There isn't much here about the Gophers so if that's what you're looking for go look somewhere else (although I do bitch about Rodney Williams later). Losing to a mediocre Badger team at Kohl Center doesn't really tell me much, other than reconfirming once again that this Gopher team isn't "elite", but this loss does nothing for me in terms of if this team is "pretty good" or "frustratingly mediocre as usual." And nothing good can possibly happen next week (home games vs. Nebraska and Iowa) only disastrously bad things can happen outside of expected results, so we won't really know anything until the go to East Lansing and then have Illinois at home the following week. It's a frustrating time to be a fan. But what would life as a Gopher fan be without the frustration? We're all such idiots.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Miami Hurricanes. Hey bromigos, there have been some great wins by teams this year but it's going to be tough for anybody to top Miami beating #1 Duke by 27 (and yes I know Duke didn't have Ryan Kelly because everyone keeps pointing out how Duke didn't have Ryan Kelly but can everyone just calm down about that for a minute because we're talking about Ryan freaking Kelly here). I mean they just killed them. At the ten minute mark of the first half Duke was up 14-13, which means Miami beat them 77-59 over the final 30 minutes. This wasn't a fluke (don't forget Miami beat Michigan State earlier this year too) and Miami is now 6-0 in the conference and looking like a good bet to win the ACC for what I assume is the first time ever. Best part of that game was Seth Curry shooting 0-10 from the floor, because I still can't shake my irrational hatred of Stephen Curry so naturally that carries over to Seth because you know, brothers and stuff.
2. Kobe Bryant. I think I mentioned this last week but I recently traded for Kobe in my fantasy league which of course means I no longer hate him and kind of like him now, so I fee like it's worth noting that in his last two games he's had 14 assists. Not total, although frankly that would be kind of impressive for this black hole, but in each of the last two he's had 14 in each. I mean, say what you want but 14 assists in a game is a freaking lot, and he's now done it two games in a row. You know many players have ever had at least 14 assists in back-to-back games? I don't know either, probably kind of a lot, actually, but for a me first glory boy hero ball gunslinging chucker like Kobe to do it must have been very difficult for him mentally. And, the Lakers, are 2-0 in those games, which just goes to show you that when you have two maybe three other Hall of Famers on your team it does wonders for your squad's chances if you actually let them touch the ball and shoot and stuff. Like I've always said.
3. Baylor Bears. There's a reason why Baylor was highly ranked by many including myself this year, and that's because even with Perry Jones, Quincy Acy, and Quincy Miller off to the NBA the machine Scott Drew has put in place still meant they were going to be immensely talented. Sometimes they can put a game together like Monday against Oklahoma State, and even if the final margin was only 10 the game was never really in doubt. Their back court (Pierre Jackson, Brady Heslip, A.J. Walton) is both experienced and talented, while the front court (Isaiah Austin, Cory Jefferson) is probably the most athletic in the country with Jefferson the total freak and Austin the unstoppable freshman who can dominate inside or hit the three and already has a turnaround fadeway jumper which truly a thing to behold from a 7-1 dude with a wingspan beyond that (kind of like KG but slightly more awkward). Then on the bench you have Gary Franklin, Deuce Bello, and Rico Gathers who would all start for most teams. That's why they handled Oklahoma State, won at Rupp against Kentucky, and stomped BYU this year. Of course they're also a dumb team, so they've lost at Northwestern and dropped one at home to Charleston. I'm telling you right now, bros - Baylor is ripe for a first round upset this year in the tournament.
4. UCLA Bruins. There is a reason I ranked UCLA the 6th best team in the NCAA going into this season and they were ranked 13th in the preseason polls - there is a lot of freaking talent here. Early season struggles (one point home OT win over UC-Irvine, home loss to Cal Poly) dropped them out of the rankings and out of everyone's hearts and minds, but as things have come together they reeled off 10 straight wins before dropping a game last week to a good Oregon team, and now went into Tucson and knocked off 6th rated Arizona. The early season issues shouldn't have been a surprise since the team is mostly made up of freshmen (Shabazz Muhammed, Jordan Adams, Kyle Anderson) and transfers (the Wear twins, Larry Drew), but now everything is looking good (they smoked Arizona) and Muhammed is starting to look like he could do the Carmelo Anthony thing and carry this team in March. Of course, being a Ben Howland coached team they then went out an invalidated everything I just wrote by losing at Arizona State on Saturday, but I stand by this team anyway. Kinda sorta.
WHO SUCKED
1. Rodney Williams. No, I'm not the idiot who is going to call Williams out for missing the tying free throw because the odds of him hitting two free throws in any situation are pretty long any way and even as a senior he's a kid who isn't a good shooter and who has been in very few high leverage situations like it - it was basically a given he wasn't going to make them both, particularly on the road. No, I'm going to call out Williams because who in the baby jesus of the earth convinced him he's a jump shooter? He's not a jump shooter. He's a freak athlete who needs to get his ass in the paint because his jump shot resembles that of a high school wrestler. I don't even want him taking open jumpers, let alone the nearly constant shit he's been jacking up the last two games which consists of him stopping the ball, making a jab step or two that doesn't really move the defender, and then rising up and clanging a jumper off some slight part of the rim like he plays for the god damn Illini. Just because you have the ability to get your shot off whenever you want doesn't mean you should. To paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, "You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn't stop to think if you should." Actually we should probably have Rodney sit down and watch Jurassic Park - the whole thing is a metaphor for his jump shot. Or something like that.
2. Kentucky Wildcats. Like when I wrote about the Lakers last week I'm not exactly breaking news here that Kentucky is struggling, but after watching them lose at Alabama it really reminded me that John Calipari is really not a good game coach, despite winning the title last year. The talent Kentucky has this year is nearly as good as anything else Calipari has had in his career, but when your offensive game plan generally consists of just rolling the ball out every game, that talent also has to be smart - you need coach on the floor types to keep things moving in the right direction. His best teams at Memphis had guys like Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose, last year's champions had Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and even back in the UMass days he had an incredible guard tandem in Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla (I can't believe I didn't have to look those names up). Without a "smart" player to direct the team, a coach who is an A+ recruiter and a D+ game coach, and a small talent dip from last year this Kentucky team is going nowhere this year. Of course, next year they're probably going undefeated, so enjoy this now.
3. Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-Backs have a solid core and should be a good team again this year, but they've taken the "get rid of the guys the manager doesn't like" philosophy the Twins like so much to a whole different extreme. Earlier this offseason they unloaded super prospect Trevor Bauer because he wouldn't adapt the workout schedule he's done his entire life to match what the D-Backs wanted and received a prospect in return whose upside is "great glove, no hit" and now they've shipped off Justin Upton because he and manager Kirk Gibson apparently don't get along. Before trading Upton, however, they managed to kill all their leverage by making it clear they wanted him gone. Actually first they got a pretty good haul from Seattle, but Upton has a limited no-trade clause and killed that so, desperate to have him gone, they sent him off to Atlanta for one year of a so-so third baseman (Martin Prado) who wants in the neighborhood of $12 million a year starting next season, a likely fifth starter someday (Randall Delgado), and three other minor leaguers of little consequence. All that for a 25-year old who in four full seasons has had two monster years and two lesser years, which were both above average, by the way. Just a silly way to do business. We're actually lucky to have Gardy. Ha ha just kidding. Throw in the D-Backs trade of Chris Young to Oakland for another no hit/good field shortstop in Cliff Pennington and this offseason has just been bizarre for Arizona.
4. Virginia Commonwealth Rams. What incredible timing for the Rams to implode considering I just pimped them last week as a Final Four sleeper. All they've done this week is have a seven point lead with 42 seconds left vs. Richmond and blow the game and then lose at home to LaSalle. Now, neither Richmond or especially LaSalle are bad losses, but this isn't the way to prove me right and stuff. I still think they're a sleeper Final Four team what with their style of play since most teams don't ever go up against something like that, but both blowing a big lead against a mediocre opponent and losing a home game to another mediocre opponent kind of hurt the confidence level. Actually, maybe this helps since they'll end up with a worse seed and then I will be the only one to pick them to the Final Four and all that sweet sweet NCAA Tournament Pool money will be mine all mine! I'm a genius.
Lastly, the team in college basketball who hands down had the best week was Villanova. They beat both Louisville and Syracuse, giving wins over two top-5 teams in the same week which is pretty much like holy shit. The reasons I didn't list them in the "WHO WAS AWESOME" section are two-fold: 1) I hate them and 2) who gives a crap? Those are two great wins and yeah their RPI is creeping into the mid-50s so it's possible they could play themselves into an at-large, but they already have seven losses and even if most of them are excusable losing to Providence and especially Columbia is not. Also I don't even know if I can name a single player for Nova (is Jayvaughn Pinkston still there?) and I don't really feel like learning another team. So sorry.
Plus I heard Scottie Reynolds has an armpit fetish and cries when he watches Lion King.
Showing posts with label John Calipari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Calipari. Show all posts
Monday, January 28, 2013
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Everyone from Kentucky is Going Pro
This started out as another six things post, but I got kind of bored and drunk and so I'm just going to make it a Kentucky-related post, since there's such demand for Kentucky related news on this blog. Really though, what do you want me to do, write an entire post about how bad the Twins suck? I already did that.
Everyone from Kentucky is going pro. Well not everyone, but three starters: point guard Brandon Knight, power forward Terrence Jones, and small forward DeAndre Liggins (who was nice enough to make me some cash). With so many other top of the draft talents opting to stay in school it makes a lot of sense for both Knight and Jones to make the jump, assuming they aren't concerned about the lockout because they have both become lottery locks with Knight having a shot at the top 5 and Jones top 10 depending on individual workouts and all that other jazz NBA general managers do that is mostly unnecessary. All you have to do is watch them to know they're both physical freaks, Knight has more polish, neither is going to do much in his rookie year, and Knight's tweenerish status makes him much more bust likely, but Jones is slightly crazy so he's a risk too. In a year where the top 10 picks could include a white boy from Utah who doesn't play any defense and can't function without the ball as well as 3-4 Euros, what are you gonna do? Gotta pick somebody.
Liggins, on the other hand, is a bit of a curious case considering he averaged just 8.6 points and 4 rebs per game, his best trait is his defense, and he isn't the physical specimen the other two are. He's currently projected as a late second-round pick at best so I'm guessing this is more of a "test the waters/get GM feedback" type of situation and Liggins will be back at Kentucky next year - assuming he's been going to class, which at Kentucky is no given. Actually at Kentucky it probably wouldn't matter anyway since they're just a bunch of cheating cheaters with King Cheater in charge.
Everyone from Kentucky is going pro. Well not everyone, but three starters: point guard Brandon Knight, power forward Terrence Jones, and small forward DeAndre Liggins (who was nice enough to make me some cash). With so many other top of the draft talents opting to stay in school it makes a lot of sense for both Knight and Jones to make the jump, assuming they aren't concerned about the lockout because they have both become lottery locks with Knight having a shot at the top 5 and Jones top 10 depending on individual workouts and all that other jazz NBA general managers do that is mostly unnecessary. All you have to do is watch them to know they're both physical freaks, Knight has more polish, neither is going to do much in his rookie year, and Knight's tweenerish status makes him much more bust likely, but Jones is slightly crazy so he's a risk too. In a year where the top 10 picks could include a white boy from Utah who doesn't play any defense and can't function without the ball as well as 3-4 Euros, what are you gonna do? Gotta pick somebody.
Liggins, on the other hand, is a bit of a curious case considering he averaged just 8.6 points and 4 rebs per game, his best trait is his defense, and he isn't the physical specimen the other two are. He's currently projected as a late second-round pick at best so I'm guessing this is more of a "test the waters/get GM feedback" type of situation and Liggins will be back at Kentucky next year - assuming he's been going to class, which at Kentucky is no given. Actually at Kentucky it probably wouldn't matter anyway since they're just a bunch of cheating cheaters with King Cheater in charge.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Six Very Important Things this Morning 9.16.2010
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1. Well that should do it. The Twins won again last night, beating the Sox 9-3, which brings their division lead to 8 games with just 17 left to play. Their magic number is now 10, which essentially means it would take an epic collapse as well as a hell of a run by Chicago to keep the Twins out of the playoffs - something I haven't ruled out. Most impressive last night was Brian Duensing, who wasn't very sharp and that is precisely the reason he was so impressive. Throughout the game he seemed to always be on the verge of giving up the big inning, but kept getting key outs and bid double plays whenever he needed them. It was a very impressive display of "battling" for such a young pitcher with less than twenty career starts. There is no doubt in my mind he needs to be the third starter in any playoff series the Twins are in. When Baker, Slowey, or Blackburn are off, rarely do you see them still manage to go six innings and scatter nine hits the way he did, they generally get killed and don't see the fourth. Behind Mauer, Thome, Valencia, Pavano, and Liriano there's no doubt he's been the most valuable player this year, not only for what he's done since joining the rotation, but his stellar bullpen work earlier this year as well. Finishing sixth as an MVP might not sound that impressive, but did you expect him to be there?
2. How fast did everybody get to the waiver wire? Once again proving that you need to have waivers in your fantasy football league rather than some kind of crazy first-come, first-served style, Ryan Grant was announced to be out for the year on Tuesday, cementing Brandon Jackson as the waiver wire pickup who will win many fantasy leagues for people who drafted like crap. Also setting off a firestorm of whining from every Grant owner who didn't draft Jackson and then had to watch some dork with a bad team scoop him up in front of them when waiver claims were processed, assuring that said owner will be starting someone like Fred Jackson next week. To which I say: You are all nerds. But seriously, anything that hurts the Packers is a friend of mine, which is why Tony Mandarich is still one of my favorite players. The Incredible Bulk or Barry Sanders? Nice decision, Packer-jerks!
3. Mark Ingram is ready to run over your face. Last year's Heisman trophy winner, this year's favorite to win the Heisman, and the guaranteed #1 rookie pick in fantasy football next year was cleared to play after missing the first two weeks of the college season after having knee surgery. I know knee surgery is never something you want, particularly if you're a running back, but he's got an awful nice blend of speed and power, so even if he's 80% he's still going to be better than pretty much everybody, and even at 10% he'd be better than anybody the Gophers have trotted out there since Amir Pinnix left. I haven't decided if he's the next Curtis Martin or the next Ron Dayne at the NFL level, but luckily, I don't have to decide yet. Although I can guarantee you if Dawger gets him in our keeper league, he'll turn into the next Dayne. How's Darren McFadden working out for you, little guy?
4. Hard to believe he could be dirty. I don't believe it either, but it's possible John Calipari and Kentucky cheated in order to get Eric Bledsoe to qualify to attend Kentucky last season. You might remember it was looking iffy that he would get in, and you might also remember his name surfaced earlier this offseason with an investigation into whether or not he and/or his family received money while he was being recruited. This time, the issues arise from his high school transcript which not only shows that, after never receiving higher than a C in his high school career, he received an A or a B in seven of his ten classes senior year, but also that he took Algebra 3 before Algebra 2. And this isn't like taking History of World War II before History of World War I, this would be liking taking a class on spelling before you learned the alphabet. Hard to believe this of Calipari. This reminds me of when I saw Star Wars Episode III and, spoiler alert, suddenly Anakin turns to the dark side at the end. Talk about a shocker!
5. Speaking of dirty coaches, how about the guy in Orange? Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, noted tattle tail, is now in trouble for lying to the NCAA about possible violations and obviously, those same violations which include phone calls that shouldn't have been made and recruit visits that may have been violations. Right now it sounds like the violations wouldn't be too major, the school is sticking behind Pearl, and he hasn't lost any players or recruits. Which, coincidentally, is how it started for Kelvin Sampson at Indiana when the shit started coming down as well, and we know how that worked out - they still haven't recovered. So is this the end for Bruce Pearl and Tennessee basketball? I don't really care, because this kind of stuff doesn't really bother me, but I think Pearl is kind of a huge douche so seeing him crying at his press conference while he apologized was pretty neat.
6. In case you hadn't noticed, these guys can't lose. Again. The Colorado Rockies, a longshot to make the playoffs not that long ago, have gotten hot in September and suddenly right in the thick of the division race. Yes, again. No, this isn't last year. Or that other year. This is a new thing. They have won 11 of 13, including a 10-game win streak, and are just 2.5 back of San Diego (and 2.5 back of the wildcard). Yes, again. This year. I consider the Rockies my NL club, and with the Twins my AL team, I might as well not even watch the first few months each year. Neither of these teams ever bothers to get going until the last two months anyway. Besides them just being my favorite NL team I want them to win because Rocktober is just plain fun to say.
And I also want to mention that Troy Tulowitzki has hit 11 home runs in his last 13 games because jesus.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Six Very Important Things this Morning - 8.3.2010
1. Jeremy Hellickson had an awfully good debut. Nice outing for the rookie, even against a Twins lineup that didn't have Morneau or Mauer, but at least had 9 guys who aren't gigantic pussies. Seriously, has there ever been a team whose two best players missed this many games? The real M&M boys would be ashamed. Mickey Mantle drank a fifth of whiskey on a slow night and would regularly knock back enough to kill Nicolas Cage, washed it down with a couple big ole stogies, followed that up with a roll in the hay with some random broad, and then got two hours of sleep before rolling out of bed and going 2-4 with a home run. And everybody knows Roger Maris was functionally retarded, as is everyone from North Dakota, but he managed to have some of the better seasons of his era (and no, he's not a hall of famer. Don't be an idiot). Yet Morneau gets bumped in the head and Mauer is a little sore and they can't be bothered to play despite the team being in the middle of a good ole fashioned pennant race. Seriously pathetic. I say they trade them both. Except for Morneau.
2. The Big Ten is gonna make bank. With the Big 10 (11) changing to the Big 10 (12) next season, it also gains a championship game for football. This is good, because it's an extra game, and it's an extra game between two good teams (at least for the conference, not necessarily nationally - zing), so that means extra money. I read somewhere else that it would be approximately $5 million more bucks to the already cash-stuffed conference, which will also get a boost from adding Nebraska TV sets. If you click on the link and read the article there's a bunch more in there, but to be honest I got really bored and then scrolled down and it was way too long to keep reading.
3. The Reds are loaded with young pitching. Seriously, this team is going to be a serious NL contender for years with all the young stud arms, the latest example of which is Travis Wood, who tossed 7 innings of 2-hit ball last night, which isn't even his best outing of his seven career starts because he nearly tossed a perfect game in his third career time out, ending up with a one hitter. With him, Mike Leake (7-2, 3.57 ERA), Johnny Cueto (10-2, 3.32) they already have three guys under 25 who have shown they can do it and they still have Homer Baily (super talented but constantly injured), Edinson Volquez (recovering from injury but awesome when pre-injury), Aroldis Chapman (famous foreigner) and Matt Maloney who has only made two starts but has been solid (3.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP). If you want to go deeper they have four other guys on John Sickels' top 20. I predict them to become a dynasty, but based on my history of predicting they're probably going to become the next Pirates.
4. So much for the Smoak monster. This happened over the weekend, but I didn't get around to mentioning it ever and I figured I should since I've been blowing so much Smoak about him: Justin Smoak was sent down from Seattle to AAA. I guess these days a .198 batting average and .624 OPS don't get you anything these days, what with all the politics and all. Seriously though, he's been successful in the minors, he's just 23 and in his third professional season, and he still shows good plate discipline (39 walks in 340 big league plate appearances). He'll be fine. Or he's the next Scott Stahoviak.
5. So much for that trade. Carlos Santana, rookie catcher, super stud, future star, the next Joe Mauer but less of a girl, non-guitar player or Rob Thomas collaborator, guy who would lead the Majors in OPS for catchers if he had enough at-bats, and guy I just MOTHER FUCKING TRADED FOR in fantasy baseball on Sunday ended up leaving the Indians' game last night with an apparent leg injury after Ryan Kalish of the Red Sox, who doesn't matter now and will never matter, barreled into him on a play at the plate. The best part of that article is the end, where they make sure you know that "Television replays showed his left leg buckled." Awesome. He was on my team for less than 24 hours. Wait, no. I mean this is a terrible blow to baseball and Cleveland and this poor young man's career or something else less selfish.
6. Is Miami-Dade the new convict U? I'll assume you are all aware of Trevor Mbakwe and his legal woes, and if you're not I think you're in the wrong place (unless you like crappy SyFy movies, in which case stay tuned)), but his Miami-Dade teammate Darnell Dodson is now in a bit of a pickle at Kentucky. Well maybe not a pickle, since there doesn't seem to be any definitive information out there, but John Calipari announced that Dodson will not be playing for Kentucky this season, although he seems to be academically ineligible. Apparently there has been some friction between Calipari and Dodson, so this isn't a huge surprise, but it could hurt the Wildcats since Dodson was their #1 three-point shooter last year. Of course, since basically the entire team turned pro, we don't really have any idea what their strenghts and weaknesses are next season. Although I feel comfortable saying a strenth will be sliminess and a weakness will be ethics.
By the way, dickmittens, start paying attention. I've now had two people who I know read this blog regularly say something like, "oh, you're on Twitter?" Yes, idiots. Look at the text bar at the very top of the screen. And then go sign up.
2. The Big Ten is gonna make bank. With the Big 10 (11) changing to the Big 10 (12) next season, it also gains a championship game for football. This is good, because it's an extra game, and it's an extra game between two good teams (at least for the conference, not necessarily nationally - zing), so that means extra money. I read somewhere else that it would be approximately $5 million more bucks to the already cash-stuffed conference, which will also get a boost from adding Nebraska TV sets. If you click on the link and read the article there's a bunch more in there, but to be honest I got really bored and then scrolled down and it was way too long to keep reading.
3. The Reds are loaded with young pitching. Seriously, this team is going to be a serious NL contender for years with all the young stud arms, the latest example of which is Travis Wood, who tossed 7 innings of 2-hit ball last night, which isn't even his best outing of his seven career starts because he nearly tossed a perfect game in his third career time out, ending up with a one hitter. With him, Mike Leake (7-2, 3.57 ERA), Johnny Cueto (10-2, 3.32) they already have three guys under 25 who have shown they can do it and they still have Homer Baily (super talented but constantly injured), Edinson Volquez (recovering from injury but awesome when pre-injury), Aroldis Chapman (famous foreigner) and Matt Maloney who has only made two starts but has been solid (3.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP). If you want to go deeper they have four other guys on John Sickels' top 20. I predict them to become a dynasty, but based on my history of predicting they're probably going to become the next Pirates.
4. So much for the Smoak monster. This happened over the weekend, but I didn't get around to mentioning it ever and I figured I should since I've been blowing so much Smoak about him: Justin Smoak was sent down from Seattle to AAA. I guess these days a .198 batting average and .624 OPS don't get you anything these days, what with all the politics and all. Seriously though, he's been successful in the minors, he's just 23 and in his third professional season, and he still shows good plate discipline (39 walks in 340 big league plate appearances). He'll be fine. Or he's the next Scott Stahoviak.
5. So much for that trade. Carlos Santana, rookie catcher, super stud, future star, the next Joe Mauer but less of a girl, non-guitar player or Rob Thomas collaborator, guy who would lead the Majors in OPS for catchers if he had enough at-bats, and guy I just MOTHER FUCKING TRADED FOR in fantasy baseball on Sunday ended up leaving the Indians' game last night with an apparent leg injury after Ryan Kalish of the Red Sox, who doesn't matter now and will never matter, barreled into him on a play at the plate. The best part of that article is the end, where they make sure you know that "Television replays showed his left leg buckled." Awesome. He was on my team for less than 24 hours. Wait, no. I mean this is a terrible blow to baseball and Cleveland and this poor young man's career or something else less selfish.
6. Is Miami-Dade the new convict U? I'll assume you are all aware of Trevor Mbakwe and his legal woes, and if you're not I think you're in the wrong place (unless you like crappy SyFy movies, in which case stay tuned)), but his Miami-Dade teammate Darnell Dodson is now in a bit of a pickle at Kentucky. Well maybe not a pickle, since there doesn't seem to be any definitive information out there, but John Calipari announced that Dodson will not be playing for Kentucky this season, although he seems to be academically ineligible. Apparently there has been some friction between Calipari and Dodson, so this isn't a huge surprise, but it could hurt the Wildcats since Dodson was their #1 three-point shooter last year. Of course, since basically the entire team turned pro, we don't really have any idea what their strenghts and weaknesses are next season. Although I feel comfortable saying a strenth will be sliminess and a weakness will be ethics.
By the way, dickmittens, start paying attention. I've now had two people who I know read this blog regularly say something like, "oh, you're on Twitter?" Yes, idiots. Look at the text bar at the very top of the screen. And then go sign up.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Week in Review - 3/29/2010
I'm pretty sure this is the best NCAA Tournament I can remember in quite some time. I know that can't really be trusted since people have a tendency to overrate whatever is current (more on that later), but it just seems like almost every game has been great. Close games, buzzer beaters, overtime games, upsets - it seems like we're getting more of these things this year than in any other year. Maybe I'm romanticizing it a bit, but I'm ok with that - I love this year's tournament, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Of course, the poop in the swimming pool is that Duke made the final four, and I really, really, really hate Duke, but as long as somebody else ends up winning I'll be happy. Hell, I'll even end up rooting for Butler if they end up going against Duke. That would be hilarious, talk about a bunch of white guys. I'm almost hoping for that now. Almost. Even so it's still been an awesome tournament, and it sucks that's it's basically over.
I'm pretty sure they time it so the NCAA Tournament wraps up right before baseball kicks off and end the world series just before the college hoops season starts because the powers that be know those are the only two things really worth watching. God bless you sports overlords, you have it all under control.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Butler. I considered the Bulldogs to be more getting lucky than being good, catching Murray State in the second round and getting Syracuse on a night when they seemed pretty disinterested to be there, but a weekend spent by beating both the Orange and then K-State is pretty impressive. At some point I have to stop thinking of them as lucky, overachieving white nerds and realize they are a pretty good team, and what better point than now, with them on their way to the Final Four. They really play some solid, solid defense, and it wasn't luck that Jake Pullen and Denis Clemente, the heroes last round, combined to shoot just 11-28 with six turnovers and just two assists on Saturday. With the Bulldogs being on the wacky side of the bracket, they can absolutely beat Michigan State and end up in the final.
2. West Virginia. I pretty much got almost nothing right this entire NCAA Tournament, but at least I was right about West Virginia being a Final Four team. I just love this team. Ebanks, Butler, Kevin Jones, and Wellington Smith give the team four super-athletic 6-7 to 6-9 guys who play great defense, can handle the ball, hit the boards hard, and can score inside or out. There's no real need for a point guard since all those guys can just play point forward, and they did beat Kentucky with their only real PG, Truck Bryant, out with an injury, but the good news is that in case they do need him Bryant will be back for the Final Four. This is good because the guy who filled in for him, Joe Mazzulla, had his career best game last round and there's no way he'd be able to do that again. The Mountaineers will be my adopted team for the Final Four, and if they end up being underdogs I'll be hammering that line like I was at a conjugal visit with your mom.
3. LaceDarius Dunn. Holy crap is this guy good. I remember watching a few Baylor games the last couple of years and he was always a good scorer, but with Curtis Jerrells graduated he has taken his game to a whole new level. Unfortunately, Duke conspired with Dunn's teammates and they figured out a way to take him out of his game late in that regional final, but prior to that he was doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. There was one possession where the undisciplined hyper-athletes that make up most of the Baylor team were running around like jackasses just throwing the ball wherever and doing mostly nothing except almost turning it over. The shot clock got down to under 10, Dunn finally got the ball, looked and saw Scheyer on him, and just put the ball down and drove in for an easy floater. And he could have done that all game. At least he's only a junior, so we'll get to see him play for another year. Also WVU is going to destroy Duke.
4. Durrell Summers. I've written about him already this tournament in passing, but I really think Summers has taken a leap this post-season and is going to be in the Big 10 POY running next year. He had a rough Big Ten tournament, but in the NCAA tourney he's been unstoppable, scoring 14, 26, 19, and 21 while shooting 56% from the floor and has just looked like a more confident, take over when I need to take over kind of player. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do next year, but not against the Gophers because without Damian he's going to shred them like Bogart playing me in Madden. I'm betting he ends up being close to a 20 point-per-game scorer. Believe it.
5. Jordan Crawford. I know he only played one game this week and his team lost, and I know there's a good chance you might be sick of hearing about Crawford already, but he really, really impressed me in this tournament more than any other player, even Summers or Dunn. Inside, outside, off the dribble, off the catch, rebounding, defense - he can do it all. He also seems to have matured quite a bit, and looks like he might be putting it all together. My fear is that he's going to get some really bad advice, let his nice tournament run go his head, and enter the NBA draft this year, which will just suck. I'm too dumb to know if he's going to be a good pro or anything, but I know he'll be an absolute pimp next year in the A-10 if he stays, which he should. Plus he needs to beat down Dayton again. I hate those hippies.
WHO SUCKED
1. Syracuse. I still think the Orange were the best team this year, along with Kansas on a whole nother tier, but they really didn't come to play against Butler. I gave Butler their props above for creating these kind of situations, but it really seemed like the Cuse were just waiting for Butler to go away. Then, with five minutes or so left, they hadn't, and Syracuse panicked - specifically Andy Rautins and Scoop Jardine, who just started launching anything and everything, completely rushed, completely covered, and early in the shot clock and shot their come back attempt right out of the water - like Snake with a Squirrel that is in the water. Also, I think maybe at some point we should start talking about whether or not Boeheim is an epic choker or not. I'm not ready quite yet since he does have that national championship, but I really think he should be winning more than he does.
2. Kentucky. Speaking of epic chokers, hello again John Calipari. Once again Slimy John has the most talent and ends up bowing out early in what has become nearly as predictable of a rite of Spring as the salmon returning to Capestrano. 4-32 from three, which is really shitty shooting, but maybe the coach needs to reign in the chuckeration a little bit. And why is Patrick Patterson hanging out around the three-point line all day? It's like playing with Rick Rickert (or Bogart). Get your ass inside, big man, and quit it with this perimeter shit. That's on Calipari, too. As is the piss poor defense they played in the second half. Why did they continually refuse to stop dribble penetration in transition? Just a poorly played, poorly coached game by the team with the most talent in the tournament. Cal is a hell of a recruiter/cheater, but he couldn't out coach your average fifth-grade girls coach.
3. Kyle Singler. In case you needed another reason to be pissed that Duke won, and I'm sure you don't, it's that this beak-faced fake ACC player of the year (blatantly stolen from General Greivis) laid the biggest egg possible in the biggest game of the year. He shot 0-10 from the field, 0-5 from three, and turned the ball over four times while grabbing just three rebounds despite being 6-8 and playing 34 minutes. Just an absolutely brutal performance, but because the refs received a mandate from the NCAA that Duke needs to win, it's going to be ignored. I hope he chokes even harder against West Virginia. He's the embodiment of the irritation that is Duke. And he looks like a damn chicken. And a girl chicken at that. Seriously, he looks like a girl chicken.
4. Fran McCaffery. The Iowa job? Really? Wouldn't you rather coach at either Seton Hall or St. John's? They both have better recruiting bases, and St. John's especially has to be a much more attractive job. But Iowa? Iowa? Good luck, Fran. I have a feeling this is going to end up being a terrible decision on both sides, and Iowa will remain irrelevant in basketball for four or five more years before they end up firing McCaffrey. Fine by me, that's how it should be.
5. Len Elmore. And all announcers, really, but Elmore was the one who put me over the top. I'm pretty sure Vern Lundquist hasn't watched an actual game outside the tournament in years, and Dick Enberg looks like death in HD and made the wrong call at least ten times in the WVU/Kentucky game, but Elmore is still the worst. He has some speech impediment that causes him to constantly refer to time outs as "times out" as in "Xavier calls times out" which is annoying, but his constant harping on how Kansas State was "fatigued" on Saturday after their double-OT game two nights before made me want to stab my ears with an ice pick. He must have mentioned it twenty times in a ten minute span, including pointing out how "All the Wildcat players on the bench are looking down", "Curtis Kelly is breathing out of his mouth", and "Jake Pullen is shifting from foot to foot while he's standing", all as some kind of proof they were tired. I've never quite heard anything so bizarre, nor listened to somebody with such a single-minded focus on one subject before, not counting John Madden and Brett Favre.
The icing on the cake, however, was some doofus I heard on the radio talking about Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe and how "no group of three freshman have accomplished what they have." Dude, what? A quick look tells me that Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwon Howard combined to average more points and rebounds than the Kentucky trio. Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara, and Billy Edelin were all major contributors on a national championship team, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better group of freshman both stat and winning wise than Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook. And those are just three rebuttal examples I thought of in 30 seconds after that moron made his statement, I'm sure there are many more examples. Look, I understand people tend to overrate what is in the now, and the Kentucky freshman are great, but let's try to have enough historical perspective here so you don't sound like a complete jackass. I swear to god they just pluck half of these people right off the street and tell them to cover something they know nothing about. It would be like me trying to cover hockey, or Super Sioux Fan writing about high class living - it just isn't going to work.
The End. Oh, and.....
GO MOUNTAINEERS!
I'm pretty sure they time it so the NCAA Tournament wraps up right before baseball kicks off and end the world series just before the college hoops season starts because the powers that be know those are the only two things really worth watching. God bless you sports overlords, you have it all under control.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Butler. I considered the Bulldogs to be more getting lucky than being good, catching Murray State in the second round and getting Syracuse on a night when they seemed pretty disinterested to be there, but a weekend spent by beating both the Orange and then K-State is pretty impressive. At some point I have to stop thinking of them as lucky, overachieving white nerds and realize they are a pretty good team, and what better point than now, with them on their way to the Final Four. They really play some solid, solid defense, and it wasn't luck that Jake Pullen and Denis Clemente, the heroes last round, combined to shoot just 11-28 with six turnovers and just two assists on Saturday. With the Bulldogs being on the wacky side of the bracket, they can absolutely beat Michigan State and end up in the final.
2. West Virginia. I pretty much got almost nothing right this entire NCAA Tournament, but at least I was right about West Virginia being a Final Four team. I just love this team. Ebanks, Butler, Kevin Jones, and Wellington Smith give the team four super-athletic 6-7 to 6-9 guys who play great defense, can handle the ball, hit the boards hard, and can score inside or out. There's no real need for a point guard since all those guys can just play point forward, and they did beat Kentucky with their only real PG, Truck Bryant, out with an injury, but the good news is that in case they do need him Bryant will be back for the Final Four. This is good because the guy who filled in for him, Joe Mazzulla, had his career best game last round and there's no way he'd be able to do that again. The Mountaineers will be my adopted team for the Final Four, and if they end up being underdogs I'll be hammering that line like I was at a conjugal visit with your mom.
3. LaceDarius Dunn. Holy crap is this guy good. I remember watching a few Baylor games the last couple of years and he was always a good scorer, but with Curtis Jerrells graduated he has taken his game to a whole new level. Unfortunately, Duke conspired with Dunn's teammates and they figured out a way to take him out of his game late in that regional final, but prior to that he was doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. There was one possession where the undisciplined hyper-athletes that make up most of the Baylor team were running around like jackasses just throwing the ball wherever and doing mostly nothing except almost turning it over. The shot clock got down to under 10, Dunn finally got the ball, looked and saw Scheyer on him, and just put the ball down and drove in for an easy floater. And he could have done that all game. At least he's only a junior, so we'll get to see him play for another year. Also WVU is going to destroy Duke.
4. Durrell Summers. I've written about him already this tournament in passing, but I really think Summers has taken a leap this post-season and is going to be in the Big 10 POY running next year. He had a rough Big Ten tournament, but in the NCAA tourney he's been unstoppable, scoring 14, 26, 19, and 21 while shooting 56% from the floor and has just looked like a more confident, take over when I need to take over kind of player. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do next year, but not against the Gophers because without Damian he's going to shred them like Bogart playing me in Madden. I'm betting he ends up being close to a 20 point-per-game scorer. Believe it.
5. Jordan Crawford. I know he only played one game this week and his team lost, and I know there's a good chance you might be sick of hearing about Crawford already, but he really, really impressed me in this tournament more than any other player, even Summers or Dunn. Inside, outside, off the dribble, off the catch, rebounding, defense - he can do it all. He also seems to have matured quite a bit, and looks like he might be putting it all together. My fear is that he's going to get some really bad advice, let his nice tournament run go his head, and enter the NBA draft this year, which will just suck. I'm too dumb to know if he's going to be a good pro or anything, but I know he'll be an absolute pimp next year in the A-10 if he stays, which he should. Plus he needs to beat down Dayton again. I hate those hippies.
WHO SUCKED
1. Syracuse. I still think the Orange were the best team this year, along with Kansas on a whole nother tier, but they really didn't come to play against Butler. I gave Butler their props above for creating these kind of situations, but it really seemed like the Cuse were just waiting for Butler to go away. Then, with five minutes or so left, they hadn't, and Syracuse panicked - specifically Andy Rautins and Scoop Jardine, who just started launching anything and everything, completely rushed, completely covered, and early in the shot clock and shot their come back attempt right out of the water - like Snake with a Squirrel that is in the water. Also, I think maybe at some point we should start talking about whether or not Boeheim is an epic choker or not. I'm not ready quite yet since he does have that national championship, but I really think he should be winning more than he does.
2. Kentucky. Speaking of epic chokers, hello again John Calipari. Once again Slimy John has the most talent and ends up bowing out early in what has become nearly as predictable of a rite of Spring as the salmon returning to Capestrano. 4-32 from three, which is really shitty shooting, but maybe the coach needs to reign in the chuckeration a little bit. And why is Patrick Patterson hanging out around the three-point line all day? It's like playing with Rick Rickert (or Bogart). Get your ass inside, big man, and quit it with this perimeter shit. That's on Calipari, too. As is the piss poor defense they played in the second half. Why did they continually refuse to stop dribble penetration in transition? Just a poorly played, poorly coached game by the team with the most talent in the tournament. Cal is a hell of a recruiter/cheater, but he couldn't out coach your average fifth-grade girls coach.
3. Kyle Singler. In case you needed another reason to be pissed that Duke won, and I'm sure you don't, it's that this beak-faced fake ACC player of the year (blatantly stolen from General Greivis) laid the biggest egg possible in the biggest game of the year. He shot 0-10 from the field, 0-5 from three, and turned the ball over four times while grabbing just three rebounds despite being 6-8 and playing 34 minutes. Just an absolutely brutal performance, but because the refs received a mandate from the NCAA that Duke needs to win, it's going to be ignored. I hope he chokes even harder against West Virginia. He's the embodiment of the irritation that is Duke. And he looks like a damn chicken. And a girl chicken at that. Seriously, he looks like a girl chicken.
4. Fran McCaffery. The Iowa job? Really? Wouldn't you rather coach at either Seton Hall or St. John's? They both have better recruiting bases, and St. John's especially has to be a much more attractive job. But Iowa? Iowa? Good luck, Fran. I have a feeling this is going to end up being a terrible decision on both sides, and Iowa will remain irrelevant in basketball for four or five more years before they end up firing McCaffrey. Fine by me, that's how it should be.
5. Len Elmore. And all announcers, really, but Elmore was the one who put me over the top. I'm pretty sure Vern Lundquist hasn't watched an actual game outside the tournament in years, and Dick Enberg looks like death in HD and made the wrong call at least ten times in the WVU/Kentucky game, but Elmore is still the worst. He has some speech impediment that causes him to constantly refer to time outs as "times out" as in "Xavier calls times out" which is annoying, but his constant harping on how Kansas State was "fatigued" on Saturday after their double-OT game two nights before made me want to stab my ears with an ice pick. He must have mentioned it twenty times in a ten minute span, including pointing out how "All the Wildcat players on the bench are looking down", "Curtis Kelly is breathing out of his mouth", and "Jake Pullen is shifting from foot to foot while he's standing", all as some kind of proof they were tired. I've never quite heard anything so bizarre, nor listened to somebody with such a single-minded focus on one subject before, not counting John Madden and Brett Favre.
The icing on the cake, however, was some doofus I heard on the radio talking about Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe and how "no group of three freshman have accomplished what they have." Dude, what? A quick look tells me that Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwon Howard combined to average more points and rebounds than the Kentucky trio. Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara, and Billy Edelin were all major contributors on a national championship team, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better group of freshman both stat and winning wise than Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook. And those are just three rebuttal examples I thought of in 30 seconds after that moron made his statement, I'm sure there are many more examples. Look, I understand people tend to overrate what is in the now, and the Kentucky freshman are great, but let's try to have enough historical perspective here so you don't sound like a complete jackass. I swear to god they just pluck half of these people right off the street and tell them to cover something they know nothing about. It would be like me trying to cover hockey, or Super Sioux Fan writing about high class living - it just isn't going to work.
The End. Oh, and.....
GO MOUNTAINEERS!
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