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The Tar Heel and National Player of the Year has announced today that he will stay at the school for his senior season and one last opportunity to win the National Championship. Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson announced that they will declare for the draft but will not hire an agent. If Ellington and Lawson return to school the Tar Heels should be the pre-season favorite to win it all next season.

Damn it’s depressing that we have to wait so long for college basketball. In other news I will be watching the Suns try to fight their way back against the Spurs who are up 2-0 in their series.

Go Suns, Go Heels!

It’s being reported that UNC’s Ty Lawson will declare for the draft today, but will not hire an agent. This comes as a surprise since many assumed he would wait for National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough to declare first. There is still no word on whether Hansbrough or Wayne Ellington will declare but with the Sunday deadline looming we should hear something in the next few days. Lawson is not expected to be picked in the lottery but could go late in the first round. Without hiring an agent, Lawson keeps his options open to return to school if he wishes.

Earlier this year I wrote about the Seahawks picking up two running backs in the offseason and the chance that Shaun Alexander’s job could be in jeopordy. Turns out it’s true, the 2005 MVP was released from the Seahawks yesterday.

Alexander was awarded an eight-year $62 million contract just two seasons ago, but those two seasons, Alexander has been plauged with injuries, and has been ineffective on the field. This led to many Seahawk fans booing the 2005 MVP.

I know I’ve been slacking on some posts latelly but I have some other stuff going on and big things in the works. In the time that I’m busy I want to hear from my readers.

What would you like to see at SportsNewsGuy.com?

Please comment or e-mail me and let me know what you’d like to see more or less of on the site. I’ll do my best to follow up and get things rolling again soon.

Michael Beasley 
Beasley is expected to be in the lottery and he is the first major player to declare his eligibility for the NBA draft. Beasley was runner-up for many of the National Player of the Year awards and led Kansas State to the second round of the NCAA tournament, as well as an impressive victory over Kansas to end the 24-0 streak they held over Kansas State. He is a skilled player and should be great in the pros.

Derrick Rose
Rose declared his eligibility after an amazing season with the Memphis Tigers. The freshman led his team to the championship game and, if it weren’t for some choked free throws at the end of regulation, would be the champion. It would appear to me that either him or Beasley would go first in the draft, but for me it’s Rose first. His leadership skills on the court have been amazing and he took the team farther than they’ve been in a long time.

Kevin Love
Announcing his eligibility didn’t surprise me, but I don’t think Love is ready for the NBA. He was out hustled and out played by Memphis in UCLA’s Final Four loss and it’s unfortunate to see players go before their time. Much like Brandan Wright of UNC the year before, I don’t see Love getting much playing time in the NBA, but money talks I guess.

Still waiting…
As a Tar Heel fan I am still waiting to hear whether Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, and Wayne Ellington will declare. While I don’t feel any of them are ready for the NBA, I also think that they lost worth by getting completelly dominated by Kansas. That sort of loss completelly overshadows the amazing season they’ve had and if those three return, Carolina could be a heavy contender for the Championship next year.

I’m sure the next few weeks will have a lot more players declaring or staying, it should be interesting to see how oppionions of next years NCAA contender teams change as more and more players begin to take off.

Hansbrough was awarded the Wooden award for Player of the Year. He has now swept the National Player of the Year awards this season, but it doesn’t seem to matter. He wanted the National Championship and this year it avoided him, none of these awards make up for the loss to the Jayhawks. I hope that he comes back next year to give one more run at the National Championship.

Here are the awards he won this year:

Sports Illustrated Player of the Year
Sporting News Player of the Year
Naismith Player of the Year
Rupp Award
Wooden Award

I don’t know if it’s an honor or a jinx but Rivals.com, Dick Vitale, and Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn have picked the Tar Heels to be the best team at the beginning of next season. Of course these numbers can change completelly within a few weeks depending on what teams lose players to the NBA. Here’s a look at the Top 5 from each site.

Dick Vitale

1. North Carolina
2. UCLA
3. Louisville
4. Texas
5. Georgetown

Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated

1. North Carolina
2. UConn
3. UCLA
4. Purdue
5. Kansas

As you can see, with the exception of UNC and UCLA, Luke disagree’s with Dick Vitale.

Rivals.com

1. North Carolina
2. UCLA
3. Memphis
4. Texas
5. Kansas

Rivals is the first to include the National Champion Jayhawks and the runner up Memphis Tigers, Rivals rely’s more on the fact that players aren’t leaving but they will update these once draft declarations are made.

Andy Katz from ESPN has a different take all together.

1. Texas
2. North Carolina
3. Pitt
4. Kansas
5. Notre Dame

So what do I think? I think the Tar Heels become stronger than ever if Hansbrough, Lawson, and Ellington stay with the team next season. I think Memphis will again be looked over but will remain a strong team making a reasonable run come tournament time next year. I think that Kansas will lose at least 3 of their star players and while they will be good next year, they will not match the caliber of this years championship team. UCLA will lose Love and time will tell how UCLA comes back from losing the big man.

I hate these early predictions, it just reminds me that I have to wait until November to see College Basketball again. It reminds me that all summer if I have a hankering for sports, the best I can do is watch a Baseball game on TV or, god forbid, I can turn Futbol on Telemundo. Worst of all it reminds me that soon Phoenix, where I reside, will be the temperture of the Sun and there’s nothing I can do to escape it.

Here is a look at four crazy things I have read or heard today. Some of this is second hand information, relayed to me by people who had the day off today and have taken the time to watch ESPN all day and call me occasionally to remind me that I’m at work and they aren’t. Luckily they can report things to me, so that helps take away the sting.

1. Roy Williams to Return To Kansas

Apparently Jim Rome said on his show today that there are rumors that Carolina Coach Roy Williams was sporting the Jayhawks sticker last night for more reasons than just supporting his old team. With Coach Self most likelly taking a position at OSU, there are rumors that Roy will leave the Tar Heels and go back to Kansas where, much like his last two seasons with the Tar Heels, he will get far in the tournament and choke at the end. I’ll believe it when I see more.

2. Chalmers’ Tying Shot, It was actually a 2 pointer

Apparently a few people from ESPN have said that if this shot was reviewed, like the Derrik Rose shot earlier in the game, that Memphis would have won in regulation by 1 point. I’ve watched the replay and it looked to me like he was behind the line. I unfortunately am at work and can only view it on YouTube though so I’ll have to reserve judgement until later on this one.

3. Coach Calipari may go to the Knicks

It’s no surprise that Memphis fans are grieving this morning over the loss last night, what was surprising is the many fans that have called for Calipari to be fired. More surprising than that though was a report from SportsByBrooks.com that says Calipari may be interested in Coaching the New York Knicks. It would really surprise me to see Calipari leave the Tigers after the great years he has put up so far, but with some of his stars most likelly headed to the NBA maybe he wants to skip the re-building. Time will tell.

4. Tyler Hansbrough is Definitely Going Pro

I’ve seen and heard a few rumors that Hansbrough has made his decision and he will not be a Tar Heel next season. I think this is crap, I don’t think he’s made a decision and I don’t think he will for at least a few weeks. Tyler has said before that he won’t leave until he wins a National Championship and next year would be his last chance. He seems like the type to stick around next year, especially if he reads everyone saying he’ll be a terrible pro.

So that’s it, if you have any stories to add feel free to comment.

I’m speechless, an overtime National Championship game that came down to free throws. Memphis had this game won and the talk that’s haunted them all year loses them the National Championship. I had Memphis winning one of my brackets, thanks to my Step Dad Anthony, and a loss like this really sucks. I would be $400 richer, instead the free throw line kills Memphis. Not only did UNC lose, but now I didn’t win money either. What a depressing yet exciting game.

Just a note, any “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” comments will be considered spam. Not a hater but it’s just kind of annoying.

Kansas is your National Champions

So I’m sitting here watching Kansas and Memphis for the National Championship when I see Roy Williams, UNC Coach, wearing a Kansas sticker on his shirt and smiling. Why does he have to do this to me? He just got his team stomped into the ground by Kansas, yet he’s sitting there cheering. I don’t give a shit if he used to coach them, the fans didn’t like him when he left and if this is some sort of attempt to get back in good graces then f*ck you Coach. You’re a Tar Heel now dammit!

Well time to drink more, which I said I wouldn’t do. Expect my posts later this week to come from The Meadows Rehab facility in Wickenburg AZ if my depression keeps up. Feel free to comment or e-mail me if you’d like to contribute to my well being.