By now, most people will agree that Bradley Beal is a keeper—and that isn’t just because his agent, Mark Bartelstein, recently said, “I’m sure lots of teams would like to have Brad, but the Wizards have absolutely no intention of trading him.”

But that’s not all that interesting. Beal was projected to be a “keeper,” and was expected to produce as the No. 3 pick in the last draft. And he has. Beal was named December’s Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, and, over the last three games, the former Florida Gator has averaged a plus/minus of plus-10.7 per game, along with 18.3 points (63.6% from 3-point range), 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists.

What’s more interesting is the reason why he’s been able to get better game by game, even before John Wall made his season debut. The easy analysis would be to say, ‘Oh, the game is finally slowing down for Beal.’ He even said so himself after Monday night’s 29-point thumping of the Orlando Magic: “The game’s starting to slow down for me more, and I’ve gained a lot more confidence.”

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The NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the Washington Redskins trading for the number two pick in this year’s NFL draft (Robert Griffin, III) have been competing for time at the water cooler over the past couple of weeks in D.C. Before the Indiana Pacers game last week, I first asked several Washington Wizards players how their brackets were doing, here are some of their responses:

Shelvin Mack:

“I don’t wanna talk about my bracket. It is awful right now.”

Roger Mason Jr.: Read more »

There were no NBA games to be watched on Monday night, which meant like everyone else, I had to view that poorly-played NCAA championship game between Butler and Connecticut.  I sat down expecting to see the best from Connecticut’s Kemba Walker, and Butler’s Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack. I expected to see these experienced players lead their respective teams to a well-played, nip-and-tuck affair.  Instead, I saw field-goal percentages that rivaled winter temperatures and turnovers that even the Washington Generals would not make.

Connecticut was able to shake off the poor play just long enough to make a late game run and come out victorious 53-41.  Walker had a game-high 16 points to go with nine rebounds, Connecticut center Alex Oriahki had 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, and in a losing effort, Mack had 13 points and nine rebounds. Howard added seven points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs, but he shot 1-13 and he was a non-factor throughout the game.

Although Walker led the team in scoring and made some timely shots throughout the night, the key to Connecticut’s victory was freshman Jeremy Lamb.  After missing his only two field-goal attempts with no points in the first half, Lamb went 4-6 with 12 points in the second half, giving his Huskies a desperately needed cushion.  When Connecticut faced its largest deficit of 25-19 after Butler’s Chase Stigall hit a three 20 seconds into the second half, Lamb scored 11 of his team’s next 18 points during a 18-3 run that saw UConn take the lead for good at 37-28 with 11 minutes left in the game.

As happy as I was for the freshman, I immediately became concerned that this strong performance in an otherwise mediocre game would inflate his ego — and more importantly, his NBA prospects.  I worried that Lamb would ignore Kemba Walker’s shining example of how a good player leads his team from November to March, and attempt to ride into the NBA on the heels of an OK season and a one very good college game (although, worth noting that Lamb scored 97 points over six NCAA Tournament games, an average of 16.2 points that topped his 11.1 points per game during the season).  At one point I even tweeted that I hoped Lamb had a sub par game, so he would be convinced to stay in college.

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{photo: A. McGinnis, TAI}

The birth of the John Wall Dance phenomenon was fueled solely by Kentucky Wildcats’ fans, before the craze went nationwide and ultimately became Wall’s pop culture trademark. The initial act at Kentucky’s Midnight Madness before Wall’s freshman year was the first glimpse of the special relationship between Big Blue Nation and Wall.

Their admiration has carried over to his professional career with UK fans coming in droves to see Wall play throughout his rookie NBA season. It is almost a guarantee that you will see several Kentucky jerseys and UK related signs at every Wizards home games. The Washington organization wisely welcomed the D.C.-area Kentucky alumni group to a home contest versus the Sacramento Kings earlier this season featuring Wall against his former UK teammate Demarcus Cousins.

Cats fans have even supported Wall all over the country through the Wizards’ 0-25 road record. A large contingent almost equal to those rooting for the Pacers supported Wall when Washington visited Indiana for an afternoon game on New Year’s Eve 2010.

The love is a two-way street and reciprocated heavily by the 2010 SEC Player of the Year.  Anyone who follows Wall’s Twitter account (@jimmywa11) knows he is always tweeting about #BBN (Big Blue Nation) and wishing this year’s Wildcat team luck.

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Recently I had a chance to interview Clark Kellogg over the phone. It was set up by a PR team in conjunction with promoting the Capital One Cup, which is a new award to be given out to the top men’s and women’s collegiate athletic programs (you’ve likely seen commercials about this on ESPN).

Points for the Cup will be accumulated according to how schools fare across 13 tiered men’s and women’s Division I sports programs (Men’s: Tier 1 – football, basketball, and baseball; T2 – soccer, swimming & diving, outdoor track & field, and lacrosse; T3 – cross country, wrestling, ice hockey, indoor track & field, golf, and tennis; Women’s: Tier 1: volleyball, basketball, and softball; T2; soccer, swimming & diving, outdoor track & field, and lacrosse; T3: cross country, field hockey, indoor track & field, golf, tennis, and rowing — Tier 1 sports are worth three times the points, Tier 2 sports are worth two times, and Tier 3 sports are worth their actual point number. Sports are tiered to “reward success in sports with the most student athlete participation and fan interest.”).

Schools with the most cumulative points across all men’s and women’s sports will each be presented with a trophy, $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships, and will be honored at the ESPY Awards held in July. Top 10 finishers for men’s and women’s sports cumulative point totals will also each be recognized.

Kellogg was selected by Capital One to be an advisory board member for the award along with Doug Flutie, Brandi Chastain, Lisa Leslie, Robin Ventura and Rece Davis.

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John Wall, heard of him?

Okay, good. David Falk recently made him the “official” number one overall draft pick of the Washington Wizards. Didn’t know Falk, as Evan Turner’s agent, still had that power.

All kidding aside, Wall has been the pick for a long time now. The hype surrounding the assumption he would be taken by the Wizards became so pressurized that even small considerations of taking Turner became unreasonable — potentially creating another situation akin to when the Timberwolves traded Brandon Roy for Randy Foye.

Not saying that the schism between Foye and Roy as players would be emulated by Turner and Wall, Turner could very well be better. But a selection of Turner over Wall would create a situation where you’d have one player being measured in comparison to the other before they ever step on the court (I know, with Roy and Foye it was a little bit different).

Sounds unfair, and perhaps an irrational buy into the hype. So, I guess it’s silly to play this ‘what-if’ game and Wizards fans should just continue with the assumption they’ve been making all along, that John Wall is coming to D.C., and not look back … even though Ted Leonsis says he’s not allowed to talk about Wall. Curious, since barely after the Los Angeles Clippers won the 2009 NBA Draft Lottery, Mike Dunleavy, who severed ties with the franchise in March 2010, said, “Clearly, we’re taking Blake Griffin.” The day after winning the lottery, the Clippers began a marketing campaign featuring Griffin.

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Another time … when Tracy Morgan rubbed on Shaq.

You probably missed Tracy Morgan throw out the first pitch at recent Orioles-Yankees game. When it happened, you probably still had hope the Washington Capitals would win game seven against the Montreal Canadians.

Or, you’re here because this is supposed to be a Wizards blog and you don’t care about other DMV sports … and that’s fine. But it’s Tracy Morgan.

When I first moved to D.C. in 1990, I was just as much of a Baltimore Orioles fan as a Washington Bullets fan. For about 20 times a year for several seasons, my dad and I would make the trip up to old Memorial Stadium and later Camden Yards.

I went to games in both of Baltimore’s unsuccessful trips to the playoffs in the last 26 seasons, losing to the Yankees in the ’96 ACLS and to the Indians the next year. I went to the ’93 Home Run derby won by Juan Gonzalez over Ken Griffey, Jr. in a playoff and to that year’s All-Star game where Kirby Puckett was named MVP. I was in attendance on September 6, 1995 when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak.

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As previously mentioned, Cedric Jackson, who signed with the Washington Wizards from the D-League on March 31st, went to Cleveland State. The Vikings are in the same conference as the Butler Bulldogs, whom they beat for the Horizon League title in 2009 to advance to the NCAA Tournament; as a 13-seed, Cleveland State won its first round game against 4-seed Wake Forest. But in that ’09 Horizon championship game, Butler’s Gordon Hayward had seven points,  Matt Howard had 14 and Shelvin Mack had 18. Meanwhile, Cedric Jackson threw up 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds … and got the 57-54 win.

His opinion being qualified, I briefly chatted with Cedric about Butler and the 2010 NCAA championship before Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.

I was so content, and mostly shocked, that the Redskins beat the Cowboys on Sunday, I wasn’t quite sure how to react. There are so many Dallas fans around DC, that it would have been easy to gloat, but something inside me said that it was just another victory, and it’s still a long season. Essentially, winning is saying enough. Then again, a picture is worth a whole bunch of words. (And I’ll let others do the talking.)

The two biggest cry-babies of NFL week four. It’s an ironic circle:

1. Tank Johnson had to be restrained because Rock Cartwright celebrated on the Dallas star at the 50 yard line after the game. Tank, being a classy man himself, brought up the issue of class.

2. Mr. Irrelevant reminded us all of a Star logo controversy of the past between Tank’s current teammate, Terrell Owens, and former Cowboy, Emmitt Smith.

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First of all, I’m all for integrity and fairness in sports, but not when they are used as an excuse for losing.

These examples happen in all professional sports, but I’ll concentrate on the sport about to begin its second season, Major League Baseball. All but one division has been decided. The Phillies, Cubs, and Dodgers have made it from the National League; the Brewers sealed the NL wildcard with another Mets collapse. In the American League, the Rays and Angels have won their respective divisions, the Red Sox have locked up the AL wildcard, and the White Sox and Twins will play a tiebreaker for the AL Central Division on Tuesday (correction: if the White Sox beat the Tigers today).

Most seem content with the playoff eligibility process, save for one blowhard. New York Yankees Senior Vice President, Hank Steinbrenner, is turning out to be a bigger jerk than his father, sealing my continued distaste towards the team in pinstripes for the foreseen future.

Last week, Steinbrenner decried that the MLB playoff system, where division winners are guaranteed entry in the postseason, is unfair.

The biggest problem is the divisional setup in major league baseball. I didn’t like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now. Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn’t fair.

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