Week in Review - 7/12/2010

Crap.  Really, really wanted the Twins to get Cliff Lee, but you can't fault them.  The Rangers have one of, if not the, best and deepest minor league systems and they weren't afraid to open up the wallet, so to speak, to get Cliff Lee.

Justin Smoak has a chance to be a future star (although this is a pretty fantastic post from Baseball Time in Arlington explaining why he won't be), Blake Beavan doesn't make any top 100 lists put is a former first round pick who is putting up excellent minor league numbers, and the two "throw-ins" look alright as well.  Josh Lueke looks like a decent relief prospect with a 2.11 ERA in 32 appearances this year between A and AA (and a rape charge on his record to boot), and Matthew Lawson is putting up solid numbers as a second basemen at AA.


This was an offer that I don't think the Twins could have matched, even if they had tried.  And so it's time to look towards plan B, assuming they aren't giving up on the season although they probably should.  There are other options (Dan Haren, Roy Oswalt, Ben Sheets, Ted Lilly, etc.) which I plan to break down later this week.  Maybe.  No promises.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  John Danks.  On top of the Twins losing out on Cliff Lee, I'm getting a very, very bad feeling about the White Sox, capped off by Danksy tossing a ridiculous two-hitter against the Angels, which was extremely fortunate because Ervin Santana threw a three hitter at the same time but happened to give up a run.  And they just keep winning like that - they're pitching is completely ridiculous.  Hell, Gavin Floyd was another name considered for the Awesome column thanks to his 15 innings pitched and 2 runs allowed this week.  Their pitching is out of this world good right now, and pitching wins championships as everybody knows.  Even with Peavy now down for the year they're going to fine because the clown they called up to take his place looked just fine and dandy on Sunday.  Do you want to know the last time the Sox gave up five runs or more since June 9th (the beginning of their incredible run)  Five.  The Twins in that same time frame?  19.  I'm calling it now, Sox win the division, Twins finish fourth.

2.  Adam Dunn.  Speaking of the White Sox freaking me out with their looking goodness, I am convinced they are going to end up with Adam Dunn.  The same Adam Dunn who is currently destroying pitchers' arms (and souls).  Well, maybe not consistently doing it, but when he is on he just crushes souls.  Such as on Wednesday when he went 3-4 with three home runs, driving in 5 of the team's 7 runs in a one-run victory of San Diego, or on Friday when he went 3-4 with two home runs and 3 RBI.  Of course, he went 1-9 with seven strikeouts in the three other games this week, but who cares?  The Twins are stuck with guys like Cuddyer who will go 1-9 with seven strikeouts in three games and not even bother giving you a single multi-home run game, let alone two.  I love watching this Big Donkey hit, but I'm going to hate watching him tee off on Baker, Blackburn, and Slowey when he's on the Sox.  Seriously, can you even imagine?

3.  Buster Posey.  If we're talking guys who are tearing the cover off the ball, this guy is absolutely on fire, only it's some kind of fire never been seen before.  He had a hit in every game this week, and games where he went 4-4 with 2 homers and 6 RBI, 4-5 with a double and a home run, 2-4 with a HR (twice), and 1-3 with a triple and 2 RBI.  For the week he hit .566 with those 5 home runs and 14 RBI, and is now at .350/.389/.569 with 7 home runs in just 137 at-bats, and has pretty much single-handedly taken the Giants from a team with good pitching to a team with good pitching and one good hitter (ok, fine, three).  I'm still expecting them to fade as the season continues on, but Posey is fun as hell to watch, either way.  Just think how bad it would suck to have him on your fantasy team and sitting on the bench, like a guy I know. 

4.  Travis Wood.  Because the Reds don't already have enough good, young arms, Wood went out and in his third ever professional start threw 8 perfect innings against the Phillies.  He gave up a double in the ninth to break it up, but ending up getting threw 9 with just 1 hit allowed vs. 8 strikeouts.  Of course, Roy Halladay matched him with 9 shutout innings so he didn't get the win, but even so, quite the nice outing.  So now they have Wood, rookie-of-the-year candidate Mike Leake, coming-into-his-own Johnny Cueto, cuban sensation Aroldis Chapman, impressive in his debut Matt Maloney, stud if he can return from injury Edinson Volquez, and killer stuff if he can figure out how to stay healthy Homer Bailey.  And I would trade any single Twins' pitcher for any one of them.

5.  Steve Stricker.  Yes, I know it was the John Deere Classic and I know nobody cares about that, and I know Stricker was the best player in this week's field by far, but the way he demolished that course was pretty incredible.  Every hole was the same:  middle of the fairway - approach to within 10 feet - make putt, on his way to a 60-66-62-70, which probably would have been even more impressive if he hadn't had a six shot lead into Sunday and gone into coast mode, resulting in tournament total of 26 under par and a 2-shot victory over Paul Goydos, who also played incredibly over the weekend, four shots clear of third place Jeff Maggert, but was just out-incredibled by Stricker.  Normally I'd say play like that would make him a favorite for the next major, but this time the next major is the British Open and all the normal rules of good golf go right out the window.  I do know who is going to win, by the way.  Well, I have it narrowed to two.  Stay tuned.


WHO SUCKED

1.  Twins.  Forget Cliff Lee, maybe it's time to just become sellers?  Pavano could probably bring back a prospect or two from the other teams that missed out on Cliff Lee.  I'm sure somebody would be willing to take on a year and a half of Cuddyer's contract for a stretch run here.  If they don't think J.J. Hardy is the long-term answer he'd probably be tradeable, along with O-Hud.  Jesse Crain might have a little bit of value.  Jim Thome could help somebody out.  There a ton of options, which they should consider because it's obvious this team completely sucks.  There are only three guys on this team who can hit, and one has a headache, one is apparently so immobile he couldn't even fill in at first base for one game, and the other one couldn't run a 20-yard dash in under 5 seconds, let alone a 40.  None of the starters can pitch, the two most important relievers have below average stuff, and the manager is a moron.  God I hate this team so much. 

2.  LA Clippers.  A lot of teams have been clearing cap room with an eye on this offseason for several years, and with the top 3 prizes all picking the Heat, naturally some teams are going to end up disappointed.  The Bulls made a ton of moves with the sole purpose of clearing space, but at least grabbed Carlos Boozer.  The Knicks were obviously hoping for LeBron, but getting Amar'e Stoudamire softens that blow.  The Hawks were maybe the biggest winner, managing to get Joe Johnson to stay with them (Pierce and Nowitzki were never leaving.)  The Nets whiffed big-time, but have responded by signing quality pieces Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro, and Travis Outlaw and still have $19 million left and are looking like a front-runner for Udonis Haslem - not to mention they picked up Derrick Favors already this offseason.  The Clip show, on the other hand, drafted auto-bust Al-Farouq Aminu and then threw $20 million at Randy freakin' Foye and Ryan Gomes.  And then they signed Brian Cook, too, which I'm sure is what will put them over the top.  Look out Lakers. 

3.  Kevin Millwood.  All Millwood had to do was pitch halfway decent this year, wait for the trade deadline to come around, and get traded to a contender of his choosing thanks to his being a free agent next year and a limited no-trade clause in his contract.  Instead, he's completely sucked, racking up an ERA of 5.77 while losing nearly every game he's pitched.  So then he trots out there on Monday against the Tigers, gets destroyed in his one inning of work for four hits and five runs, gets yanked, and then got placed on the disabled list with a "strained forearm."  Yeah, I'm sure that's it.  It has nothing at all to do with the fact that he hasn't pitched a good game since May.  You know what Millwood is perfect for now?  He'd be perfect as the kind of guy the Twins will trade for.

4.  Brandon League.  The only reason I've even heard of this guy is because I heard on the radio that if the Twins had actually offered both Ramos, Hicks, and one of the starters for Cliff Lee, they might ask for League back to help in the bullpen as well.  Ha ha.  Or maybe the real secret was the Mariners wanted to get of League, because this week he gave up as many runs as outs he recorded (5 to 5), including a game against the Royals on Wednesday where he came in with a 3-2 lead in the 8th, walked David DeJesus and Billy Butler, and then gave up a three-run homer to Alberto Callaspo, and then was yanked.  Actually, come to think of it, he'd pretty much fit in perfectly as a Twin.  

5.  John Wall.  I got most of the first quarter of the Wizards' first summer league game against the Warriors, and I saw Wall turn it over four times (he finished the game with 8), including an easy pass to a wide open dude in the corner which he turned unnecessarily into a no-look pass before whipping into the corner with Nuke LaLoosh-like accuracy.  I also saw him take an open 18-footer from straight on which hit all backboard, and a three-pointer which barely grazed front rim.  Not to mention getting called for a foul on the perimeter trying to check noted offensive star Brian Chase (note:  I have no idea who this is).  It's now clear to me that we are heading for a bust of epic proportions here, the likes of which we haven't seen since Ryan Leaf or Dennis Hopson.  I'm talking like, the kind of bust that Stephen Curry would have been if he had been drafted by a team other than Golden State.    


This was an odd week, with lots of worthy people I couldn't find room for in the Awesome section.  So honorable mentions to:

Spain, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Matt Garza, Michael Beasley/David Kahn, Joey Votto, Roy Halladay, Chris Tillman, Devin Ebanks, Derrick Caracter, Diego Forlan, Huston Street, Bronson Arroyo, Johan Santana, Nick Markakis, Magnum Rolle, Madison Bumgarner, Max Scherzer, A-Rod, Lance Stephenson, Roy Oswalt, Stephen Strasburg, and, of course

BIEBER FEVER!

Second Annual DWG NBA Draft Live Blog

Such a weird year.  In case you aren't paying attention, perhaps the best NBA free agent class is about to hit the market.  A class which includes Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Dirk Nowitszki, Joe Johnson, and Darko Milicic.  Due to that, teams that are positioning themselves to try to make a run at multiple players from the list are shedding salary no matter what it takes.  This week alone the Heat have traded a pretty good young guard (Daequan Cook) and the 18th pick in the first round to actually move down into the second round, all in order to save $3 million, and the Bulls unloaded a very solid player in Kirk Hinrich in a similar deal .  Such a weird year.  Some teams are going to be very disappointed, and second-tier guys like Rudy Gay are going to get overpaid just so the teams that miss out on the real prizes can feel good about themselves. 

I also read that, as the Heat try to shed even more salary, they are looking to trade Michael Beasley.  Since they have to get approximately equal salary back due to the salary cap rules, one guy who they would be very interested in would be the Wolves' Ryan Gomes, who makes about the same amount as Beasley.  The difference is that Gomes money isn't all guaranteed, only $1 million of it is if he's cut, so the Heat would get another $3.5 million under the cap if this happened.  I really, really hope David Kahn has been on the phone with Pat Riley nearly constantly to get this done.

And with that introduction, I bring you the second annual Down with Goldy NBA Draft Live Blog.  Let's begin.

-  Wall and Turner go 1 and 2, no surprise.  I have to say that I'm not quite getting the John Wall thing.  Maybe I caught the wrong games, but he's the most underwhelming consensus #1 pick I can remember in a long time, maybe ever.  Last year, I remember just being blown away by Blake Griffin (insert sad trumpet waaah waah right here) and knowing he deserved to be #1 - clear cut.  I don't feel that way about Wall at all.  I'd actually prefer Turner if I had the #1 pick. 

I'm not exactly sure what it is about Wall I don't like.  He's not a great shooter, but neither was Russell Westbrook, and there's a lot more to his game then other famous bricklayers like T.J. Ford and Jacque Vaughn (and he's not nearly that poor of a shooter).  I guess I'm just not impressed.  Call me an idiot.

-  Favors to NJ at #3, so all the posturing about them taking Wes Johnson was just that, no shock there.  A Favors + Rubio combo would have had some potential to build around.  Assuming Rubio stops being your typical Euro Whiner baby flopper (hi Italy!) and gets over here to play.  "Oh, it's so cold.  Oh it's a small market.  Oh blah blah blah blah SHUT-UP."  We own your white ass, so either buy a nice gortex jacket with some feather lining, or prepare yourself to play the equivalent of single-A league basketball.  Seriously, I'm so sick of this kid.

-  Nobody screwed anything up, and the Wolves get Wes Johnson as expected.  I don't know.  Seems like the kind of guy who is going to be solid but never spectacular, although he's probably one of the best Wolves already.  I still can't shake the feeling that he's more of a half a good player.  Like if you combined him and Corey Brewer altogether you'd have a really good player.  Unfortunately to my knowledge, you can't actually do that.  Yet.

-  DeMarcus Cousins goes #5 to the Kings, joining Tyreke Evans in a move that I'm sure makes John Calipari and World Wide Wes happy, and whoever the coach of the Kings is ready to file his resignation.  Seriously, can you imagine trying to coach those two knuckleheads?  And on cue, there's coach Cal, looking slimy as ever.  And he wants us to know that "this is the biggest day in the history of Kentucky basketball."  Uh, Cal, you can probably go ahead and dial it back a bit.  You know the Wildcats have played fo rkind of a lot of years, right?  And they've won kind of a lot of games?  And a few titles?  Jesus, dude, you're starting to believe you're bigger than Jesus Christ, and remember where that got John Lennon?

-  Cousins' MUST IMPROVE in his profile:  Maturity.

-  Pistons are up for #7 with Greg Monroe on the board after the Warriors went with Ekpe Udoh.  Please please please let the Wolves make one of the rumored trades and get this pick to take Monroe.  Please.

-  A-holes.  So lame.  Monroe's MUST IMPROVE:  Assertiveness.  I heard one time at Denny's, Monroe asked for sausage patties with his Grand Slam, but they brought him sausage links instead.  And he didn't say anything.

-  Clip show take Al-Farouq Aminu, which feels right.  He's super athletic but perhaps a bit unskilled, and is very tweenery between the 3 and the 4.  That feels Clippery, doesn't it?  Although they are putting together a decent team over there.  Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin, and Chris Kaman isn't a joke.  I don't know who their SF is, because Aminu can't shoot (and Bilas just pointed out that he can only go right - great pick for a wing, just really stellar). 

-  I will give anybody $5 if they can decipher the point of this article by noted retard Pat Reusse.  He's trying to say that the Twins were able to go from terrible to good (true) and now the Timberwolves need to do the same.  He then mentions that a main reason for the turnaround was trading Scott Erickson, Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, and Mark Guthrie.  These are the players the Twins received:  Ron Coomer, Manny Parra, Scott Klingenbeck, and Frankie Rodriguez.  His very next sentence points out how it took the Twins another six years after those trades to get over .500, at which point none of those players were on the Twins' roster any longer.

I would say it was more good drafting and solid player development that turned the Twins' franchise around.  Something that would be an extremely relevant point, especially if one wanted to compare the Twins to the T-Wolves, particularly on the same day as the NBA draft.  Seriously, that guy is a complete dummy.  He's got the intellect of Ox from Saved by the Bell.

-  Utah's gotta go white boy here, right?

-  Right.  It's Gordon Hayward, and I have a feeling this pick is going to pan out in a big way for the Jazz.  He's a very skilled and very smart player who can jump, handle the ball, and he has good size (although he needs to put on weight) and who is more athletic than you'd think.  I think he's got a better chance of becoming an all-star than a couple of the guys who have gone before him (Udoh, Aminu).

-  They just showed Hayward's twin sister.  MUST IMPROVE:  Looks, Chest.

-  Pacers go with Paul George, who I hate because I've never seen a minute of his play, but who I know was a hot commodity due to being of the "workout warrior" type, and those always work out.  Stu Scott informs us that he had originally committed to Pepperdine, but then de-committed and went to Fresno.  Is there any question he was scared of Rico Tucker?

-  NBADraft.net compares George to Trevor Ariza/Danny Granger.  That downside isn't really even that bad.

-  Hornets take Cole Aldrich, in what has to be the least exciting pick ever.  I mean really, can anybody be excited about getting Aldrich?  I know he's an excellent defender and you know he can rebound, but he's really got little to no offensive game, and people don't come to games to watch good defensive footwork.  I think the next time he scores outside of the paint (not counting groupies) it'll be the first time.

-  Memphis goes with Xavier Henry, who is a guy I love as a sleeper.  I know a lot of people think he's little more than blacker Blake Hoffarber in the NBA, but I think he can be really solid.  Draft Express lists his upside as James Posey with a downside of Martell Webster, so clearly I'm an idiot. 

-  Looks like Oklahoma City just traded a couple of picks for Cole Aldrich, and now I can see somebody getting excited for him.  Aldrich is kind of boring on a bad team, but on a team that's already loaded with good scorers and is already a contender, and he can be the missing piece.  Love this trade for the Thunder.  Love it.  Even though they also had to on Morris Peterson and his bloated salary, this is the kind of trade that makes them a possible contender.  Unless Aldrich is the next Greg Ostertag.

-  Toronto takes Ed Davis.  Hey, you guys remember when the Hawks took Marvin Williams #3 overall (over Chris Paul and Deron Williams) based on potential?

-  Patterson to the Rockets, Larry Sanders to the Bucks.  Sanders goes quite a bit higher than expected, but he's one of those "huge upside" picks, and I'll guarantee you he'll end up better than Ed Davis.  Wolves now on the clock.  I'm hoping for James Anderson or Luke Babbitt here.

-  Pick = Babbitt.  Not sure I love it, but at this point of the draft in this particular draft I'm not really seeing anything better.  He was projected to go somewhere like 9-12, so if you look at it that way it's kind of a steal, and it's hard to not like a lefty.  His comps are Keith Van Horn and Chris Mullin, and in his interview he called himself "the best shooter in the draft."  I like him already.

-  The Bulls take some frenchy at #17.  How lame.  Crowd breaks out in a U-S-A chant.  Stay classy, NYC.

-  OKC grabs Eric Bledsoe, and now a very young team that pushed the Lakers in the playoffs has added Aldrich and Bledsoe, and it's a great spot for Bledsoe because he won't have to play the point right away with Westbrook there.  And on cue, his MUST IMPROVE is "point guard skills."  Yeah, you're going to need those when you're 6-1.

-  I just looked at Bilas's "Best Available" and when Jerome Jordan sneaks in there and you're only at pick 18, you know this is a shitty draft.  Time to liven up the party:

Better?

-  Celtics take Avery Bradley, the reason Cory Joseph is going to Texas.  To me, this clearly means the Celtics are looking to trade Rondo.  Probably to the Wolves.  Probably for Ryan Hollins.  Hey, the salaries match.

-  Whoa, so apparently when I was in the other room they announced a trade, and the Wolves traded Babbitt to the Blazers for Martell Webster, also known as the worst case scenario for Xavier Henry who was projected to go after Babbitt.  I'm not exactly sure what happened here. 

-  I missed a pick or so, but at #21 Craig Brackins goes to OKC (who is shipping him to New Orleans).  Really interesting pick, considering if he had come out a year prior he would have been top 10, maybe top 5.  Good chance this is a huge steal here.

-  I really don't think I understand this Webster/Babbitt trade.  What is it exactly about Webster you love?  His one skill is supposed to be his outside shooting (surprise!  the same as Babbitt) but he's a career 37% three-point shooter.  And it's not like you can't wait for Babbitt to develop, you're not winning any time soon.  I'm baffled.

-  Now they are up again.  And they go with Trevor Booker, and undersized power forward who was projected to go in the second round.  This draft is a disaster.  It's like a Patrick Reusse article in real-time.

-  Wait, hold on.  So now they just traded Booker to Washington for picks 30 and 35.  Ok, I'm calm again.  If they can get Devin Ebanks and Jordan Crawford with those two I'll be happy.  Also if they could trade Al Jefferson for for somebody who is more gooder.

-  Memphis takes Dominique Jones, and that's a pick I like.  He can get to the rim, and although he might not be the best shooter or ball-handler, he's got a better shot than most at this stage to be an impact player down the line.  Great pick for Memphis.  With Henry and Jones they've taken two of the sleeper type picks I liked.  Either they're figuring it out or I've become dumb.

-  I just heard someone say that OKC traded Eric Bledsoe to the Clippers for a future first rounder.  Holy crap man, I can't keep up.  This is awesome.

-  Well there goes Crawford.

-  I just heard that Gomes might have been included in the Webster/Babbitt deal.  Not that I have mad love for Gomes, but that makes this a lot worse.  And when is Lawerence Westbrook getting picked?  I think it's about time.

-  It seems there is a decent number of people who like the Webster trade, since he's only 23 and has more upside than Babbitt (according to them), and Gomes is just a basic rotation player, which he is.  I guess this is sort of a home run attempt.  Can Webster flourish and become awesome when he's not having to share time with an assload of wings like the Blazers have?  Remember he's just 23 and came into the league out of high school and hasn't exactly been given a ton of minutes, although he's averaged around 10 points a game lately.  I guess.  I'm not quite buying in.  I think I'll just hang around outside for a bit and see how things seem before I walk through that door. 

-  Stu Scott just went on a huge intro for this pick, #30, for the Wizards and what are they going to pick to pair with John Wall and blah blah blah.  But this pick is going to the Wolves for Trevor Booker.

-  The Wolves go with Lazar Hayward, and I have to admit this isn't a guy I thought of at all, but now that I see the pick I'm intrigued.  He's a fundamentally solid player who can play defense, rebound, and score and inside and out.  And thanks to his years playing with those three crazy good guards, he knows how to play when he's not the focal point of the offense, or even one of the first few options.  I'm intrigued, and I think I even approve.

-  Man, with all the pre-draft hype about moving up and moving down and trading Jefferson and all that, this is really kind of a buzzkill.  Wes Johnson, Martell Webster, and Hayward?  Yawntastic.

-  Not a good year to be a seven-footer with few skills but "size" and "athleticism."  Hassan Whiteside, Soloman Alabi, and Jerome Jordan all slip into round 2.  I think teams are getting smarter, those guys would have been first-rounders and Whiteside would have been a lottery pick five years ago.  Actually, if the Wolves can get Whiteside at pick 35 that would be really solid.  I also just remembered that I loved what I heard and saw from Webster the year he came out straight from high school.  Maybe I'm selling this draft too low.  Or maybe I'm an idiot.

-  Jesus, this Euro-dork that was just taken at pick 31 by Atlanta?  His highlight film looks like it was filmed at the YMCA.  I'm not kidding.  I will say it's refreshing to watch a draft with relatively few Euros.  Other than that French dork named after a kind of angel (nice soccer team Guillermo) and this YMCA all-star, I think we've been relatively dirtball clean.   And Vazquez.  Geez, how could I forget the king of the dirtballs.  He makes James Franco look like Howie Mandell.

-  Dexter Pittman?  Didn't we already try this with Oliver Miller?

-  God I want to punch preacher-boy Avery Johnson in the face so bad.  You know what was one of the hardest things about growing up?  Having a best friend who was a Spurs fan.  Every time I see some crybaby whining about abuse or abandonment and all that I think, "You don't know what I went through, son.  You just don't know."

-  There goes Whiteside.  This draft is officially a disaster.

-  Maybe they can get Alabi.  He could end up a Kendrick Perkins type.  Damn.  They really should have taken Whiteside at 30.  Guarantee you Hayward would be here at 35. 

-  Ebanks is still there?  I'd like that pick too.  But you know who I really wanted?  Antoine Broxsie. 

-  Newsweek calls Knight and Day "easily one of the best films of the summer?"  There's no chance.  That looks worse than Jumper.

-  Dominique Jones to the Mavericks for cash.  Doesn't that seem wrong?  Why should deep pockets McGee just be able to ship money over to the poor morons in Memphis to get this kid?  That would make me so mad if I cared. 

-  If the Wolves take Jerome Jordan here I will quit watching T-Wolves basketball.  Which I actually already have. 

-  Christ, some god damn Euro from Serbia.  One of the highlights they just showed of him was grabbing a rebound off a missed free-throw.  Totally serious.  God I hate this pick and I hate this draft.  You people all suck.  And I don't even care about the NBA.  I can't imagine how the real fans must feel.  Ugh.

-  I'm 99% convinced the Knicks took Andy Rautins right here just so the crowd wouldn't boo them.

-  Heat take Jarvis Varnado, and why the hell not at #41.  He's probably too skinny for the NBA, but that kind of defense could end up working out.  This is a great pick at this point, seriously.  I know, I know, he's got no NBA worthy offensive game, and if he gets dragged out on the perimeter and has to guard a pick and roll he's probably screwed, but I like the gamble here.

-  I just checked NBADraft.net, and they compare Hayward's upside to Ryan Gomes.  Awesome.  This is a sub-20 win team again next year, which I guess is good because it means I'll care about the draft for another year.  Seems like an awesome time to shut this down. 

God I hate this team. 

Tuesday Talkings (NBA Lottery, Morneau, Mbakwe)

-  Will the Wolves ever get lucky in the lottery?  I don't remember them ever even picking in their allotted spot, much less actually moving up, and they moved down again last night in case you missed it.  They should have picked second, but due to the inherent cruelty of a random universe they were booted down to fourth - and it's a two person draft, no matter what David Kahn will try to tell you.

The more interesting question is why do I care?  I was actually excited for the Lottery tonight.  I even set the Tivo and everything in case I was tied up with Wonderbaby^TM, because for some reason I couldn't possibly miss it.  Reading about it on ESPN even 15 minutes after it happened wouldn't work for me.  I absolutely had to see it.  Which is somewhat ironic, because the twenty minutes of the lottery that I watched was more than all the combined minutes of all the T-Wolves' games I watched last season.

And last season wasn't exactly unusual for me.  I don't remember the last time I watched a full Wolves game, and to be completely honest I don't even remember the last time I watched a half.  So why do I care so much about the lottery?  I was thinking maybe it's because if they got a young stud player I'd start watching again, but then I remembered that they had one of the best players of this generation in KG for like, ten years, and I rarely watched, and actually don't think I've watched at all since that run in the playoffs that one time, and I mostly only watched that because I was in Vegas at the time and slapped some money down on each game.

Maybe I'm just looking for some magic combination that will get me interested in the Wolves, but if Jonny Flynn couldn't do it I'm pretty sure John Wall, who I don't like, isn't going to do it.  Maybe if they had gotten Turner.  I would at least tune in to see how he develops.  Actually, with Wall I might watch because I like watching guys I don't like fail (Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, etc.).  Not that those guys fail all the time, or even often at all, but I still like watching when they do.  Could have been the same with Wall.

Of course, none of that really matters because they fell to fourth and will now end up with someone gross like DeMarcus Cousins or Wes Johnson, or they'll end up reaching for Al-Farouq Aminu.  Still, with three picks in the top 23 you can bet I'll end up watching.  I just won't watch any of the games.

-  Do you realize how good Justin Morneau has been this year?  He's on pace for a .366/.482/.694 season with 46 home runs, 120 RBI, and 125 walks - numbers that would give him a Mauer sweep (#1 in average, on-base, and slugging) and first in walks, third in homers, and 8th in RBI.  Those are insane numbers.

Do you want to know which players in Major League History have hit at least 46 home runs in the same season they hit .366 or better?  Babe Ruth (5 times), Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, and Larry Walker.  That's it.  That's the whole list.  If you restrict it to only those seasons with an OBP over .480 you get just Ruth and Bonds - the two best hitters in history according to pretty much everyone who doesn't have the steroid thing lodged up their butt.

I'm not even close to expecting him to keep this up.  In fact, I'm actually expecting a pretty spectacular collapse and regression to the mean here soon, but watching him hit so far this year has been an absolute pleasure.  Still, he's improved his line drive and fly ball rate, and has improved his plate patience quite a bit.  Even though his BABIP right now is not sustainable (it's 30% higher than his career rate), he could still be heading for a pretty epic season.  Even if his numbers fall to a .330 average, a .450 OBP, and 42 home runs, he'd still only be the 14th player to do that, joining a pretty impressive list of players (Ruth, Gehrig, Walker, Bonds, Jimmie Foxx, Hack Wilson, Mickey Mantle, Jason Giambi, Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, and Todd Helton). 

-   Lastly, I suppose I should touch on this Trevor Mbakwe deal.  In case you missed it, Mbakwe asked for and was granted permission to be released from his scholarship and look into transferring to another school if he so chooses.  This all happened not long after he met with Joel Maturi, and now a lot of Gopher fans are up in arms about Maturi.  There are a lot of things not to like about him, but I find it difficult to find too much fault with him for he Mbakwe situation.

You can't play someone who has a felony hanging over their head.  I doubt even Calipari would have tried to pull that one off.  I don't know why his trial has taken so damn long to take place, but I doubt that is Maturi's fault either.  Simply put, Trevor won't be able to play here until the trial is behind him (and he's found innocent), and I'm guessing that Maturi told him exactly that.  I'm also guessing that it wasn't really what he was hoping to hear, and all this is a snap decision based on what has to be an incredibly frustrating time in this young man's life.  Once he realizes that transferring to another school won't solve his problem and he'll have to sit out no matter where he goes until this thing is over (not to mention the possibility of another year sitting out due to transferring again) he'll back down and still be at the U.

And really, that's all I'm going to say on the situation until something more concrete comes down, but I fully expect Mbakwe to be a Gopher when it is all said and done.

Or in prison.  Deebo rides again!

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!

Week in Review - 3/1/2010

Well that was a pretty good win.  Not good as in pretty, or good as in they finally figured out how to close out a game, but good as in that was a season saver.  I can't really give you the usual brilliant, in-depth analysis you've come to expect because I was watching the game while at a beer bust, but I saw enough to know my prediction of a big gopher lead early, a gopher lead late, and a Illinois comeback and win damn near came true.  That's not the important thing, however.  The important thing is that they did get this win, and now are in ok shape for a tournament bid, even showing up on the "last four out" for Joe Lunardi.  Win at Michigan and beat Iowa here, then win one big ten tournament game and it's very interesting.

If you just compare the Gophers and Illinois quick, they have basically the same record, although Illinois is two games better in conference play.  The Gophers have the better RPI (70 to 74) and better Strength of Schedule (37 to 61).  Both teams have two wins over top 25 RPI teams, while Illinois has a total of four over top 50 teams compared to just three for the Gophers and they have nearly identical records against the top 100.  The Gophers have three bad losses (vs. teams over 100 in the RPI) while Illinois has two.  The Gophers are 4-8 in road/neutral games, while Illinois is 6-8.  The best win by either of the two teams goes to the Gophers with their win over Butler, and both team's have beaten Wisconsin.

I know the bids supposedly don't compare teams within the conference like this and look at the team's as an overall whole, but it's useful to know where the Gophers stand in comparison to the Illini.  It also serves as a depressing reminder that if you reverse almost any loss on the Gopher schedule, they are ahead of Illinois, but as it stands right now they are probably slightly behind.  In any case, it's time to win.  There's no room for error.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Notre Dame.  Bill Simmons' Ewing Theory in full effect?  Seriously, has anybody has as impressive a week all year as Notre Dame had this week?  They beat both Pitt and Georgetown, both by double-digits, and have gone from "probably out" to "probably in" all in a four day span - and they've done it without Luke Harangody.  Since he's been out it's just been a bunch of role-players just used to deferring to him, but maybe we're finding out they aren't role players (even if Tory Jackson has the decision-making skills of a rock).  Ben Hansbrough has stepped up his scoring since Harangody went out, averaging 15 per game (compared to 12), but the guy who has really helped out is junior forward Carleton Scott, who is averaging 9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game since the injury compared to 3.5 of each beforehand.  Basically the Irish have played really well since Luke went down, and now find themselves in good shape for an NCAA bid.  Which means he'll come back next week, they'll lose two, bow out early in the Big East tournament, and find themselves in the NIT again.  

2.  Syracuse.  Wow.  And also, wow.  What an impressive victory over Villanova, the alleged #8 team in the land.  The Orange smoked Scottie Reynolds and the rest of those dorks 95-77 which followed up their road win earlier in the week over Providence.  To go out and annihilate another top ten team like the Wildcats is impressive, and I'm starting to think the Orange are the team to beat in March.  I was pretty clearly wrong about Wes Johnson, who is an absolute stud, and I think Andy Rautins used my criticism of him from last year as a motivational tool because he's somehow become a top flight point guard and he's not even a point guard.  I was talking to a friend who is a Syracuse alum, and he said that this isn't the Cuse's most talented team, but it is their best.  He said usually they have a focal point guy who a lot of times undermines the whole team concept - it worked with Carmelo, didn't with Donte Greene - but this year it's just seven guys who have bought in to the team concept.  Really good team.  Right now, they're probably my #1.

3.  New Mexico.  If you kind of thought New Mexico wasn't anything special and just kept rising in the polls because they were basically just chillin' in the Mountain West, you aren't alone.  If you still think that, you're an idiot.  The Lobos put the word out that they are the real deal, going into Provo and beat BYU 83-81, the Cougars first home loss this year and one of only a handful the last few years.  The win clinches at least a tie for the MWC crown for the Lobos, and brings New Mexico to 6-0 this year against ranked teams.  That's right, 6-0.  They've beaten BYU twice, UNLV, Cal, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M, and also have wins over decent teams like Dayton, Louisiana Tech, and New Mexico State.  Three of this team's top four players are of the 6-5 to 6-8 athletic wing types, and the other dude gives them the strong and experience point play you need in March.  This team is a threat.

4.  Marquette.  Now this is how a bubble team is supposed to respond to a challenge in late March.  Marquette was probably right in the middle of the bubble, but with two wins this week, both on the road, both in overtime, and one over fellow bubble team Seton Hall, they're probably in for sure.  First, the Eagles beat St. John's in their place 63-61 on a Jimmy Butler jumper as time expired in overtime, and then they went to Seton Hall and knocked the Pirates out of NCAA contention 84-83.  I didn't expect much out of Marquette this year, not after losing three starting guards who were basically the whole team, but Lazar Hayward has gotten even better and Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom are very good players.  And Marquette is probably better than the 19-9 record would indicate.  Other than an inexplicable loss to DePaul and an early season loss to NC State every loss on the record has been by single-digits to an NCAA-caliber team. 

5.  Tay Waller.  I know you don't know who this is, but that's why I'm here, to be nerdy enough about college hoops to know who people like Tay Waller are.  And also he's on my fantasy team, which has now made the finals.  Anyway, Waller had a big week but you won't hear about because he plays for crappy Auburn.  The 6-2 senior guard for the Tigers was a top 10 JuCo player back in 2008 coming out of NW Florida Community College, and after being pretty solid for his year and three-quarters (way better than Bostick) he's really hit his stride, scoring more than 26 in each of Auburn's last three games, scoring 29 against Ole Miss in a loss and then 26 to lead the Tigers to a win over LSU this week.  He's not on any NBA radars or anything, but he'll probably end up making a nice living overseas, and he deserves to be recognized even if he plays for the shitbox that is the Auburn Tigers.  Plus, he probably gets to roll around with broads like these all the time.

WHO SUCKED

1.  Wake Forest.  Probably the worst week any team has had in the history of basketball.  No joke.  The Demon Deacons started off the week by losing at ACC bottom-feeder North Carolina State, and then followed that up by getting embarrassed at home by the embarrassing Carolina Tar Heels.  To put this in Big Ten terms, that would be like losing at Indiana and then losing at home to Michigan.  [NOTE:  I just realized what I did there.  hahahahahahahahahaha kill me.]   And I had the misfortune to watch a good chunk of that Carolina game, and holy crap is Wake awful.  I've never seen a team play so lazily and selfishly all at the same time.  It was like watching five Westbrooks.  I refuse to believe this team is 8-6 in the ACC, and was 8-3 at one point.  This is a first-round upset waiting to happen, I don't care if they draw Bethune-Cookman in round one.

2.  John Wall.  Has the phenom hit the proverbial wall?  His raw numbers are ok - 12 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 assists in a 20-point win over South Carolina and 19-5-6 in the loss to Tennessee, but if you look deeper he had a pretty sub-par week.  He shot just 10-31 overall and was 0-7 from three-point range, and he turned the ball over 11 times in the two games - yes, that's more turnovers than field goals made this week.  And although he has always been a bit of a turnover machine (averaging 4.0 per game) his shooting is what would really concern me - he hasn't shot better than 50% in a game since February 2nd.  Maybe it's just a simple fluctuation of his numbers, but if I was a Kentucky fan I'd be pretty concerned that he seems to be struggling a bit at this time of the year.  In any case, there's no way a team this young (three of the top four players are freshmen) and this volatile (both Cousins and Wall are crazy) with that coach is going to the final four.  You go ahead and pick them there, but they're going to get knocked off by some seven seed.  Just watch.

3.  Virginia Tech.  When your hopes for an at-large bid are best described as "little margin for error and only in decent shape because of an impressive ACC record" one thing you really shouldn't do is go out the next week and drop two ACC games - one at home (to Maryland) and one to a bottom-tier team (Boston College).  The Hokies are still 21-7 overall and 8-6 in conference play, but there's not a whole lot to be impressed with.  They have a win over Clemson, one over Wake, and a non-conference win over Seton Hall, and that's it.  Everything else is against a bottom tier team.  I don't know what to think about their chances, they're a super confusing team.  You could make a pretty good argument spanning anywhere from "they should be easily in" to "they have no chance."  Take your pick.

4.  The Atlantic 10.  Going into this week there were seven teams in the A-10 that had a shot at getting an at-large bid to the tournament, but things are not breaking the right way and it's starting to look more and more likely that the conference will end up with three teams going (Temple, Xavier, and Richmond are all basically locks).  Dayton is probably fourth on the list, but at 8-6 in the conference might not have enough juice, and they had a huge chance to knock of Temple this week and whiffed.  Another team that had a chance at a big upset and missed out was St. Louis, who has a nice 10-4 conference record but is lacking big wins, which makes their loss to Xavier this week even more damaging.  Charlotte and Rhode Island both looked to have an inside track at a bid earlier this year, but both have faded coming down the stretch and both knocked themselves out of bid contention with losses they couldn't have this weekend - Charlotte lost to George Washington, Rhode Island to St. Bonaventure.  So the A-10 will likely have just three teams dancing, maybe four if Dayton gets it together, which isn't bad, but isn't as lofty as it could have been.  Also, Richmond and Temple are going down quickly, Xavier is the only team here that can make a run.  Mark it down.

5.  Purdue.  Ruh roh.  You kind of had to wonder just how the Boilers would respond with Robbie Hummel out.  They still have E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson which still gives them one of the better 1-2 punches in the country, but Hummel was kind of the glue guy, along with being a top scorer.  They certainly didn't have any time to ease into, welcoming Michigan State to Keady Court right off the bat, and the results weren't pretty.  The only managed 44 points, shot just 30%, and were out-rebounded 44-16 as the Spartans won 53-44.  Yes by the way, those numbers are correct they were out-rebounded 44-16.  I think they'll end up being a lot better without Hummel than they showed on Sunday, and they have games against Penn State and Indiana this coming week to work on some things, but this has to be a pretty big concern for Boiler Nation.


I guess there was also some kind of big whoopity-doo hockey game between the Americans and the Commies or something, but I didn't really pay attention.  I heard the commies won, so I expect Canada to start taking over Red Dawn style anytime now.  WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (but not on Tuesday)



BUBBLE GAMES OF NOTE:

Fresno State @ Utah State.  I've written about them before, but the beat rolls on.  USU needs to win and keep winning.  Even at 23-6 they can't really afford a loss because, outside of a win over BYU, there's not much there in the non-conference profile.  They would probably be ok if they lost in the WAC final to either New Mexico State or Louisiana Tech, but any loss short of that will keep likely knock them out of at-large consideration

Week In Review - 11/23/09

If you've been watching basketball on ESPN this week, you would have noticed them pimping the hell out of their NCAA Basketball Encyclopedia, and probably become a bit annoyed by it.  I got annoyed by it, but I have to tell you that I have this book and it is totally awesome.  There is more information in there than any person could possibly need, and I mean that in a good way.  Like, did you know Delino DeShields was a top basketball prospect coming out of high school?  It's full of all that kind of stuff and more.  It's not like a baseball encyclopedia, like where you could say "I wonder what Kenny Lofton's stats were when he played for Arizona" and then look him up, but it's got tons of other info.  It lists every D-I team, their best players, best teams, best coaches, some cool little fun facts and other information, as well as their record every single year and their leading scorer, rebounder, and assister for each season.  Plus a bunch more cool stuff.  I highly, highly recommend it. 

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Zack Greinke.  This was refreshing.  The BBWAA actually didn't screw this up and voted Greinke the American League Cy Young award, which is at it should have been.  In case you forgot, Greinke went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP this year, leading the league in both of those last two metrics, and if you watched him at all he seemed even better than that.  I figured the voters would screw this one up, since they love giving awards to players on good teams (The royals were awful), they love evaluating players based on wins (six pitchers had more wins than Greinke), and they love Yankees (Sabathia looked like a perfect candidate for the idiot voters).  But, for once, they made the right call.  Also a congrats to Tim Lincecum for winning the NL award for the second year in a row.  Who would have known Mitch Kramer would have grown up to be such a success.  

2.  Syracuse.  It seems my prediction of "Syracuse will suck this year" might be way, way off, while the cretins who vote in the polls and had them 24th were closer to the truth (also still underrating them).  After the two gimme wins last week, they headed to Madison Square Garden for the final four of the Coaches vs. Cancer classic, and walked out with the title.  They did it in impressive fashion, as well, beating #12 Cal in the semis 95-73 and #4 North Carolina 87-71 in the championship.  Their defense is still top notch, Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche have filled in for Jonny Flynn nicely, Andy Rautins is actually making shots, Wes Johnson is as good as advertised, and Arinze Onuaku has stepped his game up.  Very nice week for the Orange.  I still kind of think this might be a house of cards a bit, and also that Cal and UNC were majorly overrated, but Syracuse has already proved me wrong, and it wouldn't shock if they continue to do so.

3.  John Wall.  Well, I think we can go ahead and say "believe the hype."  Wall was the top recruit this season, was picked by someone I read as the National Player of the Year, and so far neither of those seem too ridiculous.  In his three games this year, Wall has averaged 20.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game, all while shooting 56% from the floor.  His turnovers are about the only thing remotely concerning (averaging four per game), but he only had two in Saturday's win (to 11 assists) and for a freshman this early in the season it's not a surprise they are a little high.  Kentucky still hasn't really played anybody, and won't until December, but for now Wall looks very good, and Calipari is certainly squeezing as much out of him as he can in what his likely his only college season - he's played 38, 37, and 35 minutes in the three games.   

4.  Minnesota Vikings.  Are you like me and life as a Minnesota fan, and specifically a Viking fan, has conditioned you to expect the worst at all times?  I mean the Vikes are absolutely rolling, now at 9-1 and just destroying teams, such as the poor, hapless Seahawks who they rolled to such a degree that T-Jax actually played almost an entire half.  Everything is perfect.  Brett Favre has played nearly flawlessly this season.  Adrian Peterson has gone from "possibly the best back in football" to "the best back in football."  Percy Harvin is heading towards a possible rookie-of-the-year award.  Sidney Rice has realized his untapped potential and vaulted into maybe a top 10 receiver in the NFL (Don't believe me?  He's 17th in catches and 3rd in receiving yards in the NFL).  And the defense, although showing a few weaknesses at times, is still an elite unit with a front four that is basically destroying everybody - And all this without Antoine Winfield.  And yet, instead of relaxing, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop and someting to go horribly, horribly wrong.  Will it be a Favre injury?  An injury to some one else?  Or will it be smooth sailing until an epic choke job in the playoffs?  I don't know, but you know damn well it's going to be something. 

5.  Rodney Williams.  I think it's finally time to recognize that this kid might not just beat beating up on poor teams, he might legitimately be a Big Ten Freshman of the Year candidate.  It seemed the consensus on the Gopher freshmen coming into the season was Royce = FOY candidate, Cobbs = immediate backup, might steal the starting spot, and Rodney = project, possible redshirt.  Well, after putting up games of 14, 14, and 17 points, all on better than 58% shooting, and adding an average of three boards and two steals per, he's suddenly looking far beyond a redshirt.  Besides his stellar defense and insane athleticism, which were given, he's answered questions about his offense by showing a nice outside touch (3-8 from three) and a good offensive IQ.  I'm starting to wish I took him in my fantasy college hoops league.  Although I did get Damian Johnson, who is just ridiculous in every way.

To give you some example, in the scoring system our league uses (pts, rebs = +1, asts = +2, stl, blks = +3, TO = -2), he has put up 46, 40, and 42 points.  Last year's returning leader was Luke Harangody (also on my team), and he averaged 42 per game.  I realize DJ probably won't be able to continue to put up those kind of numbers, especially the blocks and steals, once competition improves, but in any case, he is just so, so valuable, and I'm talking real life - not fantasy.  I don't care who ends up leading the Gophers in which statistical categories, Johnson is hands down this team's MVP.  Except maybe Ralph. 


WHO SUCKED

1.  Penn State.  Ouch.  It looks like Iowa and Indiana won't be battling for 11th place by themselves, the post-Geary Claxton era is looking ugly.  The Nittany Lions were basically Talor Battle and that's it, and needed somebody to step up and help out this year.  That hasn't happened, and Penn State basically embarrassed themselves at the Charleston Classic this weekend, finishing in 7th place (out of 8).  It was a pretty low-level tournament, and was set up for a South Carolina/Miami final, with Penn State and South Florida as potential sleepers and then four cupcakey-type teams.  Well, the final happened, but Penn State never got their sleeper campaign going, dropping their opener to UNC-Wilmington.  Ok, fine.  At least they should be able to rip through the consolation bracket and salvage some pride, right?  Wrong again.  They lost their first consolation game to Tulane, setting up an epic seventh place game against Davidson, which they mercifully won.  Gopher fans have been there - remember the Old Spice Classic? - so we feel your pain, Penn State.


2.  Pac 10 Hoops.  The Pac was already said to be down this year, but things might be worse than originally thought, especially after watching one of their two "top flight" teams get swept by Ohio State and Syracuse in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, and do so without much of a fight (although to be completely fair, the Bears were missing a couple of players).  There are a ton of other black marks as well; Arizona State needed a miracle finish to beat a terrible TCU team, Stanford lost to Oral Roberts, UCLA lost to Bryce Webster and CS - Fullerton, USC was knocked off by a god awful Loyola Marymount team, Oregon lost to Portland, and Oregon State (the conference's big sleeper) lost to Texas Tech to drop to 1-2 and then lost on Saturday to Sacramento State - one of the worst teams in the country - and that all happened just this week.  I honestly can't remember ever seeing a major conference struggle this mightily this early.  At least the Washington schools are still undefeated, although neither has really played anyone yet.  The real winner in this is Arizona, who was heading for a down year and whose 24 straight years with an NCAA Tournament bid record was in jeopardy.  With a decent team, in what suddenly looks like a super weak conference, we could be looking at 25.

3.  Pittsburgh Steelers.  Funny thing about the NFL this year, there are a handful of teams that are so gad awful they never win and never even threaten to win:  Oakland, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, and Kansas City.  Except - whoops - Kansas City beat the Steelers on Sunday, 27-24 in overtime - and did so without Dwayne Bowe, who is suspending for cheating.  I have no idea how it happened.  Roethlisberger threw for 398 yards, but threw two picks and the Steelers turned the ball over three times, and then allowed Matt Cassell to have a nearly perfect second half and overtime, leading to four scoring drives including the game-winning field goal.  I don't even know what else to say.  This is like when Forrest Gump won the Oscar over Pulp Fiction.  Oakland also beat Cincinnati, and in even more embarrassing fashion, but I still feel like the Pitt loss was more stunning even though the Bengals have a better record than the Steelers.  I guess I've learned that you can never trust the Bengals completely.  Kind of like a wife or girlfriend.  Or any female, really. 

4.  Gopher football.  Did you ever think you'd pine for the days of Glen Mason?  I certainly didn't, and yet, that's what I found myself thinking on Sunday watching Maroney run for the Patriots.  I found myself harkening back to the days of Barbaroney (and G-Russ) and thinking, at least when Mason was here the Gophers had some talented players.  At least they were exciting and fun to watch.  And then I stopped myself, and realized what I was saying.  I wish Glen Mason was still here.  I WISH.  GLEN MASON.  WAS STILL HERE.  And I have a feeling if you're reading this and haven't thought that, you're thinking it right now.  Isn't that the most damning evidence that the Brewster era has been a failure? 

5.  NCAA Fascists.  FREE RENARDO SIDNEY!!  FREE RENARDO SIDNEY!!!  FREE RENARDO SIDNEY!!  Who's with me?  FREE RENARDO SIDNEY!!  FREE RENARDO SIDNEY!! FREE RENARDO SIDNEY!!  FREE RENARDO... (also now featured on the front page of the espn college basketball section).


I am crazy fired up for college basketball this year, and this is one of the best times of the season with all the holiday tournaments going on.  We already had the Coaches vs. Classic and Puerto Rico Tip-Off winners, but there's plenty more going on, and I'm most interested in the Maui Classic (other than the 76 Classic, of course).  I've been pimping Cincinnati as a final four sleeper this year, and this will be their first chance to show if I'm at least near the right track or not.  They start off with a good Vanderbilt team today on ESPN2 at 4:30 - check them out.

One other quick note from the weekend - the Gophers opponent in the Big10/ACC Challenge, Miami, won the Charleston Classic this weekend by beating Tulane, UNC-Wilmington, and South Carolina.  That's not really all that impressive, since the first two are weak teams (although Wilmington beat Penn State) and South Carolina's second best player went down with a knee injury seven minutes into the game and never returned, but still, it boosts Miami's profile and therefore the Gophers' if they manage a win on the 2nd - which I certainly think they can.