Sixers are Rolling

The Philadelphia 76ers are introducing themselves to the rest of the NBA right now, even ESPN showed some Sixer highlights last night on the 11pm edition of Sportscenter.

Last night, the Sixers defeated the team chasing them for the seventh spot, the Indiana Pacers by a score of 111-100 and looked solid while doing so. Philadelphia is now six games in front of the Pacers as they continue to solidify their playoff positioning.

I've talked a lot about the continued rise of Andre Iguodala and last night he was at it again, following up his consecutive triple-double performances with another double-double showing with a 16 points and 10 assist game and in March, Iguodala has stepped up his game huge.

This month, Iguodala is averaging 17 points per game along with nine assists and eight rebounds a game.

Those are big-time numbers from a player who has risen to the occasion as we enter crunch time for this NBA season and it'll be very interesting how much will Iguodala continue to improve going into this next two game stretch of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics.

Philadelphia has won seven out of eight and three in a row and have been a fun team to watch over the last few months as I've become more and more invested in this team because I think people are starting to realize that this roster isn't as bad as people thought going into this year.

This team has played .600 basketball since the first month of the season and are as even keel a team that you can see in the NBA and that can play to your advantage in a NBA where you have teams crying in the locker room following losses (couldn't resist). Losses don't bother this team because they have great leadership and terrific balance. 

The Sixers can easily go nine deep and have the most productive bench in all of the NBA and last night, it showed again as they put up 39 points and seven out of nine players scored double figures, this team is versatile and crazily enough, they are deep enough to make some noise here at the end of the regular season and I believe they can make an impact in the playoffs.

Photo Courtesy US Presswire

ill Take: Tressel Looks Like Typical College Coach

How many times have we seen college football coaches compromise standards and loyalty and team for the sake of winning and money? Just about every single season in one environment or another and now we have yet another instance of a college coach looking the other way to protect himself and the bottom line for his university.

Ohio State University football coach Jim Tressel received an e-mail last April telling him that two of his players were caught up in a federal drug-trafficking case and the sale of memorabilia, breaking NCAA rules.

Tressel implied that he was going to get on the matter "ASAP", but as he said yesterday he wasn't sure where to go with the info.

I understand that there are certain departments that handle different violations, but how about starting with just telling somebody, so that you know that the buck doesn't end with you. He sat on that email for months and it's hard to believe that he couldn't have said something to somebody regarding what he learned.

I get the idea of Tressel trying to protect his players, but once the news broke and the school was caught, what was stopping Tressel then from saying that he received info of a possible infraction but he either didn't believe it or thought the problem was fixed, at least then he would have been able to say that the reason he didn't speak out then was out of respect and trust for his players, instead he was silent and that silence was to protect himself from penalty.

Tressel hung his players out to dry and preached about honor and respect and how his players shouldn't leave and come back to play another year and serve their penalty, but wasn't going to out himself for any wrongdoing.

And now the "hammer" comes down on Tressel as he has to pay a fine of 250,000 dollars and sit out only two games.

I'm not saying it's all college coaches that act in such a fashion, but it's amazing how often these coaches are willing to hide behind their players and use these players as pawns in a chess game that either results in a raise or a new job, when as a college coach you sell these guys on the idea of the team is your family, but they'll leave at the drop of a hat with no remorse.

The arrogance is unbelievable and it never ceases to amaze me what these guys are capable of, and the fact that Tressel was caught hiding information is just another reason why many of these college coaches are just scam artists, they talk a huge game but lack moral fiber and in the end, these are the men teaching college kids about life. That's a lose-lose situation if I've ever seen one.

Photos Courtesy the AP and US Presswire