Tough to think a month went by already, but it did. March Madness came and went out with a few surprises.

I think one of the biggest surprises this month was that for the first time in a while, the 8 teams from the West have all but been locked in. Lakers, Nuggets, Mavs, Thunder, Jazz, Blazers, Spurs, Suns. Guessing the order, however, is about as close as trying to guess how many Big East teams would get in if the tournament field was expanded to 96 (I say 14, Seton Hall and Rutgers would find ways to miss it).

As for the East, it comes as a surprise that all eight teams currently fighting for a playoff spot are over .500. We haven’t had that in a whlie. However, it still is pretty pathetic down at the bottom of that conference. We can say the Nets finally won 10 games. By the way, remember when I was shopping for the TRBL #4 Nets jersey? They were giving away season tickets for next year at the Prudential Center for not much more…

This month’s awards are a bit different. April does not have enough games to really warrant a monthly award post – however, I’m going to hand out my monthly awards this month and then do awards for the  year at the end of the regular season.  Hope I didn’t confuse anybody…

Eastern Conference Player of the Month - Dwayne Wade. This easily could have gone to a number of players, but Miami is currently sitting at the 5 seed right now because of this man. He shot just under 50% from the floor, dropped around 26 points a game, but more importantly was sharing the wealth (7.5 ast/g). Here’s the thing – he takes a beating on the floor. He hustles. He plays phenomenal defense and looks forward matching up against a Kobe, Ray Allen, Durant, or a Brandon Jennings. These aren’t things you can numerically measure – there isn’t a hustle point stat today (although Tommy Heinsohn would argue). Its things like this that led Miami to a white-hot 12-3 and a current 8 game winning streak.

Someone recently told me Dwayne Wade was soft. I now seriously question their intelligence.

Western Conference Player of the Month – Kevin Durant. Yup, its official. I have a man-crush on Durant.  I’m saying this now, but within 5 years – if he stays healthy – he will be the next Michael Jordan of the NBA. Some people may think that’s a gutsy prediction. Other people may think he’s closer than that. All I am saying is this – the Oklahoma City Thunder are a young core team with an absolute superstar in the making. Give them time, I could easily see them winning consecutive NBA titles if Durant continues to display this much talent in a such a short 2 years.

What sold me on this month’s award was his 37 point performance at Boston. Granted, its the Celtics who are apparently coasting into the playoffs and appear checked out at times, but a road win against a team that only 2 years ago was hoisting up a title… That and he hits his free throws (164-176, or 93%, in the month of March).

Sixth Man of the Month – Jamal Crawford. If you really are looking for a reason, check every other post I’ve written. I feel like this award should be recorded and played back every month.

Rookie of the Month – Marcus Thornton. Out of the top rookie scorers in the NBA, he stayed the healthiest in March and contributed to a New Orleans run that unfortunately fell short of making the playoffs this year. He does have some potential to be a good, if not great, player in the NBA.  Highlight of the month for him was his 28 point performance in a win against the Dallas Mavericks.

Team of the Month - Orlando Magic. They have kind of been under the radar it feels for most of the year, but 12-2 is pretty remarkable considering their March schedule. Home wins against the Lakers, Spurs, and Nuggets shows me two things:

(1) It gives me confidence that they will take care of business at home against the underachieving teams in the East, and
(2) Should they make it to the NBA finals, they won’t feel over-matched at home against the powerhouse Western Conference.

More importantly, they are getting everyone involved – 6 different players led the team in scoring in March. They have players stepping up and helping them close out (or blow out) games as they prepare for the playoffs.

Buzzer Beater of the Month - The Magic might have been 13-1, if not for our Buzzer Beater of the month. When you dunk to win a game, you win me over.  Josh Smith dunking on the Magic to win the game was priceless.

INCRBL – There is an outside shot that the New Jersey Nets could not end up with the worst record in the NBA. They are currently 4 games back of 29th place, with 5 games to go. Mathematically, they are still in it. As far as the Cavs? Only 49 games behind.

TRBL – In the spirit of March Madness, I dare to stray off topic for a moment. They really, really, really shouldn’t expand the tournament bracket to 96 teams. Honestly, it is going to make mediocre teams have a shot at winning a title. Tying this back into the NBA, it does give scouts another shot at looking at their prospective lottery picks for one more game. That comes, however, with another game to play (injury risk?).

It befuddles me that they are willing to expand the tournament bracket for NCAA hoops, but not bring in a playoff bracket for NCAA football. I swear, it is genius at work.

…in addition, I really want just to do a bash of epic proportions against the entire Seton Hall Athletic program. But since this is NBAtoday.net and not www.TRBLSetonHallTRBL.net, I’ll conceal my anger and frustration against the University.