Moving on

With the end of the college basketball season comes minor changes to The BBC. I created the blog for the Buckeyes, but like all good sports blogs, I keep one eye on other sports as well. And since I’m a born-and-raised northeast Ohio native, my love goes out to the Cleveland teams.

So first, we look at the Cavaliers. They’ve got seven games left in the regular season, and they currently stand at 45-30. They’re already in the playoffs, but where will they be seeded?

The only seeds they can end up with in the Eastern Conference are 1st, 2nd, or 5th place. 1st place would be heavenly, 5th place would be awful, and 2nd place is their most likely spot. The Cavs are currently 3.5 games behind Detroit for the top spot, and with only 7 games left, catching them is unlikely. We are only a game up on Chicago for 2nd place (by virtue of superior records, either the Cavs or Bulls will get 2nd, and the other will get 5th…division champions from the Atlantic and Southeast will get the 3rd and 4th seeds). However, the Pistons and Bulls play each other tonight. Cleveland will gain a half-game on one team, lose a half-game on the other.

My heart says to scream go, go, go for that top spot, but I don’t see four teams on Detroit’s remaining schedule that will knock them off….so we should settle back, let the Pistons knock the Bulls a little further back from us tonight, and hit the finish line with the 2nd seed. Our final seven games (Miami, at Washington, at Detroit, New Jersey, Atlanta, at Philadelphia, Milwaukee) are slightly more difficult than Chicago’s, so we can’t sleepwalk through any more games the rest of the year.

If that 2nd seed is ours, we will most likely play New Jersey, Orlando, Indiana, or New York in the first round of the playoffs. The Pacers would be our best bet for an easy round….but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.

First things first is tomorrow night against Miami. It’s a must-win for many reasons…for starters, they’re the defending champions, with all their starters back and mostly healthy, and they need this win to hold off Washington for the Southest Division championship. The home team has won all three of the Cavs-Heat games this year, and we’re playing at The Q. Let’s keep that home-team streak alive!

Tomorrow, we look at the early prospects for the Indians. So far today, the White Sox have thrown four pitches, and have given up no home runs yet. But it’s early.