March 28, 2024

S.E.C.

This archived article was written by: David Osborne Jr.

What a wonderful couple weeks in sports, in fact it really doesn’t get much better than this. Baseball has had opening day and now we are all just counting down the days until the playoffs so that we can bet on who will win the World Series. Professional football is at a standstill as the players union and the coaches can’t reach an agreement, meaning there will more than likely be lockout come this fall. Professional basketball is still going strong, and the teams that will be making the play-off cut are becoming clearer as the season starts to wind down. The highest note though is that college basketball has crowned the 2010-2011 National Champion. Now onto the sports editor’s choice.
5- 2011 class announced
On Monday, April 6, 2010 the ten inductees to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame were announced. The ten inductees will formally be honored and inducted in August. Many household names made the list this year. The headline name was Dennis Rodman. Perhaps known for his antics off of the court, Rodman was a two time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and won five championships. Chris Mullen also made the list. Mullen was a five time All-Star and is also the all-time leading scorer for St. John’s. Tara VanDerveer, the head coach for the Stanford women’s basketball team is headed to the Hall, and the announcement came the day after her team lost by one-point to Texas A&M in the National Semifinals. All in all, 2011 has an excellent class for the Hall of Fame.
4- Teach me how to Jimmer …
After averaging 28.5 points a game, 4.2 assists a game and shooting just under 46 percent it is hard to argue that you aren’t the best player in the league. The Associated Press announced that Jimmer Fredette, from Brigham Young University, was the 2010-2011 Player of the Year. Fredette became a star in his own right, almost single-handedly winning the Mountain West Conference regular season title for BYU. Not only can he hit a three-pointer from 35 feet out, but there is a rap about him now. Fredette received 48 of the 65 votes, and second place was Kemba Walker of UCONN, and he only received 11 votes. Fredette is the first BYU player to receive this honor.
3- Peanuts and Crackerjacks
Opening day has come and gone for the 2011 Major League Baseball game, so we all must pull out our baseball gloves, head down to the nearest baseball park, eat a hot dog along with some peanuts and wait for the seventh inning stretch. Many analysts predicted right before the season that the Boston Red Sox would be wearing World Series Champion caps at the end of the regular season and playoffs. As for me, well I can always hope that the Atlanta Braves will be able to pull it off and get another World Series, at least it hasn’t been as long as it has been for the Cubs. Who knows maybe this is the year they get rid of the curse. Only time will tell though.
2- Women’s National Champion
1- Huskies are too big for Bulldogs
All roads lead to Houston, and for the UCONN Huskies to get there they had to win 11-straight games. Not only did they do just that, but they did it in style and fashion leaving no doubts about who was the Champion. Kemba Walker and the Huskies couldn’t be stopped, but they made sure that their defense stopped the Butler Bulldogs from pulling off a “Cinderella” victory, beating them 53-41. The 41 points that Butler had is the fewest points scored in the era of the shot clock, on the biggest stage. Jim Calhoun became the oldest coach to win the National Championship, and also joined Adolph Rupp (Kentucky), John Wooden (UCLA), Bobby Knight (Indiana) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) as coaches to win three NCAA titles.