Don’t Adjust Your Set! The Pacific Northwest Sports Storm Hits Full Tilt

This is what they call the eye of the storm. Don’t blink, because you’re about to be hit by a whirlwind.

This is arguably the most intense and active time of the entire sports year. College basketball conference tournaments and their impact on March Madness. NFL free agency and its impact on the draft. The NFL Draft, and then more NFL Draft. Final page of the NBA season. Final page of the NHL season. Final page of the WHL season. Spring training opening for MLB. MLS season kicking off.  Every 4 years, you can add Winter Olympics to that growing list.

It can and will be a lot to digest. Here’s an overview and update on what you need to know.

Portland Trail Blazers –

Portland traded/dismissed three players last week, brought home two, and sent a future player (draft pick) packing even before he got here. For the casual fan, a five player swing means stop memorizing names and start recognizing jersey numbers and haircuts, it’s the best you can do this late in the year if you haven’t watched at least one game per week. And don’t fret, no one sent packing was your favorite player or rather someone you invested jersey dollars toward, unless you had an uncommon connection with Thomas Robinson, Victor Clavor, or Will Barton. The Blazers have 26 games remaining, but it’s going to go very fast. With a 5 game lead in their division, and holding the #4 seed in the Western Conference, it’s going to take a lot to keep them out of the playoffs, but you’ll want to keep an eye on them between now and mid-April to be sure.

Portland Timbers –

Portland FC takes on Stabaek Football this Sunday as their last exhibition match before their season kicks off on March 7^th at Providence Park against Real Salt Lake. In head coach Caleb Porter’s third season, he’ll need to prove his sophomore slump was the fluke, and not his stellar first season that many locals thought would end with Porter hoisting the MLS Cup.

UO & OSU Basketball –

The Ducks and Beavers men’s squads will face off on March 4^th in Corvallis to finish the regular season, and both will need some help to get the attention of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Ducks have a better record and are currently 3^rd in the Pac12, but the Beavers currently sit in 6^th and could surprise some teams and viewers alike in the Pac12 tournament, where we’ve seen in recent years that anything can happen.

The women’s squads are in a much different position, with the Beavers leading the Pac12 and boasting just a single conference loss, whereas the Ducks are just hoping to get their 6^th win. The Beavers last regular season game is on Saturday against Cal, and the Ducks finish against Stanford this Sunday with the Pac12 tournament beginning on March 5^th.

NFL Free Agency –  

The Scouting Combine is in the books, the draft is roughly two months away, so now it’s time for teams to evaluate their roster, the pending pool of talent, and balance their checkbooks. On March 10^th, any unrestricted free agent player may sign with a new team, and as we’ve seen before, it can go quickly, or it can be a terror.

If your team needs a big playmaker on either side, this is arguably one of the bigger pools of impact players to hit the market since free agency as we know it began in 1993, assuming these big names are not given franchise or transition tags by their 2014 teams:

QB Jake Locker, Ryan Mallett, Michael Vick,

RB Reggie Bush, Justin Forsett, Mark Ingram, Ryan Mathews, Darren McFadden, DeMarco Murray, CJ Spiller, Shane Vereen

WR Dez Bryant, Randall Cobb, Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, Torrey Smith, Demaryius Thomas, Reggie Wayne,  Wes Welker

TE Jordan Cameron, Jermaine Gresham, Julius Thomas

OL Bryan Bulaga, Michael Oher, Mike Iupati

DL Nick Fairley, Jason Pierre-Paul, BJ Raji, Ndamukong Suh

LB Rolando McClain, Brian Orakpo, Brandon Spikes

DB Antonio Cromartie, Brandon Flowers, Byron Maxwell, Darrelle Revis, Tramon Williams

Portland Winterhawks –

Portland is currently 3^rd in the Western Conference and plays in Seattle this Sunday. With just 10 games remaining following that matchup, it would take a massive collapse for them to miss the postseason for the first time since the 2008-09 season. The Winterhawks have also made the WHL Finals the last four consecutive years, and their last regular season home game will be on March 22^nd against Tri-City.