NBA Free Agent Action is Hot!

Take a few days off to catch some fish at the cabin and you miss like, 1 million free agent signings in the NBA.  I'm going to hit a few of the highlights.  Or lowlights.

1.  Might as well start with your precious T-Wolves, who signed Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger in a move to try to surround the Ricky Rubio/Kevin Love nucleus with as many poorly defending shooters as possible.  You take those two, J.J. Barea, Rubio, Love, Luke Ridnour, and Derrick Williams and add Shabazz Muhammad to the mix and the Wolves might end up being the worst defensive team in the league next year, especially if Kirilenko isn't back.  Nikola Pekovic, who it sounds like they're going to do everything to keep, is a decent post defender but not a rim protector in the slightest, which taken all together means that Giorgui Dieng is the only true paint defensive presence on the entire team.  You know, the guy whose job it is to discourage guys like Lebron and Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook from driving past all those white guards over and over again.  Sounds like a recipe for success!

2.  Dwight Howard is going to Houston.  Howard turned down more years and more money to stay with the Lakers and play with two (possibly 3) other future Hall-of-Famers, which is a stunningly good decision given Howard's track record the last three years.

Apparently the Howard signing isn't loved by everyone, as incumbent starting center Omer Asik has said he doesn't want Howard there, doesn't want to back him up, and doesn't want to play next to him and might want out of Houston.  Well guess what Omer?  I got news for you: I'm pretty sure they were exploring trades for you already.  Outside of free throw shooting his entire skill set is Dwight Howard extra lite, he offers nothing complimentary to Howard's game, and he's good enough where they can get something nice back for him most likely.  Sorry Omer, but you're not Dwight.

And make no mistake - Dwight Howard is still really, really good and it seems like everyone is forgetting that.  Last year was horrible, yes, but

1.  He was returning from a back injury, which for a player like him who relies on his athleticism and specifically his ability to jump quickly that is a tough one to play through.
2. The system he was playing in last year sucked for him, and playing with Kobe Bryant made him miserable which, because he's an immature person, made him sulk and affected his play.
3. People around the country hated, or at least had a strong dislike for Howard and the way he got Orlando's coach fired, then pushed his way out,then got Mike Brown fired with the Lakers.  Dwight is an immature person, and being disliked made him extra miserable and see #2.

Basically Howard is an immature baby who is mentally weak and who is going to sulk and suck when he's not happy.  He still averaged 17 & 12 with nearly 3 blocks per game while being only half engaged.  You don't think he's going to be better next year with his co-super star as James Harden, who knows about deferring when it's time to defer? He's still just 28 years old.  What if he actually realizes he has an amazing opportunity to learn from two of the best big men in history (Hakeem and McHale) and embraces it?  He could be a monster.  Going to be a big year for Houston.  Big.

3.  Sticking with the Rockets, they also traded your best friend Royce White to the 76ers.  Clearly Philly succeeded so well with one troubled but talented young big man in Andrew Bynum that they were super excited to try it again. Since Royce is pretty much afraid of everything, he's started walking to Philly from Houston and expects to be there by time training camps begin. Also, I really think trading Jrue Holiday is going to end up being a mistake for Philly.

4.  In what was, to me, the most shocking development of this period Brad Stevens (formerly of Butler) has agreed to become coach of the Celtics.  I was up at the cabin with Snacks and news was on in the background because we only get one channel up there and when the banner "Stevens to Boston" came up we had to yell and shush everybody else up and do you know how hard it is to shush up three women and one old man who've been hammering wine since mid-day?  It ain't Ninja Gaiden hard, but it's hard.

I'm just totally blown away because I assumed Stevens was going to be at Butler until he was lured away by Indiana or Duke or Kentucky or one of the other big-time college programs - I never ever thought he'd be going to the NBA for some reason.  I think part of it is because I thought we were done poaching college coaches and trying to make them NBA coaches since basically everybody has been a failure (seriously who is the best coach to make the switch?  I think it's P.J. Carlesimo which is like whoa).  Also this surprises me because Stevens is only 36 and has zero NBA experience.  People threw enough of a fit over Rich Pitino getting hired to coach kids at 30, but now Stevens is going to handle grown ass millionaires at 36?  I know it's a young team after trading Garnett and Pierce, but their best player is a total head case in Rajon Rondo.  There's almost no way Rondo spaz out by midseason. I'm not saying Stevens won't work out for sure, I'm just saying he won't with Rondo around.  FACT.

5.  The Hawks and Bucks got into a big fight over Kyle Korver.  Looking at the teams involved, you'd probably guess that this was an idiotic fight to get in to, and as usual you're right.  There were no winners in this fight, except of course Korver who ended up with a 4-year, $26 million contract which, considering he's going to be 37 at the end of that deal and he has exactly one discernible skill seems like a bit of an overpay, but then again J.J. Redick got 4/$27 and Jose Calderon got 4/$28 apparently that's the running rate for a one dimensional player who is really good at that one dimension and terrible at everything else.  For some reason, this seems terribly unfair.

6.  The Warriors are getting interesting.  First, because Dawger will point it out anyway, despite all my misgivings Steph Curry has completely proven me wrong and is a very, very good NBA player.  He's not as good as Bill Simmons thought he was during the play-offs, but he's an all-star, I will admit, and there's no doubt that he and Klay Thompson are a pretty dynamic duo.   Next season Harrison Barnes will be a year older and a year better, and he started to show some pretty dramatic growth in the playoffs and he gives the Warriors three pretty good wing players who can score in bunches. 

Now, via free agency, they've added Andre Iguodala, who doesn't score in bunches the way the other three do but is still averages 15 ppg for his carrer, is an absolutely outstanding defender, and can handle the ball and create well enough the Curry will get more chances to run off the ball, which will only help.  The plan seems to be to go with all four in the lineup at a time quite often, which will work if Barnes can defend and rebound at the 4 (remains to be seen), but even if not that's a pretty potent lineup, and Andrew Bogut (if healthy) is a good enough interior defender to make up for some defensive mistakes.  Really though, having four players who can all dribble, create, and shoot is something few teams have, and any time all four of those guys are on the floor it should be fun to watch.  Possibly on both ends.

7.  Milwaukee, oh Milwaukee.  First they made a trade towards the end of last season to acquire J.J. Redick, giving Tobias Harris to Orlando.  Harris, who averaged less than 12 minutes per game with the Bucks, was given starter's minutes in Orlando and went on to average 17 pts and 9 rebounds per game.  The Bucks just traded Redick (in a sign and trade) and received two second-round picks in return.  Then Monta Ellis opted out of his deal, which might actually be a good thing, but also means the Bucks have to find a way to replace some production all while with the handicap of selling Milwaukee to free agents.

Their big moves so far have been to sign O.J. Mayo, Zaza Pachulia, and Carlos Delfino - essentially a sixth man and two back-ups.  Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis (he gone), and Mike Dunleavey (he gone) were the team's top 3 scorers last year and now all three may be gone depending on what Jennings ends up doing.  Essentially the team is a bunch of so-so big men (John Henson is probably the best or at least has the most potential depending on what you think of Larry Sanders whose name does not actually have to be capitalized nerds) and Ish Smith.  This is either completely pathetic, or a genius realization that they're never going to be able to build a contending team through free agency and are in full on tank mode.  Given that we're talking Wisconsin, they're probably just drunk.

8.  We all know that the Lakers are somehow going to end up with Andrew Wiggins in next year's draft, right?  That's just how it happens.  If their smart they'll amnesty Kobe (since he is taking up nearly half of their cap room) trade Nash to Dallas for the heart warming Dirk/Nash reunion, trade Gasol and World Peace for whatever they can get and completely bottom out and hope for Wiggins.  What they will do is continue trotting out a lineup completely mismatched to D'Antoni's system which will be mismatched because Kobe will rush himself back by the season opener and they'll end up missing the playoffs by just a couple games and then win the lottery anyway because the NBA is rigged and everybody knows it.  Fact.

Who could say no to this?

6 Very Important Things from Last Night

Remember last year there was that very exciting 2-week or so period where I was writing daily posts so you worker drones would have something to do while you drink your coffee at your desk every morning?   And then my stupid second baby was born and that all went right out the window?  Well, I'm bringing it back.  Daily posts, either regular type posts or, if I don't have anything I'm thinking about writing about, I'll do it in this "6 things" list format.  Starting today and going until I get bored or lazy.

1. Drew Butera is my hero.  Mauer schmauer, who needs 'em?  The Twinks won their second straight, beating the Orioles 5-3 last night and giving Francisco Liriano his first win of the season.  Matt Capps tried to blow the game in the ninth by giving up a crushed home run to Luke Scott, but it turns out when you're up by three no matter how long of a home run you give up it's still only worth one point.

The real story of the game, however, was "no hit" Butera who went 2-4 with a career high three RBI, two coming on a big double in the second to give the Twins the lead, and the last one coming in the ninth, helping to give the Twins in a little insurance, something they will always need since they have the world's worst bullpen.  So a multi-hit game with three RBI, clutch hits, zero stolen bases by Baltimore probably because they were too afraid to run on his cannon arm, and such an outstanding ability to all a game that he made Francisco Liriano, Jose Mijares, and Jim Hoey all good, and Matt Capps only allowed one run which I assume is a season best?  I think this might be the Joe Mauer we always wanted, and without all the little baby injuries and "viruses."  With the DH spot already locked up I think it's time we start exploring trading him before it's too late.  I'll have to have a post later this week looking at what the Twins might be able to get for Mauer.  Stay tuned.

2.  Harrison Barnes is coming back.  Yep, Barnes, a consensus top-3 pick in the NBA draft, will be returning to North Carolina for his sophomore hoops season.  The effect of this is two-fold.  First, with John Henson and Tyler Zeller also staying in school plus the additions of James McAdoo (Rivals #8 overall player nationally and a guy who is just going to be ridiculous), P.J. Hairston (#14 nationally), and Desmond Hubert(#15 Center), the Tar Heels are going to be the prohibitive favorite to win the National Title (although if Kendall Marshall gets hurt it's over for them - he's the single most important player in college basketball next year).  The second, and more Minnesota-centric, effect is that this year's NBA draft is going to completely suck.  With Barnes, Baylor's Perry Jones, and Ohio State's Jared Sullinger all staying in school the only real blue-chippers are Arizona's Derrick Williams and Duke's Kyrie Irving.  We've all been here before.  Pencil the Wolves in for the third pick.  And of course with next year shaping up to be one of the deepest and best classes in recent memory the Wolves have already traded their pick.  Oof.

3.  This guy who was almost a Twin can really hit the ball.  And he's a shortstop.  You may remember the name Jed Lowrie, because he was part of the package the Red Sox offered the Twins for Johan Santana way back when.  The full offer was Lowrie, Jon freaking Lester, Justin Masterson, and Coco Crisp.  Lowrie is currently hitting .516 with 2 home runs after going 4-5 with a dinger today in the Red Sox 9-0 thumping of Toronto, and would be leading the league in average with just a few more plate appearances (not to mention he'd be tied for the team lead in homers if he was a Twin) and is starting to look like a potential franchise type shortstop.

Which means that with a different decision, Johan could have netted the Twins a possible franchise shortstop, a #1/#2 type starter, a potential #3/#4 type starter (depending on your opinion of Masterson), and another outfielder who could have been a trade chip, made someone else a trade chip, or at a minimum might have stopped the Twins from picking up Cuddy Bear's option which pays him $11 fucking million this year to hit singles.  Instead, they ended up netting out with two crappy relievers the Orioles didn't want (yes Hoey looked ok last night) and a pitching prospect who lost velocity and can't get out of double-A.  I know hindsight is 20/20, and I know that according to prospect rankings the trade with the Mets looked about on par with the Sox trade, but god damn it does it rankle me every time I see Lowrie or Lester do well.  Imagine how much better this team would be if that was the trade they made.  I'm going to go light something on fire.   

4.  Use up that $2.27 million signing bonus already?  In what can only be described as "totally fucking bizarre", Cincinnati Reds second year pitcher Mike Leake was arrested for stealing $60 worth of shirts from Macy's.  I totally don't get it because first of all Leake's signing bonus a year and a half ago was $2.27 million.  Second, he is making $425 million this year.  Third, he stole six shirts whose total cost was $59.98, or under 10 bucks a piece.  Fourth, the guy is a total stud and is soon, within the next couple few years, going to end up signing a nice big contract.  Fifth, what the fuck?   And finally, these are apparently the brand of shirts he was stealing.  What the hell?  You're telling me you can't just go down to ragstock or the salvation army and get the same thing for like a buck a piece?

Only two possible explanations here.  First, Leake must be a huge pothead and was just confused. like Smokey after he ate too much corn.  If I may be allowed to generalize and stereotype, Leake has surfer hair and went to Arizona State, so I'll assume he's not unfamiliar with the herb.  Plus he went straight to the pros from the minors so he hasn't really had any time to "grow-up" or "be poor", if you will.  The second possibility is that Macy's is somehow infested with a demon that causes athletes to steal even when it's the dumbest thing they could possibly do.  Is it possible that Royce White was really innocent and it was just some evil force that made him try to steal those pants and push that old man?  Maybe Fred Hoiberg is a secret Choctaw shaman who was able to recognize that Royce was good at heart and was just possessed, cast out the demon, and is now ready to reap the rewards of an All-American season.  Stupid Baptist Tubby.  I bet if they had hired Archambeau he'd be all over this.

5.  Look out, world.  Here comes Pricey.  Tampa's David Price burst onto the scene in the 2008 playoffs, had a decent rookie year, then last year finished second in the Cy Young balloting, so his slow start this year was a bit puzzling.  Well you can stop worrying so much, because he completely shut down the Sox last night, going 8 shut-out innings, allowing just four hits and striking out nine.  That's the Price I'm talkin' about.  Plus he did it to the White Sox, the most evil team in the history of evil, even worse than the Nazis or Packers.  Does this make David Price some kind of Angel or maybe God?  But in November of 2007 the owner dude changed the team name from Devil Rays to Rays, just three short months after they drafted and signed Price.  Coincidence?  You tell me, Robert Stack.  You tell me.

6.  The Pacers almost did it again.  For the second straight game the Pacers looked like they might be in position to steal a win in Chicago, and for the second straight game Derrick Rose said "No soup for you."  Seriously, this guy is ridiculous and completely unguardable.  When it gets down to it in the fourth Chicago justs shifts into the "give Rose the ball and everybody get out of the way" offense and he gets to the rim and either finishes, gets fouled, or finds an open teammate - and nobody on the Pacers can keep him out of the lane.  Last night he scored 14 of his 36 in the fourth quarter, similar to Game 1 when he scored 9 of his 37 in the quarter and came up with the game's biggest play on an assist to Kyle Korver for a three to give the Bulls the lead.  Completely ridiculous.  This is just like watching me play at the Y - completely unstoppable.

Week in Review - 02.07.11

 Well that was pretty thoroughly depressing.  Ohio State completely controlled that game the whole way and, just in case you were starting to suffer from delusions of grandeur, reminded you that the Gophers are completely mediocre, and nothing more than first round fodder for a good team to take down.  Chip Armelin played his ass off and made me love him even more than I already do, Hoff always plays hard, and Mbakwe is still a beast, but god most of these guys drive me crazy.  Ralph had a good statistical game, but I swear he suffers from some sort of modified form of narcolepsy where instead of falling asleep he just falls into a general malaise, and I think Rodney Williams sometimes forgets he's actually playing a basketball game for real and isn't just messing around with some buddies at the gym.  And for a "tough guy" Iverson has periods where he's as soft as new born baby.

Terrible defense yesterday, too.  How many open layups and dunks did Ohio State get, my god.  And most of those were off of poor decisions or poor effort.  And did they really need to double-down every time anybody got the ball in the post?  Ohio State shoots way too well for that.  And why did Hoff disappear for about 8 minutes of game time in the middle of the second half?  I just don't get how this game unfolded.  Yeah, Ohio State is far more talented and just an overall better team, but the Gophers didn't even bother to put up a fight, and just gave the damn thing away.  I think the upside for this season has now shifted to a first round NCAA win.  Let's hope they can get that done.  And also maybe pick up a point guard from somewhere.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Florida Gators.  Pretty much gotta be the team of the week, and for good reason.  If you can admit that Tennessee and the whole SEC West sucks then there are only three good teams in the conference:  Florida, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky.  And guess who Florida beat this week?  Yep, Vandy and Kentucky.  Both wins came at home, so it isn't an earth-shaking pair of victories, but it's always nice to assert yourself and win at home.  I still think Vandy is probably the best team in this conference, but I think Florida is probably better than Kentucky.  Those two chuckers they play at guard make me awfully nervous, but I think Chandler Parsons, though having the name of a rich gay guy, is the kind of all-around player who can step up and help carry a team in March.  Assuming they aren't completely shot out of the game those two chuckleheads.

2.  Arizona Wildcats.  Guess who's leading the Pac-10?  It's not Washington because they suck, but Arizona was able to take care of business this week, winning both games on their North California swing versus Stanford and Cal.  It's not really any great shakes beating either of those squads, especially when it takes you triple OT to beat the Bears, but they were able to win two road games, something those donkeys from Washington couldn't handle.  Derrick Williams is a really, really good player, but he doesn't have much help which means Zona is heading towards a nice first round exit come March.  But at least that first round exit will happen in the NCAAs, not the NIT.  Probably.

3.  Harrison Barnes.  He started as a well-publicized All-American as a freshman, quickly became the poster child for overhyped, overrated, freshmen who get too much press despite not having accomplished anything yet, but at this point he's finally starting to look like he might be getting it, and the Tar Heels are clicking.  Barnes helped lead UNC to a big road win over Boston College earlier this week, scoring 26 points on 9-16 shooting, and then followed that up with a nice 17 and 10 outing against Florida State - an excellent defensive squad (and those come after a 25-point night against NC State last week).  With him coming around and Kendall Marshall filling in nicely as the starting PG after Larry Drew's departure (he had 16 assists in that FSU game), the Heels are suddenly looking like a threat, and making the Gophers' March resume look better.  

4.  Wisconsin Badgers.  I don't much like to praise anything or anybody from, affiliated with, or who has heard of Wisconsin, but it's time to give credit to the Badgers who, after beating Purdue and then soundly thrashing Michigan State have laid out a pretty convincing case to be the #2 team in the conference.  Looking back at their record their three losses were on the road against a very hot and dangerous Penn State (except this weekend against Michigan, LOL), on a neutral court against a now top-10 Notre Dame, and in Vegas against UNLV - potentially all three NCAA teams, although it looks bleak for the Nittany Lions right now.  And all this with only two players who don't trip over their own feet at least three times a day.  Maybe Bo Ryan really is some kind of wizardly grinch.

5.  Syracuse Orange.  What's a damn good way to stop a four-game losing streak that followed an 18 game winning streak and included a home loss to Seton Hall?  How about going up to Storrs, Connecticut and beating the #7 team in the country in their own place?  Rick Jackson had another double-double (his 16th), but Scoop Jardine and Fab Melo still sucked, and then those two still sucked against South Florida on Saturday, even thought the Orange won.  So even though this entry is about how awesome Syracuse was, I'm also saying that unless Scoop remembers how to shoot or they get anything out of Melo, they aren't really a March threat. 


WHO SUCKED

1.  Washington Huskies.  Way to go, dingleberries.  The easiest road trip in the Pac-10 is to Oregon, where the Ducks and Beavers might be the second and third worst team in the conference (Ariz State is #1, hands down), so what does Warshington do on their trip this week?  Drop both games to fall out of first place, losing by 13 to Oregon State and 5 to the regular Oregon.  Special shout out to Isaiah Thomas, who shot 2-11 with 7 turnovers against State, practically giving the game away single-handedly.  Maybe he's the one who's point-shaving?  With five home games left and just two roadies (the Arizona trip) their still in good shape, if not to overtake Arizona at least to grab an at large bid in March thankfully, because there's not much that's more fun than watching Washington circus ball. 

2.  Michigan State Spartans.  What else is there left to write?  They lost to Iowa by 20, and then got smoked by Wisconsin by almost 30.  I don't know what you call it when you fall further than rock bottom, but whatever it is that's where you'd find Sparty right now.  I can't imagine being a fan of there's right now, must be brutally frustrating.

3.  Demetri McCamey.  You guys know this guy sucks, right?  I know his overall numbers for the season look good, but in his last seven games he's shot 20 for 69, turned it over 22 times, and basically kicked away the game a handful of times.  I can't get over it, and mostly I can't get over how at the end of the Indiana game they used Brandon Paul to run their offense instead of their "point" guard.  I am going to be everything I own against them in March.

4.  Baylor Bears.  Seriously?  I mean seriously?  An elite 8 team last year that brought in one of the best freshmen in the country, and you can't even beat Oklahoma or manage a better than .500 record in the Big 12, which has like, 3 good teams?  Iowa State's only conference victory is over Baylor, and they haven't beaten anybody with a pulse this entire year, generally preferring to not even compete.  Damn it, this team was set up for a very successful season.  They only player they lost was Tweety Carter, and he can't mean anything since the only person nicknamed Tweety who every mattered at all was this chick from my high school who got her nipple pierced and then let me see it.  Just so frustrating.  I thought getting them at 30-1 to win the whole thing was a steal.  Turns out, 30-1 to make the tournament at all might have been poor odds.  And yes I know they helped themselves out with a nice win over A&M on Saturday, but I already wrote all that so it stays.

5.  Texas A&M Aggies.  Speaking of A&M, they did a hell of a job of making sure nobody would make the mistake of thinking they were an elite team ever again.  They were ranked 10th before losing at Nebraska last week, but had a couple of big home games this week that could have helped to cancel that one out.  First they had a huge chance to make a statement with a home game against #3 Texas, but apparently couldn't get up for their hated rival and got blown out 69-49, helped out by their stud Khris Middleton going 0-9 from the floor.  Then they followed that up by losing, again at home, to the basically worthless Baylor Bears.  Just an ugly week, and now they go on the road to Texas Tech and Colorado, games they should win, but then again this could be the beginning of their shame spiral.  Not too dissimilar to the Gophers actually.


Pretty good little Super Bowl, too.  Even though I hate Wisconsin and everything in it, this version of the Packers is easily the least offensive I can ever remember, so their win doesn't kill me inside like it did last time they won.  The only Packer I really hate now is A.J. Hawk, who completely sucks at football but saw how good Clay Matthews is and decided to copy his girlie hair so instead of pointing out how bad he was, maybe people who start referring to them as a tandem and Matthews could save his career.  And it worked.  Way to go, girl.

No, it didn't bug me that they won, and it was a pretty good and entertaining game that I made a little money on (for the second year in a row I lost my game bet but more than made up for it on props - Orange Gatorade, baby!), so I'm pretty satisfied with that part.  The overall production though?  Oof.  The halftime show was completely brutal and other than the Darth Vader commercial overall they were pretty lame, but the worst part of the night was by far how this:

has somehow morphed into Cyndi Lauper.  Seriously, her transition from dream girl to no thank you is nearly complete.  Won't someone step in to prevent this national tragedy?

Minnesota Gophers vs. North Carolina Tar Heels Game Diary

Your Minnesota Gophers taking on the #8 North Carolina Tar Heels in Puerto Rico.  What's more fun that this?  So of course I'm gonna write some stuff.

19:36 - Good Gopher defense leads to a UNC turnover.  That needs to happen a lot for the Gophers to have a chance here.

19:00 - Another UNC turnover, an airball by Rodney, a missed UNC layup, and a charge on Nolen.  This is ugly.  Fast-paced, but ugly. 

18:03 - Interesting to note that the Heels struggled a bit with Hofstra's zone yesterday - well, as much as you can struggle when you win by 40 - yet the Gophers are going man-to-man here.  If it's to negate the size of the Heels it isn't working.  Zeller has a jumper and UNC's other bucket is off an offensive board.  4-1 Heels.

17:22 - Ralph hits that 16 footer.  I love when he hits that when it's given to him.  As long as he doesn't fall in love with it and turn into a Rickert - which was a problem last year - I love his versatility.

16:30 - Heels go with a half-court trap, which leads to a wide open three for Hoff, which he, of course, nails.  Bring it, Carolina.  Now Justin Knox picks up his second foul, and Zeller has two as well.  Excellent.  7-4 Gophers as we go to the under 16 timeout.

15:50 - Tubby goes with an entire second five here, which causes me to ask, "Is Tubby Smith functionally retarded?"  Four freshman, including Maverick, and Iverson against North Carolina?  This is basically free reign for Carolina to take back the lead.

15:14 - Maverick travels.

15:02 - Henson blows right past Walker and draws a foul.  Makes 1 of 2.  7-5 Gophers.

14:47 - Good pass goes right through Iverson's hands to Carolina.

14:14 - Travel on Armelin.  This is going swimmingly.

13:19 - Terrible pass by Hollins leads to a dunk by the Heels.  7-7.

13:01 - Walker hookshot hits nothing but back board.  Layup by Zeller.  9-7 Carolina.  You know what is so retarded?  You can actually take one or two starters out and leave three others in the game.  You don't actually have to take all five out at a time.  So stupid.  Does he think he's playing South Dakota?  You can't put that lineup out there against Carolina.  Luckily most of the starters are now back in.

11:42 - I think Strickland can actually stick with Nolen off the dribble.  You don't see that very often.

11:26 - Clear goal tend on a layup by Nolen.  No call.  Looks like the refs are wearing their Carolina blue t-shirts under their stripes tonight.  Announcers don't even mention the goal tend.  This is a conspiracy.  Just like in that movie Conspiracy Theory.

10:27 - Mbakwe goes over everybody for an offensive board, and is fouled and sent to the line.  That should be one of two.

10:27 - Nope, 2-of-2, no rims hit.  13-12 Heels.

9:57 - Ralph from 14 after an o-board.  Looking like he's legit

9:13 - Waaaaaaaaay too many offensive rebounds for Carolina.  They missed three three-pointers on that possession, and must have nearly double-digit offensive rebounds already.  That's gotta stop.

7:38 - Iverson showing his value, and he seems to be the only one who can keep Carolina from getting any offensive rebounds.  Still a brick wall on offense.  And that 5-second call on Mbakwe is the Gophers' ninth turnover already.  Turnovers and allowing offensive rebounds.  That's like the arsenic and cyanide of a successful basketball team.

6:03 - Another turnover leads to a Carolina dunk, and it's suddenly 21-16 UNC.  Tubby wisely calls timeout, and it's time, right now, to do something good before this turns into a rout.

5:37 - Hollins fouled on a three-pointer.  Makes 1.  If turnovers and o-boards are arsenic and cyanide, missing free throws is like swallowing a nuclear warhead.

5:24 - Armelin airballs a free throw.  Jesus jumped on christ on a broken bar stool.  He then clangs the next one.  It's a free throw, geniuses.  Nobody is even playing defense.  That would be like hitting a baseball off a tee with nobody playing defense and not being able to get a single (NOTE:  Nick Punto doesn't count).

4:00 - North Carolina is on a whole different level of athletic.

3:38 - Harrison Barnes just made two free throws for his first two points of the night.  If nothing else they are doing a great job on him.  Both Rodney when he's matched up individually and as a team, helping out when he drives or posts.  Of course, he's not doing himself any favors by immediately passing it off when he's got Hoffarber on him one-on-one.  Might want to start recognizing that kind of thing, Harry.

2:52 - Hoffarber is like 1-50 from three tonight.  Also Barnes is faking an injury since he's playing so poorly.

1:46 - Now 2 for 51.  23-22 Carolina.

0:42 - Wow, another terrible call on a backcourt violation that was called on the Gophers but was clearly tipped by Carolina.  I mean clearly and obviously.  Once again, the announcers don't say a god damn word.  I can't decide if these guys are biased or just completely fucking incompetent.  Seriously, how do you get an announcing job?  95% of these guys are dumb as hell and I think half of them don't even understand the game.

0:02 - Blake now 3 for 52.  27-24 Gophers.

HALF - Wow, hell of a half.  Blake, Ralph, and Mbakwe all carried the offense at times, but Iverson might have been the MVP of the half.  The only times Carolina didn't completely own the offensive glass was when Colt was in.  Gophers are right there, man.  Keep them off the boards and stop freaking turning it over every other possession and they could end up with a huge win.

19:36 - Mbakwe wide open for an alley oop and Ralph overthrows him by about 10 feet.  Damn. 

19:04 -  Hoff with another one.  My Hoffboner is growing.

18:24 - Ralph for three.  My hoffboner is only surpassed by my Ralphrection.

17:28 - Barnes is brutal right now.  He's 0-7 on the game, and he's had some decent looks.  How he was named a preseason All-American and Ralph wasn't is a completely mystery.  Well, not really.  Damn east coast bias.

16:38 - Alley oop to Henson.  100% Ralph's fault.  He's in the middle of the zone and he let himself get sealed off away from the basket.  Can't do that.

15:56 - Just saw Corey Joseph be a huge jackass in their game.  Ha ha.  Also got two texts (from Snacks and Grandslam) to that affect.

15:21 - Some genius just fouled Iverson 28 feet from the basket.  Right where he's most dangerous.

15:04 -  Hoffarber on Barnes again.  Barnes gets the ball on the wing, one-on-one position.  Rather than doing anything intelligent he takes a three-pointer, which he clangs off.  Huge break for the Gophers that his basketball IQ is right around a six.

12:55 -  Mbakwe just abused Henson.  God he's so awesome.  He's like Randy Carter if Carter wasn't such a little girl in the lane.  Gophers up 41-36.  Still waiting for the inevitable meltdown.

11:34 - Nolen airballs a three, then Rodney airballs the follow.  Feels like this could be it right here.  Jesus.

11:09 - Tie game.

10:46 - HOFFDADDY!!!

9:46 -  Oh my god Mbakwe.  He just dunked on everybody's face from a standing position.  I don't believe the Gophers have EVER had a player who could do that.

8:42 -  Hoff for 2.  I feel like he let me down.  50-43 Gophers.  I feel some excitement starting to build.  Luckily I have a lot of experience quashing optimism being a Minnesota fan my whole life.

8:42 -  I'm going to see Harry Potter tomorrow morning.  Stoked.

8:11 -  Rodney with a very nice drive.  Suck it Harrison.

7:52 -  Tyler Zeller has the second best hook shot in all of the NCAA.  Ralph is first of course.  And you now damn well this game is going to come down to if the Gophers can make their free throws.  How does that make you feel?

7:03 -  I just said "Oh my god" out loud after Rodney's offensive rebound tip dunk like I was a black dude in a movie theater.

6:40 -  So I started up a Fantasy Big Ten Hoops League with some of the all-stars from this blog:  Snacks, Bogart, Dawger, Snake, Optimator, Grand Slam, and Elk.  My team is Shurna, Buford, Nolen, Roe, Gatens, and Novak.  I'm definitely winning.  Although I think Dawger's pick of Hoff in the third round, a pick we all kind of giggled about being too early, might actually end up being the steal of the draft.  I know Snacks is already trying to work a trade.

5:00 - A few free-throws and a lay-up and it's now 58-55 Minnesota.  They withstood one UNC run, can they withstand another?

4:38 - NOLEN FOR THREE!!!

4:02 - Nolen now to the line for a one-and-one.  These are huge.

4:02 - Makes just one.  Gophers up 62-55.

3:46 - Feel free to get Mo Walker out of the game any time.

3:15 - Nolen just rips the rebound away from Zeller.  God I love good Al Nolen.

3:00 - Can anybody explain to me why Walker shot a three-pointer just then?  And then he fouls Zeller who can now make a three-point play.  That's a six point swing in the negative direction all by himself.  God fuckin' dammit. 

2:39 -  Heels foul Hoffarber, the only guy who can make free throws.  Hits both, 64-59 Gophers.

2:15 -  When the Gophers have their starters out there their 2-3 zone is pretty incredible.  They might not be as fast or athletic as some other teams, but they are definitely quick, and in that 2-3 that's all you need.  And as I type, steal by Nolen.  Ends up with Colton at the line for two.  Come on, bricklayer.  One time.

1:47 - Hits both.  Holy shit.  WTF?

1:16 -  Rodney with a nearly insane dunk over Zeller where he hung in the air for something like 17 seconds.  Now at the line.  Makes both 68-59.

0:56 -  Barnes now 0-12 for the game.  Foul sends Hoff to the line.  Guess who told all you dickholes the Gophers were going to win?  Yep.  Me.  I'm a god damn basketball Einstein.

0:42 -  Carolina hits a jumper to make it 69-61.  I am now terrified I opened my mouth too soon and they're going to find a way to blow this.

0:37 -  Somehow Iverson falls down.  Ball back to Carolina.  Oh god.  It's happening.

0:32 - Sampson fouls Barnes, which means he's fouled out and also that Carolina can put up two points with only five seconds coming off the clock. 

0:28 - Iverson dunk. I'm actually kind of surprised he didn't miss.  Carolina hits a triple on the other end, and it's a 71-65 game with 20 seconds left.  They can't lose this, right?  Right?

0:12 - Somehow Carolina lets 8 seconds run off before fouling Nolen.  At this point just make one and that's ballgame.  And there it is.  Sweet.

0:00 - Ballgame.  72-67 Gophers. 

Now it's on to West Virginia for the championship, and honestly it doesn't really matter what happens this trip was now definitely a success.  Huge win, and basically guarantees the Gophers are about to be ranked.  I'm stoked, kids.  Full on stoked. 

Big Ten Wrap-up, 11/8/2010

Last week the rest of the Big Ten team's kicked off their exhibition slates (Illinois started the week before) and every team in the conference played a game.  Surprise!  They went 11-0, with only Illinois struggling in their game (and Michigan, but they suck).  It doesn't really tell us much as far as beating up on this level of competition but we can find some player trends that can be interesting.  You can find my thoughts on your beloved Gopher hoopsters here, but there were some interesting developments from other teams:

• Illinois turned the ball over 20 and 23 times in their two exhibition games, leading to smaller than expected winning margins (10 and 9 points).  I expect this to be their achilles heel throughout the year, since they haven't had an actual point guard since Chester Frazier graduated.  And yes, I'm aware Demetri McCamey led the Big Ten in assists last year.  I don't care.  You will never convince me he's an actual point guard. 
• Maurice Creek scored 16 points in 20 minutes during Indiana's win over Franklin College.  It's not so much the dominating inferior competition, as it is coming back from a big time knee injury to take a team-high 14 shots in only 20 minutes that tells me he's being aggressive, which likely means there are no lingering issues.
• I was wondering if Purdue would end up with a third scorer emerging or if it would be a collective Robbie Hummel pick-me-up, and the first game was a collective effort with six guys scoring between six and nine points in their game against Indianapolis (Moore and Johnson led with 11 and 13), including talented freshmen Terone and Anthony Johnson.
• Draymond Green has added the three-point shot to his repertoire.  Last year Green shot just 16 three-pointers all year, making two.  Last week in Michigan State's game against Saginaw Valley State he shot three, making two.  Interesting.  Also if he and Maurice Walker ever guard each other in a game that floor is caving in.
• Jershon Cobb is going to make an impact for Northwestern after starting and scoring 12 points in 21 minutes.  He's a top 150 recruit in the country, I'm assuming the first for the Wildcats, and they're looking to him immediately, which makes me think he's probably as good as advertised.  Adding a fourth scorer makes Northwestern far more dangerous and far more relevant.  
• Tim Hardaway, Jr. is certainly not afraid to shoot, and I'm guessing he's going to kill the Wolverines more than once this year.  Despite shooting 1-7 from three and 2-10 overall he led the team in shot attempts and three-point attempts.  
• John Gasser might be the non-descript, non-heraled white freshman who makes the biggest splash for the Badgers this year.  He led Wisconsin freshmen in minutes (20) and points (9), and fun fact:  he's from Port Washington, Wisconsin, which is where the hit TV show Step-by-Step took place.  I always loved Al.  Once she got old enough, I mean.

• Talor Battle is still not getting any help from his front court.  Their senior starting trio tallied just a combined 18 points against a severly undersized East Stroudsberg team with nobody over 6-6 on the roster.  If Penn State is going to make a surprising run to an NCAA bid, Battle's going to need somebody to help out in the paint.  This doesn't bode well.
• I mentioned in my Big Ten preview that the one big weakness for the Buckeyes could be a point guard, but it perhaps freshman Aaron Craft is up for the task because he notched 8 assists to go along with 12 points in the Ohio State rout of Walsh.  It's also tough to get a true gauge on somebody's value when their team wins 102-56, and Adam Boone once looked like the next Magic in an exhibition game, but this certainly isn't a bad sign for OSU. 
• Iowa is still terrible, even if they did manage to win by 45.  And Eric May will probably have to carry the team.  Have fun with that.

So, you see, there are a few nuggets we can take from these games.  Some may be indicators of the future, while some may not, but what the hell, we're just here chat anyway.

COMING UP THIS WEEK

Illinois gets things rolling in the 2k Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, playing UC-Irvine tonight and Toledo on Wednesday as the 2010-2011 College Basketball season gets officially rolling.  Other Big Ten teams play their final exhibition tune-ups during the week before getting things started for real over the weekend, mainly versus cupcake city.  The only two games that could be remotely competitive are the Gophers vs. Wofford and Northwestern vs. Northern Illinois.  Wofford won the Southern Conference last year, almost upset Wisconsin in round 1 of the NCAA Tournament, and return four starters including conference POY (and Minnesota boy) Noah Dahlman.  It should be a good test to see exactly where the Gophers stand this year.  Northwestern vs. NIU is only interesting because it's rare a Big Ten team opens on the road, but the Wildcats should be able to handle them without issue.

AROUND THE NATION  

Still no real games, just a bunch of exhibitions that nobody really reports on unless it's Duke, so no real comments here.  Of note though is the play of Harrison Barnes, a preseason All-American as a freshman.  Let's just say he didn't exactly live up to the hype in his first exhibition game, tallying just .

Coming up, the season gets started for Pitt, Texas, and Maryland early as they join Illinois in the Coaches vs. Cancer tourney and tip-off Monday, with Pitt facing a good tester right out of the box in Rhode Island.  Then everybody gets going over the weekend, with the best games probably Seton Hall @ Temple, Georgetown @ Old Dominion, and Northern Iowa @ Syracuse on Friday, San Diego State @ Long Beach State and Weber State @ Utah State on Saturday, and South Dakota State @ Iowa on Sunday (LOL, at least it should be competitive).

College hoops is here.  It's finally here.

Finally, here are the futures bets I've got for the season. If you can still get any of these teams at anywhere near these odds I would highly recommend jumping on them, although most of them have come considerably down. Because I'm a genius.


TO WIN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP:
Washington 60-1
Minnesota 150-1
Virginia Tech 200-1
San Diego State 100-1
NC State 200-1
Arizona 100-1
Baylor 30-1

TO WIN CONFERENCE REGULAR SEASON TITLE:
Minnesota 12-1 (BIG TEN)
St. Johns 12-1 (BIG EAST)
Missouri 6-1 (BIG 12)

I also kind of like NC State in the ACC at 8-1, but Duke is so loaded this year it's basically throwing money away betting against them.

Week in Review - 4/4/2010

Baseball baseball baseball baseball baseball.  Seriously, this NCAA hoops championship matchup really sucks, but at least we have baseball.  Hell, I even enjoyed the hell out of the Yankees/Red Sox last night, and usually I'd rather die than watch those two teams play.  Now, if some of their fans want to go at it, who am I to stand in the way?

God bless baseball.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Harrison Barnes.  Did you happen to check out any of the McDonald's All-Star festivities this week?  If you did, you would have definitely noticed Harrison Barnes.  First was all the goofy stuff, in which Mr. Barnes finished third in the three-point competition and third in the skills competition while eschewing the dunk contest because he was too pimp and knows that dunk contests are for the same people who love monster truck rallies and Big Buck Hunter.  Then he went out and dominated the actual all-star game, scoring 18 points and grabbing I think something like 40 rebounds.  He is going to be a beast.  Remember the part where I said he finished third in both the skills competition and the three-point contest?  Yeah, he's also 6-7.  And I read where somebody called him "the most competitive high-school player since Kobe Bryant."  I have no idea what that means since I never saw Kobe in high school, but I have to imagine it's some kind of compliment.  Should've picked the Gophers, Harrison.  Your bad.

I should also mention that soon to be Duke PG Kyrie Irving's favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, which automatically means I'm a big fan of his and he's now my second all-time favorite Dookie behind Ricky Price, who was god on Coach K for the Genesis.

2.  Missouri State/Virginia Commonwealth.  Congrats to these two teams for winning their tournaments, Mizz State the CIT and VCU the CBI.  Unlike the NIT you can actually take pride in winning these two tournaments (more on that below).  Your team sucked and wasn't worthy of an NCAA bid and probably had no shot since day one, but you get to keep playing against other semi-crappy teams and if you win you've proven you're the best of the lousiest.  Hey, it's something.  Better than being Iowa.

3.  Eric Hayes.  I know you don't know who this is, so I'll just tell you.  He's a graduating senior guard on Maryland who averaged 11 pts and 4 assists per game this season, but more importantly he took his 45% three-point shooting to the NCAA Three-point contest earlier this week and won the whole thing, and dominated while doing it.  He posted the best score in each of the three rounds while shooting his way past guys like Ryan Wittman, Jason Bohannon, and other assorted whities to grab the title and join the prestigious list of past winners which includes nobody who I can remember right now.  And that's really I have to say about Eric Hayes.  You can expect Blake to be in this thing next year.

4.  Butler.  I have no idea why I'm not solidly behind Butler.  I mean, I'll be rooting for them since they're playing Duke who are all gays or jerks or gay jerks, but I'm just not buying into the whole underdog thing.  Maybe it's too much of being shoved down my throat and all the retarded comparisons to Hoosiers.  I don't know.  I just know that I'm not a Butler fan.  Except for tonight.  Tonight I will be praying to god that Butler wins, and you know God cares about this one because everybody knows Duke is Satan's team.

5.  The Taco Hawks.  Seriously you guys, me and Snake's Fantasy Baseball team (named after former WKU star Orlando Mendez-Valdez) is just stacked.  Check this out:
C - Matt Wieters.  See here
1B - Justin Morneau - 30 homers + fun factor?  Perfect.
2B - Rickie Weeks - he walks often and has power, expect a big year after his injury last season
3B - Evan Longoria - you know you have a crush on him too
SS - Jason Bartlett - last year wasn't a fluke.  Nice trade, Twins.
OF - Matt Kemp - 30/30 is his downside
OF - BJ Upton - he's back, baby.
OF - Jason Kubel - yet another MVP candidate on our team
UT - Billy Butler - keeps getting better

SP - Zach Grienke - will probably win 20 even on that shitty team
SP - Cole Hamels - thanks for letting him slide, draft-mates
SP - Chad Billingsley - a lock for 20 wins
SP - Tommy Hansen - stud
SP - Matt Garza - yes, that's five Cy Young candidates on our team
RP - Rafael Soriano - plenty of chances for saves with the Rays
RP - Jon Rauch - Believe it.

And that's without even getting into the potential breakout pitchers on our bench - Stephen Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner.

I told you - we're stacked..  And we did it without a single Yankee, Red Sock, or White Sock, so there are no dirty feelings.  Although you should know Snake was pushing to take Jeter around the fourth or fifth round.  Ick.


WHO SUCKED

1.  J'mison Morgan.  No, he's not here for that horrendous spelling of his name, but because he seems like he might be following the Jaron Rush school of squandering your talent.  Morgan was the #25 recruit coming out two years ago and the #4 center in his class.  Since signing with UCLA, however, he hasn't done much and was dismissed from the team earlier this week.  Morgan was suspended for a game in early March for missing a meeting and didn't play in either of the Bruins Pac-10 Tournament games, and pretty much struggled with being fat all season long.  When he did play he didn't do much, averaging just 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game over his two years, with career highs of 8 points and 4 rebounds.  UCLA has now lost Morgan and Drew Gordon this season, but honestly they're probably better off.  Howland really needs to recalibrate his recruitilizer before he ends up without a team.  I hear Monson is gunning for the UCLA job.  Also nice name, jackass.

2.  Dayton.  I know that I've ever said anything good about Dayton, and I'm not going to start now just because they won the NIT.  Hey morons, how about you play like this during the season, actually live up to expectations and make the NCAA Tournament instead of winning something that almost ten people in the whole world even know is going on.  Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, and Chris Johnson all had a couple of really nice games in Madison Square Garden in the Flyers' wins over Ole Miss and UNC, but where were you all season long?  If you were a little more consistent you wouldn't have lost to St. Louis.  Or Duquesne.  Or St. Joe's.  I swear winning the NIT is nothing more than a reminder that your team shit the bed and way underachieved all season long.

3.  West Virginia.  Da'Sean Butler didn't bother to show up until the game was mostly out of hand, the Mountaineers played basically zero defense and little offense, they couldn't keep Zoubek off the glass, and for some unfathomable reason Bobby Huggins never went with the 1-3-1, despite the fact that it was the team's go-to defense all year long and that man-to-man was doing nothing but giving Duke wide open looks.  If you were worried about going zone against a team with shooters like Duke, trust me, they couldn't have gotten more open.  Just an ugly, crappy, shitty game by a Mountaineer team that on Saturday didn't come close to resembling the team they were all season long.  Ugly. 

4.  Chicago Cubs.  Guess who the Cubbies' fourth starter is this year?  Come on, guess.  You'll never get it.  It's Carlos Silva.  It seems he's not only still in baseball, which seemed unlikely enough, but also beat out Jeff Samardzjia and Sean Marshall, which means those two should probably start considering killing themselves - or, failing that obvious move, retire.  I can't even come up with anything else to say here.  Carlos Silva won the fourth spot in the Cubs' rotation really just speaks for itself.

5.  Red Sox.  They actually allowed the Yankees to pull off the double steal, first and third thing.  Seriously, what is this, little league?


Finally, I leave you with the following:

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again."

2010 Gopher Hoop Offers

With the recent news that #1 recruit for 2010 Harrison Barnes has knocked the Gophers off his list of possibilities, it dawned on me that the team still doesn't have a commitment for 2010. I believe they will have three scholarships open (L-Dub, DJ, and Bostick) assuming Ralph doesn't go pro. It's not necessarily a huge worry, since the team has plenty of young talent and can roll scholarships over if need be, but with four more coming available in 2011, I doubt Tubby wants to have to fill 7 spots in one year. That was hard as hell to fill all your spots when you had that many open in College Hoops 2k6 on the playstation.

Anyway, according to Rivals, these are the players the Gophers have made an offer to for 2010, not including offers that have already been spurned (besides Barnes, Jordan Sibert (#37 recruit) has declared for Ohio State, Tim Hardaway (2 stars) to Michigan, and Zach McCabe (3 stars) to Iowa.

- Vander Blue - Madison, WI - #22 overall, #6 PG. Other than being sweet to steal a kid out of Madison, and this dude having a sweet name, it would be great to get a real point guard so we don't have to watch Al Nolen fumble around any more. Blue had verbally comitted to Wisconsin, but backed out in May after realizing that Bo Ryan looked exactly like Richard Vernon and taught the most boringest brand of basketball in existence. Unfortunately the Gophers seem to be on the outside looking in with Blue, who plans to visit Flordia, Arizona, UCLA, Tennessee, and a fifth school. The Gophers have a shot at being that fifth school. I hope so. Then we can say things like, "You're my boy, Blue!"

- Cory Joseph - Henderson, NV via Canada - #7 overall, #3 PG. I've written plenty on Joseph here in the past, but in case you have good taste and don't usually read this blog, he is current Gopher Devoe Joseph's brother, and has shot up the rankings over the past year. Joseph recently spent some time on the Minnesota campus hanging with his brother, and has also visited Marquette with trips to Villanova and UCONN coming up. Joseph is #1 on my wish list for the team now that Barnes is off the table.

- Trevor Releford - Shawnee Mission, KS - #98 overall, #24 PG. There's been a lot of chatter about this dude and the Gophers, but naturally I haven't paid that much attention to it. It seems I probably should of, because I think it's looking extremely likely that Releford ends up a Golden Gopher. In a recent interview when he was asked which schools were recruiting him, the only two he could name were the Gophers and Arizona. He also mentioned not only being impressed with Tubby Smith, but always having enjoyed Minnesota when he has been here for a tournament. He is described as being a pass first point guard, which is absolutely what this team will need with all the scoring talent coming in.

- Trey Ziegler - Mount Pleasant, MI - #26 overall, #4 SG. Ziegler is, like Cory Joseph, another fast riser who is finding himself high on many team's priority list, including Michigan State, Oklahoma, Pitt, and UCLA among several others, with UCLA recently really upping their efforts to land the swingman. Interestingly enough, despite a name like Trey, his strength isn't his perimeter shot. He's known for being strong with the dribble and being very strong at the rim, along with a solid mid-range game.

- Casey Prather - Jackson, TN - #64 overall, #13 SF. The last of the truly elite prospects on this list, Prather recently narrowed his list down to seven schools and, like with Barnes, the Gophers did not make the cut. He's only included here because I already started typing this before I realized he had removed the Gophers from consideration.

- Chad Calcaterra - Cloquet, MN - 3 stars. The good news on Calc is that the Gophers are the most high profile school on his list. The bad news is that the Gophers are the most high profile school on his list. Diamond in the rough, or not that good? Based on the reviews of his play in the Howard Pulley League, it's looking like he could be a diamond in the rough. He's very physical when he goes to the rim, has an excellent jump hook, and a good mid-range jumper, although at 6-10, 210 lbs. he needs to add some muscle. He also sounds like a nerd, since Harvard and Stanford are two of the schools he plans to visit - although this makes me like him better.

- Elliott Eliason - Chadron, NE - 3 stars. Another midwestern big man, Eliason also can count the offer from the Gophers as his most prestigious, but it sounds like it will be tough to dislodge him from Creighton at this point. He did take an unofficial visit here, and must have enjoyed himself because he's coming back again for an official visit September 12th, although he is also hitting Stanford over Labor Day weekend.


Overall, it looks like Tubby has set his sights pretty high, but as more and more recruits Tubby has shown interest in either drop the Gophers from consideration or commit elsewhere (besides the above, Ricky Kreklow is going to Missouri, Alex Kirk isn't interested, Frank Williams has made it clear he wants to play for Kansas State, and something weird happened with Aaron Cosby that now has him as a class of 2011 player), you have to wonder when Tubby is going to capture that first comittment.

I'm not exactly worried, more like curious. I expect to see Releford and one of the big men likely come here, with Joseph, Blue, and/or Ziegler a bonus. Plus who knows with Tubby, he's probably after some dude nobody has heard of yet who will end up being a five star. Like Fred Durst said, "You gotta have faith."

Weekend Review - 8/24/2009

Yep, it's about time to bring back the Weekend Reviews every Monday. Let's get started. I could probably have mentioned Michael Cuddyer's two homers in one inning as being awesome, and it was, but I'm not going to.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Matt Hasselbeck. Yes, it's preseason football so really gives a crap, but you can still pay attention to a few things; one of which is that Hasselbeck is poised for a big year. He's coming off a year when he was hurt most of the season, and he sucked even when he did play, putting up a career worst 2-to-1 INT to TD ratio, so he's sort of been forgotten, but he could easily return to his 2007 form. Remember, not only was Hasselbeck hurt last year, but his his top two recievers, Deion Branch and Nate Burleson, were both hurt all year. This year, not only are those two back, but he now has a bona fide #1 in T.J. Houshmanzilly. And there is still no running game to speak off, so they're going to have to chuck it. It's going to be a good year.

2. Tavaris Jackson. If you read the live blog I did of the great Brett Favre's first Viking appearance, you know that I switched over to the Twins game as soon as the world's biggest attention queen left the game. I wish I wouldn't have, because according to the box score and Theory, T-Jax put on a straight up clinic. The numbers are gaudy, 12-15 for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns, and the reviews are glowing. Personally, I hope this gets somebody interested enough to give the Vikes a fifth round pick for him. No chance this guy becomes anything more than a poor man's Vince Young - and that is poor indeed, no matter what Bogart says.

3. John Smoltz. I don't know if it was the motivation that comes from getting cut, or facing a team in the Padres who really can't hit, but Smoltzy reached back in time and tossed a gem on Sunday in his debut with the Cardinals. Well, gem is probalby a bit strong, considering he only threw five innings, but giving up no runs and three hits while striking out 9 in those five innings is impressive, particularly coming from a guy who got destroyed when he was tossing for the Red Sox. The Cards have the hitting to make a run (and Pujols hit #40 yesterday), and if Smotlz can solidify an already very good pitching staff they will leap the Dodgers as the NL favorite.

4. Jay Cutler. I don't like to say nice things about other people in the NFC North, or about drunks because drinking is wrong and against God's word, but Cutler suddenly makes the division seem extra interesting. He played in just three series Saturday night, and managed to direct that shitty Bears offense to scores in all three - 2 TDs and a field goal. He did Cutler-like things, going just 8 for 13, but racking up 121 yards and a TD in the team's 17-3 win over the Giants - a pretty good defense. If Cutler gets that offense in gear, we are looking at a three horse race in the division.

5. Charlie Haeger. You're wondering who this is, and so I'll tell you. He's a knuckleballer for the Dodgers, and I love knuckleballers who aren't named Dickey, so this is even more exciting. On Saturday, Heager pitched a honey of a game against the Cubs going seven innings and giving up just three hits while striking out seven. That makes two starts for Haeger this year since being called up, and he's gone seven in each and has tallied an ERA of 1.93 and a WHIP of 0.86. Could this be the dominant knuckle ball pitcher American has been waiting for all this years? Yes, yes I think it could. And he's working with Charlie Hough, which can only help.

WHO SUCKED

1. Mark Buehrle. Remember when Buehrle set a record for most consecutive batters faced without allowing a runner, including his perfect game? Well things have sort of gone all to hell since then. After getting racked for five runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Orioles on Sunday, he's now gone 0-4 with an ERA over six since that perfect game. I don't really care, because he's half a fag and the White Sox are nothing but a collection of pedophiles and rapists, but I thought I'd point out that noted butt pirate Mark Buehrle sucked this weekend.

2. Arizona Diamondbacks. They beat the Astros on Sunday, so that takes a little bit of sting out of this, but prior to yesterday they had lost seven straight. They've been awful all season, and my preseason pick to win the NL pennant is currently sitting at fifteen games below .500, 19 games out of first in the division, and 15.5 out of the Wild Card. How could this happen you ask? Brandon Webb blowing out his shoulder after one start didn't help, but overall the starting pitching has been good, and the offense has been ok. The bullpen, however, has been a nightmare, putting up the fifth worse bullpen ERA in all of baseball. Scott Shoenweiss, who is fifth on the team in games pitched, is sporting an ERA over 8. Dan Haren is still awesome though.

3. Matthew Stafford. I already hit on an NFC North QB, so why not another one? The difference is that this one sucks. Yeah, yeah, he's a rookie and everything so we shouldn't expect him to be a star right away, but 5-13, 34 yards, and a pick on his very first attempt isn't exactly reassuring, especially when Culpepper played well and Drew Stanton threw a touchdown pass. He wasn't exactly rosey his first time out either, completing half his passes and going for 1 touch and 1 interception. Obviously as a rookie it's not quite time to give up on him or anything, but I'd say it's looking more like Culpepper will be the starter, and I'd guess for the entire season. At least one of the teams in the division will suck.

4. Cowboys Stadium. I mentioned here before that when I drove passed Cowboys Stadium it looked like a metal garbage dumpster, and it sounds like Jerry Jones tried to spruce the place up by putting a giant, 160 foot HD TV screen above the field. There's just one small problem: it's getting in the way. Titans' punter A.J. Trapasso hit the video screen with a punt in the Titans/Cowboys game this weekend, and the Titans actual punter, veteran Craig Hentrich, said that he and Trapasso both hit it several time in warm ups, and that any punt with a five second hang time is going to hit the screen. Jerry Jones response, "You don't gotta move it. The rule is very clear, you just kick it over." So it sounds like Jones screwed up by putting it to low, and now that it's going to be a major issue, his response is to ignore it and make teams take a do-over whenever it happens. This whole story is like a metaphor for the Jerry Jones era.

5. Harrison Barnes. I didn't read this and I haven't bothered to look it up, but according to the radio this morning, Mr. Barnes narrowed his possible schools list to six: UNC, Duke, UCLA, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa State. You'll notice there is no Minnesota on the list. Really a shame too. I was looking forward to stealing and Ice Cube lyric so I could say, "If you F with Barnes, he leaves scars." I guess I'll save that one.

Honorable sucking mention to Super Sioux Fan. Not only has she stopped posting or commenting on this blog, but here own wildly entertaining blog, Diary of a Sioux Fan, has not only been killed, but she deleted every post she ever made as well. You suck, SSF.

Tuesday Talkies (stupid announcing, Gopher Recruiting, Steph Curry, Chris Hoiles)

It's been brought to my attention that I haven't posted since Friday, and apparently people are upset about this for some reason. So here's some things that caught my fancy:

- I want to start with something that world's worst announcer and former world's worst GM Steve Phillips said during the Mets/Braves game last night which makes me even sadder than usual that Fire Joe Morgan closed their doors. In the game the Braves beat Johan Santana and the Mets 8-3, with the NY Mets (my favorite squadron) scoring just one run while Johan was in the game. Cribbed from here for accuracy, this is what Phillips said,

[“You know, we're talking about the run support for a pitcher, and I believe that pitchers often earn their run support, and here is why. I was in the front office for 13 years, at every home game, for many of the road games up in the box, and you start to feel the pattern of the game for each of the starting pitchers.

"Over the course of time it seemed to me there the same guys started to get runs, there was a pattern and rhythm to their game and the same guys didn't get runs because of the pattern and rhythm to their game.”

Orel Hershiser then asked if Santana had a bad pattern or rhythm for an offense, and Phillips responded with this:

“I think it is the feel of his game. Whether it’s his teammates...I don't think it’s a conscious thing. Players always go, 'nah, there is no way, there is no way' but I see it, I feel it every time you watch games. They don't hit for Santana.

"I think part of it is because he is the ace on the mound. They think it’s a low-scoring game, he is not going to give up runs. It’s just this rhythm of the game that he has. Steve Traschel, used to pitch for the Mets, the slowest worker ever. He never got run support. and I think he earned it.”]

What. The. Hell. It boggles the mind that someone who is not only an announcer, but also once held a position of making the most important decisions for his team, could actually believe this. It's the kind of thing that I expect Dawger to try to sell.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Santana's Mets teammates have run up against some very good pitchers so far this year in Johan's starts. In his seven starts - and in case you aren't paying attention he's 4-2 with a 0.78 ERA in those seven starts - the Mets have scored 3, 1, 3, 4, 1, 1, and 2 runs; not very much. Santana's opponents have been Aaron Harang (season ERA: 2.93), Josh Johnson twice (2.34), Yovani Gallardo (3.09), Scott Olsen (7.00), Chan Ho Park (6.67), and Derek Lowe (3.80). Five of his seven opponents are better than league average, with four of those starts coming from guys who are in the top 13 in the NL in ERA.

In conclusion, Steve Phillips, yes the same guy who traded prospect Melvin Mora (1,121 hits since and counting) for a washed-up Mike Bordick (50 hits for the half-year, then resigned with Baltimore in the offseason) is a complete idiot and should probably die.

- High school hoops was in town this past weekend with the Sabes Invitational in Minneapolis. I didn't attend, of course, because I'm not a weirdo, but luckily the internet does a good job of summarizing these bits.

There were a lot of players of major interest in town for this thing, including Harrison Barnes and Chad Calcaterra - Gopher targets I've written about before - as well as Rickey Kreklow, Jacob Thomas, Ricky Kreklow, and Alex Kirk, all of whom are also on the radar.

Barnes is the jewel of the group, ranked #4 on Rivals150, and still has the Gophers' in the mix as he cut down to his top 12. Obviously he's not that good, since his team lost it's first two games, but I suppose I'd still take him on the Gophers. I read somewhere that since he had extra time after being bounced he made it up to campus to check out the U. I'm hoping he got the Jesus Shuttlesworth treatment.


The other guy I've written about before is Chad Calcaterra, who I think I said I was worried could be another Kevin Loge or Kyle Sanden, mainly based on the other schools chasing him. The reviews from the weekend sound pretty good, however. They praise Calcaterra's defensive effort, saying he totally dominated in the paint, and also talked up his ability to get out and run on the break as well as scoring both inside and out. I'm sold. Another reason to trust Tubby.

Speaking of trusting Tubby, that's a big reason I'm not sold on Columbia Heights guard Jacob Thomas. He's known as one of the best shooters in the entrie Midwest for the class of 2010, but he's still waiting on his first offer - from anybody. He's also made it clear that his dream is to play for the Gophers, but even so, Tubby is like "meh." I don't know. The reviews from the weekend are very positive and say he looks like he can score (and he dueled Bradley Beal, a class of 2011 guard with offers from Florida and Kansas already, to a standstill) but then where is Tubby on this? Like I said, I trust Tubby.

The guy I hadn't heard of who I am very intrigued by now is SG Ricky Kreklow, a 6-5 wing from Missouri. He has offers from Missouri and a handful of Missouri Valley teams, but Tubby is showing some interest and had Kreklow up to campus for an official visit this weekend, and has since said if Tubby extends an offer the Gophers would instantly be in his top two or three choices (with Missouri and Creighton). Kreklow is an awesome shooter, which always makes my pants tight, and was also called the best passer at the event. He sounds like the kind of kid who might be lightly recruited because of physical attributes (size/strength + he's white), but just gets it done with a great feel for the game. With my Eric Bledsoe crush no longer in play, I think Kreklow might be my new wishlist guy.

Lastly is Alex Kirk, a 6-10 center from New Mexico. Kirk hasn't received an offer from Minnesota, but he's on their radar. Right now his best offers are from the Pac 10 (Cal, Wash, USC), with a handful of lesser teams trying to grab him as well. I'm not overly impressed with what I've read, and it sounds like Kirk had only one good game out of three this weekend, spending large chunks of the other two on the bench against more athletic teams. Plus, he's a ginger, so we don't want him.


- Doug Gottlieb is usually a moron, but he finally gets something right with this Stephen Curry article about how his skills might not transfer to the NBA. Well no shit. I just can't figure out why the national media as a whole doesn't see it, and instead keeps trying to linguistically hump him. Doesn't blow by defenders off the dribble. Isn't big enough to shoot over NBA defenders. Can't play defense against quick guards. Doesn't fit into a clearly defined role at the next level. Too small for a 2, yet doesn't have PG skills. Jesus christ the more I type about this guy the more and more I get convinced he's going to be a Timberwolf in the future. He and Corey Brewer can sit on the bench together and talk about how awesome they were in college and how they just can't fit in and keep up at the NBA level.

- Patrick Patterson has withdrawn his name from the NBA draft, and holy god is Kentucky going to be absolutely loaded next year, and with a much better game coach in John Calipari as well. Patterson was the fourth leading scorer and third leading rebounder in the SEC last year, and he will be joined by a recruiting class that is ranked as the #1 class in the country, and contains Rivals #2, #22, #23, and #40 along with a big-time JuCo recruit, and they are spread all over the floor, from the paint to the wing to the point. Even scarier? They might be getting even more. #1 recruit in the country John Wall is still unsigned and has Kentucky as one of his finalists, and Jodie Meeks - last season's top scorer in the conference - may still pull his name out of the NBA draft. Make no mistake, Kentucky is back in a big, big way.

- If you're into this kind of thing, here's a stupid little puff piece on the Twins from ESPN's Tim Kurkijan - normally a writer I like. If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know I think chemistry in baseball and "good clubhouse guys" is the biggest crock of crap since the moon landing (obviously faked). Seriously, the article is so sugary sweet I got a stomach ache. Plus, Cuddybear is the central figure in most of it, so that ought to make a bunch of people around here pretty happy.

- Lastly, I think Chris Hoiles is the leader for the guy I'm going to sponsor when my Scott Stahoviak sponsorship runs out. You probably had to be a fan of Tony LaRussa baseball II in order to truly get it. That was the game when we (me, Snacks, and Bear) had some truly epic seasons when we were growing up, and Hoiles was a central figure. He was a good catcher, but the best was every player had a picture, and it was clear that the day they took those pictures Hoiles showed up either massively hungover or still drunk. He had bloodshot, glassy eyes, was completely unshaven, and his hat was cocked sideways and barely on his head. Truly a trainwreck.

But even better, and nobody really knows this, but Hoiles had an epically great season in 1993. Yes, G-R-E-A-T.

He hit .310/.416/.585 with 29 home runs in 503 plate appearances.

That .310 was 11th in the league, and 15th best by any catcher from 1980-2000.

His .416 OBP was 5th in the league, and 25th best by a catcher ever (like in all-time).

The slugging pct. of .585 he put up was also 5th in the league, and is the TENTH BEST IN THE HISTORY OF CATCHERS HITTING THE BALL. I'm not making this up.

Put together that OBP and SLG for the OPS, and he was fourth in the league that year and SEVENTH all-time by a catcher, behind seasons by all-time greats Mike Piazza (three of the six better), Bill Dickey, Gabby Hartnett, and Roy Campanella. It boggles the mind.

His 29 home runs in 419 at bats works out to one homer every 14.4 at bats, a rate that ranked him fourth that season, and is 18th best in the history of catching.

Oh, and he also threw out 46 of 113 attempted base stealers that year, or 41% (lg avg = 36%), while allowing just two passed balls all year.

Seriously, we are talking a truly awesome, awesome season. He was really hurt by only knocking in 82 runs that year, since the media and other slack-jawed cretins are wowed by a stat that relies more on opportunity than ability, but still finished 16th in the MVP voting. Looking at pure batting stats, he should have been fourth behind John Olerud, Frank Thomas, and Ken Griffey. And somehow, nobody knows this because it's Chris Hoiles.

Sadly, I can't locate that actual picture from Tony 2, but he looks pretty drunk in this one too. Just imagine him 58% more intoxicated, and not exactly sure where he is or what's going on.

Pete Rose is Back! (+ Gopher Recruit stuff)

No, not the ultimate compiler and horrid human being Pete Rose, or his piece of crap son and his fourteen career at bats. I'm talking about the Pete Rose of football, the Vicodin Kid, the Drama Queen of the last three offseasons, the one and only Brett Farve.

I'm as sick of the circus every offseason as you are, and it looks like it's happening again this time with Favre planning to meet at a top-secret undisclosed location with Vikings' "Head Coach" Brad Childress to discuss the possibility of him coming to play for the Vikings next season. The Jets straight up released the world's biggest drama hog after drafting pretty boy something I don't remember (Mark?) Sanchez to play QB, which eliminates the clause which essentially barred Captain Percoset from playing for the Vikes last year. My reaction: What the hell, go for it.

Sage and T-Jax aren't exactly super bowl caliber QBs. They are more of prayers at this point, hoping to god one of them doesn't make too many mistakes to screw up a good team. That's pretty much Favre's downside here, as much as I hate him, his upside is far greater than either of those two clowns.

I see this going down one of two ways, and both involve him being all fired up to be in the NFC North and wanted to prove himself to everyone, and especially Green Bay.

One way is he hits all the mini-camps. All the optional training camps. Works out like a young person to get back in young person shape. Gets the gold medal in his training drill and jacks up his ratings by seven points. He comes out like the Favre before he became this Favre, lights the world on fire, and leads the Vikings to a Super Bowl. I can get on board with that, even with the world's richest redneck leading the charge.

The other way is he really wants to prove himself to Green Bay, but insists, as he has for the last several years, that he knows best how to do it. He doesn't need to work out with the team or hit the mini-camps or do anything other than show up, play a little grab-ass, halfway study a playbook, and hit the field. In this instance he throws a ton of picks (wow imagine that), can't lead the team to the victories they need because he keeps forcing the ball where he can't get it anymore, gets ripped to shreds, and eventually loses his job to either Sage or T-Jax, completely sullying his legacy to the point where he becomes a running joke. Honestly, I might even prefer this version.

Either way, the circus is clearly in town, and the man who gave his wife cancer is on the high wire without a net. And I'll watch in rapt attention for the same reason I listen to my trainwreck of a co-worker describe her love lift every week - it is a trainwreck from which I cannot avert my gaze. Sit back, relax, and love every minute of it. The only way we lose here is if he never signs at all.

[EDIT: I mentioned to Mrs. W that I was blogging about Favre and how it looks like he's probably coming here. She replied, "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. He's all old and injured and super annoying." So there you go.]

- As long as I'm here, I might as well keep on going, and next up is a very brief look at the Players Championship. Held every year at the TPC Sawgrass, home of the most famous island green in the world, this is the tournament where my homey Sergio Garcia finally breaks out this year. The Spanish Catapult hasn't been great this year (13th at the Honda is his best finish), but also hasn't been terrible and has made every cut this year with, of course, the exception of last week at Quail Hollow.

Normally all this would tell me to stay away, but the guy is one of a handful of guys who you could consider a top-five golfer and you know he isn't going this whole season without contending. Even better, dude loves Sawgrass, winning here last year after finishing as runner-up in 2007. I don't know if he'll win, but I'm seeing a top five for sure.

If you want more of a sleeper, look to the Swede Henrik Stenson. He's only played in three tournaments this year, but has a third place finish at Houston. He is like Garcia and loves this course, who has finished tenth, 23rd, and third here the last three years.

- Gopher hoops is pretty set for 2009, especially with those two boners leaving the team, but how about 2010? According to Rivals, these are the uncomitted players the Gophers have offers out to:

PG Cory Joseph. #110 on Rivals150, 24th best PG in the class. Also has offers from Georgetown, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Marquette, Texas A&M, and UNLV. He's also visited Cal and is quickly moving up prospect lists with a very good year and his ability to play both guard spots and might soon jump from a 3-star prospect to a five-star. Given the questions the Gophers have at point with a rapidly approaching Terrance Simmons-level Al Nolen and the mystery that is Justin Cobbs, Joseph is probably the Gophers' most important recruit. It's a matter of if he wants to play with his bro Devoe or not. Let's hope so.

SG Aaron Cosby. 3-stars, not ranked in Rivals rankings, he also has offers from Oklahoma State, Indiana, Butler, Dayton, and Western Kentucky. Cosby might be the least impressive of the recruits in terms of his numbers on Rivals, but Tubby has been after him for a while, and I trust Tubby. According to his scouting report he can already score and has the ability to be a big-time on-ball defender with some effort. Those both sound good, but it still makes me nervous that he seems to be more of a target of the mid-majors.

SG Tim Hardaway, Jr. 3-stars, not ranked in Rivals rankings, he also has offers from Michigan with Kansas State involved. Not really highly sought after yet, it's probably only a matter of time for the first of the next generation of Run-TMC. He's already thought of as an elite shooter, but can do even more as shown by his averages of 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists last season. Michigan is and has been after him hard, and his three-point ability would fit well in Beilein's offense, but the Gophers are also in the picture. A big time elite shooter always gives me a little boner, so I'd be very much in favor of him showing up in Minneapolis.

SF Harrison Barnes. #4 on Rivals150, #1 small forward. Also has offers from Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Iowa State, Kansas, UCLA, and pretty much everybody. I mentioned that I thought Joseph was the Gophers' most important recruit, but Barnes is by far the best, and to the team's credit he is at least showing a modicum of interest. The real issue is that this kid can pick where he goes from essentially anybody (he's known as Kansas's #1 target, for example). The Gophers best bet is to hope he wants to stay close to home, but the issue there is that he's actually right from Ames so if he wants to stay close to home he's got Iowa State. Of course, if he wants to stay close to home and play for a great coach, that's where the Gophers have the advantage since Lickliter and whoever the hell is coaching the Cyclones right now suck. Don't expect to get this kid, but if it happens it's bigger than Royce and Rodney combined.

SF Casey Prather. #30 on Rivals150, #7 Small Forward. Also has offers from Michigan, Alabama, Clemson, and pretty much every mid-tier SEC and ACC school. He sounds essentially like a Rod-Will clone, but there's really no point in focusing on Prather in any way because there's no chance he comes to Minnesota. In a recent interview he detailed his thoughts on his top five schools, and the Gophers weren't part of the discussion. He does mention the in his TOP 14, but come on, who are we kidding here?

PF Chad Calcaterra. 3-stars, not ranked on Rivals. Offers from Auburn, Colorado State, Northern Iowa, UW-GB, and NDSU. Look at those schools, and look at that rank. I have no idea why he's been extended an offer other than the fact that he's from Cloquet so everyone has a boner for him. I'm pretty sure he's another Kevin Loge. With the upside of a Kyle Sanden. Have fun at NIU.

Lastly on the Gopher front, my main main Eric Bledose still hasn't picked a school, but he's clearly not coming to Minnesota and that still hurts me. It looks like he's outgrown UAB - which had looked like a perfect fit, and has it narrowed to Kentucky and Memphis. Basically the news is that he's going to Kentucky, unless John Wall goes to Kentucky, in which case he's going to Memphis. I'd look up if John Wall committed yet since I don't know how old my info is, but I've had a couple of drinks and also I'm quite lazy, so I'm not going to.

- Finally, the Twins finally bit the bullet and sent Alexi Casilla down today, recalling Matt Tolbert to take his place. I'm not Matt Tolbert fan, but it was time for Casilla, and it may be time to ship him off while he still has some value. That may be jumping the gun considering he's not even 25, but his suddenly sloppy defense can't offset his terrible offense anymore. He was never a great hitter, hitting just .257 in parts of three seasons in triple A, and burst on the scene last year hitting over .300 through July before fading to hit just .281/.333/.374. More alarming, check this out:

May, 2008: .340/.417/.520
June, 2008: .304/.330/.412
July, 2008: .308/.333/.385
August, 2008: .234/.260/.362
September, 2008: .221/.321/.253
April, 2009: .174/.231/.202
May, 2009: .135/.233/.135

Yikes. His OPS has declined every single month since he was recalled last year.

That can't be good.



RIP Scrubs. I can't remember a show that I cared about this much ending. Seinfeld, sure, but that show never connected emotionally the way Scrubs could (insert gay joke here, but Dr. Acula knows what I'm talking about). Bye show. I love you.