Sweet 16 and Boston on my mind

Long story short...the past week has been hectic. I had my NCAA tournament picks all set to post and an article with some pretty prophetic stuff in it ready to go, but my keyboard stopped working. All is well though as I had Virginia Commonwealth over Duke and Winthrop over Notre Dame. My real dark horse was UNLV and as of this moment, they're still alive.
Guard play has proven to be vital in the tournament so far as teams like Oregon, Butler, and UNLV have blatantly been relying on their dribble penetration and shot selection to get them into the Sweet 16. Everyone was talking about Ron Lewis' big 3 pointer in the Ohio St./Xavier game to send the game into overtime, but once the third period started, Mike Conley took over and showed who the most valuable player on that team is. On the other end of the spectrum, D.J. Augustin had an absolutely horrible game against Southern Cal. Durant did his part scoring 30 points, but I think the comparisons to Carmelo might have been a bit off. In 2003 when the Orange won the title, Melo also had a freshman point guard in Gerry McNamara, but there was no pressure on McNamara to score like there was on Augustin because of senior help and future NBA talent like Hakim Warrick. Augustin was the obvious reason Texas was defeated.
Now to give my final four predictions...a little late, but worth it. I like Georgetown, A&M, Kansas, and Florida. It was tough to take Kansas over Southern Illinois and their incredibly tough man to man defense, but in the end I'm a huge fan of Sherron Collins. In the finals, I like Jeff Green (the most complete and dependable player in college basketball) to be named the most valuable player and Georgetown to defeat the Kansas Jayhawks.

Now to take a trip outside the world of college basketball, I'd like to talk a little about Boston. To be completely honest, I'm extremely pleased with the Red Sox, Celtics, and especially the Patriots. First the Saux...

• Now that the closer dilemma has been resolved for the time being with Jonathan Papelbon headed back to the bullpen, my other big concerns are the big time free agent acquisitions J. D. Drew and some Japanese guy. Earlier this week against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Drew and Matsuzaka both shined. I realize he was going up against an organization that hasn't been to the playoffs since the flat top was fashionable, but Dice-K was pretty spectacular.
  
• All I've heard about Drew was that he was an extremely emotionless player who wouldn't mesh with Red Sox nation. I don't exactly know what that means, but being from Boston all I know is that if you produce, we'll embrace you. Over his career Drew has averaged 27 home runs a season and if Francona puts him behind the speedy Julio Lugo and in front of Ortiz at the 2 spot, he should have a great year.
  

The Patriots have had the best off season out of any team in the NFL. BEFORE the draft has even happened, they've taken care of the wide receiver position freeing up their first round draft picks to use on the thin secondary. Dante Stallworth is jaw dropping and consistent and Kelley Washington should blossom with someone like Tom Brady feeding him the ball. Those guys are nice but the grand prize landing was definitely Adalius Thomas. He's literally a perfect fit for Belicheck's 3-4 defense and should revive an aging group of linebackers. Not since Willie McGinest's rookie season have the Patriots had a player post double digit sacks. I like Thomas to break that drought this year. If you can't tell, I'm a little excited for this team and wouldn't be surprised if they gave the 72 Dolphins a run for their money (knock on wood).

Now just a brief thing I'd like to say about the Celtics. I love what they're doing. I love to see the coach ostracize his starters and let his team blow a big 3rd quarter lead and I love to see the GM get fined 30,000$ for sitting next to Kevin Durant's mother. These things show me that the Celtics are realists which as a die-hard fan, is all I'm asking. I'm not too nervous about Durant not coming out. Once Nike informs him that by staying in college he'd be giving up 60 million dollars to the likes of Derek Rose, O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon, I don't think the decision will be that difficult. Right now, I'd gladly take Oden or Durant and don't care which one the Celtics land. Just don't give me Al Horford.