I suppose I saw this coming as a loss, which is why I bet Ok State -3, which is why Nate Mason's late lay-up instead of some desperate three clanging off the rim was a double killer. You either want the Gophers to win, or to win your bet. When neither happen it just sucks. Like the team this year. Anyway, here are 10 things I liked and didn't like (disclaimer: may not get to 10 because meh).
1. The defense was much better for most of the game. There were lapses of course, but in general the defense seemed much better both from an effort and a scheme stand point. The Gophers extended their zone out, way out, compared to usual in order to kind of take away the easy three pointer, and at the same time whoever was the anchor, Bakary Konate or whoever, laid back near the rim to discourage lay-ups. This forced the Cowboys into taking a lot of long twos, which is what you want. Considering Ok State shot a worse percentage from both 3 and 2 than the Gophers are allowing on the season I'd say it was a success. I want to see this exact defense in every game forever.
2. Kind of related to the effort and scheming on defense, the offense was much more active. It's like Pitino went into the lab on both offense and defense to change things up, and even though the Gophers shot like poop you could at least see more offense going on. Lots of off the ball screening, many times with a wing zooming from one side of the court all the way to the other, and far less reliance on pick and rolls. This helped facilitate a lot more ball movement than we've seen lately and will only make the team better in the long run. Of course, it's not all ball movement because Morris.
3. I don't see any reason to play Carlos Morris more than a token amount of minutes going forward. You can't just bench the guy because it's kind of a dick move to do that to a senior, but he doesn't fit the ball movement offense and just does some really dumb things. The passing up an open three to pump fake, then starting at the defender, and then shooting now that it's contested. The offensive rebound followed by fall away jumper that has no prayer of going in. Taking the ball at the rim in a one-on-four situation. And the ball stopping. Always the ball stopping. Last year, at least, you could point to his defense and high steal rate, but for whatever reason his steals are cut in half this year and he's just not adding anything of value. On a team that is going nowhere this year, there's no need to play a guy who isn't part of the future if he doesn't help you. Joey King at least gives you some shooting, even if that's about it.
4. Keep an eye on this Jordan Murphy character. His stats, obviously, are eye popping as he put up another double double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, his third in his last four games. His offensive rebounding is already elite with his quick jump ability and smarts (top 50ish) and his defensive rebounding is great too, mostly based on good positioning. His offensive game is decent as well, and if he can hit that open three-pointer to keep defenses honest it's going to open up so much more for him - and we're off to a good start there at 3-8 and they look good coming off his hand. His intelligence is what really sets him apart for me though. He and Mason ran a pick and roll, but the defender hedged so hard over the top the pick didn't really happen, so Murphy just flipped around and Mason came right back the other way. It was a smart, smart play. It resulted in a missed shot of course, but the Murphy/Mason pick and rolls should end up a staple of this team for the next few years.
5. Speaking of pick and rolls, I loved this one particular play. Pitino must have worked this one out in the lab because I can't recall seeing it before, but it should be used a minimum of once a half going forward. Mason has the ball, and Murphy and King set a double pick for him on the wing. Once he clears the pick, Murphy rolls to the hoop and King pops right out to the wing. It's brilliant. It gives Mason three immediate options - drive, hit Murphy diving to the hoop, or swing it back to King for an open three. Meanwhile the other two players are in the corners to clear spacing and give Mason the option of a kick out if their defenders collapse or jump to cover King. Really cool play.
6. Speaking of Mason, man this kid is good. He is just so under control at all times. He can drive and score, dish, or pull up and hit a jumper, and he can hit the open three (his shooting will come on despite a slow start). He took over running the offense this year and although the offense has been iffy at best, that's not his fault. Then there was a play that didn't work but just showed his court sense and vision. The Gophers got a rebound and outlet passed it to him, and Morris had broken down court (because OFFENSE OFFENSE OFFENSE is what is in his brain) and without even taking a dribble Mason turned and fired it all the way down court. The Ok State defender got a hand on it and knocked it out of bounds, but if he doesn't Morris catches it and dunks without having to dribble. Would have been a thing of beauty. Mason is a fun watch.
7. Where was Charles Buggs? After playing at least 23 minutes and starting in the first 8 games this season (I think), Buggs played zero minutes against Oklahoma State after getting just 8 in the South Dakota State game. According to Pitino it had nothing to do with discipline or injury, and he simply played the players he though would help him win the game, which included walk-on freshman Stephon Sharp getting 3 minutes (after having had 1 whole minute this season) and little used freshman Ahmad Gilbert 2 minutes (he had 27 coming into the game). I don't think Buggs is some big game changer, but he's been an extremely efficient scorer this year and has improved on defense considerably from last season. Considering he'll presumably be around next season, this is a surprising development. I'd bench Morris way before Buggs. Also, full disclosure, I didn't even realize Buggs wasn't playing until someone mentioned it on twitter, so....
8. Dupree McBrayer took Buggs's spot in the starting lineup, and I think I like him. He needs a lot of polish, and I mean a lot, but there's things here I like. He does a good job as a secondary ball handler, and even it that role he's actually second on the team in assist rate (behind Mason). He also leads the team in fouls drawn and free throw rate because he already has a good ability to attack the rim and very smooth and in control when he does it. Against Ok State there was a play where he drove and the dude set up for a charge and he was able to just slide himself enough to the side to turn it into a block. Very good play. Yes, he's had some lapses on both sides of the ball, is too left-hand dependent, and hasn't been able to shoot a lick this year, but I'm ok with that. As a freshman I've seen enough that I'm confident he'll be a solid player down the line.
9. Kevin Dorsey too. Yeah him too. I'm liking how this class is shaping up for the most part. Dorsey is more polished than McBrayer, which is why I'm more concerned with his shitty shooting than Brayer's shittier shooting since I think if he could hit a jumper we would have seen it by now, but he's a bull getting to the rim. He's already a master of using his body to draw fouls and is third on the team in FT rate (behind McBrayer and Murphy). Considering he hits around 80% of his foul shots that's a solid strategy (and gives me hope his jumper will come around).
10. Next up, Chicago State. Considering the Cougars are one of the worst teams in the entire country (#339 per kenpom) this needs to be a blowout. They do nothing at all well. They do however, hoist a ton of three pointers. They don't make them, but knowing this Gopher team that's always a bit of a concern. Their only three wins this season were against non-D1 opponents, and they lost to DePaul by 24, Iowa State by 42, and Northwestern by 42. They are a terrible team. Please let this not be close.
Gophers 88, Chicago State 66.
Showing posts with label Charles Buggs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Buggs. Show all posts
Monday, December 14, 2015
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Gophers finished third in NIT Tip-Off! (out of 4).
First they were in total charge of the St. John's game, until they weren't, and ended up losing. Then they were in total charge of the Georgia game, until they weren't, but ended up winning. Overall the event did more to make me pessimistic about the rest of the season than optimistic, but that doesn't mean there weren't some positives. Up front I will tell you I watched the St. John's game at the bar which is a much less conducive environment to trying to make semi-interesting or fairly entertaining observations, so much of this will refer more to the Georgia game. It's doubtful it's semi-interesting or fairly entertaining anyway, as per usual. Anyway, here's ten things.
1. Free throws are killing me. I'm talking both sides of the ball here. After FT shooting nights of 9-16 against St. John's and 12-23 versus Georgia, the Gophers are now shooting a robust 55.2% for the season. That 55.2% ranks 343rd in the entire NCAA. There are 351 teams in Division I. UNLV is the only other major conference team anywhere near the Gophers in terms of being that horrible at free throws which, in case you'rs unsure, are completely unguarded shots by rule. There's more. The Gophers rank 318th in opponents FT attempts per FG attempt, which means they are constantly putting their opponents at the free throw line where they get to shoot without any defense. Usually this kind of profile belongs to an undersized, undermanned team and all the teams near the Gophers here are small schools or crappy teams like Oregon State and Boston College. The Gophers are giving up a ridiculous amount of free points while failing to take advantage of the same. Opponents are scoring 27% of their points at the line (rank #309), while the Gophers score 17% of their points from there (290th). This is a really good way to lose a lot of games you probably shouldn't, and is a major, major red flag. I'm pretty scared. Keep an eye on this one.
2. Nate Mason continues to impress. He led the team in scoring against the Red Storm with 15 and though he struggled shooting against Georgia he chipped in with 3 assists and 3 rebounds and has clearly emerged as the top player off the bench. Much of what he does is obvious when you watch him, but I want to point out something that might not stand out - he's an incredible rebounder. He's averaging 4.3 per game, and considering he's not playing starter's minutes it's even more impressive. His defensive rebounding rate is 20.8%, meaning he grabs one out of every five missed shots on the defensive end when he's on the court. That number ranks 216th in the country and I don't mean just for guards, I mean for everyone, and he's a 6-1 guard. He's probably going to average a triple double his senior year, if he's not already in the NBA.
3. Richard Pitino's beloved pressure defense is working. Mostly, at least, as the Gophers rank 31st in the country in defensive efficiency, giving up just .92 points per possession. They're mainly winning by causing turnovers, ranking 10th in the country and turning over their opponents 27.1% of the time, a ridiculous number that's just behind Rick Pitino and Louisville's 27.5%. The Gophers are also playing at the pace of 70.2 possessions per game (52nd in the country) which is identical to Louisville, so I think it's safe to say the system is pretty much in place. How well it ends up working against B10 competition is up in the air as it can lead to easy shots by the opponent as the Gophers rank just 127th in opponents' two point FG percentage, but as long as the turnovers keep coming you can handle a little trade off there. Georgia certainly did their part by giving the ball away 18 times, as did St. John's on Wednesday. It's a fun brand of basketball, and even more fun when they win.
4. Another thing that is fun so far is how well the Gophers are passing the basketball. With one glaring, notable exception (see below) the Gophers are moving the ball really well and it's fun to watch. Dre Mathieu is one of the best in the country at getting into the lane because he's so quick, and he's been exceptional this year at hitting open teammates when he does. Mason has mostly been a pass first kind of guy this year, Dre Hollins is an excellent passer when he wants to be, and both Joey King and Mo Walker are above average passers for big men. This has led to the Gophers registering an assist on 64.5% of their baskets this year, a number that ranks 21st in the nation and (somehow) 4th in the Big Ten behind Iowa, Purdue (?), and Michigan State. Of course, there's someone who is trying to destroy all that fun.
5. Pitino has got to reign in Carlos Morris. Last year writing about DeAndre Matheiu I said I like my guards a little bit out of control, and I do, but Morris is not a little bit out of control he's just straight up damaging when he's on the court. Poor defensive rotations, ball stopping, and bad shots are three of the most harmful things you can bring to a team and he's an expert at all three. His only good game this year was against Franklin Pierce, he's taking one shot attempt per point this year, and has as many turnovers as assists. It hasn't been good, though I'm not ready to give up because he has serious athletic potential, it just needs to be harnessed. There was one possession in the Georgia game where the team was moving the ball around the perimeter pretty well until it got to Morris at the top of the key. His defender was playing off him just enough to dare him shoot so Morris did, but not before holding the ball and just staring at the defensive dude for like 3 seconds, no joke. Naturally the result of the shot was an airball. The whole thing was a perfect encapsulation of his season so far. Let's hope we can look back on this as growing pains by year's end, because Morris is going to get a ton of minutes, and the less damage he can do the better.
6. Charles Buggs could be a solid contributor. I don't think there have ever been any questions about his shooting and he's shooting well again this season (5-10 on threes), but for Buggs to really crack the rotation he needed to work on other things. With the McNeil situation he's going to get a lot more rope, and he's going to get time at the 3 spot which, to me, is more his natural fit if he can play defense. So far this year he's looked better defensively, though not a standout by any means but he's not getting lost nearly as often. He's rebounding a little bit better, and most importantly he's slashed his turnovers from a horrendous 27% to an outstanding 10%. He's even grabbed a couple of steals (literally two) and gone to the line a handful of times. Buggs was pretty clearly a long term project from the moment he stepped on campus, but he's looked considerably better this year to the point where he might be able to give them 10-15 minutes per game which is going to be badly needed now. What more could you ask for?
7. I actually really like Bob Knight as an announcer. Sure he gets stuck on certain ideas and won't let them go, such as shot fakes and not having Eliason or Walker set picks so far away from the basket, but I really like the coach's perspective he brings to being the color man. I know plenty of other announcers are former coaches, but they all seem to have at least shifted some towards "being entertaining" from "being informative" (with varying degrees of success) but Knight is still in coach/educator mode. He's always pointing out positioning on defense or rebounding or discussing plays more in depth than your average guy, and he does it in a deadpan voice that pretty much tells you he's not interested in being your trained monkey there for entertainment. I also like how he kept referring to Walker and Eliason as "the big kids." I don't know. I dig it.
8. Dre Hollins has turned into a turnover machine. And I don't like it one bit. Twelve turnovers in the two tournament games bring his season total to 18 against 19 assists. His assist rate is actually up this year compared to last after plummeting from his sophomore season, which is to be expected with Mathieu on board and taking up most of the point guard minutes, but his turnover rate has absolutely sky rocketed to 27%, worse even than his wild freshman year. The only players in the conference who play major minutes with a worse turnover rate are ball handlers new to the league (Lourawls Nairn (34%), freshman), Tai Webster (30%, his second year), Bishop Daniels (28%, juco transfer)) or big men with questionable handles (A.J. Hammons (28%), Mo Walker (29%), Ross Travis (28%)). I mean, that's a really crappy number. Take that turnover number and add in 41% shooting from the floor and that's an awful lot of wasted possessions. He's in chucker territory. Please stop doing that.
9. I finally made sriracha fried rice and it was awesome. I've had it at a couple of Thai places and it's like, the best thing ever, so I finally decided to give it a shot and I'm damn glad I did. It's one of the most delicious things ever. It's great too, because for the veggies you can just use whatever you have. One time I had green pepper so I used it, another time (yes I made it twice this weekend) we were out of pepper so I used about a quarter bag of frozen peas and it worked out just fine. Here's the recipe. You're welcome.
2 c. cooked rice (I just used minute rice)
2 celery stalks, chopped or slivered
1 carrot, peeled and chopped or slivered
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/4 bag frozen peas
1/4 t dried ginger (if you have fresh it's probably better, I didn't)
1 t toasted sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
2 T sriracha
1-2 garlic cloves
some green onions, chopped with the white and green separated
1. Heat a skillet or wok on medium high until hot, pour in some olive oil and garlic and saute for 30 seconds
2. add the veggies except the green part of the green onion and saute for about 3 minutes
3. add the rice and ginger and saute about 3 minutes, rice should start to change color a little
4. add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sriracha and mix until everything is combined
5. remove from heat and eat.
So good.
10. This Wake game is the last one that's going to matter for a while. I'm not really sure if Wake Forest is any good (tune in tomorrow) but it's the last threat to the Gophers for about a month, and the last game that will could potentially have any positive impact on the Gophers' future NCAA Tournament resume. The next six games after the Deacons are just brutal. The best teams according to kenpom are teams like Western Carolina, Seattle, and UNC-Wilmington who aren't even contenders in their own conferences and who rank in the mid-200s. The NCAA selection committee doesn't use kenpom at all (I don't think) but I'm pretty sure there's some sort of correlation when it comes to RPI and none of these clown shoes teams are going to help. One huge advantage Tubby's staff had over Pitino's is they had figured out how to make a schedule full of non-threatening games which still kept their SOS and RPI in good shape. i don't think this schedule is going to do that. Which means the Big 10 season is going to be even more important than in previous years, which terrifies me. Beat Wake.
1. Free throws are killing me. I'm talking both sides of the ball here. After FT shooting nights of 9-16 against St. John's and 12-23 versus Georgia, the Gophers are now shooting a robust 55.2% for the season. That 55.2% ranks 343rd in the entire NCAA. There are 351 teams in Division I. UNLV is the only other major conference team anywhere near the Gophers in terms of being that horrible at free throws which, in case you'rs unsure, are completely unguarded shots by rule. There's more. The Gophers rank 318th in opponents FT attempts per FG attempt, which means they are constantly putting their opponents at the free throw line where they get to shoot without any defense. Usually this kind of profile belongs to an undersized, undermanned team and all the teams near the Gophers here are small schools or crappy teams like Oregon State and Boston College. The Gophers are giving up a ridiculous amount of free points while failing to take advantage of the same. Opponents are scoring 27% of their points at the line (rank #309), while the Gophers score 17% of their points from there (290th). This is a really good way to lose a lot of games you probably shouldn't, and is a major, major red flag. I'm pretty scared. Keep an eye on this one.
2. Nate Mason continues to impress. He led the team in scoring against the Red Storm with 15 and though he struggled shooting against Georgia he chipped in with 3 assists and 3 rebounds and has clearly emerged as the top player off the bench. Much of what he does is obvious when you watch him, but I want to point out something that might not stand out - he's an incredible rebounder. He's averaging 4.3 per game, and considering he's not playing starter's minutes it's even more impressive. His defensive rebounding rate is 20.8%, meaning he grabs one out of every five missed shots on the defensive end when he's on the court. That number ranks 216th in the country and I don't mean just for guards, I mean for everyone, and he's a 6-1 guard. He's probably going to average a triple double his senior year, if he's not already in the NBA.
3. Richard Pitino's beloved pressure defense is working. Mostly, at least, as the Gophers rank 31st in the country in defensive efficiency, giving up just .92 points per possession. They're mainly winning by causing turnovers, ranking 10th in the country and turning over their opponents 27.1% of the time, a ridiculous number that's just behind Rick Pitino and Louisville's 27.5%. The Gophers are also playing at the pace of 70.2 possessions per game (52nd in the country) which is identical to Louisville, so I think it's safe to say the system is pretty much in place. How well it ends up working against B10 competition is up in the air as it can lead to easy shots by the opponent as the Gophers rank just 127th in opponents' two point FG percentage, but as long as the turnovers keep coming you can handle a little trade off there. Georgia certainly did their part by giving the ball away 18 times, as did St. John's on Wednesday. It's a fun brand of basketball, and even more fun when they win.
4. Another thing that is fun so far is how well the Gophers are passing the basketball. With one glaring, notable exception (see below) the Gophers are moving the ball really well and it's fun to watch. Dre Mathieu is one of the best in the country at getting into the lane because he's so quick, and he's been exceptional this year at hitting open teammates when he does. Mason has mostly been a pass first kind of guy this year, Dre Hollins is an excellent passer when he wants to be, and both Joey King and Mo Walker are above average passers for big men. This has led to the Gophers registering an assist on 64.5% of their baskets this year, a number that ranks 21st in the nation and (somehow) 4th in the Big Ten behind Iowa, Purdue (?), and Michigan State. Of course, there's someone who is trying to destroy all that fun.
5. Pitino has got to reign in Carlos Morris. Last year writing about DeAndre Matheiu I said I like my guards a little bit out of control, and I do, but Morris is not a little bit out of control he's just straight up damaging when he's on the court. Poor defensive rotations, ball stopping, and bad shots are three of the most harmful things you can bring to a team and he's an expert at all three. His only good game this year was against Franklin Pierce, he's taking one shot attempt per point this year, and has as many turnovers as assists. It hasn't been good, though I'm not ready to give up because he has serious athletic potential, it just needs to be harnessed. There was one possession in the Georgia game where the team was moving the ball around the perimeter pretty well until it got to Morris at the top of the key. His defender was playing off him just enough to dare him shoot so Morris did, but not before holding the ball and just staring at the defensive dude for like 3 seconds, no joke. Naturally the result of the shot was an airball. The whole thing was a perfect encapsulation of his season so far. Let's hope we can look back on this as growing pains by year's end, because Morris is going to get a ton of minutes, and the less damage he can do the better.
6. Charles Buggs could be a solid contributor. I don't think there have ever been any questions about his shooting and he's shooting well again this season (5-10 on threes), but for Buggs to really crack the rotation he needed to work on other things. With the McNeil situation he's going to get a lot more rope, and he's going to get time at the 3 spot which, to me, is more his natural fit if he can play defense. So far this year he's looked better defensively, though not a standout by any means but he's not getting lost nearly as often. He's rebounding a little bit better, and most importantly he's slashed his turnovers from a horrendous 27% to an outstanding 10%. He's even grabbed a couple of steals (literally two) and gone to the line a handful of times. Buggs was pretty clearly a long term project from the moment he stepped on campus, but he's looked considerably better this year to the point where he might be able to give them 10-15 minutes per game which is going to be badly needed now. What more could you ask for?
7. I actually really like Bob Knight as an announcer. Sure he gets stuck on certain ideas and won't let them go, such as shot fakes and not having Eliason or Walker set picks so far away from the basket, but I really like the coach's perspective he brings to being the color man. I know plenty of other announcers are former coaches, but they all seem to have at least shifted some towards "being entertaining" from "being informative" (with varying degrees of success) but Knight is still in coach/educator mode. He's always pointing out positioning on defense or rebounding or discussing plays more in depth than your average guy, and he does it in a deadpan voice that pretty much tells you he's not interested in being your trained monkey there for entertainment. I also like how he kept referring to Walker and Eliason as "the big kids." I don't know. I dig it.
8. Dre Hollins has turned into a turnover machine. And I don't like it one bit. Twelve turnovers in the two tournament games bring his season total to 18 against 19 assists. His assist rate is actually up this year compared to last after plummeting from his sophomore season, which is to be expected with Mathieu on board and taking up most of the point guard minutes, but his turnover rate has absolutely sky rocketed to 27%, worse even than his wild freshman year. The only players in the conference who play major minutes with a worse turnover rate are ball handlers new to the league (Lourawls Nairn (34%), freshman), Tai Webster (30%, his second year), Bishop Daniels (28%, juco transfer)) or big men with questionable handles (A.J. Hammons (28%), Mo Walker (29%), Ross Travis (28%)). I mean, that's a really crappy number. Take that turnover number and add in 41% shooting from the floor and that's an awful lot of wasted possessions. He's in chucker territory. Please stop doing that.
9. I finally made sriracha fried rice and it was awesome. I've had it at a couple of Thai places and it's like, the best thing ever, so I finally decided to give it a shot and I'm damn glad I did. It's one of the most delicious things ever. It's great too, because for the veggies you can just use whatever you have. One time I had green pepper so I used it, another time (yes I made it twice this weekend) we were out of pepper so I used about a quarter bag of frozen peas and it worked out just fine. Here's the recipe. You're welcome.
2 c. cooked rice (I just used minute rice)
2 celery stalks, chopped or slivered
1 carrot, peeled and chopped or slivered
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/4 bag frozen peas
1/4 t dried ginger (if you have fresh it's probably better, I didn't)
1 t toasted sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
2 T sriracha
1-2 garlic cloves
some green onions, chopped with the white and green separated
1. Heat a skillet or wok on medium high until hot, pour in some olive oil and garlic and saute for 30 seconds
2. add the veggies except the green part of the green onion and saute for about 3 minutes
3. add the rice and ginger and saute about 3 minutes, rice should start to change color a little
4. add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sriracha and mix until everything is combined
5. remove from heat and eat.
So good.
10. This Wake game is the last one that's going to matter for a while. I'm not really sure if Wake Forest is any good (tune in tomorrow) but it's the last threat to the Gophers for about a month, and the last game that will could potentially have any positive impact on the Gophers' future NCAA Tournament resume. The next six games after the Deacons are just brutal. The best teams according to kenpom are teams like Western Carolina, Seattle, and UNC-Wilmington who aren't even contenders in their own conferences and who rank in the mid-200s. The NCAA selection committee doesn't use kenpom at all (I don't think) but I'm pretty sure there's some sort of correlation when it comes to RPI and none of these clown shoes teams are going to help. One huge advantage Tubby's staff had over Pitino's is they had figured out how to make a schedule full of non-threatening games which still kept their SOS and RPI in good shape. i don't think this schedule is going to do that. Which means the Big 10 season is going to be even more important than in previous years, which terrifies me. Beat Wake.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
There's a New Mexico now?
This was a long day. I flew to New Mexico today, which included a 4-hour layover in Denver. I finally get to my room, and see the Gophers are actually leading at halftime and have scored 50 points, which was weird. Then I look and see Charles Buggs had 11 of them. Even weirder. I tried to watch some of the game on the btn2go thing but the internet here sucks. Then I had tickets to the New Mexico/Utah State game at The Pit and we had to leave, and since the Pit is underground there's no cell service really and last I saw the Gophers were up 6 with 2:30 or so left, a perfect place to blow a game. Not until after we left did I get to find out they actually won. Shocker.
Thoughts on the game, looking only at the box score since I barely saw any of it:
- Obviously the Buggs thing is like WTF. More important than the 13 points is he didn't turn it over. This Buggs thing is something I'm going to have to go back and watch the first half. I also see Oto didn't see the floor, and I have no clue if this was expected or an injury or if he was just straight benched (twitter tells me it was a knee injury), but it sounds like Buggs looked great so that's pretty odd but excellent news.
- Obviously it's great to see the much maligned Austin Hollins have a breakout game (and not just because he's on my Big 10 Fantasy team and we're in the playoffs). 8-10 from the floor overall and 4-6 from three are great, and maybe even better was the 7-7 from the line. The offense must have been clicking like crazy looking at their shooting numbers of 61%/58%/83%. The 1.32 points per possession have to be a season high for this team, and with assists on 63% of their made buckets it must have looked awfully good. Bummed to have missed it.
- The defense, of course, was brutal again, allowing 1.24 points per possession. Iowa is at 1.21 for the season, so even playing a great offense like the Hawkeyes the Gophers still managed to make them look better than normal. Turnovers were ugly again as well at 19.4% of possessions, but you know what? In the end, it only really matters if you outscore your opponent, and the Gophers did, so I'm happy. I haven't stopped to think what this means for their NCAA hopes, but it most certainly is a nice boost.
- So anyway I got to see The Pit today and it was awesome. It goes straight down from street level to where the playing surface is actually way underground, thus the nickname. It's about as loud as I've ever heard any place. The Barn can certainly get there at its peak, but the New Mexico fans are just loud the entire game. If things are going well, they're loud. If things are going poorly, they're louder. The only place I can remember watching a game that kept that constant level of noise was Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum and that was back when I went when they were playing #1 Kansas, this was just against Utah State. The seats are really packed low to the ground and it has a really low ceiling so it just amplifies the noise. The other noticeable thing was everybody, I mean everybdoy, was in Lobo gear. Every old person, every kid, and I think every little girl was in a Lobo cheerleader outfit. It was pretty neat. The only place I remember seeing it like that was when I went to a game at Utah State. Really, really cool place to see a game and I'm glad I got to go in my lifetime.
- As for the team, New Mexico won by 9 and I was impressed by them. They won 67-58 despite shooting just 11-21 from the free throw line and they're going to be tough in March. They have this inside combo of Cameron Bairstow (6-9, 250 lbs) and Alex Kirk (7-0, 245 lbs) who just dominate their offense. Both can step out and hit a mid-range jumper and both are really good passers from the high post and they just play really well together. They are also both exceptionally good at screening off their man when a guard drives. Like if they're being fronted in the post and a guard drives baseline they'll just box their man out to give the guard an easy lay-up. Really underrated skill. Oh, and they also have Kendall Williams who averages 17pts and 5 assists per game, plus a bunch of shooters to surround those guys with. They can't defend the three for shit and Preston Medlin went 4-5 tonight because those bigs don't come out far enough on a pick and roll, but I'm a Lobo fan. Probably because it was so fun and they actually aren't very good but whatevs.
- So yeah I had a four hour layover at the Denver airport today. You know what they have in Denver? A shit load of really great beer. My favorites were the Upslope Brown Ale and the Oskar Blues Imperial Red, but really they were all good. They were also really strong, so yada yada yada, I slept the entire flight into Albuquerque.
- There was this one lady having lunch with her friend and they were sitting next to me at the airport bar and I couldn't help but notice how much I wanted to murder her. First she wanted to order one of their fancy cocktails, but didn't want any alcohol. So the server said they could use coke or something and she turned that down and then something else and she turned that down until finally they agreed on Sprite. Then she wanted a small. They only come in one size, but she haggled and begged and harassed until she got a smaller one. Then she ordered the veggie burger with nothing on it and wanted a plain bun instead of a pretzel bun, which she asked her friend, "what's a pretzel bun." Everything about her enraged me. Then when she got up to leave, of course she had brought a pillow for the plane. Oof. Good luck with all that some guy probably.
- Shabazz Muhammad had 20 points tonight? I told you dorks he was awesome.
- Since the hotel is so close to the University of New Mexico they had a free shuttle to go to the game. The guy started talking basketball with me and mentioned how The Mountain West had the son of the first NBA dunk contest winner. I said, "Yeah Larry Nance right?" And he said "yes" and then I said, "he just blew out his knee didn't he" and the guy was like "wow you much really watch a lot of college basketball" and I was both embarrassed and proud. But it made him like me so on the way back from the game I was able to get him to stop at a store for me so I could grab a six pack (went with Bud Light Platinum - don't judge me I've had a lot of heavy beer today and don't have a bottle opener - not all that bad, actually) so that was cool. Pretty sure they aren't supposed to do that or at least that's what I'm telling myself so I feel cool.
- Dinner tonight sucked. We got back to the hotel so late and it was such a long day I just went with room service. Decided to go with the New York strip encrusted with red chile since that's supposed to be a New Mexico specialty, and also because their best known for their Mexican and I'm pretty sure we'll be eating a lot of that the next two days and I don't want to overload because of my tum tum. Anyway it was horrible. Fatty steak, over cooked, and the chile sauce was pretty tasteless with very little spice. The herbed fingerling potatoes were mushy and I think the only herb they used was butter, and the spinach was just blech. I know I shouldn't expect much at a hotel, but I didn't expect total crap. Looking forward to crushing some good meals the next two days - you know I'll tell you about it.
- One thing that never ceases to baffle me is how guys who were terrible shooters/scorers in college can suddenly thrive in the NBA. Kendall Marshall is averaging 10.1ppg this year for the Lakers and shooting 47% from three. He never broke 9ppg or 40% shooting in his two years at North Carolina. It's not like he's been around forever either, it's just his second year in the NBA. Michael Carter-Williams is averaging 17ppg for the Sixers this year, and he was a terrible scorer for Syracuse. I guess he's actually a terrible shooter still as his percentages still suck, but it's just weird to see him scoring that much. I just saw Kendall Marshall on ESPN doing a fancy swoopy woopy lay-up thing and there's no way he could have pulled that off at UNC and that's why I wrote this part. Thank you for asking.
- I really need some sort of locking device on my computer that keeps me from playing online craps. Anyway, I'm pretty wiped out from the long day so I'm done here now. Hopefully I get really drunk at least once in the next two days and write some stupid crap.
Thoughts on the game, looking only at the box score since I barely saw any of it:
- Obviously the Buggs thing is like WTF. More important than the 13 points is he didn't turn it over. This Buggs thing is something I'm going to have to go back and watch the first half. I also see Oto didn't see the floor, and I have no clue if this was expected or an injury or if he was just straight benched (twitter tells me it was a knee injury), but it sounds like Buggs looked great so that's pretty odd but excellent news.
- Obviously it's great to see the much maligned Austin Hollins have a breakout game (and not just because he's on my Big 10 Fantasy team and we're in the playoffs). 8-10 from the floor overall and 4-6 from three are great, and maybe even better was the 7-7 from the line. The offense must have been clicking like crazy looking at their shooting numbers of 61%/58%/83%. The 1.32 points per possession have to be a season high for this team, and with assists on 63% of their made buckets it must have looked awfully good. Bummed to have missed it.
- The defense, of course, was brutal again, allowing 1.24 points per possession. Iowa is at 1.21 for the season, so even playing a great offense like the Hawkeyes the Gophers still managed to make them look better than normal. Turnovers were ugly again as well at 19.4% of possessions, but you know what? In the end, it only really matters if you outscore your opponent, and the Gophers did, so I'm happy. I haven't stopped to think what this means for their NCAA hopes, but it most certainly is a nice boost.
- So anyway I got to see The Pit today and it was awesome. It goes straight down from street level to where the playing surface is actually way underground, thus the nickname. It's about as loud as I've ever heard any place. The Barn can certainly get there at its peak, but the New Mexico fans are just loud the entire game. If things are going well, they're loud. If things are going poorly, they're louder. The only place I can remember watching a game that kept that constant level of noise was Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum and that was back when I went when they were playing #1 Kansas, this was just against Utah State. The seats are really packed low to the ground and it has a really low ceiling so it just amplifies the noise. The other noticeable thing was everybody, I mean everybdoy, was in Lobo gear. Every old person, every kid, and I think every little girl was in a Lobo cheerleader outfit. It was pretty neat. The only place I remember seeing it like that was when I went to a game at Utah State. Really, really cool place to see a game and I'm glad I got to go in my lifetime.
- As for the team, New Mexico won by 9 and I was impressed by them. They won 67-58 despite shooting just 11-21 from the free throw line and they're going to be tough in March. They have this inside combo of Cameron Bairstow (6-9, 250 lbs) and Alex Kirk (7-0, 245 lbs) who just dominate their offense. Both can step out and hit a mid-range jumper and both are really good passers from the high post and they just play really well together. They are also both exceptionally good at screening off their man when a guard drives. Like if they're being fronted in the post and a guard drives baseline they'll just box their man out to give the guard an easy lay-up. Really underrated skill. Oh, and they also have Kendall Williams who averages 17pts and 5 assists per game, plus a bunch of shooters to surround those guys with. They can't defend the three for shit and Preston Medlin went 4-5 tonight because those bigs don't come out far enough on a pick and roll, but I'm a Lobo fan. Probably because it was so fun and they actually aren't very good but whatevs.
- So yeah I had a four hour layover at the Denver airport today. You know what they have in Denver? A shit load of really great beer. My favorites were the Upslope Brown Ale and the Oskar Blues Imperial Red, but really they were all good. They were also really strong, so yada yada yada, I slept the entire flight into Albuquerque.
- There was this one lady having lunch with her friend and they were sitting next to me at the airport bar and I couldn't help but notice how much I wanted to murder her. First she wanted to order one of their fancy cocktails, but didn't want any alcohol. So the server said they could use coke or something and she turned that down and then something else and she turned that down until finally they agreed on Sprite. Then she wanted a small. They only come in one size, but she haggled and begged and harassed until she got a smaller one. Then she ordered the veggie burger with nothing on it and wanted a plain bun instead of a pretzel bun, which she asked her friend, "what's a pretzel bun." Everything about her enraged me. Then when she got up to leave, of course she had brought a pillow for the plane. Oof. Good luck with all that some guy probably.
- Shabazz Muhammad had 20 points tonight? I told you dorks he was awesome.
- Since the hotel is so close to the University of New Mexico they had a free shuttle to go to the game. The guy started talking basketball with me and mentioned how The Mountain West had the son of the first NBA dunk contest winner. I said, "Yeah Larry Nance right?" And he said "yes" and then I said, "he just blew out his knee didn't he" and the guy was like "wow you much really watch a lot of college basketball" and I was both embarrassed and proud. But it made him like me so on the way back from the game I was able to get him to stop at a store for me so I could grab a six pack (went with Bud Light Platinum - don't judge me I've had a lot of heavy beer today and don't have a bottle opener - not all that bad, actually) so that was cool. Pretty sure they aren't supposed to do that or at least that's what I'm telling myself so I feel cool.
- Dinner tonight sucked. We got back to the hotel so late and it was such a long day I just went with room service. Decided to go with the New York strip encrusted with red chile since that's supposed to be a New Mexico specialty, and also because their best known for their Mexican and I'm pretty sure we'll be eating a lot of that the next two days and I don't want to overload because of my tum tum. Anyway it was horrible. Fatty steak, over cooked, and the chile sauce was pretty tasteless with very little spice. The herbed fingerling potatoes were mushy and I think the only herb they used was butter, and the spinach was just blech. I know I shouldn't expect much at a hotel, but I didn't expect total crap. Looking forward to crushing some good meals the next two days - you know I'll tell you about it.
- One thing that never ceases to baffle me is how guys who were terrible shooters/scorers in college can suddenly thrive in the NBA. Kendall Marshall is averaging 10.1ppg this year for the Lakers and shooting 47% from three. He never broke 9ppg or 40% shooting in his two years at North Carolina. It's not like he's been around forever either, it's just his second year in the NBA. Michael Carter-Williams is averaging 17ppg for the Sixers this year, and he was a terrible scorer for Syracuse. I guess he's actually a terrible shooter still as his percentages still suck, but it's just weird to see him scoring that much. I just saw Kendall Marshall on ESPN doing a fancy swoopy woopy lay-up thing and there's no way he could have pulled that off at UNC and that's why I wrote this part. Thank you for asking.
- I really need some sort of locking device on my computer that keeps me from playing online craps. Anyway, I'm pretty wiped out from the long day so I'm done here now. Hopefully I get really drunk at least once in the next two days and write some stupid crap.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Notes from #RaiseTheBarn Scrimmage
I attended the open scrimmage on Friday night, sort of, and these are some impressions I came away with. Keeping in mind it's an officiated scrimmage so it's kind of tough to get a true read on everything, I had to leave at halftime because WonderbabyTM (who is now 5 if you can believe that) hates fun, and I had to manage potty breaks, popcorn, and Mello Yello so take these for what it's worth.
- The seniors look extremely confident, as seniors tend to before a breakout year. As such I feel confident predicting a true breakout year for Austin Hollins. He's never been a shrinking violet or anything (that's a thing, right?) but he was carrying himself with a little bit of swagger out there, and I love it. Going to be a big year. As for Maverick, he is carrying himself with a lot more confidence as well. I have no idea what that might mean, but I'm guessing it's either going to be real good, a total disaster, or mean very little change at all. I'm out on a limb here.
- Mo Walker looks like a completely different person. I'm serious, he looks completely different. He looks like a normal human being instead of a fat one, like when Jack Black lost all that weight for a little while and still wasn't funny. I tried to watch him to see if there was a difference in his agility or athletic ability, and although I was pretty distracted I didn't notice anything different at all which sucks. I always thought Mo had a good amount of potential, mainly because he was a very good passing big man as a freshman which generally bodes well for overall skills, but whether it was the knee injury or just how he always was the lack of athletic ability is a major anchor, as it were. Hopefully something changes, because otherwise gross.
- On that note, power forward is going to be a serious, serious problem. I can already tell Joey King is going to drive me absolutely crazy. He rarely steps inside the three point line on offense, doesn't appear to have either the strength, instincts, or drive to be a great rebounder, and I don't think he's big or strong enough to play defense in the Big Ten. Maybe worse, against the press tonight twice he helped break it and then committed the major fundamental mistake of picking up his dribble right after he crossed half court, leading to a another trapping situation, and a turnover one of the times. That kind of shit isn't going to fly. I'm very nervous for the Joey King era.
- Believe it or not, the PF who looked the best tonight was Oto-matic. I won't say he seemed confident because he didn't, but he didn't look like a shell of a person like he did most of last season. I actually saw him make a 3-pointer which I think is more than he made all last season, and I saw him get an offensive rebound which may have been the only one a Gopher got tonight (seriously rebounding and inside play is going to be a major, major deal). I'm not saying he looked great, just that he looked the best of all the PF candidates. So scary.
- The other PF candidates, Wally Ellenson and Charles Buggs were less than inspiring. Ellenson is crazy athletic and not remotely shy about trying to score or flying around, all of which are promising, while Buggs, well, Buggs isn't what I hoped Buggs would be. I thought he could be the long, range-y, semi-athletic big guy with a good perimeter shot in the mold of KG, Hakim Warrick, and JaJuan Johnson. Yeah my bad. He still has plenty of time to turn into something like that, but he's not there yet. No, he is not.
- Dre Hollins was pretty much in coast mode, which I'm cool with considering he's the best player on the team (OR IS HE?!?!?!?!). Nothing wrong with letting everyone else get involved in a thing like this where it doesn't count. When he did decide to take over a couple of times, he scored. So we cool.
- It was sweet to see a little bit of offensive innovation, if by innovation you mean things pretty much every other team was doing besides the Gophers. If you think back to the Tubby Smith era, you'll remember that the Gophers ran 3 plays: Flex, 3-man weave 30 feet from the hoop, and pass the ball sluggishly around the perimeter until the shot clock runs out. I was a fan of none of these plays, for the record. Anyway, I noticed three things: they actually ran a pick-and-roll, while running said pick-and-roll there was another screen to free a shooter at the same time (2 plays in one!!), and the 3-man weave happened but it was far closer in and looked more like the dribble drive thing Calipari loves so much. If nothing else, seeing these plays made me weep with joy until WonderbabyTM asked me if I was crying and I was like "no it's really dusty in here" and then she was like "no it's not" and then I was like "shut up, you can't even spell."
- Those who are aware of my crippling obsession over Rico Tucker have pointed out to me that Dre Mathieu sounds an awful lot like him and fully expect me to fall in love all over again like it's just that easy to go from guy to guy. Well I did so shut up, no slut shaming allowed on this blog. He's just like Rico Tucker if Rico was slightly less athletic but had played two years of Juco with a coach who knew how to reign him in and teach him to play in control instead of playing for a coach who had no idea what to do with an all-world talent who needed to be harnessed.
Mathieu is super fast, but he uses it as a weapon rather than looking like my kid trying to play Mario Kart on 150cc. He kind of reminded me of Phil Pressey, formerly of Missouri, but where Pressey was always looking to use his penetration skills (like me with your mom) to set up somebody else (which is good) Mathieu is generally looking to score (also good). He strikes me as a nearly perfect 6th man to help jump start the offense. Of course if he keeps scoring a billion points all the time it's going to be tough to keep him out of the starting lineup. Or my dreams.
- The other newcomers probably deserve to be talked about just so I can give my spot on impressions. Malik Smith shot about a million three pointers and missed all of them, but that's ok I guess because he's a shooter or something. Obviously I'm not dumb enough to judge a shooter on one scrimmage so we'll just see what we see I guess. I noticed nothing else about him. Daquein still doesn't have a second A in his name and I saw him hit a three-pointer and that was pretty much it. In retrospect this note is pretty much worthless, but seeing as I don't believe in retrospect it's staying.
- The press was interesting to me. It kind of looked like a good ole fashioned diamond press, but the off guy of the three at the front never left his man to guard the most obvious pass recipient - the guy who passed it in from out of bounds. I watch a ton of college hoops, obvs, but have never really paid a ton of attention to the Xs and Os of the press so I don't know if this is a thing now or what, but I'm not familiar with it. And like an old man with a Tivo I'm uncomfortable with things I don't understand. Now, in a way it's kind of genius because in theory most teams make their shitty ball handling power forward throw it in, so if you just trap the PG and make that dude bring it up and trap him when he picks up his dribble right after crossing half court (Joey King -> hi) it could work out well. I'm very interested to see how this goes.
- Overall the team seemed much more uptempo, did a lot more trapping of many varieties on defense, and was more varied on offense. Again, I know it's a stupid scrimmage but they looked pretty good. I would say that they're going to get killed on the boards and by teams who are talented in the front court because they quite literally only have one guy who can play post defense or rebound, but because of the way the team is constructed they'll probably pull off at least one upset because they have so many guys who can score on the perimeter and shoot the 3. Some game they'll go like 14-24 from three and knock off Michigan or something. It should be fun. And horribly maddening.
- The seniors look extremely confident, as seniors tend to before a breakout year. As such I feel confident predicting a true breakout year for Austin Hollins. He's never been a shrinking violet or anything (that's a thing, right?) but he was carrying himself with a little bit of swagger out there, and I love it. Going to be a big year. As for Maverick, he is carrying himself with a lot more confidence as well. I have no idea what that might mean, but I'm guessing it's either going to be real good, a total disaster, or mean very little change at all. I'm out on a limb here.
- Mo Walker looks like a completely different person. I'm serious, he looks completely different. He looks like a normal human being instead of a fat one, like when Jack Black lost all that weight for a little while and still wasn't funny. I tried to watch him to see if there was a difference in his agility or athletic ability, and although I was pretty distracted I didn't notice anything different at all which sucks. I always thought Mo had a good amount of potential, mainly because he was a very good passing big man as a freshman which generally bodes well for overall skills, but whether it was the knee injury or just how he always was the lack of athletic ability is a major anchor, as it were. Hopefully something changes, because otherwise gross.
- On that note, power forward is going to be a serious, serious problem. I can already tell Joey King is going to drive me absolutely crazy. He rarely steps inside the three point line on offense, doesn't appear to have either the strength, instincts, or drive to be a great rebounder, and I don't think he's big or strong enough to play defense in the Big Ten. Maybe worse, against the press tonight twice he helped break it and then committed the major fundamental mistake of picking up his dribble right after he crossed half court, leading to a another trapping situation, and a turnover one of the times. That kind of shit isn't going to fly. I'm very nervous for the Joey King era.
- Believe it or not, the PF who looked the best tonight was Oto-matic. I won't say he seemed confident because he didn't, but he didn't look like a shell of a person like he did most of last season. I actually saw him make a 3-pointer which I think is more than he made all last season, and I saw him get an offensive rebound which may have been the only one a Gopher got tonight (seriously rebounding and inside play is going to be a major, major deal). I'm not saying he looked great, just that he looked the best of all the PF candidates. So scary.
- The other PF candidates, Wally Ellenson and Charles Buggs were less than inspiring. Ellenson is crazy athletic and not remotely shy about trying to score or flying around, all of which are promising, while Buggs, well, Buggs isn't what I hoped Buggs would be. I thought he could be the long, range-y, semi-athletic big guy with a good perimeter shot in the mold of KG, Hakim Warrick, and JaJuan Johnson. Yeah my bad. He still has plenty of time to turn into something like that, but he's not there yet. No, he is not.
- Dre Hollins was pretty much in coast mode, which I'm cool with considering he's the best player on the team (OR IS HE?!?!?!?!). Nothing wrong with letting everyone else get involved in a thing like this where it doesn't count. When he did decide to take over a couple of times, he scored. So we cool.
- It was sweet to see a little bit of offensive innovation, if by innovation you mean things pretty much every other team was doing besides the Gophers. If you think back to the Tubby Smith era, you'll remember that the Gophers ran 3 plays: Flex, 3-man weave 30 feet from the hoop, and pass the ball sluggishly around the perimeter until the shot clock runs out. I was a fan of none of these plays, for the record. Anyway, I noticed three things: they actually ran a pick-and-roll, while running said pick-and-roll there was another screen to free a shooter at the same time (2 plays in one!!), and the 3-man weave happened but it was far closer in and looked more like the dribble drive thing Calipari loves so much. If nothing else, seeing these plays made me weep with joy until WonderbabyTM asked me if I was crying and I was like "no it's really dusty in here" and then she was like "no it's not" and then I was like "shut up, you can't even spell."
- Those who are aware of my crippling obsession over Rico Tucker have pointed out to me that Dre Mathieu sounds an awful lot like him and fully expect me to fall in love all over again like it's just that easy to go from guy to guy. Well I did so shut up, no slut shaming allowed on this blog. He's just like Rico Tucker if Rico was slightly less athletic but had played two years of Juco with a coach who knew how to reign him in and teach him to play in control instead of playing for a coach who had no idea what to do with an all-world talent who needed to be harnessed.
Mathieu is super fast, but he uses it as a weapon rather than looking like my kid trying to play Mario Kart on 150cc. He kind of reminded me of Phil Pressey, formerly of Missouri, but where Pressey was always looking to use his penetration skills (like me with your mom) to set up somebody else (which is good) Mathieu is generally looking to score (also good). He strikes me as a nearly perfect 6th man to help jump start the offense. Of course if he keeps scoring a billion points all the time it's going to be tough to keep him out of the starting lineup. Or my dreams.
- The other newcomers probably deserve to be talked about just so I can give my spot on impressions. Malik Smith shot about a million three pointers and missed all of them, but that's ok I guess because he's a shooter or something. Obviously I'm not dumb enough to judge a shooter on one scrimmage so we'll just see what we see I guess. I noticed nothing else about him. Daquein still doesn't have a second A in his name and I saw him hit a three-pointer and that was pretty much it. In retrospect this note is pretty much worthless, but seeing as I don't believe in retrospect it's staying.
- The press was interesting to me. It kind of looked like a good ole fashioned diamond press, but the off guy of the three at the front never left his man to guard the most obvious pass recipient - the guy who passed it in from out of bounds. I watch a ton of college hoops, obvs, but have never really paid a ton of attention to the Xs and Os of the press so I don't know if this is a thing now or what, but I'm not familiar with it. And like an old man with a Tivo I'm uncomfortable with things I don't understand. Now, in a way it's kind of genius because in theory most teams make their shitty ball handling power forward throw it in, so if you just trap the PG and make that dude bring it up and trap him when he picks up his dribble right after crossing half court (Joey King -> hi) it could work out well. I'm very interested to see how this goes.
- Overall the team seemed much more uptempo, did a lot more trapping of many varieties on defense, and was more varied on offense. Again, I know it's a stupid scrimmage but they looked pretty good. I would say that they're going to get killed on the boards and by teams who are talented in the front court because they quite literally only have one guy who can play post defense or rebound, but because of the way the team is constructed they'll probably pull off at least one upset because they have so many guys who can score on the perimeter and shoot the 3. Some game they'll go like 14-24 from three and knock off Michigan or something. It should be fun. And horribly maddening.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Welcome Aboard, Dre Mathieu
Now I have to worry about spelling his last name. And the Gophers have two Dres to go along with their two Hollinses. Sid is really going to have some issues keeping up this year now that the Gophers and Richard Pitino have signed JuCo PG Dre Mathieu.
Mathieu, the 5-9 (5-9!) point guard from Central Arizona College chose Minnesota over Ole Miss and Pepperdine who were also in his final three. Although that might not sound like the greatest competition for his services, remember those were his final three that he had narrowed it down to. He also held offers from UCLA, Memphis, and Washington State among others. Mathieu isn't Tyus Jones or Rashad Vaughn, but he isn't Maverick Ahanmisi either - he's a pretty good pick-up this late in the recruiting season and a true point guard, FINALLY.
Getting a true point guard should do wonders for this team assuming Drizzy (his chosen nickname) is ready to go from day 1, and being a JuCo that should be the expectation (Andre Ingram excepted). Dre Hollins should be able to spend more time at shooting guard where he's a more natural fit and this should make it so Maverick never ever ever has to dribble the ball. Hopefully Mav becomes the guy who comes in at about the 12 minute mark in the first half, gets a chance to shoot, and if he makes it he can keep playing and if he misses he's done for the game. This would make the back court quite small if Dre2 are out there together and since Joe Coleman is a teeny tiny 3 when he's on the wing, but Austin Hollins is a bigger and a very good backcourt defender and newly signed Daquein McNeil is 6-3 and scouting reports say he has the potential to be a "lethal defender." They'll be fine.
As far as Mathieu goes, from reading a few scouting reports and watching a few highlights he seems to be an incredibly explosive athlete (reported 45 inch vertical) who is lighting quick and can get in the lane. His averaging 6.1 rebounds per game this season is a testament to his athletic ability given his height, and his 6.5 assists per game help confirm that he's truly a pass first kind of guy, which he even alluded to on Twitter. He can certainly score as well, averaging 17 points per game on 52% shooting, however he's definitely more of a driver than a shooter, hitting just 29% from 3 and I read somewhere he acknowledges outside shooting as a weakness. In highlights he's certainly not afraid to drive all the way to the rim and is a talented finisher, although it will be interesting to see how that works against Mitch McGary and Adreian Payne rather than whoever he played in the California Penal League or whatever. Worst case and the jumper doesn't develop he should still be able to find success as a Lewis Jackson type. I'm just excited to have a real point guard around.
As far as the team goes, they're certainly going to be perimeter oriented with both Hollinses, the two new guys, and Coleman all set. With Eliason the only real proven big man (well, semi-proven) somebody out of the group of Mo Walker, Charles Buggs, and Oto is going to have to step up, and probably two of them.The Gophers are still working on Rakeem Buckles and Tarik Black, although it's now sounding like Black is leaning towards Oregon. With the news today that Pitino target Joseph Uchebo has signed with Pitt the big man cupboard is suddenly looking awfully bare (guard Allerik Freeman, another target of Pitino, signed with Baylor today as well). That's not a complaint, because I'm very pleased with what Pitino's been doing so far, and after watching this team for the last few years I'm looking forward to a perimeter based squad getting up and down the court in a big ole hurry. Plus, believe it or not, I still believe in both Buggs and Oto - I really think one of them is going to thrive in this new system as a stretch 4. Maybe both. Dare to dream and all that.
Here's Drizzy dunking in an incredibly high resolution video so you can see those hops in action:
Mathieu, the 5-9 (5-9!) point guard from Central Arizona College chose Minnesota over Ole Miss and Pepperdine who were also in his final three. Although that might not sound like the greatest competition for his services, remember those were his final three that he had narrowed it down to. He also held offers from UCLA, Memphis, and Washington State among others. Mathieu isn't Tyus Jones or Rashad Vaughn, but he isn't Maverick Ahanmisi either - he's a pretty good pick-up this late in the recruiting season and a true point guard, FINALLY.
Getting a true point guard should do wonders for this team assuming Drizzy (his chosen nickname) is ready to go from day 1, and being a JuCo that should be the expectation (Andre Ingram excepted). Dre Hollins should be able to spend more time at shooting guard where he's a more natural fit and this should make it so Maverick never ever ever has to dribble the ball. Hopefully Mav becomes the guy who comes in at about the 12 minute mark in the first half, gets a chance to shoot, and if he makes it he can keep playing and if he misses he's done for the game. This would make the back court quite small if Dre2 are out there together and since Joe Coleman is a teeny tiny 3 when he's on the wing, but Austin Hollins is a bigger and a very good backcourt defender and newly signed Daquein McNeil is 6-3 and scouting reports say he has the potential to be a "lethal defender." They'll be fine.
As far as Mathieu goes, from reading a few scouting reports and watching a few highlights he seems to be an incredibly explosive athlete (reported 45 inch vertical) who is lighting quick and can get in the lane. His averaging 6.1 rebounds per game this season is a testament to his athletic ability given his height, and his 6.5 assists per game help confirm that he's truly a pass first kind of guy, which he even alluded to on Twitter. He can certainly score as well, averaging 17 points per game on 52% shooting, however he's definitely more of a driver than a shooter, hitting just 29% from 3 and I read somewhere he acknowledges outside shooting as a weakness. In highlights he's certainly not afraid to drive all the way to the rim and is a talented finisher, although it will be interesting to see how that works against Mitch McGary and Adreian Payne rather than whoever he played in the California Penal League or whatever. Worst case and the jumper doesn't develop he should still be able to find success as a Lewis Jackson type. I'm just excited to have a real point guard around.
As far as the team goes, they're certainly going to be perimeter oriented with both Hollinses, the two new guys, and Coleman all set. With Eliason the only real proven big man (well, semi-proven) somebody out of the group of Mo Walker, Charles Buggs, and Oto is going to have to step up, and probably two of them.
Here's Drizzy dunking in an incredibly high resolution video so you can see those hops in action:
Friday, November 2, 2012
Quick Gopher Thoughts
A couple of quick thoughts on the Gopher exhibition game, just really quick because you can't really learn much when they play somebody like Mankato, and also because I know TRE is working on a T-Wolves preview:
- - Rodney
scored the first two baskets of the game by posting up and hitting a running
lefty hook shot and an up and under double pump. Was very pleasantly surprised. He’s clearly worked on some post moves.
- -
Mbakwe didn’t start but came in about halfway
through each half (standing O from me, grandslam, TRE, the student section, and
maybe a few other people first time he came in). Looked ok, but on one play when he challenged
a three-pointer he didn’t look like he had the same lift he used to when he
jumps. Didn’t play all that much.
- - Oto hit a three, made a steal on a pass, and did
the pull up 3 pointer heat check on the break.
Nothing but backboard.
- - Charles Buggs is not who I hoped he was, at
least not yet. Very wooden, looked a
little bit lost, and got beat three different times to inside position on a
free throw when he was in the first spot.
Not very impressive. That said, he's got four years to prove me right.
That’s really it.
They handled Mankato from the opening tip which I suppose is a good
sign, or rather they didn’t let them hang around which would have been a bad
sign, so it’s neutral. Which is better
than bad.
Monday, October 15, 2012
These MLB Playoffs are Pretty Neat, Guys (+ new Gopher BBall Commit)
Taking a break from the NCAA Hoops Previews to weight on on the baseball playoffs, an awesome collection of series so far. I'm enjoying the hell out of this, and it helps that I have a ton of money down on futures (Tigers to win AL, Cards to win both NL and World Series not to mention loads of props on every game). Seriously, it would be great if there was some kind of player rewards card for people who make way too many bets.
Speaking of, check out this information for more on players reward card. Before I talk hardball, however, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention that the Gopher hoops team picked up another recruit for 2013 in power forward Alex Foster, joining Alvin Ellis as a future Gopher. Foster is a 6-8 skinny kid from Chicago who was thought of as one of the best players in Chicago way back when he was in 8th grade, but who has since tailed off a bit and is ranked by ESPN as a middle-of-the-road 3-star recruit (his other offers were from Tennessee and Nebraska, again according to ESPN). The good news here is that he is super athletic, and with that pedigree (yes back to 8th grade but still) offers considerable upside. Like Ellis he has been a target of the Gophers for quite some time, which means that even if Tubby isn't signing the greatest players he is at least able to get the guys he really wants to sign here. Good, not great, signing, but at least things are moving in the right direction again, not to mention setting up a regular pipeline to Chicago (Ellis is also a Chicago kid) can only be a positive.
Also, quick, the reports on my new favorite Gopher Charles Buggs are in from the "Midnight" Madness scrimmage last Friday and by all accounts HE. IS. AWESOME. Led all scorers with 10 pts on 4-4 shooting including 2-2 from 3 and grabbed 2 rebounds, plus was apparently one of the more impressive dunkers in the dunk contest? Are you kidding me? He's everything I always knew I always wanted. I seriously can't wait. We goin' Sizzla.
Ok, now on to baseball and I'll start with the Wild Card. From day one I was in favor of the change to two wild card teams per league with a 1-game playoff and I'm pretty sure I'm right. I understand the criticisms many people had such as complaining that they were just trying to manufacture drama, that anything random can happen in a 1-game series so it was meaningless, and so on. But the fact is, winning the Wild Card the last few years was basically the same as winning your division. Other than not having home field advantage (and one division winner wouldn't have it anyway) and playing the best team (if that team happened to not be from your division) what was the difference? Basically nil. Now? Winning the Wild Card puts you at a drastic disadvantage compared to a division winner because if you get hit with a bad call (Atlanta) or run into a hot pitcher (Texas) you're done. I think it's awesome and if you don't I hope you get a stomach parasite.
The sucky thing about the Division Series is we lost all the interesting teams. Only Oakland, Baltimore, Cincy, and Washington haven't been regular playoff fixtures in recent times, and all four lost. I was glad, actually, to see Washington get bounced just because their decision to shut down Strasburg irked me so irksomely, but I would have loved to see Baltimore, Cincinnati, and/or Oakland advance just because it's more interesting than watching New York and Detroit again. That being said, how great was it that every single series went the full five games? And it wasn't just that they went down to sudden death, but how it all happened. If even one of these scenarios happened this would have been an awesome round of the playoffs:
Now I can see this series going one of two ways. The best way would be that Justin Verlander completely shuts them in game 3 in near no-hitter fashion, they continue to desperately scramble at the plate and resort to crazy tactics (such as hit-and-running with Raul Ibanez and his Matthew LeCroy like speed) to try to score any runs at all and they end up getting swept while the world rejoices. Or, because the Yankees are some evil demon and everyone knows that demons are notoriously hard to kill, they will somehow manage to destroy Verlander and end up winning this series in 7 games. I know that would suck, but in another way it would be good to get to root against the Yankees for another series. I'm still rooting for them to get swept here though, because they are dicks.
As for the NL, how freaking sweet must it be to be a Cards fan? All they ever do is win. In 2006 they won just 83 games but played in a crappy division so they won a playoff berth where they managed to beat two superior teams, setting up a World Series against the massively favored Detroit Tigers. Naturally the Cards won by somehow getting the Tigers to make 8 errors in 5 games and holding them to a .199 batting average despite pitching dudes like Anthony Reyes, making them the worst team (record-wise) to ever win a World Series. In 2011 they again made the series against the Rangers after qualifying for the Wild Card on the final day of the regular season and fell behind 3-2 and were twice down to their final strike before rallying to win and then won game 7 to take another World Series. Now they were basically about to be eliminated by the Nationals but somehow turned it around to win that one as well.
I mean, enough is enough, right? Stop rubbing it in, guys. They're like the anti-Twins with their postseason play, not to mention that they lost the best hitter of the last 10 years to free agency, lost their starting first baseman (Lance Berkman) and starting shortstop (Rafael Furcal) to injury, and got just 20 starts from Jaime Garcia and 3 from Chris Carpenter, yet here they are. I like the Giants and all, even without the usual Lincecum, but how can anybody fight that Redbird mojo? It's a true law of nature like water or dinosaurs. Sorry Giants, but you can't fight against dinosaurs.
Speaking of, check out this information for more on players reward card. Before I talk hardball, however, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention that the Gopher hoops team picked up another recruit for 2013 in power forward Alex Foster, joining Alvin Ellis as a future Gopher. Foster is a 6-8 skinny kid from Chicago who was thought of as one of the best players in Chicago way back when he was in 8th grade, but who has since tailed off a bit and is ranked by ESPN as a middle-of-the-road 3-star recruit (his other offers were from Tennessee and Nebraska, again according to ESPN). The good news here is that he is super athletic, and with that pedigree (yes back to 8th grade but still) offers considerable upside. Like Ellis he has been a target of the Gophers for quite some time, which means that even if Tubby isn't signing the greatest players he is at least able to get the guys he really wants to sign here. Good, not great, signing, but at least things are moving in the right direction again, not to mention setting up a regular pipeline to Chicago (Ellis is also a Chicago kid) can only be a positive.
Also, quick, the reports on my new favorite Gopher Charles Buggs are in from the "Midnight" Madness scrimmage last Friday and by all accounts HE. IS. AWESOME. Led all scorers with 10 pts on 4-4 shooting including 2-2 from 3 and grabbed 2 rebounds, plus was apparently one of the more impressive dunkers in the dunk contest? Are you kidding me? He's everything I always knew I always wanted. I seriously can't wait. We goin' Sizzla.
Ok, now on to baseball and I'll start with the Wild Card. From day one I was in favor of the change to two wild card teams per league with a 1-game playoff and I'm pretty sure I'm right. I understand the criticisms many people had such as complaining that they were just trying to manufacture drama, that anything random can happen in a 1-game series so it was meaningless, and so on. But the fact is, winning the Wild Card the last few years was basically the same as winning your division. Other than not having home field advantage (and one division winner wouldn't have it anyway) and playing the best team (if that team happened to not be from your division) what was the difference? Basically nil. Now? Winning the Wild Card puts you at a drastic disadvantage compared to a division winner because if you get hit with a bad call (Atlanta) or run into a hot pitcher (Texas) you're done. I think it's awesome and if you don't I hope you get a stomach parasite.
The sucky thing about the Division Series is we lost all the interesting teams. Only Oakland, Baltimore, Cincy, and Washington haven't been regular playoff fixtures in recent times, and all four lost. I was glad, actually, to see Washington get bounced just because their decision to shut down Strasburg irked me so irksomely, but I would have loved to see Baltimore, Cincinnati, and/or Oakland advance just because it's more interesting than watching New York and Detroit again. That being said, how great was it that every single series went the full five games? And it wasn't just that they went down to sudden death, but how it all happened. If even one of these scenarios happened this would have been an awesome round of the playoffs:
- St. Louis falls behind 6-0 in the third inning of Game 5 and are down to their final strike twice before rallying for four in the ninth to win their sixth straight elimination game.
- The underdog Orioles refuse to die and push the hated Yankees to the final game with two games going extra innings (back-to-back 12 and 13 inning affairs) and three total one-run games.
- Oakland scares the crap out of Detroit by winning games 3 & 4 after having been down 2-0, leading to Justin Verlander throwing one of the best games in playoff history (in Oakland no less) to advance the Tigers.
- The Giants lose the first two games at home, then win the next three in Cincinnati to knock out the Reds.
Now I can see this series going one of two ways. The best way would be that Justin Verlander completely shuts them in game 3 in near no-hitter fashion, they continue to desperately scramble at the plate and resort to crazy tactics (such as hit-and-running with Raul Ibanez and his Matthew LeCroy like speed) to try to score any runs at all and they end up getting swept while the world rejoices. Or, because the Yankees are some evil demon and everyone knows that demons are notoriously hard to kill, they will somehow manage to destroy Verlander and end up winning this series in 7 games. I know that would suck, but in another way it would be good to get to root against the Yankees for another series. I'm still rooting for them to get swept here though, because they are dicks.
As for the NL, how freaking sweet must it be to be a Cards fan? All they ever do is win. In 2006 they won just 83 games but played in a crappy division so they won a playoff berth where they managed to beat two superior teams, setting up a World Series against the massively favored Detroit Tigers. Naturally the Cards won by somehow getting the Tigers to make 8 errors in 5 games and holding them to a .199 batting average despite pitching dudes like Anthony Reyes, making them the worst team (record-wise) to ever win a World Series. In 2011 they again made the series against the Rangers after qualifying for the Wild Card on the final day of the regular season and fell behind 3-2 and were twice down to their final strike before rallying to win and then won game 7 to take another World Series. Now they were basically about to be eliminated by the Nationals but somehow turned it around to win that one as well.
I mean, enough is enough, right? Stop rubbing it in, guys. They're like the anti-Twins with their postseason play, not to mention that they lost the best hitter of the last 10 years to free agency, lost their starting first baseman (Lance Berkman) and starting shortstop (Rafael Furcal) to injury, and got just 20 starts from Jaime Garcia and 3 from Chris Carpenter, yet here they are. I like the Giants and all, even without the usual Lincecum, but how can anybody fight that Redbird mojo? It's a true law of nature like water or dinosaurs. Sorry Giants, but you can't fight against dinosaurs.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Welcome to the Gophers Chuck Buggs (plus B10 preview, Bill Smith, and more!)
I'm not exactly sure when this happened but I just found out about it when I checked the Daily Gopher, but the Gopher basketball team signed PF Charles Buggs for 2012. At first I all like "what the deuce? another 3-star player and with the final 2012 scholarship? This is lame-a-saurus rex." But then I watched this:
Ohmygodyouguys. The jump shot. The body type. The passing and ball-handling. And the jump shot. This is it. This is what we've all been waiting for. This is the next guy in the Kevin Garnett/Hakim Warrick/JaJuan Johnson line. The face-up 4 with a killer jumpshot and perimeter skills who has the size and athleticism to also play in the paint. This is it. He's here. Charles mother effing Buggs.
Here is how ESPN describes his strengths:
Strengths:
Charles is an exceptionally live-bodied face up four man for the next level. He's a graceful athlete with very quick reflexes and he's an elite leaper. Two-hand dunks with ease while also showing good touch with his jumper and in the lane. He changes ends very well plus he's an extremely intelligent kid who wants to be coached and get better. Doesn't really have any bad habits and there's a hunger about him to improve.
So pumped. I haven't been this set up for disappointment since Antoine Broxsie transferred in.
- I was going to do a preview of every big 10 team one at a time and try to get them done before the regular season starts but at this point that obviously isn't going to happen. Instead here's a shorter preview style, and if you really want I have teams 6-12 broken down in greater detail in other posts on this very blog (links included)
12. Penn State - Not only is Talor Battle gone, but so is everybody else. I like Tim Frazier, a lot, but he's not the guy who can carry a team. 1 win would be a good season.
11. Nebraska - At least they're good in football.
10. Iowa - Some interesting talent and a good future, but this isn't their year yet.
9. Indiana - Similar to Iowa, things seem to be moving in the right direction talent and recruiting wise, but they're at least a year away.
8. Northwestern - I'm not falling for this again. Not to mention that even though the Wildcats only lose 1 player, that player has been their starting point guard for 4 years.
7. Wisconsin - It's certainly possible I'm underrating them for the 10th year in a row, but Jordan Taylor is due for a major regression to the mean season and I don't see anybody here who can pick up that slack.
6. Purdue - Depending on Hummel (who looked good in the exhibition game I watched some of), they could be a lot better than this or a lot worse. So many questions outside of Lewis Jackson that they're probably the toughest team to really get a read on.
5. Minnesota - This feels about right. If Sampson turns in a stellar senior year and somebody steps forward to not just play the point capably but to actually play well (will have to be Hollins) they could challenge for 2nd. On the other hand, if Ralph is disinterested and nobody proves to be a Big 10 caliber point guard they could be looking at 8th.
4. Illinois - They lose a lot off last year's squad, but getting rid of McCamey might be addition by subtraction and with Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson they have two of the most talented wings in the entire conference. Similar to the Gophers, someone will have to step up to play the point (they have a highly regarded freshman and a transfer from Bradley) and how that works will likely be the biggest factor in how good this team ends up being this year.
3. Michigan - It's very sad to me that Darius Morris went pro because he rocked and he would probably vault Michigan up to the #2 spot with an outside chance at challenging for #1. But, he did have a first round guarantee and probably wouldn't be moving up so there you go - even though they aren't playing. The impressive thing is based on Beilein's recruiting lately it's likely we won't see them outside the top 5 for a while.
2. Michigan State - I don't particularly feel confident about putting Sparty in second place here, but I can't really convince myself any of these other teams are better. They should be a safe team this year, however, because Draymond Green is really flipping good, and the kind of player who can essentially guarantee your team won't go in the toilet. Seriously if he doesn't have at least two triple-doubles this year I'll be shocked.
1. Ohio State - Where even to begin? Sullinger is back. Buford is back and won't have to defer to Lighty. Aaron Craft is about to become a monster, and they bring in one of the best classes in the country. Again. This dynasty is out of control. Most sportsbooks have futures on conference winners right now and you can get Ohio State at -125. Considering they're basically guaranteed to win it this year that's a freakin' bargain.
- So I guess Bill Smith getting fired is a pretty big deal. I'm having trouble making myself care about it but that's mainly because my brain is already in basketball mode with everything getting started. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much in favor of the move. I don't even have to try very hard and I can come up with a top 5 Bill Smith terrible moves list: the Santana trade, the Delmon for Garza trade, the Hardy for nothing trade, Ramos for Capps, and spending a stupid amount of money to sign Nishioka. I'm sure there are more (like getting rid of Billy Bullock so they could get a journeyman minor league reliever on the 40-man roster or whatever the details were) and I'm struggling to think of a single good move that was made during his tenure (I'm sure there were, I just can't come up with anythng). So I'm pretty happy to have Ryan back. It's not like he can do much worse. Also does it mean I'm a bad person when I saw it come across the ESPN ticker that Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in Venezuela that my first though was "good thing they traded him"? Probably, huh? Say la vee.
Ohmygodyouguys. The jump shot. The body type. The passing and ball-handling. And the jump shot. This is it. This is what we've all been waiting for. This is the next guy in the Kevin Garnett/Hakim Warrick/JaJuan Johnson line. The face-up 4 with a killer jumpshot and perimeter skills who has the size and athleticism to also play in the paint. This is it. He's here. Charles mother effing Buggs.
Here is how ESPN describes his strengths:
Strengths:
Charles is an exceptionally live-bodied face up four man for the next level. He's a graceful athlete with very quick reflexes and he's an elite leaper. Two-hand dunks with ease while also showing good touch with his jumper and in the lane. He changes ends very well plus he's an extremely intelligent kid who wants to be coached and get better. Doesn't really have any bad habits and there's a hunger about him to improve.
Oh. my. god. Will some one please just come and hit me over the head so I can go into a coma until next year? He was hurt a large part of his senior year which scared some teams off, but went to prep school and reclassified as a 2012 recruit and besides the Gophers, held offers from Arkansas, Clemson, Marquette, Seton Hall, and West Virginia among a couple others. Sounds like a very talented kid who got hurt and kind of dropped off the recruiting map, and thanks to hard work by Tubby and staff (according to articles Tubby is the reason he's heading to Minnesota) could end up being a diamond in the rough. Except he's probably going to be even better than a diamond. He's going to be like a Burmese Ruby.
So pumped. I haven't been this set up for disappointment since Antoine Broxsie transferred in.
- I was going to do a preview of every big 10 team one at a time and try to get them done before the regular season starts but at this point that obviously isn't going to happen. Instead here's a shorter preview style, and if you really want I have teams 6-12 broken down in greater detail in other posts on this very blog (links included)
12. Penn State - Not only is Talor Battle gone, but so is everybody else. I like Tim Frazier, a lot, but he's not the guy who can carry a team. 1 win would be a good season.
11. Nebraska - At least they're good in football.
10. Iowa - Some interesting talent and a good future, but this isn't their year yet.
9. Indiana - Similar to Iowa, things seem to be moving in the right direction talent and recruiting wise, but they're at least a year away.
8. Northwestern - I'm not falling for this again. Not to mention that even though the Wildcats only lose 1 player, that player has been their starting point guard for 4 years.
7. Wisconsin - It's certainly possible I'm underrating them for the 10th year in a row, but Jordan Taylor is due for a major regression to the mean season and I don't see anybody here who can pick up that slack.
6. Purdue - Depending on Hummel (who looked good in the exhibition game I watched some of), they could be a lot better than this or a lot worse. So many questions outside of Lewis Jackson that they're probably the toughest team to really get a read on.
5. Minnesota - This feels about right. If Sampson turns in a stellar senior year and somebody steps forward to not just play the point capably but to actually play well (will have to be Hollins) they could challenge for 2nd. On the other hand, if Ralph is disinterested and nobody proves to be a Big 10 caliber point guard they could be looking at 8th.
4. Illinois - They lose a lot off last year's squad, but getting rid of McCamey might be addition by subtraction and with Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson they have two of the most talented wings in the entire conference. Similar to the Gophers, someone will have to step up to play the point (they have a highly regarded freshman and a transfer from Bradley) and how that works will likely be the biggest factor in how good this team ends up being this year.
3. Michigan - It's very sad to me that Darius Morris went pro because he rocked and he would probably vault Michigan up to the #2 spot with an outside chance at challenging for #1. But, he did have a first round guarantee and probably wouldn't be moving up so there you go - even though they aren't playing. The impressive thing is based on Beilein's recruiting lately it's likely we won't see them outside the top 5 for a while.
2. Michigan State - I don't particularly feel confident about putting Sparty in second place here, but I can't really convince myself any of these other teams are better. They should be a safe team this year, however, because Draymond Green is really flipping good, and the kind of player who can essentially guarantee your team won't go in the toilet. Seriously if he doesn't have at least two triple-doubles this year I'll be shocked.
1. Ohio State - Where even to begin? Sullinger is back. Buford is back and won't have to defer to Lighty. Aaron Craft is about to become a monster, and they bring in one of the best classes in the country. Again. This dynasty is out of control. Most sportsbooks have futures on conference winners right now and you can get Ohio State at -125. Considering they're basically guaranteed to win it this year that's a freakin' bargain.
- So I guess Bill Smith getting fired is a pretty big deal. I'm having trouble making myself care about it but that's mainly because my brain is already in basketball mode with everything getting started. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much in favor of the move. I don't even have to try very hard and I can come up with a top 5 Bill Smith terrible moves list: the Santana trade, the Delmon for Garza trade, the Hardy for nothing trade, Ramos for Capps, and spending a stupid amount of money to sign Nishioka. I'm sure there are more (like getting rid of Billy Bullock so they could get a journeyman minor league reliever on the 40-man roster or whatever the details were) and I'm struggling to think of a single good move that was made during his tenure (I'm sure there were, I just can't come up with anythng). So I'm pretty happy to have Ryan back. It's not like he can do much worse. Also does it mean I'm a bad person when I saw it come across the ESPN ticker that Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in Venezuela that my first though was "good thing they traded him"? Probably, huh? Say la vee.
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