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Besides Syracuse fans and head coach Jim Boeheim, Carmelo Anthony’s career beyond that point has been tagged as a mediocre star in the NBA. Year after year Carmelo takes the court and continues to put up gaudy numbers on the offensive end of the floor. Lack of passion defensively and the ability to carry his team nightly is almost comparable to an NFL quarterback after a Sunday night loss.

Melo takes the brunt of criticism and continues to play the way he has his whole career. Truthfully there are few forwards in the game that have his combination of his quickness, shooting ability and overall strength. Even Charles Barkley has stated he is the best scorer in the NBA.

Yet no marquee athletes have ever wanted to surround Carmelo like other star athletes are able to attract. They see him like the media does, and not one that you can win championships with. Who knows how the hiring of Phil Jackson as team president will improve Carmelo Anthony.

For all we know Anthony could be on another team after this season as Jackson cleans house and decides to build his style of a team.

It’s not too late for Carmelo Anthony as he comes on the age of 30 but he knows there was definitely a squandered period in his career.

Over in Sacramento I see the same situation unfolding with DeMarcus Cousins. There is not a player in the league that I am more disappointed in watching than Cousins.

You can tell on certain nights that he is playing the Randy Moss factor—taking plays off and giving less than 100 percent effort. It’s a part of his game and one of the reasons why he has clashed with several coaches in the NBA already. Yet even on those lack of effort nights he can seemingly put up a double double.

Pure talent is letting Cousins get by in the league right now. But does he have a care in the world at excelling his game to another level? He could be a top five player in the NBA right now if he wanted to. Instead he trucks up and down the floor on certain possessions in snail speed defensively. On the offensive end he’ll give up position instead of working for it and force up a poor shot.

His lack of effort isn’t what I’m comparing to Carmelo Anthony. What is is the sense of urgency to wake up and transform his game. Maybe Cousins is waiting to leave Sacramento but he should be playing as if he would be a King for life. Earning a top dollar contract and playing host to top free agents could be viable in Sacramento as it turned out to be for the Dallas Mavericks.

But it will take Cousins initiative to step up to the plate or he will one day be like Carmelo Anthony. A one and done athlete that didn’t see the signs of his career needing to change.

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An Indiana Pacers team that was lights out as a dominating team through All-Star break has been lingering as a team that squeaks out wins now. Their four game losing streak a few weeks ago raised some eyebrows. Are the Pacers going to get it back in high gear or is what we are seeing more of what to expect as the season finishes out and playoffs begin?

During this stretch Pacers bettors certainly have not been happy. Their wins have been by close margins making their typical high line spreads susceptible nightly. None were as poor as two disappointing outings in the last week against the Philadelphia 76ers. In both of those games just like everyone else against Philadelphia, the Pacers were favored by a margin in the mid-teens at Philadelphia and at home were near 20 point favorites. Neither of the games did they find a fluid flow on either end of the floor.

What seems to be the main differences in this Pacers team?

With five key starters teams often hit a wall and it has happened with Indiana. Defensively they’re not playing nearly as well as they have as a team. The high amount of blocks aren’t there for Roy Hibbert, David West’s sound defense has gone MIA, and even Paul George has lost a bit of luster on the defensive end.

Off the bench the Pacers are adapting to life without Danny Granger while dictating Andrew Bynum’s minutes. The lift the Pacers used to be able to rely on from bench players such as Luis Scola has also hit a snag.

Overall sports bettors still have to be satisfied on the season with the Pacers. They had an epic run through the All-Star break in which they covered spreads at a high rate. It seems that the Western Conference teams figured them out a bit with their run and gun approach. That style of play seems to wear the Pacers out defensively. Phoenix twice, Golden State, Houston, Dallas twice, and Denver have all defeated the Pacers over the course of the last month.

Adjusting as a team needs to be a goal of the Pacers. They will never be an outstanding offensive team but they must get back to the same high level defensively. Allowing teams like Philadelphia to hang around for four quarters multiple times just can’t happen. That needs to be a wakeup call of motivation for this team to get things back in gear.

It’s as if the Pacers have settled with the mind frame that they’re an elite team and they can step on the floor and win with that mentality. From a sports betting perspective you have to sit things out and watch stretches of games to see if the Pacers are changing their ways. If anything with their defense suffering totals on the over may be the way to go.

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Dennis Green made infamous comments and statements in a post game press conference after the Arizona Cardinals blew a big lead against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night football. It was a disaster lesson for many bettors that had the Cardinals that night. The loss has faded to distant memories for most people but one that has stood out year after year is Green’s comment, “They are who we thought they were”.

As you get ready to finalize your office pool brackets, head to the sports book counter, or whatever type of wager you plan, keep Dennis Green’s comments in mind.

Do not over project a team because you think they can go on a Butler, George Mason, Wichita State, or VCU run. Historically runs like that just don’t happen and if they do that don’t come from teams in the power conferences. Just like the teams noted, it’ll come from a mid-major.

Yet time and time again people will pull the head scratcher maneuver and have an under performing 8/9 seed making an epic tourney run. They may have been ranked highly at one time during the season but there are 30-plus games from the regular season that should provide you with clarification on where to go with those teams. Logically it doesn’t make sense to have them going beyond the sweet 16.

Here are teams that you should avoid making a mistake with. Your online brackets aren’t hidden from your buddies. As soon as those games start Thursday your bracket will be viewable to everyone. Don’t be that guy/gal to have their brackets crushed before the round of 32.

Oklahoma State
This OK State team was beyond the bubble watch just about two to three weeks ago. After Marcus Smart returned from suspension though the Cowboys finished the season strong led by Smart. Predicting this former top ten team to advance far is likely going to be the option from several people as a dark horse contender. Sure they were rated in the top ten but they were over ranked. This team lives by their back court of Markel Brown and Marcus Smart. The big twelve style of play favored the Cowboys in thriving with free flow offense. In the tournament though that should halt as teams will force Smart into difficult shots. It’s already documented that Smart gets rattled easily if he is having an off-game.

VCU
Shaka Smart’s VCU team has that mid-major brand name favorite from their success as a play-in 11th seed to the Elite 8. Their run that year made the Vegas books and offshore books quite nervous. One trademark Shaka Smart coaching maneuver remains with his high octane press. What isn’t there is the same caliber of depth and high percentage shooters. VCU lacks the size in the middle to play sound defense around the basket. They also are a woeful team with their half court offense often producing wild three pointers or poor floaters in the lane by their guards. They thrive off of two things. Turnovers from their press and offensive rebound putbacks from their athletic forwards. They may have the seeding to make you ponder tabbing them as a threat but don’t do it.

North Carolina
Towards the end of the regular season North Carolina creeped back up in the ACC standings. They somehow ended up as one of the fourth ranked team in the conference. Coach Roy Williams deserves a ton of credit from rescuing this North Carolina team when they were 11-7 January 20th. I’m not a full believer that they’re capable of getting beyond even their first round game against Providence. The ACC was a top heavy conference that provided great stretches of wins for the top half of the league. Watching the Tar Heels they just look like they’re a player or even two away from being a highly qualified tournament team. They are also one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the tournament.

Kentucky
The Wildcats raised eyebrows just a teensy bit with the way they played in the SEC tournament. Wait, how many teams from the SEC are in the tournament? 3, and one is a play-in game team in Tennessee. The conference was down undoubtedly and likely has cast a perception of this Kentucky team that is unwarranted. Tournament teams will give this inexperienced Kentucky team fits. Their seasons worth a games in the SEC is comparable to playing a non-conference schedule in the ACC, Big Ten, and other power conferences.

Others: San Diego State, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Michigan, and UMass

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One area that I will agree with the media on is the over seeding of the Atlantic 10. Yes, I just did write an article on George Washington who I believe to be a sleeper but the conference as a whole should struggle.

VCU in non-conference games had issues galore with losses to Georgetown, Northern Iowa, and a blowout loss to Florida State. In conference their havoc press worked largely due to teams that do not have sound ball handlers. They trap guards and force them to pass the ball to a forward or center and that’s where the turnovers are created. In the tournament they’ll face guards that are capable of beating their press or can throw it to a capable forward with ball handling skills.

Everyone of the A-10 teams can be nitpicked harshly which is like most rants a matter of opinion. An inarguable area that each A-10 team struggles in is free throw shooting. With just about each team struggling from the free throw line in the A-10 the teams were able to get away with such a deficiency. Come tournament time it’ll likely cause separation quickly and lead to a poor showing from the conference as a whole.

The only representative in the tournament from the conference that shoots free throws above 70% is the Saint Louis Bellikins, and they rank 144th in the country in that department. That’s a respectable number from the Bellikins and they’ll need it to offset some of their half court offense issues they showed to end the season.

It gets far worse for the rest of the teams. Keep in mind there are only 345 division one college basketball teams and these free throw percentages come via NCAA.com. Dayton sits at 233rd (68.1%), UMASS 230th (68.2%), VCU at 253rd (67.4%), George Washington at 311th (65.4%), and Saint Josephs at 329th (64.1%).

These teams are not the only ones that shoot the ball poorly from the free throw line. George Washington’s opponent in Memphis actually shoots free throws worse as well as North Carolina. The difference here is the A-10 shadowed themselves a bit because they all were poor at the free throw line. People don’t notice this glaring statistic unless it costs teams games in the regular season, which by in large did not happen for these six teams.

Look for free throws and poor half-court offense to be one of the main reasons you will see the A-10 not live up to the billing of six conference tournament teams.

George Washington Tournament Sleeper

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Of the smaller mid major conferences that see a team advance in the round of 68 it typically ends up being a surprise team. The elite in the conference falter early while a mid-tier team from the conference excels. It’s strange how that works out but has proven to be the case time and time again. I myself was quite shocked to see the extreme love for the A-10 by the committee. But it does have some solid teams.

With the weakness of several conferences this year it was expected to see a conference or two get more bids and that is exactly what happened for the Atlantic 10. People know the VCU’s and UMass’s of the conference. I do not expect either of those teams to make it past the first round and if they do not beyond the next round.

A team that I do expect to make some noise is George Washington. Now they did not particularly finish the A-10 season or conference tournament strong but they did have a relative strong season in-conference.

They have the balance from all roster positions that represent a quality tournament team. Heady guard play with Maurice Creek the former Indiana Hoosier and newly returned from injury guard Kethan Savage. He did not play much against VCU but looked recovered from a leg injury sustained mid-season. George Washington also gets steady play from Argentinian, Patricio Garino. He is the glue of the team. When he is performing well the team can typically sustain leads.

A role player is always key and George Washington also has that with sharpshooter Nimanja Mikic. His minutes are used for one thing and that is spreading the floor and knocking down three pointers.

Where the main difference lies with George Washington is their interior. They have a solid foundation with former Villanova big man in Isiah Armwood who is paired with Kevin Larsen. These two are going to have an advantage right off the bat against a Memphis team that lacks size.

If George Washington wants to play spoiler they will have to correct two issues that VCU has torched them with. One is their inability to knock down free throws. In the second matchup against VCU they only shot above 60 percent on free throws. In the second half of their conference tournament semifinal loss to VCU they missed eight straight crucial free throws during a dry spell of made baskets. The other area VCU killed them in was turnovers but that has been the case for a lot of teams that have faced VCU.

The NCAA tournament has always been about matchups and I believe George Washington is setup nicely to get to the sweet 16 if they play to their strengths. Team basketball, limit their turnovers, and play sound defense. To start the tournament they have a great matchup against Memphis. A team that has an 8th seed solely based on two wins against Louisville. If it were not for those two wins they likely would have been a borderline tournament team or an 11th/12th seed.

I expect GW to get past Memphis and the next matchup would be likely against Virginia. A strong team but one that George Washington can surprise and upset in the round of 32. The ACC has shown all year that their top teams are susceptible on any given night; Syracuse, Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia. The reason why is because all can go through their offensive funks and rely heavily offensively on a couple of players. A strong all around team like George Washington can knock off Virginia.

Look for GW to play spoiler this NCAA tournament.

The Committee Got it Right on Louisville

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Seedings were released yesterday and atypical to every release there are heavy squawks of opinion regarding seeding and left-outs. Louisville hit home with just about everyone as a four seed. Pitino’s team did what they were supposed to do at the wrong time in my opinion. Before we become highly critical of the NCAA committee on this seeding lets look the AAC and Louisville in depth.

The AAC featured one of the worst top to bottom conferences in all of college basketball. Temple, South Florida, Houston, and Central Florida would all have had the hammer dropped on them consistently in any other conference.

If Louisville had struggled to the level of SMU in conference they may have found themselves on the bubble! There is no arguing their non-conference strength of schedule was as poor as any team seeded with a five seed or higher. Their top games featured wins against Southern Miss, Western Kentucky, and Louisiana-Lafayette.

Losses to Kentucky and North Carolina hurt them significantly. All of it is exponential. The committee treated every team that did get a bid in the AAC the same. Memphis the lowest seeded in the conference to make the tournament defeated Louisville twice, and Cincinnati once (nearly twice if not for a buzzer beater by Russ Smith). The only other team from the AAC that Louisville defeated was UConn albeit three times.

Even the teams representing the AAC Louisville struggled to beat.

I love Rick Pitino’s demeanor and the way they finished the season but I’m afraid it’s going to end up being a mirage. Where it’s going to be shined upon are the factors that cost Louisville their five losses. For one the athleticism advantage they had over the inferior AAC will not be the same in the tournament. Inside with Stephen Van Treese and Mangok Mathiang is not enough against top 25 teams.

Montreze Harrell has shined tremendously finishing the season with his brute size. But no one in the AAC had a legitimate center besides UConn. Central Florida, Rutgers, Memphis, Temple, South Florida, Houston, etc. all played small ball. That allowed Louisville to gobble up offensive rebounds and control the paint from slashing forwards and guards.

The biggest hurdle for Louisville is going to be their lack of depth. Remember they lost Peyton Siva and Gorgui Dieng from a year ago. This season Kevin Ware had to sit out for a medical redshirt year and a key contributor in Chane Behanan was dismissed from the team.

A guy that was supposed to fill that void was Wayne Blackshear. Rick Pitino about a month ago moved him to the bench for the alleged reason that he was picking up fouls to early.

That was the media friendly quote. The truth is Blackshear has been a disappointment. At 6’5 he lacks the ability to knock down an open jump shot and is slow footed on the defensive end which causes his foul problems. It appears his injuries from a year ago have beset him from the caliber player he use to be as a freshman and sophomore.

While freshman guard Terry Rozier and JUCO transfer Chris Jones have played well, I just don’t believe solid guard play can carry this team beyond the sweet 16. That and Russ Smith’s absurd end of the season numbers are assuredly going to come down.

In the five losses Louisville has had Russ Smith shot below 50 percent. There is still time to readjust your brackets if you’ve jumped on the media’s bandwagon and have Louisville going far.