For The Temple Owls, Saturday Night Is The Game Of A Lifetime
Showing posts with label temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temple. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2015
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Monday, September 24, 2012
Rides, Rain, Rainbows, Ridiculousness and Andy Reid
This past weekend, I traveled some 500-plus miles from the moment I left my house Friday to the moment I returned to my Philadelphia residence, heading to my first Penn State game with Bill O'Brien as coach, enjoying a birthday celebration and doing a little dog-sitting for my parents in the process.
My venture began by heading back to my parents' house to spend the night as the Phillies were taking the series opener with the Atlanta Braves behind yet another sterling effort from Kyle Kendrick, who has somehow miraculously transformed into a really good pitcher.
My old Penn State season-ticket partner Arkansas Fred lives close to my parents, so I figured I'd head up north and rest my head in my old bedroom before meeting up with AF to head out to the game. When I got to his house at 8 a.m. sharp, I was greeted at the door by a new addition to the AF household: a tiny bulldog-puggle puppy. Naturally, I spent the next half hour playing with the dog, which is about a tenth of the size if it's lucky of my nearly 80-pound black lab, as AF got ready for the road trip.
It was going to be a quick turnaround, just a day trip out to our alma mater to take in the game with another one of our college roommates and his fiancé, but a trip I was looking forward to nonetheless. Being the nice guy that I (sometimes) am, I procured tickets to the game at the request of my buddy, whose future bride had never been to a Penn State game.
So at around 8:30, AF and I began our journey, and shortly after we hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike, we encountered this:
Just a wall of fog encompassing the landscape as far as the eye could see. I sure am glad AF was driving instead of me, because it certainly wasn't the best visibility out there. However, we made it to State College in relatively good time, thanks to the scheduled 3:30 p.m. kickoff helping spread the traffic out. And shortly after we reached I-80, the fog began to dissipate and the sun started to shine through. Perhaps it wouldn't be the dreary, rainy day projected by the weathermen.
When we arrived in the place we called home for four — well four and half for AF — glorious years, we did the usual taking in of the scenery, found a place to park and searched out The Charles and his wife-to-be. We then proceeded to walk through downtown and our old campus, hitting up Canyon Pizza for some slices, strolling through the Old Main walkway, past the library and back to the car for a little light tailgating.
As the clock struck 2:30, we made our way toward the stadium, stopping by my buddy's dad's tailgate and quickly saying hello before entering the stadium. Now, I have been going to Penn State for literally more than 20 years to watch games, more times than not securing tickets from my uncle. The past few seasons, he's had 10 tickets to every game, with six seats near the 10-yard line and four seats around the 40-, 45-yard line. Minus the four years I was a student and the two years I had season tickets with AF, I've pretty much always sat in one of those two locations. But my uncle recently upgraded his pair of six, to right on the 50-yard line. Thus, we had basically perfect seats at midfield … seats that just so happen to be right next to my friend's dad's section — the same guy who we stopped to say hello to at his tailgate.
It was quite the pleasant surprise, both because of the view and because I got to see my buddy's father in action. Let's just say he gets incredibly into the game.
I can't say the same for the rest of the crowd Saturday afternoon. I don't know if it was the dreary weather — it rained lightly on and off all game — the opponent or the slow start and difficult circumstances surrounding the season, but there were a whole hell of a lot of empty seats at this Temple game. It was certainly the most lightly attended game I've been at in Beaver Stadium in a long while.
As for the game itself, it was frustrating for a while until Penn State finally came through with a touchdown late in the first quarter. All quarter long, we watched as Temple played Allen Robinson, the third leading receiver in the nation coming in, in one-on-one man coverage. Naturally, you would think Matt McGloin would be tossing him the ball every chance he could against man coverage, yet that wasn't the case the first few drives. Robinson was targeted so little that AF began to get incredibly irritated, asking why they weren't throwing Robinson the ball and demanding they do so.
Finally, on a 4th and 5 from the Temple 41-yard line in a scoreless game, Bill O'Brien decided to go for it and called Robinson's number. I didn't think the Nittany Lions should have gone for it, and if I was the coach I certainly would have punted given the way the defense was playing, but O'Brien's gamble paid off. McGloin hit Robinson on a quick slant, and the breakout wide receiver took it to the house for the opening score.
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful. A slew of penalties slowed down the game. The rains made for a light nuisance, and the competition was not up for the challenge. Penn State controlled the lines on both sides of the ball, with the Penn State offensive line creating huge holes that allowed Michael Zordich and Zach Swinak to both average five yards a carry, and the defensive line led by Jordan Hill put constant pressure on Chris Coyer, even if they did give up a few big runs. It was just another example of Penn State simply being better across the board than the Owls.
Matt McGloin had another impressive day, throwing for a career-high 318 yards, tossing the aforementioned touchdown pass to Robinson and adding two rushing touchdowns of his own in the 24-13 victory. Despite not looking to Robinson enough, he was effective all game, really relying on his tight ends, particularly impressive freshman Kyle Carter. Even the interception was not McGloin's fault, as it went right off the hands of Brandon Moseby-Felder.
The redhead isn't going to win any awards or play football beyond this year, but he has been much more impressive through four games in 2012 than he was in 2011, and this is coming from someone who is not exactly a Matt McGloin fan.
However, while I had no problems with McGloin on Saturday, I had a big problem with whoever the hell is in charge of the music at Penn State. Truthfully, this has been an issue since forever, something that irritates me to no end. Many times on Saturday, Penn State went to the no huddle with Temple on its heels. That means McGloin was making the calls at the line and trying to communicate with his teammates. In your home stadium, that means you want the place to be quiet until the ball is snapped. Yet time and time again, as has been the case for years at Penn State, there is pumped in music and crowd noise between plays, even with the Nittany Lions on offense and even with the home team trying to run the no huddle. It's so god damn counterproductive and flat-out stupid that I can't even handle it. I want the person in charge of that fired. I know wishing someone to lose his or her job is not a nice thing, but this has been going on for years. Whoever is the person who makes that decision is an incompetent fool who knows nothing about football.
But hey, at least Penn State won and there was a cool rainbow that appeared.
Oh, and the 1982 national championship team was honored at halftime, which is always nice.
Once the game was over, we said our goodbyes and then decided to head back east, seeing as both AF and I are old and tire easily, and because he had to get back to the family and help take care of this brand-new puppy.
The ride back was fairly torturous, as we both struggled to keep our eyes open. If it wasn't for a desperately needed McDonald's stop to nab a few double cheeseburgers — a tradition we started while college students — we may not have made it at all. The weariness was taking over, and as you know, the drive back is always worse than the drive there. All the anticipation and excitement are gone, and all you want to do is be out of the car and in your bed.
However, bed was not my next destination. On our way home, two of my friends said I should come out to a bar that was more than a half hour away from AF's house. For some reason, I decided, what the hell, and took them up on the offer.
Despite being ridiculously tired, it turned out to be one of the better recent decisions in my life. Not only did I meet up with my friends to celebrate the birthday of my one friend's girlfriend, but I wound up getting plenty drunk, meeting a very nice, interesting young woman, finding a nice place to rest my head and getting a ride back to my car the next morning. That's what you call a pretty full Saturday.
So full, in fact, that I barely had anything left in the tank for Sunday. When I reached my parents' house, I collapsed, slept until just before the 1 o'clock kickoffs and spent most of the day taking care of the dog and going in and out of consciousness until it was time for the Eagles-Cardinals game.
It would have been just as prudent to stay in my slumber, it turns out, given how awful the Eagles looked yesterday.
There's not much I can add to the game beyond everything I've been reading. It was a brutal game, with the Eagles simply getting beat by a very good Arizona Cardinals team that has an absolutely dominant defense through three weeks.
I will say that it makes absolutely no sense for Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg to come out and throw the ball 25 times and run it just 5 times to open the game despite: 1. having two ineffective backups starting for an injured offensive line; 2. playing against a ferocious defense with a dominant line; 3. having one of the best running backs in the NFL; and 4. having a quarterback who has struggled against pressure and cannot stop turning the ball over. It was a flawed game plan from the start, and shockingly, it exposed the team's flaws.
Daryl Washington and Kerry Rhodes were absolute beasts for Arizona defensively, with Washington flying all over the field and Rhodes destroying people and coming up with arguably the biggest play of the game. No, not the sack, fumble returned for a touchdown to close out the half, which obviously was huge, but the play before that sequence of plays at the 1 — the tackle by Rhodes to stop DeSean Jackson at the 1 and prevent a touchdown. It was huge, and wound up setting up that fumble return that sealed the game.
On the other side of the ball, Larry Fitzgerald did what Larry Fitzgerald does, giving the Eagles fits. That guy is good.
Of course, the game was defined by terrible clock management, wasted timeouts and turnovers … par of the course with the Eagles. It's maddening and inexplicable, yet it continues year after year after year. Reid and Marty are infuriating to watch call a game, and MIchael Vick is infuriating to watch play quarterback. Yes, Vick was poorly protected and running his for life per usual and got no help from his coaches, but he was also staring down receivers, holding on to the ball too long and taking unnecessary hits due his lack of awareness for the position. The man is an electrifying talent and still better than a large portion of quarterbacks in the NFL, but he just is not a very smart signal caller. When you compound that with poor play-calling, poor protection, neglecting the running the game and turnovers galore, you have a debacle like yesterday.
The Eagles are 2-1, which is a good thing, and the Cardinals are a lot better than anyone anticipated heading into the season. But the Eagles also have an offensive line relying on unreliable players and are averaging four turnovers a game through three games, with teams like the Giants, Steelers, Lions and Falcons on the way.
Yesterday's loss provided reason to worry, particularly if the line cannot improve against the pass rush of those teams coming up.
It was not a good Sunday for the Eagles … and the Phillies lost their second in row to the Braves, all but wiping away their postseason hopes, now a full five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for that second wild card spot.
But hey, at least Penn State won, the scenery was great and I had fun while I could. Because god knows watching that game yesterday was anything was but.
My venture began by heading back to my parents' house to spend the night as the Phillies were taking the series opener with the Atlanta Braves behind yet another sterling effort from Kyle Kendrick, who has somehow miraculously transformed into a really good pitcher.
My old Penn State season-ticket partner Arkansas Fred lives close to my parents, so I figured I'd head up north and rest my head in my old bedroom before meeting up with AF to head out to the game. When I got to his house at 8 a.m. sharp, I was greeted at the door by a new addition to the AF household: a tiny bulldog-puggle puppy. Naturally, I spent the next half hour playing with the dog, which is about a tenth of the size if it's lucky of my nearly 80-pound black lab, as AF got ready for the road trip.
It was going to be a quick turnaround, just a day trip out to our alma mater to take in the game with another one of our college roommates and his fiancé, but a trip I was looking forward to nonetheless. Being the nice guy that I (sometimes) am, I procured tickets to the game at the request of my buddy, whose future bride had never been to a Penn State game.
So at around 8:30, AF and I began our journey, and shortly after we hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike, we encountered this:
Just a wall of fog encompassing the landscape as far as the eye could see. I sure am glad AF was driving instead of me, because it certainly wasn't the best visibility out there. However, we made it to State College in relatively good time, thanks to the scheduled 3:30 p.m. kickoff helping spread the traffic out. And shortly after we reached I-80, the fog began to dissipate and the sun started to shine through. Perhaps it wouldn't be the dreary, rainy day projected by the weathermen.
When we arrived in the place we called home for four — well four and half for AF — glorious years, we did the usual taking in of the scenery, found a place to park and searched out The Charles and his wife-to-be. We then proceeded to walk through downtown and our old campus, hitting up Canyon Pizza for some slices, strolling through the Old Main walkway, past the library and back to the car for a little light tailgating.
As the clock struck 2:30, we made our way toward the stadium, stopping by my buddy's dad's tailgate and quickly saying hello before entering the stadium. Now, I have been going to Penn State for literally more than 20 years to watch games, more times than not securing tickets from my uncle. The past few seasons, he's had 10 tickets to every game, with six seats near the 10-yard line and four seats around the 40-, 45-yard line. Minus the four years I was a student and the two years I had season tickets with AF, I've pretty much always sat in one of those two locations. But my uncle recently upgraded his pair of six, to right on the 50-yard line. Thus, we had basically perfect seats at midfield … seats that just so happen to be right next to my friend's dad's section — the same guy who we stopped to say hello to at his tailgate.
It was quite the pleasant surprise, both because of the view and because I got to see my buddy's father in action. Let's just say he gets incredibly into the game.
I can't say the same for the rest of the crowd Saturday afternoon. I don't know if it was the dreary weather — it rained lightly on and off all game — the opponent or the slow start and difficult circumstances surrounding the season, but there were a whole hell of a lot of empty seats at this Temple game. It was certainly the most lightly attended game I've been at in Beaver Stadium in a long while.
As for the game itself, it was frustrating for a while until Penn State finally came through with a touchdown late in the first quarter. All quarter long, we watched as Temple played Allen Robinson, the third leading receiver in the nation coming in, in one-on-one man coverage. Naturally, you would think Matt McGloin would be tossing him the ball every chance he could against man coverage, yet that wasn't the case the first few drives. Robinson was targeted so little that AF began to get incredibly irritated, asking why they weren't throwing Robinson the ball and demanding they do so.
Finally, on a 4th and 5 from the Temple 41-yard line in a scoreless game, Bill O'Brien decided to go for it and called Robinson's number. I didn't think the Nittany Lions should have gone for it, and if I was the coach I certainly would have punted given the way the defense was playing, but O'Brien's gamble paid off. McGloin hit Robinson on a quick slant, and the breakout wide receiver took it to the house for the opening score.
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful. A slew of penalties slowed down the game. The rains made for a light nuisance, and the competition was not up for the challenge. Penn State controlled the lines on both sides of the ball, with the Penn State offensive line creating huge holes that allowed Michael Zordich and Zach Swinak to both average five yards a carry, and the defensive line led by Jordan Hill put constant pressure on Chris Coyer, even if they did give up a few big runs. It was just another example of Penn State simply being better across the board than the Owls.
Matt McGloin had another impressive day, throwing for a career-high 318 yards, tossing the aforementioned touchdown pass to Robinson and adding two rushing touchdowns of his own in the 24-13 victory. Despite not looking to Robinson enough, he was effective all game, really relying on his tight ends, particularly impressive freshman Kyle Carter. Even the interception was not McGloin's fault, as it went right off the hands of Brandon Moseby-Felder.
The redhead isn't going to win any awards or play football beyond this year, but he has been much more impressive through four games in 2012 than he was in 2011, and this is coming from someone who is not exactly a Matt McGloin fan.
However, while I had no problems with McGloin on Saturday, I had a big problem with whoever the hell is in charge of the music at Penn State. Truthfully, this has been an issue since forever, something that irritates me to no end. Many times on Saturday, Penn State went to the no huddle with Temple on its heels. That means McGloin was making the calls at the line and trying to communicate with his teammates. In your home stadium, that means you want the place to be quiet until the ball is snapped. Yet time and time again, as has been the case for years at Penn State, there is pumped in music and crowd noise between plays, even with the Nittany Lions on offense and even with the home team trying to run the no huddle. It's so god damn counterproductive and flat-out stupid that I can't even handle it. I want the person in charge of that fired. I know wishing someone to lose his or her job is not a nice thing, but this has been going on for years. Whoever is the person who makes that decision is an incompetent fool who knows nothing about football.
But hey, at least Penn State won and there was a cool rainbow that appeared.
Oh, and the 1982 national championship team was honored at halftime, which is always nice.
Once the game was over, we said our goodbyes and then decided to head back east, seeing as both AF and I are old and tire easily, and because he had to get back to the family and help take care of this brand-new puppy.
The ride back was fairly torturous, as we both struggled to keep our eyes open. If it wasn't for a desperately needed McDonald's stop to nab a few double cheeseburgers — a tradition we started while college students — we may not have made it at all. The weariness was taking over, and as you know, the drive back is always worse than the drive there. All the anticipation and excitement are gone, and all you want to do is be out of the car and in your bed.
However, bed was not my next destination. On our way home, two of my friends said I should come out to a bar that was more than a half hour away from AF's house. For some reason, I decided, what the hell, and took them up on the offer.
Despite being ridiculously tired, it turned out to be one of the better recent decisions in my life. Not only did I meet up with my friends to celebrate the birthday of my one friend's girlfriend, but I wound up getting plenty drunk, meeting a very nice, interesting young woman, finding a nice place to rest my head and getting a ride back to my car the next morning. That's what you call a pretty full Saturday.
So full, in fact, that I barely had anything left in the tank for Sunday. When I reached my parents' house, I collapsed, slept until just before the 1 o'clock kickoffs and spent most of the day taking care of the dog and going in and out of consciousness until it was time for the Eagles-Cardinals game.
It would have been just as prudent to stay in my slumber, it turns out, given how awful the Eagles looked yesterday.
There's not much I can add to the game beyond everything I've been reading. It was a brutal game, with the Eagles simply getting beat by a very good Arizona Cardinals team that has an absolutely dominant defense through three weeks.
I will say that it makes absolutely no sense for Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg to come out and throw the ball 25 times and run it just 5 times to open the game despite: 1. having two ineffective backups starting for an injured offensive line; 2. playing against a ferocious defense with a dominant line; 3. having one of the best running backs in the NFL; and 4. having a quarterback who has struggled against pressure and cannot stop turning the ball over. It was a flawed game plan from the start, and shockingly, it exposed the team's flaws.
Daryl Washington and Kerry Rhodes were absolute beasts for Arizona defensively, with Washington flying all over the field and Rhodes destroying people and coming up with arguably the biggest play of the game. No, not the sack, fumble returned for a touchdown to close out the half, which obviously was huge, but the play before that sequence of plays at the 1 — the tackle by Rhodes to stop DeSean Jackson at the 1 and prevent a touchdown. It was huge, and wound up setting up that fumble return that sealed the game.
On the other side of the ball, Larry Fitzgerald did what Larry Fitzgerald does, giving the Eagles fits. That guy is good.
Of course, the game was defined by terrible clock management, wasted timeouts and turnovers … par of the course with the Eagles. It's maddening and inexplicable, yet it continues year after year after year. Reid and Marty are infuriating to watch call a game, and MIchael Vick is infuriating to watch play quarterback. Yes, Vick was poorly protected and running his for life per usual and got no help from his coaches, but he was also staring down receivers, holding on to the ball too long and taking unnecessary hits due his lack of awareness for the position. The man is an electrifying talent and still better than a large portion of quarterbacks in the NFL, but he just is not a very smart signal caller. When you compound that with poor play-calling, poor protection, neglecting the running the game and turnovers galore, you have a debacle like yesterday.
The Eagles are 2-1, which is a good thing, and the Cardinals are a lot better than anyone anticipated heading into the season. But the Eagles also have an offensive line relying on unreliable players and are averaging four turnovers a game through three games, with teams like the Giants, Steelers, Lions and Falcons on the way.
Yesterday's loss provided reason to worry, particularly if the line cannot improve against the pass rush of those teams coming up.
It was not a good Sunday for the Eagles … and the Phillies lost their second in row to the Braves, all but wiping away their postseason hopes, now a full five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for that second wild card spot.
But hey, at least Penn State won, the scenery was great and I had fun while I could. Because god knows watching that game yesterday was anything was but.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Lehigh Dazzles as Temple Seniors Go Out With a Whimper
After a relatively lackluster slate of games on Thursday, I was really looking forward to Friday night. Not only was Temple set to tip off at 9:50, but Lehigh was taking on Duke as a nice preamble. Little did I know that the team I had no expectations for would provide infinitely more excitement than the team I thought was destined for the Sweet 16.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't watch a single moment of Lehigh basketball this season until the Patriot League Conference Championship against Bucknell. In that game, I got acquainted with C.J. McCollum, easily the best player on the Mountain Hawks and far and away the best player on the court in that conference championship, but I honestly didn't know quite how good he was. Shame on me, having grown up not all that far from Lehigh's campus, having gone there several times in the summer for Eagles training camp, playing soccer tournaments there and even taking in a Lehigh-Lafayette match-up or two in my day. Still, all I knew was that C.J. McCollum looked impressive against his Patriotic League peers in the one game I watched him play. I certainly didn't think he'd be able to run rampant in the NCAA tournament, especially going up against 2-seed Duke in North Carolina as the 15-seed.
Then I watched and kept waiting for the Blue Devils to pull away. Not only did Duke roll out a bigger, deeper, much more talented lineup than Lehigh, but they were paying on a court the they had never once lost on in an NCAA tournament game. So I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for Duke to pull away. Even with Lehigh down just two at half and showing they weren't scared in the least, I felt like it was only a matter time before the Blue Devils asserted themselves and pulled away. But it never came.
Instead, the Mountain Hawks made every big play, hit every big shot, and most importantly had the best player on court. My questions about just how good C.J. McCollum was were answered emphatically, as the junior guard dominated on the way to a 30-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist, 2-steal night to lead Lehigh to the second 15 over 2 upset of the day. And I was cheering every bucket like my life depended on it.
McCollum did need 24 shots to net those 30 points, but with everything he did and all the confidence he exuded, he was unquestionably the best player on the court Friday night. That doesn't mean he's a better player than the likes of Austin Rivers or Seth Curry, necessarily, but he absolutely was on Friday night. And his performance led to one of the greatest upsets in the history of the NCAA tournament. It was Lehigh's first tourney victory ever, making history by beating Duke in North Carolina. Unbelievable. And while the Mountain Hawks couldn't sustain that last night and were ultimately bounced, it's a moment no one will ever forget.
On the flip side, Temple had one of the most forgettable NCAA tournament performances of all time.
We were warned to expect an ugly, slow, brutal basketball game prior to this one, but I'm not sure anyone was prepared to see what unfolded between South Florida and Temple.
In the first half, USF went nearly 16 minutes without hitting a field goal, missing 22 straight shots in the process. They scored just 15 points in the entire first half. And yet, Temple led by just four points at the midway point — and things only got worse from there.
As USF finally found its scoring touch in the second, the Owls only got worse, shooting a measly 35.7 percent from the field on the night and an atrocious 2-12 from beyond the arc. There is no doubt that South Florida's heralded defense played a huge role in that, but there was more at play here than that.
Ultimately, this loss falls at the feet of coach Fran Dunphy and his three senior leaders, Michael Eric, Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez. That trio of seniors, three of the most talented players on the team and the guys expected to lead Temple on a decent run, combined for 13 points, shooting a miserable 5-18 from the field. Eric was the most effective, netting 7 and hauling in 8 rebounds. Moore had just 5 points and couldn't beat anyone off the dribble. And Fernandez was quite literally invisible, only scoring 1 point while turning the ball over four times. It was a mockery of offensive basketball. And if it wasn't for Khalif Wyatt's 19 and Rhalir Hollis-Jefferson's 10 and 9, the embarrassing 58-44 loss would have been even uglier.
After a decent start, Temple quite literally could not do anything. Moore, adept at slashing to the rim and knocking down shots, couldn't shake his defender all night. Fernandez looked overmatched and lost out there, literally doing nothing to help Temple win. Eric was unspectacular. The offense was non-existent. And as I kept waiting for the Owls to change something, try anything, it was simply more of the same. Coach Fran Dunphy, who has done a wonderful job reviving the program after replacing the legendary John Chaney, just stood there and let it all happen.
Temple played right into South Florida's hands all game long. The Bulls have been an offensively challenged team all season, preferring to slug out low-scoring games and allowing their defense to win it. The Bulls want to play a slowdown game, milking the clock and limiting possessions. And that's exactly what happened on Friday night. Not once did the Owls try to pick up the pace and force the tempo, this despite fielding a team with several strong ball handlers and a group that can run the floor. Instead, Dunphy and the Owls continued to play at a deliberate pace, the pace USF wanted, and they died a slow death. This one is as much on Dunphy as it is on the underachieving seniors, who finished their college careers with an embarrassing whimper. I blame it on the absence of the mustache.
Honestly, it was the worst performance I've ever seen from a Temple squad in the NCAA tournament. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as Ty Shine, but it was far uglier. That wasn't basketball that Temple was playing on Friday night. It wasn't much of anything, to be honest with you.
Thank goodness Lehigh was there to provide something fun and entertaining, but just as The700Level warned, that was one ugly, slow, brutal basketball game for Temple, one that was even uglier, slower and more brutal than expected.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't watch a single moment of Lehigh basketball this season until the Patriot League Conference Championship against Bucknell. In that game, I got acquainted with C.J. McCollum, easily the best player on the Mountain Hawks and far and away the best player on the court in that conference championship, but I honestly didn't know quite how good he was. Shame on me, having grown up not all that far from Lehigh's campus, having gone there several times in the summer for Eagles training camp, playing soccer tournaments there and even taking in a Lehigh-Lafayette match-up or two in my day. Still, all I knew was that C.J. McCollum looked impressive against his Patriotic League peers in the one game I watched him play. I certainly didn't think he'd be able to run rampant in the NCAA tournament, especially going up against 2-seed Duke in North Carolina as the 15-seed.
Then I watched and kept waiting for the Blue Devils to pull away. Not only did Duke roll out a bigger, deeper, much more talented lineup than Lehigh, but they were paying on a court the they had never once lost on in an NCAA tournament game. So I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for Duke to pull away. Even with Lehigh down just two at half and showing they weren't scared in the least, I felt like it was only a matter time before the Blue Devils asserted themselves and pulled away. But it never came.
Instead, the Mountain Hawks made every big play, hit every big shot, and most importantly had the best player on court. My questions about just how good C.J. McCollum was were answered emphatically, as the junior guard dominated on the way to a 30-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist, 2-steal night to lead Lehigh to the second 15 over 2 upset of the day. And I was cheering every bucket like my life depended on it.
McCollum did need 24 shots to net those 30 points, but with everything he did and all the confidence he exuded, he was unquestionably the best player on the court Friday night. That doesn't mean he's a better player than the likes of Austin Rivers or Seth Curry, necessarily, but he absolutely was on Friday night. And his performance led to one of the greatest upsets in the history of the NCAA tournament. It was Lehigh's first tourney victory ever, making history by beating Duke in North Carolina. Unbelievable. And while the Mountain Hawks couldn't sustain that last night and were ultimately bounced, it's a moment no one will ever forget.
On the flip side, Temple had one of the most forgettable NCAA tournament performances of all time.
We were warned to expect an ugly, slow, brutal basketball game prior to this one, but I'm not sure anyone was prepared to see what unfolded between South Florida and Temple.
In the first half, USF went nearly 16 minutes without hitting a field goal, missing 22 straight shots in the process. They scored just 15 points in the entire first half. And yet, Temple led by just four points at the midway point — and things only got worse from there.
As USF finally found its scoring touch in the second, the Owls only got worse, shooting a measly 35.7 percent from the field on the night and an atrocious 2-12 from beyond the arc. There is no doubt that South Florida's heralded defense played a huge role in that, but there was more at play here than that.
Ultimately, this loss falls at the feet of coach Fran Dunphy and his three senior leaders, Michael Eric, Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez. That trio of seniors, three of the most talented players on the team and the guys expected to lead Temple on a decent run, combined for 13 points, shooting a miserable 5-18 from the field. Eric was the most effective, netting 7 and hauling in 8 rebounds. Moore had just 5 points and couldn't beat anyone off the dribble. And Fernandez was quite literally invisible, only scoring 1 point while turning the ball over four times. It was a mockery of offensive basketball. And if it wasn't for Khalif Wyatt's 19 and Rhalir Hollis-Jefferson's 10 and 9, the embarrassing 58-44 loss would have been even uglier.
After a decent start, Temple quite literally could not do anything. Moore, adept at slashing to the rim and knocking down shots, couldn't shake his defender all night. Fernandez looked overmatched and lost out there, literally doing nothing to help Temple win. Eric was unspectacular. The offense was non-existent. And as I kept waiting for the Owls to change something, try anything, it was simply more of the same. Coach Fran Dunphy, who has done a wonderful job reviving the program after replacing the legendary John Chaney, just stood there and let it all happen.
Temple played right into South Florida's hands all game long. The Bulls have been an offensively challenged team all season, preferring to slug out low-scoring games and allowing their defense to win it. The Bulls want to play a slowdown game, milking the clock and limiting possessions. And that's exactly what happened on Friday night. Not once did the Owls try to pick up the pace and force the tempo, this despite fielding a team with several strong ball handlers and a group that can run the floor. Instead, Dunphy and the Owls continued to play at a deliberate pace, the pace USF wanted, and they died a slow death. This one is as much on Dunphy as it is on the underachieving seniors, who finished their college careers with an embarrassing whimper. I blame it on the absence of the mustache.
Honestly, it was the worst performance I've ever seen from a Temple squad in the NCAA tournament. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as Ty Shine, but it was far uglier. That wasn't basketball that Temple was playing on Friday night. It wasn't much of anything, to be honest with you.
Thank goodness Lehigh was there to provide something fun and entertaining, but just as The700Level warned, that was one ugly, slow, brutal basketball game for Temple, one that was even uglier, slower and more brutal than expected.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Sixers Are Tough, Flyers Are Soft and Temple Is Good
My weekend was about as disjointed as Philadelphia sports were this weekend. On one hand, I got to spend time with some longtime friends and act like we did when we were teenagers, and I got to take in my first Flyers game in a month or so. Good things, just like Temple dismantling Xavier and the Sixers destroying the lowly Cavaliers. On the other hand, I was I completely spent on Saturday and had to go into the office on Sunday. Not so good things, like the Flyers playing embarrassingly horrid defense while losing on back-to-back days, and the Sixers losing in the final seconds thanks to a miraculous shot by Chris Paul and a confusing final possession of their own.
Truth be told, the unevenness started earlier and week and simply continued right on through the weekend. You see, earlier in the week, my friends tried to get a decent chunk of tickets for the Clippers game. By the time everything got coordinated with who was in and who was out, the tickets that were available had vanished, meaning no Clippers-Sixers game for us. So instead, four of us all met up at a bar/restaurant where two of our others friends work to take in the game and act like we were in high school or college again.
We ate, drank, made fun of each other just like old times, all while watching the exciting Sixers-Clippers game. For a game that ended with just 155 total points, it was an exciting one. The Sixers were taking care of the ball and playing great defense … and so were the Clippers. It was like watching two teams mirror each other, though in the end, even in the face of great defense, the team with the best player on the court found a way to win, thanks to a remarkable shot by Chris Paul followed by an absolutely disgusting final play drawn up by Doug Collins that stood no chance of working.
It would have been nice for the Sixers to make some more shots, and pretty much anything other than the final look they got would have preferable, but even in defeat it was another instance of the Sixers showing they can hang with anyone. It took a truly great shot by Chris Paul to beat them, helped out by Reggie Evans coming in and rebounding everything in sight, something Sixers fans became accustomed to during Reggie's days in Philadelphia.
That ending put a sour taste on otherwise fun night. And that was only the beginning.
About 10 minutes after I woke up late Saturday morning, I got a call from my roommate asking me if I wanted two tickets to the Flyers-Rangers game. The only caveat was I had to drive from my home in Philadelphia all the way up to Hatboro to get them. It being quarter after 11 already, I didn't even hesitate, said yes, threw on some clothes and got in my car.
As I was driving to the pickup destination, I called my cousin to see what he was up to. He said he had a few things to do before I stopped him and asked if there was anything he absolutely had to do right away today, then followed up by asking if he wanted to go to the game. He said yes, and I told him to get his ass down to the Wells Fargo Center and I'd meet him there.
I made my pickup, sped back down 95 and met up with my cousin a good 20 minutes before the puck dropped, taking our seats in section 110, row 16.
Of course, the National Anthem was pretty much the best part of the game, thanks in part to some head-scratching officiating but mostly due to horrible discipline and laughable coverage by the Flyers in front of their own net, two common themes for the team lately.
The scoring got started after an absolutely bizarre set of circumstances. After a whistle, Stu Bickel and Tom Sestito got into a little bit. Bickel clearly was the one who engaged Sestito, even dropping his gloves first, and as the linesmen tried to break them up, the two of them were throwing punches over the top, nearly hitting the officials themselves. When it all shook out, somehow Sestito got two extra minutes, neither one got a fighting major, and the Rangers wound up with a power play, while both Sestito and Bickel picked up 10-minute game misconducts. All this despite the fact that Bickel started the whole thing.
It didn't make any sense. I saw it happen live. I watched the replay. And in no instance did I see any reason whatsoever why Sestito picked up an extra two minutes to give the Rangers the man advantage. And believe me, I'm always looking for reasons to blame Sestito for anything, because he is absolutely horrible at hockey. I honestly cannot understand why Peter Laviolette keeps this joker on his roster, even with James van Riemsdyk hurt. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and there's no one I hate seeing on the ice more for the Flyers than Sestito.
But honestly, Sestito didn't do anything to deserve the extra two, so naturally the Rangers scored on the ensuing power play on a goal from Ryan Callahan. It may have been one Sergei Bobrovsky could have stopped, but it didn't help that the referees gift-wrapped the Rangers a power play. Danny Briere clearly felt the same way, because he was summarily issued a 10-minute game misconduct himself following the goal. Briere was serving the penalty for Sestito, and when he left the box he rightfully gave it to the officials. Then he was sent off the ice for a while to contemplate just how horrible that call was.
From there, the Flyers picked it up after getting outworked early by the Rangers. Wayne Simmonds remained red hot, scoring an absolutely beautiful deflection goal past Henrik Lundqvist to tie it up. In my humble opinion, Simmonds and Brayden Schenn have been the best two Flyers for the past couple of weeks now, and Saturday was no different.
Of course, a few minutes after a pretty bad non-call on the Rangers, Andrej Meszaros hooked a Ranger to give New York another power play. On the ensuing power play, Matt Read went to the wrong man on a rush, leaving Marian Gaborik of all people all alone in front of the net, yet another dreadful coverage breakdown. Gaborik proceeded to execute an unstoppable deflection by Bobrovsky to give the Rangers the lead yet again.
It's something that has become commonplace for the Flyers of late — surrendering a goal shortly after they score one. It's made things nearly impossible for the Flyers, and it reared its ugly head all weekend long.
However, in the second period, the Flyers really did take it to the Rangers. They outshot them 18-7, they hit any Ranger that moved, and they controlled play. Yet the only time they could beat the great Hernik Lundqvist was when Simmonds sprung Claude Giroux on a breakaway. And even then, it was no slam dunk. Claude made an absolutely insane series of dekes, the type of moves that make most goaltenders look silly. Yet as Claude pulled the puck back to his forehand to slide it by the out-of-position goalie, Lundqvist reached back and made the initial stop before Claude rammed it home on the second effort.
I know that Claude scored anyway, but that first stop by Lundqvist was absolutely insane. I honestly don't think there's another goaltender alive who could have done what Lundqvist did there. Thankfully Claude stayed with it and tied the game, but before you knew it, there the Rangers were on yet another power play, reclaiming the lead on a slam-dunk goal by Callahan, his second. The guy was all alone, and Bob never stood a shot. Just like that, the ice cold New York power play tallied three times on the man advantage thanks to horrific breakdowns by the Flyers in front of the net, and the Rangers went to the third with the lead.
From there, things only got worse. Bob got left out to dry yet again on a goal by Artem Anisimov, and Ryan Callahan completed the hat trick to propel the Rangers past the Flyers for the fifth time in as many meetings this season. To add insult to injury, the referees again somehow managed to give a Flyer two extra minutes after a fight/scrum despite no evidence to support it. This time it was Zac Rinaldo, who picked up an extra 2 minutes for roughing after Brandon Dubinsky tripped him and the two fought. If you can explain to me how the hell the Flyers go down a man twice after pretty even scrums in one game, I'd love to hear it. Horrible officiating.
But the officiating had little to do with the Flyers' incredibly bad breakdowns in front of their own net, terrible turnovers and penchant for giving goals right back. That's all on them. Right now, they are incredibly soft in their own end. Matt Carle has developed a case of the yips and won't hit anyone. Not a single defenseman, from Kimmo to Coburn to Meszaros to Gustafsson to Bourdon, will even attempt to move a guy from the crease area or around it. Hell, they won't even touch a guy near there, oftentimes failing to even mark him. It's pathetic. And sad. Not one of them has even a little bit of Chris Pronger's nastiness in them, and it shows, to the detriment of the team.
The game just reinforced the difference between the two teams. The Rangers are everything the Flyers want to be but aren't because of their lack of discipline and soft nature right now. The Rangers play north-south hockey, get the puck deep, bang, forecheck hard and control the puck. They play sound defensive hockey, clog the lanes in the neutral zone and account for their man in the defensive zone. They block a ton of shots, and they have what the Flyers never have, a truly elite netminder who never is the reason his team loses. New York just doesn't beat itself, and that's why the Rangers have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Conversely, the Flyers are a mentally soft team that takes way too many penalties, too often tries to make the fancy pass instead of the easy play and cannot do seemingly anything right in their own zone these days. The power play is disjointed. The penalty kill is struggling and overworked. And when they need a big save, they don't get it. Right now, they're simply not a good enough hockey team to compete for the Stanley Cup, whereas the Rangers are. They're just too soft and too undisciplined.
Basically, the complete opposite of the Sixers and the Temple Owls. Because after a terrible showing yet again against the Rangers, I was at least treated to two dominant victories by the Sixers and Owls.
In another total team effort, the Sixers annihilated the Cavaliers in Cleveland 99-84. Six players scored in double digits in a nice rebound win, and the Sixers continued to manhandle the bad teams they face. They still may have some work to do to beat the likes of Miami, but the Sixers are clearly moving the right direction by laying waste to the teams they're supposed to beat.
Even more encouraging, however, was Temple's emphatic 85-72 win over Xavier at the Liacouras Center late Saturday night.
We all know that Xavier has struggled ever since the ugly brawl against Cincinnati. But the Musketeers are still the team with the most talent in the Atlantic 10, a team that was considered one of the best in country earlier this season. So any victory is impressive against Xavier, especially one as dominant as Temple's Saturday night.
Going against what was considered perhaps the best backcourt in the nation heading into the season, it was Temple's Ramone Moore and Khaliff Wyatt who one-upped the highly regarded Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons. Moore, the A-10's leading scorer, was the most dynamic player on the court, scoring a game-high 30 points on 9-16 from the field and 5-8 from three, while Wyatt, who is now second in the A-10 in scoring, put up 18. And while Holloway and Lyons combined for 38 points themselves, they shot a combined 11-30 from the field and could rarely find an easy basket.
On the inside, Michael Eric completely dominated Kenny Frease. Eric had 11 points, 16 rebounds and 1 emphatic block, while Frease was limited to 18 ineffective minutes, posting just 2 points and 1 rebound. Now the Owls have a firm grasp on the top spot in the very good A-10, and with Eric solidifying them inside, the Owls are going to be extremely tough come tournament time. At 19-5, leading the A-10 and having a huge victory over Duke, the Owls are pretty much a lock for the tourney, continuing Fran Dunphy's success since taking over for the legendary John Chaney.
To me, it's really a shame that Scootie Randall has been out all season with an injured knee. Given that he hasn't played all year and the rumors continue to ramp up that he's redshirting, it's a pretty safe bet to assume he won't be returning at all. I mean, we are in the middle of February. And that's a shame, because with a healthy Randall, this could be a team with the potential to be a darkhorse Final Four team. I know that may sound homerish, but Temple is a veteran team that doesn't turn the ball over, plays great defense and never gets rattled. The trio of Juan Fernandez, Ramone Moore and Khaliff Wyatt is a veteran group of ball-handlers and scorers. Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson is the guy who does all the little things, crashing the offensive boards, playing tough d and battling guys bigger than him. Michael Eric is a vastly improved offensive player who gives them a huge presence inside at both ends of the court with his return. Anthony Lee showed promise with Eric out and has continued to play well. And guys like Aaron Brown and even T.J. DeLeo have given Temple good minutes all season long. The only thing they're missing is a lockdown perimeter defender, and Scootie was that — not to mention a versatile offensive player that would give Temple yet another weapon.
Sadly, it looks like Scootie won't get that chance, and that's a shame. But even without him, this Temple team is good. They have a few bad losses, but they've more than made up for that with some very big wins and by taking control of the A-10.
And thank god for the Owls and Sixers on Saturday night, because after I got some work done at the office yesterday, I headed home to watch the Flyers take on the Red Wings.
I shouldn't have bothered. Because while it was an exciting game that featured two more goals by Brayden Schenn — did I mention that I thought he and Simmonds have been the best Flyers of late? — and a pretty exciting back-and-forth game, it ultimately ended much like the game on Saturday.
The Flyers lost 4-3, once again leaving Red Wings wide open in front of the net, once again getting burned by penalties and once again failing to build any momentum by giving goals right back after scoring one of their own. Like I said, this team just isn't good enough right now to compete for a Cup.
The good news is that talent-wise, they are right there with the likes of Detroit and New York. It showed by the way they've been in games against those teams. But they still make too many mistakes, have too many breakdowns, take too many penalties, where the better teams play smarter. They aren't physical enough in their own end, and they seem to lacking a lot of the mental toughness that was there as players were dropping like flies earlier in the year.
There's still time to turn it around, but right now the Flyers are soft. Thank goodness that's not the case with the Sixers and the Temple Owls.
Truth be told, the unevenness started earlier and week and simply continued right on through the weekend. You see, earlier in the week, my friends tried to get a decent chunk of tickets for the Clippers game. By the time everything got coordinated with who was in and who was out, the tickets that were available had vanished, meaning no Clippers-Sixers game for us. So instead, four of us all met up at a bar/restaurant where two of our others friends work to take in the game and act like we were in high school or college again.
We ate, drank, made fun of each other just like old times, all while watching the exciting Sixers-Clippers game. For a game that ended with just 155 total points, it was an exciting one. The Sixers were taking care of the ball and playing great defense … and so were the Clippers. It was like watching two teams mirror each other, though in the end, even in the face of great defense, the team with the best player on the court found a way to win, thanks to a remarkable shot by Chris Paul followed by an absolutely disgusting final play drawn up by Doug Collins that stood no chance of working.
It would have been nice for the Sixers to make some more shots, and pretty much anything other than the final look they got would have preferable, but even in defeat it was another instance of the Sixers showing they can hang with anyone. It took a truly great shot by Chris Paul to beat them, helped out by Reggie Evans coming in and rebounding everything in sight, something Sixers fans became accustomed to during Reggie's days in Philadelphia.
That ending put a sour taste on otherwise fun night. And that was only the beginning.
About 10 minutes after I woke up late Saturday morning, I got a call from my roommate asking me if I wanted two tickets to the Flyers-Rangers game. The only caveat was I had to drive from my home in Philadelphia all the way up to Hatboro to get them. It being quarter after 11 already, I didn't even hesitate, said yes, threw on some clothes and got in my car.
As I was driving to the pickup destination, I called my cousin to see what he was up to. He said he had a few things to do before I stopped him and asked if there was anything he absolutely had to do right away today, then followed up by asking if he wanted to go to the game. He said yes, and I told him to get his ass down to the Wells Fargo Center and I'd meet him there.
I made my pickup, sped back down 95 and met up with my cousin a good 20 minutes before the puck dropped, taking our seats in section 110, row 16.
Of course, the National Anthem was pretty much the best part of the game, thanks in part to some head-scratching officiating but mostly due to horrible discipline and laughable coverage by the Flyers in front of their own net, two common themes for the team lately.
The scoring got started after an absolutely bizarre set of circumstances. After a whistle, Stu Bickel and Tom Sestito got into a little bit. Bickel clearly was the one who engaged Sestito, even dropping his gloves first, and as the linesmen tried to break them up, the two of them were throwing punches over the top, nearly hitting the officials themselves. When it all shook out, somehow Sestito got two extra minutes, neither one got a fighting major, and the Rangers wound up with a power play, while both Sestito and Bickel picked up 10-minute game misconducts. All this despite the fact that Bickel started the whole thing.
It didn't make any sense. I saw it happen live. I watched the replay. And in no instance did I see any reason whatsoever why Sestito picked up an extra two minutes to give the Rangers the man advantage. And believe me, I'm always looking for reasons to blame Sestito for anything, because he is absolutely horrible at hockey. I honestly cannot understand why Peter Laviolette keeps this joker on his roster, even with James van Riemsdyk hurt. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and there's no one I hate seeing on the ice more for the Flyers than Sestito.
But honestly, Sestito didn't do anything to deserve the extra two, so naturally the Rangers scored on the ensuing power play on a goal from Ryan Callahan. It may have been one Sergei Bobrovsky could have stopped, but it didn't help that the referees gift-wrapped the Rangers a power play. Danny Briere clearly felt the same way, because he was summarily issued a 10-minute game misconduct himself following the goal. Briere was serving the penalty for Sestito, and when he left the box he rightfully gave it to the officials. Then he was sent off the ice for a while to contemplate just how horrible that call was.
From there, the Flyers picked it up after getting outworked early by the Rangers. Wayne Simmonds remained red hot, scoring an absolutely beautiful deflection goal past Henrik Lundqvist to tie it up. In my humble opinion, Simmonds and Brayden Schenn have been the best two Flyers for the past couple of weeks now, and Saturday was no different.
Of course, a few minutes after a pretty bad non-call on the Rangers, Andrej Meszaros hooked a Ranger to give New York another power play. On the ensuing power play, Matt Read went to the wrong man on a rush, leaving Marian Gaborik of all people all alone in front of the net, yet another dreadful coverage breakdown. Gaborik proceeded to execute an unstoppable deflection by Bobrovsky to give the Rangers the lead yet again.
It's something that has become commonplace for the Flyers of late — surrendering a goal shortly after they score one. It's made things nearly impossible for the Flyers, and it reared its ugly head all weekend long.
However, in the second period, the Flyers really did take it to the Rangers. They outshot them 18-7, they hit any Ranger that moved, and they controlled play. Yet the only time they could beat the great Hernik Lundqvist was when Simmonds sprung Claude Giroux on a breakaway. And even then, it was no slam dunk. Claude made an absolutely insane series of dekes, the type of moves that make most goaltenders look silly. Yet as Claude pulled the puck back to his forehand to slide it by the out-of-position goalie, Lundqvist reached back and made the initial stop before Claude rammed it home on the second effort.
I know that Claude scored anyway, but that first stop by Lundqvist was absolutely insane. I honestly don't think there's another goaltender alive who could have done what Lundqvist did there. Thankfully Claude stayed with it and tied the game, but before you knew it, there the Rangers were on yet another power play, reclaiming the lead on a slam-dunk goal by Callahan, his second. The guy was all alone, and Bob never stood a shot. Just like that, the ice cold New York power play tallied three times on the man advantage thanks to horrific breakdowns by the Flyers in front of the net, and the Rangers went to the third with the lead.
From there, things only got worse. Bob got left out to dry yet again on a goal by Artem Anisimov, and Ryan Callahan completed the hat trick to propel the Rangers past the Flyers for the fifth time in as many meetings this season. To add insult to injury, the referees again somehow managed to give a Flyer two extra minutes after a fight/scrum despite no evidence to support it. This time it was Zac Rinaldo, who picked up an extra 2 minutes for roughing after Brandon Dubinsky tripped him and the two fought. If you can explain to me how the hell the Flyers go down a man twice after pretty even scrums in one game, I'd love to hear it. Horrible officiating.
But the officiating had little to do with the Flyers' incredibly bad breakdowns in front of their own net, terrible turnovers and penchant for giving goals right back. That's all on them. Right now, they are incredibly soft in their own end. Matt Carle has developed a case of the yips and won't hit anyone. Not a single defenseman, from Kimmo to Coburn to Meszaros to Gustafsson to Bourdon, will even attempt to move a guy from the crease area or around it. Hell, they won't even touch a guy near there, oftentimes failing to even mark him. It's pathetic. And sad. Not one of them has even a little bit of Chris Pronger's nastiness in them, and it shows, to the detriment of the team.
The game just reinforced the difference between the two teams. The Rangers are everything the Flyers want to be but aren't because of their lack of discipline and soft nature right now. The Rangers play north-south hockey, get the puck deep, bang, forecheck hard and control the puck. They play sound defensive hockey, clog the lanes in the neutral zone and account for their man in the defensive zone. They block a ton of shots, and they have what the Flyers never have, a truly elite netminder who never is the reason his team loses. New York just doesn't beat itself, and that's why the Rangers have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Conversely, the Flyers are a mentally soft team that takes way too many penalties, too often tries to make the fancy pass instead of the easy play and cannot do seemingly anything right in their own zone these days. The power play is disjointed. The penalty kill is struggling and overworked. And when they need a big save, they don't get it. Right now, they're simply not a good enough hockey team to compete for the Stanley Cup, whereas the Rangers are. They're just too soft and too undisciplined.
Basically, the complete opposite of the Sixers and the Temple Owls. Because after a terrible showing yet again against the Rangers, I was at least treated to two dominant victories by the Sixers and Owls.
In another total team effort, the Sixers annihilated the Cavaliers in Cleveland 99-84. Six players scored in double digits in a nice rebound win, and the Sixers continued to manhandle the bad teams they face. They still may have some work to do to beat the likes of Miami, but the Sixers are clearly moving the right direction by laying waste to the teams they're supposed to beat.
Even more encouraging, however, was Temple's emphatic 85-72 win over Xavier at the Liacouras Center late Saturday night.
We all know that Xavier has struggled ever since the ugly brawl against Cincinnati. But the Musketeers are still the team with the most talent in the Atlantic 10, a team that was considered one of the best in country earlier this season. So any victory is impressive against Xavier, especially one as dominant as Temple's Saturday night.
Going against what was considered perhaps the best backcourt in the nation heading into the season, it was Temple's Ramone Moore and Khaliff Wyatt who one-upped the highly regarded Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons. Moore, the A-10's leading scorer, was the most dynamic player on the court, scoring a game-high 30 points on 9-16 from the field and 5-8 from three, while Wyatt, who is now second in the A-10 in scoring, put up 18. And while Holloway and Lyons combined for 38 points themselves, they shot a combined 11-30 from the field and could rarely find an easy basket.
On the inside, Michael Eric completely dominated Kenny Frease. Eric had 11 points, 16 rebounds and 1 emphatic block, while Frease was limited to 18 ineffective minutes, posting just 2 points and 1 rebound. Now the Owls have a firm grasp on the top spot in the very good A-10, and with Eric solidifying them inside, the Owls are going to be extremely tough come tournament time. At 19-5, leading the A-10 and having a huge victory over Duke, the Owls are pretty much a lock for the tourney, continuing Fran Dunphy's success since taking over for the legendary John Chaney.
To me, it's really a shame that Scootie Randall has been out all season with an injured knee. Given that he hasn't played all year and the rumors continue to ramp up that he's redshirting, it's a pretty safe bet to assume he won't be returning at all. I mean, we are in the middle of February. And that's a shame, because with a healthy Randall, this could be a team with the potential to be a darkhorse Final Four team. I know that may sound homerish, but Temple is a veteran team that doesn't turn the ball over, plays great defense and never gets rattled. The trio of Juan Fernandez, Ramone Moore and Khaliff Wyatt is a veteran group of ball-handlers and scorers. Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson is the guy who does all the little things, crashing the offensive boards, playing tough d and battling guys bigger than him. Michael Eric is a vastly improved offensive player who gives them a huge presence inside at both ends of the court with his return. Anthony Lee showed promise with Eric out and has continued to play well. And guys like Aaron Brown and even T.J. DeLeo have given Temple good minutes all season long. The only thing they're missing is a lockdown perimeter defender, and Scootie was that — not to mention a versatile offensive player that would give Temple yet another weapon.
Sadly, it looks like Scootie won't get that chance, and that's a shame. But even without him, this Temple team is good. They have a few bad losses, but they've more than made up for that with some very big wins and by taking control of the A-10.
And thank god for the Owls and Sixers on Saturday night, because after I got some work done at the office yesterday, I headed home to watch the Flyers take on the Red Wings.
I shouldn't have bothered. Because while it was an exciting game that featured two more goals by Brayden Schenn — did I mention that I thought he and Simmonds have been the best Flyers of late? — and a pretty exciting back-and-forth game, it ultimately ended much like the game on Saturday.
The Flyers lost 4-3, once again leaving Red Wings wide open in front of the net, once again getting burned by penalties and once again failing to build any momentum by giving goals right back after scoring one of their own. Like I said, this team just isn't good enough right now to compete for a Cup.
The good news is that talent-wise, they are right there with the likes of Detroit and New York. It showed by the way they've been in games against those teams. But they still make too many mistakes, have too many breakdowns, take too many penalties, where the better teams play smarter. They aren't physical enough in their own end, and they seem to lacking a lot of the mental toughness that was there as players were dropping like flies earlier in the year.
There's still time to turn it around, but right now the Flyers are soft. Thank goodness that's not the case with the Sixers and the Temple Owls.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Khalif Wyatt Earp and Scenes from the Upset
Wyatt Earp was known as one of the deadliest gunman of his day, a sharpshooter who became famous for his part in the Shootout at the O.K. Corral. Last night, it was another Wyatt doing the sharpshooting, as Temple's amply named Khalif Wyatt scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Owls to an improbable 78-73 upset victory over the top-five ranked Duke Blue Devils in Philadelphia.
And I was lucky enough to be there in the Wells Fargo Center to witness perhaps the biggest upset I've ever actually been at. It was glorious.
The thing that made the win so special was the fact that on paper, this game shouldn't have even been close. The Owls are down two starters in the injured Scootie Randall, who very well may redshirt, and center Michael Eric, leaving them not only undermanned, but extremely undersized. The two tallest players to take the court for Temple were 6'9" freshman Anthony Lee and 6'6" junior Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson. No chance the Owls could hold their own against on of the biggest Duke teams of recent memory thanks to a frontcourt led by the 6'10" Plumlee brothers and the versatile 6'11" Ryan Kelly. At least, that's what we thought.
Heading into the game, silver fox, Toonces and I all thought this was going to be a blowout in favor of the bad guys, and we pretty much braced ourselves for an unenjoyable evening. Adding to that frustration was the fact that a slew of people who apparently can't read kept trying to force their way into the wrong seats because they've apparently never been to a basketball game before. Idiots all around us were searching for seats, taking the wrong seats, standing up and blocking the court and generally being complete assholes. If you can't read a ticket and find your seat, you should not be allowed in the building, simple as that. It's not hard, unless you're a fucking moron. Last night, there were a lot of fucking morons.
To make matters worse, a crew of what looked like well-to-do businessmen sat next to us in our row … and got up all the damn time. Like, during game action, just nonchalantly got up or tried to force their way back to their seats while we were, you know, trying to watch the game. People like that should just stay the fuck home or at least have the courtesy to wait until there's a stoppage in play to make real fans who are actually watching the game get up.
I really hated those guys, though it could have been worse. A couple rows in front of us, an innocent old man got a good portion of beer spilled on him as a girl bit it walking up the steps and dropped a freshly poured brew. Glad I wasn't that guy, that's for sure.
Then when you combined all that with a large portion of blue spread around the arena, it made for what could have been an absolutely brutal night. Only the Owls wouldn't let it happen.
Right from the opening tip, you could see Temple wasn't going to back down, no matter how big and highly touted the Blue Devils were. Khalif Wyatt started hot, scoring 6 quick points, and Temple fought hard defensively to make Duke earn everything.
Before you could blink, Temple was playing the front-runner, and they never looked back.
I was stunned for a number of reasons, but mainly because of Duke's strategy. Given Temple's lack of size and Duke's big advantage inside, I expected the Blue Devils to pound the ball down low to Mason and Miles Plumlee, along with allowing Kelly to shoot over smaller players — forcing Temple to double and then kicking it out to shooters like Seth Curry, Andre Dawkins and Austin Rivers. Only Duke didn't really do that all that much. Yes, Anthony Lee and Jefferson did a tremendous job fronting and making entry passes difficult, but damn near every time one of the Plumlees got the ball inside, they scored. Temple simply had no answer, evident by Mason's 16-point, 13-rebound performance and Miles' remarkably efficient 8-11 shooting for 17 points.
And yet, Duke either didn't or couldn't consistently go inside, and Temple took advantage. Wyatt was out of this world shooting the ball, going 8-12 from the field, 3-5 from beyond the arc and putting in a couple daggers in the 2nd half when it looked like Duke may make its push. Ramone Moore efficiently worked off screens and got to the hoop, chipping in with 11 big points, a lot of which came when the red hot Wyatt was on the bench with 4 fouls. Hollis-Jefferson played perhaps the best game of his career, scoring 17 points on 7-10 from the field, 3-3 from the line and somehow managing 6 rebounds despite his height disadvantage.
It was just a total team effort, something Duke was lacking. Where Anthony Lee hit huge buckets and played sound defense, Ryan Kelly went MIA. Where Juan Fernandez, despite some turnover troubles, refused to force things and came up with some spectacular late-game passes, Seth Curry wilted from the spotlight. Where Aaron Brown hit clutch free throws (something the rest of the Owls didn't do) and gave hard-fought minutes guarding players nearly a foot taller, Andre Dawkins was nowhere to be found.
Even T.J. DiLeo, a player who always works hard but rarely stands out, came up with two huge steals, hounding defense and a spark when Fernandez was banged up or Wyatt was on the bench.
Here were the Owls, a collection of players who are unquestionably good but nowhere near McDonald's All-American talents, outworking and outplaying Duke, on national television no less, while the heralded Blue Devils seemed stunned.
The craziest thing was watching a player like Wyatt come out and shine, playing with the utmost confidence and absolutely no fear, while the much more highly touted and well-known Austin Rivers shrunk away. I have to tell you, I was actually really looking forward to see Rivers play in person. I've heard so much about him and have had several people tell me how otherworldly his skills are. Not last night. No, last night, Rivers was, quite frankly, awful, doing more complaining than executing.
He shot a miserable 3-11 from the field, had just 2 assists to 3 turnovers, and looked all-around unimpressive. I'm sure it was just a bad night, made worse by a clearly hungry and veteran Temple team hounding him all game. But I was absolutely underwhelmed and truthfully annoyed that Rivers was flopping and whining the same way Rakeem Christmas did when I saw him in person for the first time, almost as if he deserved more from the refs because he's Austin Rivers and he plays for Duke and, oh by the way, do you know who his dad is?
Very disappointing, yet not disappointing at all because I hate Duke so much.
That hatred certainly helped make the atmosphere that much greater. The Temple students were just itching to explode, and the Owls gave them plenty of reasons to. I was freaking out, yelling and jumping up and enjoying the excitement more than I have at a college basketball game in a long while. And you could just feel the electricity in the building.
As the game went on and Temple still maintained its lead, you could feel the place was ready to erupt. With more than two minutes left, the Temple students starting pushing forward anticipating the upset and preparing to storm the court — a little too prematurely to be honest given the talent and the shooting ability of Duke, but I can't blame them. I'd have done the same thing if I was them.
Thankfully, there was no Duke comeback, even though Temple missed entirely too many free throws down the stretch to leave the door open. They simply wouldn't let this one slip away. When the final buzzer went off, the students flocked on the hardwood and I took it all in. I was so incredibly pumped I even surprised myself, yelling at some Duke fans on our way back to subway, then out celebrating with drinks and late-night cheesesteaks while honoring the birthday boy Toonces.
It was an all-around awesome night. My two favorite things in college basketball are Temple winning and Duke losing. Last night, I got to witness them both happen in the same game thanks in large part to the sharpshooting of Khalif Wyatt and a relentless team effort by the Owls. It doesn't get much better than that.
Monday, December 19, 2011
A Beatdown, a Meltdown, a City Showdown and a Touchdown (Record)
This was one hell of an eventful weekend here in Philadelphia. Saturday was jam-packed with action, as the Flyers hosted the Bruins, Temple took on Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl in football while the basketball team headed to Austin to take on Texas, and Villanova traveled down Lancaster Avenue to St. Joe's for this year's rendition of the Holy War.
Then, the Eagles took on the Jets yesterday to try and keep their playoff hopes alive, and in between, Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies and Matt McGloin got punched out by teammate Curtis Drake and suffered a seizure.
After a relatively sports-free Friday night, I awoke on Saturday to a text message from my buddy at 10 a.m. that simply read, "Flyers/Bruins at 1. You in?" That might as well have been a rhetorical question, because of course I was in.
As I was waiting for my friend to get out of work and pick me up, I nabbed a couple hoagies from Slack's and got ready for a busy day of sports. Running a bit behind, we got to our seats just as the puck was being dropped … and literally as I plopped my ass into my seat, the Bruins scored the first of many goals in a 6-0 route.
Nothing was going right for the Flyers at all. They couldn't make a simple pass, couldn't defend whatsoever, couldn't really do anything. The only guy on the ice that looked remotely alive was Max Talbot.
Ilya Bryzgalov got hung out to dry on most of the four first-period goals he let in, though he also let in a huge softy by Zdeno Chara.
Chara, by the way, was an absolute force on the ice in his first game back in about a week. While the Flyers were missing their big defenseman, Chara showed up and dominated. He had a goal and an assist, both power play points, completely shut down any and all Flyers' chances, and also rabbit-punched Jody Shelley to death in a fight.
Now, even though Shelley clearly was bested by the enormous Chara, I'll take that trade 100 times out of 100. It's way more detrimental to the Bruins to lose Chara for five minutes than it is for the Flyers to lose Shelley for five minutes. Although that really wasn't the case here, as the Bruins scored almost immediately following that and forced the Flyers into perhaps the worst period of hockey they've played all season.
To make matters even worse, Sean Couturier took a Kimmo Timonen slap shot right off the head, dropped to the ice and laid motionless for a while. It was a frightening scene that added to the already worrisome head injuries sustained to Chris Pronger, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn.
Thankfully Couturier did get up and skate off under his own power, but he clearly didn't look right. He was taken to the hospital and stayed overnight, and he's currently listed as day to day. Hopefully he's OK. As I've said before, Couturier has become one of my favorite players on the team. In fact, I was just telling my friend on the way down to the arena that Couturier sort of reminds me of a young Rod Brind'Amour, minus the face-off dominance. He's incredibly responsible defensively, a tremendous penalty-killer, and while he doesn't have incredible speed or awe-inspiring puck-handling skills, you can see he has the scoring touch to development into a pretty decent goal scorer. Plus, he's only 19, so he's only going to get better.
Beyond wishing him a quick recovery, his injury also brings more concern over the PK. Without Giroux and Couturier, the Flyers are without two of their top four PK forwards — not exactly good for the team that leads the NHL in minor penalties.
We knew it was only a matter of time before the injuries would harm the Flyers at least for one game. Saturday, that was the case, and that first period was about as disastrous as it gets. With a few minutes left in the 2nd, as it became clear the Flyers really had nothing to generate a comeback and fell behind 5-0, we departed so we could watch the Temple action.
I checked in on Temple's bowl game and saw the Owls were trouncing Wyoming behind a big game by Bernard Pierce. Thus, I focused my attention on the basketball team's game in Texas. Early on, things were going well with Temple leading virtually the entire first half against a young Texas team. But then they let the Longhorns go on a run and tie it before Khaliff Wyatt hit a tough three at the buzzer to put Temple up 3 at half.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The Owls couldn't buy a buck and Texas got out in transition rather easily to pull away. To make matters worse, Juan Fernandez limped off the court after getting tangled up. Ugly all around, though not as ugly as the what I was seeing on Twitter — that Penn State wide receiver Curtis Drake punched out his quarterback Matt McGloin in the locker room after practice and that McGloin suffered a seizure.
Not good. At all. The football program clearly could have done without this as the Nittany Lions prepare for their Jan. 2 bowl match-up with Houston given all the turmoil this season. Damn.
That was a pretty bad start to Saturday, but good news was sprinkled in. Beyond Temple winning its bowl game, news also circulated the Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies, keeping him in the only professional uniform he's ever worn for at least three more years.
Then, we were all given a tightly contested first half between Villanova and St. Joe's before the Hawks trounced Nova in the second half behind the shooting of Langston Galloway and Carl Jones, and especially the shot-blocking of C.J. Aiken.
Aiken, who had four blocks Saturday night, leads the nation in blocks, averaging an insane 4.7 blocks per game. This is fascinating to me. I had the opportunity to watch Aiken play a few times in high school for Plymouth Whitemarsh. He was clearly a very good player and used his size and length to block shots, but I never thought he'd turn into the premier shot-blocker in the nation in college. Yet that's exactly what he's become this year, absolutely owning the paint and altering shots.
On Saturday, you could see the Wildcats were hesitant to challenge Aiken inside. The sophomore, who set a St. Joe's freshman record for blocks last year, was in Nova's head all night long, and he was a big reason the Hawks blew away the Cats in the second half.
It's clear that St. Joe's is the real deal and will be among the A-10's best teams, on par with Temple and St. Louis behind Xavier. And this game showed that right now, Villanova is at best the third best team in the city.
Yesterday was a little less crazy, though plenty exciting. The Redskins went out and upset the Giants pretty easily, giving the Eagles' slim playoff hopes a boost. Then the Eagles went out and trounced the Jets at the Linc despite their best efforts to allow New York back in the game.
After going up 28-0 behind a defensive touchdown and an interception by Asante Samuel, the Eagles started their own turnover brigade to put the Jets back in it. But it didn't matter. LeSean McCoy continued his MVP-type season, scoring three touchdowns and gaining 102 yards to break the franchise record for single-season touchdowns and rushing touchdowns, passing Steven Van Buren for both.
McCoy has 20 touchdowns on the season, 17 on the ground, setting new franchise marks. The man is incredible.
Brent Celek also had a huge game, hauling in five catches for 156 yards and a score.
But even more impressive than the offense in this 45-19 win was again the defense. Suddenly, the Birds don't look as horrid on that side of the ball as they have for most of the year.
The Eagles held the Jets to just 241 yards of offense, forced four turnovers and got the off field on third down time and time again. Jason Babin had three sacks. The secondary looked really good. And Casey Matthews even had a nice game, flying all over the field and making plays. It was crazy, almost like these guys care about playing defense all the sudden.
Even more crazy, the Eagles really are alive for the playoffs despite this whirlwind of a season, though they still need help. First and foremost, the Birds have to win their remaining two games, next week at Dallas and home against the Skins on New Year's Day. Then the Jets have to beat the Giants next week, followed by the Giants beating the Cowboys in week 17. Still a lot that has to happen, and probably still unlikely, but certainly not impossible. Unreal.
Watch this be the dumb year where the Eagles back in and then win the whole damn thing. Wouldn't that piss off everyone after a steady chorus of "Fire Andy!"?
I can't even believe this team has even a remote chance at the postseason, yet here were are. Crazy.
Then, the Eagles took on the Jets yesterday to try and keep their playoff hopes alive, and in between, Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies and Matt McGloin got punched out by teammate Curtis Drake and suffered a seizure.
After a relatively sports-free Friday night, I awoke on Saturday to a text message from my buddy at 10 a.m. that simply read, "Flyers/Bruins at 1. You in?" That might as well have been a rhetorical question, because of course I was in.
As I was waiting for my friend to get out of work and pick me up, I nabbed a couple hoagies from Slack's and got ready for a busy day of sports. Running a bit behind, we got to our seats just as the puck was being dropped … and literally as I plopped my ass into my seat, the Bruins scored the first of many goals in a 6-0 route.
Nothing was going right for the Flyers at all. They couldn't make a simple pass, couldn't defend whatsoever, couldn't really do anything. The only guy on the ice that looked remotely alive was Max Talbot.
Ilya Bryzgalov got hung out to dry on most of the four first-period goals he let in, though he also let in a huge softy by Zdeno Chara.
Chara, by the way, was an absolute force on the ice in his first game back in about a week. While the Flyers were missing their big defenseman, Chara showed up and dominated. He had a goal and an assist, both power play points, completely shut down any and all Flyers' chances, and also rabbit-punched Jody Shelley to death in a fight.
Now, even though Shelley clearly was bested by the enormous Chara, I'll take that trade 100 times out of 100. It's way more detrimental to the Bruins to lose Chara for five minutes than it is for the Flyers to lose Shelley for five minutes. Although that really wasn't the case here, as the Bruins scored almost immediately following that and forced the Flyers into perhaps the worst period of hockey they've played all season.
To make matters even worse, Sean Couturier took a Kimmo Timonen slap shot right off the head, dropped to the ice and laid motionless for a while. It was a frightening scene that added to the already worrisome head injuries sustained to Chris Pronger, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn.
Thankfully Couturier did get up and skate off under his own power, but he clearly didn't look right. He was taken to the hospital and stayed overnight, and he's currently listed as day to day. Hopefully he's OK. As I've said before, Couturier has become one of my favorite players on the team. In fact, I was just telling my friend on the way down to the arena that Couturier sort of reminds me of a young Rod Brind'Amour, minus the face-off dominance. He's incredibly responsible defensively, a tremendous penalty-killer, and while he doesn't have incredible speed or awe-inspiring puck-handling skills, you can see he has the scoring touch to development into a pretty decent goal scorer. Plus, he's only 19, so he's only going to get better.
Beyond wishing him a quick recovery, his injury also brings more concern over the PK. Without Giroux and Couturier, the Flyers are without two of their top four PK forwards — not exactly good for the team that leads the NHL in minor penalties.
We knew it was only a matter of time before the injuries would harm the Flyers at least for one game. Saturday, that was the case, and that first period was about as disastrous as it gets. With a few minutes left in the 2nd, as it became clear the Flyers really had nothing to generate a comeback and fell behind 5-0, we departed so we could watch the Temple action.
I checked in on Temple's bowl game and saw the Owls were trouncing Wyoming behind a big game by Bernard Pierce. Thus, I focused my attention on the basketball team's game in Texas. Early on, things were going well with Temple leading virtually the entire first half against a young Texas team. But then they let the Longhorns go on a run and tie it before Khaliff Wyatt hit a tough three at the buzzer to put Temple up 3 at half.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The Owls couldn't buy a buck and Texas got out in transition rather easily to pull away. To make matters worse, Juan Fernandez limped off the court after getting tangled up. Ugly all around, though not as ugly as the what I was seeing on Twitter — that Penn State wide receiver Curtis Drake punched out his quarterback Matt McGloin in the locker room after practice and that McGloin suffered a seizure.
Not good. At all. The football program clearly could have done without this as the Nittany Lions prepare for their Jan. 2 bowl match-up with Houston given all the turmoil this season. Damn.
That was a pretty bad start to Saturday, but good news was sprinkled in. Beyond Temple winning its bowl game, news also circulated the Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies, keeping him in the only professional uniform he's ever worn for at least three more years.
Then, we were all given a tightly contested first half between Villanova and St. Joe's before the Hawks trounced Nova in the second half behind the shooting of Langston Galloway and Carl Jones, and especially the shot-blocking of C.J. Aiken.
Aiken, who had four blocks Saturday night, leads the nation in blocks, averaging an insane 4.7 blocks per game. This is fascinating to me. I had the opportunity to watch Aiken play a few times in high school for Plymouth Whitemarsh. He was clearly a very good player and used his size and length to block shots, but I never thought he'd turn into the premier shot-blocker in the nation in college. Yet that's exactly what he's become this year, absolutely owning the paint and altering shots.
On Saturday, you could see the Wildcats were hesitant to challenge Aiken inside. The sophomore, who set a St. Joe's freshman record for blocks last year, was in Nova's head all night long, and he was a big reason the Hawks blew away the Cats in the second half.
It's clear that St. Joe's is the real deal and will be among the A-10's best teams, on par with Temple and St. Louis behind Xavier. And this game showed that right now, Villanova is at best the third best team in the city.
Yesterday was a little less crazy, though plenty exciting. The Redskins went out and upset the Giants pretty easily, giving the Eagles' slim playoff hopes a boost. Then the Eagles went out and trounced the Jets at the Linc despite their best efforts to allow New York back in the game.
After going up 28-0 behind a defensive touchdown and an interception by Asante Samuel, the Eagles started their own turnover brigade to put the Jets back in it. But it didn't matter. LeSean McCoy continued his MVP-type season, scoring three touchdowns and gaining 102 yards to break the franchise record for single-season touchdowns and rushing touchdowns, passing Steven Van Buren for both.
McCoy has 20 touchdowns on the season, 17 on the ground, setting new franchise marks. The man is incredible.
Brent Celek also had a huge game, hauling in five catches for 156 yards and a score.
But even more impressive than the offense in this 45-19 win was again the defense. Suddenly, the Birds don't look as horrid on that side of the ball as they have for most of the year.
The Eagles held the Jets to just 241 yards of offense, forced four turnovers and got the off field on third down time and time again. Jason Babin had three sacks. The secondary looked really good. And Casey Matthews even had a nice game, flying all over the field and making plays. It was crazy, almost like these guys care about playing defense all the sudden.
Even more crazy, the Eagles really are alive for the playoffs despite this whirlwind of a season, though they still need help. First and foremost, the Birds have to win their remaining two games, next week at Dallas and home against the Skins on New Year's Day. Then the Jets have to beat the Giants next week, followed by the Giants beating the Cowboys in week 17. Still a lot that has to happen, and probably still unlikely, but certainly not impossible. Unreal.
Watch this be the dumb year where the Eagles back in and then win the whole damn thing. Wouldn't that piss off everyone after a steady chorus of "Fire Andy!"?
I can't even believe this team has even a remote chance at the postseason, yet here were are. Crazy.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Bill Clement and Fran Dunphy Must Bring Back the Stache
As the Temple-Villanova game got underway at the Liacouras Center Saturday evening, there was an air that something or someone was missing. Gone were Temple mainstay Lavoy Allen - off to pursue his NBA dream after graduating and being drafted in the second round by his hometown 76ers - and Villanova's Coreys, Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher - all players who excelled for four years in the Big 5.
But that couldn't quite be it. We already knew that Allen, Stokes, Fisher and Antonio Pena for that matter had moved on. Perhaps it was the absence of Temple's Michael Eric and Scootie Randall, two key players for the Owls who are expected to be even bigger contributors than they already were this season.
That's not quite it either, because again, we knew those two would be out going in. No, the biggest thing missing in this Big 5 battle was without question was the most famous mustache in Big 5 history. Fran Dunphy, just like Bill Clement, just does not look right sans stache.
I know Dunph shaved his mustache in honor of Dionte Christmas, but it's time to grow that sucker back. Same for you, Mr. Clement.
Some people just are meant to have mustaches, and Bill Clement and Fran Dunphy are two of those people. They look ridiculous without their patented facial hair, and frankly it's disconcerting looking at them with a completely clean-shaved face. Fix this, pronto.
As for the game itself, it was everything you expect from a Big 5 clash between the two teams that have historically owned college basketball supremacy in Philadelphia. Villanova battled hard and stayed with Temple throughout the majority of the game behind tremendous play from Mouphtaou Yarou inside and Maalik Wayns on the perimeter, as the game went on the see-saw. Unfortunately for Nova, Wayns and Yarou got little help.
I keep waiting for Dominic Cheek to break out and be the Kerry Kittle-type player he was expected to become. He has all the tools. He came in as a heralded shooter. And he works hard defensively to cause trouble. But the consistency just hasn't been there for the junior as of yet, and with a cast of underclassmen behind him and fellow juniors Yarou and Wayns, Villanova needs Cheek to be at his best on a nightly basis. He wasn't Saturday, while his counterpart was fantastic.
In the end, the much more veteran Temple team was able to outlast and eventually put the Wildcats at arm's length because Ramone Moore exploded offensively while the role players did all the dirty work.
Moore was simply unstoppable, taking command of the Owls and asserting himself as the leader from the opening tip on. He scored a game-high 32 points, attacked the rim at every opportunity - evidenced by his 15 free throw attempts (of which he made 14) - and set the tone for the Owls. His teammates followed suit, as Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson had an outstanding game on the boards, hauling in 14 rebounds and creating a ton of second chances for Temple, and Khaliff Wyatt did what he does, chipping in with 13 big points.
Further, freshman Anthony Lee fought hard in the absence of Eric, grabbing 9 boards himself and giving Temple some much-needed size when he was in there. All that led to the 78-67 win even with Juan Fernandez struggling from the field. Though even as Fernandez was being outshined by Wayns, he played under control, limited his turnovers to 2 and made sure Moore kept getting the ball.
Basically, it was a clinic of a veteran team using its experience to put away a younger, error-prone squad. When Randall and Eric get back, the Owls are only going to get better. With all that talent coming back, even with Allen gone, the Owls are going to be formidable all year long.
As for Nova, you can see Jay Wright struggling to find a way to get his young team to mesh this season. For the first time, the reigns have been completely turned over to Wayns, Yarou and Cheek now that Fisher and Stokes are gone. With no seniors to speak of contributing, it may take a little while for the Wildcats to find their way.
In all likelihood, they're probably a year away. This season will have its ups and downs for Nova, but with Wayns, Yarou and Cheek being seniors next year, this talented freshman class getting a season under its belt and another talented crew coming in for Wright, the 2012-13 season could be big for Villanova. This year, the team still has a ways to go, as Temple just proved. And with St. Joe's defeating Creighton over the weekend, Villanova may actually be the third best team in the Big 5 this season.
All that still is yet to be determined. But what has been officially determined is that Fran Dunphy and Bill Clement must grow their mustaches back for the sake of our eyes.
But that couldn't quite be it. We already knew that Allen, Stokes, Fisher and Antonio Pena for that matter had moved on. Perhaps it was the absence of Temple's Michael Eric and Scootie Randall, two key players for the Owls who are expected to be even bigger contributors than they already were this season.
That's not quite it either, because again, we knew those two would be out going in. No, the biggest thing missing in this Big 5 battle was without question was the most famous mustache in Big 5 history. Fran Dunphy, just like Bill Clement, just does not look right sans stache.
I know Dunph shaved his mustache in honor of Dionte Christmas, but it's time to grow that sucker back. Same for you, Mr. Clement.
Some people just are meant to have mustaches, and Bill Clement and Fran Dunphy are two of those people. They look ridiculous without their patented facial hair, and frankly it's disconcerting looking at them with a completely clean-shaved face. Fix this, pronto.
As for the game itself, it was everything you expect from a Big 5 clash between the two teams that have historically owned college basketball supremacy in Philadelphia. Villanova battled hard and stayed with Temple throughout the majority of the game behind tremendous play from Mouphtaou Yarou inside and Maalik Wayns on the perimeter, as the game went on the see-saw. Unfortunately for Nova, Wayns and Yarou got little help.
I keep waiting for Dominic Cheek to break out and be the Kerry Kittle-type player he was expected to become. He has all the tools. He came in as a heralded shooter. And he works hard defensively to cause trouble. But the consistency just hasn't been there for the junior as of yet, and with a cast of underclassmen behind him and fellow juniors Yarou and Wayns, Villanova needs Cheek to be at his best on a nightly basis. He wasn't Saturday, while his counterpart was fantastic.
In the end, the much more veteran Temple team was able to outlast and eventually put the Wildcats at arm's length because Ramone Moore exploded offensively while the role players did all the dirty work.
Moore was simply unstoppable, taking command of the Owls and asserting himself as the leader from the opening tip on. He scored a game-high 32 points, attacked the rim at every opportunity - evidenced by his 15 free throw attempts (of which he made 14) - and set the tone for the Owls. His teammates followed suit, as Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson had an outstanding game on the boards, hauling in 14 rebounds and creating a ton of second chances for Temple, and Khaliff Wyatt did what he does, chipping in with 13 big points.
Further, freshman Anthony Lee fought hard in the absence of Eric, grabbing 9 boards himself and giving Temple some much-needed size when he was in there. All that led to the 78-67 win even with Juan Fernandez struggling from the field. Though even as Fernandez was being outshined by Wayns, he played under control, limited his turnovers to 2 and made sure Moore kept getting the ball.
Basically, it was a clinic of a veteran team using its experience to put away a younger, error-prone squad. When Randall and Eric get back, the Owls are only going to get better. With all that talent coming back, even with Allen gone, the Owls are going to be formidable all year long.
As for Nova, you can see Jay Wright struggling to find a way to get his young team to mesh this season. For the first time, the reigns have been completely turned over to Wayns, Yarou and Cheek now that Fisher and Stokes are gone. With no seniors to speak of contributing, it may take a little while for the Wildcats to find their way.
In all likelihood, they're probably a year away. This season will have its ups and downs for Nova, but with Wayns, Yarou and Cheek being seniors next year, this talented freshman class getting a season under its belt and another talented crew coming in for Wright, the 2012-13 season could be big for Villanova. This year, the team still has a ways to go, as Temple just proved. And with St. Joe's defeating Creighton over the weekend, Villanova may actually be the third best team in the Big 5 this season.
All that still is yet to be determined. But what has been officially determined is that Fran Dunphy and Bill Clement must grow their mustaches back for the sake of our eyes.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Juan!
Wow. What an unreal game and awesome day. Talor Battle is the man. I feel bad for him. But Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez were just a little too much for Penn State to handle.
It's the most wonderful time of the year.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The College Basketball Fantasy Draft (and Other Notes)
Way back when in late 2009, Ed, Kenny and company invited me to partake in the first ever college football fantasy draft (also seen here).
Well, being the innovators that they are, it was only a matter of time before that process was going to expand. So this year, they invited me to participate in the greatest college basketball fantasy draft of all-time. Please go check it out. It was a blast.
Thanks to the generosity of Ed, I'm going to post it here as well below, but first there a few things from over the weekend (and last night) that I want to get off my chest.
First and foremost, I want to congratulate my alma mater on making the NCAA Tournament. A couple weeks ago, I lambasted the Penn State athletic department for not even contacting Steven Lavin when he wanted the Penn State job, and last week, I congratulated Talor Battle on an outstanding college career despite never having made the NCAA Tournament and looking like he never would. I stand by those statements regarding the athletic department, but I'll be damned, this team would not be denied. Talor Battle and Jeff Brooks and David Jackson weren't going out like that. They had to make the NCAA Tournament, if for no other reason than to reward Battle for one of the quietest great college careers of all time.
So they took care of Indiana, squeaked out an ugly win over Wisconsin, and then won going away over Michigan State, getting all the way to the Big Ten Tournament Final before succumbing to No. 1 seed Ohio State.
As much as I've been despondent toward Ed DeChellis and the overall losing attitude of this program during my lifetime, I was ecstatic the same way I was when they won the NIT two year ago. This is my alma mater after all.
But then it was all brought back down to earth on Selection Sunday. Why? Because finally after years of being absent from the tournament, Penn State finally made it … only to be matched up with Temple, my favorite college basketball team period. Unreal. My alma mater finally makes the tourney and I can't even all-out root for them. Unbelievable. I'm a Temple die-hard. And a Penn State grad. And the god damn committee matched them up in the first round. I hate it. I hate it so very much.
I'm not going to lie, I'll be rooting for Temple. I just follow this team so damn much. As the 7th seed, they're supposed to win. But I admit, I won't be terribly upset if Penn State, the 10 seed, wins. Talor Battle will be the best player on the floor, and that means your team always has a shot to win. But my cousin put it nicely: He said it will be Temple's revenge for football for the last 60 years.
I picked Temple, and I expect them to win, but this should be a great game. It's certainly the one I'm most anticipating, for good reasons and bad, on Thursday and the one I'll have my eyes glued to. In a way, I guess I can't lose, because I'd love to see Temple make a run, but I'd also like to see Talor Battle get his due. But I still would have preferred that these two teams be matched up with anybody else so I could put my full support behind both.
Secondly, I want to congratulate Ville Leino for his first career hat trick Saturday.
It's more proof that the guy should shoot the puck more, because he's damn good at it.
At the same time, I'd like to absolutely destroy Kris Versteeg.
Versteeg is a really good player. He's going to play a major role for the Flyers in the playoffs and going forward next season. But since he's come over to Philadelphia, the team has struggled. That isn't an indictment on Versteeg, but he hasn't played particularly well himself in that span. Yes, he's shown flashes and is beginning to really develop great chemistry with Mike Richards, but he hasn't lit the world on fire.
But on Saturday night, he singlehandedly coughed up the game and cost the Flyers a point and the win. With the Flyers protecting a two-goal lead with three minutes left to play, Versteeg took an absolutely horrendous interference penalty in the offensive zone. Versteeg was upset and it didn't seem all that intentional, but it was hardly an accident either. Versteeg had his head up, he could see where he was going and where Bryan Little was, yet he made no attempt to get out of the way. Thus he got called for a penalty, in the offensive zone, while protecting the lead. It was an awful, stupid, incredibly dumb penalty, and of course the Thrashers scored on the ensuing power play to make it a 4-3 game.
Then, with less than a minute to play, he made the single worst pass in the history of hockey. Instead of clearing the puck out of his own defensive zone or reversing it off the boards hard, Versteeg tried to play it behind the net to his defenseman, only he made a horrible pass, which hit the side of the net and came out the other side to his former Blackhawks teammate Andrew Ladd, who deposited it into the net to tie the game. Of course the Flyers then lost in overtime.
Now listen, the Flyers gave up four goals in the third period and blew a 3-0 lead, which is inexcusable for a team. But Versteeg's two plays were the worst of them all, so bad that I think he should be scratched for a week for those horrendous plays. He won't because he's too valuable and too good, but the reason I say he should be scratched is because those plays were losing hockey plays. They were dumb. Egregiously dumb. An interference penalty in your offensive zone while up two? And perhaps the worst turnover I've ever seen with 45 seconds left to allow Atlanta to tie the game. He directly cost the Flyers that game and that valuable point, and it's not like he's played so great that he deserves to get a pass. He doesn't. That type of shit may fly in Toronto, but not on the East's leading team.
I know Laviolette won't do it, but I'd sit him tonight against Florida and maybe even Thursday against Atlanta and let Nodl or Zherdev play. This team is struggling at the wrong time, and benching Versteeg could be a wake-up call. I know it won't happen, and it probably shouldn't. But I was so fucking mad at him that I want it to happen. That was the worst 3 minutes of hockey by one player I've ever seen. Ever.
And note to the Sixers, please stop letting Andre Iguodala take the last shot. Please. Listen, Iggy went off last night and actually gave the Sixers the lead late with some terrific individual plays on both offense and defense. But when the game was tied and the ball in his hands for one final chance to win it, everyone in the world knew he was going to miss. And he did, and the Sixers lost to the Jazz in overtime.
Iggy is a really, really good player who is having a very good season, and he was the sole reason the Sixers gook that late lead. But please, just put the ball in anyone else's hands for the final shot. Please.
That is all. Now, on to the draft:
On the eve of this thing called March Madness, there's always a need to reflect. We've watched documentaries of the Running Rebels of UNLV and the Fab Five of Michigan over the course of the weekend. We've seen the absurdity of the current 2011 NCAA tournament bracket, and we can remember when the old folks preached the gospel about the legends of yesteryear. So usually when we start reminiscing about the glory of years past, there's only one logical conclusion...
...we've got to do a fantasy draft.
Six guys, one conference call, and an hour and a half of shenanigans later, we came up with this...the first-ever ETSF college basketball fantasy draft.
You might remember we did this back in 2009 for college football, so this is nothing new for us over here. Meet the six GMs and where you can find them:
Philadelphia's own Rev. Paul Revere - House That Glanville Built
Chi-Town's Bryan Crawford - SLAM's From the 'Go Blog
Mr. Durham, Joe Simmons - Bull City State of Mind
The Ohio Player, Sean Walton - The Fresh Xpress
The Bearded One from Dallas, Kenny Masenda - ETSF
Oklahoma's Finest, Eddie Maisonet - ETSF
Rules are simple...
1. Players selected must have played no earlier than the 1990-91 season.
2. Teams must have a starting lineup (PG, SG, SF, PF, C) and 5 bench players
3. Snake draft implementation (first to last, last to first)
4. Trash talking is not only encouraged, but mandatory.
You ready? Let's rock. One favor...take notes and keep tabs on what's going on. We might need you to pick a winner.
Round 1
The Rev - Christian Laettner, Duke
Bryan Crawford - Kevin Durant, Texas
Eddie Maisonet - Tim Duncan, Wake Forest
Kenny Masenda - Larry Johnson, UNLV
Joe Simmons - Ed Cota, UNC
Sean Walton - Allen Iverson, Georgetown
Kenny's Pick: Larry Johnson
"On the surface, this pick seemed like it was easy, but it was pretty tough. I had C-Webb, Ed Cota, and Iverson on my board. I could have gone with any of them for a number of reasons, but when it was all said and done, I went with the first grown man I remember seeing in March Madness. Larry Johnson was a man amongst boys, an intimidator, and one of the best teammates you could ever have. It doesn't hurt that he's also Texas Made, and that he was multi-dimensional for the Runnin' Rebels."
Joe's Pick: Ed Cota
Never in my life have I ever seen a man with the ability to lead and still maintain his flash the way “Easy” Ed Cota was able to lead the Tarheels. The man played in three Final Fours in four years. Cota gets overlooked because he made it look too easy. See Ed did have talent around him most years, but his ability to make it work is what separated him from the rest. He possessed an array of behind-the-back passes, no-look passes, and he had the uncanny ability to fit the ball into places that the ball should not fit.
Regardless of the talent around him, Cota had the ability to make players around him look better. One of the things about Cota that real basketball fans could appreciate was the bigger the game, the better he played. Ask Wojo down at Duke about that as he probably still has nightmares about trying to guard Ed Cota for four years.
Round Two
Walton - Shaquille O'Neal, LSU
Simmons - Chris Webber, Michigan
Masenda - Jerry Stackhouse, UNC
Maisonet - Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
Crawford - Chris Jackson, LSU
The Rev - Marcus Camby, UMass
Ed's Observation: The majority of us went with bigs here. Ken and Crawford went with Stackhouse, who was MEAN at UNC, and Chris Jackson was simply a monster in the backcourt.
Round Three
The Rev - Jameer Nelson, St. Joseph's
Crawford - Rasheed Wallace, UNC
Maisonet - Grant Hill, Duke
Masenda - TJ Ford, Texas
Simmons - Stephen Curry, Davidson
Walton - Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse
Bryan's Pick: Rasheed Wallace
When it comes to basketball, Rasheed Wallace has pretty much been cold his whole life. He averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks while playing just 19 minutes a game as a senior in high school, and once he got to North Carolina, it was over. Not only was he the heart and soul of the Tarheels, but he had the grown man game. If you didn't see 'Sheed play in college, just ask around... Roscoe was that dude.
Round Four
Walton - JJ Redick, Duke
Simmons - Jamal Mashburn, Kentucky
Masenda - Antawn Jamison, UNC
Maisonet - Mike Bibby, Arizona
Crawford - Ray Allen, UConn
The Rev - Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati
Ed's Pick: Mike Bibby
While some folks profess their love for the Michigan Fab Five, the UNLV Running Rebels, or the Flintstones from Michigan State, my favorite team growing up will always be the 1996-97 Arizona Wildcats. They had the sharpshooter Michael Dickerson, one of the greatest 6th-men of all time in Jason Terry, and they had a team full of light-skinnededness. From AJ Bramlett, to Bennett Davidson, to the legend that is Miles Simon, the killer on that squad was none other than Mike Bibby. Bibby's handle was serious, his court vision was superb, and his range went from Tucson to Yuma. Team Dime was legit, and I'll never forget what #10 did for Lute Olsen.
Round Five
The Rev - Eddie Jones, Temple
Crawford - Emeka Okafor, UConn
Maisonet - Corliss Williamson, Arkansas
Masenda - Glenn Robinson, Purdue
Simmons - Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown
Walton - Robert "Tractor" Traylor, Michigan
The Rev's pick: Eddie Jones
If you are looking for a complete college basketball guard, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than Temple's Eddie Jones. The man could certainly get buckets, averaging 16 points per game for his college career and 19.2 en route to the 1994 A-10 Player of the Year award. But he was also a defensive star. He was the prototypical John Chaney guard: tall, lanky and defensive minded. Eddie averaged 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocks for his career. He led Temple in rebounding once and blocks twice … as a guard. And he, along with Aaron McKie and Rick Brunson, led John Chaney to his deepest NCAA Tournament run ever, going all the way to the Elite Eight.
Round Six
Walton - Trajan Langdon, Duke
Simmons - Tyler Hansbrough, UNC
Masenda - Jim Jackson, Ohio State
Maisonet - Steve Francis, Maryland
Crawford - Penny Hardaway, Memphis State
The Rev - Jason Kidd, Cal
Bryan's pick: Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway
Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway made being a 6-7 PG popular when he was at Memphis State University. Sure, Jalen Rose brought swagger and attitude to the position while at the University of Michigan, but Hardaway was easily the more complete and polished player of the two. He could shoot it, he could pass and he could flat-out score the basketball. Really, there wasn't a whole lot that he couldn't do out on the floor. Plus, he had a really cool nickname. What's not to like?
Round Seven
Rev - Ed O'Bannon, UCLA
Crawford - Juwan Howard, Michigan
Maisonet - Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State
Masenda - Baron Davis, UCLA
Simmons - Randolph Childress, Wake Forest
Walton - Jason Williams, Duke
Joe's Pick: Randolph Childress
There was no doubt that Randolph Childress was an underdog player during his career at Wake Forest. Randolph carried a team for two years that had nothing to offer. Randolph was a marksman, a sharpshooter who never seemed to shy away from the big shot. In an era of ACC supremacy and legendary players, no small guy has ever stood as tall as Randolph Childress did during his tenure at Wake Forest.
In his junior year everything changed for Randolph. Enter Tim Duncan. A scrawny, average built, big man from Nassau, Bahamas came to the Demon Deacons and changed everything for Randolph Childress as he no longer had to carry the team by himself. His collegiate highlight came in 1995, when he delivered one of the most outstanding ACC Tournament performances of all time. Named tournament MVP, Childress carried the Demon Deacons to the ACC Tournament Title. Childress averaged 35.7 points and seven assists per game. In the finals, against a UNC team featuring Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, Childress scored 37 points with seven assists and hit a game-winning jumper with four seconds left in overtime (not to mention the play that no real basketball fan will ever forget).
Round Eight
Walton - Dikembe Mutombo, Georgetown
Simmons - Stacey Augmon, UNLV
Masenda - Dwyane Wade, Marquette
Maisonet - Richard Hamilton, UConn
Crawford - Alphonso Ford, Miss. Valley State
The Rev - Kerry Kittles, Villanova
The Rev's Pick: Kerry Kittles
The accolades say it all: two-time All-American (first-team as a senior, second-team as a junior), 1995 Big East Player of the Year, three-time All Big East First Teamer, and the Villanova career leader in points (2,243) and steals (277). He holds the single-season steal record at Nova with 87 in 1994, and he averaged 18.4 points for his college career. Even more importantly, Kerry Kittles and Jason Lawson were the sole reasons that I took any notice to Nova as a Philadelphia youth. Temple was my Philly squad, but Kittles was too incredible to ignore: the high socks, the immense athleticism, the lethal shooting and scoring, and just like Eddie, an elite thief.
Round Nine
The Rev - Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Crawford - Al Horford, Florida
Maisonet - Keith Van Horn, Utah
Masenda - Joakim Noah, Florida
Simmons - Miles Simon, Arizona
Walton - Julius Peppers, UNC
Ed's Pick: Keith Van Horn
Look, there's nothing wrong with being the Great White Hype. Usually, if you were considered the GWH, then you were pretty damn good. We saw it when we were little with Christian Laettner and we saw it when we were grown with Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick. However, what Keith Van Horn did at Utah was downright heroic. Known for his game-winning shots, offensive exploits, and that sleepy-eyed face, dude was a killer. Plus, reaching that 1998 National Championship Game didn't hurt his resume, either.
Round Ten
Walton - Wally Szczerbiak, Miami (OH)
Simmons - Kenny Anderson, Georgia Tech
Masenda - John Wallace, Syracuse
Maisonet - Greg Oden, Ohio State
Crawford - Shelden Williams, Duke
The Rev - Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
Ed's Observations: If you're still reading this far down, God bless you.
Coaches
The Rev - John Chaney, Temple
Crawford - Rick Pitino, Kentucky/Louisville
Maisonet - Lute Olsen, Arizona
Masenda - John Thompson, Georgetown
Simmons - Nolan Richardson, Arkansas
Walton - Bob Huggins, Cincinnati/West Virginia
Ed's Observations: Can't go wrong with any of these coaches, no love for Coach K though? Hate hate hate hate hate...
Arena
Rev - The Palestra (Philly Big 5)
Crawford - The Pit (New Mexico)
Maisonet - Pauley Pavillion (UCLA)
Masenda - Phog Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)
Simmons - Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke)
Walton - Madison Square Garden (New York, primarily St. John's)
Ed's Observations: Need to get these arenas on my bucket list...immediately.
11th Man (Because who couldn't use one more pick?)
Walton - Nick Van Exel, Cincinnati
Simmons - Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia
Masenda - Jalen Rose, Michigan
Maisonet - Ron Artest, St. John's
Crawford - Brandon Roy, Washington
Rev - Lynn Greer, Temple
Ken's Pick: Jalen Rose
Originally, I had Raymond Felton, but after realizing I had no members of the most influential force in my lifetime of watching college basketball, I had to get Jalen Rose. Rose was a key part of those Fab Five teams; he played hard, he played with attitude, and he always let you know he was in the building. The man wasn't afraid of a thing, and he had his moments when he was the best player on the floor for the Fab Five, which is saying a lot, considering the players he played with.
Here is the final breakout of selections...
To summarize, my team is as follows:
PG: Jameer Nelson
SG: Eddie Jones
SF: Kerry Kittles
PF: Christian Laettner
C: Marcus Camby
Bench: Kenyon Martin
Bench: Jason Kidd
Bench: Ed O'Bannon
Bench: Michael Beasley
Bench: Calbert Cheaney
Coach: John Chaney
Arena: The Palestra
11th Man: Lynn Greer
Well, being the innovators that they are, it was only a matter of time before that process was going to expand. So this year, they invited me to participate in the greatest college basketball fantasy draft of all-time. Please go check it out. It was a blast.
Thanks to the generosity of Ed, I'm going to post it here as well below, but first there a few things from over the weekend (and last night) that I want to get off my chest.
First and foremost, I want to congratulate my alma mater on making the NCAA Tournament. A couple weeks ago, I lambasted the Penn State athletic department for not even contacting Steven Lavin when he wanted the Penn State job, and last week, I congratulated Talor Battle on an outstanding college career despite never having made the NCAA Tournament and looking like he never would. I stand by those statements regarding the athletic department, but I'll be damned, this team would not be denied. Talor Battle and Jeff Brooks and David Jackson weren't going out like that. They had to make the NCAA Tournament, if for no other reason than to reward Battle for one of the quietest great college careers of all time.
So they took care of Indiana, squeaked out an ugly win over Wisconsin, and then won going away over Michigan State, getting all the way to the Big Ten Tournament Final before succumbing to No. 1 seed Ohio State.
As much as I've been despondent toward Ed DeChellis and the overall losing attitude of this program during my lifetime, I was ecstatic the same way I was when they won the NIT two year ago. This is my alma mater after all.
But then it was all brought back down to earth on Selection Sunday. Why? Because finally after years of being absent from the tournament, Penn State finally made it … only to be matched up with Temple, my favorite college basketball team period. Unreal. My alma mater finally makes the tourney and I can't even all-out root for them. Unbelievable. I'm a Temple die-hard. And a Penn State grad. And the god damn committee matched them up in the first round. I hate it. I hate it so very much.
I'm not going to lie, I'll be rooting for Temple. I just follow this team so damn much. As the 7th seed, they're supposed to win. But I admit, I won't be terribly upset if Penn State, the 10 seed, wins. Talor Battle will be the best player on the floor, and that means your team always has a shot to win. But my cousin put it nicely: He said it will be Temple's revenge for football for the last 60 years.
I picked Temple, and I expect them to win, but this should be a great game. It's certainly the one I'm most anticipating, for good reasons and bad, on Thursday and the one I'll have my eyes glued to. In a way, I guess I can't lose, because I'd love to see Temple make a run, but I'd also like to see Talor Battle get his due. But I still would have preferred that these two teams be matched up with anybody else so I could put my full support behind both.
Secondly, I want to congratulate Ville Leino for his first career hat trick Saturday.
It's more proof that the guy should shoot the puck more, because he's damn good at it.
At the same time, I'd like to absolutely destroy Kris Versteeg.
Versteeg is a really good player. He's going to play a major role for the Flyers in the playoffs and going forward next season. But since he's come over to Philadelphia, the team has struggled. That isn't an indictment on Versteeg, but he hasn't played particularly well himself in that span. Yes, he's shown flashes and is beginning to really develop great chemistry with Mike Richards, but he hasn't lit the world on fire.
But on Saturday night, he singlehandedly coughed up the game and cost the Flyers a point and the win. With the Flyers protecting a two-goal lead with three minutes left to play, Versteeg took an absolutely horrendous interference penalty in the offensive zone. Versteeg was upset and it didn't seem all that intentional, but it was hardly an accident either. Versteeg had his head up, he could see where he was going and where Bryan Little was, yet he made no attempt to get out of the way. Thus he got called for a penalty, in the offensive zone, while protecting the lead. It was an awful, stupid, incredibly dumb penalty, and of course the Thrashers scored on the ensuing power play to make it a 4-3 game.
Then, with less than a minute to play, he made the single worst pass in the history of hockey. Instead of clearing the puck out of his own defensive zone or reversing it off the boards hard, Versteeg tried to play it behind the net to his defenseman, only he made a horrible pass, which hit the side of the net and came out the other side to his former Blackhawks teammate Andrew Ladd, who deposited it into the net to tie the game. Of course the Flyers then lost in overtime.
Now listen, the Flyers gave up four goals in the third period and blew a 3-0 lead, which is inexcusable for a team. But Versteeg's two plays were the worst of them all, so bad that I think he should be scratched for a week for those horrendous plays. He won't because he's too valuable and too good, but the reason I say he should be scratched is because those plays were losing hockey plays. They were dumb. Egregiously dumb. An interference penalty in your offensive zone while up two? And perhaps the worst turnover I've ever seen with 45 seconds left to allow Atlanta to tie the game. He directly cost the Flyers that game and that valuable point, and it's not like he's played so great that he deserves to get a pass. He doesn't. That type of shit may fly in Toronto, but not on the East's leading team.
I know Laviolette won't do it, but I'd sit him tonight against Florida and maybe even Thursday against Atlanta and let Nodl or Zherdev play. This team is struggling at the wrong time, and benching Versteeg could be a wake-up call. I know it won't happen, and it probably shouldn't. But I was so fucking mad at him that I want it to happen. That was the worst 3 minutes of hockey by one player I've ever seen. Ever.
And note to the Sixers, please stop letting Andre Iguodala take the last shot. Please. Listen, Iggy went off last night and actually gave the Sixers the lead late with some terrific individual plays on both offense and defense. But when the game was tied and the ball in his hands for one final chance to win it, everyone in the world knew he was going to miss. And he did, and the Sixers lost to the Jazz in overtime.
Iggy is a really, really good player who is having a very good season, and he was the sole reason the Sixers gook that late lead. But please, just put the ball in anyone else's hands for the final shot. Please.
That is all. Now, on to the draft:
On the eve of this thing called March Madness, there's always a need to reflect. We've watched documentaries of the Running Rebels of UNLV and the Fab Five of Michigan over the course of the weekend. We've seen the absurdity of the current 2011 NCAA tournament bracket, and we can remember when the old folks preached the gospel about the legends of yesteryear. So usually when we start reminiscing about the glory of years past, there's only one logical conclusion...
...we've got to do a fantasy draft.
Six guys, one conference call, and an hour and a half of shenanigans later, we came up with this...the first-ever ETSF college basketball fantasy draft.
You might remember we did this back in 2009 for college football, so this is nothing new for us over here. Meet the six GMs and where you can find them:
Philadelphia's own Rev. Paul Revere - House That Glanville Built
Chi-Town's Bryan Crawford - SLAM's From the 'Go Blog
Mr. Durham, Joe Simmons - Bull City State of Mind
The Ohio Player, Sean Walton - The Fresh Xpress
The Bearded One from Dallas, Kenny Masenda - ETSF
Oklahoma's Finest, Eddie Maisonet - ETSF
Rules are simple...
1. Players selected must have played no earlier than the 1990-91 season.
2. Teams must have a starting lineup (PG, SG, SF, PF, C) and 5 bench players
3. Snake draft implementation (first to last, last to first)
4. Trash talking is not only encouraged, but mandatory.
You ready? Let's rock. One favor...take notes and keep tabs on what's going on. We might need you to pick a winner.
Round 1
The Rev - Christian Laettner, Duke
Bryan Crawford - Kevin Durant, Texas
Eddie Maisonet - Tim Duncan, Wake Forest
Kenny Masenda - Larry Johnson, UNLV
Joe Simmons - Ed Cota, UNC
Sean Walton - Allen Iverson, Georgetown
Kenny's Pick: Larry Johnson
"On the surface, this pick seemed like it was easy, but it was pretty tough. I had C-Webb, Ed Cota, and Iverson on my board. I could have gone with any of them for a number of reasons, but when it was all said and done, I went with the first grown man I remember seeing in March Madness. Larry Johnson was a man amongst boys, an intimidator, and one of the best teammates you could ever have. It doesn't hurt that he's also Texas Made, and that he was multi-dimensional for the Runnin' Rebels."
Joe's Pick: Ed Cota
Never in my life have I ever seen a man with the ability to lead and still maintain his flash the way “Easy” Ed Cota was able to lead the Tarheels. The man played in three Final Fours in four years. Cota gets overlooked because he made it look too easy. See Ed did have talent around him most years, but his ability to make it work is what separated him from the rest. He possessed an array of behind-the-back passes, no-look passes, and he had the uncanny ability to fit the ball into places that the ball should not fit.
Regardless of the talent around him, Cota had the ability to make players around him look better. One of the things about Cota that real basketball fans could appreciate was the bigger the game, the better he played. Ask Wojo down at Duke about that as he probably still has nightmares about trying to guard Ed Cota for four years.
Round Two
Walton - Shaquille O'Neal, LSU
Simmons - Chris Webber, Michigan
Masenda - Jerry Stackhouse, UNC
Maisonet - Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
Crawford - Chris Jackson, LSU
The Rev - Marcus Camby, UMass
Ed's Observation: The majority of us went with bigs here. Ken and Crawford went with Stackhouse, who was MEAN at UNC, and Chris Jackson was simply a monster in the backcourt.
Round Three
The Rev - Jameer Nelson, St. Joseph's
Crawford - Rasheed Wallace, UNC
Maisonet - Grant Hill, Duke
Masenda - TJ Ford, Texas
Simmons - Stephen Curry, Davidson
Walton - Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse
Bryan's Pick: Rasheed Wallace
When it comes to basketball, Rasheed Wallace has pretty much been cold his whole life. He averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks while playing just 19 minutes a game as a senior in high school, and once he got to North Carolina, it was over. Not only was he the heart and soul of the Tarheels, but he had the grown man game. If you didn't see 'Sheed play in college, just ask around... Roscoe was that dude.
Round Four
Walton - JJ Redick, Duke
Simmons - Jamal Mashburn, Kentucky
Masenda - Antawn Jamison, UNC
Maisonet - Mike Bibby, Arizona
Crawford - Ray Allen, UConn
The Rev - Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati
Ed's Pick: Mike Bibby
While some folks profess their love for the Michigan Fab Five, the UNLV Running Rebels, or the Flintstones from Michigan State, my favorite team growing up will always be the 1996-97 Arizona Wildcats. They had the sharpshooter Michael Dickerson, one of the greatest 6th-men of all time in Jason Terry, and they had a team full of light-skinnededness. From AJ Bramlett, to Bennett Davidson, to the legend that is Miles Simon, the killer on that squad was none other than Mike Bibby. Bibby's handle was serious, his court vision was superb, and his range went from Tucson to Yuma. Team Dime was legit, and I'll never forget what #10 did for Lute Olsen.
Round Five
The Rev - Eddie Jones, Temple
Crawford - Emeka Okafor, UConn
Maisonet - Corliss Williamson, Arkansas
Masenda - Glenn Robinson, Purdue
Simmons - Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown
Walton - Robert "Tractor" Traylor, Michigan
The Rev's pick: Eddie Jones
If you are looking for a complete college basketball guard, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than Temple's Eddie Jones. The man could certainly get buckets, averaging 16 points per game for his college career and 19.2 en route to the 1994 A-10 Player of the Year award. But he was also a defensive star. He was the prototypical John Chaney guard: tall, lanky and defensive minded. Eddie averaged 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocks for his career. He led Temple in rebounding once and blocks twice … as a guard. And he, along with Aaron McKie and Rick Brunson, led John Chaney to his deepest NCAA Tournament run ever, going all the way to the Elite Eight.
Round Six
Walton - Trajan Langdon, Duke
Simmons - Tyler Hansbrough, UNC
Masenda - Jim Jackson, Ohio State
Maisonet - Steve Francis, Maryland
Crawford - Penny Hardaway, Memphis State
The Rev - Jason Kidd, Cal
Bryan's pick: Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway
Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway made being a 6-7 PG popular when he was at Memphis State University. Sure, Jalen Rose brought swagger and attitude to the position while at the University of Michigan, but Hardaway was easily the more complete and polished player of the two. He could shoot it, he could pass and he could flat-out score the basketball. Really, there wasn't a whole lot that he couldn't do out on the floor. Plus, he had a really cool nickname. What's not to like?
Round Seven
Rev - Ed O'Bannon, UCLA
Crawford - Juwan Howard, Michigan
Maisonet - Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State
Masenda - Baron Davis, UCLA
Simmons - Randolph Childress, Wake Forest
Walton - Jason Williams, Duke
Joe's Pick: Randolph Childress
There was no doubt that Randolph Childress was an underdog player during his career at Wake Forest. Randolph carried a team for two years that had nothing to offer. Randolph was a marksman, a sharpshooter who never seemed to shy away from the big shot. In an era of ACC supremacy and legendary players, no small guy has ever stood as tall as Randolph Childress did during his tenure at Wake Forest.
In his junior year everything changed for Randolph. Enter Tim Duncan. A scrawny, average built, big man from Nassau, Bahamas came to the Demon Deacons and changed everything for Randolph Childress as he no longer had to carry the team by himself. His collegiate highlight came in 1995, when he delivered one of the most outstanding ACC Tournament performances of all time. Named tournament MVP, Childress carried the Demon Deacons to the ACC Tournament Title. Childress averaged 35.7 points and seven assists per game. In the finals, against a UNC team featuring Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, Childress scored 37 points with seven assists and hit a game-winning jumper with four seconds left in overtime (not to mention the play that no real basketball fan will ever forget).
Round Eight
Walton - Dikembe Mutombo, Georgetown
Simmons - Stacey Augmon, UNLV
Masenda - Dwyane Wade, Marquette
Maisonet - Richard Hamilton, UConn
Crawford - Alphonso Ford, Miss. Valley State
The Rev - Kerry Kittles, Villanova
The Rev's Pick: Kerry Kittles
The accolades say it all: two-time All-American (first-team as a senior, second-team as a junior), 1995 Big East Player of the Year, three-time All Big East First Teamer, and the Villanova career leader in points (2,243) and steals (277). He holds the single-season steal record at Nova with 87 in 1994, and he averaged 18.4 points for his college career. Even more importantly, Kerry Kittles and Jason Lawson were the sole reasons that I took any notice to Nova as a Philadelphia youth. Temple was my Philly squad, but Kittles was too incredible to ignore: the high socks, the immense athleticism, the lethal shooting and scoring, and just like Eddie, an elite thief.
Round Nine
The Rev - Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Crawford - Al Horford, Florida
Maisonet - Keith Van Horn, Utah
Masenda - Joakim Noah, Florida
Simmons - Miles Simon, Arizona
Walton - Julius Peppers, UNC
Ed's Pick: Keith Van Horn
Look, there's nothing wrong with being the Great White Hype. Usually, if you were considered the GWH, then you were pretty damn good. We saw it when we were little with Christian Laettner and we saw it when we were grown with Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick. However, what Keith Van Horn did at Utah was downright heroic. Known for his game-winning shots, offensive exploits, and that sleepy-eyed face, dude was a killer. Plus, reaching that 1998 National Championship Game didn't hurt his resume, either.
Round Ten
Walton - Wally Szczerbiak, Miami (OH)
Simmons - Kenny Anderson, Georgia Tech
Masenda - John Wallace, Syracuse
Maisonet - Greg Oden, Ohio State
Crawford - Shelden Williams, Duke
The Rev - Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
Ed's Observations: If you're still reading this far down, God bless you.
Coaches
The Rev - John Chaney, Temple
Crawford - Rick Pitino, Kentucky/Louisville
Maisonet - Lute Olsen, Arizona
Masenda - John Thompson, Georgetown
Simmons - Nolan Richardson, Arkansas
Walton - Bob Huggins, Cincinnati/West Virginia
Ed's Observations: Can't go wrong with any of these coaches, no love for Coach K though? Hate hate hate hate hate...
Arena
Rev - The Palestra (Philly Big 5)
Crawford - The Pit (New Mexico)
Maisonet - Pauley Pavillion (UCLA)
Masenda - Phog Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)
Simmons - Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke)
Walton - Madison Square Garden (New York, primarily St. John's)
Ed's Observations: Need to get these arenas on my bucket list...immediately.
11th Man (Because who couldn't use one more pick?)
Walton - Nick Van Exel, Cincinnati
Simmons - Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia
Masenda - Jalen Rose, Michigan
Maisonet - Ron Artest, St. John's
Crawford - Brandon Roy, Washington
Rev - Lynn Greer, Temple
Ken's Pick: Jalen Rose
Originally, I had Raymond Felton, but after realizing I had no members of the most influential force in my lifetime of watching college basketball, I had to get Jalen Rose. Rose was a key part of those Fab Five teams; he played hard, he played with attitude, and he always let you know he was in the building. The man wasn't afraid of a thing, and he had his moments when he was the best player on the floor for the Fab Five, which is saying a lot, considering the players he played with.
Here is the final breakout of selections...
To summarize, my team is as follows:
PG: Jameer Nelson
SG: Eddie Jones
SF: Kerry Kittles
PF: Christian Laettner
C: Marcus Camby
Bench: Kenyon Martin
Bench: Jason Kidd
Bench: Ed O'Bannon
Bench: Michael Beasley
Bench: Calbert Cheaney
Coach: John Chaney
Arena: The Palestra
11th Man: Lynn Greer
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Frustrations of Playing at Duke, and Other College Basketball Business
Going into a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, you expect a little favoritism for the Blue Devils. It's something everyone knows and expects will happen. Over the years, especially since the turn of the millennium, you just expect Duke to get the benefit of the doubt on the calls.
When your favorite team is playing at Duke, you know that going in. But it sure as shit doesn't make it any easier to watch.
Let me get this disclaimer out of the way: Temple didn't have much of a shot at beating the No. 1 Blue Devils last night. With two starters on the shelf — Michael Eric done for the year and Scootie Randall out indefinitely — the Owls were undermanned and outclassed. It would take a perfect game even with Eric and Randall in tow to win at Duke. Even with an impressive first half defensively, you just knew it was only a matter of time before Duke would turn it on. They're the number 1 team in the country for a reason, and with or without the benefit of the doubt from the referees, they were going to beat Temple, most likely pulling away in doing so. That's exactly what they did, blowing out the Owls in the second half to win 78-61.
Now that that's out of the way, let me explain to you why everyone else on the planet hates Duke, and no, it's not simply because they're jealous of Coach K's success. I admit, that's part of it, but it's far from the whole story. After all, traditional power such as Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina and Kentucky are far less universally disliked. The main reason? No matter against who, what, where or when — but especially at Cameron Indoor — Duke gets the benefit of the doubt on calls. All the damn time. And what makes that so fucking frustrating is that Duke doesn't need that help. The Blue Devils are so damn good already, the last thing they need is help from the refs. But that doesn't stop the referees from playing favorites, whether they do it consciously or not.
The first half of last night's game was agonizing to watch. Even though Temple played Duke incredibly close in the first 20 minutes, it was almost more frustrating to watch than the second half.
There were at least 5 or 6 fouls called on Temple in the first half alone that were nowhere near fouls. On one, Rahlir Jefferson was called for a reach or block or something on Kyle Singler when he didn't even touch him for a second. If anything, maybe a foul could have been called on a reach in by Aaron Brown, but the replay showed Brown didn't touch Singler either. Didn't matter. Two shots.
That type of shit was happening the entire first half. Ramone Moore picked up two quick fouls. Ditto Juan Fernandez, who ended the first half with three fouls. And that put an already undermanned and less talented Temple team even further behind.
On the other end, things weren't much better. Several times, T.J. DiLeo — who I admit is mostly worthless — got bulled over, clear charges. Had a Dukie flopped the way DiLeo did, it's an automatic charge on the opposition. DiLeo didn't draw a call once.
And most frustrating of all, there were at least 5 times where a Duke player just camped out in the lane, yet the Blue Devils weren't called for a single three-second violation. On one, I swear to god — as did Arkansas Fred — that Singler was in the lane for 8 seconds. I was screaming at the television for a damn three-second violation. Nothing.
And that's why people hate Duke so much. Beyond the smugness of their fans and the hateable faces of their players and coach …
… they just always seem to get the calls. And they don't need them. They're good enough on their own. That's what makes me and everyone else hate them so damn much.
But like I said, that had minimal impact on the outcome. It's just incredibly annoying. Duke is simply a far better team than the Owls, who are certainly no pushovers. Kyle Singler was outstanding, scoring a game-high 28 points, and he got enough help from his teammates to keep Temple honest.
The Owls really only had two guys show up to play. Rahlir Jefferson carried Temple in the first half, scoring 10 points and making great decisions with the basketball. But he was silent in the second half, scoring only one more point the entire way. Still, he was around the ball and finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.
Unfortunately, his only other help came in the form of Lavoy Allen, who quietly was the best player on the court not named Singler. Lavoy, who has had a fairly underwhelming season overall, was outstanding last night. He scored a team-high 17 points — second only to Singler's 28 — and added 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Hell, he even made 3 three-points in 4 attempts after having only two made threes all season going in.
Sadly, those were the only two Owls to show up. Their leading scorer, Ramone Moore, got in foul trouble early and never got into the flow. He had just 8 points and shot just 3-7 from the field. Khalif Wyatt couldn't provide the offensive spark he's grown accustomed to, going just 2-9 from the floor and netting only 6 points. And Juan Fernandez continued to be missing in action, as he has all season long.
The fuck you forget how to play basketball?
Coming off a breakout sophomore season last year when he averaged 12.6 points while shooting 43 percent from the field, 45 percent from three and 85 percent from the line and won the A-10 tournament Most Outstanding Player, Fernandez was expected to take the next step and be this team's leader in the backcourt. Instead, Juan has regressed to an alarming degree. This season, he's scoring just 10 points a game. He's shooting a career-worst 35 percent from the field and career-worst 30 percent form three, and his free throw percentage has dipped to 76 percent. Last night, he was an abysmal 2-10. Somewhere along the way, his confidence disappeared. He no longer makes the brilliant passes we saw the past two seasons, no longer shoots with confidence, no longer trusts his game.
If he doesn't step his game up, especially with Scootie Randall on the shelf, Temple won't have much of a chance defending their A-10 title in the tournament. The Owls need him to be the tough foe everyone's come to expect in both the A-10 and NCAA tournaments. Let's hope he can find his game and get back to the player he was last season.
In other NCAA basketball news, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on Villanova, Penn State and North Carolina as well.
As we all know, Nova is struggling quite a bit right now. They've lost three of their last five games — one at Rutgers and two at home — and are just 5-5 in their last 10. Oh, and things aren't getting any easier for them to wrap up the regular season. Their last three games are against No. 23 St. John's, at No. 9 Notre Dame and at No. 4 Pitt. Basically, the Wildcats are in a little bit of trouble.
Not "going to miss the tournament" trouble, obviously — Villanova is 21-7 after all and ranked 15th in the nation — but trouble in terms of the Big East Tournament for sure. Right now, Nova is 9-6 in the conference, tied with Cincinnati for 7th. They're already on a skid, and they could very easily lose their last three games to finish at .500 in the Big East and miss out on a bye altogether. And unless they can find a way to make a deep run in the conference tournament, they won't be heading into the NCAA tourney with much confidence or a very favorable seed. So these final three games — all of them incredibly tough — are vital.
To be honest, I think one of the reasons Nova has struggled so much recently traces back to coach Jay Wright. Wright is unquestionably an outstanding coach and recruiter. He took a Villanova program that was on life support and has turned it into a national power. Just two seasons ago, he led the Wildcats to the Final Four, and he's churning out NBA players left and right. But this season, I think Wright has made some crucial coaching errors, magnified during this rough stretch.
For one thing, Wright has been tinkering with his lineup all season long and took much, much longer than usual to get his starting lineup set. That hasn't been his M.O. over his career at Nova. Typically, he finds his starting five early in the season and sticks with it. But this year — in part due to injury (and the year-long absence of top recruit JayVaughn Pinskton certainly hasn't helped) — we've seen so many different starting lineups that's it's hard to discern who is a starter and who is not at times. Of late, he's been going with a big lineup: Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes (when he's been healthy), Mouphtaou Yarou, Isaiah Armwood and Antonio Pena. That's far from the Nova way, when we've grown accustomed to three- and even four-guard lineups: Mike Nardi, Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye, Allen Ray, Scottie Reynolds, Dwayne Anderson, Fisher, et al. For a while, that was the case, with Maalik Wayns starting in place of Armwood, giving Nova the three guards it's grown accustomed to. And while Wayns has certainly struggled with turnovers and ill-advised shots at times, the Wildcats were playing much better basketball with him in the starting lineup than with him coming off the bench.
Then you look at some of Wright's in-game strategy of late and it has you scratching your head. In the epic collapse at Rutgers, his end-of-game coaching was laughable, something I never thought I'd say about Jay Wright. The Scarlet Knights started to catch fire from three late in that game, to the point where the last thing you wanted was for Rutgers to be in position to tie or win the game with a three. So after Corey Fisher missed a critical free throw late that would have made it a four-point game and practically iced it, the only smart thing to do was to foul Rutgers and make it a free-throw shooting contest the rest of the game. That way, Rutgers couldn't tie the game with a three, and chances are Nova would come out on top as the superior foul-shooting team.
I know there's a debate about playing defense and fouling with a three-point lead at end-of-game situations, but the reason I say fouling was the only smart thing to do is simple: Villanova is the best free-throw shooting team in the Big East, shooting 76.2 percent as a team. To prove it was the way to go even more, Rutgers is a really bad foul-shooting team, shooting just 66.7 percent on the season, and they were lighting it up from three. You make it a foul-shooting contest, and more than likely Villanova escapes a scare against a horrible team and gets a W. Instead, Wright didn't play the percentages, and disaster struck:
Yes, it was Corey Fisher who missed a critical free throw and then "fouled" (seriously, I still don't think he touched him) a three-point shooter to suffer the four-point play loss, but Wright also failed to put his players in the best position to win following that miss by Fisher. It wasn't one of his better moments, and that inexplicable loss really started this slide over the past 5 games.
After that, they lost to a really good Pitt team at the Pavilion by just three. That was followed by Nova struggling to outlast a bad Seton Hall team, winning by just three themselves, and they barely escaped DePaul with a two-point win, needing overtime to defeat the last-place team in the Big East.
Then there was Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. In an important game against Syracuse, a game that was critical in determining seeding for the Big East Tournament, specifically the coveted four spot for a double bye, Jay Wright thought it would be a good idea to throw a freshman that missed the majority of the first half of the season in for the final four minutes with his team trailing in a tight contest. Yeah, instead of going with Maalik Wayns or Dominic Cheek, two more proven, seasoned players and one in particular in Wayns who has come up big late in games for Nova, Wright rode with James Bell, a guy who had played a total of 19 games and had only played 2 minutes to that point on the night.
I was screaming at my television, asking why Bell was in at such a critical juncture, and even more livid when he played the entire rest of the way. In that time, Bell missed two free throws, turned the ball over and missed a meaningless three with time winding down. He didn't help Nova at all. Yet he was in the game, and I was baffled.
It turns out that Wayns was suffering back spasms, that's why he wasn't in. But still, why not go with a guy like Cheek, someone who has been in some wars, even though he admittedly was struggling with his shot too? I'd still feel more comfortable with a sophomore who has played in a lot of big games at Nova than a freshman that has played very little.
So here we are with Villanova faltering as the season winds down. It would be tough to expect Nova to be as good as last year after losing a first-team All American in Scottie Reynolds and important contributors like Reggie Redding and even Taylor King, not to mention the unexpected season-long suspension of Pinkston. But it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to expect Villanova to be playing its best and vying for Big East supremacy by this time of the year. That hasn't happened, and things are only going to be tougher from here on out.
Then there is my alma mater, Penn State. As recently as Saturday, I heard Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas all proclaim that Penn State is an NCAA Tournament team. Those guys seem to be under the impression that with three more teams added this year, every major conference will get pretty much every decent team in. This makes absolutely no sense, because there are only three teams being added, not a dozen. The pundits don't seem to grasp that. Any smart person who understands simple math does. And any smart person, despite some people proclaiming there are still crucial road tests for the Nittany Lions, knows Penn State is nowhere near a tournament team.
Does that mean Penn State is the embarrassment that it has been for more than a decade and mostly has been under the incompetent Ed DeChellis? No. Much like the Penn State team that won the NIT in 2009, the 2010-11 Lions are tough and far from a pushover. They've beaten Michigan St., Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota at home, lost by just three at Ohio St. and just one at Purdue, and defeated a Duquesne squad that is fourth in the A-10. But that doesn't make them a tournament-worthy team, especially when you look at the full body of work.
For starters, Penn State is just 14-12 overall. They are a game under .500 in the conference, sitting at 7-8, and they have only one road victory all season long. Read that again: Penn State has just one road victory the entire season, and that came at Indiana, a team that is 12-16 on the season and tied for last in the Big Ten with Iowa at 3-12. And in their road games, they've lost seven by double digits. I'm sorry, but if you can't win any games of consequence on the road whatsoever, you don't deserve to be dancing even a little bit.
Then you factor in some of the losses. This team lost at home to Maine. Maine, for christ's sake, an American East team. And they lost that game by 10 points. They lost by 13 at Mississippi, got blown out by 23 at home against Maryland, lost by 10 at Virginia Tech, got rolled at home by 15 against Purdue. They lost twice to Michigan. And they offset their wins at home against Illinois, Michigan St. and Wisconsin by getting destroyed on the road against those teams in the rematches. This month, Penn State lost by 17 at Illinios, 19 at Michigan State and 10 at Wisconsin. How, exactly, is this a tournament team?
Even if they somehow miraculously beat Ohio State next Tuesday, this team's résumé simply isn't good enough — at least not without a deep run in the Big Ten tournament. And frankly, I don't see either of those two things happening. Hell, they may not even beat Northwestern or Minnesota, two of their final three opponents. Both games are on the road, after all.
Talor Battle is a really, really good player. And some of the younger guys are showing promise and playing hard. This team is far from a laughingstock. But they're not a tournament team either. They just aren't.
However, the Tar Heels are. After a dismal 2009-10 season and a shaky start this year, North Carolina has quietly had a very nice season. UNC is 21-6 overall and just a game behind Duke in the ACC, sitting at 11-2 in conference play. They've won 9 of their last 10 games, with the only loss coming at Duke — and that was a close game the entire way, losing by six when it was all said and done.
The way things are going, the regular-season finale in Chapel Hill against Duke could determine the ACC title. Fresh off a 12-point win at NC State, UNC has just Maryland and Florida State (who they beat by 20) before the clash with Duke. And unlike Villanova, Carolina is playing its best basketball of the season right now.
Harrison Barnes has played the second half of the season like he was expected to play the entire season. Kendall Marshall has been outstanding since being inserted to the starting lineup. And Tyler Zeller and John Henson give the Tar Heels two of the better interior players in the nation. This team rebounds, plays smart and gets contributions from just about everyone. They aren't as loaded as the title teams Roy Williams has coached, but they're getting there.
While I still think they're a year away from being elite, they're getting better every game and could make a deep run in the tournament. It's rare that North Carolina flies under the radar, but with the dominance of Duke in the ACC combined with a bit of a down year for the conference — not to mention everyone's love affair with the Big East — that's exactly what's been happening for Carolina this year. The Tar Heels are quietly having a very impressive season, and the nation will begin to take notice in March.
Hopefully, it begins with a statement victory against Duke to wrap up the regular season. Thank god that game won't be in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
When your favorite team is playing at Duke, you know that going in. But it sure as shit doesn't make it any easier to watch.
Let me get this disclaimer out of the way: Temple didn't have much of a shot at beating the No. 1 Blue Devils last night. With two starters on the shelf — Michael Eric done for the year and Scootie Randall out indefinitely — the Owls were undermanned and outclassed. It would take a perfect game even with Eric and Randall in tow to win at Duke. Even with an impressive first half defensively, you just knew it was only a matter of time before Duke would turn it on. They're the number 1 team in the country for a reason, and with or without the benefit of the doubt from the referees, they were going to beat Temple, most likely pulling away in doing so. That's exactly what they did, blowing out the Owls in the second half to win 78-61.
Now that that's out of the way, let me explain to you why everyone else on the planet hates Duke, and no, it's not simply because they're jealous of Coach K's success. I admit, that's part of it, but it's far from the whole story. After all, traditional power such as Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina and Kentucky are far less universally disliked. The main reason? No matter against who, what, where or when — but especially at Cameron Indoor — Duke gets the benefit of the doubt on calls. All the damn time. And what makes that so fucking frustrating is that Duke doesn't need that help. The Blue Devils are so damn good already, the last thing they need is help from the refs. But that doesn't stop the referees from playing favorites, whether they do it consciously or not.
The first half of last night's game was agonizing to watch. Even though Temple played Duke incredibly close in the first 20 minutes, it was almost more frustrating to watch than the second half.
There were at least 5 or 6 fouls called on Temple in the first half alone that were nowhere near fouls. On one, Rahlir Jefferson was called for a reach or block or something on Kyle Singler when he didn't even touch him for a second. If anything, maybe a foul could have been called on a reach in by Aaron Brown, but the replay showed Brown didn't touch Singler either. Didn't matter. Two shots.
That type of shit was happening the entire first half. Ramone Moore picked up two quick fouls. Ditto Juan Fernandez, who ended the first half with three fouls. And that put an already undermanned and less talented Temple team even further behind.
On the other end, things weren't much better. Several times, T.J. DiLeo — who I admit is mostly worthless — got bulled over, clear charges. Had a Dukie flopped the way DiLeo did, it's an automatic charge on the opposition. DiLeo didn't draw a call once.
And most frustrating of all, there were at least 5 times where a Duke player just camped out in the lane, yet the Blue Devils weren't called for a single three-second violation. On one, I swear to god — as did Arkansas Fred — that Singler was in the lane for 8 seconds. I was screaming at the television for a damn three-second violation. Nothing.
And that's why people hate Duke so much. Beyond the smugness of their fans and the hateable faces of their players and coach …
… they just always seem to get the calls. And they don't need them. They're good enough on their own. That's what makes me and everyone else hate them so damn much.
But like I said, that had minimal impact on the outcome. It's just incredibly annoying. Duke is simply a far better team than the Owls, who are certainly no pushovers. Kyle Singler was outstanding, scoring a game-high 28 points, and he got enough help from his teammates to keep Temple honest.
The Owls really only had two guys show up to play. Rahlir Jefferson carried Temple in the first half, scoring 10 points and making great decisions with the basketball. But he was silent in the second half, scoring only one more point the entire way. Still, he was around the ball and finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.
Unfortunately, his only other help came in the form of Lavoy Allen, who quietly was the best player on the court not named Singler. Lavoy, who has had a fairly underwhelming season overall, was outstanding last night. He scored a team-high 17 points — second only to Singler's 28 — and added 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Hell, he even made 3 three-points in 4 attempts after having only two made threes all season going in.
Sadly, those were the only two Owls to show up. Their leading scorer, Ramone Moore, got in foul trouble early and never got into the flow. He had just 8 points and shot just 3-7 from the field. Khalif Wyatt couldn't provide the offensive spark he's grown accustomed to, going just 2-9 from the floor and netting only 6 points. And Juan Fernandez continued to be missing in action, as he has all season long.
The fuck you forget how to play basketball?
Coming off a breakout sophomore season last year when he averaged 12.6 points while shooting 43 percent from the field, 45 percent from three and 85 percent from the line and won the A-10 tournament Most Outstanding Player, Fernandez was expected to take the next step and be this team's leader in the backcourt. Instead, Juan has regressed to an alarming degree. This season, he's scoring just 10 points a game. He's shooting a career-worst 35 percent from the field and career-worst 30 percent form three, and his free throw percentage has dipped to 76 percent. Last night, he was an abysmal 2-10. Somewhere along the way, his confidence disappeared. He no longer makes the brilliant passes we saw the past two seasons, no longer shoots with confidence, no longer trusts his game.
If he doesn't step his game up, especially with Scootie Randall on the shelf, Temple won't have much of a chance defending their A-10 title in the tournament. The Owls need him to be the tough foe everyone's come to expect in both the A-10 and NCAA tournaments. Let's hope he can find his game and get back to the player he was last season.
In other NCAA basketball news, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on Villanova, Penn State and North Carolina as well.
As we all know, Nova is struggling quite a bit right now. They've lost three of their last five games — one at Rutgers and two at home — and are just 5-5 in their last 10. Oh, and things aren't getting any easier for them to wrap up the regular season. Their last three games are against No. 23 St. John's, at No. 9 Notre Dame and at No. 4 Pitt. Basically, the Wildcats are in a little bit of trouble.
Not "going to miss the tournament" trouble, obviously — Villanova is 21-7 after all and ranked 15th in the nation — but trouble in terms of the Big East Tournament for sure. Right now, Nova is 9-6 in the conference, tied with Cincinnati for 7th. They're already on a skid, and they could very easily lose their last three games to finish at .500 in the Big East and miss out on a bye altogether. And unless they can find a way to make a deep run in the conference tournament, they won't be heading into the NCAA tourney with much confidence or a very favorable seed. So these final three games — all of them incredibly tough — are vital.
To be honest, I think one of the reasons Nova has struggled so much recently traces back to coach Jay Wright. Wright is unquestionably an outstanding coach and recruiter. He took a Villanova program that was on life support and has turned it into a national power. Just two seasons ago, he led the Wildcats to the Final Four, and he's churning out NBA players left and right. But this season, I think Wright has made some crucial coaching errors, magnified during this rough stretch.
For one thing, Wright has been tinkering with his lineup all season long and took much, much longer than usual to get his starting lineup set. That hasn't been his M.O. over his career at Nova. Typically, he finds his starting five early in the season and sticks with it. But this year — in part due to injury (and the year-long absence of top recruit JayVaughn Pinskton certainly hasn't helped) — we've seen so many different starting lineups that's it's hard to discern who is a starter and who is not at times. Of late, he's been going with a big lineup: Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes (when he's been healthy), Mouphtaou Yarou, Isaiah Armwood and Antonio Pena. That's far from the Nova way, when we've grown accustomed to three- and even four-guard lineups: Mike Nardi, Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye, Allen Ray, Scottie Reynolds, Dwayne Anderson, Fisher, et al. For a while, that was the case, with Maalik Wayns starting in place of Armwood, giving Nova the three guards it's grown accustomed to. And while Wayns has certainly struggled with turnovers and ill-advised shots at times, the Wildcats were playing much better basketball with him in the starting lineup than with him coming off the bench.
Then you look at some of Wright's in-game strategy of late and it has you scratching your head. In the epic collapse at Rutgers, his end-of-game coaching was laughable, something I never thought I'd say about Jay Wright. The Scarlet Knights started to catch fire from three late in that game, to the point where the last thing you wanted was for Rutgers to be in position to tie or win the game with a three. So after Corey Fisher missed a critical free throw late that would have made it a four-point game and practically iced it, the only smart thing to do was to foul Rutgers and make it a free-throw shooting contest the rest of the game. That way, Rutgers couldn't tie the game with a three, and chances are Nova would come out on top as the superior foul-shooting team.
I know there's a debate about playing defense and fouling with a three-point lead at end-of-game situations, but the reason I say fouling was the only smart thing to do is simple: Villanova is the best free-throw shooting team in the Big East, shooting 76.2 percent as a team. To prove it was the way to go even more, Rutgers is a really bad foul-shooting team, shooting just 66.7 percent on the season, and they were lighting it up from three. You make it a foul-shooting contest, and more than likely Villanova escapes a scare against a horrible team and gets a W. Instead, Wright didn't play the percentages, and disaster struck:
Yes, it was Corey Fisher who missed a critical free throw and then "fouled" (seriously, I still don't think he touched him) a three-point shooter to suffer the four-point play loss, but Wright also failed to put his players in the best position to win following that miss by Fisher. It wasn't one of his better moments, and that inexplicable loss really started this slide over the past 5 games.
After that, they lost to a really good Pitt team at the Pavilion by just three. That was followed by Nova struggling to outlast a bad Seton Hall team, winning by just three themselves, and they barely escaped DePaul with a two-point win, needing overtime to defeat the last-place team in the Big East.
Then there was Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. In an important game against Syracuse, a game that was critical in determining seeding for the Big East Tournament, specifically the coveted four spot for a double bye, Jay Wright thought it would be a good idea to throw a freshman that missed the majority of the first half of the season in for the final four minutes with his team trailing in a tight contest. Yeah, instead of going with Maalik Wayns or Dominic Cheek, two more proven, seasoned players and one in particular in Wayns who has come up big late in games for Nova, Wright rode with James Bell, a guy who had played a total of 19 games and had only played 2 minutes to that point on the night.
I was screaming at my television, asking why Bell was in at such a critical juncture, and even more livid when he played the entire rest of the way. In that time, Bell missed two free throws, turned the ball over and missed a meaningless three with time winding down. He didn't help Nova at all. Yet he was in the game, and I was baffled.
It turns out that Wayns was suffering back spasms, that's why he wasn't in. But still, why not go with a guy like Cheek, someone who has been in some wars, even though he admittedly was struggling with his shot too? I'd still feel more comfortable with a sophomore who has played in a lot of big games at Nova than a freshman that has played very little.
So here we are with Villanova faltering as the season winds down. It would be tough to expect Nova to be as good as last year after losing a first-team All American in Scottie Reynolds and important contributors like Reggie Redding and even Taylor King, not to mention the unexpected season-long suspension of Pinkston. But it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to expect Villanova to be playing its best and vying for Big East supremacy by this time of the year. That hasn't happened, and things are only going to be tougher from here on out.
Then there is my alma mater, Penn State. As recently as Saturday, I heard Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas all proclaim that Penn State is an NCAA Tournament team. Those guys seem to be under the impression that with three more teams added this year, every major conference will get pretty much every decent team in. This makes absolutely no sense, because there are only three teams being added, not a dozen. The pundits don't seem to grasp that. Any smart person who understands simple math does. And any smart person, despite some people proclaiming there are still crucial road tests for the Nittany Lions, knows Penn State is nowhere near a tournament team.
Does that mean Penn State is the embarrassment that it has been for more than a decade and mostly has been under the incompetent Ed DeChellis? No. Much like the Penn State team that won the NIT in 2009, the 2010-11 Lions are tough and far from a pushover. They've beaten Michigan St., Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota at home, lost by just three at Ohio St. and just one at Purdue, and defeated a Duquesne squad that is fourth in the A-10. But that doesn't make them a tournament-worthy team, especially when you look at the full body of work.
For starters, Penn State is just 14-12 overall. They are a game under .500 in the conference, sitting at 7-8, and they have only one road victory all season long. Read that again: Penn State has just one road victory the entire season, and that came at Indiana, a team that is 12-16 on the season and tied for last in the Big Ten with Iowa at 3-12. And in their road games, they've lost seven by double digits. I'm sorry, but if you can't win any games of consequence on the road whatsoever, you don't deserve to be dancing even a little bit.
Then you factor in some of the losses. This team lost at home to Maine. Maine, for christ's sake, an American East team. And they lost that game by 10 points. They lost by 13 at Mississippi, got blown out by 23 at home against Maryland, lost by 10 at Virginia Tech, got rolled at home by 15 against Purdue. They lost twice to Michigan. And they offset their wins at home against Illinois, Michigan St. and Wisconsin by getting destroyed on the road against those teams in the rematches. This month, Penn State lost by 17 at Illinios, 19 at Michigan State and 10 at Wisconsin. How, exactly, is this a tournament team?
Even if they somehow miraculously beat Ohio State next Tuesday, this team's résumé simply isn't good enough — at least not without a deep run in the Big Ten tournament. And frankly, I don't see either of those two things happening. Hell, they may not even beat Northwestern or Minnesota, two of their final three opponents. Both games are on the road, after all.
Talor Battle is a really, really good player. And some of the younger guys are showing promise and playing hard. This team is far from a laughingstock. But they're not a tournament team either. They just aren't.
However, the Tar Heels are. After a dismal 2009-10 season and a shaky start this year, North Carolina has quietly had a very nice season. UNC is 21-6 overall and just a game behind Duke in the ACC, sitting at 11-2 in conference play. They've won 9 of their last 10 games, with the only loss coming at Duke — and that was a close game the entire way, losing by six when it was all said and done.
The way things are going, the regular-season finale in Chapel Hill against Duke could determine the ACC title. Fresh off a 12-point win at NC State, UNC has just Maryland and Florida State (who they beat by 20) before the clash with Duke. And unlike Villanova, Carolina is playing its best basketball of the season right now.
Harrison Barnes has played the second half of the season like he was expected to play the entire season. Kendall Marshall has been outstanding since being inserted to the starting lineup. And Tyler Zeller and John Henson give the Tar Heels two of the better interior players in the nation. This team rebounds, plays smart and gets contributions from just about everyone. They aren't as loaded as the title teams Roy Williams has coached, but they're getting there.
While I still think they're a year away from being elite, they're getting better every game and could make a deep run in the tournament. It's rare that North Carolina flies under the radar, but with the dominance of Duke in the ACC combined with a bit of a down year for the conference — not to mention everyone's love affair with the Big East — that's exactly what's been happening for Carolina this year. The Tar Heels are quietly having a very impressive season, and the nation will begin to take notice in March.
Hopefully, it begins with a statement victory against Duke to wrap up the regular season. Thank god that game won't be in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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