Live by the 3, Die by the 3

Fifty-nine. That's the number of three-pointers Villanova and Temple shot in their games combined last night. The Wildcats made 10 of their 24 three-point attempts, pulling away from Notre Dame in the second half to cruise to a 90-72 victory. A win that improved Nova to 19-1 on the year, the school's best start ever, and kept them unblemished in Big East play … all with the No. 1 ranking in their sights. The Owls made just 11 of their astounding 35 three-point attempts. And it was most definitely their downfall in a 74-64 loss at Charlotte that dropped Temple into a three-way tie atop the A-10 with the 49ers and Xavier.



As far as Nova goes, it was just more of the same. Despite early foul trouble for just about everyone, the Wildcats were still able to maintain a 41-40 lead heading in to halftime. Luke Harangody was getting his in his typically ugly fashion, but it was evident the Irish had absolutely no shot at containing Nova's quick guards and attack philosophy. In the second half, Antonio Pena set the tone by going right at the big oaf and just killing him. I mean killing him, killing him. Pena finished the game with 14 points on 5-8 shooting, nabbed 10 boards and dished out three assists, doing most of his damage in the second half. Harangody was a very efficient 8-14 for his 21 points and he did get 9 boards, but the big guy struggled at the line, missing four of his nine free throws, and turned the ball over four times. I'll take a 14-10 with no turnovers from Pena over a 21-9 with four turnovers from an ugly white dude any day of the week. Basically, Pena nullified Notre Dame's biggest strength.



And beyond Harangody, the Irish have no one that can really hang with the most talented collection of guards in the nation. Sure, Tim Abromaitis has a nice game, but he couldn't do shit against Nova's smaller, quicker players. He shot just 3-13 from the field and guarded pretty much no one. Ben Hansbrough showed just how ridiculously unathletic he is by fouling out with 13 minutes left in the game because he couldn't stay in front of anyone on Nova.

The Villanova guards did the rest. Scottie Reynolds continued his march to Big East Player of the Year, scoring 17 points and swiping three steals despite just 23 minutes on the court thanks to early foul trouble and a late blowout. Corey Fisher had perhaps his most efficient game of his college career, tying Reynolds for the team lead in points while taking just seven shots. Corey went 5-7 from the field, 2-3 from three and 5-5 from the line, added two boards, 6 assists and nabbed a steal. He was about 8,000 times more athletic than anyone Notre Dame sent out on the court. Maalik Wayns simply did what he's done all season, which is prove he's the real deal, highlighted by the play of the night, a ridiculous bullet pass as he got in the lane on a drive and dished to Pena, who finished it off with a slam and the foul. Reggie Redding did a little of everything, and nine of the 11 Wildcats who played scored at least 2 points, while seven of them hit at least one three. Seriously, No. 1 in right in this team's sights.

Temple, on the other hand, wasn't able to sustain the play that got the Owls in the top 15. They did manage to take a 32-28 lead into half behind some deadly three-point shooting by Ryan Brooks, and the Owls did have some success early in the second half from beyond the arc, as Luis Guzman nailled three, Scootie Randall hit a pair and Brooks finished with five in all, but it was a pace Temple could not sustain. Juan Fernandez went scoreless in the first half and finished with just three points on 1-5 from the floor. He was completely taken out of the game. LaVoy Allen struggled with foul problems, and while he was on the bench, Temple completely abandoned their inside game, instead opting to launch three after three after three. It was a dubious decision to say the least.



Brooks was on fire in the first half, but then cooled to hit just 1 of his last 7 threes. Fernandez was just 1-4 from beyond. Ramone Moore was 0-2. T.J. DiLeo 0-1. Craig Williams 0-5. The shots stopped falling, but Temple kept firing them up. Meanwhile, the 49ers were owning the paint. Derrio Green was the lone outside threat, and he had himself a great game, scoring a game-high 26 points on 9-15 shooting, 4-9 from three all while dishing out 5 assists and nabbing two steals. But it was inside where Charlotte did most of its damage. Shamari Spears had 11 points, Chris Braswell had 15 and the 49ers felt no resistance inside. Allen was saddled on the bench for too much of the game, so there was no one on the offensive end to make Charlotte's bigs work. As a result, Temple lived by the three early, and died by the three late.

It was a tough game in a tough place to play against a good conference opponent, but it was a game that a team in the top 15 should have found a way to win. For a long while, Temple was fighting through the foul trouble and the lack of production by Fernandez, but in the end it wasn't enough. This Temple team is very tough and very good. But they can't really expect to beat the better teams, or even tough conference opponents, without big contributions from all of their best players: Ryan Brooks, LaVoy Allen and Juan Fernandez. Last night, only Brooks showed up, and Temple lost. The Owls will need Allen and Fernandez at their best if they hope to stay ranked by the end of the season and attempt to win the A-10.

And it would probably be a good idea not to jack up 35 threes as well.

By the way, Charlotte has a guy whose name is Wilderness. I'm not making that up.

'I Want to Ride Sammy All Game'

It's funny how a simple comment like the one in the headline, which was uttered at the Sixers game last night, can revert me back to a 13-year-old, laughing hysterically as if it is the funniest thing I've ever heard.



Quite a gas indeed. Anyway, onto the game. Now, I'm not sure what the attendance was last night, but considering the Sixers were playing the team that they very well could play in the first round of the playoffs, it's sad to see that very few fans seem to care. The building certainly wasn't full, but I will say that the crowd was into it, which was nice to see. Well, most of the crowd. The guy sitting in front of us did scold Joltin Joe for putting his foot on his friend's arm rest when his friend got up to go to the concourse. That was weird.

The thing is, for all the people in this city who are down on the NBA and the Sixers in particular, they missed a golden opportunity to witness an incredible individual performance by Josh Smith, who rode Sammy his own way:





Smith, the guy I wanted over Brand, put on an incredible offensive performance, scoring a game-high 33 points. He missed just two shots on the night, going 13-15 from the field, 3-3 from three and 4-4 from the line. Oh, and he chipped in 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks for good measure.

There isn't a more athletically gifted player I've seen than Smith, and he's easily one of my favorite players in the NBA. The best part about his 33-point performance though, besides his facial of Sammy, was that the Sixers still won, 98-85. The worst part was Thaddeus Young having to be carried off the floor by Marreese Speights and Theo Ratliff in the first quarter.



We were sitting behind the opposite basket, so I missed what happened to Thad, but at first glance, it looked like he was in big trouble. I was relieved to find out his X-rays were negative, but I don't expect the Sixers' rising star to be back until the playoffs, which sucks bit time.

Even without Thad, who I think has been the best Sixer of late, the Sixers were able to top the 4th-seeded Hawks in impressive fashion. Four Sixers scored at least 15 points, led by Andre Iguodala's 19, along with Andre Miller (18), Speights (16) and Willie Green (15), proving once again just how balanced this team is in the scoring department.

And just as impressive, every player who took the court scored at least one bucket. Reggie Evans had a particularly strong game, scoring 8, Sammy and Thad each had 6, Lou Will and Theo each had 4, and Royal added a deuce. And per usual, the Sixers were led by the Andres. Of course Iguodala had a team-high 19, not to mention 8 assists, 2 steals and 3 rebounds, but he also played tremendous defense, limiting Joe Johnson to just 11 points on 3-9 shooting.



Of course, it was Miller who was running the show, evident by his 10 assists to compliment his 18 points. As Joltin Joe said last night, no matter how much announcers and analysts like to tell us that Kevin Love throws the most incredible outlet passes, there's no doubt that Andre Miller is the best in the business when it comes to outletting his teammates in transition. He threw a full-court outlet, immediately off a rebound, without setting his feet or even gathering his balance, right on the money. It was a thing of beauty. No disrespect to Love, but he can't hold a candle to Miller's outlet passing skills.

It was a good win to bring the Sixers back within a half game of Miami for that 5th spot, and a step closer to taking on Atlanta in the first round. Let's hope they can get there. More importantly, let's hope Thad can recover in time and suffer no ill effects from the dreaded sprained ankle.

After the game, I eagerly headed back home to catch the Penn State-Notre Dame NIT semifinal game. My anticipation grew even stronger when some moron named slingshot sent me this message while I was on the el: "Did u hear what jopa just said bout bball bein a black mans game?" I missed what he said, but I heard it was pretty funny and honestly not offensive. When I walked through my front door, there was about 2 minutes left in the first half and my alma mater was destroying Notre Dame.



They took a 31-18 lead into halftime and looked poised to play Thursday against Baylor. Jamelle Cornley, clearly determined to go out a winner, was completely beasting Luke Harangody, who absolutely did not deserve to be an All-American this year, all night. Jamelle scored 15 points, grabbed 8 boards and clearly frustrated the oafy Irishman. Harangody shot a horrendous 5-16 from the field and was shut down for the majority of the game.

He did, however, managed to get 17 and 10, going off down the stretch to bring the Irish within three. A once huge lead shrunk to a one-possession game late because the Nittany Lions were doing just about everything in their power to give the game away: missing free throws, turnovers, fouling ND, giving up threes.

But they righted the ship, hit some clutch free throws and won 67-59 to play in the NIT championship game Thursday. Penn State played very well. Talor Battle did his thing, scoring 17, and Andrew Jones III had the best game I've seen him play, scoring 16 points, nabbing 15 rebounds and shooting 5-6 from the field and 6-7 from the line.



Stanley Pringle added 10 to give Penn State four players in double figures, while aside from Harangody, the Irish had no one else in double digits. It was a gutty performance that shows this team has no quit in them. Now they get to play one more time.

Update: About that JoePa quote:

During an interview, JoPa spouted about the good old days - when basketball was a Jew sport: "Everyone says it's a black mans game. When I played it was a Jewish mans game." Bill Raftery: "Yeah a city game right?"

Fantastic.

I Hate Duke and I Hate All of You … Links Edition

If you haven't gathered, I hate Duke. A lot. Like, as much as I hate Dallas, New York, Michigan, you get the idea. And when Duke is taking on a team from this area, the hatred grows even stronger. So tonight, I'm begging Villanova, Scottie Reynolds especially, to show up and play an even better game than they did against UCLA, which would ensure victory.



I want to see the same hard fouls the Wildcats bestowed on UCLA … only harder. I want Dwayne Anderson and Reggie Redding to rip Gerald Henderson's throat out. I want Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds to torch those stupid, ugly, douchey faces of Jon Scheyer and Greg Paulus.



I want Dante Cunningham to eat Brian Zoubek's and Kyle Singler's faces. And I want Nova to destroy Duke, then have the Blue Devils' plane to go down on the flight home after their loss, preferably crashing right into Cameron Indoor. I don't think that's asking for too much. Now let's link.

-Absolutely incredible Q&A with World B. Free.



K1X: What about your own quote, “passes don’t get paid”?

FREE: Uhh, I got that from Fred Carter. When I was a rookie he came to me and said, “Rook, let me tell you something: In this League, passes don’t get paid. Passes do not get paid.” And that stuck with me as soon as I stepped on the basketball court. It wasn’t my own theory, though. I got it from a veteran. There could be five guys open and he would still not pass it to you. [Laughs]

-Happy Birthday, Harry K.



Whitey is wishing you a great day from above as well. I just know it.

-David Price, minor-leaguer.

-Yes, yes, Duke losing would be sweet.

-Looks as though Lance Stephenson is heading to Kansas, via The Big Lead.



I got to see Lance Stephenson play on TV once this year, and he was amazing. Oh, and I saw him as a 15-year-old in "Gunnin' for That #1 Spot" and he was nasty back then.

-Remember the Professor? Well, here he is with an insane trick shot, that may or may not be real:



-Hilarious "interview" with Jim Calhoun and The Suave:

Yeaman
by boces

-Mike Kern has a good article on Nova.

-MJD breaks down the new NFL rules.

-Hey, tonight is Scott Hartnell wig night.



And yes, Mike Richards is absolutely a star. At the very least, he's one of the best players in hockey.

-And more from Puck Daddy: the top 10 goalies gone wild moments:



Of course Hextall made it, but check out Biron fight Ray Emery. Who knew? And that Garth Snow vs. the Sabres … could that be when Matthew Barnaby faked injury and Snow went to check on him then got jumped by Barnaby? I hope so, that was great. And shit, even Neil Little is on there. Apparently, Philadelphia has had goalies with anger issues or something.

-The McDonald's All-American festivities are just a week away.



Villanova-bound Roman Catholic senior Maalik Wayns will be playing.

-Best announcing teams never heard, and I agree with most of them. Of course, I'd have Merrill and Harry Kalas in there somewhere.

-Shoals offers up some video of Wilt:



-This is why cops get shot:

Moats was speeding towards the hospital with his wife in tow and at one point even threw his flashers on driving through a red light in an effort to make it to the hospital in time to say his final farewells and that is when he caught the attention of one Dallas police officer who finally pulled him over in the hospital parking lot. Moats' wife ran into the hospital, disregarding the officer, while Moats himself was pleading to the cop to let him go to his dying mother in law, all while being ignored. He never got to see her before she died.

-Penn State will take on Notre Dame in the NIT semis. When one blogger looks at Luke Harangody, all he sees is Officer Farva.



Yeah, he looks like he needs a liter o cola to me.

-The MVP candidates, in video form:



That is all.

Fuck Duke! Let's go Nova!

I Hate Your Face

Now, I know what you're probably thinking … that looks like a guy who rode the short bus to school. I can't argue with that. I hate Luke Harangody. Everything about him. His stupid, dumb, ogre face. His ugly, girlish flip shots. The way he shoots the ball like a spaz. I hate every last thing about Luke Harangody.

He is ugly, his game is ugly and mark my words, Luke Harangody, if he does in fact make it to the NBA, will suck horribly. Anyone see what Thabeet did to him the other day? Luke Harangody sucks. So do the Irish. And that makes me happy.

Aside from having to lay my eyes on that hideous beast, the rest of the game was pretty enjoyable, as Nova rebounded nicely from that pathetic loss to Georgetown with a going away 77-60 win at Notre Dame. And when the Wildcats really needed a nice win to avoid a losing streak to begin March, it was Scottie and a pair of seniors that did the heavy lifting.



Clearly, Jay Wright drove the point home that against Georgetown, Scottie and Dante simply did not get enough shots. That was no problem last night. From the onset, Reynolds was aggressive, and when Scottie is aggressive, he's at his best. Notre Dame just couldn't handle him on ball screens, and Scottie was filling it up from three, to the tune of 6-7 beyond the arc, scoring 23 points to lead Nova on a ridiculous 8-12 from the field.

He also had six rebounds and five assists. In short, Scottie was the best player on the floor. Better than Dante. Better than Kyle McAlarney (who sucked, 5 points on 2-7 shooting). And yes, better than Shrek Harangody. When Scottie is the best player on the floor, which he is capable of almost any time, Villanova is damn near impossible to beat. And that goes for last night.

But of course, Scottie wasn't alone. Dante, clearly frustrated with his lack of involvement against Georgetown, was not bashful either. He put up a game-high 18 shots, trailing only Reynolds on Nova with 18 points. He also nabbed eight rebounds and really gave Harangody fits the few times Luke actually guarded him.



In the match-up, Dante definitely got the better of Harangody, who made it a habit last night to throw temper tantrums every time he missed a shot, claiming he was fouled when he actually just missed … you know, because he sucks, especially on defense.

I'm not sure if people really pay attention to defense or not, but if they did, there's no way Harangody would even be mentioned as an All-American. Yes, he's an oaf who can do some damage offensively, and yes, he's a good rebounder, but damn, he can't guard worth a lick. Want proof of that? Well, pay close attention to the second half last night, when Shane Clark completely schooled Harangody routinely.



Clark, who has always been a favorite of mine, is not a guy known for his offense. He's more of an offensive rebounder/defender, which was why he was checking Harangody most of the night. But with Nova beginning to pull away, Clark followed Reynolds' and Cunningham's lead, attacking on the offensive end. He finished with 13 points on 5-7 shooting, and one particularly nice move, Clark made Harangody look even more mentally challenged than he already does (impossible, you say), getting him to bite hard on an up and under. It was beautiful.

And I have to give a lot of credit to Reggie Redding and Dwayne Anderson as well, who, as Jay Bilas poignantly pointed out, dogged McAlarney all night, preventing him from even getting shots off. It was real nice to see Nova come away with a 17-point win after playing as uninspired as they ever have last Saturday.

If they can play that way the rest of the year, Nova will be no easy out come tourney time.

Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery are Out of Control

Last night was a fantastic night for college basketball. The Maui Invitational set the stage for a tremendous matchup between No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Notre Dame in the first game. If you didn't watch it, at least the end of it, you missed a hell of a show.



First off, I'd like to state that Luke Harangody is the ugliest human being alive. If you root for him, you should be shot. I mean, just look at the guy. He looks a little … slow. But I'll tell you what, the kid can ball. Even if it is extremely ugly to look at it, just like his face. I really hate Notre Dame more and more every day. I blame Charlie Weis.



Oh hey, how'd that Syracuse game work for you, Charlie? Yeah, fuck you!

But I digress. Notre Dame showed it is deserving of its high ranking, and Texas put up on heck of a fight. The Irish couldn't make any free throws, and A.J. Abrams took advantage. Abrams had been awful all game long, just not able to knock down his shot. But then, with time running out, he got hot. Real hot. And he brought Texas within 1.

Jay Bilas, who is about the only Dukie on earth I can stand, was going wild trying to figure out why Notre Dame wasn't fouling Abrams before he could shoot, seeing as ND had two fouls to give. It was an extremely logical question, and the only answer is that Mike Brey forgot to tell his team they had fouls to give. That oversight almost cost the Irish.

After Harangody missed two free throws that would have made it a 3-point game with 3 seconds left, Abrams launched a three-quarter court shot that came up just short. It looked good out of his hands, and honestly, everyone, including Abrams, thought it went in. But it didn't. Notre Dame escaped to move on to the final.

As entertaining as that game was, and trust me, it was very entertaining, the banter between Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery, Sean McDonough and Jimmy Dykes—and especially between Bilas and Raftery—was equally as entertaining.





Those two were having a great time, making fun of each other and arguing all game. It was a very fun broadcast.

And lucky for me, they were pulling double duty for the second game between North Carolina and Oregon.



Now, let me get this out of the way. I'm a UNC fan. I love virtually all the players who go there, and I love watching them on national television. But I have to say, even as a Tar Heels fan, the praise of Tyler Hansbrough is so over the top it's maddening. In the pregame, Bilas and Raftery were drooling all over him. I get it. He's the reigning National Player of the Year. He works hard. He's bright. He's a great teammate. Blah, blah, blah.

But man, do they love to drive that point home. "Look at his face!" "Look how intense he is!" And at one point, Raftery actually said, "How does Mark Gottfried (Alabama's coach) tell his guys they're going to get outworked by Tyler Hansbrough? They won't believe it until they see it." How about this? He won't tell them that, because that is the most insanely idiotic statement ever uttered. I know Hanbrough is relentless, but is he really going to work harder than the kids he's playing? That's an insult to those other kids. Plus, what coach on earth would say, "Well, no use in trying tonight, fellas, because Tyler's going to work harder than you." Bullshit. Get off the guy's jock for two seconds. Oh yeah, and does UNC even play Alabama? No.

Anyway, other than that, this crew is great. It's just the national media as a whole. Give the Tyler love a break. Just for a second. Thanks.

Now on to the "game." See, I put it in quotes because this wasn't a game at all. UNC dismantled Oregon, just like they have dismantled everyone up until this point.

And while Hansbrough was back out on the court and impressive (16 points, 12-14 from the line), two guys stood out above the rest: Danny Green and Ed Davis.





Danny Green is just a beast. He's my favorite player on this squad—Mr. Do It All. Last night, he was on fire in the first half, nailing three after three, and the man can block shots as well as anyone in the nation, despite being essentially a small forward. Some of his blocks where just ridiculous last night.

He finished with a game-high 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting, including 5 of 8 from three, and he added 8 boards, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Simply put, he was the best player on the floor. I love me some Danny Green.

And while Green is my favorite player and I have tons of love for Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Deon Thompson, the freshman Ed Davis is quickly becoming my second favorite Tar Heel. With Tyler Zeller going down for the year, Davis was already going to be asked to see more minutes. And last night, Deon Thompson got himself in some foul trouble, meaning the frosh had to play more than usual.

Boy did he respond. Davis was all over the court, running like a gazelle, defending the rim and scoring consistently. He crashed the boards hard, pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds, and added a steal, a block and 11 points. He looked like a grizzled veteran out there, not a first-year college player. Ed Davis is no joke.

And neither are the Tar Heels. Essentially, they run the break better than most NBA teams, and with good reason—they have a roster full of NBA-caliber players. Between Thompson, Hansbrough and Davis up front, Green, Ellington, Lawson, Bobby Frasor, Larry Drew and Will Graves, they go nine deep, meaning they can run full speed the entire game. If their defense keeps up the way it has early on, this team will be tough for anyone to beat. And that's all without their top recruit, Tyler Zeller.

Basically, watch out for the Tar Heels. It should be a great game taking on the Irish in the final.