NBA Power Rankings: Week 13

Chip Patterson, recent graduate of University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, writes for TheHoopDoctors.com and serves as Basketball Editor for BusterSports.com.

NBA Power Rankings

1	Cleveland Cavaliers No Mo Williams, no Delonte West.  It’s been no problem for the Cavs.  Excellent production from JJ Hickson and Boobie Gibson has kept Cleveland in their winning ways.  Oh yeah, that LeBron guy?  He’s playing pretty well still.
2	Denver Nuggets The Nuggets have now extended their winning streak to 7 and continue to win even with Melo on the bench.  Melo-less wins over the Bobcats and Rockets speak to the strength of the bench.  Not J.R.’s bench actions, clearly.
3	Los Angeles Lakers The Lakers have shown in the last week that they are human.  Well, at least human-ish.  They are still better than most of the NBA and just because they dropped two road games in four days doesn’t mean that they have weaknesses.  They are just getting used to the other time zones in the Association.
4	Utah Jazz Averaging north of 113 points in their last five games, the Utah Scat (formerly known as Jazz) have turned into one of the most offensively dominant teams in the league.  Pair that with a continued dominance when playing in Salt Lake City, and this is a team that you want to try and bump down to the 5 spot if you are in the West.
5	Atlanta Hawks Everyone has seen Mike Woodson’s eyebrows at this point right?  Well that kind of fun seems to be contagious in Atlanta.  The Highlight Factory has been cruising as of late, and if they can keep all the pieces healthy, they will continue to lurk in Cleveland’s shadow – ready to strike.
6	Dallas Mavericks Squeaking out one point wins against the Wizards and Bucks seem to point towards a decline for the Mavs, but if this is their funk – it’s nice to still be picking up wins in that funk.
7	Boston Celtics Doc Rivers came out and said he was “looking forward” to the tough three game stretch the C’s have against the Magic, Hawks, and Lakers.  They have yet to face a tough team since getting KG back, but they will certainly get their wish in the next week.
8	Memphis Grizzlies In my personal opinion it is going to be a travesty if Zach Randolph is not selected to the All-Star team.  But it is also my personal opinion that he is not the reason for the Grizz’s most recent success.  The increased offensive productivity of Conley keeps defenses honest and allows the rest of the free flowing machine to take it’s course.
9	Orlando Magic The honeymoon is over in Orlando.  The spark and chemistry that propelled this team past the Cleveland LeBrons in the 2009 Eastern Conference finals is now back to being a confused, occasionally apathetic team that relies on Dwight and the occasional three.  That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of time to straighten that out, I’m just sayin…
10	Toronto Raptors Wins over the Lakers and Heat in the last few days have me severely overrating this team (and I am openly admitting that).  But with Bosh and Bargnani causing matchup problems and somehow not getting torched on defense, you can’t help but like their chances to spread a team out and steal wins.
11	Chicago Bulls Chicago’s current four game win streak has brought them to 8-2 in their last 10 and finally back at .500.  It was not long ago we thought Del Negro was done, Noah was being shipped, and Rose was going to have a sophomore slump.  Damn, we were wrong.
12	Portland Trailblazers The Blazers’ fans are longing to have Brandon Roy back in the lineup.  You know, Greg Oden longing for him back in the lineup.
13	Miami Heat Second quarter of the game with Cleveland might be the best 12 minutes of the season.  That loss paired with losing Beasley against the Raptors on Wednesday don’t necessarily scream hope.  Three games against the Pistons, Bucks, and Bucks are just what the doctor ordered though.
14	San Antonio Spurs Tony Parker needs a new left lower leg.  He left the Atlanta game after re-spraining the same left ankle that kept him out during the beginning of the season.  He has also been playing through plantar fasciitis for most of the season. Not a rap sheet you want for your second-leading scorer.
15	Phoenix Suns The slide continues, and the Amar’e trade talks continue, and things could not be looking worse right now for Phoenix.  The much-hated Mavs come to town on Thursday, we’ll see how they respond.
16	Charlotte Bobcats The homestand was so impressive, everyone was singing the Bobcats’ praises.  Now comes the harsh reality of the road trip.  They were lucky to catch the Suns on the slide and take them to overtime.  Now if they can win the games they should win (Sacramento and Golden State), they can call the trip a mild success at 3-3.
17	New Orleans Hornets Winning 4 out of their last 5 with a loss only to the Nuggets, the Hornets have not given up on this recent surge to put themselves back into the Western Conference playoff picture.  Perhaps inspired by their pigskin counterparts, the Buzz have shown a particularly impressive amount of fight in the last week.
18	Houston Rockets People keep pumping up the Rockets and praising them for their hard work and “making the most of what they have,” but they have lost three straight and fallen to last place in their division.  Regardless of how difficult the division may be, that is not a Top 15 team.
19	Oklahoma City Thunder Like the Rockets, a former Top 10 here in the Power Rankings has slipped as of late.  Problem with the Thunder has been shooting themselves out of games.  They opened the fourth quarter against the Bulls on Wednesday with 14 straight missed shots.  They’ll get back on track soon, hopefully.
20	Milwaukee Bucks Just when the Bucks are finally hitting that win-some/lose-some hang around .500 stride, they are about face the Heat twice and Orlando in the same week.  Jennings plays with the consistency of truck stop fireworks.  But all you need is to get a couple of explosive ones to have a good time.
21	New York Knicks 50-point losses don’t exactly scream confidence.  I was high on the Knicks last week, excited for their potential in catching the Lakers a night after Cleveland.  They did a great job of hanging with LA, and then came the Dallas game.
22	Los Angeles Clippers Having Camby healthy (ribs) is going to be necessary if the Clippers are really going to be fighting for a playoff spot.  Kaman has had a fantastic season, but having that shot blocking compliment will keep them from getting burned inside.
23	Indiana Pacers I started to suspect Wednesday night that Jim O’Brien might be trying to tank the season.  With Granger playing well and the Pacers starting to win games every now and then (5-5 in their last 10), O’Brien started Troy Murphy at Center with four wing players against the Lakers.  Here’s a surprise, they got burned.
24	Philadelphia 76ers The trade rumors continue to swirl regarding Andre Iguodala.  Whether it ends up being Houston, Cleveland, or another team; it will most likely result in short term disadvantages with the freedom of not having his remaining $56 million on the payroll.
25	Detroit Pistons Tayshaun Prince and John Kuester do have their worst blow ups behind close doors, I wonder if the Pistons have their own fight club.  Call me when Bynum and Stuckey are throwing down.  I will purchase a plane ticket tomorrow for that.
26	Sacramento Kings If Kevin Martin does get traded, they better get a talented swingman for him.  For whatever reason Jason Thompson has decided to check his gutsy play into a hotel for the better part of the last month.  Tyreke/Omri are my favorite rookies in the league, the Kings better not screw them for the rest of the season.
27	Golden State Warriors Dell Curry:Stephen Curry::Bob Dylan:Jacob Dylan. (Props to Matt Moore on that one)
28	Washington Wizards With everyone talking about the suspensions, the next week will be hard for Washington to stay focused and win.  As opposed to a normal week, when it’s just hard to win.
29	Minnesota Timberwolves #FreeJonnyFlynnandKevinLoveinsteadofAlJefferson.  There you go tweeple, lets start that trend.
30	New Jersey Nets Nets got a standing ovation for their victory over the Clippers.  There was a Kris Humphries sighting!

Will the Sacramento Kings Trade Kevin Martin?

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.

Before Kevin Martin of the Sacramento Kings went down with a hand injury early this season, he was the league’s leading scorer at 30.6 ppg and rookie Tyreke Evans was just another rookie trying to find his place in the National Basketball Association.

How things have changed. In Martin’s absence, Evans has exploded upon the NBA landscape and emerged not only as the Kings go-to-guy but quite possibly their franchise player that leads them back to the NBA post-season sometime in the very near future.

So the obvious question is, can Evans and Martin coexist in the Sacramento backcourt or should the Kings trade Martin?

Rumor has it, from reading Sacramento’s Cowbell Kingdom, many Kings fans feel that Martin, upon his return from injury, is more of a problem than a solution to fix the Kings losing ways.

Although the Kings are 0-6 since Martin’s return with a winable match-up with Golden State up next, the Kings were 15-21 and in 13th place out West without him. True, in those 6 games he has only scored 79 points and only 4 steals, while the Kings are only averaging 94 ppg in that span. On the positive side, he has made 20 of 22 free throws and has had 10 assists to only 2 turnovers in his last 2 games.

Let’s look at some of the other reasons for the Kings horrific play as of late. Spencer Hawes, who notched a 30 point game against the Lakers, is averaging only 9.9 ppg in the past 10 games. Jason Thompson is shooting 38 % and has seen his offensive production dip to only 10 ppg and 8 rebounds and is only getting to the charity stripe 3 times per game.

The problem with the Kings has been the ineffectiveness at times of their frontcourt and the team’s reliance on their outside shooting instead of playing basketball the fundamental way, from the inside out.

The best case scenerio is to keep Martin alongside Evans, forming one of the most potent young offensive backcourts in the Western Conference. But is their enough shots to go around and does Martin’s game mesh with Evan’s ability to get to the rim?

Give it time Sacramento, it will take a little longer than a week or two for Martin to once again be more aggressive and find his niche in deferring to Evans, who is obviously their player for the future. Martin will surely not make waves stepping aside since he never has been seen as any team’s first option.

Watch what you wish for. Surely a number of other NBA squads would be more than happy to take Kevin Martin off the Kings hands, but who or what do you get back in return?

Before coming to the conclusion that Martin is more of part of the problem, than a solution, the Kings have many other holes to fill. After all it is a rarity to have two, more than capable 20+ ppg a night scorers, starting in the same backcourt.

If Martin were to be traded, Kings fans would surely miss this(’06 Playoffs vs San Antonio):

Could the Pac-10 Get Only 1 Bid to the NCAA Tournament?

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.

The Pac-10 Conference has been one of the historically good conferences in the history of college basketball. With teams such as UCLA and Arizona being elite programs, winning multiple national titles and with a number of other schools accustomed to getting at large bids to “The Big Dance” like Washington, Arizona State, and USC, you would think around this time of the season that we would be talking about which 4 or 5 teams have a chance to be invited to March Madness.

Not this year.

The conference is officially in a down year because of a mass exodus of talent to the NBA and some recruitment violations at Southern Cal. Many top players have left in recent years for the lure of mega-buck contracts in the professional ranks like Kevin Love, O.J Mayo, and Chase Budinger leaving the conference barren in terms of marquee talent.

Many teams have either started of great or had long winning streaks with no one seemingly showing they want to be conference’s representative come March.

Usual conference powerhouse, UCLA has fallen the hardest from last season after suffering through an early 5 game losing streak and sit at a disappointing 4-3 in conference and a sub .500 record overall(9-10). At this point Ben Howland has to be looking forward to next season when some prized recruits like elite big man, Josh Smith will be playing for the Bruins.

Washington and Cal were the early leaders of the conference as both have been nationally ranked at some point. The Huskies probably have the best collection of talent, with Quincy Pondexter, Abdul Gaddy, and Isaiah Thomas, but have slipped in conference play, currently sitting near the bottom of the standings at 3-5 and a lowly 12-7 overall.

California is probably the current favorite, after defeating Oregon State, to get to 13-6 overall and sits atop the conference standings at 5-2. Jerome Randle has been their best player, putting up 18.7 ppg and dishing out 4.7 assists. But the Bears are 0-2 against ranked opponents, don’t have any quality wins, and have already lost to rival Washington.

Arizona State also looked good for a while, winning 4 straight in conference to become one of the favorites but lost badly at home to Arizona and now firmly sits on the “bubble” at 14-6(4-3 Pac-10), but also doesn’t have any quality wins besides beating Washington earlier in the season when they were in the Top 25.

USC has also looked surprisingly good at times but has imposed some sanctions upon themselves concerning recruiting violations over O.J. Mayo, dashing all hopes of any post-season play. Arizona and Stanford are the only other teams over .500 in the conference(4-3) but both can hardly be considered contenders since they are equally mediocre at 10-9 overall.

The problem is with so many of the teams having down seasons, even if they get on a long winning streak against each-other now that they are in conference play, their RPI and Strength of Schedule will be too low when compared to teams with worse overall records in conferences like the Big East or ACC, where they play ranked opponents on a nightly basis. With that being said and all of the statistics against them, only one team will probably earn an at-large bid to the tournament.

Who is the favorite for that one invitation to go “dancing?” Your guess is as good as mine. Just put the top 7 teams’ names in a hat and make a selection. If I had to make a prediction,……………..the Cal Bears will get the nod.

Florida’s Chandler Parsons Hits 2nd Game Winner In 3 Weeks

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.

The legend of junior forward Chandler Parsons on the University of Florida’s Gainesville campus keeps growing. Even though he is putting up decent overall numbers(10.7 ppg, 6.6 rebs, and 2 ast) for the Gators this season and has helped them to a respectable 14-5 record and a 3-2 mark in the SEC, he will probably be more remembered by his knack for hitting game winning shots.

Parsons legend started to grow after hitting this 70 foot game winner against NC State on January 3rd of this season:

Then, in a game this past week against conference rival South Carolina, he proved to be the man once again.

First, South Carolina’s Devan Downey hits an incredible shot after breaking through Florida’s horrible attempt of a double team. Then, Florida’s point guard, Erving Walker eventually finds an open Chandler, after he is frantically calling for the ball, from behind the arc for his 2nd game winning bucket in just 3 weeks.

What will he do next?

Allen Iverson Rewind – Press Conferences

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.

Many of us here at The Hoop Doctors are diehard fans of “The Answer” Allen Iverson.  In my mind he is pound-for-pound, one of the best players in NBA history, and is quite possibly the best player 6’0 and under this league has ever seen(with all due respect to Nate “Tiny” Archibald).  In this generation, their has never been a player who wore their heart on their sleave, whether good or bad, like Iverson.  Once he finally decides to hang it up, Allen will undoubtedly be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer as the Sixers will surely make sure that no other player ever wears his signature #3 jersey again.  Now that he has just retired un-retired and gone back to Philadelphia where it all started, what better time to honor the original A.I., Allen Iverson with his very own multi-part Player Rewind Series, featuring some hidden gems caught on video showcasing “The Answer’s” biggest and best moments in his HS, NCAA, and NBA career.

Part Seven – The Press Conferences

Allen has always been good for a great sound byte or quote, since he never holds back and lets everyone know just exactly how he feels. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not. With the Sixers, he never was shy about opening up and letting his emotions flow, whether it was criticizing his coaching staff or the officials. In this segment we will take a look back at some of A.I.’s most memorable press conferences. Allen will be enlightening us on practice, his relationship with Michael Jackson, and why he came back to Philly.

We Talking Bout Practice

A.I. Talks About His Relationship With Michael Jackson at his ’01 MVP Speech

Iverson Gets Emotional Upon His Return To Philadelphia

Allen Cries When Talking About His Life While Speaking to Some Students

NBA Teams Up With Usher for All-Star Promo Video

Turner Network Television (TNT) announced today that it has joined forces with five-time Grammy-winning artist Usher to feature the singer’s song “More” as part of the network’s marketing campaign for 2010 NBA All-Star. TNT filmed an exclusive music video with Usher that will serve as a promotional spot airing in Regal Cinemas beginning Friday, Jan. 29. In addition, the video will be used as part of the network’s campaign to promote its exclusive coverage of 2010 NBA All-Star Game in Dallas, TX on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Previous musical pairings with Turner Sports for its sports programming include Jay-Z (NBA), Pharrell (NBA All-Star), Britney Spears (NBA All-Star), Kevin Rudolf (NBA Playoffs), Fort Minor (NBA Playoffs), Bon Jovi (MLB), Buckcherry (NASCAR), The Rolling Stones (NASCAR), Hinder (NASCAR) and many others.

“As a huge fan of the NBA I had a great time working with TNT to shoot a new video for NBA All-Star that infuses basketball and incorporates some of the biggest names in the game,” said Usher. “The song ‘More’ is a great anthem for the sport and I’m glad to be a part of this year’s NBA All-Star Game in Dallas.”

TNT NBA All-Star Promo: Usher’s “More” from Turner Sports on Vimeo.

ESPN’s Digger Phelps Dances With Clemson Cheerleader

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.

Former Notre Dame head coach Digger Phelps, along with Dick Vitale, are two of the most colorful personalities in college basketball. Phelps is without a doubt the most popular member of the ESPN College Gameday crew which includes Rece Davis, Hubert Davis, and  Duke homer, Jay Bilas. ESPN broadcasts the one hour show from a new college campus every Saturday previewing the NCAA’s top games.

Every week, we look forward to what color high-lighter Digger will be holding, which always matches the color of his necktie, while he gives some pretty insightful commentary from a former head coach’s point of view.

While it doesn’t always make it on camera, Digger is the crowd favorite each week when he mixes it up with the student body in attendance which, with a minimal amount of urging, usually convince him to bust a move right on the hardwood with one of the home team’s cheerleaders.

It’s always entertaining and ESPN even has used it as part of their overall marketing for the show as evidence of this promo video that they used last season.

Last week, with the crew on the Clemson campus leading up to their Top 20 match-up with Duke later that evening, Digger once again showed off his old school dance moves with one of the Clemson cheerleaders.

It’s becoming such a regular occurrence, it appears by this clip, that the Gameday crew has hired a choreographer to coordinate the more than 3 minute dance routine set to Kelly Clarkson’s “Walk Away.“

Check out the video:

NCAA Games of the Week: January 25, 2010

Matt graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in May of 2007 majoring in TV Production. Matt is currently a writer at StaticMultimedia.com, TheBleacherReport.com, NationalSportsNation.com, SportsMixed.com, FanFever.com, Filmcatcher.com, 2 Much Swag, and TheHoopDoctors.com. Matt will provide you with insightful wit and an eager eye for sports.

Monday January 25
Missouri (15-4, 3-1) @ KU (18-1, 4-0)
Kansas will likely ascend in the polls after UT’s 0-2 record last week, and will have #1 in their sights as Missouri comes into Lawrence. MIZZOU is only one game back in the Big 12 standings but if it were not for a 5 point OT victory at Texas Tech, the Tigers would be winless on the road this season. Kansas should cruise to at least a 10-point victory and head to Manhattan this Saturday with their eyes set on the conference crown.

Georgetown (15-3, 6-2) @ Syracuse (19-1, 6-1)
G’Town comes into Syracuse a half game behind the second place Orange in a very tight conference race. Cuse is cruising right now, winners of six in a row, and it looks like they are starting to hit their stride in the midst of conference season. Look for the Orange to hold court and roll into Cincy February 7.

Charleston (13-6, 8-0) @ Western Carolina (15-4, 5-2)
Charleston rolls into Cullowhee, NC two and a half games ahead of the second place Western Carolina Catamounts. The Cougars have won seven straight and will be in complete control of the regular season conference race if they can win on the road.

Bethune-Cookman (12-7, 5-1) @ Howard (5-15, 4-2)
Second place BC comes into Howard a full game up on the Bison, who after losing 13 of their first 14 games have won four of their last six games.

AR-Pine Bluff (5-12, 5-1) @ Texas Southern (9-9, 5-1)
After losing their first 11 games and starting off the season with 14 straight road games, the ARPB Golden Lions have won five of their last six games. Both teams are tied with Jackson State for first place in the SWAC conference and the Tigers have also won five of their last six games.

Tuesday January 26
Kansas State (16-3, 3-2) @ Baylor (15-3, 2-2)
Kansas State is coming off a loss at home to OKST and sit a game and a half out of first place. The Bears are two games out of first place and if they want to send a message to the Big 12 lightweights (not KU or UT), they will need to defend their home court.

Tulsa (16-3, 5-0) @ UAB (17-2, 5-0)
Tulsa comes to Birmingham tied atop Conference USA with the Blazers and riding a seven game win streak. The Blazers have been on a roll all season long and the feature one of the best players you might not have heard of, Elijah Millsap (Paul’s brother).

Wednesday January 27
Vanderbilt (15-3, 4-0) @ Tennessee (15-3, 3-1)
Vandy comes into rival territory tied atop the SEC standings and riding a nine game winning streak. Second place TENN is undefeated at home this season and is coming off their first conference loss of the season, a fifteen point spanking by a mediocre UGA team.

BYU (20-1, 5-0) @ New Mexico (18-3, 4-2)
The nations only 20 win team roll into The Pit riding a 15 game winning streak and atop the MWC standings. Second place New Mexico needs to win at home if they want a chance to keep up with the upstart Cougars.

Temple (17-3, 5-0) @ Charlotte (14-5, 4-1)
A-10 leading Temple brings their unblemished conference record into third place Charlotte. The Owls are winners of six in a row and have an 8-1 road record but third place Charlotte’s only home loss came against GT.

Thursday January 28
Wisconsin (16-4, 6-2) @ Purdue (16-3, 4-3)
Surprise second place Wisconsin comes into West Lafayette with a target on their back as they beat the Boilermakers at home nearly 20 days before. The Badgers find themselves 1.5 GB of the Spartans and after a rough stretch the Boilers are tied for third place in the Big 10.

Wake Forest (14-4, 4-2) @ GT (14-5, 3-3)
Wake Forest is fresh off two big wins at UNC and a victory at home against ACC leading UVA. Although GT has an average conference record, they only find themselves one game behind the four-way tie atop the league.

Oakland (15-7, 9-0) @ IUPUI (15-7, 8-1)
These two hooked up earlier this month in what was a three-point victory for the Golden Grizzlies. This time the Jaguars are at home where they are 8-1 this season in what should be another battle for Summit league supremacy.

Saturday January 30
Baylor (15-3, 2-2) @ Texas (17-2, 3-1)
After two straight conference road games the Longhorns get two games at home next week and should be able to right the ship. Baylor faces their toughest week of the season as they entertain KSU earlier in the week and head to Austin to face one of the nation’s best.

Vanderbilt (15-3, 4-0) @ Kentucky (19-0, 4-0)
This is a big week for first place Vanderbilt as they go to Knoxville and Lexington and if they can consider it a successful week if they split. Kentucky has their sights set on the championship and losing has not been an option all season long.

Kansas (18-1, 4-0) @ KSU (16-3, 3-2)
Kansas should roll into Manhattan with an unblemished conference record and a modest five game winning streak. The Wildcats have a lot to prove this week, as they travel to Waco earlier in the week and then face one of the nation’s best teams at home.

Duke (16-3, 4-2) @ Georgetown (15-3, 6-2)
A big week for the Hoyas as they travel to Syracuse earlier in the week then take on a tough Duke squad at home. The Blue Devils are coming their first road victory of the season at Clemson, and face a tough FSU at home earlier in the week.

Old Dominion (16-5, 8-1) @ Northeastern (13-7, 8-1)
ODU brings their seven game winning streak into Boston to take on the other first place team in the CAA. The Huskies have only one loss at home this season and need to win at home in their only meeting of the season against the Monarchs.

Boston U (11-9, 6-2) @ Stony Brook (14-7, 6-2)
American East conference rivals clash on Long Island as Boston looks to avenge a 9-point loss earlier this season.

UTEP (13-5, 4-1) @ UAB (17-2, 5-0)
First place might be up for grabs as the UAB faces two of the best teams in Conference USA this week (Tulsa and UTEP). The Miners are tied for second with two other teams and UAB will likely split this week, opening the conference race even more.

Sam Houston State (12-5, 4-0) @ Texas A&M-CC (10-8, 5-0)
First place in the Southland Conference is on the line as the top two teams battle in south Texas.

Denver (13-7, 6-3) @ Arkansas State (11-8, 6-2)
Another game where the top two teams in the conference face each other as the Pioneers invade Jonesboro. Denver is tied for second place in the Sun Belt Conference and they take on an Arkansas State team that has won four of their last five.

New Mexico State (12-8, 5-2) @ Louisiana Tech (18-3, 6-1)
Second place New Mexico State comes into northern Louisiana winners of nine of their last eleven but the Bulldogs are undefeated at home this season. These teams face have both lost to third place San Jose State and play each other twice in ten days.

Sunday January 31
Florida (14-5, 3-2) @ Tennessee (15-3, 3-1)
Third place Florida should come into this Sunday’s matchup against UT on a modest four game winning streak while the Vols face first place Vandy earlier in the week.

Dwight Howard Does An Impression of Charles Barkley [Video]

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.  Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.

Dwight Howard is one of the NBA’s rising stars. He is arguably the league’s most consistently best rebounder and shot blocker. Now all he needs is an offensive game to match his imposing defense.

What makes Howard such a joy to watch is that unlike some of the other top NBA superstars, Dwight always seems to be having fun. Whether it’s after a huge rim rocking jam or a block that winds up in the 8th row, you rarely see him without a huge smile on his face.

Dwight also likes to have fun off the court as well, especially with his pal Charles Barkley or at his expense in some of those hilarious cell phone commercials.

Dwight recently was interviewed by the NBA on TNT crew on their pregame show. At the end of the interview, Ernie Johnson asked Howard to do his best Charles Barkley impersonation, which was dead on.

Check out the video:

Dwight Howard does his best Charles Barkley impression for EJ, Kenny, CWebb and Charles 1.21.10 from Turner Sports on Vimeo.

I Guess Derrick Rose Can Jump [Video]

Well I guess after the Bulls-Suns game on Friday we can safely say that Bulls point guard Derrick Rose has some hops, right? I think all basketball nuts know that being able to jump is having that rare combination of speed, strength, and fast twitch muscle fibers necessary to get up over the rim and throw it down. When Rose dunked on Goran Dragic of the Suns Friday he not only got high enough to throw it down with a man in his grill, but he was high enough to cock the ball back behind his head and cram it in spectacular fashion.

Someone sign this kid up for the dunk contest, and fast. Forget Lebron, I want to see D.Rose in the dunk contest! Oh and at only 6’3″ he can block shots
too.

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