Every year, I make a prediction based on a player I think the Patriots could use.

Every year, it involves the Patriots using multiple chips to trade up.

It never happens because BB almost invariably trades back. And certainly he doesn't trade up high. But consider this scenario...

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It's still sinking in. I'm having a hard time grasping that we won it all. The Boston Bruins - Stanley Cup champions. 

But before I forget some notes on the game:

Early reports showed the front line playing well, but not getting enough support from the other three lines - that was clearly not the case tonight. Somewhere in the middle of the first with the score still tied, the fourth line had a killer shift. They got the puck in deep for several minutes and got multiple quality chances.

The whole second period, I was impressed with how the Bruins got the puck into the offensive zone corners and played there. It felt like it was there for at least half the time. Every line got quality attacking time in the zone. 

But what really stood out (obviously) was the scoring line. I was worried that our Game Seven ace in the hole (Horton) wasn't playing. But Recchi/Bergeron/Marchand - what can you say? Bergeron was phenomenal and the shorty was awesome. The media had given a lot of press to Seguin's PT but the real story of the finals was Marchand. Marchand Marchand and a 1000 time Marchand (Maybe a few hundred Marchmont's for good measure. How did he move from irritant who takes a few too many penalties to on the podium for Game 7/Finals MVP?Seriously, Marchand's speed,  skill and aggressiveness were the (non-Tim-Thomas) difference  in this series.

TIMMMMMMEEEEYYYY - deserves all the praise he got and more. He was unflappable. The defense played great but weren't without flaw. I saw a d-man pinch up in the third period (Seidenberg?)  and screamed "What are you doing?" at the scream. It led to a Lucic penalty. But of course, the Bruins killed it off (Final Tally on Vancouver Power Plays for the series: Boston 3, Vancouver 2). McQuaid and Chara both had _bad_ turnovers in the zone. Chara made up for his with the save and Timmy was there for the other one (AND ALL OTHER ONES)

Seriously, it was unreal. Whenever there was a Canuck shot, you expected Thomas to save it - and he did). The defense did a good job on rebound control and there weren't too many Canuck chances. The shot total was misleading, despite being outshot for most of the game, the Bruins clearly had more scoring opportunities.

And speaking of the Canucks, I thought they laid down a bit after the first goal. Kesler came to play and he made some nice rushes, but other than that, I didn't see the effort and work rate that's necessary to win. 

I still can't believe it. But I know it's true. Awesome

Derwin Kitchen:

A) Consistently under-rated point guard.

2) The only player on his team who can really create his own shot.

G) A solid ball-handler.

PI) A great rebounding guard.

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Consensus on this site (and logic) dictates that the Bucs will probably draft a DE in the first round. Despite this, I've seen many sites having the Bucs picking OL Gabe Carimi from Wisconsin.

Which of the following DE's do you feel wouldn't be worth the #20 pick? In the comments, order the DE's in the order you'd like to see on the Bucs Draft Board. Is there a defensive end, you'd like to see on there instead. Or do you have a completely different plan?

Lots of professional performances out there in Game 5. We all loved Ray's shooting and the Truth scoring. KG and Rondo played great too. But rather than collapse in the fourth quarter, one player stepped up large and finished at the basket time and again. 

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We have pick 3 and pick 10 tomorrow night

And here's the cream of what's left out there: 

 Jimmy Clausen | QB | 6'2 5/8, 222 pounds | Notre Dame

 Everson Griffen | DE | 6'3, 265 pounds | Southern California

 Sergio Kindle | OLB | 6'4, 254 pounds | Texas

 Charles Brown | OT | 6'6, 298 pounds | Southern California

 Golden Tate | WR | 5'11, 195 pounds | Notre Dame

 Bruce Campbell | OT | 6'7, 310 pounds | Maryland

 Jonathan Dwyer | RB | 5'11, 235 pounds | Georgia Tech

 Damian Williams | WR | 6'1, 190 pounds | USC

 Rob Gronkowski | TE | 6'6, 258 pounds | Arizona

 Brandon Spikes | MLB | 6'3, 256 pounds | Florida

 Chad Jones | S | 6'3, 218 pounds | LSU

 Brian Price | DT | 6'1, 295 pounds | UCLA

 Carlos Dunlap | DE | 6'6, 290 pounds | Florida

 Aaron Hernandez | TE | 6'2, 250 pounds | Florida

 Daryl Washington | OLB | 6'3, 234 pounds | Texas Christian

 Taylor Mays | S | 6'3, 230 pounds | USC

 Arrelious Benn | WR | 6'2, 214 pounds | Illinois

 Morgan Burnett | S | 6'1, 210 pounds | Georgia Tech

 Toby Gerhart | RB | 6'1, 235 pounds | Stanford

 Brandon LeFall | WR | 6'3, 209 pounds | LSU

With the disclaimer that the Patriots _rarely_ follow conventional wisdom and they usually have a draft board very different from everybody else's, the Patriots make the following trade:  The Patriots trade this years Pick 22 and Pick 190(sixth round)...

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(or at least we hope we challenge them)

Tonight at 9pm EST on ESPN. Duke is ranked 2,3,7,8 *depends who you ask ;) We are outside the top 25 looking in. No one expects us to win this game.

*Pomeroy, RPI, Coaches, AP

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So ESPN says that FSU is the most likely "giant" aka top seed to get knocked out early. Pomeroy has us losing in the first round to Wisconsin.When we beat anyone, it's because they were seriously flawed (Clemson) or undermanned (UNC).

In a nutshell, we get no respect.

But the truth is, the national media doesn' t really cover FSU basketball. You heard it in the announcing during the ACC championship. "FSU should have a significant advantage on the boards because of their height." If you'd followed FSU hoops at all this year, you know that our defensive rebounding is one of our biggest challenges. In other words, the national media hasn't done their homework on our hoops.

A lot of the computer programs base our ratings on our early season before we had Kitchen in the lineup and we had close games against mediocre/bad teams. I completely agree we should have beaten Jacksonville and Stetson by more than two. When we lost to Northwestern, we couldn't handle the press at all. We were young, disorganized and confused. But this is a different team now.

Our advantages are defensive intensity, depth, TD and our ability to make plays in close games down the stretch. We never fold up our tents and go home. We always make a run to get us back in the game. The only game in which we didn't compete was @ Wake Forest. Other than that, this team has played with determination and the belief that they can win every game. Overcoming the 19-pt deficit @Clemson is the premier example, but you saw it game after game.

I'm not going to downplay our problems. Turnovers and controlling our defensive glass are issues. One factor that I think hasn't gotten much attention is Uche's back injury. When he's healthy, he provides a solid big with scoring potential that gives TD and Alabi a third wheel on offense.You could see it affected his minutes in the ACC tournament. Of course, the national media was too obsessed with Lawson's toe. Heck, he should have played. We would have had Demercy step on his foot once, and then he could have been out for the big dance. :)

But our positives far outweigh our shortcomings. when you watch our games, you have to remember that our games are never decided in the first half. We always have a second half run in us. And down the stretch, Alabi, Loucks, Dulkys (even Singleton) and especially TD +make+ plays.

I've watched or listened to every FSU bball game this year. I fully expect to see us reach Beantown to face whatever heavy-weights are there to meet us. Go Noles

NB1 The Big Ten is the only conference against which we have a losing record (0-1) this year. We can change that in our next game

NB2 FSU has yet to lose consecutive games this year and we lost our last one in the ACC championship game. Wisco had a *six* game losing streak early in Big Ten play.

So at the top of the draft are two teams that both clearly want to improve their QB. Yes, Detroit needs to improve everything, but QB is a good place to start. As such, Matt Kiper has both the the Lions and the Chiefs picking QB's in his initial mock draft. But neither Sanchez nor Stafford are sure things. I'm not privy to the internal testing and such that these teams do, but I don't think I would use a high first-rounder on either of these guys.

On the other hand, high on most draft boards (and a player whose draft stock is improving daily) is an outside linebacker from Wake Forest named Aaron Curry. Now, linebacker is considered an area of need for the Patriots and they just happen to have two NFL-quality quarterbacks on their rosters. In a lot of respects, it would make sense for a trade between NE/Det or NE/KC along the lines of Matt Cassel for their high first round selection.

Obviously there are some contra-indicators from a Patriots perspective.

1) What if Brady doesn't come back healthy?

    I don't think this is much of an issue. The Patriots are going to find some guy (whio only they know) in the sixth or seventh round who can fill in as QB backup. He will either hold a clipboard for 3-4 seasons or turn into the next Joe Montana

2) The Patriots draft board never looks like anyone elses.

   This is a real concern, but Curry looks like the real deal and would definitely be a huge boost to a defense that is getting long in the tooth.

3) The Patriots don't like the high draft picks because of the contract cost.

   This is the biggest counter argument to a trade. But the Patriots have been willing to shell out big bucks for free agents who were sure things and Curry looks like the real deal (at least to me).

Any perspective from a Detroit or KC fan is appreciated as well.