Last Place Update

Welcome to this week's Last Place Update.  The 7-37 Charlotte Bobcats lead the 11-35 Washington Wizards by 3 games for NBA's Kings of the Cellar.  My 12-35 New Orleans Hornets are a half game behind the Wizards.  Charlotte is still toying with tying or breaking the 1973 Philadelphia 76ers' worst ever 9-73 record.  The defending champion Minnesota Timberwolves are 23-25 and unless they collapse, they will not repeat as Kings of the Cellar.

   This week's honorable mention goes to the Los Angeles Clippers for losing 3 straight, including a loss to Chris Paul's former team, the Hornets.  Even though the New Jersey Nets made a strong showing with 4 losses in a row, the Clippers are in playoff contention, thus earning them this week's berth.

Next Losses

   Charlotte went 1-2 since the last update.  Tonight, they face the Milwaukee Bucks at home.  Then they go to New Jersey to play the Nets tomorrow.  They return home to play the Boston Celtics on Monday and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.  The Bobcats have two possible upset specials with the Nets and Timberwolves, but if they pull off one of them, it will be against the Timberwolves at home.

   Washington went 1-3 since the last update and statistically passed the Hornets for second place.  This week, they play two games at home and two on the road.  The Wizards host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday and then go on the road Sunday to play Boston.  They return home on Monday to face the Detroit Pistons.  On Thursday, they return to Indiana to play the Pacers, who they lost to yesterday by two points.  The game against Indiana will be an Upset Special, since the Wizards lost a close one in Indy.

   New Orleans went 2-2 since the last update.  The Hornets have a tough road trip this week.  In fact, they simply have a tough week.  They host the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday and go on a three game road trip to the West Coast.  On Monday, they have a rematch with the Clippers and then they go to San Francisco to play the Golden State Warriors.  Then they go to Portland on Thursday to face the Trailblazers.  New Orleans has two chances for upset specials, depending on which team shows up.  If they play like they did when they beat the Clippers, they can pull off both upset specials.  However, if the team that lost to Charlotte shows up, then New Orleans will go 0-4.  They should get either one or two wins this week.


Other Thoughts

   Okay, who's NCAA Tournament brackets are 100%?  Definitely not mine.  This year is going like most of the others.  We all got surprised by the upsets of Missouri and Duke, as well as Louisville's upset last night.  My worst bracket is at 22.9%.  This is the bracket I picked based on who I thought would win.  In that bracket, I had Michigan State in the Final Four.  Oh well.  At least Kansas, Kentucky, and Syracuse are still alive.  My best brackets (yes, there is a tie) are at 93.2%.  I called one of them "Higher Seed Wins" and the other "Upset Special".  My higher seed bracket also had Michigan State in the Final Four, so that score should drop.  However, my upset special bracket has Ohio State, Baylor, Louisville, and Kansas in the Final Four, with Ohio State winning.  This one has hope.  The other brackets range from 33.2% to 85.7%.  I imported one bracket from Tony Reali of ESPN.  He's at 76.5% and had Missouri in the Final Four, along with Ohio State, Kentucky, and North Carolina.  This bracket could still fare well.

   The NFL nailed the New Orleans Saints for the Bounty-gate scandal.  The punishment is harsh, based on other scandals and it's now become vital that the team signs Drew Brees.  Unlike other teams, the Saints and their fans have seen more than their share of "it could be worse" seasons.  Because of that, the team could take this opportunity to get into an "us vs them" mentality and have a collective chip on their shoulder for the 2012 season.  There are some fans here who think the Saints should hire Jon Gruden to coach for the year.  Chances are, he would say no, but he would be a pretty good fit with the team.  However, Benson will probably choose either offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael or new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, even though OL coach Aaron Kromer is in the mix.

  So Peyton Manning is a Denver Bronco.  Say what you want about him, but was it wise to trade away Tim Tebow?  If Manning gets hurt, who will be his backup?  The only other QB on the roster right now is Adam Weber.  The Broncos bolstered their secondary with the signing of former Saints CB Tracy Porter.

   Speaking of Tebow,  he would be a good fit with a Jets team using the wildcat.  He still needs to work on quickening his release and his accuracy.  Maybe a quarterback controversy will light a fire under Mark Sanchez.

   Have a great weekend!!!