The Basement View

Recruiting Wire- A change at #1, but it might not matter The impossible has happened… well sort of. The Gonzaga Bulldogs have lost a game. Gonzaga fell on Saturday to BYU in a 79-71 home loss. The perfect season has come to an end, and in a way this might be good for the overall team morality going into the tournament. The Bulldogs finally had that game that they didn’t all have it and were sluggish. This is a snap back to reality for Gonzaga and is an excellent late season teaching point for the team, showing them that they aren’t bullet proof. Getting into the Top 25, it will look different going into Championship play thanks to a few upsets yesterday. 1.       Kansas 2.       Villanova 3.       UCLA 4.       Gonzaga 5.       North Carolina 6.       Oregon 7.       Arizona 8.       Louisville 9.       Kentucky 10.   West Virginia 11.   Baylor 12.   Florida 13.   Butler 14.   SMU 15.   Florida State 16.   Perdue 17.   Duke 18.   Cincinnati 19.

Fresh Start_190: The Vikings drop Peterson The Minnesota Vikings have not picked up their team option for Running back Adrian Peterson. The 31-year-old veteran tailback will enter free agency after his 10 th season. Peterson is coming off a rough ending in Minnesota. In his final three seasons in Minnesota Peterson hasn’t really had the easiest of rides. In 2014, Peterson only played one game due to his child abuse incident that caused him to miss all but one game. In 2015, Peterson played a full season—rushing for 1,485 yards, 11 touchdowns, but only 4.5 yards per attempt (which is tied for 2 nd worst in his career when Peterson has played 10 or more games). Peterson also fumbled 6 times which is tied for 2 nd worst in his career. There is no question that Peterson is not the same player that he once was, but he can still be effective if he stays healthy. Peterson has had 2 major knee surgery’s in the past 6 years and being a 31-year-old running back he will have natural ba

NY 500 24 The week after the trade deadline is a breath of fresh air given with the empty TV schedule that we are given when the NBA All-Star game. Diving right into it, the Rangers are 4 th in the Eastern Conference only one point behind Columbus with 82 points. The Rangers lost a 5-2 slug fest last night at the Garden. The Rangers also had an exciting 4-3 OT win on Saturday night thanks to Mika Zibanejad. The Islanders have caught fire and are only one point behind Toronto for the 8 th spot in the East with 68 points. John Taveras is leading the Islanders with 52 points, which is 25 th in the league. It is an interesting time to be a hockey fan in New York. Moving into basketball, the Knicks and Nets are an interesting Broadway play to be watching right now. The Nets are still the worst team in the NBA, but they have been decently competitive since the All-Star break. Don’t get me wrong, the Nets are not going anywhere any time soon, but is fun to see the Nets play good bas

Fresh Start_189: Move over Steve Harvey—the 89 th Academy Awards have arrived So yeah that actually happened. The best picture award card in last night’s Oscars got misplaced and presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced the winner of best picture to be ‘La La Land’ when in actuality Dunaway and Beatty were handed the card for the previous award which was Best Actress in a Leading Role, which Emma Stone had won for her role in ‘La La Land.’   I cannot believe this happened and I feel for the entire cast and crew of ‘La La Land’ as well as Beatty and Dunaway. It is an impossible situation when you are literally handed the wrong set of cards, and for Beatty to be compared to Steve Harvey, the criticism is fair but in both cases, shame on the production teams from the shows themselves. I am extremely humbled and shocked at the courage that Jordan Horowitz for understanding the mistake and having the courage to swallow his pride and proudly hand over the award after t

Fresh Start_188: The 89 th Academy Awards With today being Oscar Sunday, I feel like it’s only fitting to have my picks for 10 of the major awards given out tonight. The Oscars are the second most watched television event after the Super Bowl, and without further ado the Oscar goes too: Best Picture : Fences Best Actor in a leading role : Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) Best Actress in a leading role : Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins) Best Supporting Actor : Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) Best Supporting Actress : Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) Best Animated Feature Film : Zootopia Best Cinematography : Silence Best Costume Design : La La Land Best Director : Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) Best Original Screenplay : Manchester by the Sea (Written by Kenneth Lonergan) I hope you all enjoy the 89 th Academy Awards, good luck to Jimmy Kimmel who is hosting, I hope all your favorites get the recognition they deserve. It’s the end of Oscar season, grab s

Fresh Start_187: Sad few words The day after the Jets make two cuts for cap space, they let go one of the most important and impactful Jets of my lifetime. Today, the Jets release center Nick Mangold an 11-year veteran. I knew that Mangold might retire soon, but I didn’t think he would retire after hearing the announcement of his release. This puts the Jets in even a deeper of a whole then they were already with big gaps in their offensive line. The Darrelle Revis release is just pending at this point so the Jets will be extremely limited at two important skill positions that they will need to address heavily in free agency and the draft. I am sad that Mangold is leaving, I don’t want to see him go, but I have learned something from my lifetime of being a sports fan; route for the laundry not the player. I will be interested to see who the Jets get to replace the Jet legend. I am hopeful, but concerned at this point. It’s never too early to say LET’S GO JETS! Sources:(espn.com

Fresh Start_186: The Jets start making cuts           Over the past 48 hours or so the Jets have released a few players that have been a part of the team’s overall success for a few years. Releasing Kicker Nick Folk and OT Breno Giacomini today shows Jet fans the busy side of football. This is a similar situation to what the Giants did when they cut Victor Cruz and Reshad Jennings. I personally liked Giacomini but I don’t have a problem with the Jets cutting him for cap space. Folk, while he had a lot of important kicks in the latter half of the past decade—he was ending his career extremely fast with the way he was kicking in 2016. Kickers are replaceable and I’m sure the Jets can pick a decent kicker in free agency. The offensive line however, becomes the second most important concern for the Jets. Cornerback is by far the first priority of business for Mike Maccagnan, even more so with the Revis incident in Pittsburgh. The Jets are in a transition period but still have e

MLB 2017 Team Rankings With Spring Training officially here with the start of pitchers and catchers today, it feels like the perfect time to do my annual MLB team rankings. I have been doing this for a while, and the 2017 season looks like it will be a lot of fun so here it goes: #30 (last years’ ranking {25}): Minnesota Twins - The Twins are coming off of a season were they had the worst record in all of baseball. With Joe Mauer getting one-year older, the pitching staff not changing, and the bullpen still with noticeable wholes—the Twins are most likely going to have a reoccurring season in 2017. I see the Twins going 61-101 this season. #29 (2016{29}): Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati is in no place to move forward. With not that many changes for the better, that being apparent with the Brandon Philips to the Atlanta Braves. With a bullpen that has a ton of holes with still no clear answer for the absence of Aroldis Chapman. The lineup is young, and I would compare this Red

Fresh Start_185: Out for lunch… be back tomorrow On days like today, I honestly have no idea what to write. I have produced two pieces of content already and I have had an amazing day outside with my friends. Even with it only being February, today was the nicest day of the year, so with that being said. I hope you enjoy the return of the NBA tonight along with what is left for this amazing day. It is the first day of Spring Training tomorrow, which is like Christmas before New Years for baseball fans. Also, the Masters are only 40 days away. Happy Spring everyone, go out and enjoy it! Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out! 

Views from far far away- All-Star week and the Trade Deadline With the trade deadline come and gone at 3PM today, the NBA looks a little different. There was no Jimmy Butler or Paul George trade, but a couple of teams got what they needed for the playoffs. The team that gained the most was the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder traded Anthony Marrow, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Cameron Payne for Taj Gibson, Dough McDermott, and a 2018 2 nd rounder. This trade will make the Thunder more of a threat down the stretch, giving OKC two good players that can create their own shot and play off of Westbrook. Gibson adds the physical big that the Thunder were missing and McDermott can add a shooter at the wing. The Dallas Mavericks also retooled for a playoff run in response to the Pelican trade. The Mavs went out and got Nerlens Noel exchange for Andrew Bogut, Justin Anderson, and a Top 18 protected 1 st rounder. If the 6’ers don’t receive the pick; they get two 2 nd rounders (one in 2017

2017 Top 10 MLB Players at every position Watching ESPN, NFL Network, and MLB Network when I was young, I use to watch a ton of Top 10 shows for countless hours for unknown reasons. I was fascinated with people’s opinions and comparing them to mine, shouting at the TV wishing my list was the one that was being televised. Watching each and every one with anticipation of the upcoming MLB season. And what better time to put out my rankings, the day before Spring Training games officially start. I will be counting down from 10-1; 10 being the worst and 1 being the best. Here is my very first Major League Baseball rankings of players for the 2017 season. I will be starting with left fielders and make my way around the outfield, then go around the horn in the infield, finally ending with the 10 best backstops with the best starting pitchers, and the best relievers. Top 10 Left fielders heading into 2017: 1.       Yoenis Cespesdes (New York Mets) 2.       Justin Upton (Detroit