It is amazing how deep the Big East is this year – of the 16 teams in the conference, 11 of them finished with a conference record of at least .500, 10 teams had 20 wins, 7 teams were ranked as of last week (including 2 in the top 5) and they will probably send somewhere between 10 and 12 teams to the NCAA tournament.
I don’t think you will ever see a post season tournament quite like this year’s Big East bash in NYC:
The first round games involved a #9 seed (UCONN) that is currently ranked #19 in the nation (and in the quarter finals), a #10 seed (Villanova) that was ranked in the top 10 in the nation just a few weeks ago (but got bounced by the second worst team in the conference) and a #11 seed (Marquette) that is ranked just outside the top 25 (and also in the quarter finals after dumping the #6 seed).
Could this be the best season that a single conference has ever collectively had? I can’t think of a better one.
UW Washington guard Venoy Overton has been suspended for the duration of the Pac-10 tournament as a result of criminal charges:
The gross-misdemeanor charge against Overton stems from a Jan. 8 incident in which Seattle police say he met with two 16-year-old girls and took them to his sister’s apartment in South Seattle. A police report says Overton, 22, furnished the girls with alcohol and engaged in sex acts with both.
Doesn’t the “Pac-10” tournament seem just a little too convenient? It may only be one game if the Huskies lose to the Cougars in the first round. The Huskies currently are slated in the NCAA tournament as about a 9-seed. If they lose tomorrow to the Cougars it probably drops them to about a 10-seed. If the Huskies were to somehow get past (hypothetically) the WSU game, then UCLA, then Arizona… they’d be about a 7 or an 8 seed.
What difference does that make, really?
Huskies as a 10 seed would face UConn, West Virginia, or Georgetown.
Huskies as a 9 seed would face Texas A&M, Kansas St., Xavier, or Vanderbilt.
Huskies as a 7 or 8 seed would face somebody along the lines of Cincinnati, Villanova, Temple, UNLV, or Missouri.
That’s all about a wash.
If the Huskies had suspended Overton for say, 3 games, then it might have involved some of the NCAA tournament. The problem with that approach is that they’d be penalizing the other players for Overton’s [lack of common sense, lack of judgement, stupidity, what do you call that(?)]
The point is, anything less than a supension for the remainder of the season doesn’t really impact their chances of advancing in the NCAA tournament. The suspension the Huskies selected doesn’t really do squat.
Make of this what you will: I was in a adult beverage establishment today and I was told (by someone I believe) that Overton had been there shortly before the original charges were filed .. with two underage girls. They sat in a corner and tried to get served, but when they got carded – and the girls were found to be minors, they were all asked to leave.
I’m not entirely sure it’s appropriate to post that “rumor”, but I can say that I absolutely believe that the person who told me that story wasn’t making it up, and if I were to ask around a little more I could get other people to corroborate it.
As you know, The #3 Ranked BYU Cougars Men’s Basketball team probably cost themselves a legitimate shot at hanging around deep into the NCAA tournament when they kicked Brandon Davies off the team for having pre-marital sex with his girlfriend, which happens to be a violation of the school’s honor code. There was an article posted on ESPN that listed the rules for the honor code. They are:
BYU has had a strict policy of enforcing the honor code. This past football season, running back Harvey Unga was suspended for a violation of the honor code. The BYU honor code statement, from the BYU undergraduate handbook, consists of:
• Be honest
• Live a chaste and virtuous life
• Obey the law and all campus policies
• Use clean language
• Respect others
• Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee and substance abuse
• Participate regularly in church services
• Observe the Dress and Grooming Standards
• Encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code
My question – how the hell did Jim McMahon manage to not get himself kicked out of BYU? You can’t tell me that he didn’t violate at least one of these in his time in Salt Lake City. If he managed to remain in compliance, I bet he went on one epic bender after his BYU football career was done.
The WSU Men’s Basketball team defeated UW last night, 80-69. WSU led by as much as 21 before the Huskies pulled to within 6 points with 4:04 to go. Had the Cougars played with better fundamentals late in the second half the score would have never would have gotten that close.
I think the Cougars may have “exposed” the Huskies somewhat.
UW’s 6’3″ guard Abdul Gaddy is out for the year with an ACL injury, suffered in early January. He had been playing 23 minutes per night, averaging 8.5 points and 3.8 assists.
Last night the Huskies distributed the guard minutes as follows: 5’9″ Isaiah Thomas, 35 minutes; 6’0″ Venoy Overton, 26 minutes; 6’5″ C.J. Wilcox, 19 minutes; 6’6″ Terrence Ross, 13 minutes. The two tall guards are both freshmen — they combined to go 1 of 11 from the floor. As for the short guards: 5’9″ and 6’0″ are both generous height estimates. I’d guess they’re really closer to 5’7″ and 5’10”.
The Huskies have been successful this season using their small guards to penetrate and either dish or score.
Here’s the Huskies Achillies Heel:
The Cougar guards measured 6’1″, 6’4″, 6’4″, and 6’6″.
A 2-3 Zone.
The Cougars played a 2-3 zone defense, packing their defenders into the paint. Their guards played an extra half-step off of UW’s quick little guards. This made it very difficult for the UW guards to penetrate, and if they attempted a 3-pointer the Cougs were able to use their relative size advantage to challenge the perimeter shots. The Huskies went 1-13 on 3-pointers in the first half — they didn’t shoot well from anywhere all night: 8-27 from 3, 15-24 from the line, and 33% overall from the floor.
If history repeats itself in the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies are going home.
Joe Posnanski hits the essence of the Carmelo Anthony trade on the head:
Many people are asking whether the Knicks made a good trade for Carmelo Anthony. It’s an interesting question, but I think there’s a related question that’s more interesting. I don’t think it matters too much what good players the Knicks gave up for Anthony. I think only one thing matters, and it is this:
Is Carmelo Anthony a franchise player?
….And so we come back to the question that interests me: Is Carmelo Anthony an all-time great player, the kind of player who could lead a team to a championship, be their best player, be their star? If he is that kind of player, then it doesn’t really matter what the Knicks gave up for him, because he was worth it. If he’s not that kind of player, then it doesn’t really matter what the Knicks gave up for him, because the Knicks are likely to get stuck in a cycle that will make it very unlikely for them to win a championship anytime soon…
I’m very firmly of the opinion that Carmelo is not “The Man”. I started to write a post about how Carmelo = Allen Iverson.. a very very good (and overrated) player who wasn’t quite good enough to get the 76ers a championship.
Bob McAdoo
Then I was listening to Mike and Mike a couple of days ago. They brought up an interesting stat: there have only been two players traded during a season while having a higher scoring average than Carmelo- Wilt Chamberlain and Bob McAdoo. I was thinking “Wow, McAdoo is another excellent comp.” McAdoo was a great, physical scorer who played somewhat indifferent defense. McAdoo eventually won championships as the 6th man for the Showtime Lakers, but prior to that his career was kind of a disappointment due to a lack of having “won the big one.”
The third player I’m inclined to compare Carmelo to, and this is damning him with faint praise, is Antoine Walker. Antoine Walker wasn’t as good as Carmelo, though his reputation was similar. They both dribble too much, neither is(was) much of a rebounder or really much interested in sharing the ball or playing defense.
The fourth comp, and the first one I thought of, is Patrick Ewing. Great player, just not quite great enough.
What it comes down to is that Carmelo has one outstanding skill. He’s pretty mediocre at everything else. Both he and Amare are basically one-dimensional scorers.
I was watching the Orlando-Boston game before the Super Bowl this past weekend. Dwight Howard got the ball on the low block and put together a series of spin moves and scored.
My reaction: “That’s the Dream Shake!”
Hakeem Olajuwon has been working with big men since 2006, including Kobe Bryant, Rashard Lewis, Yao Ming, and Dwight Howard. Check out #1 on the highlight reel for a great example of the “Dream Shake.”
I thought two things are interesting from Hakeem’s wikipedia entry:
If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It’s not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don’t realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him.
—Michael Jordan
And
More recently he has been working with Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, helping him diversify his post moves and encouraging more mental focus.
I thought that was interesting… “more mental focus.” That sums up Howard’s main weakness pretty well — he doesn’t always appear to be thinking when he’s on the court. (That, and his offensive repertoire has been limited to dunks.)
LeBron James put up a 32 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist line on the Knicks a couple of nights ago. That got me thinking – who’s had the most games with a triple-double and 30 or more points?
My initial thought was “Bird”, reasoning that Magic didn’t score enough to be #1.
Oscar Robertson was the last player to average a triple-double over the course of a season. In his career he had more 30 point triple-doubles than the next five guys combined.
The UConn women’s basketball team defeated Ohio State today, 81-50. The win gives UConn their 88 straight win, tying them with the 1971-1974 UCLA Bruins.
Some may say women’s basketball doesn’t compare to men’s basketball.
It does — it compares to men’s basketball — of 40 years ago.
Some impressions of two games I watched on Saturday:
UNC-Kentucky: Kentucky entered the game ranked 10th. UNC entered the game unranked due to three (close) early season losses. I don’t really see a dimes worth of difference between them. Both teams feature young players that will be playing in the NBA soon — at times there were as many as about seven NBA guys on the court at once. UNC has more overall depth, especially in the frontcourt. Kentucky has the better guardplay, and their guards should improve between now and the NCAA tournament. (This can’t be said of UNC’s guards — they’re both combo guards who are miscast when playing the point. Neither has good court vision, and neither is very good at creating for other players. I don’t think UNC’s guards will experience any real improvement between now and tournament time.)
Two Players Who Caught My Attention: Kentucky freshman guard Doron Lamb and UNC’s 6’10” sophmore forward John Henson. UNC’s freshman Harrison Barnes was a preseason AP All-American. As of right now he’s shooting 33.8% for the season, and you can see why — too many forced shots. If he gets it together, look out, but I don’t see it yet.
Demetri McCamey
Gonzaga-Illinios at the Key:
Many thanks to the veteran usher who took mercy on us at the Battle in Seattle. The Gonzaga-Illinios game was (predictably) a blowout. We were sitting in relatively inexpensive seats, and our row contained three infants on the laps of parents. (I’m not making that up!) Naturally, this turned into a Chinese Fire Drill of people getting up to use the “facilities.” We vacated our seats to sit somewhere further back, and the young parents didn’t hesitate to wave over a female friend of theirs, who was carrying a fourth(!) infant. (She had a baby in one hand and was texting with the other — I didn’t see a lot of basketball watching happening from any of the parents.) Here’s a tip folks: Next time, hire a sitter.
In any event, kudos to the usher who moved us away from the bedlam and into good seats where we could actually *watch* the game. He took what had been a crappy situation and turned it into a positive experience.
As for the game, Illinios had the two best players on the floor in senior point guard Demetri McCamey and senior center Mike Tisdale. They look like an Elite Eight team to me. (You could argue that Illinois had something like 5 or 6 of the best 7 players in the building.) Gonzaga doesn’t have their usual Big White Scorer (Boldin, Dickau, Morrison, etc) this year. Elias Harris will be an NBA guy, but the rest of the team lacks the ability to consistently get and execute good shots.
Illinois entered the game ranked 21st. Gonzaga was ranked 24th. The final score was 73-61 Illinios, and for most of the second half it wasn’t that close.
Predictions on end-of-season ranks and tournament performance:
Kentucky: 9th. (Sweet 16, due to lack of depth.)
UNC: 11th. (Elite 8.)
Illinois: 15th. (Elite 8. In March, I’m going to like Illinois more than everyone else does, unless everyone likes them by then.)
Gonzaga: 24th-30th. A couple of league losses would knock Gonzaga out of the top 25, and it’s possible they’ll miss the NCAA tournament. Best case is that they make the tournament and survive a round or two.
The ESPN experts all pick the Seahawks to finish 3rd in the NFC West. This John Clayton quote is typical of the overall opinions:
DIVISION FINISH: 3 Pete Carroll isn’t loaded with talent as he was as the USC head coach, but he has a nice plan to rebuild the Seahawks. As long as Matt Hasselbeck stays healthy, Carroll could squeeze out seven or eight wins.
Hasselbeck won’t be in Seattle the next time the Seahawks are competitive. Charlie Whitehurst seems to have the “correct” size, arm, high release, and mobility to be at least an adequate replacement when the time comes. My concern with Whitehurst (from what little I’ve seen) is that his throws “sail” when he loses his release point. Jeff Kemp had the same issue when he was with Seattle, and that didn’t turn out well.
Charlie Whitehurst: Looking the part of "The Quarterback."
What makes the Seahawks a .500 team? For reference, Scouts.inc grades NFL players on a 1 to 100 scale. A grade of 90 or above is considered “Elite”; 80-89 is “Outstanding”, and 75-79 is a “Solid Starter.”
The five highest rated Seahawks:
Lofa Tatupu – 79
T.J. Houshmandzadeh – 79
Aaron Curry – 78
Brandon Mebane – 78
Marcus Trufant – 78
And those are the studs.
Bill Simmons ranks the Seahawks QBs 28th out of the 32-team league.
FlatbreadGarden 