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Not just his length, but his thickness inside. I think he's really valuable against Kansas and Kentucky, who have big physical centers that can overpower smaller guys - and they are 2 of the teams Syracuse may have to beat to win it all.
If that's true, things aren't going to end well for either of these two parties. The NBA destroyed the T-Wolves when they did that.
What proof did the NBA come up with? I'd think it's a pretty hard thing to prove.
I don't know how they finally did prove it with the T-Wolves, but they took 5 1st rounders from them. That pretty much ended any chance the Wolves had of contending with Garnett.
Good old wikipedia.
Sounds like it was not an under-the-table ahead-of-time deal, just an under-the-table benefit-at-a-later-date deal.
Joe Smith: The Wolves put it in writing. Conversely, the Suns weren't punished for signing Danny Manning, nor the Magic with Horace Grant.
Purdue is the only reasonable competition. And with Hummel out, I doubt they would give it to them.
Really though, I was mostly encouraged. Johnson shot the ball really well, he looked like the Wes Johnson prehand injury. He was only shooting 20% from the field after he was undercut and landed on his hand (55% pre injury). If Johnson plays like that, I think they will be fine.
The 20+ turnovers, but not just any turnovers, turnovers which let Georgetown get a ton of easy buckets. Georgetown might not score 90+ again in the Big East under Thompson the lesser.
Of course, this is all if Arinze comes back. If he is out, it totally changes everything, because Syracuse just isn't deep beyond their top 7.
Funny thing about the Big East Tournament, Georgetown is probably a 4 seed in the country, and an 8 seed in the Big East. Only in the Big East will a team play a 4 seed in the quarterfinals. Kansas and Duke are going to play teams which aren't even going to make the NIT. Big East is brutal.
And how about Georgetown? If we can knock off Marquette tomorrow and WV in the title game, that would be 4 straight avenged losses.
Too bad you won't get to face Old Dominion.
If by brutal you mean larger. I've watched plenty of Big East basketball this year and I don't think it's better than the Big 12. The RPI type stuff agrees with this.
I admire your blind optimism.
Also, Evan Turner! Well then.
Scored 100 against Nova this year.
They're not that bad! Didn't the win some conference? Ok, there's no good excuse, I know. Rutgers got away too.
Seems more likely that both sides know that they will be there for one another if/when NY doesn't get two of the big 3.
That was incredible. I loved how he held his follow through on a 38 footer.
Dave Del Grande, CBS Sports, on Tyreke Evans as the 4th pick: D. "Francisco Garcia, Quincy Douby, Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson the last four years ... Addition of Memphis tweener one for the thumb -- a thumb's down."
DDG on Omri Casspi: F. "Two uninspired choices put franchise in pole position in race for No. 1 pick next June ... Perhaps hoping point guard of future -- Patty Mills from nearby St. Mary's College -- slips to second round."
DDG on Ricky Rubio: A. "Franchise-energizer should have gone three picks higher ... Will go down as guy stolen from Wizards in Manhattan-type deal."
Sam Khan in the Houston Chronicle on Memphis: A. "Thabeet should contribute immediately on the defensive end with his size, rebounding and shot-blocking ability."
Robert Ferringo of Doc Sports on Milwaukee: "F. Is this team about to fold? They traded Richard Jefferson for absolutely nothing and then drafted a guy that was mediocre in an Italian pro league. Seriously, no idea what this team is doing and I don't think that they have a clue either."
RF on Sacramento: "C. Maybe Tyreke Evans will pan out. Maybe not. Who knows? Same goes with Mori Casspi. Who knows? I do know that they passed on some better players - they could have had Flynn and Ellington in those spots."
RF on Minnesota: "A. The Timberwolves had the best night of anyone."
Matt Steinmetz in Fanhouse on Memphis: "B-. Despite all the discussion about Thabeet, he isn't likely to be a star and he probably won't be a bust, either."
Steve Xiong of Bleacher Report on Sacramento: "C+. The first pick I really didn't like with Rubio on the board. The Kings started the legendary Beno Udrih last season and they're due for an upgrade."
One more note: a great number of draft graders loved Philly's pick of Jrue Holiday at the 17th spot. He's a very young guy and has upside, but so far he looks lost on the court to me. I don't get the love.
He's been playing well lately. I'm unconvinced that the Princeton system will work in the NBA.
David Thorpe went through the last two lotteries and discussed why the Eastern teams suck: they draft horribly. Letting Ty Lawson fall to the Nugs, Indiana and Toronto both passing on Blair, everyone letting Collison go.
Funny how injury risk Dajuan Blair has played every game this season, and safe pick Tyler Hansbrough has played ~20.
2009
Collison- W
Casspi- W
Blair- W
Jerebko- E
Thornton- E, immediately traded to W
4-1 W
2008
R. Anderson- E
C. Lee- E
G. Hill- W
Ibabka- W
Chalmers- W, traded E
3-2 E
2007
Chandler- E
Fernandez- W
Brooks- W
Landry- W
M. Gasol- W
4-1 W
2006
Rondo- W traded E
S. Brown- E
C. Smith- W
Milsap- W
Lowry- W
3-2 W
2005
D. Lee- E
Ellis- W
L. Williams- E
Jack- W
NateRob- W traded E
3-2 E
2004
Martin W
Varejao- E
Duhon- E
Ariza- E
D. West- E
4-1 E
2 things: The imbalance is tiny, and the guys are not good enough to tip the balance of power. Boston drafts well, which has helped their bench and given them resources to trade. SA gets value later in the draft, but for a lot of teams, it looks like as much of a crap shoot at that stage as skeptics say it is.
i don't think he'll ever have the late game flashes of glory that lawson seems capable of happen, but great D, good perimeter shooting, and solid playmaking seems well within grasp.
i'm quite happy with his growth to this point.
****
Here's a reprise of a college post I made many pages ago, ranting about my favorite college team's (Georgia Tech) inability to deal with the press in a game where they almost blew a big lead at game's end. This time, it was to open their 2nd half v. Maryland today. They entered the half up by 16, then:
turnover*, turnover*, turnover, turnover*, shot free throws, turnover, basket, [called timeout - need to get back to what we do best], turnover, turnover*, shot free throws, turnover*, turnover, turnover*, turnover. [* indicates turnover was during the first 10 seconds of the possession.]
Six and a half minutes into the half, the lead had been cut to two.
The Jackets won anyway, but ... they're capable of 'anti-runs' like no team I ever seen.
http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=988
I noticed he mentioned Walton, as I have a bunch of times. I didn't see the game last night, but they appear to have had balanced scoring. I think the problem is as much aging/mileage/physical nicks/Fisher as it is ball movement, though. As I noted, and as a guy writing in the Wall Street Journal of all places, noted, when Bryant was out, the D improved quite a bit and except for one game, the O really didn't, at least statistically.
As far as Finley, don't know. I will try to watch the game tomorrow. I am not a believer, in general, in "statement games" until the playoffs, when the "statement" is "We have just eliminated you" but I do think the Celtics need to show up as strong as they can tomorrow to see what they have left. The "boredom" line--which the Lakers have used sometimes as well when they don't play well--should not apply against the Cavs on the road this late in the year.
I watched the Tech - UMD game at a friend's house. I don't know Tech and haven't followed them, but I've never before seen a DI team less prepared to handle a press than they were. I place the blame on the coach. Their incapacity to inbound the ball was amazing. At times, they didn't even move away from the defender towards teh ball. They blew that 16 point lead in about 7 and 1/2 minutes. (Oh yeah, you wrote that - didn't see it at first.)
If they're granted another game, you should check out a Wake game.*
* Wake should not get a bid. Everyone says they will but, damn, are they ever not prepared for a NCAA game.
Va. Tech
Minn
Miss St.
Illinois
Florida
Seton Hall
Arizona St.
Memphis
Seton Hall
I would take the first three I listed, provided the Gophers give Buckeyes a push tomorrow.
bunyon, I've seen Wake. I don't think they're as good as Tech, but that's more of a talent issue (not that you don't have other problems too). The ways in which we underachieve - well, don't get me started, I could cite all day. (Part of it is our weird practice regimen.)
I dunno. Am I alone in thinking that SU does a pretty good job with these as well for a top D1 team?
i'd like to see illinois, mississippi state, and minnesota get bids. from my point of view, i'd like to get another opportunity to see mccamey play against quality competition. along the same lines, i'd like to see two of the best defensive prospects in the country play in damian johnson and jarvis varnado.
That is a no-Hummel problem. I've said numerous times here that our offense runs through him. He's our best shooter, our smartest player, one of the best passers, one of the best ball handlers. So when people scoff and say he's overrated or not as good as Purdue fans make him out to be, here's your proof about how good he is.
Catching LA isn't impossible, but the 2nd seed is important - they seem to match up better w/ the Lakers then the Mavs.
It means they would have Game 7 against Dallas at home, which does matter. The Mavericks certainly know to end a losing streak. There were two "huh?" scores this week:
Memphis 111 Boston 91 in Boston
New York 128 Dallas 94 in Dallas
Not sure what this means--if it means the Nuggets match up better with the Lakers than the Mavs match up with the Lakers, I disagree.
I have worked quite a bit at San Diego State over the years, spent a lot of time there, and it is cool they made the tournament. But that school will never be a hoops school and SD will never be a hoops town. Steve Fisher--or someone working for him--can sure as hell recruit, though. Go Aztecs.
If they're granted another game, you should check out a Wake game.*
The Wake/Kentucky regional final when Duncan was there was a clinic on how to get completely destroyed by the press. They're not nealry as bad now.
* Wake should not get a bid. Everyone says they will but, damn, are they ever not prepared for a NCAA game.
They probably did enough earlier in the season to get a bid but yeah, their recent postseason history, and the end of the last two regular seasons, is about as bad as it gets. If there's a coach in the country that accomplishes less with more than Gaudio does, i don't even want to know about him.
12.
It easily is, I don't even like Jackson. But they play very well off each other.
Wow - imagine how good they'll be when they actually deign to talk about the game they're paid to broadcast!
Also, I think something might be wrong w/ that randomizer. (8854)
This is my favorite team as well. My 3 favorite NBA announcers of all time: Marv, JVG, and Bill Walton.
Did anyone else catch Winning Time? Thoughts?
Also, I think something might be wrong w/ that randomizer. (8854)
I'm not sure if there's a huge conspiracy, I just think the Selection Committee doesn't respect the mid-majors. I can't believe Minnesota made it, and people are whining that Illinois, VT, and Mississippi St didn't. They are all very very mediocre teams. I'm sure there's a mid-major that's just as mediocre or better out there.
This is why I laugh when mid-major coaches want the 96 team field. They actually are deluded enough to think it'll help. It won't. It'll just enable 10 Big East schools, 6-7 Big Ten, SEC, and ACC schools, and 5-6 Pac-10 schools. The Selection Committee will just load the tourney up with very average-at-best BCS schools.
It's tough to make that argument though this year, what with New Mexico getting a 3-seed and Butler a 5-seed. I think the committee's just not very good at comparing teams and seeding them accurately. I think the total immersion in the process on the final weekend might be a reason for that. It's needn't be as exhausting to be exhaustive.
Wow, two teams. I think they smash as many of them as possible between 7-12, and try and have them knock each off early. The last thing the NCAA wants is a Sweet Sixteen with 4+ mid-majors.
As 30 for 30's go, I still think the USFL one and The U stand head and shoulders above the rest. I'm excited to see more boxing docs, because I think the material is great.
If they both seriously underseed and overseed a certain classification of teams I think it speaks more to incompetence than to an agenda.
This is a disturbing trend. Simmons is getting on the horse that the league needs to go back to this. I've also heard this from some of my friends. I find that to be horrifying. The league was unwatchable for about 3 years, and not entertaining for about 5 more. The league needs to stay up-tempo and keep the junk out of the game. The fights are fun to watch on replay, but 80 point NBA games suck.
I still think the USFL one and The U stand head and shoulders above the rest. I'm excited to see more boxing docs, because I think the material is great.
I thought The U was boring. It didn't need to be 2 hours. 90 minutes could've been easily done. I liked the USFL one a lot, and the Ali one was interesting. They've all entertained, some are better than others, though.
This was actually my favorite part.
This could be a dumb question, but how/where did he get footage/audio of Spike's sideline antics? Were cameras at the time focused on Spike to that degree?
Regarding the tournament -- anyone have a scouting report on Washington? Pomeroy has Marquette v Washington being one of the best first round match-ups (Marquette a one-point favorite). He also has the winner of hat game being a pretty big favorite to beat New Mexico.
I've watched about half of UW's games this year. They are terrible in the half court, and have no discernible offense. They have lots of long, quick, athletic defenders that try to force turnovers and get out on the fast break. When they can do it, they're very tough and can go on some serious runs. They have played much better lately, as they had a terrible mental block about playing on the road earlier in the season, but seem to have leveled off somewhat by now. Bryan-Amaning will be able to get position inside and will probably get a fair number of offensive boards, but he has hands of stone. Pondexter is the star, and he has developed a solid dribble-drive game for a bigger guy, and shoots well from mid-range. The offense works best when they pin him down on the wing and iso- a lot like the Nuggets do with Melo. Thomas is a solid slasher, but he falls in love with the long jumper, and he really can't shoot it. When he gets to the rim, he draws fouls, and he is a useful creator, but one of the problems that makes the half-court offense so stagnant is that he just dribbles around 35 feet from the basket for 8 seconds on every possession. There are some other complementary pieces- Overton is a pesky on-ball defender, Holliday is athletic but inconsistent, Gant sucks, Gaddy has potential but hasn't figured out how to play with this group yet. I don't know enough about Marquette to anticipate matchups with much confidence, but I think Washington will make it tough with their defense, but Marquette will take enough care of the ball to prevent run outs. It will depend mostly on whether Thomas gets hot (unlikely) or QPon asserts himself (more likely, especially considering the matchups). FWIW, I picked UW and have them going to the sweet 16, not because I think they're great, but because I think the other teams in the bracket are not great.
as for winning time, i absolutely love reggie miller, and i was cracking up the whole time. i really found it hilarious how spike lee kept all the backpages, and had them framed at his house.
i don't think the league's offensive levels will ever sink that far, unless the NBA pulls a nascar, and moves the 3 pt. arc back 5 feet, rescinds the handchecking rule, and goes to an NCAA style 1+1 for FTs past the 5th foul.
Why do you think Butler and New Mexico were overseeded?
Also, I'm pretty annoyed at some of the matchups. I always enjoy the mid-majors playing big time schools - this year we have 4 games of midmajors playing each other in the first round:
UNLV vs. UNI
Butler vs. UTEP (who is seeded too low)
Temple vs. Cornell (who is seeded too low)
Richmond vs. St. Mary's
Seems too high to me, although I am skeptical of any conspiracy.
Nothing irrational about that. He's an extremely hatable creature, and I continue to hate his broadcasting as much as I hated his playing.
Look at 2001. 4 teams averaged over 100 per game, with the highest getting 101.7. Defense goes up in the playoffs, there were numerous games in the finals where the loser didn't get to 90. Hell, any Spurs playoff game from about 98-04 were just horrible.
NBA teams should be scoring in the 100s
They had Duncan and Robinson on defense. NBA teams should *not* be scoring in the 100s against them.
UNI is seeded too low
New Mexico's 47th in the nation in adjusted efficiency largely because nine of their fifteen MWC wins were by single digits. Watching them play, they appear a poor defensive team and they typically have a larger than normal home-court advantage (which is to their credit on the one hand but should have some impact on their seeding on the other). There's little difference between them and BYU. Both are seeded about two lines off in my opinion.
Butler was not especially successful in their non-conference slate though they had some bad luck w/r/t resume-building between UCLA imploding and playing Ohio State when Evan Turner was hurt. Matt Howard had a disappointing year by his standards and they aren't as good offensively as the really good Butler teams of 2007 and 2008. They're seeded on reputation. I don't think there's any real difference between them and Utah State on paper or on the court.
New Mexico has a good record and is 3-0 against the top 25 in Sagarin's ratings (including sweeping BYU). It looks like they're also a team where their RPI would be very high (as it doesn't factor in margin of victory).
I'm pretty sanguine about rewarding teams who win, regardless of margin of victory, given the small sample size and wide variety of schedules in college basketball but even had Utah State won the WAC tourney and brought an 18-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament they wouldn't have been given a five-seed even though they play in a slightly tougher conference.
New Mexico has a good record and is 3-0 against the top 25 in Sagarin's ratings (including sweeping BYU). It looks like they're also a team where their RPI would be very high (as it doesn't factor in margin of victory).
Honestly, I don't have much of a dog in this fight but I think Butler and UNM are seeded in a way consistent with how the tournament normally seeds - the actual wins and the RPI seem to matter a lot, and if you're ranked high in the human polls it seems like there's a floor as far as where you will be put.
I guess you can argue that New Mexico may be overseeded in that it isn't one of the 12 best teams - which may very well be true. But they probably have won of the 12 best resumes imo and it sounds like the committee tries to make seeding a reward for the season.
marquette is overrated, but the pac 10 sucks.
Overrated as in overseeded? I'd agree with that -- I was pretty shocked with the six seed, but I think that had as much to do with the fact that (a) there was a certain 7-10 match-up that Marquette couldn't be in because it's in Milwaukee, and (b) Marquette couldn't play a Big East team in round two (Syracuse, Villanova or West Virginia).
If you're saying overrated in a more general sense, I'm not sure what you mean. Pomeroy has them as the 28th best team in the nation, so they're not criminally overseeded at a six. They acquitted themselves quite well in Big East play, and only lost one game by double digits.
Who do you guys think will win the South? That strikes me as a very weak bracket.
It's obvious that the NCAA and CBS want Duke to win it. I think Nova, just because Duke fades down the stretch.
And I have no problem with giving mid-majors the benefit of the doubt in that respect, but the committee was very inconsistent in its treatment of the mid-majors.
If I really want to get worked up, I'd think about Notre Dame getting a 6-seed despite...
Playing no non-conference road games.
Home loss to Loyola Marymount.
Split neutral site games against Northwestern and St Louis.
Only went 10-8 in Big East despite not having to play any of Syracuse, W Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, or Marquette more than once.
The best thing for mid-majors (and the tournament in general) would be an NCAA mandate for true round-robin regular seasons in every conference.
1. Cousins, UK
2. Eglseder, UNI
3. Samhan, SMC
4. Faried, MORE
5. Turner, OSU
6. Blakely, UVM
7. Fredette, BYU
8. Harangody, ND
9. Parakhouski, RAD
10. Dahlman, WOF
Added: Hollinger admits that small-conference players may get a boost since there is no compensation for level of competition.
They have some pretty awful matchups. Udoh will tear them apart if they play Baylor. If St Mary's wins, Samhan could also go off. A shot blocking big with some decent offensive moves is pretty much the worst thing for them.
But yeah, that bracket sucks big-time. Duke may win by default of being the only good team. The 2/3/4 teams in that region are all super suspect. Tenn is a solid 5 but there is a reasonable chance they will lose first round -- they seem to struggle in the favorite role.
EDIT: 1st paragraph is about Nova, not Duke (in case that was unclear)
I just have trouble picking a team that plays that poor of D.
One of the reasons I think Duke's better this year is that Krzyzewski finally deigned to play Zoubek until he fouls out/can't stand up. He's not a great player by any stretch but he's so much better than the alternatives Duke's run out there he's had a significant positive impact.
Still, I look forward to taking Cal and the points in the second round.
Well, yeah, but they're better at it than Villanova.
Holy crap. ####, I'm sure as hell not taking us, we can't score 50 without Hummel. It'd be so awesome if it were Siena or St. Mary's.
i highly recommend searching out dwayne wade's performances for marquette in 2003.
I've been pretty busy, so I'll post more thoughts tomorrow. But like Spivey, I think I have Baylor in that region almost by default.
I'm ashamed to say, as a die-hard Knicks fan, I had no memories of this season/series. I had to Wiki it.
The Pacers beat the Knicks in the ECF to go to the Finals in 2000. Reggie had 34 in the final game of that ECF.
I was referring to the '95 Pacers who lost to Orlando in the ECF.
They have not appeared as vulnerable to the press this year as last. They don't have the kind of PG who can break a press on his own, but they do have several players who are capable ball-handlers/passers, including a few (Singler, Mason Plumlee) who are also tall, which helps. They're much more willing, and able, to attack the press than in recent years.
They do, however, remain quite vulnerable to teams that play excellent half-court defense with long, athletic defenders. (Yeah, I know: Who isn't? But Duke remains particularly ill-suited to playing such a team, which might not have been the case had they done more preparation throughout the season to run some offense through Mason Plumlee at the elbow in such situations. Duke's real weakness is that they have a coach who would rather perfect his system than develop alternative offensive sets for use against teams that are able to neutralize their approach.)
I read this somewhere earlier, but they are a little overrated in some of the stats because they had some very big blowouts, including wins by 57, 56, 44, and 43 points.
It helps that Washington's last 7 road neutral games were 6 games against the bottom 4 teams in the league, and a close game against Cal.
In fact, looking at home/road splits explain a lot about what happened to the Pac-10 regular season. (Not everything. Nothing can quite explain UCLA over Cal at Cal, or Oregon over Washington at Washington, unless you are extremely generous with injury credit.)
---------
So, how about those Nets. They only need to go 3-12 to avoid having single digits wins.
Of course, 3-12 would be a touch under twice their current winning percentage.
That's part of why I'm surprised (the Pomeroys of the world know this). So does Lunardi, who has them in the E8 (in a non-simmed framework).
Right, but that doesn't mean they aren't good. It just means their stats may be a little inflated. 3 games out of 30 isn't huge, and don't adjusted stats account for level of competition?
As for Minnesota, ummmm, oof. Did Rambis have Senor Amor guarding Nash? ;)
They always have more mature players (thanks to their religion), and Fredette is supposed to be a hell of a player.
Which lower seeds (11 and down) if any do you think have a shot to make it to the second weekend?
The only one I picked is Siena. Murray St. has a huge groundswell of support, and supposedly the numbers say that they are really really good.
I also have BYU and Ok St. beating 2 seeds. Ok St one is questionable but I like picking upsets and I would have Georgetown beating Ohio State in the next game anyways.
They have some transfers that have talent.
Several have a decent shot. Here's schools given a 19%* or better chance per one kenpom study: Washington, Utah State, Minnesota, UTEP, ODU, St. Mary's, Mizzou and Georgia Tech. Yes, I picked the endpoint selectively.
Of those, my pick would be Utah State.
Maybe?
I can dream, can't I?
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