Random Hoops Stuff

Just a few random observations from the handful of games I've been able to watch this season.

- It was kind of funny watching Indiana squeak out a 60-57 win against IUPUI and celebrate like they had just won an NCAA tournament game. I suppose it makes sense since they have pretty much nobody on that team who has ever played college basketball, and they don't really realize they are Indiana and should be destroying IUPUI. Well, at least in most years.

- Speaking of the Hoosiers, I think Verdell Jones is going to get beat out by Errek Suhr. Ok, not really Errek Suhr, but your basic Suhr-clone. Short, white, mediocre, full of spastic energy and little skill, but effective none-the-less in Daniel Moore. And he's even got a facemask because of a broken nose. Throw in that he's a hometown Indiana guy, and you know he's going to be the most beloved son of the Hoosier state, and rival Brian Cardinal levels of annoyance to everyone else in the Big Ten.

- Georgia is really, truly, brutally, awfully, bad. Like, record levels of bad for a BCS hoops team.

- Oh, I got so caught up in the Daniel Moore lovefest I forgot to mention that Verdell kind of looked like he didn't belong out there tonight. His numbers weren't god awful (18 min, 1-5 shooting for 2 pts, 3 assists and 1 TO) and he did have 18 points and 5 assists against Northwestern State in their opener - but still turned it over 3 times, shot 4-11, and scored 10 of his 18 from the line - so who knows what to make of him at this point.

- Remember when I mentioned Josh Akognon in this post? Well he scored 41 points against Hawaii. The bad news is that despite being one of the best shooters in the country, right now he's just 8-24 from three and 17-44 from the field, so he's definitely struggling (the 41 points were more a product of volume, not effectiveness - true Michael Jordan style). I haven't been able to watch him this year, so I don't know if it's defenses really clamping down or just bad shooting. Be sure to stay tuned, as I'm sure you're riveted.

- Every player on the Badgers is gay.

- Tubby one-time Targets Krys Faber and Josh Crittle are playing a little for their new teams. Faber played five minutes in DePaul's only game this year, missing both field goals attempts and two free throws. Crittle has been more meaningful for the Ducks, averaging 17 minutes, 4 points and 6 rebounds in their 2 games, including a loss against Oakland. Yes, a loss against Oakland.

- Eric Devendorf absolutely looks like a player who missed all of last season right now. He should be fine though, and so should that team. Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris are so fun to watch, and their bigman, Arinze Onuaku is a beast.

- Ty Lawson still can't shoot for crap, but he doesn't have to. That team is absolutely loaded, and Deon Thompson has stepped in for injured mouth breather and worst nickname ever owner Tyler Hansbrough without missing a beat. They should probably be 1-1 to win the championship.

- An interesting little subplot with Davidson's season was that with last year's national assist leader Jason Richards gone, Stephen Curry would handle most of the point guard play in order to not only help the team, but to boost his NBA stock as well. It worked out well enough in the first two games, as Curry notched 10 and 9 assists against a couple of very bad teams. Last night against #12 Oklahoma, in Davidson's first real test, things reverted in a big way, and Curry went back to the off guard and the bomber role for most of the game. He brought the ball up most of the time like a point guard would, but then passed it off to Brendon McKillop to initiate the offense most of the time. Curry ended up scoring a career high 44 points, but it took 12-29 shooting to do so, and the Wildcats couldn't quite get it done falling to the Sooners 82-78. Also Blake Griffin is much better than I thought.

- With the Gophers signing class for 2009 in the fold, a couple of one-time targets have joined other schools with Kadeem Batts going to Providence and Terrence Shannon to Florida State. Johnny Lacy, Erik Bledsoe, and Darius Smith still have yet to sign.

- Sadly, I think I might have passed Saved by the Bell by. I have always loved the show, but I watched a few episodes again the other day and it was kind of painful. Kind of what everyone else thinks, while I always defended the show and enjoyed watching it. I might be too old now. Sad day. At least I'll always have my autographed photo of Zack and Kelly that Mrs. W stole from her brother (Dr Acula) to give to me.