); I usually tag along with my friends. If none of my friends on my floor of the dorm were going, then I wouldn't go and instead watch the game on tv; and the Duke game passed a month ago, so it's not worth going to even Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) games, because it won't amount to anything. Last year, the Duke game at home was the last home game, which is why most students went to every home game during the academic school year (excluding Winter Break games).

Picture taken by UMD student/Men's beat reporter Chris Eckard

As students, we do a scan-and-leave process, where we check in before the start of games and immediately exit, resulting in check-in 'points' for each game. Not going to games (while getting tickets for the game) results in a deduction of points - so if we get a free ticket, then we mainly do the scan-&-leave process - which is why the Comcast Center was 3/4 empty yesterday. But I should've gone to the game yesterday, since we won - 78-62 - in which we were only up by one at halftime.

I, along with thousands of other students, will make the final trek to Comcast Center on March 5 (a Saturday), since it's the last game of the season and the last game for Dino Gregory, Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie. And, it's against our cross-state rivals, the Virginia Cavaliers.

2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Recap

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's Sprite Slam Dunk Contest last night - it was 10X better than the previous 5 years of slam dunks combined. For those of you who did NOT watch the contest, here it is in its entirety:












Click the jump for my analysis:

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Greivis Vazquez Buzzer-Beater

Although, the shot does not have the same flair as it did during his time as a Maryland Terrapin...

Damn, That's Nasty!

This alley-oop dunk from LA Clippers point guard Eric Bledsoe to power forward DeAndre Jordan says it all:




Easily, easily one of the top ten dunks of the season... Jordan dunking on Brockman

Inspiring Sports Speeches from Movies

The heading says it all:

Most Half-Court Shots in a Minute

This record has now been broken. I remember that during one NBA All-Star weekend, the "stars" tried to break the record of four in a minute. I went to Guinness Book of World Records to see the actual record, and lo and behold:

Now, I visit Hot Clicks every weekday and today I find out that a college basketball player has been working hard on beating the record. University of Green Bay’s Eric Valentin, a reserve point guard (only 5' 4") for the team did just that:

Valentin used up every second of the clock to make these half-court shots. Amazing that at the half-way-point, he only made three shots.

I also liked the fact that he wanted Rocky music in the background.

When there's only a few seconds left in either half of a Green Bay game, I would send Valentin to the court. I presume he's their best chance at making a long shot to beat the buzzer.

What a Game by Blake Griffin!

I know I am a day late with this post - reason being I couldn't find a good video recapping every made basket by LA Clippers' Blake Griffin - who scored a career-and NBA-Season-high 47 points (28 before halftime) in the Clippers' 114-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday. Take a look at the runaway Rookie of the Year:

Lakers-Clippers Brawl

Take a look:



Here's my analysis:

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Crazy Shot by Kemba Walker

If you do not know who Kemba Walker is, let me fill you in: he's one of the top players in the nation in college basketball, shoots lights-out, and is a one-man wrecking crew for the #9 Connecticut Huskies.

Today, he had one heck of a shot in overtime against the #12-ranked Texas Longhorns:



That was no ordinary shot with the shot clock expiring and the game tied at 77-all with two minutes left in the extra session.
That shot saved the game for the Huskies in a high-profile nonconference matchup - they ended up winning, 82-81.

Crazy Finish in Sac-Town!

Sacramento Kings second-year guard Tyreke Evans pulled off a crazy shot to win the game last night against the Memphis Grizzlies - moments after guard Rudy Gay hit a sideways fade-away shot with two seconds left in the game.

Unusual Technical

This might be a day late, but this happened during Christmas Dayyesterday during the Boston Celtics - Orlando Magic game:



You don't see that type of a Technical Foul every day, you know. Like commentator and ex-Grizzlies head coach Hubie Brown said during the game, I have always known this minor rule, but NEVER have seen it in action prior to yesterday. Dwight Howard should have known better. But it's unlikely that he would have made the free throw.

Blockbuster NBA Trade in the Works

A big trade involving the Phoenix Suns, the Orlando Magic and my home team, the Washington Wizards, might go down in the next couple of days.

The deal involves two NBA dunk contest champions, a power forward that is a three-point threat, Agent Zero, and one of the worst players in the NBA.

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