Spring Break Ends but Sports Are Just Beginning

I write this blog entry a day before I begin Spring Quarter at UC Davis (updated: I finished it late due to recovering from being sick, I'm better now!), and I think to myself this is the beginning of an exciting time if you're a sports fan. For me basketball and soccer have always been my favorite sports so I'm especially excited about those, but you can't ignore what the beginning of baseball season and the culmination of hockey season means as well. I'm going to take a look at the biggest storylines you should look out for in the next four months.

The Fantastic Final Four

Where else to start than March Madness? It's lived up to its name despite 3 #1 seeds making it this far (Villanova being the one to miss out, another reason for Roxanne Chalifoux to simultaneously cry and play the piccolo). Kentucky is 38-0 this season and has already made history with that record but it won't mean much if it ends up being 38-1 or 39-1 as opposed to 40-0. Wisconsin's team lead by the dynamic duo of Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky did well to validate their #1 seed, and it's always hard to discount Duke with US National team coach Mike Krzyzewski (if I spelled his name wrong, please don't hate me). Speaking of coaches, the Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is probably one of the big reasons why the title of Cinderella seems weird for Michigan State. Yes they are a #7 seed but the man's wealth of experience cannot be ignored. 18 NCAA Tournaments, only 5 times he's failed to make the sweet 16 as a coach. And as anyone who's been watching March Madness this year or any year knows it is a tough tournament for any team, even the 1 seeds. Kentucky and Duke may appear as favorites to meet in the final in Indianapolis on April 4, but all four of these teams have legitimate reasons for why they can end up in the winner's circle.

Skating on Thin Ice

Out of the four major sports league in the USA (Five if I include MLS, and every year its ability to make it a Big Five as opposed to a Big Four increases), NHL is the one I follow the least. It's still a great sport, I guess I've just been a better Air Hockey player than Ice Hockey. For my local team the San Jose Sharks after a frustration early end to their post season in 2014, it might end even more frustrating and early this time because they're in a tough spot in the race for playoff positions. Here's how things stand so far, and the way this works is the NHL is split up into East and West and then East is split up into Atlantic and Metro while West is split into Central and Pacific. Top 3 teams each from Atlantic, Metro, Central, and Pacific automatically qualify along with the next 2 best teams each from East and West (regardless of Atlantic/Metro/Central/Pacific classification).

East:
Atlantic 1.Montreal (clinched) 2.Tampa Bay 3.Detroit
Metro 1.NY Rangers (clinched) 2.Pittsburgh 3.NY Islanders
Wild Card: 1.Washington 2.Boston
Outside looking in (points behind Boston Bruins) 3.Ottawa (3) 4.Florida(4) 5.Philadelphia(12) 6.Columbus(13) 7.New Jersey(15) 8.Carolina(22) 9.Toronto(27) 10.Buffalo(41)

West:
Central 1.Nashville (clinched) 2.St.Louis 3.Chicago
Pacific 1.Anaheim (clinched) 2.Vancouver 3.Calgary
Wild Card: 1.Minnesota 2.Winnipeg
Outside looking in (points behind Winnipeg Jets) 3.Los Angeles (2) 4.Dallas(6) 5.San Jose(7) 6.Colorado(8) 7.Edmonton(33) 8.Arizona(36)

For the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Nashville Predators, and Anaheim Ducks, they're all breathing easy because they are going to the playoffs. They could slip up and be seeded lower, but in NHL seedings mean less here than in any other playoff format except maybe the MLS. NHL is known for its upsets in the postseason, so the cliche of "you just have to be in it to win it" is as true as it can be. Even Giants can fall through the ice and out of the playoffs easily. Even though the race for playoffs remains tighter in the West than the East (might help that they only have 14 teams as opposed to the East with 16), both conferences should have some good matchups from the get go as the fight for the Stanley Cup begins soon. One things for sure: it'll mean a lot for Red Wings fans if Detroit make it to the playoffs this season as it will extend their playoff appearance streak to 24 seasons, tying for 4th with Montreal Canadiens 1970-71 to 1993-94.

Davids running the Goliaths out of the NBA

No one would've expected the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks to be leading the West and East Conferences respectively at this point of the season, let alone with this much breathing room at the top. Warriors are ahead of 2nd place Rockets (and 3rd place Grizzlies who have the same amount of wins as the Rockets but one more loss) by 10 games and the Hawks are ahead of 2nd place Cavaliers by 7 games. As a Warriors fan I am very happy with the way things have been going so far but it's all about the playoffs, and just as easily as the Warriors as an 8 seed upset the Dallas Mavericks in the 2007 Playoffs, the same can happen to them. This is especially true in the NBA this season, where in both conferences you can identify 2 or 3 top class players, which is especially true for the loaded Western Conference, where the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans, despite their winning records which would not only put them in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference but knock the Milwaukee Buck down from a 6 to an 8 seed, are on the outside looking in with the Kings, Lakers, Jazz, Timberwolves, and Nuggets out of luck for this season. As for the East, there's still a chance for 12 of the 15 teams (sorry Magic, 76ers, and Knicks....ok not sorry, especially to the latter two who were all kinds of awful) with the Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and Boston Celtics circling around the Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat like vultures waiting to strike and take one of those playoff spots. Seeing teams like the Pistons, Knicks, Lakers, and Celtics who have had a lot of success a decade or two ago and even further back while teams like the Warriors, Hawks, Cavaliers, Raptors, Wizards, Grizzlies, and Trailblazers are in the spotlight is definitely a breath of fresh air for the knowledgeable basketball fan and to loyal fans whose patience has payed off to some extent as now their teams are doing quite well.

Even though the Warriors seem unstoppable, especially after some big road wins against Western Conference Rivals Portland Trailblazers and Memphis Grizzlies, it'll be a tough road to the NBA Playoffs. A road that could be traveled by the likes of (takes a deep breath) Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldrige, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Dwight Howard, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Dirk Nowitski, Rajon Rondo, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and of course the star studded playoff wizards known as San Antonio Spurs, where long time trio Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker are as dangerous as ever. A lot of tough tasks ahead for Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Klay Thompson, and the rest of the Warriors if they are to end up on top in what has been one of the best seasons in Warriors history.

UEFA Champions League: Favorites, Underdogs, and no British Clubs?

It would've been a massive shocker had Real Madrid not reached the quarterfinals, but they limped past an impressive Schalke 04 and now have a big task to defeat rivals Atletico Madrid, who have had Real Madrid's number every time they met this season. It feels like we're at the height of the second galacticos era for Real Madrid, a team that once had Brazilian Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Raul, and Jonathan Woodgate (I'm joking about the last guy. If you know the history of Real Madrid you'll understand) has shifted to stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez, and Karim Benzema. However over the last season and this season, Atletico Madrid's often underrated collection of players are making their names known proudly. Being a less wealthy club than Real Madrid, they have a tougher time of keeping their talented players such as Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, and Thibaut Courtois (who now all play for Chelsea), but the ones they keep they develop well and it's not like Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic are bad replacements for Diego Costa. Even Fernando Torres who's constantly been struggling has improved since coming to Atletico for Real Madrid. Atletico's underdog status may not last much longer if they continue to show the bigger clubs they're in their same weight class.

Juventus and Monaco have a point to prove as one of them will be in the semifinals in this year's champions league. Not only will they want to beat the other comfortably to boost their position among Europe's elite clubs but once this quarterfinal tie is over they'll probably face a stronger opponent and will have to prove that they do belong this far in the competition. Juventus are the favorites because on paper with players like Arturo Vidal, Alvaro Morata, Carlos Tevez, and Paul Pogba (although a few of them have had injuries) compared to Monaco's power players like Dimitar Berbatov, Joao Moutinho, and Geoffrey Kondogbia, Juventus are the stronger team and Juventus are back to back to back Serie A champions while Monaco have been near the summit of the Ligue 1 table but they're only in their 2nd Ligue 1 season since being promoted. However if any other teams underestimates them or if they underestimate each other, it could be bad.

Bayern Munich have a tricky test against Porto, with many young talented players. For a club like Porto it's tricky. To be fair they have a small chance of winning the Champions League but they have a chance and they'll want to go as far as they can, but the farther they go the more interested bigger teams will want to buy their players. The big teams in the Portuguese League (Porto, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon) are big fishes in a small pond and I'm not entirely convinced Jackson Martinez or Yacine Brahimi envision spending their entire career at Porto. Bayern Munich shredded Shakhtar Donetsk in the previous round but despite being of one (and arguably the) strongest teams in the world, they can quickly go from large win to narrow win and the odd defeat. Bayern will have to be at their best to go as far as their fans expect them to go, and Porto will hope to pull a Wolfsburg and stun the German giants.

Barcelona and PSG is a rematch from the group stage where each team won at home. PSG got one revenge job complete by avenging their elimination at the hands of Chelsea in the 2013-24 campaign with a win this time. Whenever Barcelona beats their rivals Real Madrid, it's always a good boost to the rest of the season. Both teams have strong players all around the pitch and while the average fan might think Barcelona has it in the bag, that's not entirely true.

Also, what happened to the BPL? I won't bother asking Celtic, they just haven't been the same since the Rangers were relegated and as a whole the Scottish League has declined. But Liverpool exited in the Group Stage, and Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchested City lost to PSG, Monaco, and Barcelona respectively in the first round of the knockout round. This has posed a lot of questions about the state of the Barclays Premier League. All I can say is that the BPL will have to do a lot worse to not be one of the best leagues in the world but it does seem like the big clubs are overrated to some extent and maybe they care more about Domestic Glory than European Glory (I don't know why, but it's possible.) We know they're big spenders but we'll see if this summer they can be wise spenders to help get back to where they'd prefer to be: still in European competition in April.

Don't Ignore Europa

In a way the Europa League to the UCL is like what the National Invitation Tournament is to March Madness: A second chance tournament. To be fair though, with so many interesting teams in Europe it's a good thing this tournament exists to give them something to do but it's an good tournament and you bet the teams in it are gonna fight like hell to win it. Like in the UCL, the Europa League is at the Quarterfinal stage

Sevilla (Spain) vs Zenit St.Petersburg (Russia)
Club Brugge (Belgium) vs Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) vs Fiorentina (Italy)
Wolfsburg (Germany) vs Napoli (Italy)

Club Brugge and the duo of Ukranian clubs have been suprise packages, having sent (relatively) big names home like Everton, Ajax, Besiktas, and Olympiacos. Wolfsburg, Napoli, and Fiorentina have hit another level in this competition and with their very talented teams they look like teams you'd think deserve to compete in the Champions League next season. Sevilla and Zenit have been solid as well. Winning the Europa League may not seem like as big of a deal as the UCL, but it should be an exciting finish to this Europa League campaign.

USA and the Beautiful Game

Did you know Harvard University will be teaching a course on soccer: "Why Soccer is Called the Beautiful Game?" That's only the beginning of the fun for the USA. Major League Soccer kicked off its 2015 season with the addition of two new clubs: Orlando City SC (featuring the likes of Kaka and Brek Shea) and New York City FC (featuring David Villa and Mix Diskerud). Things were tense and controversial with elongated player union strikes and the expansion of the playoffs, but if the season ends how this season has begun, it should be really good. A few more USMNT players like Jozy Altidore and Sacha Kljestan have returned from season in Europa, and many notable European players have joined the league including Laurent Ciman(Belgium), Shaun Maloney(Scotland), and most interestingly Sebastian Giovinco(Italy), who signed for Toronto FC. A 28-year old who was (and still is, hopefully) in the Italian national team picture decided to play in the MLS. That shows how far the league has come.

Anyway here are the current standings

West: 1.New York Red Bulls(7 pts) 2.DC United(6) 3.NYCFC(5) 4.Orlando City(5) 5.NE Revolution(4) 6.Columbus Crew(3) 7.Toronto FC(3) 8.Chicago Fire(3) 9.Montreal Impact(2) 10.Philadelphia Union(2)

East: 1.FC Dallas(10) 2.Vancouver Whitecaps(9) 3.SJ Earthquakes(6) 4.LA Galaxy(5) 5.Real Salt Lake(5) 6.Houston Dynamo(5) 7.Sporting KC(5) 8.Seattle Sounders(4) 9.Colorado Rapids(3) 10.Portland Timbers(3)

It's still early in the season so there can't be too much of a gap between first and last from each conference. However, I do find it interesting how both expansion teams are doing well so far and some teams are going way above or way below their expectations (even this early in the season it feels weird seeing Seattle at #8). Also, if you had to look at this table, who do you think is the last MLS team alive in this season's CONCACAF Champions League?
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If you guess Montreal Impact, you were right! Yeah, they're not doing well in the MLS season but they knocked out a strong Mexican team Pachuca and are currently leading on aggregate against Alajuelense (the Costa Rican club that beat DC United). In the other semifinal, another Costa Rican club Herediano is leading 3-0 on aggregiate against the big Mexican club Club America. Speaking of Liga MX, there's 7 games left for each team before the Clausura Liguilla (Playoffs). Currently the teams that would participate with their seeds are 1.Tijuana 2.Veracruz 3.Guadalajara 4.Cruz Azul 5.America 6.Atlas 7.UANL 8.Toluca, but there's a sizeable chase pack consisting of Chiapas, Pachuca, UNAM, Monterrey, and Leones Negroes hot on Toluca's heels.

European Title Chasers

Here's an update on the title races from some of the big leagues in Europe

Barclays Premier League (England): 1.Chelsea (67 pts) 2.Manchester City (61) 3.Arsenal(60) 4.Manchester United(59)

Add a game in hand, it's Chelsea league title to lose. However it's very tight for 2nd and 3rd place which provides a spot in the UEFA Champions League, with 4th place having to go through some qualifying matches to get there.

Bundesliga(Germany): 1.Bayern Munich(64 pts) 2.Wolfsburg(54) 3.Borussia Monchengladbach(47) 4.Bayer Leverkusen(45)

The rest of the Bundesliga is closing the gap on Bayern Munich compared to last season where by now Bayern Munich had already won. However, it's still Bayern's to lose and I don't see them losing it.

La Liga(Spain): 1.Barcelona(68) 2.Real Madrid(64) 3.Valencia(60) 4.Atletico Madrid(59)

A tighter race between 1st and 2nd that the two leagues above. The big clubs have dropped points against some unlikely opponents so it's far from over. Keep an eye on Valencia. If they can avoid being robbed of too many of their key players this summer, who knows they might be able to shake things up like Atletico Madrid did last (and this) season.

Ligue 1(France): 1.PSG(59) 2.Lyon(58) 3.Marseille(57) 4.Monaco(53)

You wouldn't be as confident betting on PSG to win their league as you would Bayern Munich or Juventus, that's for sure. Overall the quality of the league as a whole has seen an improvement this season as Monaco showed in the Champions League and Lyon and Marseille have shown domestically

Serie A(Italy): 1.Juventus(67) 2.Roma(53) 3.Lazio(52) 4.Sampdoria(48)

This is kinda depressing. Even with the injury problems they've had Juventus has almost a 5 game lead. With 10 games to go mathematically it's not over but, it's over. Remember when I said Napoli and Fiorentina have played well in Europa League and with their talent they would be cool to watch in the Champions League? Looks like they've been saving their best games for Europe and not Italy. Look at Sampdoria though. How are they in the top 4? Let alone the top 10! Impressive.

Battle of Nations

2016 UEFA Euro Qualifiers, International friendlies, the Copa America in June, the Gold Cup in July, and the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada this summer. A lot of good matches to enjoy this spring/summer season, spoiled for choice. And let's not forget World Cup Qualifying has already begun...albeit for small teams like Belize and India (by small I mean relative soccer power, obviously India is a big country in size and population).

So yeah, it's good to be a sports fan at this time of year. Oh yeah, and baseball season's almost here. I'll leave you guys with a reminder of the groups for Copa America, Gold Cup, and the Women's World Cup

Copa America (Host: Chile, CONMEBOL winner earns a spot in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup)
Group A: Chile, Mexico(invited), Ecuador, Bolivia
Group B: Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Jamaica(invited)
Group C: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela

Gold Cup (Host: USA; CONCACAF winner earns a playoff with the USA for a spot in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup; If USA wins, they qualify automatically)
Group A: USA, Panama, Haiti, Honduras
Group B: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Canada
Group C: Mexico, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba

Women's World Cup (Host: Canada)
Group A: Canada, China, New Zealand, Netherlands
Group B: Germany, Cote D'Ivoire, Norway, Thailand
Group C: Japan, Switzerland, Cameroon, Ecuador
Group D: USA, Australia, Sweden, Nigeria
Group E: Brazil, South Korea, Spain, Costa Rica
Group F: France, England, Colombia, Mexico

Leave a comment with your thoughts on anything I covered. Thank you for reading!
-Ivan Ornelas