I already did my conference picks for the Big Six conferences, and it is time for me to unveil my major awards. I will name my Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year. These awards are only based on the regular season. I also released my three All-American teams earlier, so you might want to check those out. I am ready for a great finals matchup tonight against Butler and UConn. I have no idea who is going to win, and I am inching over to the Butler side. No matter how you look at it, this game is going to be one to keep tucked into your memory for the rest of your life.

Coach of the Year Louisville Rick Pitino

Mike Brey won the AP award and had a remarkable season, but my vote belongs to Pitino. I am not fond of him as a person, but he accomplished an extremely difficult feat this year. It really shouldn't come as a surprise though, because Pitino is one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history.

Before the season started, Louisville was a mess. The team had just one senior and lost five starters from the previous year. Everyone, even Pitino, thought that this team was in no way ready to compete for anything. Then, there were the injuries. It takes the truly great coaches to overcome huge injury obstacles. Nearly every player was injured at some point during the season, and Pitino called this team one of his favorite teams that he has coached.

Against all the odds, Louisville was the 14th ranked team in the nation and was 12-6 in the toughest conference out there. That's a .667 winning percentage for those of you keeping score. They were disappointing in the tournament- losing to Morehead State in the first round- but that was because their two best players missed time with an injury and foul trouble for the latter. Pitino gets this award because he was able to lead a team that wasn't supposed to go anywhere. He also overcame many injuries to get his team to the 14th spot. He definitely merits this award.

2010 Coach of the Year

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Posted By: Joe Soriano - Category: NCAAB, March Madness, Big East, Connecticut, Louisville, Rick Pitino, Notre Dame, Mike Brey, Butler, Morehead State

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2010 NCAAB PSW All-Americans

April 1st 2011 19:10

First Team

PG Kemba Walker Connecticut
SG Nolan Smith Duke
SF Kawhi Leonard San Diego State
PF Derrick Williams Arizona
C Jared Sullinger Ohio State
Head Coach Rick Pitino Louisville

Second Team

PG Jimmer Fredette BYU
SG Ben Hansbrough Notre Dame
SF Harrison Barnes UNC
PF Marcus Morris Kansas
C JaJuan Johnson Purdue
Coach Billy Donovan Florida

Third Team

PG Jordan Taylor Wisconsin
SG Ashton Gibbs Pittsburgh
SF Chandler Parsons Florida
PF Jon Leuer Wisconsin
C Kenneth Faried Morehead State
Head Coach Mike Brey Notre Dame

Kemba's Better

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2011 Bracket Preview Round of 64

March 14th 2011 16:08

One Game Playoffs

University of Texas-San Antonio over Alabama State
Arkansas Little-Rock over UNC-Asheville
Clemson over UAB
USC over VCU

Round of 64 East

1 Ohio State over 16 University of Texas-San Antonio
9 Villanova over 8 George Mason
12 Clemson over 5 West Virginia *Upset* Upsets are deemed as games in which a team 7 seeds lower than another team wins. They also are when a team is 5 seeds or less in a game that is in the Sweet 16 or further.
4 Kentucky over 13 Princeton
11 Marquette over 6 Xavier
3 Syracuse over 14 Indiana State
7 Washington over 10 Georgia
2 North Carolina over 15 Long Island

West

1 Duke over 16 Hampton
9 Tennessee over 8 Michigan
5 Arizona over 12 Memphis- who shouldn't have even been in the tourney
4 Texas over 13 Oakland
6 Cincinnati over 11 Missouri
3 Connecticut over 14 Bucknell
10 Penn State over 7 Temple
2 San Diego State over 15 Northern Colorado

Southwest

1 Kansas over 16 Boston U.
8 UNLV over 9 Illinois
5 Vanderbilt over 12 Richmond
4 Louisville over 13 Morehead St.
11 USC over 6 Georgetown
3 Purdue over 11 St. Peter's
7 Texas A&M over Florida State
2 Notre Dame over 15 Akron

Southeast

1 Pittsburgh over 16 Arkansas Little-Rock
8 Butler over 9 Old Dominion
5 Kansas over 12 Utah State
4 Wisconsin over 13 Belmont
6 St. John's over 11 Gonzaga
3 BYU over 14 Wofford
7 UCLA over 10 Michigan State
2 Florida over 15 UCSB

Can You Say Final Four?

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Posted By: Joe Soriano - Category: NCAAB, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pitt, St. John's, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, USC, Washington, Arizona, UCLA, San Diego State, UNLV, BYU, Xavier, Temple, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, Old Dominion, Gonzaga, UAB, Memphis, St. Peter's, Princeton, Utah State, Butler, University of Texas-San Antonio, Alabama State, Arkansas Little-Rock, UNC-Asheville, Indiana State, Long Island, Hampton, Oakland, Bucknell, Northern Colorado, Boston U, Morehead State, Akron, Belmont, Wofford, UCSB

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3/11: NCAAB Team Talk

March 11th 2011 16:04

Kemba Walker put up a crazy and amazing shot, as he has done all year, to win it for UConn. They beat my favorite team, Pittsburgh, but the Big East Player of the Year's team's victory doesn't make Pittsburgh any worse. Buzzer beaters are really unlucky for the opposing team, and I thought Pitt outplayed Connecticut during that game. Ashton Gibbs had 27, and he is an incredible scorer especially when you factor in his team's style and his conference's style.

Pittsburgh is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, and they are the toughest. If people start to sleep on Pitt just because of this loss and the Louisville loss- and St. John's too, although that was due to more horrible officiating- they must be reminded that those teams are extremely difficult conference teams that barely survived right at the wire. Pitt isn't going to lose those kinds of games all the time, and they will definitely step it up in the tournament. Nasir Robinson is solid, Brad Wanamaker is the team's heart, Gary McGhee can defend, Gilbert Brown is a nice scoring option, and Dante Taylor is solid too. This is a deep team that is the third best team behind OSU and KU respectively.

Michigan State really needs to make it to the semifinals at least in the Big 10 tournament. If not, my second favorite team must take a seat in tournament time. That won't bode too well with Izzo. Players like Kalin Lucas really need to step up. They won without him last year, but that was last year. Michigan State- mostly another guy that needs to step-up, Durrell Summers- looked like they were stepping up yesterday to the public eye in their narrow 66-61 win over Iowa. But we have to remember, this is Iowa guys! They're a poor team. Winning against them by 5 points because somebody played well down the wire isn't good enough. They aren't figuring themselves out. They desperately need to scrap some games together to get to the semis.

Texas is a team that nobody has been talking about recently. I find them eerily similar to Kansas, and I would ignore their last season "collapse". Texas is a really good team that boards, scores, and has Tristan Thompson to defend like mad. They have him and Jordan Hamilton for goodness sakes! Four of their players are averaging double-digit points this season. Their three losses in the "collapse" where to a hot Kansas State team riding on the beastliness of Jacob Pullen. K State is no slouch having been one of the top ranked teams heading into the preseason.

Colorado was the other loss, and that was an away game by 2 points that came right at the very end because of Alec Burks. They lost by three in an away game that was in their conference against Nebraska. They were the best team in the country in terms of the average margin of defeat, and they were 2nd in their conference to only Kansas. Yeah, the 2nd best team in the nation. Texas is fine.