How they Arrived in Atlanta Shockers: Defeated #8 Pitt (73-55) #1  Gonzaga (76-70) #13  La Salle (72-58) #2  Ohio State (70-66) Cardinals: Defeated #16 North Carolina A&T (79-48) #8 Colorado State (82-56) #12 Oregon (77-69) #2 Duke (85-63) Tournament Offensive Averages Shockers: 72.7 PPG 38.5 RPG 12.0 APG 42.7 FG% 7.2 3PT/G Cardinals: 80.7 PPG [...]

#1 Gonzaga vs. #16 Southern University How they Punched Their Ticket Gonzaga (31-2, 16-0 WCC): Won the WCC Tournament- Automatic Bid Southern (23-9, 15-3 SWAC): Won the SWAC Tournament- Automatic Bid ATS (Against the Spread) Gonzaga: 17-13-1 Southern: 4-1 Bulldogs Outlook: Huge expectations follow this Gonzaga team heading into the NCAA tournament.  There is no [...]

#1 Louisville vs. #16 North Carolina A&T How they Punched Their Ticket Louisville (29-5, 14-4 Big East): Won Big East Tournament- Automatic Bid  N.C A&T (20-16,, 8-8 MEAC): Won MEAC Tournament- Automatic Bid ATS (Against the Spread) Louisville: 20-13-1 A&T: N/A Cardinals Outlook: The Cardinals have strong guard play, athletic bigs, and a defense that can pressure the heck [...]

1st Down Storylines: The high octane Aggies invade Davis Wade Stadium to do battle with a much improved Bulldogs squad.  Aside from close losses to Florida and LSU, A&M looks like one of the stronger teams within the SEC in 2012.  Freshman Johnny Manziel leads an offense that scored at will last week versus Auburn, [...]

By Sportsgrinder Kobe Bryant would have been better served keeping his comments about Pau Gasol’s “assertiveness” to himself (or at least in house), following the Lakers Game 4 loss on Saturday.  Bryant’s post game comments stemmed from Gasol’s crucial turnover in the closing seconds of the Thunder’s Game 4 victory on Saturday evening.   A couple [...]

Six first round series are in the book, and two more will be decided over the weekend.  With the Eastern Conference Semifinals set to begin to tonight (76ers vs. Celtics), as well as the first Los Angeles team trying to avoid elimination (Nuggets vs. Lakers), the NBA playoffs continue to dominate the sporting world (at [...]

#1 Chicago Bulls (50-16) vs. #8 Philadelphia 76ers (35-31) Regular Season Series: Bulls 2-1 Series Outlook: Two of the premier defensive teams in the league will square off against each other in one of the more intriguing opening round matchups.  Both the Bulls and 76ers have an eerily similar philosophy on the defensive end of [...]