North Carolina Weslevan College Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804
SPORTS
^“>'5,2006
Decree Sports Pundits Critique NBA Playoff Teams, Early MLB Action
By Anthony DeGregorio and Trevor Seibert on his team besides him. I would give the Cavs ihat they take him out of the rotation unless he finishing above .500 this year. The NL East i
By Anthony DeGregorio and Trevor Seibert
Decree Sports Editors
AD: This is the final issue of Speak Your
.Mind. Let's go balls to the wall on baseball and
basketball!
TS: Oh yeah! Let’s start with the .N'B.A
playoffs this time. I've never seen a race like the
one we saw to get to the playoffs. Nobody in
the E-:ast had a secure spot until the final seconds
of the last regular sea.son game. 1 see a lot of
potential for some big upsets this year in the
East. The Chicago Bulls are playing .some great
basketball with Ben Gordon leading the way
for them lately. I see them beating the Miami
Heat in the first round and the Nets handling the
Pacers in the bottom bracket. What do you see
with those two games?
AD. I think Miami is a much stronger team
and have the e.xperience edge over a younger
Bulls team. No way will Tyson Chandler be
able to shut dow n .Shaq daddy in the paint and
Wade is the second best all around player next to
Lebron James in the Eastern Conference. He can
handle the ball, shoot, pass, and rebound and is a
tremendous defender The Pacers have crumbled
and the .Nets play great team basketball. If Vince
Carter plays as well as he has, they shouldn’t
have a problem. I think the Western Conference
is a lot stronger from 1-8 and there are going lo
be great games in the first round.
TS: Most definitely the West should po,se
some great match-ups. but all I'm sayin® with
the Miami-Chicago series is do what LSC did
to Duke. Double up on Wade and allow the
big-nian to hurt you and they will have a chance
10 go seven games with the Heal this series. The
bottom half of the bracket in the western division
looks very good for a strong Suns team that is
looking for a title shot. Yes, they have to play
the Lakers in the first round, but 1 don't see Kobe
carrying them past the first round. As for the
Clippers-Nuggets, I look for the Clippers to win
that series in five games, easily.
AD. This is two different scenarios. Wade
isn’t a J.J. Reddick, he is much better ba,sketball
player He has more athleticistn in the tip of
his pinky than Reddick does in his whole body
and he will find a way to score, grab at least
five rebounds a game and get the ball to the big
men down low, I m calling dribble, drive and
dish all game long every game. The game in the
West that I m most interested in is .Sacramento
going head to head with the defending Western
Champion Spurs. Who do you like there?
TS. i actually like the Sacremento Kings
on this one. Ant. The Spurs have played great
ball all year, but the Sacremento Kings have
been playing with them the last fony games,
since the Ron Artest trade, the Kings have
gone 26-14 in their last forty games. The Spurs
have gone 24-16. The Kings are playing better
ball, and the Kings beat the defending champs
97-87 with .Artest on the team and both teams
were playing their full roster What do you see
happening there and in the series between the
Mavs and the Grizzlies?
AD: I like the Spurs. Every year heading
into the playotts everyone questions whether
the Spurs have what it takes to do well again
and 1 can’t .see them being ousted in the first
round. Tony Parker is one of the most underrated
players in the league and w-ith .Manu Ginobili
and Duncan they should find a way to win. I like
the .Vlavericks in the other game. Nowitzki is
having the best year of his career and with him
they are playing a lot better defense and are a
deeper team that has ten players averaging over
20 minutes a game.
TS: Ver\' true, but history shows that the
Spurs are never good heading into the playoffs
when they are the defending champs. The last
two times they came into the playoffs as defend
ing champs, they were handled in the first round
by their opponent and 1 don’t see any reason
why it won’t happen again this year 1 agree
with you on the .Vlavericks pick. Dirk .Nowitzki
is my MVP for the season and I believe the
Gri/zlies don t have enough to stop this man. In
the Eastern Conference’s top half of the bracket
I see the Pistons handling the Bucks in four
games. That series won't even be close. Then
the Cleveland Cavaliers. I mean Lebron James,
and the Washington Wizards. I think Gilben
Arenas and Caron Butler can play well enough
to beat Ubron Janies. If Lebron had someone
on his team besides him, I would give the Cavs
the benefit of the doubt, but he can't win it by
himself in the plavoffs, it just won't happen.
AD: You can .stick that history' up your a.ss.
That is a BS statement...teams don’t care about
the past.
TS: You're right, they don’t care about the
past, but I do, and the Spurs WILL be out in the
first round. The NBA Finals are going to be one
of the most exciting in years with the match up
of the Detroit Pistons and the Phoenix Suns. I
think that Steve .Nash is going to assist the Suns
in reaching the finals for the first time in a quite a
tew years. Even without .Amare Stoudemire, they
still have a legit chance at beating the Pistons in
the finals because they have a man named Shawn
.Vlarion who is playing great basketball right
now', but that won't be enough to beat the Detroit
Pistons, They are just too good of a team to be
beat. What about vou?
AD: I see Detroit riding their defense in the
finals this year and winning it all. They have un
believable team chemistry' and a group of players
that have been together in that system for years.
1 think Dallas will be the team to come out of the
west, but I don’t think they can beat Detroit.
Changing gears and moving onto ba.seball.
It is no surprise to me that the Royals are at the
bottom of the AL Central again w ith the worst
record in baseball. Do you think they are the
worst team in baseball or w ould you choose
somebody else?
TS: Hell no. 1 would .send anybody who
said otherwi.se to a d(x;tor if they said the Royals
weren't the worst team in baseball. Hell, they
are the worst franchise in any sport right now. It
is utterly despicable W'atching this team play a
game. In one of their previous games against the
White Sox the only w/ay they broke up a perfect
game, w'as when Doug .Mientkiewicz checked at
a strike and the ball dribbled dow'n the third ba.se
line. L(X)ked like it was going foul so the Sox left
it alone only for the damn thing to roll all the way
to third base. It barely got there, but the perfect
game was over. The Royals then proceeded to
clear the dugout in a celebration of losing their
tenth straight.
AD: I admit that franchi.se blows but my
worst team in baseball this year is the Florida
Marlins. Other than Miguel Cabrera and Hanley
Ramirez, their hitters are unknown and the
starters are inexperienced with the exception of
Dontrelle Willis. I expect to see W'illis get close
to twenty w'ins but I don't see Vargas, Mitre and
Moehler pitching behind him getting many w'ins
at all this season. They have a decent closer in
Borowski but without the pitching and a bunch of
no name players swinging the lumber they are the
worst team,
TS: I can see why you would think they are
the worst team in baseball, but that’s a horrible
call there, Dontrelle Willis may have more wins
this year than the Kansas City Royals have as a
team. The Royals are THAT BAD. They suck
defensively, they suck offensively, and they suck
overall as a team period. This year’s Royals
team may rank as the worst team of all time; it's
that bad w'atching them,
AD. 1 think the Red Sox are the team to
beat in the east this year Manny Ramirez has yet
to swing the bat well this season yet they still
have the best record in ba.seball at this point. Curt
Schillmg IS showing no signs of weakness in that
ankle and Beckett looks amazing on the mound.
Not to mention how about the young gun John
Papelbon who shows that he can do more than
start games but can finish them out too. I think
you will see them edge out the Yankees in a very'
tough division battle this year Who do you like^
in that division?
TS: I definitely like the play of the Red
Sox in that division so far, I picked them as
my .AL winner this year and I'm going to stick
hy that. I think that Curt .Schilling will die off
by the end of the year I don’t think he will be
pitching as good at the end of the season, but
then you will see Roger Clemens step back into
a Red Sox uniform to end the .season in Curt’s
place. Papelbon will then be thrown into the
■starting lineup and you will .see Schilling as the
closer in the playoffs. In the Central division the
White Sox are continuing their great play from
last year s playoffs. 1 like them coming out of
the Central. W'hat about you?
AD: I don t .see Schilling being that bad
gets injured and I can only hope that the Rocket
decides to come back to Beantown. What a story
that would be and it would add a lot of fear in
opposing teams having the possibility to face
Schilling. Beckett and Roger in a three game
series. The defending WS Champion White
Sox got off to another strong start to the season
and they should win the Central. No chance of
Detroit being able to keep up their winning ways
throughout the season and Cleveland might be
the only team to chase Chicago towards the end
of the season. The W'hite Sox pitching I think is
too good and will keep them in a lot of games.
With Konerko and Thome in the heart of that
lineup they will be tough outs for any reliever
late in the game.
TS: Most definitely, that looks like one of
the weaker divisions in baseball this year, which
in the end w'ill probably hurt the W'hite Sox’s
chances of repeating this season. Right now' the
West is a toss up with the last place Mariners a
game and a half behind the first place .Angels.
I don't see a clear cut winner just yet. but I’m
going to go w'ith the Oakland Athletics. W'ith
the pitching staff of Zito, Harden, and Loaiza, I
think that they will come out on top in one of the
closest battles, top to bottom, ever
AD: The west is the weakest division in
the ,AL. The .Angels should come out on top here.
They have the best hitting in the division with
Guerrero. Anderson, Cabrera, Erstad and Figgins.
They are playing aggressive ba.seball this year so
far and have stolen a ton of bases. Their starting
pitching isn’t great but the bullpen is solid and
anchored by a great closer in K’ Rod.
TS: Tliey are going to have to score A
LOT of nms to make up for that lack of starting
pitching they got going on there. I don't see them
looking like it’s going to be the story of the ve-
Can the Braves keep their streak alive or is i't an
over for their reign of that division?
AD: I like the Mets' chances to come out
of the East in the National league. They had sotn
good off-season acquisitions picking up Dekad^
and W'agner. They have been getting the job done
so far and I don’t see them slowing down. They
have the best lineup from top to bottom in the
NL. Xavier Nady has been roping hits all over
the ball-park and with great hitters like Delgado
Floyd, Beltran and Wright batting around hL
they should have the power to go all the way lo
the Finals this year.
TS:Wow! The Finals might be a little far
fetched there; I believe that the Braves will doit
again this year 1 have no reason to believe that
something is going to stop them. Sure the .Mets
are playing great ball, but they always find a way
to choke in big games. Pedro and company will'
be a wild card team and probably be ousted in
the first round by the NL Central champs, the
St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards haven't started
the season out very' well, but that is the aura of
this team. They never start out strong, but they
end strong. Pujols is the best player in the major
leagues, and with Eckstein, Edmonds, Rolen, and
Encamacion at the plate, they are a tough team to
pitch around. Then you have three great starting
pitchers in Carpenter, Mulder, and Suppan. Sup-
pan might not be playing well just yet, but he’s
tough. Don’t forget his complete game shutout in
game 7 of the NLCS in 2004.
AD: The Cards won’t be able to take the
Central again this year and Suppan is junk!
He has a career losing record and should be in
playing for a team that needs a crappy starter to
See"SYM" on page 8
NCWC Honors Student-Athletes
For 2005-2006 School Year
Ash lee Bass and Jon Dyer eafned
NCWC Athlete of the Year awards at
the 41st annual Department of Athletics
ceremonies at the Dunn Center,
Featured speaker was Frank Ross,
a scout for the Charlotte Bobcats of the
NBA, who was on hand to recognize
student-athletes from NC Wesleyan’s 13
varsity sports.
Bass, a sophomore, was recognized
after earning All-Conference, All-Tour
nament and Co-Most Valuable Player
honors in softball. An infielder, she led
the Bishops (20-18) to a fourth-place
finish in the USA South Confemce
regular season and an appearance in the
tournament semi-finals. Her .500 batting
average earned her the batting title.
Dyer, a senior mid-fielder, tied
for the team lead in scoring with 10
goals for Bishops (14-5) and he was
an All-Conference, All-Tournament,
and All-Region selection. As team
captain, he led his squad to its second
con.secutive regular season USA South
championship and a runner-up finish in
the conference tournament.
The student-athlete awards were
presented to Libby Fulford and Blake
Rice, Fulford, a sophomore exercise sci
ence major, compiled a 3,93 grade point
average last semester. A pitcher on the
softball team. Fulford provided one of
the season s highlights on April 9, when
she tossed a no-hitter in a 2-0 win over
.Averett. She earned ,A11-Conference,
All-Tournament, and Co-MVP honors.
Rice, a member of the conference
championship baseball team, won the
award for the second consecutive year.
Rice has maintained an overall 3.7 grade
point average during his scholastic
career, including two semesters in which
he tuiTied in a perfect 4.0. A junior
mathematics major, he was a First Team
All-Conference selection and the 2006
USA South Pitcher of the Year after
tossing a NCWC record nine complete
games and one no-hitter.
Editor’s Note: Readers may turn to the
A'CW C athletics webpage for a team-hx-
team list of winners in the sportsmanship,
scholar-athlete and MVP categories.
Sports inforrrijitiari Photc
Jon Dyer
Ashlee Bass
Spans into-mslicn Piioic