Well they won. Winning is better than losing, right? Even in the NIT which forces me and you to watch another game that we barely care about. They certainly tried to lose, but FSU just wanted the loss more. Anyway, here are ten things I liked and didn't like.
1. Joey King was a total spaz. For someone who was such a big part of the offense in this NIT run to win with him scoring just 3 points is a good thing. He only played 7 minutes due to foul trouble from the get go and I have no idea what he was doing out there. With Eliason out the Gopher "bigs" were in such bad shape Oto had to come back and play, yet King's out there jumping around like a little kid up past his bedtime. Maybe he was trying to hard to be a major factor, but the majority of his fouls were just stupid and caused by hyperactivity and lack of body control. It was probably the worst game anybody has ever played in the history of basketball. Probably.
2. Speaking of Oto, was it all just a lie? It has to be, right? Just a month or so ago we were all told Oto had such a serious injury that he had to hang it up for his career, yet here the Gophers are short handed and all of a sudden he's not only playing, but playing 32 minutes. He mostly looked like a guy who hadn't been playing basketball, but he made due with a hell of an effort and was pretty key for the Gophers - that rebound off a missed FT he grabbed in overtime was 100% pure hustle as he was boxed out by two Seminoles and just forced his way through. But clearly Pitino told hm he probably wasn't going to get minutes next year and Oto chose to retire rather than transfer, and they concocted this bogus story. I get it, but it sucks when it blows up like this. I can never trust anyone ever again.
3. Florida State did the Gophers a lot of favors. With Minnesota undermanned and undersized in the paint FSU should have attacked the basket all night. They grabbed 43% of their misses and were clearly better and bigger, but for some reason the majority of the night they were content to shoot perimeter jumpers, going 1-9 in the first half from three and then still doing it, going 3-9 in the second half and overtime. When they made their big run to take the lead as the game was winding down they did it by pounding the ball inside, mainly to Okaro White, and it worked (helped by a Gophers shooting slump). I have no idea why this wasn't the game plan consistently, especially when everyone on the Gophers ended up with foul trouble. I assume it's because Florida State is a dumb team, year after year.
4. Speaking of FSU, their defense was really horrible. It's surprising because Leonard Hamilton almost always has his Seminole teams as top defensive squads and their size, but the Gopher guards had their way with FSU driving to the paint last night. Fifty-one of the teams 67 points came from their guards, which shouldn't be surprising given the team make-up I guess, but Austin Hollins was as driving machine all night and Dre Hollins and Dre Mathieu were able to waltz in for easy layups on back to back plays near the end of regulation. With Florida State's size and shot blocking (23rd in the country by percentages) two little guys like that shouldn't be able to get to the rim, but they did it consistently either scoring or finding others for open looks. FSU also turned the ball over a ton, but enough about FSU. They done.
5. The A topic on twitter last night was the horrible announcing team. And they weren't wrong. Bobby Knight was terrible. Long stretches with no talking, rambling Abe Simpson like stories about wearing an onion on his belt (it was the style at the time) and his old teams and players, harping on the same points over and over, and asking his colleagues questions about the game he was allegedly watching. I usually like Knight as an announcer and I'm not going to make the obvious joke about him being drunk and/or senile because it was pretty clear he was just completely bored with the game. Even as it got towards the end and was supposedly getting pretty exciting he was still droning on about some dude from his 1978 team or something. He clearly has no interest in the NIT, and honestly I can't even blame him. Even I just wanted that game to hurry up and end.
6. The court was left alone, unlike NCAA games. You remember
how back in the day the host schools court for the NCAA Tournament
basically looked the way the court always looked? Maybe they'd change a
logo or two but it was basically the same? And now how they white wash
all courts to look identical, so if you're watching a game in Orlando
and switch to a game in Anaheim it looks exactly the same except the
location name is on the baseline? I was afraid they'd do something
similar to MSG, but luckily they left it alone other than replacing any
Knicks stuff with NIT stuff. Maybe it was apathy because it's the NIT, I
don't know but I liked it. I'm actually now realizing I didn't notice
if they changed it for the Sweet 16/Elite 8 games. This would be a way
better point if I remembered to notice.
7. Malik Smith is broken. It's to the point where I'm actually feeling bad for him since this is the way his career is ending. He missed three of his four free throw attempts including two with eight seconds left and the Gophers up 3 so one make wins the game, and all four of his three-point attempts which drops him to two makes in his last 34 attempts and a line of 8-58 since he exploded against Nebraska. Did that game wreck him? It shouldn't considering he had a few games like that in his FIU days, but the results since are pretty remarkable. If you watch him his fundamentals are all over the place now too - he's not even squaring up to shoot a lot of the time. It would be nice for him to have a good game to close out his career against SMU, but at this point I think you have to hope for just a non-shitty game.
8. The Gophers did a really nice job of shutting down Aaron Thomas. Thomas played 36 minutes before fouling out and managed just 3 points on 1-8 shooting. Thomas led the team in scoring this year at 14.1 per, hit double figures in 16 straight games and 27 of their last 30, and had been over 20 points in each of their NIT victories before the Gophers stopped him. This is where I'd write about how they did it but I forgot to pay attention to it and by the time I realized they had completely stymied him he was in the process of fouling out. I'm a really good blogger.
9. Dre Hollins looked a lot better. His shot is still iffy, but he seemed much more lively to me and was attacking the rim more like he did prior to his injury, and his defense was a lot better too. He's had 2 steals in three of four NIT games, and prior to that the last time he had more than 1 was the Ohio State, two games prior to getting hurt. He's also had 7 and 4 assists the last two games with the last time he had more than 3 the Purdue game in Minneapolis on January 5th. I was of the opinion that shutting him down for the NIT and making sure he's healthy for next season might have made some sense, but everything seems to be coming up Milhouse so party on.
10. So now the Gophers have a chance at a Championship. And what do you hear over and over? "Making a deep run in the NIT is a springboard to success the following season." Is this true? I don't know, let's look.
NIT CHAMPIONS (next season results):
2013: Baylor (sweet 16) over Iowa (First Four)
2012: Stanford (missed tournament) over Minnesota (second round)
2011: Wichita State (first round) over Alabama (first round)
2010: Dayton (missed tournament) over North Carolina (elite 8)
2009: Penn State (missed tournament) over Baylor (elite 8)
That's the last five years which is all the effort I'm going to put into this. Seven of the 10 teams made the NCAA Tournament the following year with four of those recording a victory. I'm going to say that making the NIT Championship is a decent indicator of a team that makes the NCAA Tournament the following season but that's about it - and I'll take it. With only two seniors departing from this team they fit the profile. Maybe next year is the year I will finally see LOCK: Minnesota in ESPN's Bubble Watch. Still waiting.
Up next is SMU, a really good team who probably should have made the NCAA Tournament. I might preview it if I feel like it later. No promises.
Showing posts with label NIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NIT. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Gophers 81, Southern Miss 73
Good win, and on to Madison Square Garden. Here are 10 things I liked and didn't like about the Southern Miss game. And it's going to be fast, because I have some sweet 16 stuff I need to ignore my real work for tomorrow.
1. Obviously the A topic here is Austin Hollins's monster game. 32 points. 6-11 from 3. 2-3 from 2. 11-11 from the line. 4 assists and 3 steals with no turnovers to boot. Plus he was as active as I can ever remember seeing him, just running all over the court especially without the ball which is a place he can disengage from a game from time to time. Great going away game from Austin in his final game at the Barn and I'm glad he got to have a huge moment in front of the home crowd after he's been beaten up pretty hard by a certain segment of fans (*cough* gopherhole). A good well rounded player who cares as much about defense as offense is always a nice luxury to have and although I wouldn't call him a Gopher legend (he's no Stan Gaines) he will be sorely missed next season. I'd slot him somewhere below Damian Johnson and above Travarus Bennett. Pretty good spot to be in.
2. The other A topic should be the freaking horrible announcers and actually all around production by ESPN. Good lord are Dan Dakitch and whoever the other guy was terrible. How many times did they get Austin and Andre Hollins confused? And every time the Gophers had the ball all they could talk about was how the Gophers needed to get Austin the ball, even though I'm positive they meant Andre because they had no idea he wasn't 100% because I don't think - no, I know - neither of them has seen a Gopher game this year. Then what happens? The show a graphic to show Austin's great stats and the picture is Andre. Good lord we could have expected this in year 1 with both of them, but it's year 3. I was surprised, however, they never mentioned that they are brothers. Odd.
3. Great job handling pressure......until the last two minutes. The Gophers turned the ball over 10 times which for them I would consider good. But two of the ten came in the last two minutes and it felt like a lot more because the Gophers suddenly seemed all panicky. Southern Miss is a big time turnover creating team, which makes the overall numbers very impressive. I said they'd have to take care of the ball to win and they did. If they had played like this more often, well, we probably wouldn't have any more Gopher ball to watch, but we'd all be a lot happier with the season.
4. Someone in the middle of the zone - unstoppable. Against that matchup zone, and really any zone, is getting someone in the middle of the zone, right about the free throw line, and getting them the ball. Tonight it was usually either Joey King (more on him later) or Elliot Eliason there - when someone was there - and almost every time they got the ball either King hit a jumper or King or Eliason were able to find an open shooter, and the team was actually hitting open shots tonight so everybody was all smiling and stuff. Sadly, far too often nobody bothered to get in the middle, which is like why not? I would love to have some kind of breakdown of points per possession when they got a touch in the middle vs. not. One led to easy shots, the other a ton, and a mean a ton, of contested long jumpers and three pointers. Just some terrible shots tonight. Some great offense too. Schizo team, as usual.
5. The rebounding and defense kind of sucked. A 14-4 edge on the offensive rebounds is not very good, and letting Southern Miss shoot over 50% on twos is not ideal. No reason to harp on this, because it's been a season long theme, luckily tonight their offense was good enough to overcome it. Moving on.
6. This Mavsurgence is not real. Mav has made some headlines after scoring 21 in the first round game against High Point, but that was High Point. Since then he's come back to normal but is at least hitting his shots which is really his only role or should be. Tonight he had a possession where he basically like, kicked the ball away from himself and then fell down. It felt like a metaphor for something, but I'm not sure what.
7. Joey King is good? Seriously, is he? I hated him at first, he slowly won me over, but after scoring 15 points tonight that makes four straight games in double figures, which I'm told is the first time he's done that in his career, I'm wondering if he's actually good. Like, starting Big 10 caliber good? He looked awfully good as the middle guy against the zone, he's started to get better from three without relying on it, he's gone from zero post moves to something like 0.8 post moves, and just, stopped being such a tit. I can't believe I might be a fan. Not what I was expecting.
8. Dre Hollins is still broken. He's shooting like shit, yes at 6-38 in his last four games (not a misprint) but other than a down tick because he can't get to the rim as easily as he used to that's not what I'm talking about. There were two plays tonight that made it crystal clear he doesn't have the burst he did before he hurt his ankle. One was a run out where he had one of those one on two breaks but the two are out of position so you generally take it right at the rim and he tried but was turned back because he was too slow and the other was a trap towards the end of the game that he usually would be able to dribble out of with his quickness but was unable to. It makes this win (and the last one) even more impressive by the Gophers doing it with a best player who is max at 90% of his capability. Hopefully he's all back next year.
9. I am far too excited about Mo Walker next year. I can't get over about how good he's been since his breakout against Ohio State. He's learned to trust his body and can just bull his way into lay-ups, even against good defenders. He's got a semi decent jumper out to about 16 feet, and he can pass the ball very well for a man his size. If he adds 1-2 post moves other than his jump hook and the drop step lower your shoulder he could end up nearly unstoppable. Generally I don't trust college kids to work all that hard because I remember being a college kid, but this is a guy who lost 60 pounds or whatever, I can see him busting his ass to add a dream shake and a fall away or something. So excited. Unreasonably so.
10. Why not win it I guess. The NIT mostly sucks. It's hard to care about, you play mediocre teams who you have no idea whether they're at all interested, and many of the games run up against NCAA games and as such go unwatched. But hell, as long as you're stuck in it you might as well win it, right? And wins over St. Mary's and Southern Miss are nice wins you can build on? I don't know. The Gophers are still playing, and god help me I'm still watching. Let's hope they win two more.
1. Obviously the A topic here is Austin Hollins's monster game. 32 points. 6-11 from 3. 2-3 from 2. 11-11 from the line. 4 assists and 3 steals with no turnovers to boot. Plus he was as active as I can ever remember seeing him, just running all over the court especially without the ball which is a place he can disengage from a game from time to time. Great going away game from Austin in his final game at the Barn and I'm glad he got to have a huge moment in front of the home crowd after he's been beaten up pretty hard by a certain segment of fans (*cough* gopherhole). A good well rounded player who cares as much about defense as offense is always a nice luxury to have and although I wouldn't call him a Gopher legend (he's no Stan Gaines) he will be sorely missed next season. I'd slot him somewhere below Damian Johnson and above Travarus Bennett. Pretty good spot to be in.
2. The other A topic should be the freaking horrible announcers and actually all around production by ESPN. Good lord are Dan Dakitch and whoever the other guy was terrible. How many times did they get Austin and Andre Hollins confused? And every time the Gophers had the ball all they could talk about was how the Gophers needed to get Austin the ball, even though I'm positive they meant Andre because they had no idea he wasn't 100% because I don't think - no, I know - neither of them has seen a Gopher game this year. Then what happens? The show a graphic to show Austin's great stats and the picture is Andre. Good lord we could have expected this in year 1 with both of them, but it's year 3. I was surprised, however, they never mentioned that they are brothers. Odd.
3. Great job handling pressure......until the last two minutes. The Gophers turned the ball over 10 times which for them I would consider good. But two of the ten came in the last two minutes and it felt like a lot more because the Gophers suddenly seemed all panicky. Southern Miss is a big time turnover creating team, which makes the overall numbers very impressive. I said they'd have to take care of the ball to win and they did. If they had played like this more often, well, we probably wouldn't have any more Gopher ball to watch, but we'd all be a lot happier with the season.
4. Someone in the middle of the zone - unstoppable. Against that matchup zone, and really any zone, is getting someone in the middle of the zone, right about the free throw line, and getting them the ball. Tonight it was usually either Joey King (more on him later) or Elliot Eliason there - when someone was there - and almost every time they got the ball either King hit a jumper or King or Eliason were able to find an open shooter, and the team was actually hitting open shots tonight so everybody was all smiling and stuff. Sadly, far too often nobody bothered to get in the middle, which is like why not? I would love to have some kind of breakdown of points per possession when they got a touch in the middle vs. not. One led to easy shots, the other a ton, and a mean a ton, of contested long jumpers and three pointers. Just some terrible shots tonight. Some great offense too. Schizo team, as usual.
5. The rebounding and defense kind of sucked. A 14-4 edge on the offensive rebounds is not very good, and letting Southern Miss shoot over 50% on twos is not ideal. No reason to harp on this, because it's been a season long theme, luckily tonight their offense was good enough to overcome it. Moving on.
6. This Mavsurgence is not real. Mav has made some headlines after scoring 21 in the first round game against High Point, but that was High Point. Since then he's come back to normal but is at least hitting his shots which is really his only role or should be. Tonight he had a possession where he basically like, kicked the ball away from himself and then fell down. It felt like a metaphor for something, but I'm not sure what.
7. Joey King is good? Seriously, is he? I hated him at first, he slowly won me over, but after scoring 15 points tonight that makes four straight games in double figures, which I'm told is the first time he's done that in his career, I'm wondering if he's actually good. Like, starting Big 10 caliber good? He looked awfully good as the middle guy against the zone, he's started to get better from three without relying on it, he's gone from zero post moves to something like 0.8 post moves, and just, stopped being such a tit. I can't believe I might be a fan. Not what I was expecting.
8. Dre Hollins is still broken. He's shooting like shit, yes at 6-38 in his last four games (not a misprint) but other than a down tick because he can't get to the rim as easily as he used to that's not what I'm talking about. There were two plays tonight that made it crystal clear he doesn't have the burst he did before he hurt his ankle. One was a run out where he had one of those one on two breaks but the two are out of position so you generally take it right at the rim and he tried but was turned back because he was too slow and the other was a trap towards the end of the game that he usually would be able to dribble out of with his quickness but was unable to. It makes this win (and the last one) even more impressive by the Gophers doing it with a best player who is max at 90% of his capability. Hopefully he's all back next year.
9. I am far too excited about Mo Walker next year. I can't get over about how good he's been since his breakout against Ohio State. He's learned to trust his body and can just bull his way into lay-ups, even against good defenders. He's got a semi decent jumper out to about 16 feet, and he can pass the ball very well for a man his size. If he adds 1-2 post moves other than his jump hook and the drop step lower your shoulder he could end up nearly unstoppable. Generally I don't trust college kids to work all that hard because I remember being a college kid, but this is a guy who lost 60 pounds or whatever, I can see him busting his ass to add a dream shake and a fall away or something. So excited. Unreasonably so.
10. Why not win it I guess. The NIT mostly sucks. It's hard to care about, you play mediocre teams who you have no idea whether they're at all interested, and many of the games run up against NCAA games and as such go unwatched. But hell, as long as you're stuck in it you might as well win it, right? And wins over St. Mary's and Southern Miss are nice wins you can build on? I don't know. The Gophers are still playing, and god help me I'm still watching. Let's hope they win two more.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Game Preview: Gophers vs. Southern Miss
So the Gophers are still playing. In all the NCAA gambling and brackets and game watching I kind of forgot about them, and didn't even realize they were playing St. Mary's until mid second half, and when I switched over I still paid more attention to the Wichita/Kentucky game I was streaming on the ipad. I know, I'm a great blogger. So they are still playing, and that's good, and on Tuesday night they'll welcome Southern Miss to the Barn with the winner heading to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four. Joy.
With all the good teams having fled Conference USA, Southern Miss is probably the jewel of the (severely weakened) conference, having won 20+ games in each of the last five years and making the NCAA Tournament as a 9 seed in 2012 as an at-large before losing to Kansas State. This year's squad has gone 29-6 overall and was 13-3 in Conference USA, losing to Louisiana Tech in the conference tournament semi-finals. To get here the Golden Eagles beat Toledo at home and Missouri on the road with that win over Mizzou one of their most impressive this season. They also beat NCAA team North Dakota State as well as quality opponent Georgia State in non-conference, and had a season sweep of LA Tech but that's basically it as far as good victories go with the rest coming against a shitty conference or really bad teams out of conference. This is not a juggernaut, but the win over Missouri is significant.
Looking at the stats, Southern Miss has four major strengths: they cause a lot of turnovers, they grab a lot of offensive rebounds, they pass well, and they get to the free throw line a lot. Their weaknesses are not shooting or defending shots very well, giving up a lot of assists, fouling a lot, and allowing an absolutely absurd amount of three pointers. I haven't seen So Miss play this year, but this statistical profile is basically textbook for a team that plays an aggressive high pressure zone (Syracuse's profile is similar). I also know that Southern Miss employs a full court press pretty much at all times, though I don't know if it's regular man-to-man or if there is a lot of trapping. The game comes down to:
5-11 senior point guard Neil Watson is probably the leader of the team, averaging 10.7 pts and 3.9 assists per game. He put up 18 points and 7 assists against Missouri, so he seems to be doing the whole I'm a senior and I don't want my career to be over yet thing. He only takes 16% of his shots at the rim so he's a clear jump shooter, but he does it well hitting 40% of his twos and 37% of his threes. He also hit 92% of his free throws this year, and buried with Missouri with four threes (on 9 attempts).
If Watson is the leader on the perimeter then 6-5 forward Michael Craig is the leader in the paint, leading the team in both scoring (11.5) and rebounding (7.6). His range doesn't extend too far, but he's an excellent scorer in the lane for somebody that short. He's their go to scorer and is an excellent passer out of the post - something to watch for.
Their other three main players are 6-7 senior Daveon Boardingham (9.9ppg/4.8rpg and a terrible name), former Temple transfer and 6-5 junior Aaron Brown (10.0ppg/4.3rpg), and 6-0 senior Jerrold Brooks (9.7ppg/2.5apg). Man they have a lot of upperclassmen. Boardingham is the closest thing they have to a center and leads the team with a whole 1.0 block per game, Brown is probably the scariest of these three just because he can score in a variety of ways and has had a few explosive games this year, and Brooks is their big time three point shooter (along with Watson) though he did hit just 33% this season.
Other than that they have some bit parts, one of which is our former good buddy Chip Armelin. Armelin played just 13.4 minutes per game this year (actually slightly less than his last year with the Gophers) and averaged 4.7ppg and 1.9rpg. In general he looks to be the same kind of player he was back then, although he's gotten much more efficient with his two pointers, hitting 60% this year compared to 46% back in 2012 mainly due to attacking the basket more. He's also turning it over more than he did back then, but that could be a product of the system. He's also nabbing more steals but again, product of the system. Anyway, I'm happy to see Chip back. I always had high hopes for him. It will be interesting to see what happens next season with four seniors departing Southern Miss, and Chip will have to step in to a bigger role.
It boils down to this being one of the more easy games to analyze that I can remember. The Golden Eagles are a decent team who can score, but a lot of their offense is predicated on getting turnovers and offensive rebounds, things the Gophers can control or limit. Offensively there's a clear blue print to beating Southern Miss - move the ball and knock down open shots. It's all about if the Gophers can execute. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have a bad feeling.
Southern Miss 70, Minnesota 65
With all the good teams having fled Conference USA, Southern Miss is probably the jewel of the (severely weakened) conference, having won 20+ games in each of the last five years and making the NCAA Tournament as a 9 seed in 2012 as an at-large before losing to Kansas State. This year's squad has gone 29-6 overall and was 13-3 in Conference USA, losing to Louisiana Tech in the conference tournament semi-finals. To get here the Golden Eagles beat Toledo at home and Missouri on the road with that win over Mizzou one of their most impressive this season. They also beat NCAA team North Dakota State as well as quality opponent Georgia State in non-conference, and had a season sweep of LA Tech but that's basically it as far as good victories go with the rest coming against a shitty conference or really bad teams out of conference. This is not a juggernaut, but the win over Missouri is significant.
Looking at the stats, Southern Miss has four major strengths: they cause a lot of turnovers, they grab a lot of offensive rebounds, they pass well, and they get to the free throw line a lot. Their weaknesses are not shooting or defending shots very well, giving up a lot of assists, fouling a lot, and allowing an absolutely absurd amount of three pointers. I haven't seen So Miss play this year, but this statistical profile is basically textbook for a team that plays an aggressive high pressure zone (Syracuse's profile is similar). I also know that Southern Miss employs a full court press pretty much at all times, though I don't know if it's regular man-to-man or if there is a lot of trapping. The game comes down to:
- Taking care of the ball. High pressure zone and full court press are terrifying for the Gophers considering how the turnover bug has reared it's head at times this year. The Gophers have played games where they take phenomenal care of the ball and others where they seem to be intentionally giving it away. They will need to do the former to win this game. On the flip side, Southern Miss is really good at giving the ball away, and hopefully the Gophers can ratchet up the pressure to take advantage.
- Rebounding. Southern Miss is an outstanding rebounding team and as we know the Gophers are.....challenged, in that area. Creating turnovers and forcing missed shots are meaningless if the other team just gets another crack at it with an offensive board. This is Southern Miss's biggest strength, and probably the #1 key to the game. The Gophers are a bigger team than the Golden Eagles, so this should be doable with effort and proper technique.
- Creating fouls while avoiding them. Southern Miss loves to get to the line and they get there a ton, even if they aren't very good at foul shots. With only two real big men, it's imperative at least one if not both of Eliason and Walker stay out of foul trouble. On the other side Southern Miss really only goes 6-7 guys deep, so getting any of them in foul trouble, and as a team they commit a lot of fouls, could help stretch their bench further than they want to go.
- Hitting shots. An aggressive zone can be easily defeated by good ball movement and hitting open shots. 35.1% of points scored against Southern Miss this year have come via three-pointer, the 3rd highest percentage in the country. Related, opponents scored off an assist on 63.5% of their baskets, also the 3rd highest percentage in the country. It's obvious what you need to do to beat this team, it's just a matter of doing it.
5-11 senior point guard Neil Watson is probably the leader of the team, averaging 10.7 pts and 3.9 assists per game. He put up 18 points and 7 assists against Missouri, so he seems to be doing the whole I'm a senior and I don't want my career to be over yet thing. He only takes 16% of his shots at the rim so he's a clear jump shooter, but he does it well hitting 40% of his twos and 37% of his threes. He also hit 92% of his free throws this year, and buried with Missouri with four threes (on 9 attempts).
If Watson is the leader on the perimeter then 6-5 forward Michael Craig is the leader in the paint, leading the team in both scoring (11.5) and rebounding (7.6). His range doesn't extend too far, but he's an excellent scorer in the lane for somebody that short. He's their go to scorer and is an excellent passer out of the post - something to watch for.
Their other three main players are 6-7 senior Daveon Boardingham (9.9ppg/4.8rpg and a terrible name), former Temple transfer and 6-5 junior Aaron Brown (10.0ppg/4.3rpg), and 6-0 senior Jerrold Brooks (9.7ppg/2.5apg). Man they have a lot of upperclassmen. Boardingham is the closest thing they have to a center and leads the team with a whole 1.0 block per game, Brown is probably the scariest of these three just because he can score in a variety of ways and has had a few explosive games this year, and Brooks is their big time three point shooter (along with Watson) though he did hit just 33% this season.
Other than that they have some bit parts, one of which is our former good buddy Chip Armelin. Armelin played just 13.4 minutes per game this year (actually slightly less than his last year with the Gophers) and averaged 4.7ppg and 1.9rpg. In general he looks to be the same kind of player he was back then, although he's gotten much more efficient with his two pointers, hitting 60% this year compared to 46% back in 2012 mainly due to attacking the basket more. He's also turning it over more than he did back then, but that could be a product of the system. He's also nabbing more steals but again, product of the system. Anyway, I'm happy to see Chip back. I always had high hopes for him. It will be interesting to see what happens next season with four seniors departing Southern Miss, and Chip will have to step in to a bigger role.
It boils down to this being one of the more easy games to analyze that I can remember. The Golden Eagles are a decent team who can score, but a lot of their offense is predicated on getting turnovers and offensive rebounds, things the Gophers can control or limit. Offensively there's a clear blue print to beating Southern Miss - move the ball and knock down open shots. It's all about if the Gophers can execute. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have a bad feeling.
Southern Miss 70, Minnesota 65
Monday, March 17, 2014
Game Preview: Gophers vs. High Point
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because High Point is terrible and the NIT is the NIT and there's a lot of gambling and game picking going on this time of year and my time is better spent on that, but I will do a preview because then I can tweet it out and people can remember that this blog exists and I didn't die and I was just on vacation.
Anyway, High Point is terrible. They did go 12-4 in the Big South, but the Big South was not very good this year even by Big South standards, with kenpom ranking it 29th out of 32 conferences. Yuck. The Panthers totaled four wins outside of the Big South and two of them were to non D-I teams. They had losses to terrible James Madison and terrible Morgan State, and lost to Georgetown by 35, Arkansas by 41, and were dropped by a stunning 28 points by Wofford. They did win 10 of their final 11 regular season games before losing in their first conference tournament game, and that included a 3-point road win at Coastal Carolina - who made it to the NCAAs. So maybe they just hit a slow start and are putting it altogether at the right time. Or maybe their just the best of a bad lot.
The Panthers are pretty terrible defensively, giving up 1.12 points per possession, one of the worst marks in the country. Their mainly a zone team from what I can tell, but teams absolutely lit them up hitting 35% from three and 54% from 2, the latter putting them in the bottom 20 in the entire country in that metric, and the former not much better. They have a couple of decent shot blockers in 6-9 John Brown (more on him later) and 6-5 Devante Wallace, but obviously given that 2pt % number they didn't do much to deter scoring. Worth noting that teams take a large percentage of their field goal attempts from behind the arc against High Point, and given not much turnover creation I'd assume the zone is more saggy than pressure-y. They also rebound like crap on both sides of the ball.
The offense is better, tallying 1.05 points per possession, slightly above the national average, and mainly that's because of Brown. He's a versatile big man who can post up or step out and hit the mid range jumper (not a 3-point threat) to the tune of 19.5 points per game on 54% shooting, although it's worth noting that he failed to break double digits against Arkansas, Georgetown, or Syracuse. He also grabs 8 boards per game and chips in 2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2 blocks. He ranks in the top 500 in every kenpom metric other than assist rate, although his 14.4% is awfully good for a post player who shoots as often as he does (Austin Hollins is 14.8% and Dre Hollins is 16.8%, for comparison). He's an awesome player against low-mid major defenses, but hasn't proved it against a big time team. Hopefully the Gophers' shreddable defense doesn't give him that chance.
Two other double digits scorers join Brown in Wallace (12.4ppg) and 6-3 guard Adam Weary (11.9ppg). Wallace is a good shot blocker as referenced above and is second on the team in rebounding (4.6ppg) so I'm going to assume he's a pretty good athlete, but his best skill might be his three point shooting. Wallace took a team high five attempts per game, and ended up on the year making exactly 50% of them. He got better and more aggressive as the season went along, with 4+ makes in seven of the team's final 15 games. It would be a good move to not let him get hot. Weary is coming off an ankle injury and the game against the Gophers will be just his third game back after missing five, and he's scored just five and nine points in those two. There was a chunk of games where he scored 20+ in four of six in the middle of the season, and he scored 14+ in three straight before the injury. It'd be better if he's still hurt a little.
The rest of the team is balanced with six other guys getting at least double digit minutes. Lorenzo Cugini, who I bet is Italian, is probably the best of the bunch and can knock down some threes. Anthony Lindauer is a three point specialist. Jorge Perez-Laham is a pretty good point guard when he's on the floor. Cliff Cornish has some size although he doesn't play much, though he most likely will against the Gophers. He's a good shot blocker. High Point would be better but they caught a bad break when Allan Chaney had to retire due to heart problems - he was averaging 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds at the time. You can read more about it here if you'd like.
Basically High Point won the Big South regular season title so if the Gophers come out flat or play poorly they are certainly capable of winning. But they shouldn't. The Gophers should win this game with relative ease, but the NIT is a weird animal because you never know how a team will perform because the mental state can be anywhere from pumped to keep playing to bummed to be in the NIT so who cares. I think the Gophers, with a first year coach and low expectations for the season, will be up for this one.
Minnesota 77, High Point 57
Anyway, High Point is terrible. They did go 12-4 in the Big South, but the Big South was not very good this year even by Big South standards, with kenpom ranking it 29th out of 32 conferences. Yuck. The Panthers totaled four wins outside of the Big South and two of them were to non D-I teams. They had losses to terrible James Madison and terrible Morgan State, and lost to Georgetown by 35, Arkansas by 41, and were dropped by a stunning 28 points by Wofford. They did win 10 of their final 11 regular season games before losing in their first conference tournament game, and that included a 3-point road win at Coastal Carolina - who made it to the NCAAs. So maybe they just hit a slow start and are putting it altogether at the right time. Or maybe their just the best of a bad lot.
The Panthers are pretty terrible defensively, giving up 1.12 points per possession, one of the worst marks in the country. Their mainly a zone team from what I can tell, but teams absolutely lit them up hitting 35% from three and 54% from 2, the latter putting them in the bottom 20 in the entire country in that metric, and the former not much better. They have a couple of decent shot blockers in 6-9 John Brown (more on him later) and 6-5 Devante Wallace, but obviously given that 2pt % number they didn't do much to deter scoring. Worth noting that teams take a large percentage of their field goal attempts from behind the arc against High Point, and given not much turnover creation I'd assume the zone is more saggy than pressure-y. They also rebound like crap on both sides of the ball.
The offense is better, tallying 1.05 points per possession, slightly above the national average, and mainly that's because of Brown. He's a versatile big man who can post up or step out and hit the mid range jumper (not a 3-point threat) to the tune of 19.5 points per game on 54% shooting, although it's worth noting that he failed to break double digits against Arkansas, Georgetown, or Syracuse. He also grabs 8 boards per game and chips in 2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2 blocks. He ranks in the top 500 in every kenpom metric other than assist rate, although his 14.4% is awfully good for a post player who shoots as often as he does (Austin Hollins is 14.8% and Dre Hollins is 16.8%, for comparison). He's an awesome player against low-mid major defenses, but hasn't proved it against a big time team. Hopefully the Gophers' shreddable defense doesn't give him that chance.
Two other double digits scorers join Brown in Wallace (12.4ppg) and 6-3 guard Adam Weary (11.9ppg). Wallace is a good shot blocker as referenced above and is second on the team in rebounding (4.6ppg) so I'm going to assume he's a pretty good athlete, but his best skill might be his three point shooting. Wallace took a team high five attempts per game, and ended up on the year making exactly 50% of them. He got better and more aggressive as the season went along, with 4+ makes in seven of the team's final 15 games. It would be a good move to not let him get hot. Weary is coming off an ankle injury and the game against the Gophers will be just his third game back after missing five, and he's scored just five and nine points in those two. There was a chunk of games where he scored 20+ in four of six in the middle of the season, and he scored 14+ in three straight before the injury. It'd be better if he's still hurt a little.
The rest of the team is balanced with six other guys getting at least double digit minutes. Lorenzo Cugini, who I bet is Italian, is probably the best of the bunch and can knock down some threes. Anthony Lindauer is a three point specialist. Jorge Perez-Laham is a pretty good point guard when he's on the floor. Cliff Cornish has some size although he doesn't play much, though he most likely will against the Gophers. He's a good shot blocker. High Point would be better but they caught a bad break when Allan Chaney had to retire due to heart problems - he was averaging 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds at the time. You can read more about it here if you'd like.
Basically High Point won the Big South regular season title so if the Gophers come out flat or play poorly they are certainly capable of winning. But they shouldn't. The Gophers should win this game with relative ease, but the NIT is a weird animal because you never know how a team will perform because the mental state can be anywhere from pumped to keep playing to bummed to be in the NIT so who cares. I think the Gophers, with a first year coach and low expectations for the season, will be up for this one.
Minnesota 77, High Point 57
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Tournament Talk. Stupid NIT.
I am back from Florida now and it sucks. I'd much rather be there than here what with their beaches, fishing (I caught a snook!), ocean life (saw many dolphins, a couple of manatees, almost stepped on a stingray, and found a baby crab to show my kids), happy hour every day, the ocean, spring break chicks in bikinis who invite me into their bungalow to play drinking games and give me jello shots (actually happened!), fresh seafood, Yuengling evewhere, awesome sunsets and sunrises, the ocean, and consequence-less drinking. I won't dwell on how awesome Florida is because it should be pretty self-evident, but if you ever have a choice to be on Estero Island or Sanibel Island rather than being in stupid Minnesota you should totally do it.
One piece of advice I will give, is if you love seafood like I do go to the Farmer's Market (Fridays) or drive just over to the bridge to one of the fish markets. Even though it's so abundant in the gulf it's also really expensive - a typical grouper dinner is 20-25 bucks while a pound of shrimp appetizer is up to $15. At the markets you can get the grouper for about $20 a pound and the shrimp for a lot cheaper as well. If you know how to cook (and I do) and like to (and I do) you can get out of there a lot cheaper considering two pounds of grouper is about 8 portions, so you're only paying like $5 per meal instead of $25. I made an awesome almond-crusted grouper and an almost as good chili-lime preparation, and made some butter poached shrimp seasoned with this local seasoning blend that thsi one dude who my parents had try them said they were the best shrimp he had all week and he had some every day for a month. So yeah, I rock. And I got to de-head the shrimp, which is something I'd never done before. That's right, manly enough to rip the head off a shrimp and talented enough to cook a gourmet dinner. Settle down ladies, I'm taken.
Lots of basketball to catch up on, so we might as well get to it.
First, Gopher thoughts:
- Major bummer the Gophers missed the tournament, but not at all unexpected. They were essentially a single win away from getting in most likely, and it wouldn't have mattered when it happened. I think if you take any single one of their losses and turned it into a win the Gophers get in the tournament. Not having Dre Hollins for a couple of those losses sucked and who knows how much the committee looked at that and if it even would have mattered, but their name wasn't called, it would have been an upset if it had been, and we move on to the prestigious NIT.
- Despite missing the big tournament, I still consider this season a relative success since I didn't really plan on them making the tournament anyway (I'll delve further into a season recap after the NIT). They won a couple of games I normally wouldn't have thought they'd win, and competed well against teams I thought would blow them out. Despite a little regression by Austin Hollins, in general the players improved quite a bit from last year to this year, particularly the big men, and Dre Mathieu emerged as the type of player who should be on preseason all Big-10 lists. Even somebody who looked completely worthless in Joey King emerged to show he could end up being a decent big 10 player.
- Recruiting has been more interesting, if not any better. If you follow it you know how often the Gophers made top 5, top 3 lists and were mentioned as being in contention for a whole lot of highly ranked players. They pretty much failed to land any, however, which an optimist could chalk up to the late start Pitino got. I am that optimist. Looking forward to seeing what he can do with the class of 2015. If he doesn't land any high level talent in that class, then we can talk.
- NC State getting in is, yes, a pretty big surprise and yes, I would have thought the Gophers would get in over the Wolfpack but it's not really worth bitching about. If not NC State it would have been SMU. If not SMU it would have been Green Bay or Ole Miss or Cal or somebody like that. The Gophers just weren't there.
- Their NIT bracket is interesting, I guess. The first game against High Point is like, shoot me in the face, but a second rounder against either St. Mary's or Utah should be pretty fun. Then, if they make it, a game against Southern Miss would be interesting, although if they end up against Missouri the Gophers will get destroyed, but it'd be fun to watch their guards (Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson who each average over 17.5 points per game) in person, if that game would be at The Barn. I really don't know how that works.
- And I don't want to hear that a deep NIT run is more valuable/important than a first round NCAA exit. It's not, and anyone saying so is rationalizing, a pollyanna fan, or a complete idiot. That being said, a deep NIT run can be fun and entertaining and sure, may even help the team a bit for next season, so let's try to enjoy this even though I'll completely ignore any Gopher NIT game that clashes with any NCAA Tournament game.
Speaking of, now onto to general NCAA tournament things:
- The first thing I hate is Kansas and Florida in the same region, and I hated it because it popped up right away in the first region. But then I thought more and looked more and I think it might have saved me from making the terrible mistake of putting the Jayhawks in the Final Four. Without Embiid they're weaker inside, and in the second round they'll play New Mexico (who will kill Stanford) and their two headed giant monster of Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk. New Mexico could totally beat an Embiid-less Kansas, and I'm calling it now - they will.
- The second thing I hated was the potential round 2 match-up for Iowa State in North Carolina. When you're whole bit is to play fast and loose and basically try to outscore someone, the last thing you want to see is somebody who might be better at that style than you, and that's how the Heels look compared to the Cyclones (remember, I'm a pretty big Cyclone fan). Good news for the Cyclones is that UNC plays insanely fast, but they have struggled offensively at times this year. The bad news is that they've also beaten Michigan State and Louisville. As a fan of circus ball, and if you read this blog you know I love circus ball, as scary as this match-up is for ISU I really hope it happens - it would be circus ball galore. They couldn't make this over/under number high enough for me to not take the over.
- I had four teams in mind as my Final Four, as I usually do, prior to bracket release. Unlike usual, they actually are in three different brackets, so I only have to figure out what to do with the West. I like the idea of Ok State knocking off Arizona, but if that happens I basically have to take either OK State or San Diego State all the way to the Final Four, because there's no way anybody is making it out of that bottom bracket. I am a believer in Wisconsin, but the flame out too often to trust, so it's either Ok State, SDSU, or don't pick the upset and go with Zona. I don't know yet, but I'll let you know what I decide. Don't act like you don't care.
- The other place where I'm really having trouble is in the bottom half of the South. I already said I have New Mexico beating Kansas, but I don't feel really confident in their ability to make the elite 8, which means my choice is pretty much Ohio State or Syracuse. If Syracuse's late season plunge hadn't been so drastic and they still ended up as a 3 somehow that would have been perfect, but I'm not a big believer in the Orange right now. But Ohio State can't shoot, so as much as I think Syracuse is open to upset I don't think the Buckeyes are the team to do it. So basically I don't know what to do. I think New Mexico could do it, but I also know that's not how you win brackets. I'll probably end up going with Syracuse. Lucky draw for them, considering neither Western Michigan nor Ohio State can shoot for shit. Could get interesting if Dayton gets by the Buckeyes though, but they aren't really anything special. Lucky break for the Cuse.
- Although SWAC Champion Texas Southern is horrible, Aaric Murray could make things interesting. If you remember, Murray was a hot shot recruit who ended up choosing his hometown LaSalle, and averaged 12 and 7 and then 15 and 8 his two years there before, if I remember, a rather ugly transfer to West Virginia. After a rough year there (averaged 9 and 6) he somehow got another year of eligibility for, you can probably guess, Texas Southern. Murray averaged 21 and 8 against the terrible SWAC competition, but at 6-10, 245 lbs. with some serious offensive skills (not to mention 2.5 blocks per game) he could be a March hero. Here are the "real" teams they've played this year and Murray's results:
- Very little controversy it seems this year, which is a new thing. What are the beefs? SMU out, Louisville a 4 seed, and a loaded region for Wichita? Pretty low on the outrage meter. It's nice, because usually people bitch a whole lot more.
- Really, this is such a fun bracket. Can team's build on defense but with trouble scoring like Cincinnati, Ohio State, San Diego State, Virginia, and St. Louis have success? How about high flyers like the aforementioned Iowa State and UNC as well as BYU, VCU, Oklahoma, and Iowa who get up and down the court in a hurry? There are tested and experienced smaller conference teams like Wichita State and Harvard, and super young teams like Kentucky and Kansas. New Mexico State is the biggest team in the country by kenpom's Effective Height metric, and three of the five most experienced teams in the entire country made the field (Tex Southern #1, NC Central #4, and Mercer #5). Then there are teams with guys who could pull a Danny Manning/John Wallace in Oklahoma State, UCONN, and Creighton. I'm excited every year, but somehow this year seems better, even though there is no Chicago trip :sadface:.
- First pass - Final Four: Florida, Louisville, Arizona, Michigan State. Other Elite 8s: Syracuse, Creighton, Michigan, UCONN.
- Lastly, it could change but I'm taking Florida as my national champion, and yes I realize that's probably going to be a popular pick but I can't help it if this year the popular pick is also the correct pick. They play great defense and they can play in an uptempo game or a slow down game so they aren't vulnerable to any particular style of play. They have a guy in Michael Frazier who could win a game by himself by shooting threes, a smart experienced point guard in Scottie Wilbekin, and a mish mash of athletic big men who can pass and are comfortable anywhere on the floor and look like NFL tight ends. I love having a bunch of exchangeable players who can all do the same things, and Florida has that in spades with Will Yeguette, Dorian Finney-Smith, Casey Prather, Chris Walker, and Patric Young. Plus they have Billy Donovan. I know they're the #1 overall seed so it's not exactly going out on a limb, but who is going to beat these guys? I would absolutely love to see a Florida/Louisville game.
Be back later with a preview of the big NIT tilt on Tuesday. Looking super forward to researching High Point. Don't act like you ain't all jelly.
One piece of advice I will give, is if you love seafood like I do go to the Farmer's Market (Fridays) or drive just over to the bridge to one of the fish markets. Even though it's so abundant in the gulf it's also really expensive - a typical grouper dinner is 20-25 bucks while a pound of shrimp appetizer is up to $15. At the markets you can get the grouper for about $20 a pound and the shrimp for a lot cheaper as well. If you know how to cook (and I do) and like to (and I do) you can get out of there a lot cheaper considering two pounds of grouper is about 8 portions, so you're only paying like $5 per meal instead of $25. I made an awesome almond-crusted grouper and an almost as good chili-lime preparation, and made some butter poached shrimp seasoned with this local seasoning blend that thsi one dude who my parents had try them said they were the best shrimp he had all week and he had some every day for a month. So yeah, I rock. And I got to de-head the shrimp, which is something I'd never done before. That's right, manly enough to rip the head off a shrimp and talented enough to cook a gourmet dinner. Settle down ladies, I'm taken.
Lots of basketball to catch up on, so we might as well get to it.
First, Gopher thoughts:
- Major bummer the Gophers missed the tournament, but not at all unexpected. They were essentially a single win away from getting in most likely, and it wouldn't have mattered when it happened. I think if you take any single one of their losses and turned it into a win the Gophers get in the tournament. Not having Dre Hollins for a couple of those losses sucked and who knows how much the committee looked at that and if it even would have mattered, but their name wasn't called, it would have been an upset if it had been, and we move on to the prestigious NIT.
- Despite missing the big tournament, I still consider this season a relative success since I didn't really plan on them making the tournament anyway (I'll delve further into a season recap after the NIT). They won a couple of games I normally wouldn't have thought they'd win, and competed well against teams I thought would blow them out. Despite a little regression by Austin Hollins, in general the players improved quite a bit from last year to this year, particularly the big men, and Dre Mathieu emerged as the type of player who should be on preseason all Big-10 lists. Even somebody who looked completely worthless in Joey King emerged to show he could end up being a decent big 10 player.
- Recruiting has been more interesting, if not any better. If you follow it you know how often the Gophers made top 5, top 3 lists and were mentioned as being in contention for a whole lot of highly ranked players. They pretty much failed to land any, however, which an optimist could chalk up to the late start Pitino got. I am that optimist. Looking forward to seeing what he can do with the class of 2015. If he doesn't land any high level talent in that class, then we can talk.
- NC State getting in is, yes, a pretty big surprise and yes, I would have thought the Gophers would get in over the Wolfpack but it's not really worth bitching about. If not NC State it would have been SMU. If not SMU it would have been Green Bay or Ole Miss or Cal or somebody like that. The Gophers just weren't there.
- Their NIT bracket is interesting, I guess. The first game against High Point is like, shoot me in the face, but a second rounder against either St. Mary's or Utah should be pretty fun. Then, if they make it, a game against Southern Miss would be interesting, although if they end up against Missouri the Gophers will get destroyed, but it'd be fun to watch their guards (Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson who each average over 17.5 points per game) in person, if that game would be at The Barn. I really don't know how that works.
- And I don't want to hear that a deep NIT run is more valuable/important than a first round NCAA exit. It's not, and anyone saying so is rationalizing, a pollyanna fan, or a complete idiot. That being said, a deep NIT run can be fun and entertaining and sure, may even help the team a bit for next season, so let's try to enjoy this even though I'll completely ignore any Gopher NIT game that clashes with any NCAA Tournament game.
Speaking of, now onto to general NCAA tournament things:
- The first thing I hate is Kansas and Florida in the same region, and I hated it because it popped up right away in the first region. But then I thought more and looked more and I think it might have saved me from making the terrible mistake of putting the Jayhawks in the Final Four. Without Embiid they're weaker inside, and in the second round they'll play New Mexico (who will kill Stanford) and their two headed giant monster of Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk. New Mexico could totally beat an Embiid-less Kansas, and I'm calling it now - they will.
- The second thing I hated was the potential round 2 match-up for Iowa State in North Carolina. When you're whole bit is to play fast and loose and basically try to outscore someone, the last thing you want to see is somebody who might be better at that style than you, and that's how the Heels look compared to the Cyclones (remember, I'm a pretty big Cyclone fan). Good news for the Cyclones is that UNC plays insanely fast, but they have struggled offensively at times this year. The bad news is that they've also beaten Michigan State and Louisville. As a fan of circus ball, and if you read this blog you know I love circus ball, as scary as this match-up is for ISU I really hope it happens - it would be circus ball galore. They couldn't make this over/under number high enough for me to not take the over.
- I had four teams in mind as my Final Four, as I usually do, prior to bracket release. Unlike usual, they actually are in three different brackets, so I only have to figure out what to do with the West. I like the idea of Ok State knocking off Arizona, but if that happens I basically have to take either OK State or San Diego State all the way to the Final Four, because there's no way anybody is making it out of that bottom bracket. I am a believer in Wisconsin, but the flame out too often to trust, so it's either Ok State, SDSU, or don't pick the upset and go with Zona. I don't know yet, but I'll let you know what I decide. Don't act like you don't care.
- The other place where I'm really having trouble is in the bottom half of the South. I already said I have New Mexico beating Kansas, but I don't feel really confident in their ability to make the elite 8, which means my choice is pretty much Ohio State or Syracuse. If Syracuse's late season plunge hadn't been so drastic and they still ended up as a 3 somehow that would have been perfect, but I'm not a big believer in the Orange right now. But Ohio State can't shoot, so as much as I think Syracuse is open to upset I don't think the Buckeyes are the team to do it. So basically I don't know what to do. I think New Mexico could do it, but I also know that's not how you win brackets. I'll probably end up going with Syracuse. Lucky draw for them, considering neither Western Michigan nor Ohio State can shoot for shit. Could get interesting if Dayton gets by the Buckeyes though, but they aren't really anything special. Lucky break for the Cuse.
- Although SWAC Champion Texas Southern is horrible, Aaric Murray could make things interesting. If you remember, Murray was a hot shot recruit who ended up choosing his hometown LaSalle, and averaged 12 and 7 and then 15 and 8 his two years there before, if I remember, a rather ugly transfer to West Virginia. After a rough year there (averaged 9 and 6) he somehow got another year of eligibility for, you can probably guess, Texas Southern. Murray averaged 21 and 8 against the terrible SWAC competition, but at 6-10, 245 lbs. with some serious offensive skills (not to mention 2.5 blocks per game) he could be a March hero. Here are the "real" teams they've played this year and Murray's results:
- Miami: 16pts, 1 reb (foul trouble)
- Texas Tech: 8pts, 4 rebs (foul trouble)
- Stanford: 28 pts, 5 rebs
- Tulsa: 30 pts, 6 rebs
- Temple: 48 pts, 8 reb
- Very little controversy it seems this year, which is a new thing. What are the beefs? SMU out, Louisville a 4 seed, and a loaded region for Wichita? Pretty low on the outrage meter. It's nice, because usually people bitch a whole lot more.
- Really, this is such a fun bracket. Can team's build on defense but with trouble scoring like Cincinnati, Ohio State, San Diego State, Virginia, and St. Louis have success? How about high flyers like the aforementioned Iowa State and UNC as well as BYU, VCU, Oklahoma, and Iowa who get up and down the court in a hurry? There are tested and experienced smaller conference teams like Wichita State and Harvard, and super young teams like Kentucky and Kansas. New Mexico State is the biggest team in the country by kenpom's Effective Height metric, and three of the five most experienced teams in the entire country made the field (Tex Southern #1, NC Central #4, and Mercer #5). Then there are teams with guys who could pull a Danny Manning/John Wallace in Oklahoma State, UCONN, and Creighton. I'm excited every year, but somehow this year seems better, even though there is no Chicago trip :sadface:.
- First pass - Final Four: Florida, Louisville, Arizona, Michigan State. Other Elite 8s: Syracuse, Creighton, Michigan, UCONN.
- Lastly, it could change but I'm taking Florida as my national champion, and yes I realize that's probably going to be a popular pick but I can't help it if this year the popular pick is also the correct pick. They play great defense and they can play in an uptempo game or a slow down game so they aren't vulnerable to any particular style of play. They have a guy in Michael Frazier who could win a game by himself by shooting threes, a smart experienced point guard in Scottie Wilbekin, and a mish mash of athletic big men who can pass and are comfortable anywhere on the floor and look like NFL tight ends. I love having a bunch of exchangeable players who can all do the same things, and Florida has that in spades with Will Yeguette, Dorian Finney-Smith, Casey Prather, Chris Walker, and Patric Young. Plus they have Billy Donovan. I know they're the #1 overall seed so it's not exactly going out on a limb, but who is going to beat these guys? I would absolutely love to see a Florida/Louisville game.
Be back later with a preview of the big NIT tilt on Tuesday. Looking super forward to researching High Point. Don't act like you ain't all jelly.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
We are not the Champions, my Friend
Well that was anticlimactic. At least it doesn't really matter though, it's still just the NIT. I know getting your doors blown off by a bunch of poindexters isn't exactly the ideal way to end your season, but at least we aren't getting cheated out of another game - I mean they're done either way. I think I know the answer to the eternal question "Win the NIT or lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament" if I didn't already, and it's emphatically losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Even if the Gophers had won this game I wouldn't look back on this season fondly as a team who won the NIT, I'd look back on it as a wasted season when a team with enough talent to make the NCAA Tournament squandered it, blew several games it should have won, and end up in the yucky tournament instead. That's not to say there aren't good things about the NIT, however.
Think about what we know now that we wouldn't have if the Gophers didn't get these five games. At the end of the season I felt pretty good about Dre Hollins future. Post-NIT I feel absolutely great about it, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him make an All-Big 10 First Team at some point in the future. Throwing out the Stanford game (and we're going to ignore that for pretty much everything from here on down) he was dominant. He has an ability to get to the rim that nobody else has on this squad which is especially handy when you're a 92% free throw shooter and has an outstanding mid-range jumper. He's not the best three-point shooter but he's not bad at all for a freshman, and his percentages should get even better as he gets more experience and figures out how to get and when to take better shots. As long as he can get a handle on those turnovers (and tonight was simply awful) he's going to be a star.
At the end of the regular season, I thought Rodney Williams had taken a small step forward in his game and at least had a chance at realizing some of that potential we've heard so much about going back to his high school days. Now, post-NIT, I've come to realize that instead of hoping he takes a step forward we should be more concerned about him taking a step back, because this NIT version of Williams is exactly what we've been waiting for. It's like something suddenly clicked and the flashes he'd shown all season suddenly became one great big shining supernova of dunkatronation. When he's on and feeling confident he's unstoppable. Any time he gets the ball inside the 3-point line, even on the perimeter, his athleticism means he can get to the rim any time he wants and it looks like he's figuring that out. Hell, he even added a little bit of a perimeter game which can only help as long as he doesn't go all Rickert on the bit and fall in love with the jumper. If he works all off season on making his jumper more reliable - even out to 15 feet, say - and learns when to go all the way to the rim on the drive and when to pull up (and how to hit) a floater or short jumper he's a guaranteed all Big 10er. I honestly believe he's got player of the year potential, but of course that's the poisoned word with Rodney - "potential." But we've seen it now, hopefully he can put it together for a full season.
Those obviously are the big two, but Austin Hollins and Joe Coleman have thrived on the wing as well. Neither are the best at getting their own shot (at least not yet at this level) so playing in a more wide open offense like the one the Gophers have adopted in this tournament can only help them score since both are good athletes who can score in transition. Hollins also continues to hit that elbow jumper curling off a screen at a high percentage, and I've gone from meh on him to pretty happy he's here. Same with Elliott Eliason, who I was convinced was going to be a waste of a scholarship and never develop into a Big 10 caliber player, but in this post-NIT world I've decided I like him. He must have a serious confidence problem because when he knows the post is his for the game (any time Sampson has been injured) he plays with confidence and enthusiasm and a kind of reckless abandon that is missing when he's looking over his should ever 30 seconds, terrified to make a mistake and get pulled from the game. And the post is pretty much his next year, so they'll need to the good version. Hell, even Andre Ingram went from "worthless other than his five fouls" to "quality back-up." In the five NIT games he scored 8+ points three times and grabbed at least four rebounds in four of them. I never would have guessed he had it in him.
So yeah, I don't care about the loss other than how sloppy they played, but getting these five extra games were huge for this team and showed the value of the NIT to a young team who takes this tournament seriously, and Tubby seemed to be having fun (and thus was fully engaged) for this run, which can only help next year. Add in the possibility of Trevor Mbakwe coming back and the chance that Trent Lockett transferring in and there is a lot of reason for optimism, something that's been missing from Gopherland since, what, Tubby's second year?
Now that being said, keep a couple of things in mind. First, and most importantly, don't forget that the teams the Gophers beat during this run, as well as the team that beat them, are thoroughly mediocre teams. Washington, Middle Tennessee, and Miami were all bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament who didn't make the cut, while Stanford and LaSalle had no shot. Some of the teams these guys lost to this year were embarrassing - Fordham, Arkansas State, Robert Morris, Oregon State, Maryland, etc. Then there's the real problem where the first time this team ran into a real defense (Stanford was the only top 50 defensive efficiency team) their previously clicking on all cylinders offense suddenly turned into a garbage factory. Not a great sign. Additionally as great as the addition of Mbakwe for next year would be there's always the chance it causes Rodney to go back into his shell and disappear too often again when he's not a focal point of the attack.
So yeah, there are plenty of reasons for optimism going into next season, but just make sure you temper it and don't start declaring them a Sweet 16 team just yet. I mean come on, this is still Minnesota - I can't wait to see what goes wrong first.
Think about what we know now that we wouldn't have if the Gophers didn't get these five games. At the end of the season I felt pretty good about Dre Hollins future. Post-NIT I feel absolutely great about it, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him make an All-Big 10 First Team at some point in the future. Throwing out the Stanford game (and we're going to ignore that for pretty much everything from here on down) he was dominant. He has an ability to get to the rim that nobody else has on this squad which is especially handy when you're a 92% free throw shooter and has an outstanding mid-range jumper. He's not the best three-point shooter but he's not bad at all for a freshman, and his percentages should get even better as he gets more experience and figures out how to get and when to take better shots. As long as he can get a handle on those turnovers (and tonight was simply awful) he's going to be a star.
At the end of the regular season, I thought Rodney Williams had taken a small step forward in his game and at least had a chance at realizing some of that potential we've heard so much about going back to his high school days. Now, post-NIT, I've come to realize that instead of hoping he takes a step forward we should be more concerned about him taking a step back, because this NIT version of Williams is exactly what we've been waiting for. It's like something suddenly clicked and the flashes he'd shown all season suddenly became one great big shining supernova of dunkatronation. When he's on and feeling confident he's unstoppable. Any time he gets the ball inside the 3-point line, even on the perimeter, his athleticism means he can get to the rim any time he wants and it looks like he's figuring that out. Hell, he even added a little bit of a perimeter game which can only help as long as he doesn't go all Rickert on the bit and fall in love with the jumper. If he works all off season on making his jumper more reliable - even out to 15 feet, say - and learns when to go all the way to the rim on the drive and when to pull up (and how to hit) a floater or short jumper he's a guaranteed all Big 10er. I honestly believe he's got player of the year potential, but of course that's the poisoned word with Rodney - "potential." But we've seen it now, hopefully he can put it together for a full season.
Those obviously are the big two, but Austin Hollins and Joe Coleman have thrived on the wing as well. Neither are the best at getting their own shot (at least not yet at this level) so playing in a more wide open offense like the one the Gophers have adopted in this tournament can only help them score since both are good athletes who can score in transition. Hollins also continues to hit that elbow jumper curling off a screen at a high percentage, and I've gone from meh on him to pretty happy he's here. Same with Elliott Eliason, who I was convinced was going to be a waste of a scholarship and never develop into a Big 10 caliber player, but in this post-NIT world I've decided I like him. He must have a serious confidence problem because when he knows the post is his for the game (any time Sampson has been injured) he plays with confidence and enthusiasm and a kind of reckless abandon that is missing when he's looking over his should ever 30 seconds, terrified to make a mistake and get pulled from the game. And the post is pretty much his next year, so they'll need to the good version. Hell, even Andre Ingram went from "worthless other than his five fouls" to "quality back-up." In the five NIT games he scored 8+ points three times and grabbed at least four rebounds in four of them. I never would have guessed he had it in him.
So yeah, I don't care about the loss other than how sloppy they played, but getting these five extra games were huge for this team and showed the value of the NIT to a young team who takes this tournament seriously, and Tubby seemed to be having fun (and thus was fully engaged) for this run, which can only help next year. Add in the possibility of Trevor Mbakwe coming back and the chance that Trent Lockett transferring in and there is a lot of reason for optimism, something that's been missing from Gopherland since, what, Tubby's second year?
Now that being said, keep a couple of things in mind. First, and most importantly, don't forget that the teams the Gophers beat during this run, as well as the team that beat them, are thoroughly mediocre teams. Washington, Middle Tennessee, and Miami were all bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament who didn't make the cut, while Stanford and LaSalle had no shot. Some of the teams these guys lost to this year were embarrassing - Fordham, Arkansas State, Robert Morris, Oregon State, Maryland, etc. Then there's the real problem where the first time this team ran into a real defense (Stanford was the only top 50 defensive efficiency team) their previously clicking on all cylinders offense suddenly turned into a garbage factory. Not a great sign. Additionally as great as the addition of Mbakwe for next year would be there's always the chance it causes Rodney to go back into his shell and disappear too often again when he's not a focal point of the attack.
So yeah, there are plenty of reasons for optimism going into next season, but just make sure you temper it and don't start declaring them a Sweet 16 team just yet. I mean come on, this is still Minnesota - I can't wait to see what goes wrong first.
Monday, March 26, 2012
NIT Preview - Gophers vs. Washington
Woo-wee, who's excited for this one? I certainly am, and although you'd probably assume it (and be right most of the time) that's not sarcasm - I'm legitimately fired up for this game. Not because it's the NIT Final Four because that's a pretty meh accomplishment still, but because Washington is fun as hell to watch. They're the embodiment of everything circus ball, and even without Captain Circus Ball himself (Isaiah Thomas, now captaining Circus Ball with the Kings) they still manage to push that tempo, ranking 30th in the country in overall pace. And they're always consistent with it, never ranking worse than 57th in the past 10 years with three top-10 finishes and seven in the top-30.
No other big conference team, outside of North Carolina under Roy Williams, consistently plays like this. Missouri had a nice run under Mike Anderson, but both prior to and after him they slow it down considerably (this year's team, which seemed kind of circus ball-y, was actually middle of the pack). The only other teams, period, with a sustained run of craziness are the smaller schools like VMI and Alcorn State, so watching Washington play will be a treat. I suppose that's what happens when a crazy circus ball coach like Lorenzo Romar lands at a place where they're plenty ok with mediocrity like Washington. And we are all better for it.
What makes this doubly exciting is that Tubby has taken off the reigns and accepted the fact that this is a guard-oriented squad now, especially with Ralph out (he's still out, right? RIGHT?) and let 'em run. In case you're worried about it being a mirage, looking at the total possessions of the NIT games the Gophers + Opponent have had 67, 64, and 69 in the three games. That 69 and 67 are the #2 and #3 (tied) most possessions of any Gopher games this year, behind just that silly DePaul game early in the year. They're now playing uptempo (well, top 100 tempo at least), Washington plays super uptempo and gets team's to join them, and as long as Tubby doesn't get in the way we should be looking at a super spastic, circus ball scoring fest. I'm thinking both teams in the 80s, so I'm heavily invested (for an NIT game) in that OVER 143.5, and I suggest you do the same.
Looking deeper at Washington it should come as little surprise based on the way they play that they are loaded with athletes, beginning with their top two scorers - PG Tony Wroten (16.2 ppg) and swingman Terrence Ross (16.3 ppg). Both were big-time recruits (Wroten #14 this year, Ross #48 last year by Rivals) and both project to be mid-first round picks if they enter the draft after this season.
Wroten is the new Captain Circus Ball and is interesting because he can't shoot at all (16% from 3 and very little mid-range game) but can get to the rim nearly at will and is nearly impossible to guard even if he usually gets played off in a Rondo-esque fashion (he's also Rondo-like from the line at 58%). Think a smaller Rodney Williams who already knows how to get to the rim whenever he wants. Ross, on the other hand, has a real nice all-around game and can score from pretty much anywhere. The good news for Minnesota is both have a tendency to disappear (Wroten 2 pts vs. Northwestern on only 5 shots, Ross 2 pts vs. Wash State on only 5 shots a month ago). The bad news is that Ross is having a Rodney Williams-like string right now, averaging 26 points per in the 3 NIT games, including 32 vs. Northwestern. I have no idea how the Gophers will stop either of these guys.
To make things worse, the Huskies also trot out C.J. Wilcox on the wing who was 7th in the Pac-10 in both 3-pointers made (64%) and 3-point percentage (41%). About half of his shot attempts are from behind the arc, so he's not completely dependent on it to score, but when Washington is running their break, which they will do constantly, if he doesn't have a clear lane he'll find a place to spot up and nail it if he's open. Despite the Gophers nice little NIT win streak they haven't magically figured out how to stop the three, and with Wilcox and Ross on the wing they're going to have to be careful not to get lit up in a hurry.
Two other dudes worth mentioning are PG Abdul Gaddy, who leads the team in assists but still isn't back to his old self (was the #2 ranked PG out of school in his class behind John Wall) after tearing his ACL, and C Aziz N'Diaye who, you'd probably guess, is a seven-foot defensive specialist with very little offensive game. I'm looking forward to seeing Rodney Williams dunk on his face.
It should be a fun game of up-and-down the court basketball between two evenly matched and evenly motivated (Washington won the regular season Pac-12 title but didn't get an NCAA invite after losing to Oregon State in the P12 tournament) teams. If the Gophers can take care of the basketball at the frenetic pace Washington will likely dictate this will be a close game. Unfortunately the Gophers still turn it over too often and the Huskies are good when it comes to creating turnovers in the chaos, so I think Minnesota ends up turning it over a bit too much, but look for a close, super awesome to watch game with Andre Hollins and Rodney Williams continuing their big-time scoring runs.
Washington 85, Minnesota 80.
No other big conference team, outside of North Carolina under Roy Williams, consistently plays like this. Missouri had a nice run under Mike Anderson, but both prior to and after him they slow it down considerably (this year's team, which seemed kind of circus ball-y, was actually middle of the pack). The only other teams, period, with a sustained run of craziness are the smaller schools like VMI and Alcorn State, so watching Washington play will be a treat. I suppose that's what happens when a crazy circus ball coach like Lorenzo Romar lands at a place where they're plenty ok with mediocrity like Washington. And we are all better for it.
What makes this doubly exciting is that Tubby has taken off the reigns and accepted the fact that this is a guard-oriented squad now, especially with Ralph out (he's still out, right? RIGHT?) and let 'em run. In case you're worried about it being a mirage, looking at the total possessions of the NIT games the Gophers + Opponent have had 67, 64, and 69 in the three games. That 69 and 67 are the #2 and #3 (tied) most possessions of any Gopher games this year, behind just that silly DePaul game early in the year. They're now playing uptempo (well, top 100 tempo at least), Washington plays super uptempo and gets team's to join them, and as long as Tubby doesn't get in the way we should be looking at a super spastic, circus ball scoring fest. I'm thinking both teams in the 80s, so I'm heavily invested (for an NIT game) in that OVER 143.5, and I suggest you do the same.
Looking deeper at Washington it should come as little surprise based on the way they play that they are loaded with athletes, beginning with their top two scorers - PG Tony Wroten (16.2 ppg) and swingman Terrence Ross (16.3 ppg). Both were big-time recruits (Wroten #14 this year, Ross #48 last year by Rivals) and both project to be mid-first round picks if they enter the draft after this season.
Wroten is the new Captain Circus Ball and is interesting because he can't shoot at all (16% from 3 and very little mid-range game) but can get to the rim nearly at will and is nearly impossible to guard even if he usually gets played off in a Rondo-esque fashion (he's also Rondo-like from the line at 58%). Think a smaller Rodney Williams who already knows how to get to the rim whenever he wants. Ross, on the other hand, has a real nice all-around game and can score from pretty much anywhere. The good news for Minnesota is both have a tendency to disappear (Wroten 2 pts vs. Northwestern on only 5 shots, Ross 2 pts vs. Wash State on only 5 shots a month ago). The bad news is that Ross is having a Rodney Williams-like string right now, averaging 26 points per in the 3 NIT games, including 32 vs. Northwestern. I have no idea how the Gophers will stop either of these guys.
To make things worse, the Huskies also trot out C.J. Wilcox on the wing who was 7th in the Pac-10 in both 3-pointers made (64%) and 3-point percentage (41%). About half of his shot attempts are from behind the arc, so he's not completely dependent on it to score, but when Washington is running their break, which they will do constantly, if he doesn't have a clear lane he'll find a place to spot up and nail it if he's open. Despite the Gophers nice little NIT win streak they haven't magically figured out how to stop the three, and with Wilcox and Ross on the wing they're going to have to be careful not to get lit up in a hurry.
Two other dudes worth mentioning are PG Abdul Gaddy, who leads the team in assists but still isn't back to his old self (was the #2 ranked PG out of school in his class behind John Wall) after tearing his ACL, and C Aziz N'Diaye who, you'd probably guess, is a seven-foot defensive specialist with very little offensive game. I'm looking forward to seeing Rodney Williams dunk on his face.
It should be a fun game of up-and-down the court basketball between two evenly matched and evenly motivated (Washington won the regular season Pac-12 title but didn't get an NCAA invite after losing to Oregon State in the P12 tournament) teams. If the Gophers can take care of the basketball at the frenetic pace Washington will likely dictate this will be a close game. Unfortunately the Gophers still turn it over too often and the Huskies are good when it comes to creating turnovers in the chaos, so I think Minnesota ends up turning it over a bit too much, but look for a close, super awesome to watch game with Andre Hollins and Rodney Williams continuing their big-time scoring runs.
Washington 85, Minnesota 80.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Gopher Notes on a Sweet 16 Thursday
- Obviously the Sweet 16 is the big news tonight, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention at least a couple of Gopher related items - this NIT Final Four berth and the Trent Lockett news.
First, it's still the NIT. No matter what, it's the NIT, but I will say that I'm actually starting to care. The first win at LaSalle was an ok win. The win at Miami was pretty worthless because it was clear neither the Miami team nor their fans cared to be there, but there was some merit in blowing a team out like that. Now the win over Middle Tennessee? You can officially call that a very good win, and the whole string taken together is a nice little run. Middle Tennessee was the Sun Belt regular season champion with an RPI of 74 who probably would have made the NCAA Tournament if they hadn't lost in the first round of the conference tournament and lost only once before at home this season. Not to mention a program like that isn't going to just go through the motion in the NIT like Miami, because when are the Blue Raiders going to have another chance to play on a national stage like Madison Square Garden? This was a talented team, a motivated team, and a strong home team and the Gophers beat them and controlled the game.
I'm not even sure who to be the most impressed with, because there's a lot going right here. Rodney Williams seems to have figured out how to take his limitless athleticism and use it to create easy buckets for himself, because he's scored 20+ in four straight games and has shot 34-48 in that stretch, and no that's not a mis-type. Outside of the LaSalle game he's 25-31. I mean. Jesus.
And as much as I'm falling for Rodney all over again, Andre Hollins might be my true new love. I'm telling you man, my comparison of him to Russell Westbrook is pure genius, because he's got like, the same kind of game. Fearless, either driving to the rim or with his jumper, lightning quick, and just an incredible leader already and he's just a freshman. He's currently running a seven game streak of scoring in double figures with three of those games over 20. I don't know if he'll ever become a true distributor, but I don't know if he really has to considering we're just talking college success here. One thing is for certain - he's the kind of kid you can build a team around. As long as him, his brother Austin, and Rodney are around next year this team has as decent shot at getting back to the NCAAs, especially if Elliott Elliason can play more like he did against MTSU (12 pts/7 rebs) instead of like he did against LaSalle/Miami (1 pt/4 rebs combined) and Mo Walker comes back and can play. If Tubby lets them play this wide open style.
And that's the last person I need to mention being impressed with, because Tubby seems more engaged in this tournament than he did in the last month and it shows. Even more impressive is he's shifted his philosophy or whatever you want to call it and it's playing to the strengths of his team. They're playing at a faster tempo (at least it seems like it, I was going to actually look up the numbers but I can't find them and am too lazy to calculate it myself) and that's played to the strength of a young team that's loaded with guards. He's also been willing to play his core far more minutes per game with four players on the floor for 30+ minutes against MTSU and three each against LaSalle and Miami. It's been a whole different team the last three games, and a big part of that is it's been a whole different coach. Or maybe this is all just a function of Ralph Sampson being out? Whatever it is, it's been a fun preview of next year's squad and it's not over yet. The next game might be the most fun yet, because Washington is up and down in a hurry and the kings of circus ball. With the new uptempo Gophers we might be looking at a 85-80 type game. Good times.
- The other Gopher news worth talking about is the speculation that Trent Lockett might be coming home. Lockett's a shooting guard from Hopkins who graduated in 2009 and was ranked by Rivals as the #80 recruit in the country and #19 shooting guard and he chose Arizona State for some reason which I can only assume was the super mega hot chicks down there and they gave him the Jesus Shuttlesworth treatment. Anyway, his mom is really sick and he's looking to transfer back home to be closer to her. The Gophers technically don't have a scholarship available, and many people (on the gopherhole at elsewhere) are saying that Lockett can't/shouldn't/won't come here because either the Gophers already have too many guards or that it isn't fair to take someone else's scholarship away just because Lockett is a better player. Too those people I say STFU.
I can't decide which reason is more idiotic. That Lockett, who has scored 13+ ppg both of the last two years and hit over 41% of his treys this year, would be afraid to come here because Austin Hollins or Chip Armelin would steal all his playing, is ludicrous. Assuming there's no miracle sixth year for Mbakwe, Lockett would immediately become either the second or third best player on the team, depending on where you want to put Dre Hollins. Playing time concerns aren't going to keep him out of here. And as far as it being a dick move to take someone's scholarship and give it to him, yeah, I agree it is kind of a dick move but you know what? Who cares? Guess what the basketball team's job is? To win games. I suppose it's also their job to get kids to graduate, but only in so much as it keeps them eligible to play and help win games. Who is going to help the Gophers win more, Lockett or Andre Ingram? Exactly. Sorry Andre, you seem like a nice kid and I bet you were really something before you destroyed your knee (I'm not making this up, right?) but it's time to pay your own way.
Also ha ha Wisconsin guess who is still playing when you aren't? Gophers totally win this season.
[EDIT: According to twitter all of a sudden, and all the caveats that entails, Trevor Mbakwe has indeed been granted a medical redshirt and will be eligible to play next year. I'd comment more on this, but my raging boner is getting in the way. I'm sure I'll write something when the news becomes official unless I'm too drunk]
First, it's still the NIT. No matter what, it's the NIT, but I will say that I'm actually starting to care. The first win at LaSalle was an ok win. The win at Miami was pretty worthless because it was clear neither the Miami team nor their fans cared to be there, but there was some merit in blowing a team out like that. Now the win over Middle Tennessee? You can officially call that a very good win, and the whole string taken together is a nice little run. Middle Tennessee was the Sun Belt regular season champion with an RPI of 74 who probably would have made the NCAA Tournament if they hadn't lost in the first round of the conference tournament and lost only once before at home this season. Not to mention a program like that isn't going to just go through the motion in the NIT like Miami, because when are the Blue Raiders going to have another chance to play on a national stage like Madison Square Garden? This was a talented team, a motivated team, and a strong home team and the Gophers beat them and controlled the game.
I'm not even sure who to be the most impressed with, because there's a lot going right here. Rodney Williams seems to have figured out how to take his limitless athleticism and use it to create easy buckets for himself, because he's scored 20+ in four straight games and has shot 34-48 in that stretch, and no that's not a mis-type. Outside of the LaSalle game he's 25-31. I mean. Jesus.
And as much as I'm falling for Rodney all over again, Andre Hollins might be my true new love. I'm telling you man, my comparison of him to Russell Westbrook is pure genius, because he's got like, the same kind of game. Fearless, either driving to the rim or with his jumper, lightning quick, and just an incredible leader already and he's just a freshman. He's currently running a seven game streak of scoring in double figures with three of those games over 20. I don't know if he'll ever become a true distributor, but I don't know if he really has to considering we're just talking college success here. One thing is for certain - he's the kind of kid you can build a team around. As long as him, his brother Austin, and Rodney are around next year this team has as decent shot at getting back to the NCAAs, especially if Elliott Elliason can play more like he did against MTSU (12 pts/7 rebs) instead of like he did against LaSalle/Miami (1 pt/4 rebs combined) and Mo Walker comes back and can play. If Tubby lets them play this wide open style.
And that's the last person I need to mention being impressed with, because Tubby seems more engaged in this tournament than he did in the last month and it shows. Even more impressive is he's shifted his philosophy or whatever you want to call it and it's playing to the strengths of his team. They're playing at a faster tempo (at least it seems like it, I was going to actually look up the numbers but I can't find them and am too lazy to calculate it myself) and that's played to the strength of a young team that's loaded with guards. He's also been willing to play his core far more minutes per game with four players on the floor for 30+ minutes against MTSU and three each against LaSalle and Miami. It's been a whole different team the last three games, and a big part of that is it's been a whole different coach. Or maybe this is all just a function of Ralph Sampson being out? Whatever it is, it's been a fun preview of next year's squad and it's not over yet. The next game might be the most fun yet, because Washington is up and down in a hurry and the kings of circus ball. With the new uptempo Gophers we might be looking at a 85-80 type game. Good times.
- The other Gopher news worth talking about is the speculation that Trent Lockett might be coming home. Lockett's a shooting guard from Hopkins who graduated in 2009 and was ranked by Rivals as the #80 recruit in the country and #19 shooting guard and he chose Arizona State for some reason which I can only assume was the super mega hot chicks down there and they gave him the Jesus Shuttlesworth treatment. Anyway, his mom is really sick and he's looking to transfer back home to be closer to her. The Gophers technically don't have a scholarship available, and many people (on the gopherhole at elsewhere) are saying that Lockett can't/shouldn't/won't come here because either the Gophers already have too many guards or that it isn't fair to take someone else's scholarship away just because Lockett is a better player. Too those people I say STFU.
I can't decide which reason is more idiotic. That Lockett, who has scored 13+ ppg both of the last two years and hit over 41% of his treys this year, would be afraid to come here because Austin Hollins or Chip Armelin would steal all his playing, is ludicrous. Assuming there's no miracle sixth year for Mbakwe, Lockett would immediately become either the second or third best player on the team, depending on where you want to put Dre Hollins. Playing time concerns aren't going to keep him out of here. And as far as it being a dick move to take someone's scholarship and give it to him, yeah, I agree it is kind of a dick move but you know what? Who cares? Guess what the basketball team's job is? To win games. I suppose it's also their job to get kids to graduate, but only in so much as it keeps them eligible to play and help win games. Who is going to help the Gophers win more, Lockett or Andre Ingram? Exactly. Sorry Andre, you seem like a nice kid and I bet you were really something before you destroyed your knee (I'm not making this up, right?) but it's time to pay your own way.
Also ha ha Wisconsin guess who is still playing when you aren't? Gophers totally win this season.
[EDIT: According to twitter all of a sudden, and all the caveats that entails, Trevor Mbakwe has indeed been granted a medical redshirt and will be eligible to play next year. I'd comment more on this, but my raging boner is getting in the way. I'm sure I'll write something when the news becomes official unless I'm too drunk]
Monday, March 19, 2012
Post-Vacation Ramblins (A little bit of everything)
Holy cow does two weeks of vacation fly by. I can't believe it's over and I'm back doing real life things. Real life sucks, and Minnesota doesn't have an ocean or bars that stay open until 4am. I have no idea what I'm doing here. But a whole lot happened in those two weeks, and as I sit here and watch the Gopher NIT game and pretend to not care what happens, I'll write some of those things down.
- By the way, I have the Gophers +6, Rodney Williams over 19.5 pts+rebs, Austin Hollins over 1.5 made 3s, Reggie Johnson over 7.5 rebs, and both teams combined over 13 made 3s. Some people may say that's a lot of bets for one game, and this is where I'd refute that but I got nothin'.
- The Chicago trip was awesome as usual, even if it was just one night this year because Bogart has to take his stupid family on vacation. Nothing too crazy to report, but the night did end with Dawger trying to act like a fake bouncer at some bar and bothering people for their IDs before he passed out in a chair outside and then challenged Bogart's 17-year old (male) ward to a wrestling match when we got back to his place at 3am. So that was weird. Or actually pretty normal.
- We join the Gopher game in progress with them winning 6-0. Can we just call the game right here?
- I apologize for not knowing this but I've been on vacation and also haven't really wanted to pay any attention to the Gophers, but is Ralph hurt or something? Or just benched because he sucks and is graduating anyway?
- Once again my bracket is in shambles with two Final Four teams (Mizzou and FSU) bounced and that certainly doesn't help, but UNLV and Memphis getting smacked in the first round when I had both making Sweet 16 runs killed me, along with Belmont who I also had in the 16. Naturally my wife is kicking my ass and could win the whole thing if Kansas takes it, and my bracket blowing up in my face during the first weekend, I've been informed, is now considered an annual tradition of the Chicago trip along with wings at the Dayton Bar (or a brat if you're Dawger), yelling at strangers at the W bar, or Coldplay at the Yahtzee bar. No, I don't know the name of any of the bars we always go to, just know them by nickname. Seems more insider and hip that way.
- I can't be the only person who hears D.J. Cooper's name (of the Ohio Bobcats) and thinks "For D.B. Cooper and the money he took, you can look for answers but that ain't fun, now get the pit and try to love someone bawitdabadabangdabangditty." Right?
- Jesus this game is sloppy. It's like watching a sea otter make love to a mop. The Gophers are so bad I want to kidnap every single one and send them to Clem Haskins basketball camp. Or something. I don't know, somebody who can teach how to not turn the ball over and also doesn't hate shooting. You know who else hated shooting? MLK, and look what happened to him.
- I really hope you watch the Walking Dead, or if you don't you weren't one of those jackasses who bailed on the season when things were moving a little slowly, because the show just had its season finale and the last handful of episodes were bad-ass and were going a little Game of Thrones-y just killing people off. Not to mention an orgy of zombie killing to kick-off the last episode. Just an awesome last few hours, including the death of an annoying but main guy, the death of a main important guy, the deaths of a bunch of filler dudes, Daryl continuing to morph into a badass, some ninja showing up with two armless walker pets or something and saving Andrea, a look at a giant prison where they're heading which is supposed to be badass according to people who read the Walking Dead comics and no I'm not one of them, and Rick reminding everyone why he's in charge and he's the leader. Just awesome. Other than that mom lady and that idiot kid this show suddenly rocks again in every way.
- Gophers lead by 12 at half. No, I'm not remotely excited. In case you've ever wondered if it's better to win the NIT or make the NCAA Tournament and lose in the first round, the latter is considerably better and it's not close. That means the second one, dummy.
- It's been a while since I've officially dedicated a post to a chick, but this one is dedicated to Becki Newton who plays Quinn on How I Met Your Mother. The show started out the gate with Cobie Smulders hotter than the sun, but she faded a bit and Alyson Hannigan somehow went from cute and funny to straight up hot (note: pretty sure it was the bigger boobs after she had a kid). They've also had guest stars like Sarah Chalke and Rachel Bilson who both rate in the top 20 or so hottest chicks going today, but Newton might be the hottest of them all not counting Chalke.
- Speaking of hot chicks I was going to post a youtube video of when Christina Aguilera, who is still hot shut up I don't want to hear it leave me alone, performed at the vmas with Fred Durst and was headbanging and how it was so sexy and stuff like that. But it's not there the way I remember in any of the videos I found after searching for 3 minutes. I feel dumb. Like you probably do every day.
- I don't have a huge opinion on Dwight Howard deciding to stay in Orlando, at least for another year, but there was something I liked about him coming out and apologizing to his fans for created a circus and that they didn't deserve that. I also liked how he mentioned that he "got some bad advice" and was now running from it, as compared to LeBron who got some bad advice and embraced it as the best idea ever. This was like Goofus and Gallant from highlights magazine. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.
- In case you care Peyton Manning signed or will sign or is about to sign with the Broncos, so you can take your stupid Tebow jersey and light in on fire and then shove it up your ass. I don't know why I wrote that so meanly, but if you own a Tebow jersey you don't really care you just turn the other cheek as your weak Jesus taught you and take it like you're some dork in Madison who just sits there and lets Dawger slap your slice of pizza out of your mouth. That's why the black jesus is better. I have no idea where I was planning on taking the sentence, but here we are. I think it was supposed to have something to do with Demaryious Thomas, who is apparently now the black jesus just so I can pretend I didn't get lost in my own thought, never to return that that chick from Pan's Labyrinth.
- There's no doubt the Gophers blow this lead, right?
- I had two units on the Rodney bet, by the way and he's just 1 pt or reb away from a win. Between the double bet on that and the double on the game if I can win those two I can cancel out all of my super shitty bets that suck.
- Osenieks falls down after taking an inadvertent head butt to his temple. He still manages to take the ball and get it to a guard, which proves to me he's more of a man than Justin Morneau who probably would have fallen down immediately like a girl and sat out the next two years. Thank god Osenieks isn't from Canadia. Seriously, between Morneau, Koskie, and Sidney Crosby I'm starting to think the tough guy reputation for Canadians is as overblown as white guys having smaller dinks. *points down, pelvic thrust*
- If you aren't reading this you really should. It's the story of a dude who taught his cat to use instant messager when he's at work. Just read it.
- Ok so the Gophers are up 15 now, and assuming nobody transfers or Rodney doesn't do something stupid like go pro we're basically watching next year's team + chuck buggs and whatever that white kids name is because Ralph is nowhere to be seen (and I'm assuming no Mbakwe sixth year). I have to admit I don't really hate what I see. I don't love it, necessarily, because the outside shooting is just atrocious, but Andre Hollins is really growing into that point guard role (scoring point, but still) and Coleman and Austin Hollins both show a nose for scoring the ball that I really like. And speaking of that where the hell is Chip? Apparently there is so much going on with this team it's impossible to keep up. God this is just like school all over again.
- And Dre Hollins basically just went for back-to-back heat checks and canned them both. I freakin' love this kid. He's got 20 point per game potential by his senior year written all over him. Assuming there's a different coach of course, I can't imagine Tubby allowing a 20 point per game scorer on this team.
- Dammit, I think I left my beef jerky in Bogart's basement. Instead I'll have one of these Nathan's Famous kosher dill pickles, which, as a connoisseur of pickles, are the second best I've ever had behind my aunt and uncles homemade spicy pickles. Really, if you like pickles go buy these. I'm from a polish family so grew up eating pickles with every meal including breakfast (and still do), I'm compelled to order a pickle from any sandwich shop that sells them (Jimmy John's are better than Potbelly's, for the record) and I once won twenty bucks off a guy in college (WSCT QB, who I know occasionally reads here) by drinking a jar of pickles juice, which I did in one tip back and about 20 seconds and it was easy. I know my pickles. Go buy these. Even better than Claussen, and that's saying something.
- It's amazing how good this team is when they just get to let loose.
- Early Sweet 16 leans:
Cuse -4 over Wisconsin (Wisky too dependent on the three against that zone)
Michigan State -4.5 over Louisville (Sparty peaking, but this is one I may switch up on by gametime because L'ville is too)
Cincy +7.5 vs. Ohio State (Buckeyes are flawed and this Cincy team is athletic enough to stay with them)
Marquette -1.5 vs. Florida (maybe I'm dumb because Florida beat Virginia despite being terrible from the perimeter, but Marquette isn't UVA)
Xavier +6 vs. Baylor (Xavier always keeps em close and Baylor is a choker team)
Ohio +10.5 vs. UNC (Marshall out will hurt, but I'm still wary here)
Indiana +9 vs. Kentucky (weird line that feels like a trap since IU beat UK earlier, but I guess I'm falling for it)
NC State +8 vs. Kansas (I don't think Kansas is built to blow out a good team, and NC State is a good team)
The only one of these I love is Cincy, so throw your money that way. Despite my bracket being in a shambles (as usual) I do well gambling (as usual) so hopefully that keeps up.
- Oh good, Gophers go into a stall. That always works for this team.
- Anybody ever gone to Coastal Seafood in Mpls or St. Paul? Looks like they have shrimp and seafood from all over including Rhode Island Monkfish which I'd love to have a chance to cook. Color me interested, which is like a greenish yellow.
- Gophers win 78-60 in a game that they dominated from the start. If this wasn't the NIT I'd say this bodes well for next year. I mean, look at Wichita State - nice run in the NIT, nearly the entire team back, and they made a nice run in the NCAA Tournament this year. NIT success vs. NCAA success the following year - it's nearly a perfect correlation. Can't wait for 2013. And I can't believe I have to watch this again on Wednesday. I feel like Lady MacBeth.
IT'S STILL THE NIT, DUMMIES!
- By the way, I have the Gophers +6, Rodney Williams over 19.5 pts+rebs, Austin Hollins over 1.5 made 3s, Reggie Johnson over 7.5 rebs, and both teams combined over 13 made 3s. Some people may say that's a lot of bets for one game, and this is where I'd refute that but I got nothin'.
- The Chicago trip was awesome as usual, even if it was just one night this year because Bogart has to take his stupid family on vacation. Nothing too crazy to report, but the night did end with Dawger trying to act like a fake bouncer at some bar and bothering people for their IDs before he passed out in a chair outside and then challenged Bogart's 17-year old (male) ward to a wrestling match when we got back to his place at 3am. So that was weird. Or actually pretty normal.
- We join the Gopher game in progress with them winning 6-0. Can we just call the game right here?
- I apologize for not knowing this but I've been on vacation and also haven't really wanted to pay any attention to the Gophers, but is Ralph hurt or something? Or just benched because he sucks and is graduating anyway?
- Once again my bracket is in shambles with two Final Four teams (Mizzou and FSU) bounced and that certainly doesn't help, but UNLV and Memphis getting smacked in the first round when I had both making Sweet 16 runs killed me, along with Belmont who I also had in the 16. Naturally my wife is kicking my ass and could win the whole thing if Kansas takes it, and my bracket blowing up in my face during the first weekend, I've been informed, is now considered an annual tradition of the Chicago trip along with wings at the Dayton Bar (or a brat if you're Dawger), yelling at strangers at the W bar, or Coldplay at the Yahtzee bar. No, I don't know the name of any of the bars we always go to, just know them by nickname. Seems more insider and hip that way.
- I can't be the only person who hears D.J. Cooper's name (of the Ohio Bobcats) and thinks "For D.B. Cooper and the money he took, you can look for answers but that ain't fun, now get the pit and try to love someone bawitdabadabangdabangditty." Right?
- Jesus this game is sloppy. It's like watching a sea otter make love to a mop. The Gophers are so bad I want to kidnap every single one and send them to Clem Haskins basketball camp. Or something. I don't know, somebody who can teach how to not turn the ball over and also doesn't hate shooting. You know who else hated shooting? MLK, and look what happened to him.
- I really hope you watch the Walking Dead, or if you don't you weren't one of those jackasses who bailed on the season when things were moving a little slowly, because the show just had its season finale and the last handful of episodes were bad-ass and were going a little Game of Thrones-y just killing people off. Not to mention an orgy of zombie killing to kick-off the last episode. Just an awesome last few hours, including the death of an annoying but main guy, the death of a main important guy, the deaths of a bunch of filler dudes, Daryl continuing to morph into a badass, some ninja showing up with two armless walker pets or something and saving Andrea, a look at a giant prison where they're heading which is supposed to be badass according to people who read the Walking Dead comics and no I'm not one of them, and Rick reminding everyone why he's in charge and he's the leader. Just awesome. Other than that mom lady and that idiot kid this show suddenly rocks again in every way.
- Gophers lead by 12 at half. No, I'm not remotely excited. In case you've ever wondered if it's better to win the NIT or make the NCAA Tournament and lose in the first round, the latter is considerably better and it's not close. That means the second one, dummy.
- It's been a while since I've officially dedicated a post to a chick, but this one is dedicated to Becki Newton who plays Quinn on How I Met Your Mother. The show started out the gate with Cobie Smulders hotter than the sun, but she faded a bit and Alyson Hannigan somehow went from cute and funny to straight up hot (note: pretty sure it was the bigger boobs after she had a kid). They've also had guest stars like Sarah Chalke and Rachel Bilson who both rate in the top 20 or so hottest chicks going today, but Newton might be the hottest of them all not counting Chalke.
- Speaking of hot chicks I was going to post a youtube video of when Christina Aguilera, who is still hot shut up I don't want to hear it leave me alone, performed at the vmas with Fred Durst and was headbanging and how it was so sexy and stuff like that. But it's not there the way I remember in any of the videos I found after searching for 3 minutes. I feel dumb. Like you probably do every day.
- I don't have a huge opinion on Dwight Howard deciding to stay in Orlando, at least for another year, but there was something I liked about him coming out and apologizing to his fans for created a circus and that they didn't deserve that. I also liked how he mentioned that he "got some bad advice" and was now running from it, as compared to LeBron who got some bad advice and embraced it as the best idea ever. This was like Goofus and Gallant from highlights magazine. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.
- In case you care Peyton Manning signed or will sign or is about to sign with the Broncos, so you can take your stupid Tebow jersey and light in on fire and then shove it up your ass. I don't know why I wrote that so meanly, but if you own a Tebow jersey you don't really care you just turn the other cheek as your weak Jesus taught you and take it like you're some dork in Madison who just sits there and lets Dawger slap your slice of pizza out of your mouth. That's why the black jesus is better. I have no idea where I was planning on taking the sentence, but here we are. I think it was supposed to have something to do with Demaryious Thomas, who is apparently now the black jesus just so I can pretend I didn't get lost in my own thought, never to return that that chick from Pan's Labyrinth.
- There's no doubt the Gophers blow this lead, right?
- I had two units on the Rodney bet, by the way and he's just 1 pt or reb away from a win. Between the double bet on that and the double on the game if I can win those two I can cancel out all of my super shitty bets that suck.
- Osenieks falls down after taking an inadvertent head butt to his temple. He still manages to take the ball and get it to a guard, which proves to me he's more of a man than Justin Morneau who probably would have fallen down immediately like a girl and sat out the next two years. Thank god Osenieks isn't from Canadia. Seriously, between Morneau, Koskie, and Sidney Crosby I'm starting to think the tough guy reputation for Canadians is as overblown as white guys having smaller dinks. *points down, pelvic thrust*
- If you aren't reading this you really should. It's the story of a dude who taught his cat to use instant messager when he's at work. Just read it.
- Ok so the Gophers are up 15 now, and assuming nobody transfers or Rodney doesn't do something stupid like go pro we're basically watching next year's team + chuck buggs and whatever that white kids name is because Ralph is nowhere to be seen (and I'm assuming no Mbakwe sixth year). I have to admit I don't really hate what I see. I don't love it, necessarily, because the outside shooting is just atrocious, but Andre Hollins is really growing into that point guard role (scoring point, but still) and Coleman and Austin Hollins both show a nose for scoring the ball that I really like. And speaking of that where the hell is Chip? Apparently there is so much going on with this team it's impossible to keep up. God this is just like school all over again.
- And Dre Hollins basically just went for back-to-back heat checks and canned them both. I freakin' love this kid. He's got 20 point per game potential by his senior year written all over him. Assuming there's a different coach of course, I can't imagine Tubby allowing a 20 point per game scorer on this team.
- Dammit, I think I left my beef jerky in Bogart's basement. Instead I'll have one of these Nathan's Famous kosher dill pickles, which, as a connoisseur of pickles, are the second best I've ever had behind my aunt and uncles homemade spicy pickles. Really, if you like pickles go buy these. I'm from a polish family so grew up eating pickles with every meal including breakfast (and still do), I'm compelled to order a pickle from any sandwich shop that sells them (Jimmy John's are better than Potbelly's, for the record) and I once won twenty bucks off a guy in college (WSCT QB, who I know occasionally reads here) by drinking a jar of pickles juice, which I did in one tip back and about 20 seconds and it was easy. I know my pickles. Go buy these. Even better than Claussen, and that's saying something.
- It's amazing how good this team is when they just get to let loose.
- Early Sweet 16 leans:
Cuse -4 over Wisconsin (Wisky too dependent on the three against that zone)
Michigan State -4.5 over Louisville (Sparty peaking, but this is one I may switch up on by gametime because L'ville is too)
Cincy +7.5 vs. Ohio State (Buckeyes are flawed and this Cincy team is athletic enough to stay with them)
Marquette -1.5 vs. Florida (maybe I'm dumb because Florida beat Virginia despite being terrible from the perimeter, but Marquette isn't UVA)
Xavier +6 vs. Baylor (Xavier always keeps em close and Baylor is a choker team)
Ohio +10.5 vs. UNC (Marshall out will hurt, but I'm still wary here)
Indiana +9 vs. Kentucky (weird line that feels like a trap since IU beat UK earlier, but I guess I'm falling for it)
NC State +8 vs. Kansas (I don't think Kansas is built to blow out a good team, and NC State is a good team)
The only one of these I love is Cincy, so throw your money that way. Despite my bracket being in a shambles (as usual) I do well gambling (as usual) so hopefully that keeps up.
- Oh good, Gophers go into a stall. That always works for this team.
- Anybody ever gone to Coastal Seafood in Mpls or St. Paul? Looks like they have shrimp and seafood from all over including Rhode Island Monkfish which I'd love to have a chance to cook. Color me interested, which is like a greenish yellow.
- Gophers win 78-60 in a game that they dominated from the start. If this wasn't the NIT I'd say this bodes well for next year. I mean, look at Wichita State - nice run in the NIT, nearly the entire team back, and they made a nice run in the NCAA Tournament this year. NIT success vs. NCAA success the following year - it's nearly a perfect correlation. Can't wait for 2013. And I can't believe I have to watch this again on Wednesday. I feel like Lady MacBeth.
IT'S STILL THE NIT, DUMMIES!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Week in Review - 4/4/2010
Baseball baseball baseball baseball baseball. Seriously, this NCAA hoops championship matchup really sucks, but at least we have baseball. Hell, I even enjoyed the hell out of the Yankees/Red Sox last night, and usually I'd rather die than watch those two teams play. Now, if some of their fans want to go at it, who am I to stand in the way?
God bless baseball.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Harrison Barnes. Did you happen to check out any of the McDonald's All-Star festivities this week? If you did, you would have definitely noticed Harrison Barnes. First was all the goofy stuff, in which Mr. Barnes finished third in the three-point competition and third in the skills competition while eschewing the dunk contest because he was too pimp and knows that dunk contests are for the same people who love monster truck rallies and Big Buck Hunter. Then he went out and dominated the actual all-star game, scoring 18 points and grabbing I think something like 40 rebounds. He is going to be a beast. Remember the part where I said he finished third in both the skills competition and the three-point contest? Yeah, he's also 6-7. And I read where somebody called him "the most competitive high-school player since Kobe Bryant." I have no idea what that means since I never saw Kobe in high school, but I have to imagine it's some kind of compliment. Should've picked the Gophers, Harrison. Your bad.
I should also mention that soon to be Duke PG Kyrie Irving's favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, which automatically means I'm a big fan of his and he's now my second all-time favorite Dookie behind Ricky Price, who was god on Coach K for the Genesis.
2. Missouri State/Virginia Commonwealth. Congrats to these two teams for winning their tournaments, Mizz State the CIT and VCU the CBI. Unlike the NIT you can actually take pride in winning these two tournaments (more on that below). Your team sucked and wasn't worthy of an NCAA bid and probably had no shot since day one, but you get to keep playing against other semi-crappy teams and if you win you've proven you're the best of the lousiest. Hey, it's something. Better than being Iowa.
3. Eric Hayes. I know you don't know who this is, so I'll just tell you. He's a graduating senior guard on Maryland who averaged 11 pts and 4 assists per game this season, but more importantly he took his 45% three-point shooting to the NCAA Three-point contest earlier this week and won the whole thing, and dominated while doing it. He posted the best score in each of the three rounds while shooting his way past guys like Ryan Wittman, Jason Bohannon, and other assorted whities to grab the title and join the prestigious list of past winners which includes nobody who I can remember right now. And that's really I have to say about Eric Hayes. You can expect Blake to be in this thing next year.
4. Butler. I have no idea why I'm not solidly behind Butler. I mean, I'll be rooting for them since they're playing Duke who are all gays or jerks or gay jerks, but I'm just not buying into the whole underdog thing. Maybe it's too much of being shoved down my throat and all the retarded comparisons to Hoosiers. I don't know. I just know that I'm not a Butler fan. Except for tonight. Tonight I will be praying to god that Butler wins, and you know God cares about this one because everybody knows Duke is Satan's team.
5. The Taco Hawks. Seriously you guys, me and Snake's Fantasy Baseball team (named after former WKU star Orlando Mendez-Valdez) is just stacked. Check this out:
C - Matt Wieters. See here
1B - Justin Morneau - 30 homers + fun factor? Perfect.
2B - Rickie Weeks - he walks often and has power, expect a big year after his injury last season
3B - Evan Longoria - you know you have a crush on him too
SS - Jason Bartlett - last year wasn't a fluke. Nice trade, Twins.
OF - Matt Kemp - 30/30 is his downside
OF - BJ Upton - he's back, baby.
OF - Jason Kubel - yet another MVP candidate on our team
UT - Billy Butler - keeps getting better
SP - Zach Grienke - will probably win 20 even on that shitty team
SP - Cole Hamels - thanks for letting him slide, draft-mates
SP - Chad Billingsley - a lock for 20 wins
SP - Tommy Hansen - stud
SP - Matt Garza - yes, that's five Cy Young candidates on our team
RP - Rafael Soriano - plenty of chances for saves with the Rays
RP - Jon Rauch - Believe it.
And that's without even getting into the potential breakout pitchers on our bench - Stephen Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner.
I told you - we're stacked.. And we did it without a single Yankee, Red Sock, or White Sock, so there are no dirty feelings. Although you should know Snake was pushing to take Jeter around the fourth or fifth round. Ick.
WHO SUCKED
1. J'mison Morgan. No, he's not here for that horrendous spelling of his name, but because he seems like he might be following the Jaron Rush school of squandering your talent. Morgan was the #25 recruit coming out two years ago and the #4 center in his class. Since signing with UCLA, however, he hasn't done much and was dismissed from the team earlier this week. Morgan was suspended for a game in early March for missing a meeting and didn't play in either of the Bruins Pac-10 Tournament games, and pretty much struggled with being fat all season long. When he did play he didn't do much, averaging just 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game over his two years, with career highs of 8 points and 4 rebounds. UCLA has now lost Morgan and Drew Gordon this season, but honestly they're probably better off. Howland really needs to recalibrate his recruitilizer before he ends up without a team. I hear Monson is gunning for the UCLA job. Also nice name, jackass.
2. Dayton. I know that I've ever said anything good about Dayton, and I'm not going to start now just because they won the NIT. Hey morons, how about you play like this during the season, actually live up to expectations and make the NCAA Tournament instead of winning something that almost ten people in the whole world even know is going on. Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, and Chris Johnson all had a couple of really nice games in Madison Square Garden in the Flyers' wins over Ole Miss and UNC, but where were you all season long? If you were a little more consistent you wouldn't have lost to St. Louis. Or Duquesne. Or St. Joe's. I swear winning the NIT is nothing more than a reminder that your team shit the bed and way underachieved all season long.
3. West Virginia. Da'Sean Butler didn't bother to show up until the game was mostly out of hand, the Mountaineers played basically zero defense and little offense, they couldn't keep Zoubek off the glass, and for some unfathomable reason Bobby Huggins never went with the 1-3-1, despite the fact that it was the team's go-to defense all year long and that man-to-man was doing nothing but giving Duke wide open looks. If you were worried about going zone against a team with shooters like Duke, trust me, they couldn't have gotten more open. Just an ugly, crappy, shitty game by a Mountaineer team that on Saturday didn't come close to resembling the team they were all season long. Ugly.
4. Chicago Cubs. Guess who the Cubbies' fourth starter is this year? Come on, guess. You'll never get it. It's Carlos Silva. It seems he's not only still in baseball, which seemed unlikely enough, but also beat out Jeff Samardzjia and Sean Marshall, which means those two should probably start considering killing themselves - or, failing that obvious move, retire. I can't even come up with anything else to say here. Carlos Silva won the fourth spot in the Cubs' rotation really just speaks for itself.
5. Red Sox. They actually allowed the Yankees to pull off the double steal, first and third thing. Seriously, what is this, little league?
Finally, I leave you with the following:
"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again."
God bless baseball.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Harrison Barnes. Did you happen to check out any of the McDonald's All-Star festivities this week? If you did, you would have definitely noticed Harrison Barnes. First was all the goofy stuff, in which Mr. Barnes finished third in the three-point competition and third in the skills competition while eschewing the dunk contest because he was too pimp and knows that dunk contests are for the same people who love monster truck rallies and Big Buck Hunter. Then he went out and dominated the actual all-star game, scoring 18 points and grabbing I think something like 40 rebounds. He is going to be a beast. Remember the part where I said he finished third in both the skills competition and the three-point contest? Yeah, he's also 6-7. And I read where somebody called him "the most competitive high-school player since Kobe Bryant." I have no idea what that means since I never saw Kobe in high school, but I have to imagine it's some kind of compliment. Should've picked the Gophers, Harrison. Your bad.
I should also mention that soon to be Duke PG Kyrie Irving's favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, which automatically means I'm a big fan of his and he's now my second all-time favorite Dookie behind Ricky Price, who was god on Coach K for the Genesis.
2. Missouri State/Virginia Commonwealth. Congrats to these two teams for winning their tournaments, Mizz State the CIT and VCU the CBI. Unlike the NIT you can actually take pride in winning these two tournaments (more on that below). Your team sucked and wasn't worthy of an NCAA bid and probably had no shot since day one, but you get to keep playing against other semi-crappy teams and if you win you've proven you're the best of the lousiest. Hey, it's something. Better than being Iowa.
3. Eric Hayes. I know you don't know who this is, so I'll just tell you. He's a graduating senior guard on Maryland who averaged 11 pts and 4 assists per game this season, but more importantly he took his 45% three-point shooting to the NCAA Three-point contest earlier this week and won the whole thing, and dominated while doing it. He posted the best score in each of the three rounds while shooting his way past guys like Ryan Wittman, Jason Bohannon, and other assorted whities to grab the title and join the prestigious list of past winners which includes nobody who I can remember right now. And that's really I have to say about Eric Hayes. You can expect Blake to be in this thing next year.
4. Butler. I have no idea why I'm not solidly behind Butler. I mean, I'll be rooting for them since they're playing Duke who are all gays or jerks or gay jerks, but I'm just not buying into the whole underdog thing. Maybe it's too much of being shoved down my throat and all the retarded comparisons to Hoosiers. I don't know. I just know that I'm not a Butler fan. Except for tonight. Tonight I will be praying to god that Butler wins, and you know God cares about this one because everybody knows Duke is Satan's team.
5. The Taco Hawks. Seriously you guys, me and Snake's Fantasy Baseball team (named after former WKU star Orlando Mendez-Valdez) is just stacked. Check this out:
C - Matt Wieters. See here
1B - Justin Morneau - 30 homers + fun factor? Perfect.
2B - Rickie Weeks - he walks often and has power, expect a big year after his injury last season
3B - Evan Longoria - you know you have a crush on him too
SS - Jason Bartlett - last year wasn't a fluke. Nice trade, Twins.
OF - Matt Kemp - 30/30 is his downside
OF - BJ Upton - he's back, baby.
OF - Jason Kubel - yet another MVP candidate on our team
UT - Billy Butler - keeps getting better
SP - Zach Grienke - will probably win 20 even on that shitty team
SP - Cole Hamels - thanks for letting him slide, draft-mates
SP - Chad Billingsley - a lock for 20 wins
SP - Tommy Hansen - stud
SP - Matt Garza - yes, that's five Cy Young candidates on our team
RP - Rafael Soriano - plenty of chances for saves with the Rays
RP - Jon Rauch - Believe it.
And that's without even getting into the potential breakout pitchers on our bench - Stephen Strasburg, Homer Bailey, and Madison Bumgarner.
I told you - we're stacked.. And we did it without a single Yankee, Red Sock, or White Sock, so there are no dirty feelings. Although you should know Snake was pushing to take Jeter around the fourth or fifth round. Ick.
WHO SUCKED
1. J'mison Morgan. No, he's not here for that horrendous spelling of his name, but because he seems like he might be following the Jaron Rush school of squandering your talent. Morgan was the #25 recruit coming out two years ago and the #4 center in his class. Since signing with UCLA, however, he hasn't done much and was dismissed from the team earlier this week. Morgan was suspended for a game in early March for missing a meeting and didn't play in either of the Bruins Pac-10 Tournament games, and pretty much struggled with being fat all season long. When he did play he didn't do much, averaging just 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game over his two years, with career highs of 8 points and 4 rebounds. UCLA has now lost Morgan and Drew Gordon this season, but honestly they're probably better off. Howland really needs to recalibrate his recruitilizer before he ends up without a team. I hear Monson is gunning for the UCLA job. Also nice name, jackass.
2. Dayton. I know that I've ever said anything good about Dayton, and I'm not going to start now just because they won the NIT. Hey morons, how about you play like this during the season, actually live up to expectations and make the NCAA Tournament instead of winning something that almost ten people in the whole world even know is going on. Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, and Chris Johnson all had a couple of really nice games in Madison Square Garden in the Flyers' wins over Ole Miss and UNC, but where were you all season long? If you were a little more consistent you wouldn't have lost to St. Louis. Or Duquesne. Or St. Joe's. I swear winning the NIT is nothing more than a reminder that your team shit the bed and way underachieved all season long.
3. West Virginia. Da'Sean Butler didn't bother to show up until the game was mostly out of hand, the Mountaineers played basically zero defense and little offense, they couldn't keep Zoubek off the glass, and for some unfathomable reason Bobby Huggins never went with the 1-3-1, despite the fact that it was the team's go-to defense all year long and that man-to-man was doing nothing but giving Duke wide open looks. If you were worried about going zone against a team with shooters like Duke, trust me, they couldn't have gotten more open. Just an ugly, crappy, shitty game by a Mountaineer team that on Saturday didn't come close to resembling the team they were all season long. Ugly.
4. Chicago Cubs. Guess who the Cubbies' fourth starter is this year? Come on, guess. You'll never get it. It's Carlos Silva. It seems he's not only still in baseball, which seemed unlikely enough, but also beat out Jeff Samardzjia and Sean Marshall, which means those two should probably start considering killing themselves - or, failing that obvious move, retire. I can't even come up with anything else to say here. Carlos Silva won the fourth spot in the Cubs' rotation really just speaks for itself.
5. Red Sox. They actually allowed the Yankees to pull off the double steal, first and third thing. Seriously, what is this, little league?
Finally, I leave you with the following:
"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again."
Monday, March 15, 2010
Week in Review - 3/15/2010
Whew. Were you like me and had your heart drop when Florida popped up on the screen? Terrifying, but ultimately the committee made the right choices and the Gophers were rewarded for an incredible last week of ball. I like the matchup quite a bit, too. Not necessarily because I think the Gophers will have an easy time with Xavier or anything, but mainly because I think that region is pretty weak. If they can get by the Musketeers, they get the weakest three seed in the second round. They also caught a pretty big break by playing in Milwaukee, where they should have a sizable advantage in fans.
One thing is for sure, it's exciting, and the season no longer goes down as a failure. I'll be back with a true preview before I head out to Chicago with Snacks and Snake, but for now I'm predicting a Gopher win.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Colt Iverson. How did this happen? And I'm not even talking numbers, although basically scoring double his season average in every game is impressive, but his game was completely unrecognizable and I mean that in a good way. His moves were suddenly polished, and he had a lot of them. He now suddenly has a drop step. He's using shot fakes beautifully and looks like Kevin McHale down there. He can score with either hand. I have no idea what is going on here. I thought his upside was going to be like a Greg Ostertag rebounder/enforcer type who is most valuable for setting picks and his five fouls per game, but suddenly things have gotten really interesting. If this is for real, the Gophers are suddenly a dangerous team. Please let this be for real - like the Loch Ness Monster - and not some kind of false production - like the Moon Landing.
2. San Diego State. If you're on the bubble going into your conference tournament there is one surefire way to make sure you get a bid - win the whole thing, and that's what the Aztecs did, winning the MWC tournament, including wins over UNLV and New Mexico. SDSU is a dangerous team, and they went 2-1 against New Mexico this year with the loss being by just two points. Drawing Tennessee is always a mystery since they are the kind of team who could either flame out early or go on a deep run, but I'm calling an Aztec upset in the first round.
3. Duke. It's always tough to praise Duke, but they did what a lot of other regular season conference champions couldn't manage and they went out and won their conference tournament. They got lucky a bit in that Maryland got knocked out early by Georgia Tech, but winning the ACC is still winning the ACC. As a bonus, they picked up the fourth #1 seed and were somehow placed in the easiest region in the history of college basketball. But, since they're Duke, I'm sure they'll still screw it up somehow.
4. Ohio. Every year some middling team from a smaller conference gets hot and makes a run, winning their conference tournament and setting themselves up to get their doors blown off in the first round. This year, that honor goes to the Ohio Bobcats for winning the MAC, with Georgetown being the doors-blow-offer. Kent State or Akron would have been a dangerous foe, but they couldn't get it done so now we're saddled with the crappy Bobcats. And how tough is that region? The top five seeds are all legit Final Four contenders, including probably the best #1 and best #2. It should end up playing pretty close to form as I only see one real first round upset possibility, but whoever ends up coming out of there is really going to have to earn it.
5. Second-Tier basketball tournaments. I know nobody really gives a crap about the NIT, CBI, or CIT because the only thing that matters is the NCAA Tournament, and I agree with a lot of that, but I also really like the second-tier tournaments. There's some intrigue with these. Illinois and Dayton ended up in the same bracket, and that would be a pretty good matchup. Will either UCONN or North Carolina put their talent together finally and play well, or have they completely given up for the year? And if nothing else, be thankful they exist so there's some college ball to watch/wager on all week long.
WHO SUCKED
1. Conference USA. It looked like this might be a break-through year for C-USA with a legitimate chance of them getting four teams in the dance depending on how the conference tourney shook out. It shook alright, with Memphis and UAB both getting dumped by crappy teams in the quarters, ending both team's NCAA dreams and assuring that outside of UTEP, nobody would be getting an at-large bid from the conference. They did manage to get two team's in thanks to Houston's championship win, but the Cougars are crappy and UTEP got a shitty seed, so there's a good chance C-USA goes 0 for the tournament this year.
2. Virginia Tech. This is the team that most people seem to have a problem with being excluded from the tournament, but the Hokies aren't even close to deserving a bid. That 23-8 mark looks nice, but their non-conference Strength of Schedule ranked a ridiculous 344th in the country. Their only non-conference wins over teams that are even remotely not god awful were over Penn State and Georgia, pretty much the defining line before you get to god awful. And as good as a 10-6 conference mark looks, they didn't beat either Duke or Maryland. Combine all that with a first round loss to Miami in the ACC tournament, and there is no way the Hokies deserved a bid. Sorry VT, maybe try to schedule some real teams in the future.
3. Dayton. Well it is now official - this year's trip to Chicago will be a bit hollow, since when we go to the Dayton bar there won't be any Dayton fans there, unless I guess maybe there's an NIT game or something. Considering they were supposed to be at the top of the A-10 and be a sweet-16 type team, this year can't be considered anything other than a disaster. Other than one win over Xavier and an early non-conference victory over Georgia Tech, they couldn't beat anybody, whiffing on games against Villanova, Kansas State, and New Mexico, and they lost plenty of games they couldn't afford to lose. Coming down the stretch they lost games to St. Louis, Richmond, and Duquesne. Losing to Richmond and St. Louis might have been manageable, but the loss to Duquesne was a crusher.
4. Mississippi State. Jarvis Varnado deserves better than the NIT, but for the second straight year MSU didn't do enough to get into the tournament and had to try to win SEC tournament to get in. Last year it worked, this year it came just short. The Bulldogs were damn close though, leading Kentucky by three with 4.9 seconds to go in the game. The Wildcats, however, pulled off the rare intentionally miss a free throw, get the rebound and score to tie the game move and sent it into overtime where they ended up winning and sent MSU to the NIT. Hopefully they can play well and at least make it to Madison Square Garden and send Varnado out in style, a player like that deserves it. I'm really going to miss him.
5. Northwestern. Ouch. From 10-1 media sleeper sensation to earn their first ever NCAA bid all the way to a 7 seed in the NIT (and will play vs. Rhode Island in round 1). I'm not too worried about them though, they'll almost certainly get a bid next year. With Shurna and Thompson both back, Coble returning from injury, and Drew Crawford getting better they have a real chance at an upper-division finish in the conference next year. That sounds weird.
THE GOPHERS MADE THE TOURNAMENT!!!!!
One thing is for sure, it's exciting, and the season no longer goes down as a failure. I'll be back with a true preview before I head out to Chicago with Snacks and Snake, but for now I'm predicting a Gopher win.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Colt Iverson. How did this happen? And I'm not even talking numbers, although basically scoring double his season average in every game is impressive, but his game was completely unrecognizable and I mean that in a good way. His moves were suddenly polished, and he had a lot of them. He now suddenly has a drop step. He's using shot fakes beautifully and looks like Kevin McHale down there. He can score with either hand. I have no idea what is going on here. I thought his upside was going to be like a Greg Ostertag rebounder/enforcer type who is most valuable for setting picks and his five fouls per game, but suddenly things have gotten really interesting. If this is for real, the Gophers are suddenly a dangerous team. Please let this be for real - like the Loch Ness Monster - and not some kind of false production - like the Moon Landing.
2. San Diego State. If you're on the bubble going into your conference tournament there is one surefire way to make sure you get a bid - win the whole thing, and that's what the Aztecs did, winning the MWC tournament, including wins over UNLV and New Mexico. SDSU is a dangerous team, and they went 2-1 against New Mexico this year with the loss being by just two points. Drawing Tennessee is always a mystery since they are the kind of team who could either flame out early or go on a deep run, but I'm calling an Aztec upset in the first round.
3. Duke. It's always tough to praise Duke, but they did what a lot of other regular season conference champions couldn't manage and they went out and won their conference tournament. They got lucky a bit in that Maryland got knocked out early by Georgia Tech, but winning the ACC is still winning the ACC. As a bonus, they picked up the fourth #1 seed and were somehow placed in the easiest region in the history of college basketball. But, since they're Duke, I'm sure they'll still screw it up somehow.
4. Ohio. Every year some middling team from a smaller conference gets hot and makes a run, winning their conference tournament and setting themselves up to get their doors blown off in the first round. This year, that honor goes to the Ohio Bobcats for winning the MAC, with Georgetown being the doors-blow-offer. Kent State or Akron would have been a dangerous foe, but they couldn't get it done so now we're saddled with the crappy Bobcats. And how tough is that region? The top five seeds are all legit Final Four contenders, including probably the best #1 and best #2. It should end up playing pretty close to form as I only see one real first round upset possibility, but whoever ends up coming out of there is really going to have to earn it.
5. Second-Tier basketball tournaments. I know nobody really gives a crap about the NIT, CBI, or CIT because the only thing that matters is the NCAA Tournament, and I agree with a lot of that, but I also really like the second-tier tournaments. There's some intrigue with these. Illinois and Dayton ended up in the same bracket, and that would be a pretty good matchup. Will either UCONN or North Carolina put their talent together finally and play well, or have they completely given up for the year? And if nothing else, be thankful they exist so there's some college ball to watch/wager on all week long.
WHO SUCKED
1. Conference USA. It looked like this might be a break-through year for C-USA with a legitimate chance of them getting four teams in the dance depending on how the conference tourney shook out. It shook alright, with Memphis and UAB both getting dumped by crappy teams in the quarters, ending both team's NCAA dreams and assuring that outside of UTEP, nobody would be getting an at-large bid from the conference. They did manage to get two team's in thanks to Houston's championship win, but the Cougars are crappy and UTEP got a shitty seed, so there's a good chance C-USA goes 0 for the tournament this year.
2. Virginia Tech. This is the team that most people seem to have a problem with being excluded from the tournament, but the Hokies aren't even close to deserving a bid. That 23-8 mark looks nice, but their non-conference Strength of Schedule ranked a ridiculous 344th in the country. Their only non-conference wins over teams that are even remotely not god awful were over Penn State and Georgia, pretty much the defining line before you get to god awful. And as good as a 10-6 conference mark looks, they didn't beat either Duke or Maryland. Combine all that with a first round loss to Miami in the ACC tournament, and there is no way the Hokies deserved a bid. Sorry VT, maybe try to schedule some real teams in the future.
3. Dayton. Well it is now official - this year's trip to Chicago will be a bit hollow, since when we go to the Dayton bar there won't be any Dayton fans there, unless I guess maybe there's an NIT game or something. Considering they were supposed to be at the top of the A-10 and be a sweet-16 type team, this year can't be considered anything other than a disaster. Other than one win over Xavier and an early non-conference victory over Georgia Tech, they couldn't beat anybody, whiffing on games against Villanova, Kansas State, and New Mexico, and they lost plenty of games they couldn't afford to lose. Coming down the stretch they lost games to St. Louis, Richmond, and Duquesne. Losing to Richmond and St. Louis might have been manageable, but the loss to Duquesne was a crusher.
4. Mississippi State. Jarvis Varnado deserves better than the NIT, but for the second straight year MSU didn't do enough to get into the tournament and had to try to win SEC tournament to get in. Last year it worked, this year it came just short. The Bulldogs were damn close though, leading Kentucky by three with 4.9 seconds to go in the game. The Wildcats, however, pulled off the rare intentionally miss a free throw, get the rebound and score to tie the game move and sent it into overtime where they ended up winning and sent MSU to the NIT. Hopefully they can play well and at least make it to Madison Square Garden and send Varnado out in style, a player like that deserves it. I'm really going to miss him.
5. Northwestern. Ouch. From 10-1 media sleeper sensation to earn their first ever NCAA bid all the way to a 7 seed in the NIT (and will play vs. Rhode Island in round 1). I'm not too worried about them though, they'll almost certainly get a bid next year. With Shurna and Thompson both back, Coble returning from injury, and Drew Crawford getting better they have a real chance at an upper-division finish in the conference next year. That sounds weird.
THE GOPHERS MADE THE TOURNAMENT!!!!!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
That was the Most Pathetic Thing I Have Ever Seen.
At least we don't have to worry about sweating on Selection Sunday anymore. I know I said I was anticipating a loss, but I couldn't have predicted this. Absolutely pathetic in every possible way. I don't know what was worse, the lay-up line they gave Michigan, the complete lack of anything resembling defensive pressure by the Gophers, or the stagnant offense. Also, can anybody tell me if Tubby ever went back to the zone, or was the one dunk allowed when Sims slipped behind the zone so damaging that he stayed in the man-to-man the entire game despite the fact that there wasn't a single Gopher who could cover any single Wolverine the entire game? I don't know, because at the 15 minute mark of the second half I put my DVR on x3 mode and never saw a reason to stop as the Michigan side of the score kept rising.
Utter and complete humiliation, and everybody - with the possible exception of Damian Johnson - is to blame. Obviously in my tenure as a Gopher fan I've seen bad defeats. I've been let down, disappointed, and even embarrassed at times, but I believe this is the first time I've been ashamed. Zero effort, poor preparation, no hustle or defense at all, and no adjustments. If there were a way to dismiss the entire team and coaching staff and start over right now, I'd be all for it.
But if the Gophers don't seem to care about getting to the NCAA Tournament I don't see why I should, so let's just move on. It's still March, and if you care about basketball there is still a lot to pay attention to (not to mention Spring Training is getting going). Cincinnati lost a game last night that knocked them off the bubble with the Gophers (possible NIT match-up?), while Florida couldn't quite pull off the upset against Vanderbilt. That loss doesn't kill them, but it would have been very helpful to get.
And congrats to UTEP, who beat Marshall last night and clinched their first Conference USA Championship, which should be good enough to clinch an NCAA bid as well. Clemson likely also punched their ticket by knocking off Georgia Tech, as did Marquette with their win over Louisville. Meanwhile, Illinois joined the Gophers in their efforts to get the Big Ten just four bids. Good work, gents!
Plenty of action going on today, including a couple of monster games involving four good teams: Kansas State @ Kansas and Maryland @ Duke. Of course, there are also a couple conference tournaments kicking off again today, and since you brought it up:
ATLANTIC SUN: The A-Sun is a lower tier conference which seems even lower because outside of Belmont none of the team's are really recognizable: Jacksonville? Lipscomb? Kennesaw State? And they are currently in a state of flux with new additions South Carolina Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast - seems like a really geographically specific conference.
FAVORITE: Belmont. There is actually a four-way tie at the top of the standings with Belmont, Campbell, Lipscomb, and Jacksonville, but I give the nod to Belmont because they have the highest ranking by Ken Pomeroy's numbers (#131) and rank in the top 170 in both offensive and defensive efficiency - the only team in the conference to do so.
SLEEPER: Lipscomb. They swept Belmont and split against the other contenders, and that's good enough for me. Plus, they rank in the top 80 in offensive efficiency, the only A-Sun team to rank that high in anything.
W's PICK: Belmont. They seem to always play tough and pushed Duke to the limit in the tournament last year, not to mention a near-upset in the regular season of Tennessee a couple of years ago.
PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Patriot ranks even worse than the A-Sun, coming in 27th out of 33 in conference ratings at Kenpom.com, but is more fun because I read John Feinstein's book about it (The Last Amateurs) a few years ago, which highlighted that this is the kind of conference where a star player has to drop off the team because he needs more time to work on his Biochem Doctorate. I don't condone that kind of quitting or having your priorities that out of whack, but it was a fun book.
FAVORITE: Lehigh. They won the regular season crown at 10-4, and Snacks has a Lehigh Hooded Sweatshirt for some reason so he could always where that when he goes to the bar to watch the play-in game.
SLEEPER: Navy. I always think team's that play a radically different style from the rest of the conference are dangerous, and Navy qualifies with a up-tempo game that ranked 14th fastest in the country when only one other team in the Patriot ranked in the top 100, even if they don't play any defense (DEf = 286th). But Navy did sweep Lehigh and they have the conference's top scorer in Chris Harris.
W's PICK: Bucknell. These team's are all terrible, so it comes down to who gets hot and Bucknell has won five of their last six. Plus, they are at least kind of a name school (Kansas = hi).
TONIGHT'S BUBBLE GAMES
Temple @ St. Louis - The Billikens need to keep winning. They are probably all the way out barring a run all the way to the A-10 final, but knocking off a RPI Top 20 team would help.
Wake Forest @ Florida State - Both teams could use this game, but FSU needs it to get a bid while Wake needs it to stop their losing streak (they're almost certainly in already).
UCONN @ Notre Dame - Not quite an elimination game, since I think even the loser can still get into the tournament, but the winner takes a big step forward.
Charlotte @ Rhode Island - A true bubble elimination game right here.
NC State @ Virginia Tech - Va Tech is in "can't lose another game" mode.
Miss State @ Auburn - I think the Bulldogs are in pretty good shape, but a loss to Auburn would put that all in jeopardy.
Memphis @ UAB - Another elimination game - certainly for Memphis, probably for UAB.
Colorado State @ San Diego State. SDSU is another team in "can't lose" mode.
I also want to mention that this post is the first time I've used the "NIT" post label in two years. That's fairly depressing. Although it brings me to a good question - which is more prestigious, the CBI or the CIT?
Utter and complete humiliation, and everybody - with the possible exception of Damian Johnson - is to blame. Obviously in my tenure as a Gopher fan I've seen bad defeats. I've been let down, disappointed, and even embarrassed at times, but I believe this is the first time I've been ashamed. Zero effort, poor preparation, no hustle or defense at all, and no adjustments. If there were a way to dismiss the entire team and coaching staff and start over right now, I'd be all for it.
But if the Gophers don't seem to care about getting to the NCAA Tournament I don't see why I should, so let's just move on. It's still March, and if you care about basketball there is still a lot to pay attention to (not to mention Spring Training is getting going). Cincinnati lost a game last night that knocked them off the bubble with the Gophers (possible NIT match-up?), while Florida couldn't quite pull off the upset against Vanderbilt. That loss doesn't kill them, but it would have been very helpful to get.
And congrats to UTEP, who beat Marshall last night and clinched their first Conference USA Championship, which should be good enough to clinch an NCAA bid as well. Clemson likely also punched their ticket by knocking off Georgia Tech, as did Marquette with their win over Louisville. Meanwhile, Illinois joined the Gophers in their efforts to get the Big Ten just four bids. Good work, gents!
Plenty of action going on today, including a couple of monster games involving four good teams: Kansas State @ Kansas and Maryland @ Duke. Of course, there are also a couple conference tournaments kicking off again today, and since you brought it up:
ATLANTIC SUN: The A-Sun is a lower tier conference which seems even lower because outside of Belmont none of the team's are really recognizable: Jacksonville? Lipscomb? Kennesaw State? And they are currently in a state of flux with new additions South Carolina Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast - seems like a really geographically specific conference.
FAVORITE: Belmont. There is actually a four-way tie at the top of the standings with Belmont, Campbell, Lipscomb, and Jacksonville, but I give the nod to Belmont because they have the highest ranking by Ken Pomeroy's numbers (#131) and rank in the top 170 in both offensive and defensive efficiency - the only team in the conference to do so.
SLEEPER: Lipscomb. They swept Belmont and split against the other contenders, and that's good enough for me. Plus, they rank in the top 80 in offensive efficiency, the only A-Sun team to rank that high in anything.
W's PICK: Belmont. They seem to always play tough and pushed Duke to the limit in the tournament last year, not to mention a near-upset in the regular season of Tennessee a couple of years ago.
PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Patriot ranks even worse than the A-Sun, coming in 27th out of 33 in conference ratings at Kenpom.com, but is more fun because I read John Feinstein's book about it (The Last Amateurs) a few years ago, which highlighted that this is the kind of conference where a star player has to drop off the team because he needs more time to work on his Biochem Doctorate. I don't condone that kind of quitting or having your priorities that out of whack, but it was a fun book.
FAVORITE: Lehigh. They won the regular season crown at 10-4, and Snacks has a Lehigh Hooded Sweatshirt for some reason so he could always where that when he goes to the bar to watch the play-in game.
SLEEPER: Navy. I always think team's that play a radically different style from the rest of the conference are dangerous, and Navy qualifies with a up-tempo game that ranked 14th fastest in the country when only one other team in the Patriot ranked in the top 100, even if they don't play any defense (DEf = 286th). But Navy did sweep Lehigh and they have the conference's top scorer in Chris Harris.
W's PICK: Bucknell. These team's are all terrible, so it comes down to who gets hot and Bucknell has won five of their last six. Plus, they are at least kind of a name school (Kansas = hi).
TONIGHT'S BUBBLE GAMES
Temple @ St. Louis - The Billikens need to keep winning. They are probably all the way out barring a run all the way to the A-10 final, but knocking off a RPI Top 20 team would help.
Wake Forest @ Florida State - Both teams could use this game, but FSU needs it to get a bid while Wake needs it to stop their losing streak (they're almost certainly in already).
UCONN @ Notre Dame - Not quite an elimination game, since I think even the loser can still get into the tournament, but the winner takes a big step forward.
Charlotte @ Rhode Island - A true bubble elimination game right here.
NC State @ Virginia Tech - Va Tech is in "can't lose another game" mode.
Miss State @ Auburn - I think the Bulldogs are in pretty good shape, but a loss to Auburn would put that all in jeopardy.
Memphis @ UAB - Another elimination game - certainly for Memphis, probably for UAB.
Colorado State @ San Diego State. SDSU is another team in "can't lose" mode.
I also want to mention that this post is the first time I've used the "NIT" post label in two years. That's fairly depressing. Although it brings me to a good question - which is more prestigious, the CBI or the CIT?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hello My Friends
Yep, traveling once again, and once again I'm in the great state of New Jersey. Since I have nothing better to do, let me fill you on some of my random, no doubt profound, thoughts.
- I'd like to start with a little story from the airport this morning. After I cleared security and was putting my shoes back on - with little to no foot odor - some other doofus gets through and walks up to his two friends. One of these said friends, an even bigger doofus - with bluetooth headset - says to doofus #1, "so you cleared waivers" and then looked around for a laugh. His friends ignored him. He said it again. Still nothing. Then he goes, "Hey Tommy. Tommy. Hey Tommy. Hey. Hey Tommy" like a little kid. When "Tommy" finally said, "what?", he goes, "So you cleared waivers, huh?" and his friends looked at him like a retard (I tried to pay attention, he didn't actually seem special in any identifiable way.) It was awesome. Yet, strangely familiar.
- Pretty good flight though. I got upgraded to first class (again) and accidentally got a little drunk (I ordered a screwdriver and two cranberry & vodkas, and each time they would bring me a glass with ice and full of the juice, and then a little airplane sized bottle of Skyy vodka. I thought the juice was just juice, but instead of that, it was actually an already mixed drink which I didn't figure out until the end. So I had six drinks instead of three. Still trying to figure out of this was a positive or a negative. The real good news is that I had an empty row for myself. There's nothing worse than having some guy start talking to you. One time I was reading a book on Quantum Physics, and the guy started telling me that he was a science teacher in Utah (ALERT! ALERT!) and then told me that what he really loves about science is how it shows how God really loves building blocks and how everything is ordered. I asked him how he reconciles that belief with Quantum Theory and the inherent randomness at the level, and he started telling me about how an atom is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Hi. I'm reading a Quantum Theory book. I'm pretty sure I get it. At that point I just pulled the same move that Snake pulled when I gave him the upgrade on our way home from Chicago when some guy started talking soccer with him - smile and put on the headphones.
- Speaking of God, there are a shitload of God stations on the radio out here. I was trying to find something to listen to and found at least four or five, including one that wanted us all to know, "The economy will never recover as long as abortion is legal." I'm pretty sure that would only make things worse, but since that is an issue I have no wish to delve into in this forum, instead I will just say that stridently religious people are loony tunes.
- Enough of that garbage. I'm much more interested in what the holy hell is going on with Joe Mauer's back. Since this apparently isn't related to his December 22nd kidney surgery, we'll ignore that for now. The most recent update I can find is from March 18th, and its says that although Mauer is experiencing back pain that won't allow him to play, it's "not a surgical issue." So, like, I don't get it. It seems nobody really knows what's going on, but it seems that letting your all-star, two-time batting champion and most important player on the team just linger is not a major issue. The only diagnosis I've found is that he has an inflamed sacroiliac joint in his lower back. What's that you ask? It's lower back pain. Yep, that's it. You know what the treatment is? Ice and Ibuprofen. The real Jesus resurrected from the dead, but the baby Jesus sits out two months with a backache. Maybe it's time for a new nickname. All I know is if Wendell the black running back can keep playing with a busted up knee after a simple shot of the Bud Kilmer juice, Mauer has no excuse for missing months upon months of baseball. Can't he just DH?
- Speaking of injuries, it looks like Ty Lawson is the latest one to pull the Tiger Woods aka the Michael Jordan, and overplay his injury/illness when things aren't going well only to be miraculously cured if things go his way. One of the lead stories on ESPN right now is that Lawson will play for the Heels on Friday against Gonzaga. Really? Well I'd god damned hope so. He just played 31 minutes on Saturday in a win against LSU, and although there was a shot of him on the sidelines with his shoe off whining like he was Joe Mauer, you better believe when he was in there running around his shots were somehow miraculously falling and when he found the trampoline in the floor like they used to have in rock and jock and managed to dunk, he was jumping around celebrating like a slave who made it to the north. Old....Man.....River...(dammit I can't find the actual clip, but if you can it's hilarious). What was my point? Oh yeah, you watch on Friday. If things are going well for him and the Heels, he'll be fine. But if he's missing shots or turning it over, look out for the waterworks - just like Tiger in the US Open.
- Ok, my co-worker just called and she just arrived, so I have to go meet her in the hotel bar for a drink. While I'm gone, I want you to ponder this: "That Travis Busch, he do be hustlin'"
- Back. Some assface in the bar is a dick. I asked them to change the channel from some stupid Primetime show called "What would you do" to the NIT game, and before the bartender gets any further than the guide, dickhead guy is like, "Aw man, you're changing it? We was watching that" and yes he said was. So they don't change it. Keep in mind it's a show about how people react to situations, and yet there was no volume or subtitles. So I watch this dink the whole time I'm in bar, ignoring my co-worker but I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything - and he doesn't look at the tv the whole time. Not even once. He was too busy making googly-eyes at his boyfriend. So I missed Penn State knocking off Florida. I'm sure it was thrilling.
- I got it. The baby Tracy McGrady. That dude is hurt constantly, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere half the time it's because he's just being a whiner. Perfect for Mauer.
- Well, well, it looks like America's boyfriend who is really a douche but America is too close to see it but all America's real friends (me) can see he's a douche and no matter what we do America won't break up with him, Stephen Curry, blew it once again. This time in the prestigious NIT. The Currys lost to St. Mary's, with Curry going for 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. And once again, that's all you'll hear about. Nobody will mention the 11-27 shooting or the six turnovers, it's all about the fantasy stats. I'm not going to rehash it for the millionth time, because obviously America won't listen, but go here and scroll down to the Davidson section and re-read up on his stats versus good teams. I'll wait, it's the first entry in the WHO SUCKED section. I seriously hope he doesn't turn pro so I can watch this trainwreck of a relationship again. He'll suck against good teams and just when America is starting to question their love, he'll go off and have a huge night against Furman and it'll be first love all over again. Great guy, America, you sure can pick winners. Curry and Favre. Really top notch. You're dead to me.
- Speaking of the NIT and meltdowns, which I think is where I started that whole Curry thing but I can't remember for sure, Auburn just completely blew it against Baylor. Baylor was up like 7 with 2 minutes left, and thanks to a few three pointers and a couple of forced turnovers, they got the ball back down one with 16 seconds left because Baylor is a bunch of idiots who refused to make the NCAA tournament despite having the talent to win the whole thing. So they get fouled, need one to tie and two to take the lead with 9 seconds left. Miss both. Lose.
- I want to quick mention a book I'm highly recommending, When March went Mad by Seth Davis of CBS and SI fame. The good people over at Press Box Publicity were kind enough to send me an early review copy of the book, and in all seriousness I loved it. I finished it up on the way to Chicago, and plan to have a review next week. It chronicles the 1978-1979 college basketball season following Magic Johnson and the Spartans and Larry Bird and Indiana State, climaxing with their championship matchup that changed college basketball. It also does a great job of following the peripheral players and coaches as well. If you liked the John Feinstein college basketball books (Season on the Brink, The Last Amateurs, a March to Madness) or like basketball in general, pick it up. Full review coming next week.
- - Oh crap, here's something awesome. I just saw that America's boyfriends little brother, Seth Curry, is transferring from Liberty. I don't know why, and nobody knows where yet, but I can only hope he goes to a big school so he can be exposed for the fraud that his whole family (except Dell) is. Seth led all freshmen this year by averaging 20.2 points per game, but I'd assume it's because Dell taught his kids to just shoot constantly - hopefully none of them is a crip or a blood. I did check the stats just to be sure, and he shot 42% from the floor and 35% from three with a 1-1 Assist/Turnover ratio, so it's pretty much more of the same. Plus, does anybody really like anybody named Seth? I mean, really?
- I think that's pretty much it for tonight. Hasta Manana.
- I'd like to start with a little story from the airport this morning. After I cleared security and was putting my shoes back on - with little to no foot odor - some other doofus gets through and walks up to his two friends. One of these said friends, an even bigger doofus - with bluetooth headset - says to doofus #1, "so you cleared waivers" and then looked around for a laugh. His friends ignored him. He said it again. Still nothing. Then he goes, "Hey Tommy. Tommy. Hey Tommy. Hey. Hey Tommy" like a little kid. When "Tommy" finally said, "what?", he goes, "So you cleared waivers, huh?" and his friends looked at him like a retard (I tried to pay attention, he didn't actually seem special in any identifiable way.) It was awesome. Yet, strangely familiar.
- Pretty good flight though. I got upgraded to first class (again) and accidentally got a little drunk (I ordered a screwdriver and two cranberry & vodkas, and each time they would bring me a glass with ice and full of the juice, and then a little airplane sized bottle of Skyy vodka. I thought the juice was just juice, but instead of that, it was actually an already mixed drink which I didn't figure out until the end. So I had six drinks instead of three. Still trying to figure out of this was a positive or a negative. The real good news is that I had an empty row for myself. There's nothing worse than having some guy start talking to you. One time I was reading a book on Quantum Physics, and the guy started telling me that he was a science teacher in Utah (ALERT! ALERT!) and then told me that what he really loves about science is how it shows how God really loves building blocks and how everything is ordered. I asked him how he reconciles that belief with Quantum Theory and the inherent randomness at the level, and he started telling me about how an atom is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Hi. I'm reading a Quantum Theory book. I'm pretty sure I get it. At that point I just pulled the same move that Snake pulled when I gave him the upgrade on our way home from Chicago when some guy started talking soccer with him - smile and put on the headphones.
- Speaking of God, there are a shitload of God stations on the radio out here. I was trying to find something to listen to and found at least four or five, including one that wanted us all to know, "The economy will never recover as long as abortion is legal." I'm pretty sure that would only make things worse, but since that is an issue I have no wish to delve into in this forum, instead I will just say that stridently religious people are loony tunes.
- Enough of that garbage. I'm much more interested in what the holy hell is going on with Joe Mauer's back. Since this apparently isn't related to his December 22nd kidney surgery, we'll ignore that for now. The most recent update I can find is from March 18th, and its says that although Mauer is experiencing back pain that won't allow him to play, it's "not a surgical issue." So, like, I don't get it. It seems nobody really knows what's going on, but it seems that letting your all-star, two-time batting champion and most important player on the team just linger is not a major issue. The only diagnosis I've found is that he has an inflamed sacroiliac joint in his lower back. What's that you ask? It's lower back pain. Yep, that's it. You know what the treatment is? Ice and Ibuprofen. The real Jesus resurrected from the dead, but the baby Jesus sits out two months with a backache. Maybe it's time for a new nickname. All I know is if Wendell the black running back can keep playing with a busted up knee after a simple shot of the Bud Kilmer juice, Mauer has no excuse for missing months upon months of baseball. Can't he just DH?
- Speaking of injuries, it looks like Ty Lawson is the latest one to pull the Tiger Woods aka the Michael Jordan, and overplay his injury/illness when things aren't going well only to be miraculously cured if things go his way. One of the lead stories on ESPN right now is that Lawson will play for the Heels on Friday against Gonzaga. Really? Well I'd god damned hope so. He just played 31 minutes on Saturday in a win against LSU, and although there was a shot of him on the sidelines with his shoe off whining like he was Joe Mauer, you better believe when he was in there running around his shots were somehow miraculously falling and when he found the trampoline in the floor like they used to have in rock and jock and managed to dunk, he was jumping around celebrating like a slave who made it to the north. Old....Man.....River...(dammit I can't find the actual clip, but if you can it's hilarious). What was my point? Oh yeah, you watch on Friday. If things are going well for him and the Heels, he'll be fine. But if he's missing shots or turning it over, look out for the waterworks - just like Tiger in the US Open.
- Ok, my co-worker just called and she just arrived, so I have to go meet her in the hotel bar for a drink. While I'm gone, I want you to ponder this: "That Travis Busch, he do be hustlin'"
- Back. Some assface in the bar is a dick. I asked them to change the channel from some stupid Primetime show called "What would you do" to the NIT game, and before the bartender gets any further than the guide, dickhead guy is like, "Aw man, you're changing it? We was watching that" and yes he said was. So they don't change it. Keep in mind it's a show about how people react to situations, and yet there was no volume or subtitles. So I watch this dink the whole time I'm in bar, ignoring my co-worker but I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything - and he doesn't look at the tv the whole time. Not even once. He was too busy making googly-eyes at his boyfriend. So I missed Penn State knocking off Florida. I'm sure it was thrilling.
- I got it. The baby Tracy McGrady. That dude is hurt constantly, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere half the time it's because he's just being a whiner. Perfect for Mauer.
- Well, well, it looks like America's boyfriend who is really a douche but America is too close to see it but all America's real friends (me) can see he's a douche and no matter what we do America won't break up with him, Stephen Curry, blew it once again. This time in the prestigious NIT. The Currys lost to St. Mary's, with Curry going for 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. And once again, that's all you'll hear about. Nobody will mention the 11-27 shooting or the six turnovers, it's all about the fantasy stats. I'm not going to rehash it for the millionth time, because obviously America won't listen, but go here and scroll down to the Davidson section and re-read up on his stats versus good teams. I'll wait, it's the first entry in the WHO SUCKED section. I seriously hope he doesn't turn pro so I can watch this trainwreck of a relationship again. He'll suck against good teams and just when America is starting to question their love, he'll go off and have a huge night against Furman and it'll be first love all over again. Great guy, America, you sure can pick winners. Curry and Favre. Really top notch. You're dead to me.
- Speaking of the NIT and meltdowns, which I think is where I started that whole Curry thing but I can't remember for sure, Auburn just completely blew it against Baylor. Baylor was up like 7 with 2 minutes left, and thanks to a few three pointers and a couple of forced turnovers, they got the ball back down one with 16 seconds left because Baylor is a bunch of idiots who refused to make the NCAA tournament despite having the talent to win the whole thing. So they get fouled, need one to tie and two to take the lead with 9 seconds left. Miss both. Lose.
- I want to quick mention a book I'm highly recommending, When March went Mad by Seth Davis of CBS and SI fame. The good people over at Press Box Publicity were kind enough to send me an early review copy of the book, and in all seriousness I loved it. I finished it up on the way to Chicago, and plan to have a review next week. It chronicles the 1978-1979 college basketball season following Magic Johnson and the Spartans and Larry Bird and Indiana State, climaxing with their championship matchup that changed college basketball. It also does a great job of following the peripheral players and coaches as well. If you liked the John Feinstein college basketball books (Season on the Brink, The Last Amateurs, a March to Madness) or like basketball in general, pick it up. Full review coming next week.
- - Oh crap, here's something awesome. I just saw that America's boyfriends little brother, Seth Curry, is transferring from Liberty. I don't know why, and nobody knows where yet, but I can only hope he goes to a big school so he can be exposed for the fraud that his whole family (except Dell) is. Seth led all freshmen this year by averaging 20.2 points per game, but I'd assume it's because Dell taught his kids to just shoot constantly - hopefully none of them is a crip or a blood. I did check the stats just to be sure, and he shot 42% from the floor and 35% from three with a 1-1 Assist/Turnover ratio, so it's pretty much more of the same. Plus, does anybody really like anybody named Seth? I mean, really?
- I think that's pretty much it for tonight. Hasta Manana.
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