Thursday, January 3, 2008

Big Ten has Opened


A few thoughts from the games I saw last night, and my take on this whole Okposo situation.

- Northwestern is brutally bad. I mean, I knew they were bad when I had to watch them play DePaul at Dumpster Arena, but it seems they're getting worse. The got Kevin Coble back, but Coble would have to be Jimmy Chitwood to make this team anything other than last place.

- Michigan looks like it's trying to run John Beilien's system. WVU always used to shoot a lot of threes, make a lot of threes, and get out-rebounded. They got two of the three against Wisconsin, shooting 18 threes and getting out-rebounded 32-24. Too bad they only made 5 of the 18. Seemed like everytime I switched to the game I saw them clank one off.

- Another thing I somehow missed by switching back and forth was Minnesota boy Jon Leuer scored 25 points, hitting five threes. I didn't even know that tall dopey SOB could shoot threes. His previous career high was 12, so this was a pretty good day for him.

- Iowa is going to be bad this year, and has been bad, but they can still be tough. The gave Indiana a pretty tough night last night, before the Hoosiers finally took the lead for good mid-second half. They weren't ready to go quietly though. If you don't have Big Ten Network, first Ha Ha I do because I'm better than you, and second, you missed a hell of a shooting exhibition by Justin Johnson. He hit six threes in the final two minutes, including one from about 30 feet and one from just inside half court.

- Tulane might end up being a sneaky team in C-USA. After beating LSU last night, that makes them 3-0 against the SEC. Sure, it's Auburn, LSU, and Georgia, but still. Plus, they have a dude named Daniel Puckett, and he's white. So that's something.

- So the whole Okposo bit. My impression, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that he left because the Islanders guy told him he wasn't being developed properly, and the whole discussion on this is if it is a coach's job to prepare his kids for the pros or to win games.

The clear answer is kind of both, but winning takes a HUGE priority here. It's not the coaches job to one or two kids and prepare them for a pro career and neglect the rest of the team. That's just asinine. His job is to win, and with this winning and practicing you would think any decent player would develop his skills within that system. I don't understand how this is even up for discussion. It's ludicrous.

The Gopher basketball team brought in Kris Humphries, and basically told him "Do whatever you want so you get drafted." Well it was clear what kind of a disaster that was. Is this what was supposed to happen with Okposo too? Give me a break. If Okposo was bad enough that he couldn't "develop his skills" on a normal team with a coach who understands he's there to win, he should have gone to whatever team is the equivalent of where the Gophers were under Monson. Let's say Alaska. I think they have a team.

Okposo is a joke for leaving and expecting special treatment. Snow is a joke for expecting special treatment. Lucia (is he the coach still?) is in the right here. If you think differently, you don't understand sports and should probably go read a blog on quilting or knitting.

UCONN -3 @ Seton Hall (W)
Notre Dame -2 vs. WVU (W)
Villanova -4 @ DePaul (L)
Illinois -4.5 vs. Ohio St (L)
East Wash +1 vs. Northern Arizona
UCLA -3 @ Stanford
Cal -1 vs. USC
North Texas -1.5 @ Troy St (L)

Yesterday: 7-8
Season: 177-151

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

W - Welcome to the Okposo party, too bad you're 3 weeks late. I guess you were too busy during the holiday season playing/writing about Beer Pong and watching Superbad for the 20th time.

To compare Okposo's situation to that of Humphries is ludicrous. Is it possible for Luica's system to be flawed, and that that is the problem? Just because he won 2 championships does not make him a savior. This is Minnesota, you should win one every 10 years by default. Congrats he's +1. Don't mistake him for brilliant because Woog was so incompetent.

Anonymous said...

Blaise, is it possible you have become more of a Duesch then when you coached. Shut up already, nobody needs/wants to hear about how you think the Gopher program sucks and how it is infererior to the Tug Boat that is UND. Just continue to recruit 5-8 guys that will always stay for 4 years and you too will win by default, which by the way might be the dumbest thing ever, nobody wins Championships by default. Maybe in the BCS but you still have to win the games...Loser

God, I hate ND, please send some plague type virus or locust or whatever us there to stiffle this lunacy. thanks

WWWWWW said...

I wasn't going to even comment on it, because hockey is for losers, but it seems to come up every so often in conversation, so I figured I'd throw my own opinion out there.

It's not good if Lucia's system is flawed, but he's the coach and it's his system. He should coach it. F Okposo if he can't handle it.

Will Avery left Duke's system early too. How'd that work out?

Anonymous said...

speaking of UND, i just saw that the UND guy that everyone loves got arrested the other night. probably taking advantage of some chick while she was passed out.

Anonymous said...

Hockey is for athletes that are too intelligent and athletically gifted to play a sport that takes no real coordination, athleticism or intellect at all, like basketball. WWWW you play basketball right? The state rests…

PS-It keeps coming up in conversation because it matters.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line is that college hockey isn't an NHL training camp. They are 2 entirely seperate entities. College hockey coaches should not cater to lil bitch GM's that don't feel their players are being developed.

If they (Gm's) feel that stongly about the matter then the league should change their draft where once a player is drafted they either have to accept the draft or stay in college. If the player opts to stay in college then that team loses all rights. You can't have your cake and eat it to. If they draft them and let the kids play in college as long as they want then they better accept whatever system is in place.

If I was Lucia I would have flown out to New York and kicked 8 different kinds of shit out of that career back up goal tender.

Eat it D.Blaise

Anonymous said...

Snakes- Here is the article on sexy TJ Oshie. Sounds like it could have been a sausage party instead of your typical UND roufies party.

Oshie suspended for one game

By Brad Schlossman
Grand Forks Herald - 01/02/2008
UND forward T.J. Oshie has been suspended for one game following an arrest early Sunday morning.

According to a Grand Forks police report, Oshie was arrested for disorderly conduct at 2:28 a.m. Sunday at 100 N. 3rd Street in Grand Forks.

New Hampshire senior forward Mike Radja also was arrested for the same offense at the same address. Radja, 22, had five points in New Hampshire's 7-4 win over UND on Saturday night.

UND announced the suspension Wednesday afternoon, saying that Oshie, 21, would miss Friday's game against St. Cloud State for violating team rules. No further details were given in the release.

Oshie, a junior from Warroad, Minn., is the team's leading scorer nine goals and seven assists for 16 points in 17 games.

He also was arrested last January for being a minor in a bar. Oshie entered a guilty plea on that charge and was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay about $225 in fines and fees.

WWWWWW said...

"I hate Garth Snow" nailed it. I've always thought the whole keeping kids in college even after you've drafted them thing was pretty retarded, but since hockey is for losers, I didn't give it much thought.

Turns out, it's even more retarded than I thought.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many drunken disorderlies the todd has gotten in his day? He is a kid on top of the world having some fun. I dont think he needs some 30 something losers giving him shit.

Get a life fags

Anonymous said...

IhGS - You are stupid, seriously!

You're right, the NCAA and NHL are 2 separate entities and it isn't a college coach's job to "cater to lil bitch GM's." All I have ever said from Day 1 is that college coaches will continue to lose their players to the NHL if teams feel that their players aren't being developed properly. It can't be much more black and white than that. If you infer anything other than that, you are retarded.

Don't bitch to me about the rules of the draft or a player's draft rights, I don't care. Think about it though, why would an NHL team want to change the setup that they have built for themselves. A player that is developing properly in college is perfect for an NHL team, the team gets their player developed at no cost, they don't have to pay them a salary or a huge bonus. In addition, this leaves a spots open on their minor league rosters, giving them a more chances to develop players for their NHL team. Why would an NHL club want to change this? The only people who would be in favor of your idea are the NCAA, and then college hockey would suffer for it because they wouldn't have their marquee players anymore. So in actuality your idea is not only stupid, it is pointless as well. Nobody would benefit from it.

Get a clue, honestly!

P.S. That career backup goalie played 388 games in the NHL, which is 388 more than the coach of your precious and beloved Gophers.

Anonymous said...

D.Blaise- I don't remember College Hockey shutting down for a year and half.

Thanks for your delusional insight into one of many things that you obviously know nothing about.

Anonymous said...

Hey Blaise, I doubt anyone is complaining that much or can't get around the way players are drafted in the NHL, the bad part of this whole story is the timing and the classless way that Snow handled it. If the system Lucia has is flawed for what he needs out of his player then fine take him out. DURING THE OFF SEASON!

WWW get a clue, Hockey is not for losers. Also it seems to be the only thing that gets major banter going on your blog, start to embrace it. You may find that you like it.

WWWWWW said...

NEVER

Anonymous said...

Yah, stop giving me shit ass clowns.

My incompetent take on the whole situation is who the hell just up and leaves in the middle of the season? Bush League.

Also, can someone explain WTF "unsupervised probation" is? That is fricken sweet.

PS, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with taking advantage of passed out females. I do it all the time.

Anonymous said...

Unsupervised Probation- You dont have to check in with a P.O. But you cant get into trouble of ANY kind or you go straight to jail, directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars.

North Dakota doesnt care if people commit crimes. A DUI fine there is $225 and it costs $200 to get your license back. It is awesome!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey D.Blaise did something happen to your spell check?

Anonymous said...

Why?