SWE hosts Miss America

UMBC’s Society of Women Engineers hosted Nina Davuluri, an advocate for STEM education for girls and women and Miss America 2014, on campus last week. Davuluri spoke during “Fight the Stereotype,” an event described as focused on challenging gender and racial stereotypes related to STEM education and careers. The event was organized by SWE President Mona Patel, a model and chemical engineering student at UMBC.

Teacher of The Year

Alumna Shalonda Holt was recently awarded 2016 Teacher of The Year by The Washington Post. Holt graduated from UMBC in 2007 and is now teaching biology at Centennial High School in Howard County. She was previously named Howard County Teacher of The Year.

Faculty and Staff Awards

UMBC’s 2016 Presidential Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony was held last week on April 6. The aim of the ceremony was to “honor the accomplishments of this year’s campus- and system-wide award recipients.” The annual awards ceremony “recognized faculty and staff for their contributions to advancing the mission of UMBC and the State, and for their dedication to teaching, learning and excellence in research and scholarship.”

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April 2 – Potomac Hall, Alcohol Violation//Alcohol Overdose

April 2 – Patapsco Hall, Emergency Evaluation

April 4 – Chincoteague (Terrace Apts), Emergency Evaluation

April 4 – Lot 25 (TRC), Destruction of Property

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Clinton campaign makes first Maryland stop 

Hillary Clinton appeared in Baltimore for her first presidential campaign visit to Maryland of the election season on Sunday. During her visit, she spoke on the need for greater federal investment in urban areas and received an endorsement from U.S. House Representative Elijah Cummings. “I particularly want to pay attention to our cities, like Baltimore … I will focus particularly on communities, neighborhoods, regions that have been passed by,” Clinton said at the rally. The Maryland primaries are scheduled for April 26.

MTA bus involved in northeast Baltimore crash

An MTA bus was involved in a northeast Baltimore accident that injured 21 people. Two other vehicles were involved in the accident, which occurred at East Belvedere Ave. and Hillen Rd. According to Baltimore City Fire Department officials, approximately 40 people were on the bus of whom were taken to area hospitals for minor injuries. There were no critical injuries reported as resulting from the crash.  The incident remains under investigation.

Report indicates rise in area housing values

A report by the firm ShowingTime RBI indicates that prices for Baltimore-area housing rose by 3.2 percent in the past year. The report attributes the trend to a drop in the number of properties on the market and an increase in property sales. Among Baltimore City and the five surrounding counties profiled, everywhere except Baltimore City experienced an increase in the number of sales. Harford County, meanwhile, was the only profiled area to register a decline in median sales price.

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Vatican City

On Friday, Pope Francis called on Catholics around the world to be more tolerant in practice towards homosexuals, but did not speak about changing any official doctrine.

In addition to gays and lesbians, Pope Francis also called on the Catholic church to be more accepting towards all people in “irregular situations,” which includes divorced Catholics.

“A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws … as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives,” said Pope Francis in a paper he penned outlining his views on family affairs. “By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and growth.”

Pope Francis’ highly anticipated paper, “On Love in the Family,” is more than 260 pages and is the culmination of two conferences between the Pope and the world’s Catholic Bishops in which they debate current and contentious issues, including same-sex marriage and whether divorced Catholics in new marriages can take communion.

Australia

Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications and media company, recently held its second “free data day” as compensation for massive outages across the Telstra network earlier this year.

By the end of the free data day, Telstra customers downloaded 2,686 terabytes of data – the equivalent of 3.4 million HD movies – which is up 46 percent from the 1841 terabytes downloaded on the first free data day in Feb.

Sydney resident John Szaszvari stood out among all the downloaders, as he was personally responsible for an impressive amount of data-usage. Szaszvari, who’s contract with Telstra allows him six gigabytes of data monthly, downloaded 24 seasons of “The Simpsons,” 14 seasons of “Mythbusters” and the entire Wikipedia database. Szaszvari noted to reporters that he downloaded a “lot of random other stuff” as well.

Telstra has approximately 16.9 million mobile customers in Australia is attempting to rebuild its reputation after several recent network problems. Telstra has said that the outages are due to problems with undersea cables offshore.

The United States

The US Air Force has deployed B-52 long-range bombers to the Middle East for the first time since the end of the Gulf War over 25 years ago, officials said on Saturday. The aircraft will target the Islamic State terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria.

“The B-52 will provide the Coalition continued precision and deliver desired airpower effects,” said Lieutenant General Charles Q. Brown Jr., commander, US Air Forces Central Command and Combined Forces Air Component. Lt. Brown also indicated that the bombers could be readily available to bomb elsewhere in the region as the need arises.

The Air Force’s announcement came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry promised to “turn up the pressure further” against the Islamic State during a visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdish and Sunni leaders.

The B-52 bombers will be replacing the B-1’s, which were sent back to the United States in Feb. for maintenance. The B-52’s are able to hover over the battlefield for nearly 12 hours and have the ability to carry over a dozen precision guided bombs, as well as nuclear weapons.

The post Pope Francis calls for more tolerance in the Catholic Church, Australia telecommunications company offers free data day, US deploys B-52 bombers to the Middle East appeared first on The Retriever.

Vatican City

On Friday, Pope Francis called on Catholics around the world to be more tolerant in practice towards homosexuals, but did not speak about changing any official doctrine.

In addition to gays and lesbians, Pope Francis also called on the Catholic church to be more accepting towards all people in “irregular situations,” which includes divorced Catholics.

“A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws … as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives,” said Pope Francis in a paper he penned outlining his views on family affairs. “By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and growth.”

Pope Francis’ highly anticipated paper, “On Love in the Family,” is more than 260 pages and is the culmination of two conferences between the Pope and the world’s Catholic Bishops in which they debate current and contentious issues, including same-sex marriage and whether divorced Catholics in new marriages can take communion.

Australia

Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications and media company, recently held its second “free data day” as compensation for massive outages across the Telstra network earlier this year.

By the end of the free data day, Telstra customers downloaded 2,686 terabytes of data – the equivalent of 3.4 million HD movies – which is up 46 percent from the 1841 terabytes downloaded on the first free data day in Feb.

Sydney resident John Szaszvari stood out among all the downloaders, as he was personally responsible for an impressive amount of data-usage. Szaszvari, who’s contract with Telstra allows him six gigabytes of data monthly, downloaded 24 seasons of “The Simpsons,” 14 seasons of “Mythbusters” and the entire Wikipedia database. Szaszvari noted to reporters that he downloaded a “lot of random other stuff” as well.

Telstra has approximately 16.9 million mobile customers in Australia is attempting to rebuild its reputation after several recent network problems. Telstra has said that the outages are due to problems with undersea cables offshore.

The United States

The US Air Force has deployed B-52 long-range bombers to the Middle East for the first time since the end of the Gulf War over 25 years ago, officials said on Saturday. The aircraft will target the Islamic State terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria.

“The B-52 will provide the Coalition continued precision and deliver desired airpower effects,” said Lieutenant General Charles Q. Brown Jr., commander, US Air Forces Central Command and Combined Forces Air Component. Lt. Brown also indicated that the bombers could be readily available to bomb elsewhere in the region as the need arises.

The Air Force’s announcement came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry promised to “turn up the pressure further” against the Islamic State during a visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdish and Sunni leaders.

The B-52 bombers will be replacing the B-1’s, which were sent back to the United States in Feb. for maintenance. The B-52’s are able to hover over the battlefield for nearly 12 hours and have the ability to carry over a dozen precision guided bombs, as well as nuclear weapons.

The post Pope Francis calls for more tolerance in the Catholic Church, Australia telecommunications company offers free data day, US deploys B-52 bombers to the Middle East appeared first on The Retriever.

The Voter Awareness Initiative, a project taken on by the Student Government Association, College Democrats, College Republicans and People United, officially began in Nov. 2015 when joint legislation to approve the initiative was introduced into the SGA Senate. According to the original proposal, it was created because “SGA officers share a desire to register as many UMBC students as possible to vote and inform them about public issues.”

While this may have been the initial intention, the students partaking in the initiative would be mislead and misinformed numerous times.

The initiative was the brainchild of Vanessa Barksdale, a junior at UMBC, in the beginning of the fall semester of 2015. She said, “I feel like innocent people get taken advantage of and manipulated everyday. Not because they are dumb, but because we don’t pay attention. Voter awareness is a way to get students to pay attention.”

In order make her concept a reality, she enlisted the help of Sarah Lilly, assistant speaker of the Senate. Lilly drafted the official legislation for the initiative which, once unanimously passed on Dec. 1, 2015, provided Barksdale with $400 in funding.

“Senate took on the role of being the communication aspect, whereas the Department of Government and Institutional Affairs became ‘event planners’ by planning voting registration drives,” Lilly said.

In order to host voting registration drives, though, the Baltimore County Board of Elections must come and administer a voter registration volunteer certification course in order to certify volunteers to conduct them. They came in Oct. 2015. Overall the course was a success, although certain pieces of information dispersed by the board did not sit well with several students.

During the course, the BCEB stated that students cannot register to vote with their campus address for a multitude of reasons, including a potential loss of financial aid/scholarships, having to change license and registration and having potential errors when filing taxes.

This is relevant because polling places are usually determined by population distribution, based on voter registration addresses. For years, many individuals have been attempting to make UMBC a polling station, to no avail. The issue was of concern to students involved in the VIA.

So, in regards to voting registration, when the BCBE informed students that they were not allowed to claim UMBC as their place of residence despite the fact that many individuals spend more than eight months a year on campus, student were puzzled.

No clarification would be given until the initiative picked back up again in the spring semester of 2016.

Several participants of the VIA went to National Youth Feminist Leadership Conference in Arlington Virginia, from March 12-14.

“At a workshop we went to, the panelist told us that basically everything the BCBE had told us was incorrect. They told us that Symm v. United States was direct proof that students can use their campus address for voting purposes and that tax code doesn’t penalize students for registering at their campus address.”

“We then started coordinating with Mike Burns, the national director of the campus vote project, who was a panelist that day,” said Lilly.

“He told us that we should launch our own investigation on how the BCBE is misinforming college students, and find out exactly what they are saying in their dialogue with prospective voters.”

Following Burns’ instructions, Lilly proceeded to call the BCBE. She said, “I spoke with Dana Williams regarding registering to vote at your campus address. She said, in a few different ways, that students cannot register to vote at their campus address because of taxes, financial aid, scholarships, etc. Stating multiple times ‘you are staying on campus, not living on campus.’ I also spoke with a few others at the BOE, but they did not give their names to me. All said similar things.”

Lilly relayed this message back to Burns, who took it upon himself to call the Maryland State Board of Elections. Essentially, they told Burns that when it came to information on voter registration, everything the BCBE had been telling students was factually incorrect. They promised Burns they would speak with the BCBE to resolve the issue.

Lilly believes this occurrence is indicative of a general trend of “systematic suppression” directed towards college students. She reasoned, “To me, this is systematic suppression of students because we are not being allowed to register to vote at a place where we live the majority of the year, even though it is our legal right to do so, which ultimately prevents students from having a say in local politics.”

Burns, however, believes the term of “systematic suppression” may be slightly hyperbolic, due to the fact that the BCBE was “trying to get students to vote via absentee ballot.” He added, though, “But that’s not their choice to make. That’s the students’ choice to make.”

Burns concluded, “I think we see this issue of students having a hard time getting accurate information about their residency status in a number of places. Sometimes its due to individuals like those at the BCBE that interpret the law in a way that is actually inaccurate, and then provide that incorrect information to others.”

As of now, if a college student in Baltimore County were to attempt to list their campus residence as their place of residency, they would be allowed to do so.

The post Voter Awareness Initiative discovers Baltimore County Board of Elections distributing misinformation appeared first on The Retriever.

Today, we’re chatting with UMBC swimmer Emily Escobedo who recently came in second in a swimming competition. Give her a warm Retriever welcome!

What was your biggest motivation to do swimming as a college sport?

I’ve been swimming since I was 6 and fell in love with the sport at a very early age. Swimming has been an escape for me, and has been something I’ve worked for my entire life. I wanted to swim in college and continue trying to reach my goals, and get faster.

What events do you participate in while swimming?

I swim the 200 breast, 100 breast and 200 IM at most meets. I love these events, but it is also fun doing off events at dual meets. I enjoy the 100 fly and 100 back as well.

What’s your best memory with the UMBC swim team?

My best memory with the UMBC swim team was conferences last year. It was just an amazing experience all around. All of my teammates were so excited and we were up on our feet the entire weekend supporting each other. The energy on the pool deck was something I’ve never experienced before. It was with our enthusiasm and energy that we won the meet and were conference champions.

What’s a way you could convince other people to get involved with swimming?

Swimming is a really great sport/pastime. It is a great way to stay in shape and keep active. It is a lot of fun no matter what level you are at!

Who wins in a race: you or a canoe?

It depends on who’s rowing!

The post Chattin’ With: Emily Escobedo, NCAA Champion appeared first on The Retriever.

For people that haven’t ever listened, how would you describe your show?

Scott Reardon: It’s just a loose, fun, entertainment and info based show. Just a couple guys hanging out and having fun I guess. Spiegel?

Josh Spiegel: I’d say it’s [for] people driving to work, it’s a nice oasis, a fun oasis from their lives. Most people are probably miserable and not looking forward to going to work.  

You’ve done a lot of crazy things on the air — Mike (producer) tattooed his balls, you got your “Stella” tattoo on the air. What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for the show?

JS: Craziest thing? I have to think. I can’t think of anything.

SR: Hmm craziest thing Spiegel’s done? You got on that mini horse.

JS: Yes I tried to get on a horse.

SR: Spiegel is the more reserved, he doesn’t like to put himself in harm’s way.

JS: [Laughs]

SR: I know mine was probably the, where we had those dominatrixes in here and they tied me up and put a ball gag in my mouth and then at the end they shocked my balls.  I don’t know if I can say that in this interview, but they had a little magic wand and they shocked my balls. And I found the whole thing very uhh … I was a little turned on.

JS: Oh maybe when they set off the fireworks. We used to do a feature called the Lightning Round (where I have to read as many news stories as I can in 60 seconds). We went to someone’s house and they set off fireworks outside all around me. I mean that was scary for me.

Is it hard to censor yourself?  Is it ever hard to watch what you’re saying and does anything ever just pop out?

JS: Yeah, we have a dump button if we ever say anything but I think you get used to making split second decisions. You have to be able to think fast and if you do say something that you decide shouldn’t have been said you have the luxury of pressing the dump button.

SR:  In terms of profanity if you’re worried about that, we’ve worked within these parameters for so long that it’s just second nature.  It doesn’t really even pop into your head.  When we’re off air it’s weird how you can flip the switch you know? Off air I’ll be saying whatever I want to say, profanities and all, but then on air you just know you’re on air and you have the headphones on and you’re in front of a mic and you don’t use profanity and like he said we do have that delay which gives you that little peace of mind.  Also once it goes out over the internet – we broadcast on 98online.com – that’s not FCC regulated so if something does slip out you’re getting all the goods on the internet.

Driving home everyday do you find yourself listening to 98 Rock?

SR:  I love the music 98 Rock plays and yes I do listen. Do I listen to other stations? Of course. I bump around like anyone else. But you give me Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Van Halen, Aerosmith, I’m all about it. That’s what I listen to.  

JS: I don’t listen all the time but I do listen to 98 Rock. I like pop music. I listen to some other stuff. I don’t listen to a lot of radio. I mainly listen in my car, I don’t listen to music when I’m at home.

How do you think social media has transformed radio and the way you run your show?

JS: Oh we have opinions.

SR: Yeah, I don’t know if you heard my rant the other day — I went on a big rant. I thought I was going to get in trouble but I didn’t. They just want us to keep doing more and more it’s like I get it but for me it’s like where does it end? I see no end in sight. It started with MySpace really, then we get into Facebook, then we get into Twitter, then you get into Instagram, then you get into Snapchat and I don’t see an end in sight and so it’s like, we do a very good show, the ratings are very good, and I think that’s radio at its heart. You sit in a room, you turn on a microphone and you broadcast on an FM signal, people hear it and it translates to ratings if you’re doing a good job. Now, in the last however many years, it’s expanded beyond that obviously with all the things I just mentioned.  And yes, we can only benefit from it – like you said, you sat and binged on our videos – and when somebody sits and binges on a video or someone on Twitter sees something we’ve done, and it’s on Facebook and it gets shared  and that translates to more listeners. So that’s the goal, but can it be annoying? I don’t know if that’s the right word but can it be a bit much sometimes yeah. Spiegel’s been doing this a long time, when he started guess what it was just radio but now there’s a lot of layers to this man.  It’s only there to help us, but it can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

JS: Yeah, the most important thing is what comes out of the speakers that’s where everyone is, but I think they want us to just be more connected in other ways. I do Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

SR: Yeah me too, dabbling in the Snapchat.

JS: I set up a Snapchat like six months ago and I don’t understand how to do it either and I don’t, I don’t want to do it, I just can’t. You gotta draw the line at some point.

SR: Yeah I’ll give you an example. Our boss sat us down the other day and played us this 10 minute video, it was like a seminar, it had graphs and it was some guy talking about what the big social media things are. Facebook is still number one, Instagram has now become number two, I think Snapchat is number three, Twitter is four or five. So he basically sat us down and said here is what everyone is using. And at that point, we hadn’t really messed with Snapchat, but here you have the boss saying, “hey look this is what people are messing around with, this is where you’re going to reach a lot of people,” and Snapchat being number three but we hadn’t messed around with it what other course of action do you have other than, let’s do Snapchat. But then back to what I was saying originally, where the hell does it end Zac? Where does it end?

Who would your dream guest be?

SR: I think we may have talked to Spiegel’s.

JS: Dan Rather. Yeah he’s a someone I admire. Who else? I don’t know. I don’t really have anybody off the top of my head.

SR:  Yeah I don’t really have anyone specific in mind but I’ve had people that have come through that have been like full circle moments for me where I’m just like, “I can’t believe I’m sitting in the room talking to this person.” Like we’ve had Slash in here a couple of times from Guns and Roses – I cut my teeth on Guns and Roses – I’m now getting a chance to talk to these people. I’ll be sitting at home watching TV and I’ll be like, “holy crap we just talked to that guy like two days ago.” It’s still surreal for me because we do so much every day, we sit around and do the show and then we come in here and tape interviews and you go home and your wife’s there and your kid’s there and life’s still happening.  

How do you use your influence to positively influence listeners?

JS: WELL.  I just try to be, you know I don’t really have an agenda.  I just try to be entertaining and informative and you know helping to make things fun.  I don’t really go in there trying to influence people.

SR:  Yeah I’m with him. I don’t think we really try to sit down and really – I know we have an impact on people’s lives and like Spiegel said earlier we just kind of try to do the best job we can, try to be fun, try to be entertaining and provide these people with however many minutes of joy in the morning and I think that’s how I like to use my influence. I don’t have, like he said, an agenda or I’m not trying to push one kind of ideology or anything else. I’m just trying to show up and be entertaining and be fun and hopefully the people are enjoying that and engaging in that. And that’s the way I like to positively impact them, to just leave them with a great morning show. I know growing up listening to Howard Stern, he did that for me. It was like here’s three or four hours where I can just laugh and be entertained and just enjoy it and that’s what I just want to do for the people.

Some time you talk to the mayor about things such as the riots in Baltimore. What do you think the biggest problems in Baltimore are and what do you think the solution is?

JS:  Oh I mean, Scott’s a city resident, but obviously crime, you’ve got people leaving the city for the suburbs, homelessness.

SR:  I mean this is a bigger issue than what we have time for right now but the city, I moved here 11 years ago and I absolutely love the city. I love the people of the city, it’s a city that tries so hard. It’s a city that’s won my heart, but it’s also a city that breaks your heart repeatedly. I use the analogy that girlfriend that you just love but you continually get into fights with or she does something to make you angry but you still love her and it’s just like that. I think, one of our coworkers called it a tale of two cities. You have a city where people work hard and they want to make Baltimore great and they believe Baltimore can be great but then there’s the other side of the city that’s really fallen on hard times and they’re kind of stuck in that and they don’t see a way out and it’s hard to get out. The two are just competing with each other and it seems in the media maybe in a lot of people’s perceptions that the bad aspect of that is maybe winning at this point and it’s sad, you don’t want that to be, you want all of us to work together to just be good.  But it’s very difficult.

You make a lot of jokes about the presidential election and the candidates, but who do you actually support?

SR: I’m not a big politics guy so I don’t really support anybody. I’m independent. I talk about politics because we have to, but otherwise I don’t really care.

JS: I think we make fun of everybody and if somebody does something crazy we talk about it.

SR: Here’s the thing: If you pick a side you’re inevitably going to piss off 50 percent of the people that are listening.  You play it straight down the middle, [and] you make fun of somebody when they need to be made fun of.  

Did you picture yourself as a radio jock on an award winning show when you were just out of high school?

JS:  I’ve always been interested in radio so I kind of grew up with it.  

SR: He’s been doing it since he was 12 Zac!

JS: Yeah, It’s been a long ride.

SR: Put that it your interview, the man’s a legend.

JS: No not really, but the answer is yes.

And you Scott?

SR: No I had no idea what I wanted to do. I graduated college and I was a valet parking cars. But before that I had interned with a radio station in college and, I don’t know ,I kind of always loved radio but I never really thought I could do for a career. A buddy of mine worked for a radio station and the minute he said he could get me an internship I perked up immediately and then from there it was like “wait a minute this feels good, this fits.”  I think I found out a little later in life but it was always part of my makeup to do something like this but I never really realized it.

All three of you (and Mike) have great chemistry on air. Does this chemistry translate to your relationships off-air?

SR:  Doing this is the weirdest thing on Earth and Spiegel will attest to this. Because you’re put together and you work together and you do amazing things together and you have amazing chemistry but that doesn’t always translate to hanging out. Would I hang out with these guys and do I hang out with these guys? Yes. Do I like these guys? Yes. But do I hang out with them on a regular basis? No. It’s just so weird where you have this job and you’re so close and you know so much about these people and they are like family and they are friends, but it’s just the most impossible thing to explain and nobody would understand it unless you do it.

JS:  Yeah and complicating matters is that I’m a hermit by nature.

SR: Yeah he’s not a social butterfly. He did have a house party though, we forced him to. And it was great!  We want him to have another.  

Do you think your personality on the radio is a good representation of who you are off air?

JS: Yeah, I mean I’m more reserved off the air but I’m, what you hear is what you get.

SR:  I’m being me when I’m on the air, but I will say the off air me is way more shy and way more reserved and I’m a real low key kind of boring dude. And I think people sometimes don’t know us or if they hang out with you and they think you’re going to be the guy that commands the room or commands the attention, neither of us are those guys.

Spiegel, if your face could get pregnant how many babies would it have?

JS: I don’t know.

SR: Would it be a litter or would it be just one?

JS: I wouldn’t have face babies.  

SR: I’m saying if my face got pregnant it would be like a litter. I would imagine a lot of little babies.

The post 98 Rock’s Scott Reardon and Josh Spiegel appeared first on The Retriever.

This Wednesday marks the end of the 2015-16 NBA season with essentially all the remaining playoff spots filled up. With the playoffs drawing near, the main storyline is pretty straightforward, who will beat the Golden State Warriors?

After a 92–86 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors have tied the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the most wins in a single season, 72. The only thing standing between the Warriors and history is a depleted Memphis Grizzlies team.

The Warriors have been great statistically all across the board. As of Sunday, the Warriors lead the league in points per game, points per 100 possessions, field goal percentage and three point field goal percentage. Golden State finished second in pace, a stat that tracks how many possessions a team has per game. Only the Sacramento Kings play at a faster pace than the Warriors. Point guard Stephen Curry led the Warriors throughout the season, averaging nearly 30 points per game, receiving help from fellow splash brother Klay Thompson, triple double machine Draymond Green and one of the deepest benches in the league.

Of course in a league where more than half of the 30 teams make the postseason, this year’s playoff field feels especially weak. Even 50 win teams, and there are not that many of them, feel like cannon fodder to top half of the league.

As the number one seed out west, the Warriors will likely face some combination of the Grizzlies, the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets, who sit just a game out of the eight spot in the west. All four clubs have talented rosters, and do certain things very well, but are quite flawed. Dallas is missing two starters in point guard Deron Williams and small forward Chandler Parsons and run one of the slowest-paced offenses in the association. Injuries have slowed the Grizzlies down as well, and only average 99.2 points per game, and their defense is not as good as it has been in years past. The upstart Jazz and the surprising Portland Trailblazers appear to be long shots to get to the finals as well.

Even teams that most fans would consider to be contenders may be too flawed to last with the Warriors in a seven game series. The Oklahoma City Thunder are only 13th in opponents points per game, 17th in points allowed per 100 possessions and appear to have few offensive options beyond superstars Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook. The Los Angeles Clippers have a very talented starting lineup, led by point guard Chris Paul and the returning Blake Griffin, but lack the bench depth of the Warriors.

That’s not even including the Eastern Conference, which seems to be seven teams serving as cannon fodder for LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Whoever represents the East in the finals will likely be easy pickings for the Warriors or someone else.

Could that someone else be the number two seed in the west, the Spurs? Led by emerging superstar Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs finished a close second to the Warriors in overall, and three point field goal percentage. The Spurs finished with the lowest points allowed per game, and have shown to have enough capable bench players to hang with the Warriors. However, even the Spurs have struggled against the Warriors, losing the season series 3–1, with two of the losses being by at least 10 points.

There are only a few compelling teams in this year’s playoff field, but nothing is preordained. The Warriors could be upset by one of the teams mentioned, or one of the ones not, like the 50 win Toronto Raptors or the Boston Celtics, who run just as fast a pace as the Warriors. Until then, seeing is believing.

The post Will anyone beat the Warriors? appeared first on The Retriever.