Who Wants to Be in Alaska in November???

Well, if you're a fan of Michigan Wolverines basketball or of college basketball in general, the answer is you. The Great Alaska Shootout is another one of these early-season tournaments for teams to claim some quality wins and build a legitimate NCAA Tournament profile. This year's edition (which starts tonight), hosted by the University of Alaska-Anchorage, has all the makings of a pretty good tournament.

Two current nationally ranked schools are in the eight-team field (#23 Butler and #14 Gonzaga), as well as traditional power Texas Tech and relative newcomer Virginia Tech. Eastern Washington, Division II Alaska-Anchorage, and Western Kentucky complete the bracket and as I said before, I think this is going to be an exciting tournament.

The first-round matchups are #23 Butler-Michigan, Eastern Washington-VA Tech, Texas Tech-Alaska-Anchorage, and Western Kentucky-#14 Gonzaga. The winners of each game advance to the semifinals (winner's bracket); the losers will play in the losers' bracket, which guarantees each of the eight teams present three games. I'll go on the record and predict Michigan, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, and Gonzaga will move on.

The Michigan-Butler game (11:30 PM, ESPN2) should be a pretty good, up-and-down affair. Both teams can run, both teams can shoot, and both teams can get after you on defense. Two things stand out to me: Butler (3-0) are by far the more experienced team, led by standout senior guards A.J. Graves and Mike Green as well as senior forward Pete Campbell. Graves and Green are both 6'1" and Campbell is 6'7", and each of these guys can really shoot the ball and bring the leadership intangibles that new head coach Brad Stevens is looking for. Michigan (2-1), however, is a much bigger, more physical team and will try to wear down Butler tonight. If they can use their superior speed and size and harass Butler, the Wolverines have as good a chance as any to win the game and move on to face Virginia Tech.

Goodbye, England; Goodbye, Steve McLaren

England's 3-2 loss today at Wembley was a tough one to stomach for obvious reasons. Scott Carson's horrible misplay of a Niko Kranjčar right-footed drive put Croatia ahead after just eight minutes, and then England's defense hung Carson out to dry just six minutes later as Ivica Olic walked in alone and rounded him to make it 2-0.

To be fair, England deserve full credit for fighting back from two goals down and in the 65th minute, Peter Crouch's spectacular volley (from a beautiful service by second-half sub David Beckham) levelled the game. At this point, England and their fans visibly heaved a sigh of relief and the Three Lions seemingly took their foot off the gas, content to escape with the draw that would've advanced them to Euro 2008.

Croatia, however, would have none of it and Mladen Petric's 77th minute goal was a dagger into England's heart. The hosts really didn't get much going after that aside from a decent effort by Darren Bent just five minutes from time, and as a result, won't be headed to Austria and Switzerland next summer.

Croatia deserves full credit as well for their professionalism and they way they competed. They had already qualified fur Euro 2008 regardless of what happened today and had nothing to play for other than pride. The Croats could've sat back and played not to lose but instead they came out and attacked and made the game theirs.

Russia's 1-0 victory against Andorra today eliminated England from Euro 2008 contention as a Russian draw or loss still would've seen England through despite their defeat. Guus Hiddink's team earned the right to go to this tournament and they are the worthy runners-up to Croatia in Group E.

Steve McLaren's job is obviously now in serious threat and if he's not fired tomorrow morning, I would be shocked. There is no excuse for England, a self-proclaimed world power, to not qualify for this tournament or any tournament for that matter, but they've regressed as a team from where they were under Sven-Goran Eriksson and that's simply not good enough. England's players will get a nice break next summer; hey, maybe they can do a little sightseeing in Geneva or Vienna!

Season Summaries--6. Portsmouth

6. Portsmouth (My preseason prediction: 6th)

'Arry Redknapp has a team to be reckoned with down on the South Coast, and it's been quite a journey in a short period of time for Portsmouth and their fans. From escaping near-certain relegation from the Premiership two seasons ago to a solid 9th place finish last year, Pompey now sit in 6th place after 13 games and figure to earn at least a UEFA Cup spot this season.

Here's a remarkable stat for you: In 9 of Portsmouth's last 13 games in all competitions, one (or both) teams involved have been held scoreless. Of those 9 games, two came in the Carling Cup (3-0 victory over Leeds, 1-0 victory over Burnley) and the remaining 7 were Premiership matches, in which Portsmouth recorded 3 wins, 3 draws, and a loss (0-1 at Chelsea).

Portsmouth's roster will be decimated in January due to the African Cup of Nations, and it's not just minor players or reserves/subs that will be leaving Pompey for the month, it's some key figures that have led the team to their good start so far this season. Benjani, the team's leading scorer thus far with 8 goals in 10 Premiership starts, will remain with the club as Zimbabwe did not qualify for Africa's largest international tournament, but Papa Bouba Diop, Kanu, Sulley Muntari, John Utaka, and Djimi Traore all figure to be selected for their respective national teams and Lauren, the Cameroonian wingback, has been called into training camp and may choose to "unretire" from international soccer for this tournament. Luckily for Portsmouth, three of their four league fixtures in January are relatively easy (at Reading, at Sunderland, and home to Derby). Pompey also make the trip to Old Trafford at the end of the month, but even with all of those players, I'm not sure they would've come away with a point.

You would have to say that December will show us exactly just what kind of team Portsmouth is. Yes, they've beaten Newcastle, Bolton, Wigan, Fulham, and Reading, as well as Blackburn, but they lost to Chelsea and Arsenal. December brings games against Everton, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Arsenal so we'll see how many points Pompey can take from those games. I like this team a lot; I'm sticking with my 6th-place prediction.

Play up Pompey!