While there wasn’t any snow last night in Milwaukee, it sure did feel like Christmas. The Bucks unveiled their new colors, red and green while drafting a guy named Noel.  Fans had been waiting to see this new color scheme trying to guess all sorts of patterns. Last night, Bucks.com changed their whole website to red/green, after 7:30 P.M., about the time of the Bucks draft.  The team’s lone pick, #39 overall, was used on 6′6 forward David Noel from North Carolina, who averaged 12.9 points a game last year and was the leader of a very young Tar Heels team.  Noel is known for his defensive play and has been compared to Spurs guard Bruce Bowen.  Noel is a very athletic player and at only 6′6 played the power forward position in college. Whether or not Noel will switch positions in the NBA, I think he will, most likely to SF.  Noel also has a good shooting touch beyond the third point shooting arch, shooting over 43 percent last year.  He showed flashes of Desmond Mason in college, wowing the crowd with spectacular dunks. Many experts deemed Noel a player who would go undrafted, but after the Bucks traded Desmond Mason, they needed a high energy guy that could electrify the BC. Jamal Magloire’s name was rumored in many deals, but the Bucks never did trade him. My guess is the Bucks will trade him, after July 1, most likely to a team like the Warriors or Jazz.

Ahmad Brooks never expected to be in the situation that he is today. Brooks was kicked off the Virginia Cavaliers football squad due to numerous undisclosed infractions. The star outsidelinebacker was expected to be drafted high in the first round in the 2006 NFL Draft, but wasn’t drafted because there were many questions that surrouded his play on and off the field. The Supplemental Draft is an annual draft coming up on July 13, and many teams seem very willing to take a chance and give up a draft pick on this first round talent. The most intrested team in Brooks so far has been the Miami Dolphins, who last year forfeited a 5th round choice on USC defensive tackle Manuel Wright in the Supplemental Draft, who has turned out to be a complete and utter bust. The Dolphins are one of 22 teams, including the Packers, who are reportedly intrested in Brooks. Whether or not a team will throw away a second round pick to grab Brooks, its not yet certain, but if it were up to me, I take a chance on a first round player who will has a ton upside and with correct coaching, will be more of a boom than a bust.

Bob Uecker, the play-by-play announcer of the Brewers on newsradio 620 WTMJ for more than 35 years, made a public statement a few weeks ago that he had been stalked by a woman in excess of seven years. The 45 year old woman, Ann E. Ladd, started sending Uecker letters and gifts. Things escalated so far that she eventually followed Uecker to Brewers’ road games and even found out what Uecker’s room number was in an Pittsburgh hotel and where he was swimming. Ladd pushed the envelope so far that she confronted Uecker at the hotel’s pool after he refused to help her with charity work. At first, Uecker filed a temporary restraining order against Ladd, permitting her to go near him. The original court date, June 15, was delayed because the defendant could not be found. A message was left at Ladd’s home Tuesday, but was not returned. Her lawyer of course failed to comment. Yesterday it was announced that the court date had been pushed back and set for July 3rd. Uecker was inducted into Cooperstown in 2003, and is known for his apperances in Major League and Major League II, as well as his storytelling and humor.  The legend continues to call Brewer’s games today, and hopefully will for a long time.

The Badger men had a tough end to the NCAA tournament last season after getting blown out by the Arizona Wildcats 94-75. But they are looking better than ever after they only lost senior sharpshooter Ray Nixon from the 2005-2006 team. With new recruits incoming that include point guard Trevon Hughes from St. Johns Northwestern Military Academy, the Badgers will be fully loaded and looking to go deep into the tourney this season. Wisconsin has a ton of returning talent still on the roster: upperclassmen Alando Tucker, Kammron Taylor, and Brian Butch and underclassmen Marcus Landry, Joe Krabbenhoft, and Greg Steimsma just to name a few. The stars should be Alando Tucker as well as Kammron Taylor who really stepped up his game last season averaging just over 14 points per game and shooting 40% from trey land. I think the key to the Badgers success is the play of Brian Butch and Marcus Landry, as they look to improve on somewhat disappointing 2005-2006 seasons. More so for Landry, who was unable to play for academic reasons almost the entire season. As far as the starting lineup is concerned, look for a Trevon Hughes/Kammron Taylor tandem in the backcourt with Hughes to start at point guard and Taylor starting beside him at shooting guard. The frontcourt should include Alando Tucker to start at the 3, Marcus Landry at the 4, and Brian Butch to start at center. Bo Ryan should be very excited as his 2006-2007 team is shaping up to be the favorite at the top of the Big 10 as well as one of the top college teams in the country.

While NBA fans, players, and owners are focusing heavily on the Finals, scouts from teams out of the playoffs, including the Milwaukee Bucks, are shifting their focus to the 2006 NBA Draft. The declared college players attending tryouts will want to win the respect from the coaches and managers hoping to convince them to draft them this upcoming June 28th. These tryouts will determine in most cases, who will be drafted , and who will be left to the waiver wire. Today, the Milwaukee Bucks held their first of many player tryouts at the teams training center in St. Francis, WI. Among the players at the tryouts today were Taj Grey, an intriguing 6-9 power forward from Oklahoma University. The Bucks are definitely in a different drafting position than last offseason and will not have the best players in for tryouts. Last year, the Bucks won the lottery and selected Andrew Bogut with the #1 pick. The Bucks won’t even have a 1st round pick this year after packaging it as part of the Desmond Mason deal in order to acquire Jamaal Magloire from the NO/OK City Hornets. The Bucks own a lone selection in the second round, 39th overall, and will be looking to add depth at the PF position. Some of the other forwards that the Bucks could be targeting include: Kevin Pittsnogle from West Virginia, Eric Hicks from Cincinnati, Ryan Hollins from UCLA, and Craig Smith from Boston College.

Game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals was a classic. The Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat traded baskets for what seemed like the entire game. The game was full of stars but there were two players that stood out in particular. It was former Marquette star Dwayne Wade who was spectacular for the Heat, scoring 43 points, including the game winning free throw with a mere 1.9 seconds left. For the Mavs former Badger Devin Harris shined both on offense and defense. Harris had only 6 points but it was his defense on Dwayne Wade that kept the Mavs close. Wade had to force alot of shots up, and while a lot went in, the Heat only won by a point. Who would have thought that a few years after they had been drafted (Wade 2003, 5th overall, Harris 2004, 5th overall) they would be facing each other in a pivotal Game 5 in the NBA Finals. While the stage was set for the big stars like Shaquille O’ Neal and Dirk Nowitzki, I thought it was the Wisconsinites, Dwayne Wade and Devin Harris, that stole the show and showed us a promising future for the NBA.

The Green Bay Packers defense has been scrutinized for the past years and just last year snapped out of a seemingly endless slump of plain old “bad years”. The Packers ranked 7th in total defense in 2005, allowing their opponents just over 293 yards in total offense per contest. Many people bashed the Packers, me included, after general manager Ted Thompson didn’t choose Jim Bates as the predecessor to Mike Sherman, rather, going to the 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy who was Brett Favre’s former quaterbacks coach when Mike Holmgren was head coach and promoted incumbent defensive ends coach Bob Sanders to defensive coordinator. Many people thought that bringing an offensive minded head coach into the fold was a bad idea because the defense still needed more help than the offense did. The 2005 Packers were always playing from behind, 11 of their 16 regular season games. The secondary needed a spark all year long as players like Ahmad Carroll and Nick Collins, who fairly new to the defense scheme, got alot of pass interference penalties called against them on long balls. This offseason the Packers had a boatload of cash to spend, 16 million under the salary cap. Ted Thompson took a conservative approach into free agency calling it “dangerous waters”. Instead of going after big name free agents like Lavar Arrington and Nate Clements, the Packers very quietly inked mid-level free agents like Marquand Manuel and Ryan Pickett, while other teams were burning all their money in the first week. Some of the bigger moves were resigning Aaron Kampman and then later signing pro-browl/injury plagued corner Charles Woodson, who many thought the Packers had overpaid. The draft came around and the Packers were still missing a starting linebacker after Na’il Diggs went to the Carolina Panthers via free agency. They scooped up stud linebacker AJ Hawk from Ohio State with the fifth overall selection in the draft. Fans were upset with Ted Thompson’s approach and thought he should have made bigger splashes in free agency. But I think it was his careful approach and conservative manner that will save the Packers both for the present and the future.

The past fews weeks have brought up numerous discussions on whether the Milwaukee Brewers should consider going after Marlins star pitcher Dontrelle Willis. The Brewers were mentioned along with a few other teams to have the interest in the Marlins south paw. Among the names mentioned are slugging outfielder Carlos Lee, whose contract is up after the 2006 campaign, as well as young prospects such as Bill Hall and Mark Rodgers. One thing is for sure, landing Willis will not be cheap. Although with Willis, the Brewers would have one of the best rotations in the majors. This rotation would probably include Willis as the #1 starter, injury-prone Ben Sheets at #2, Chris Capuano at #3, Doug Davis at #4, and Tomo Ohka at #5. I personally do not think that giving up Lee would be a huge loss, because the Brewers have a lot of coveted outfielders in the minor leagues right now, the front runner to take over the job would be Corey Hart, a big 6-6 215 pounder, that is itching for some playing time. Among other possible replacements would be Nelson Cruz, acquired in the Keith Ginter trade along with right hander Justin Lehr from the Oakland A’s. Lee’s loss would definitely hurt the Brewers more for the short-term rather than the long-term because he has carried the Brewers offense so far this season.