NBA Playoff predictions

John Berger
Senior Editor

With the second round of the NBA playoffs about to begin, it’s time to make some predictions. Realistically, there is a big gap between the so-called elite teams in the NBA and everybody else, and arguably an even bigger gap between the Miami Heat and the other elite teams. The first round has become increasingly uncompetitive lately. Any type of upset is really rare in today’s NBA. Over the last ten years, lower seeded teams have only won a series about 16.7% of the time.

March Madness Championship Game Preview

John Berger
Senior Editor

And then there were two. After a six month college basketball season and a 68 team tournament, only Louisville and Michigan remain standing. On Saturday, Louisville came back from a 12 point deficit to defeat Wichita State, and Michigan led Syracuse for pretty much the entire last 30 minutes of the game, and ended up holding on to advance to the final. The first semifinal, Wichita State vs Louisville, was very interesting because it was really the first time in a while that Louisville has been tested. They trailed 47-35 in the second half, when Tim Henderson, a walk-on replacing the injured Kevin Ware, made two straight threes to cut the lead in half. It was a pretty cool moment, seeing Ware, sitting on the ground as a result of his broken leg, watching his replacement Henderson come in and make some big plays. Wichita State did a really good job on Louisville defensively for a large part of the game, but in the last ten minutes of the game, Louisville scored 27 points. Peyton Siva, Gorgui Dieng, and Wayne Blackshear, three of Louisville’s starters, combined to score 7 points. If that happens against Michigan, it will be nearly impossible for the Cardinals to win.