McCabe on the Acc

Spring Thoughts

2007-04-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

As the deadline to enter the draft for underclassmen nears, next year’s rosters are beginning to take shape in the ACC. There haven’t been too many surprises with players declaring. Most expected Brandan Wright to declare as he’s been labeled a lottery pick since his first keg stand in Chapel Hill. Luckily for UNC, the rest of their talented veterans return and they should be just as deep and successful next season as they were this year. Unless of course Roy Williams refuses to call a timeout as his players choke away another NCAA tournament game.

As for the other talented freshman small forward in the ACC, Georgia Tech’s Thaddeus Young, his future is probably dependent on his predraft workouts with lottery teams. He could likely use another year of college to develop his game and make himself some more money in his first contract. Given the current rookie contract situation in the NBA, a 1^st round draft pick can quickly bust and be out of the league after two years, without the financial security to last into a young man’s 30s, let alone his entire life.

I’m guessing that most Tech fans not so secretly hope that Young can’t buy a jumpshot while inept NBA GMs look on during his workouts. However, given the lack of eye for talent that currently plagues various NBA front offices these days, Young may have to do far worse to take himself out of early 1^st round consideration.

Now obviously Boston College wasn’t too worried about John Oates and Tyrelle Blair testing the NBA waters. Had Tyrese Rice been so inclined, he may just have proved himself against the competition at the draft camps and ended up a 2^nd round pick, but he’ll be back at the Heights next season.

Where BC gets hurt, of course, are the losses of Sean Marshall and Jared Dudley to graduation (one thing nice about being a BC fan is the confidence you have in saying we lost a player to graduation, because he probably did in fact graduate). Without Marshall and Dudley’s production next year, BC seems to be the ACC team most likely to suffer a down year after their success the past few seasons.

Unfortunately, BC also loses guard Marquez Haynes to transfer. Depending who you talk to, this might be addition by subtraction or just plain subtraction for the Eagles. But given BC’s depth being that of the kiddy pool at the YMCA, the loss of Haynes hurts. Marquez was arguably the best athlete on the team last year and could hit a big outside shot now and then. He stood to be a big part of the rotation next year.

Let’s hope that Haynes is the last of the contributing players to transfer in the Skinner era. In a disturbing trend, many of Al’s recruits have left after one or two seasons, some being contributors like Haynes and Steve Hailey, and others like Gordon Watt ending up at other Division 1 schools and playing starter’s minutes.

I like Al as a coach for many reasons. There’s no way in hell he’s text messaging recruits 1000 times like Houston Nutt, and I can’t picture Al staking out high school gymnasiums all with the hope of making eye contact with a prospect during one of the NCAA sanctioned ‘no speaking’ periods. It’s more likely that Skinner has no idea what text messaging is and he spends the off-season tending to a vegetable garden. But of the guys that do end up on the BC campus, there seems to be a high percentage of them that transfer out and end up having a nice career elsewhere.

I’d like to be able to philosophize about how BC fares next season based on their incoming recruits, but it’s borderline impossible given their recent history of freshman. Who knew that Jared Dudley would end up ACC Player of the Year? For all the hype of this year’s class with big man Josh Southern, and swingman Rakim Sanders coming to campus, who really knows how well they’ll play or if they’ll even make it through 3 years on the team? Without ever having seen these guys play, I’m clueless about their games and how they’ll fit in with Rice. Southern and Sanders may be the first 4-star recruits that Skinner has gotten to commit to BC, but those rating are more often than not a meaningless label and have little to do with a player’s collegiate success. That being said, we all pay attention to which players have accepted a scholarship, and I’ve got my hopes up that this year’s class will help to continue BC’s basketball success.

2007 Basketball Afterthoughts

2007-04-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

I had an entire column written about the performances of Corey Brewer, Greg Oden, and the legacy of the Florida team, but before I could get to posting it, all of my ideas have been beaten to death. Silly me for thinking I was the only one blown away by Brewer's all-around game during the Final Four, and if you were to construct the perfect college starting 5, Florida would come pretty damn close. I guess that's the whole point of this blogging thing anyway, get your ideas posted before anyone else, otherwise you're considered old news and a hack. I'm probably a hack, but I don't want to be considered old news. I'm not hardened enough just yet. A few more years of scotch under a bedside lamp at 3 in the morning and I'll be headed there. It's something to thrive for.

Anyway, here's what I had to say. I like to consider that my columns are like cornbread. They're really good, but you just haven't had much of it.

I kept trying to figure out who the most important Gator was last night. I couldn’t figure it out. And there’s a reason why – the Gators had the perfect college team the last two years.

I’m willing to go to bat for Florida as one of the best college teams in recent memory. Their best 6 this year could matchup with any best 6 in the past 10-15 years. Keep in mind when you mention the ’93 Carolina team as a great champion that their center was Eric Montross, and that for all of the hype given to the talent on the Heels two years ago, only one of their guys has made an impact in the NBA. With a power forward/center rotation of Noah, Horford, and Chris Richard, Florida was going to be unmatched against any team down low. Even against Greg Oden, who almost single-handedly fouled out the entire Gator frontline (with some help from the refs), the depth that Florida had down low eventually wore Oden out. Billy Donovan intelligently used Richard on Oden for most of the game, allowing Horford to clean the glass on the defensive end and get the Gators going to the offensive end in a hurry.

In Brewer, they had a guy 6’9” small forward, who on Saturday, shut down he pac-10 player of the year Arron Afflalo for the second year in a row. It would be too easy to chalk up Brewer’s performance to his athleticism and height. He consistently fought through tough screens away from the ball to deny Afflalo the pass, and if the UCLA shooting guard did get the ball, Brewer was right in his face the minute he looked for a shot. It was Brewer’s lockdown defense that was the key to an easy win for Florida.

48 hours later, Brewer would outdo himself. It’s safe to say that no other player in the country has the ability to Mike Conley’s pocket clean in the open court and block Greg Oden’s shot at the peak of its height in the same game. Brewer has the same weakside shot-blocking ability that Tyrus Thomas used to propel himself to a lottery pick last year. Add to that his ability to defend the ball on the perimeter, and Brewer is a menace for the opposing team while he’s on the court.

In Lee Humphrey, the Gators have the NCAA record holder for 3s in tournament play. Having to be accounted for at all times while he floats around the perimeter, Humphrey gives Florida that essential element of a great college team – the deadeye outside shooter. Think Tony Delk of the championship Kentucky team, or flash in the pan Donald Williams, whose shooting lead UNC to the 1993 championship. With Humphrey’s shooting, Brewer’s all-around game, and Horford and Noah inside, there was no way that Gator opponents this season could focus on any one player.

That’s important. Take last night’s game. It was obvious last night that Billy Donovan’s strategy was to go at Oden and make the other Buckeyes beat him. While Oden was outstanding, his teammates, outside of Conley, weren’t able to step up and give Ohio State the scoring punch it needed. Ron Lewis gave them a little bit, but most of his buckets came late in the game after Florida had built a comfortable cushion.

When it comes to success in the pros, Horford is the guy that most confuses me. I would like to thank his father Tito for providing the best moment by a parent over the weekend. Tito’s reaction to a great play on Saturday night after he saw himself on a jumbotron was the most orchestrated moment of the weekend next to Billy Donovan’s awful pregame speech.

Horford’s rebounding and scoring last night compensated for Noah’s lack of output due to foul trouble and was essential to the win. He surprised me with his ability to hit the 15-footer when he was open, but his post-moves were a little too plodding and methodical. He takes a couple dribbles to set his move up, and looks to use his strength to get off a jump hook, but he doesn’t seem to move quickly enough laterally on offense or defense. I used to be a big Horford supporter and thought he might be a better pro than Noah because of his size, but I think he won’t be able to play quickly enough to be successful in the NBA. Speed kills in the current NBA, and Noah and Brewer have been blessed with footspeed and the mentality to make quick decisions. In that respect, I think Horford is at a disadvantage.

Breaking Down the Final Four - UCLA and Florida

2007-03-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

Talk to any casual college basketball fan this week, and they’ll either annoyingly brag that they predicted the Final Four correctly or tell you that the games should be really good this weekend. Well, the masses may have chosen the four remaining teams correctly, but their prediction about the games this weekend could be wrong.

Most fans seem to have a short-term memory when it comes to getting all excited about this weekend’s games. Lest we forget, UCLA and Florida played each other last year and the Gators creamed the Bruins. The game was over after about a dozen possessions and before the pizza arrived at my apartment. As if eating an entire large pie with extra cheese wasn’t depressing enough, I had to do it while watching a blowout.

This year, the Gators return the same starting five while UCLA lost their starting center and point guard from last year to the NBA. It isn’t all bad. In my opinion, UCLA got addition by subtraction with point guard Jordan Farmar’s departure. He struck me as a little too shoot-first and ill-fitted to the team structure on coach Ben Howland’s Bruins. Farmar’s back-up from last year, Darren Collison, has filled in more than capably and the Bruins have had a successful season. The tougher loss for the Bruins is 7-footer Ryan Hollison, leaving them thin at the post position in a Final Four otherwise dominated by big men. Hollison had a tough game last year against Joakim Noah and Al Horford, and UCLA’s Lorenzo Mata has the unenviable task of dealing with Horford’s elbows in his kidneys and Noah’s screaming in his ears this year.

The last time a team returned their starting five after winning the championship was towel biting Jerry Tarkanian’s squeaky-clean Running Rebels of 1991. That year, they beat the Blue Devils in a blowout and then continued their winning streak throughout the next season only to face Duke again in the national semifinals. Both teams returned their key players from the year before, and Duke ended UNLV’s bid for an undefeated season with a stunning win. Unfortunately for the Rebs, Larry Johnson was about 10 years too early for his three-pointer magic with the Knicks and his comically arrogant ‘LJ’ arm symbol that Bill Walton so dearly loved.

Certainly, this year’s scenario is similar to the Duke and UNLV rematch in 1992. One glaring difference – if blogs were around back in ’92, we wouldn’t see pictures of Larry Johnson in the same type of photoshop jobs that we’ve seen Joakim Noah subjected to. And we likely won’t see a “Taurean & Corey & Jo & Al” shirt similar to the one that celebrated UNLV’s team coming out of the Undrcrwn shop any time soon.

The key to this year’s game will hinge on the effectiveness of Bruin shooting guard Arron Afflalo. Last year, Corey Brewer was able to harass Afflalo into a 3-10 shooting night and no other Bruin was able to pick up the offensive slack. Brewer’s length and quickness promise to be a difficult task to overcome once again this year. The knock against Afflalo’s game when he was deciding to enter the draft last year was his size as a shooting guard and whether he would be able to get his shot off in the NBA.

If Afflalo is able to put together a strong offensive game, as he did against Kansas in the Elite Eight last weekend, his scoring combined with the strong Bruin defense is a winning formula. However, if he struggles like he did against Indiana in the 2^nd round, when he shot 2-11, the Bruins will struggle to put points on the board and their defense alone won’t be enough to beat Florida. Fellow wing Josh Schipp has showed that he can pick the slack with 16 points against Pitt in the Sweet Sixteen, and he is averaging just over 13 a game for the year. But my guess is that UCLA will need more than 15 a game from both of Schipp and Afflalo to keep pace with the Gators. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was a revelation for the Bruins last year, but he hasn’t been able to increase his scoring after a year of experience. If the Bruins win, it’s going to be their guards that have the big games.

One thing UCLA can count on is their team defense. It’s unlikely that we’ll see Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green get the open looks on the perimeter that they did last week against Oregon. While Green burned Oregon point guard Tajuan Porter all game with deep 3s and open court layups, he’ll be facing the Pac-10’s defensive player of the year on Saturday night in Darren Collison. Collison has the foot speed to double down low in the post and get back out to Green to contest his jump shot if the ball is kicked back out to the perimeter. The Gators should be able to get ample shot opportunities down low with Al Horford going up against the thin Bruin frontline, but don’t expect to see Humphrey and Green wide open waiting for a kick-out. Ben Howland’s got a week to prepare for the Florida offensive sets and he’ll have his team prepared.

UCLA is also going to need Lorenzo Mata to stay out of foul trouble. The Gators can afford to have Noah or Horford pick up two fouls in the 1^st half because they’ve got 6’9” big man Chris Richard on the bench, but if Mata’s playing time is limited, Horford will have easy pickin’s with Bruin bench players Ryan Wright or Alfred Aboya.

Let’s hope that Mata doesn’t pick up his 2^nd foul in the first ten minutes and Afflalo is hitting his outside jump shots Saturday night so that I can enjoy my pizza this year.

Weekend Wrap-Up: March 26, 2007

2007-03-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

With the quality of play at a high level across the country, it was a good weekend to be a college basketball fan. The Final Four teams all had to play talented opponents that may have beaten them had they played another game today. The actual games in sports rarely reflect the hype that is given to them, but viewers taking it easy on their couches on Saturday and Sunday afternoon had to have been pleased with the competitiveness of the Elite Eight games. In between breaking down cardboard boxes and hanging paintings on the walls after an apartment move, I was able to take in the games on a new couch. Finally living the good life that people always talk about.

We're now down to four teams, and the ACC has been shut out. With the other four power conferences represented next weekend, it’s clear that the ACC had a down year. The conference’s best team and lone representative in the Sweet Sixteen, UNC, was vastly inexperienced when it came to the postseason, and that lack of seasoning may have hurt them in the final 10 minutes against Georgetown. The Hoyas have played just as well as anyone in the past two months, and most of their nucleus was tournament tested after a Sweet Sixteen appearance last year against Florida. Georgetown had the talent level to compete with Carolina and a coach standing on their sideline that could match wits with Roy Williams.

What I found surprising about the Heels’ loss was that going back to the ACC tournament, they had been able to pull away from their opponents late in games. While UNC had the depth to support their up-tempo game, they had also displayed poise in the final ten minutes of their games and didn’t make the type of mistakes on offense that they made against Georgetown. In their previous four games, going back to the NC State game in the ACC tournament, Carolina’s opponents were able to match up their best five against the Heel’s best five. The deciding factor was usually that UNC’s opponents would run out gas towards the end of the game and were unable to execute as efficiently as they had in the first half.

Witness the game against USC on Friday night – with Taj Gibson holding his own down low and the USC backcourt making outside shots and playing solid defense, the Trojans held a double digit lead well into the second half. It was the continuous pressure that the Heels put on USC with their secondary fastbreak that lead to easy baskets that chipped away at the lead. Brandan Wright, who continued to impress with his ability to run the court, crashed the boards consistently on offense, and often was able to beat the Trojans down the court for an easy opportunity. And it wasn’t the case that he was leaking out early after a USC shot. He was actually boxing his man out down low for a defensive rebound, and then sprinting out after a teammate secured the rebound. A couple times I actually rewound my TIVO to make sure that my eyes weren’t deceiving me. Add to his ability to run the court his soft touch around the hoop, and he had been a consistent offensive force throughout most of Carolina’s games.

It had to be exhausting for opposing big men to guard him for 25-30 minutes. While many college and NBA players boast similar athleticism, it is Wright’s ability to finish that sets him apart. He can get up to grab an offensive rebound in traffic and finish in the air, and he can sprint out in the open court, make a touch catch, and finish at odd angles.

Amazingly, even with the foul trouble to Roy Hibbert, Georgetown was able to turn the tables on Carolina last night. Credit John Thompson with a great job in managing Hibbert’s minutes late in regulation. He was masterful in alternating Hibbert in and out of the game, and making sure that the big man was in the game when Georgetown was on defense.

Compare that to Thad Matta’s questionable job of handling Greg Oden’s minutes late in the game on Thursday night against Tennessee. Matta had Oden in on offensive possessions, but was taking him out of the game when the Buckeyes were on defense. Even though Oden had four fouls, you’d like to see one of the country’s best defenders guarding the basket with two minutes left. Luckily, Matta came to his senses and had Oden in on the final possession where he made the block on the final shot of the game.

With John Thompson’s former coach Pete Carrill looking on in the stands, the Hoyas played a steady and smart basketball game that would make any Princeton grad proud. The only thing missing in East Rutherford was a shot of Bill Bradley awkwardly exchanging a high five with an alumna wearing an orange baseball hat. It’s easy to exaggerate, but it seemed like every Hoya player was dually capable of making a back-breaking cut to the hoop for a lay-up and the slick bounce pass that lead to an easy basket.

Another testament to Thompson’s coaching and the intelligence of the Georgetown players was their persistence in playing to their strengths and looking to get the ball in the post on offense. We didn’t see their perimeter players start tossing up 3s from the perimeter in an effort to get back in the game. Jonathan Wallace and Jessie Sapp did their best to get the ball to Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert in scoring position, and the discipline to do so paid off.

Other Observations from the Weekend:

1. Len Elmore marveled at the quickness of Al Horford’s spin move in the post against Oregon. After CBS showed the replay of one Horford bucket, Elmore claimed that the move was so quick that it left the Gator big man’s defender flat-footed. What Harvard Len failed to mention was that Horford swings a mean elbow that approaches Shaq-esque proportions when he makes the move. It’s the elbow into the kidneys of his defenders that leaves them flat-footed, not the foot speed.

2. This may be nit-picking with Greg Oden, and certainly was more warranted before his big 2^nd half against Memphis, but his effort troubles me. Bill Raftery noted a couple times that Oden will barely get across halfcourt on some Buckeye possessions, conserving his energy. The problem with that is that Oden is supposed to be and should be a beast on the boards. What good is it to have the next great big man when he’s not even in position to get an offensive rebound?

Oden’s idea of a pick on offense is to flail one of his arms in the direction of a defender, barely making contact. Both little things, and I’m definitely the last person to be handing out scouting reports to NBA teams, but it worries me.

3. Dick Enberg mentioned that Kansas big man Darnell Jackson wears number 32 in honour of his idol Magic Johnson. Given that Magic retired before the 1991 season and Darnell was born in 1985, he got the chance to see Magic play until he was 6. Maybe Dick was taking the a little artistic liberty or Darnell appreciates Magic’s post-playing career as a businessman, but there’s no way he remembers watching him play.

4. CBS showed a clip of Billy Donovan speaking to his team before last year’s championship game. Among the more inspiring messages from Billy – Florida had to ‘live in the moment’ because they’d ‘been through so much adversity together’. Truly innovative stuff. It’s a wonder that Noah, Horford, and Brewer chose to come back to Florida this season. I wouldn’t be able to take another season of listening to that garbage. But I guess they’d probably hear more of the same in the NBA so it’s lose/lose.

Sweet 16 - Quick Thoughts

2007-03-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

It doesn't really need to be said, but tonight's first two games finally provided the type of excitement that makes the 2007 tournament so special. After a small percentage of the 1st and 2nd round games being were uncompetitive or lacking the drama we've been used to the last couple years, tonight has been a real treat to watch.

Quick thoughts:

1. Memphis center Joey Dorsey is by far the biggest and most athletic player when he's on the court, but think about this for a moment - his body type and size is very similar to Lebron James. For anyone that thinks the best college teams could compete in the NBA, that should shut the door on their argument. The biggest player on the court in tonight's game would be a small forward in the NBA.

I'm undecided about Dorsey's decision to sit on the bench after he fouled out without a jersey on. Where did his jersey go? Was it an ode to Gilbert Arenas? If so, I'm ok with it.

2. A&M ended up with the loss, but I think the play where Acie Law missed the layup on the home run pass late in the game illustrated how good a coach Billy Gillespie is. Without calling a timeout, his team immediately went to an inbounds play that they must have practiced in preparation for situations like in tonight's game. I'm sorry to see A&M lose, but give credit to Antonio Anderson for sinking the two foul shots for the win. Clutch.

3. How about the refs' decision to take over a full second off the clock after A&M's inbounds pass was deflected on the sideline? Where is the logic behind that? There's no way a pass deflected out of bounds that close to the sideline takes over a second off the clock.

My Take on Duke

2007-03-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

Since Duke’s 1st round loss last Friday, many have been quick to jump on the bandwagon with their opinions of why Duke is going down the drain. Suffice to say, I can’t believe Duke President Richard Broahdhead let alone Coach K is pacing his wood paneled office and sweating from his forehead, wondering how he's going to fix the whole damn thing over the summer. Check a sports website this week, and along with the kenpom statistics being used to predict the Sweet 16 games, you’ll find an article breaking down everything that’s wrong with the Duke program. Apparently, even the ivy that adorns the Duke campus’s gothic buildings has been wilting since late Friday evening. 60 Minutes has sent one of their octogenarians on a chartered plane to check out this latest Duke scandal. And this time, the parents being interviewed will be even angrier. You do not want to fuck with the parents of a Duke student.

All that being said, I’m going to jump right on to the bandwagon. It may not stop for me, but I’ve been working on my fitness lately and I think I might be able to catch it when it swings by my neck of the woods. Why should I disagree with my favourite national columnists?

If we’re going to point out what’s wrong with the Duke program, let’s do it in a sophisticated manner, with easy to read numbered points. I’m not yet a good enough writer to put together a coherent 2,000 word column, and you readers are probably even less sophisticated than I am, so I’ll make life easy for everyone involved.

1. Recruiting

Every year when the basketball season comes to an end, we’re bombarded with the TV analysts casually mentioning which traditional powers are ‘loading up’ for next year and how many of their incoming recruits ate at McDonald’s the night before – sorry, played in the McDonald’s All-American game. Or the Jordan Classic All-Star game, or the Nike Summit game, or the Billy Packer Game that’s played in a barn in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa. The point is that these high school all-star games are becoming as ubiquitous as NCAA football bowl games. There’s too many to count, most of them are in places you’d rather never visit, and they all have meaningless outcomes. The other meaningless thing about them is that the players selected to play in them aren’t all that likely to become great college players.

The only time I can remember a team with a great recruiting class becoming successful in the short run was the Fab Five. And unfortunately, the hoopla over Chris, Jalen, and Juwan sparked the need for every subsequent top recruiting class to have a fancy little nickname.

So let’s see how this affects Duke. This year, they brought in top 100 players Lance Thomas, Gerald Henderson, Brian Zoubek, and Jon Scheyer. Google ‘2006 Duke recruiting’, and you’ll find that the class was considered top 15 in the nation by the recruiting ‘experts’. In fact, one of the leading recruiting websites, Rivals.com, called Brian Zoubek, and I quote, ‘a rarity in college hoops – a skilled 7-footer’. I could make all kinds of easy jokes about what he was skilled at, but I’ll refrain. The only thing the mentioned players will be remembered for from this year is blood – Henderson’s elbow that caused Tyler Hansbrough’s nose to flood, and Jon Scheyer’s bloody eye that forced him to come out of Duke’s 1st round game against VCU.

My feeling is that recruiting became too easy for Duke. They know that through Coach K’s commercials and the team’s success, they have incredible national visibility. They don’t need to hit the road to scout and find obscure players that no one else knows about. All they have to do is look at the top 5 high school seniors by position in the country, send them a cute little brochure, and expect that at least 3 of the players will commit to play.

So why is this bad? Well, the top-ranked players don’t always turn out to be as good as they were hyped to be, or they become complete stiffs (Shavlik Randolph). The other detriment to the Duke program is that they miss out on the hidden gems that end up at other programs. This year’s ACC player of the year, Jared Dudley, was a virtual unknown to most of college basketball as a high school player, and only got to BC after one of their recruits transferred to Minnesota. The long-limbed and athletic LSU defenders that shut down JJ Redick last year were most likely not even on the Duke scouting radar.

2. Assistant Coaches

Another thing we incessantly hear every college season is the lauding of the Duke coaching staff – the loyalty of Johnny Dawkins staying in Durham while he’s had many opportunities to be a head coach elsewhere, Dick Vitale getting teary-eyed talking about Wojo and Chris Collins staying at Duke and keeping the Duke tradition alive. One thing that isn’t mentioned too often – the Duke guys that leave to become head coaches after being Duke assistant coaches ARE TERRIBLE.

Tommay Amaker was fired from Michigan last week after he failed to get them to the NCAA tournament during his tenure there. Amaker was offered the Michigan job despite severely underachieving at Seton Hall, his first head coaching job. Another Duke guy, the well-coiffed Quin Snyder, left the Missouri program after numerous recruiting violations surfaced. Despite leading the Tigers to 4 NCAA appearances, the success dried up in a hurry once Snyder had to deal with the guys he recruited himself.

There’s a reason why we see Johnny Dawkins every year sitting next to Coach K. It’s his security blanket. If he left to go anywhere else, he’d fail miserably and the secret would be out. Instead, he can keep a cozy lifetime job on the Duke bench tracking turnovers and pass deflections with the only downside being getting spit on by Krzyzewski when he does some ‘coaching’. The problem with the Duke system is the same problem that Major League baseball teams encountered recently. I credit SI’s Tom Verducci with this thought, as he noted that until a few years ago, many MLB front offices were loaded with dead weight – ex-players that weren’t contributing much but could rely on an easy paycheck and an office with a view of the field.

Ironically, it is a former Duke player that did not assist Coach K who s now having the most success as a head coach. Jeff Capel got the head Oklahoma job after building credibility with successful seasons at Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth.

3. Coach K Himself

No one can question Duke’s regular season success in the past decade. But more often than not, that success has no translated to the postseason. Granted, the Blue Devils made the Final Four in 2005, but in the last 6 years, Duke has lost in the Sweet Sixteen 4 times and once in the 1st round, despite finishing the regular season ranked 1st twice in those years, and ranked 3rd in another.

Last year, JJ Redick could barely get his shot off against LSU in the loss that ended Duke’s season. He was clearly frustrated at his inability to get shot off the dribble, yet he continued to drive to the hoop against quicker and more athletic defenders. There was no change in the Duke strategy to get better shots from Redick or get offense from other players. Is that a complete indictment against Coach K as a coach? No, but he didn’t make necessary adjustments to get a win. In fact, of Duke’s early losses in the past 6 years, Coach K has been beaten by Michigan State in 2005, Kansas in 2003, and UConn in the Final Four in 2004.

If losing to Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, and Jim Calhoun in the tournament the last few years doesn’t eat at Coach K, it should. Given that Sweet Sixteen games allow for at least 3 full days of preparation and practice, Coach K has been unable to prepare his team and gameplan well enough to defeat his peer’s in the upper echelon of college coaches.

Tom Izzo is well-known for getting the most out of his players. His championship team led by Mateen Cleaves was talented, but their calling card was hard-nosed defense and relentless rebounding. When he’s had less talented teams, he is able to get results. This year’s Spartan team got to the 2nd round of the NCAAs after losing three players to the NBA off of last year’s squad.

Now I don’t want to go over the edge with the angle that Duke is falling apart. Obviously, making 5 trips to at least the Sweet Sixteen in the past 6 years is a standard that any college team would be happy with. The point is that given the Duke brand and their regular season success, they’ve fallen short in the postseason. In the same way that the New York Yankees consider their season a failure if they don’t end up with the World Series trophy, a Duke season is less than a success without a Final Four appearance. And that’s when all of us come riding in on our high horses to point out what’s wrong with Duke.

Weekend Wrap-Up: March 19, 2007

2007-03-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm one day late with the highlight of your week, the current cult favourite but soon to be nation-wide craze, the Weekend Wrap-Up. Unless you’re a Tar Heel fan, things didn’t go so well for you over the weekend. The ACC came into the 2007 NCAA tournament with 7 teams, the high for a conference. Now, after the 1st and 2nd rounds are complete, only UNC will be returning home to practice in preparation for a game later this week. I can’t say that I’m surprised. Aside from the Heels, this year’s edition of the ACC lacked more than one elite team. Most of the competition on Wednesday and Thursday nights during the season was due to good, but not great, talent levels among the conference’s second tier of teams. It made for an exciting regular season and a tight race for the conference championship, but the ACC’s usual presence on a national scale wasn’t going to be felt.

Obviously, the NCAA selection committee felt the same way, and the ACC team’s seeding in the tournament reflected their thoughts. After UNC’s 1 seed, the next highest seeded teams were the fourth-seeded Maryland and Virginia. This time a week ago, many analysts were staring at a bracket that had Virginia facing a possible 2nd round matchup against Tennessee, and Maryland was looking like the upset special in the 1st round against Davidson. As the SEC showed over the weekend, they were pretty strong this year. Of the 16 teams waiting to play Thursday or Friday night this week, 3 are from the SEC – Florida, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. Given those results, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Virginia fell to the Volunteers. It was the ACC’s second or third best team against the SEC’s.

While Virginia fell victim to a team from a power conference, Maryland and Virginia Tech lost to a couple mid-majors. It says something about college basketball that Butler and Southern Illinois can advance to the Sweet Sixteen after defeating two ACC teams, and there is little to no fanfare about it. Not even 5 years ago, those losses would have been considered monumental upsets and ESPN classic would have been cueing up their production studio to play the games for the next 5-10 years. In all fairness, both the Terps and the Hokies were flawed teams. Virginia Tech was a mystery all year, sweeping the Tar Heels, yet losing to Clemson at home when the ACC championship was on the line. Despite being an experienced team, the Hokies seniors Jamon Gordon and Zabian Dowdell hadn’t made it to the tournament in their careers. Butler on the other hand, was an experienced tournament team, and had a guard with similar talents to Dowdell and Gordon on AJ Graves.

My thoughts on the ACC's lone remaining team and Boston College:

UNC

The Heels advanced to the Sweet Sixteen and probably got a lucky break with Texas losing to USC yesterday. The Longhorns and Kevin Durant loomed as a possible opponent and everyone wearing Carolina Blue will be happy to see Durant pondering his NBA future today, rather than licking his chops at a matchup against fellow freshman and projected lottery pick Brandan Wright.

North Carolina got a phenomenal effort out of Tyler Hansbrough against Michigan State in the 2nd round. Perhaps I was too hard on him last weekend and his protective mask really was hindering his aggressiveness, because he was back to attacking the basket this weekend rather than trying to draw contact and settle for a trip to the foul line.

Although UNC has been lauded for their depth this year, only two bench players got more than 10 minutes against the Spartans. Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard came off the bench to combine for 6 points in 13 and 17 minutes, respectively. The work was left to Hansbrough and jet-quick point guard Ty Lawson, who both played 36+ minutes.

I don’t see the shortening of the rotation as being a detriment to the Heels chances in the next rounds. Roy Williams used a revolving door approach during the season, so the Tar Heel starters should all have relatively fresh legs, and aside from Hansbrough’s broken nose, they are all healthy.

I don’t want to discount Hansbrough’s production, but Lawson remains the most important Heel. His ability to counter any made basket by the opposition with a fastbreak allows the Heels to stop any momentum their opponents might gain with a made shot. If he gets in foul trouble, the Heels have the capable Bobby Frasor backing him up, but Frasor is certainly not the playmaker that Lawson is.

Boston College

Two plays stand out to me from the BC/Georgetown game –
Jeff Green’s put-back dunk with 7 minutes to go.
Patrick Ewing Jr’s reverse dunk after being fouled with less than 3 minutes to go.

Both plays were spectacular. Both were made by two of the Hoya’s big men, who combined with Roy Hibbert, form the most dominating front line in the country next to Florida. But the two plays were less about the Georgetown talent and more about the fact that no one on BC could have made either of those plays. I don’t fault the Eagles at all for losing. For 37-38 minutes they were able to trade baskets and defensive stops with Georgetown and were on the verge of a possible upset. But when it mattered most, the Georgetown big men had the physical talents to make the decisive plays. On the surface, there was no way that BC should have been in the same gym with John Thompson’s team. Here was the giant Roy Hibbert, and the multi-talented Jeff Green going up against John Oates and Tyrelle Blair, a guy that had played his first two season of basketball at tiny Loyola College in Chicago. Could anyone reasonably expect Oates and Blair to shut down Hibbert for the entire 40 minutes?

There’s a reason the Hoyas came into the game having lost only one game since January 17 – they’re really good. They’ve got a combination of size and talent that typically isn’t seen on the college level. Going up against fellow projected 1st round pick and center Aaron Gray in the Big East championship, Green and Hibbert were dominant in leading Georgetown to a blowout victory.

BC’s potential fatal flaw since the suspensions of Sean Williams and Akida McClain was going to be their depth, or lack thereof. But against the Hoyas, BC went up against a team with a similar rotation. Taking a look at the box score, you’ll see that only six Hoyas played more than four minutes in the game. While BC’s Big 3 did play the full 40 each, there was no excuse for the BC players to let Hibbert get loose balls that were low to the ground late in the game. Hibbert was no slouch either when it came to time on the court, playing 34 minutes, impressive for a man his size, and even more impressive were his 2 fouls. By comparison, Oates played 16 minutes and committed 4 fouls while Blair played 24 minutes and committed 3.

As disappointed I was to see the careers of Sean Marshall and Jared Dudley end on Saturday, I was happy to see that they went out fighting. After a mostly miserable final 3 weeks to season, Dudley turned in a vintage performance with 19 points, 8 boards, and 4 steals. His basketball IQ was highlighted a few times by Jay Bilas, regarding Dudley’s ability to make reads in the halfcourt offense and get himself open looks for himself and his teammates. Here’s hoping that an NBA team will notice Dudley’s talents and he can carve out a 10-year career for himself. After many doubted Craig Smith’s pro prospects, it would be nice to see Dudley join Smith in the NBA as another ‘surprising’ rookie.

Marshall had a tough shooting night, but without his 40 minutes, BC wouldn’t have been able to stay as close as they did for as long as they did. Say what you want about his shot selection, his experience and floor game was a huge step up from anyone else on the BC roster. He gave BC 4 great years and deserves to be remembered as one of the best players from the Al Skinner era. If one of next year’s incoming freshmen gives us a career like Marshall’s we’ll be pretty happy.

Elsewhere in the ACC

It’s nice to see the ACC’s three representatives winning their first games in the NIT. Often, a bubble team that doesn’t get into the Big Dance will bow out early from the NIT in the 1st round. Human nature.

It’s a pretty small condolence for Clemson and FSU to be playing in the NIT, but it at least gives their seniors a chance to extend their careers for a few games. Both NC State and FSU have advanced to the quarterfinals while Clemson takes on Ole Miss in the 2nd round tonight.

I think NC State will be able to build on their late season success heading into next year, despite the graduation of senior point guard Engin Atsur. Their big men combo of Ben McCauley and Brandon Costner should be tough to handle for everyone next season.

Day 2 - Update #2

2007-03-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

A couple minor surprises in the first set of games. Virginia beat Albany by a handful of points, and it was never really worth televising. Similar to yesterday's Stanford/Louisville game, it was over after the first 5-10 minutes.

Suge Knight's alma mater UNLV just beat Georgia Tech in a close one. It looked like it was heading for a close finish, but Paul Hewitt made the brilliant decision to use his last timeout with more than two minutes left in a close game. A master of clock management he is not. Not to be outdone, UNLV's Lon Kruger decided to call 300 timeouts in the last minute and a half with a four point lead.

Sons of coaches have always bothered me for some reason, and Kevin Kruger is no different. Possibly because he decided to do his master’s at UNLV just so he could play another year of basketball. His current scholastic resume looks like this: undergrad degree at Arizona State, master’s at UNLV. Now that is a case of challenging one’s self in the area of academics. As with the case of Greg Oden and his tough course load of two classes this past semester, it’s hard not to enjoy the college life when you get two credits for playing basketball and your college’s faculty consists of blackjack dealers on their off hours.

In the early set’s other game, Memphis made things interesting by letting North Texas stay close in the 1^st half, but they eventually prevailed.

Currently being played are Long Beach State and Tennessee and Winthrop and Notre Dame. After Duke lost yesterday, it’s nice to have Notre Dame still in the tournament as another team that most of the country can vehemently root against.

Day 2

2007-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started well - two exciting games ending with BC and Maryland wins, and me wolfing down a Massimo's Margherita pizza. Then the rest of the afternoon was a snoozefest, one of the most boring sets of 1st round games in recent memory. I finished the day off with some fried chicken and a Duke loss. While I was sad to see Duke lose because I had them in the Sweet Sixteen, it was nice to finally see an exciting game and an upset.

Everyone's new favourite player will either be VCU's Eric Maynor or Xavier's Drew Lavender. Number 1, they were the only players after 3pm yesterday to actually provide some drama, and number 2, they're the kind of player that comes around tournament time where most casual fans haven't seen them play, and their toughness makes everyone fall in love with them. Maynor's last two minutes against Duke last night was a lesson in clutch play, making sure that the outcome of the game would rely on his play.

Today has started off with a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich and hopefully the noon games will not make me think about changing the channel and watching last night’s Daily Show.

Games I’m looking forward to:

Albany vs. Virginia – I called it as an upset on Tuesday.
Winthrop vs. Notre Dame – A popular upset pick.
Villanova vs. Kentucky – Villanova’s Scotty Reynolds has been awesome as of late and he could drop 30 to beat Kentucky in the battle of the Wildcats.

Update #4

2007-03-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

Maybe the NCAA committee should rethink pairing a couple mid-majors in a 1st round game. It's Old Dominion 20, Butler 19, at the half. Kevin Harlan just called ODU's Gerald Lee unstoppable after he scored his 8th point to break 20 for the Monarchs. It's safe to say that's the stretch statement of the year. Harlan hasn't been less excited for a game since he found out his wife was cheating on him duting a Texans/Colts game this year.

Over at the Penn/Texas A&M game, the usually excitable Gus Johnson is having trouble yelling about Penn's 18 points at halftime. Seeing Johnson and Harlan talk at a normal volume is like lightning striking twice. I thought it was impossible.

Meanwhile, Washington State is trying to redeem the Pac-10 after the Stanford debacle earlier today. Unfortunately, Ryan Leaf hasn't been spotted in the stands in Sacramento. I think the Maloofs should have invited him to sit courtside with them. They've done it other team cancers Barry Bonds and Terrel Owens, so why not?

Update #3

2007-03-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

So BC and Maryland are through to the 2nd round. Pretty impressive performances by both teams.

BC played tough defence and had 9 blocks in the game and got a big game from senior Sean Marshall. I'm not sure how much playing in an ACC gym at Wake Forest helped them, but familiarity can never hurt. Tyrese Rice also had one of his best games last year at Wake so the karma is good.

Maryland was able to play tougher defense and the Davidson shooters went cold after about the 15 minute mark in the 2nd half. Stephen Curry finished with 30 and got a deserving standing ovation from the fans in Buffalo after he fouled out with a minute to go. Tough loss for him, but he's only a freshman and will have 3 more years to make an NCAA tournament run. What's worse is that Davidson now has to hang out in Buffalo the rest of the day.

Pizza is on its way - Massimo's on College Street in Toronto is the way to go.

Update #2

2007-03-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

BC is going with headband look for the tournament. I'm not sure how this will affect their play, but Tyler Roche does look pretty funny wearing one. From the bits and pieces of the game I've seen, the Eagles are playing pretty hard and getting contributions from the Big 3.

Stephen Curry is going off against Maryland. Davidson has pushed ahead against Maryland at the beginning of the 2nd half. Looks like the fashionable upset pick may happen. Maryland has one of the best defenses in the nation, and they're going to need to tighten up to win the game.

Stanford might as well head home at halftime and not bother playing the 2nd half. They're down to Louisville 46-20. Not a good start for the Pac-10. Of course, it doesn't really help Louisville at all that theya re playing in Lexington. It's about as foreign a place to Rick Pitino as the salad section at Whole Foods is to Rick Majerus.

Update #1

2007-03-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Davidson and Stephen Curry are no joke. Curry has 16 points at halftime as he and Davidson lived up to their billing as a fast-paced team of gunners. Despite giving up more than 40 points in the 1st half, they've played solid defense int he half-court but have had trouble getting back in transition off of missed shots and turnovers.

Maryland is keeping pace with the typical quality game from D.J. Strawberry and their big men up front.

After feeling each other at in the first couple minutes, the two teams have played at a high level and it's been a very entertaining game to watch. It could be the first One Shining Moment finish of this year's tournament.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of the BC game, but it looks like they came out strong and have put up a surprising 41 points in the 1st half to lead by 2 at the break. It's tough to complain when they have a lead after I expected the worst.

Ready to Dance

2007-03-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Maryland and Boston College tip-off in about 20 minutes, and it's safe to say I'm giddy. The hardest decision I'll have to make all day will be the choice of food. Pizza and wings are always a safe bet. If only the shawarma and Jamaican places around here delivered, I'd be in heaven.

I'll be checking in periodically throughout the day with my thoughts on the ACC games and the tournament in general.

The next 48 hours might be my favourite time of the year. Let's get it started.

A Look At the 1st Round

2007-03-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

I usually don’t like to make it my business to predict the outcomes of games, but we can at least take a look at the 1st round match-ups involving ACC teams and their opponents. What’s been interesting about this year’s tournament teams is that on their good days, they look like they can play with anyone, but on their bad days they are vulnerable to an upset and a long plane ride home where there won’t be any fans to welcome them on the tarmac at the airport. That might be the worst kind of salt you can have on your wound.

In recent weeks, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Duke have all played at a very high level, only to bow out of the ACC tournament earlier than they had hoped. So the big question that will be answered beginning Thursday – Which ACC will show up? Will we see that the ACC really is the best conference in the country, or was the competitiveness this year the result of many good, but not great, teams?

I’ve broken down the 7 first round games featuring ACC teams into a couple different categories:

No Need to Even Talk About It

North Carolina vs. Eastern Kentucky
The conference’s best takes on the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky on Friday, and the only question will be when the Heels assert their dominance. Then again, UNC did lose to George Mason last year, so anything can happen. Oops, I just talked about the game.

One and Done Waiting to Happen

Boston College vs. Texas Tech
The last time a BC team faced Bobby Knight was way back in the Bill Curley days in the 1994 Sweet Sixteen. It saddens me to say, but the Eagles are likely to fall to Texas Tech in the first round this year. As many ACC fans are now aware of, BC has a tendency to come out flat and their players occasionally have more trouble getting a bucket than the fans with awkward jumpers shooting for $1000 at halftime of NBA games.

Should that happen, the Eagles will be in trouble. It’s rare that the Eagles are able to put together a quick 8-10 point run to get back in a game once they are down. Sometimes I wonder how long a game would have to be before they could catch up. It might take hours.

To win, the Big 3 of Tyrese Rice, Sean Marshall, and Jared Dudley are going to need to get BC an early lead so they can establish their own tempo. Out of their tight flex offense, the Eagles can score when they are allowed to make the passes that they want. However, as Duke has shown the last two years, BC’s players can be careless and will telegraph passes more often than they should. Expect Bobby Knight to drill his players about overplaying BC’s cutters and to look for turnovers. In Jarrius Jackson, Tech has a player that can carry them much like Jared Dudley does for BC.

Virginia vs. Albany
In their last 5 games, Virginia has lost to Miami, Wake Forest, and NC State. So we know they’re capable of losing to teams that they shouldn’t.

The Cavaliers rely on outside shooting to get their points, and they’ve got two of the best guards in the ACC in Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds. If they’re hitting their shots, they’ll be tough to beat, but unfortunately, Singletary and Reynolds are shooting at 39.6% and 41.7% from the field for the season, respectively. If they come out ice cold, Virginia will be in trouble.

Albany has got a guard in Jamar Wilson who will look to give Singletary and Reynolds everything he’s got. Wilson is an athletic slasher who comes into the game shooting over 45% from the field and 75% from the foul line. The game will hinge on his ability to get to the basket and whether he can start his own parade to the foul line. I’ll put on my best glittered outfit and twirl the baton for him if it helps me win some money.

The Fashionable Upset Pick

Maryland vs. Davidson
The hottest trend every March is to pick the 1st round upsets not a minute after the pairings come out of Greg Gumbel’s mouth. This year, everyone from Seth Davis to the secretary in your office pool has pegged Maryland as the prime candidate to get ousted early.

Davidson had an impressive year with only 4 losses and enters the NCAAs on a 12 game winning streak. Granted, the wins were mainly against schools like The Citadel, Furman, and Elon, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

The matchup to watch will be Davidson’s freshman Stephen Curry against likely defender D.J. Strawberry. Strawberry may have the more famous father, but Stephen’s father Dell has the edge when it comes to the rap sheet and the better jump shot.

Fortunately for Stephen, he inherited his father’s sweet stroke and not his trademark patch of grey on his hair, and he averaged over 20 a game for the year and shot better than 40% from 3-point range. His legend still lives on in the Toronto area from when Dell played for the Raptors and Stephen would be draining NBA-range jumpers during the pre-game when he was probably 12 years old. He’s also got the clichéd chip on his shoulder that no ACC team recruited him when he was in high school. And, his girlfriend from high school dumped him after she went to Maryland.* Does all that matter? Not if Strawberry can play his trademark tough perimeter defense and limit Curry’s scoring.

*Probably not true. In fact, not true at all.

Likely Looking at a 2nd Round Game

Virginia Tech vs. Illinois
Tech’s got enough scorers and balance to get by the Illini in the 1st round. And after dismantling the Big 10 earlier in the year in the annual ACC/Big 10 challenge, I’m confident that the Hokies will be able to handle Illinois and Bruce Weber’s high-pitched voice.

Tech has been wildly inconsistent since February, so I’m not going to pick them for a Sweet Sixteen trip right away, but given that they beat Duke at Cameron and UNC twice this year, we know they’ve got the horses to beat some upper echelon teams.

Duke vs. VCU
Before you think about the losses Duke has had this year, the lack of athleticism, the lack of fire, ask yourself if Coach K will lose in the 1st round. It’s not going to happen. With Gerald Henderson back, Duke will have additional scoring punch from the wing and Henderson can provide the type of wild card plays that athletes give you. Whether it be a crucial offensive rebound or a Henderson Senior-esque steal on defense, Henderson will help Duke get to the 2nd round on the weekend.

With DeMarcus Nelson and Greg Paulus joining Henderson on the perimeter, Duke has the kind of guard play that can score, create plays for others, and play solid on the ball defense.

The appropriately named college player, B.A. Walker, leads a balanced VCU attack that likely has not seen the type of aggressive defense that Duke plays. One can only hope that B.A. gets his degree and improves VCU’s graduation rates.* If VCU can limit their turnovers and be able to win the battle of the boards, they’ll have a chance to hang in close.

*After some extensive research, I found out that B.A.’s major is in Sports Management. To my huge and ridiculous disappointment, this means his business card will never read B.A. Walker, B.A. ‘Tis a crying shame.

This Game Features Jo’van Wink Adams

Georgia Tech vs. UNLV
We have a winner for the annual Squeaky Johnson best nickname award. Congratulations Wink Adams.

Wink is UNLV’s top scorer, so there’s a good chance you’ll hear Dick Enberg say Wink until your heart’s content. But Georgia Tech brings with them the entire city of Atlanta’s combined hate for UNLV coach and former Hawk coach Lon Kruger. I’ve heard that all 7 of the Hawks season ticket holders will be making the trip to Chicago to heckle Lon.

Georgia Tech wins.

So a quick wrap-up of my predictions, even though I said I wouldn’t:

Winners Circle:
UNC, Duke, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and me because I have the day off and will be watching all the games.

Plane Ride Home After 1 Round:
Boston College, Virginia.

Weekend Wrap-Up: March 11, 2007

2007-03-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

What a weekend. One of my favourite ongoing subjects in the blog world is making fun of ESPN and their various personalities, but without the World Wide Leader, we wouldn’t be treated to the delicious appetizer to the NCAA tournament that is conference championship weekend. I stuck to mainly watching the ACC games, but once they were done on Saturday and Sunday, it was pretty nice to be able to watch Kevin Durant in the Big 12 tournament. His performance in the 1st half today was a work of beauty as he put Texas in a position to win the Big 12 with a 20 point lead, but Kansas showed their resilience and their depth as they were able to cut away at the lead and eventually win in overtime.

The Texas/Kansas game was just one of many overtime games in the past four days, and many others went down to the wire in regulation. Even the most seasoned couch potato would have had trouble channel surfing to catch all the tournament action over the weekend. The nail-biters weren’t just reserved for the big conferences, as teams like Albany and Florida A&M got into the tournament with buzzer-beaters and clutch defensive play in their championship game’s final seconds. Let’s hope that we haven’t seen all the excitement of March just yet, and that four days from now we’ll be treated to another long weekend of exciting hoops.

As many had predicted, the ACC got 7 teams into the Big Dance, with bubble team Florida State headed to New York for the NIT. Clemson had certainly damaged their hopes a few weeks ago with their losing ways and couldn’t have been surprised to not get in to the tournament. It’s tough to see FSU and Al Thornton not get a chance to play another meaningful game, but it would have been hard to justify 8 teams from the ACC getting NCAA berths. The conference this year only had one truly elite team in North Carolina, and much of the parity was a result of the other 6 tournament teams being in the second tier of contenders nationally.

The Heels proved once again today that their depth and talent level was unmatched this year in the ACC, although NC State’s combination of superb big men Ben McCauley and Brandon Costner had them in the game for most of the contest despite Engin Atsur’s gimpy leg. Costner and McCauley continued to impress with their footwork in their back to the basket moves and both played solid defense on Tyler Hansbrough. Unfortunately for the Pack, the referees treated Hansbrough as if he were Dwyane Wade in the 2nd half, continuously bailing him out on tough shots while Costner and McCauley were in solid position with their hands straight in the air. Hansbrough’s game consisted mainly of putting his head down and making furious jab steps and pump fakes in an attempt to draw fouls, and due to the ref’s quick whistles, he was able to head to the line more often than he deserved.

The referee’s biased treatment wasn’t reserved for the masked Tar Heel power forward, as a clean block by McCauley late in the game on Wayne Ellington was called a foul, essentially ending any potential late game drama. On the replay, it was clear that McCauley had jumped straight in the air and Ellington had initiated the contact, but much to the referee’s delight, Dick Vitale jumped right on the Carolina bandwagon and shouted about the body contact as the reason for the foul. My final count on the number of time Dickie V mentioned Jim Valvano was somewhere in the hundreds, as was his references to Drexel and FSU as teams that should get in the tournament. He was at his obnoxious best, even managing to throw in the ultimate commentator cliché, telling all the ‘young kids out there’ that were watching the game to learn something from whatever play a Tar Heel had just made.

The most impressive part of the UNC lineup is not just their depth – they played 11 men the Pack’s 7 – but that each player makes a contribution and is a threat to score. It was Wes Miller’s two threes and aggressive man to man defense late in the 1st half that gave the Heels a cushion (if not a comfy one) heading into the locker rooms at halftime. Miller only played 4 minutes, but his presence on the court played a part in deciding the game.

With a rotation of 10-11 men, Carolina forces teams to play their fast-paced tempo. NC State looked a little fatigued towards the end of the 1st half and what exacerbates that fatigue is that the Wolfpack and other Tar Heel opponents are forced to defend each UNC player on defense as each one can put the ball in the hoop. The Heels’ starting five produced a balanced attack this afternoon, and different players stepped up at crucial points in the game. It was Reyshawn Terry who, after State had cut the lead to 1 point at the four minute mark, nailed two outside jumpers and scored on a driving basket on the ensuing possessions. Throughout the game, Wayne Ellington created turnovers and fastbreak opportunities as well as hitting outside jump shots when State went into a zone in the halfcourt.

For their winning ways this weekend, the North Carolina was rewarded with a potential Sweet Sixteen match-up against Kevin Durant and Texas. As for NC State, I think as long as Sidney Lowe is wearing his red jacket, they’ll be in good shape. I was impressed by his coaching all weekend and they should be a force next year with 4 of their 5 starters returning. The graduation of senior point guard Engin Atsur will be a tough position to replace, but should Costner and McCauley return and stay healthy, they will be tough to stop down low.

ACC Tournament Day 3

2007-03-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

Day 3 observations after an afternoon on the couch:

1. On the same day last year, Boston College and North Carolina squared off against each other in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. Behind the strong play of seniors Craig Smith and Louis Hinnant, BC pulled out an 85-82 win. The game was competitive throughout, and for BC’s fans, this picture was the lasting memory from the game, a big F you to the Heels, their fans, and Dick Vitale's worship of Tyler Hansbrough.

Unfortunately, this year's game was over after about 5 minutes of play. And given the circumstances, why would anyone expect anything to be different? BC came into this afternoon’s game after barely escaping yesterday with a win over Miami, a team 10 games below .500. After relying on big men Craig Smith and Sean Williams last year to match up with Hansbrough shot for shot and board for board, BC’s depleted rotation featured limited post players John Oates and Tyrelle Blair. The Heels came into the game returning their entire nucleus from last year and adding blue-chippers Ty Lawson and Brandan Wright. Put simply, the Eagles were overmatched. Would Sean Williams’s presence have made a difference in this game? Probably not. Brandan Wright essentially performed his own lay-up line throughout the game, embarrassing BC with at least a half dozen dunks, many of them on fast breaks, facing no resistance. On one play, Wright was actually in position to get a defensive board for the Heels and was able to outrun 3 BC defenders for a point-blank dunk.

2. Boston College played a 6-man rotation today. 3 of the players, Oates, Blair, and Tyler Roche would probably not crack a rotation on any other ACC team. Facing a Carolina team that goes 10 deep with a rotation full of size, speed, and skill, BC really had no chance. With only three players that had the skill level to put the ball in the hoop, the Heels had an easy task on defense. Sean Marshall and Jared Dudley acquitted themselves nicely in the 2nd half, but by that time, it was far too little, far too late. The game had been over for a long time.

As a fan, it’s tough to watch BC getting overpowered by a clearly superior team. If they do make it to the NCAAs, a one and done situation is likely.

3. Hasn’t Bob Ryan learned yet? Any time he decides to put together his 1-2 token columns a year on BC, they end up looking like they belong in the Colonial League. At the bottom of the Colonial League. Seeing the glum look on Ryan’s face as he sat courtside in the 1st half was a vision of BC’s grim reaper. I understand that Ryan is an alumnus, but maybe we can get him to avoid BC games altogether for the rest of his career, if not his life. Granted, he only decides to watch BC if they are playing Duke at home or if they’ve got a big bowl game on the line, but his mere presence seems to inspire mediocrity. Please Bob, stick to the Sox, Patriots, and Celtics. Right now, the only BC guy I’m comfortable seeing at games is Doug Flutie. At least he shows up to games that aren’t being televised by ESPN.

4. The reaction to last year’s hiring of Sidney Lowe as the head coach at NC State was a mixed bag. After watching State play the last couple days, I’m a Lowe fan. His players embrace unselfish play and consistently make the extra pass to get an open shot. And it’s not just in the half-court, either. They look to push the ball up the court with crisp outlet passes and often get easy looks by wings Gavin Grant and Courtney Fells. There is nothing more infuriating than watching a guy dribble the ball up court when he can get his teammate an open look with a pass on a 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 fastbreak. That’s why it’s been a pleasure to watch NC State play this week – they play team basketball, and it works. Their bigs, Ben McCauley and Brandon Costner, have the knowledge and ability to kick the ball out to a teammate for an open three if the opportunity to score in the post isn’t there. They’ve also put on a clinic with bounce passes to cutting players through the lane. Again, it’s a simple play, but when executed correctly, it’s beautiful to watch. I’m glad we have the chance to see them play one more game this weekend after their win over Virginia Tech. I’m just sorry I didn’t see more of the Pack during the regular season.

5. I think State matches up well with the Heels. McCauley and Costner should be able to play with Hansbrough under the boards and be able to score and defend. The swingmen, Grant and Fells, should be able to defend the Heels deep rotation on the perimeter. Of course, the one worry is that State’s Engin Atsur won’t be able to keep up with Ty Lawson and the Heel’s secondary break.

Lawson directs the UNC offense beautifully in the half-court and on the fast break. He rarely made a bad decision today, pulling the ball out to run a play if need be, or taking the opportunity to drive and dish for an easy bucket. On many plays, the Heels didn’t even have a numbers advantage - Lawson was just too quick with a full head of steam and was able to get past BC’s first defender and force everyone else to collapse on him. If NC State can keep the tempo of the game in their favour, I think they will keep the game close. They’ve got just enough guys that can score to put them over the top. Let’s hope Sidney Lowe gets his red jacket to the dry cleaner again, because he’ll need it tomorrow.

6. I just switched to the Big 12 championship game and the camera panned to Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge sitting next to two women in the stands. They happened to be Kevin Durant’s mother and grandmother. Apparently, subtlety is not even a consideration for Ainge at this point. He might as well have had a burnt-orange Texas foam finger on his hand and Celtics hats on Durant’s matriarchs. If the Celtics do end up drafting Durant, Ainge's actions won't look silly, but I can't remember ever seeing an NBA GM sitting with a prospective pick's family members 3 months before the NBA draft.

ACC Tournament Day 2

2007-03-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

I don't have much time to write tonight, so here's some quick observations:

1. Harvey Hale's performance for Wake last night was unbelievable. Flat out one of the best shooting displays I've ever seen. Luckily, my cable feed was fixed and I was able to catch the last 10 minutes of regulation and the two overtimes. Despite it being a 1st round ACC tournament game, you have to believe Hale's performance will be seen every year from now on when they do those montages before a game in the ACC. The entire overtimes were exciting to watch as Hale matched made baskets from Tech on what seemed like every possession. I'm glad I stayed up to watch the game. I didn't want to check the score this morning and realize I'd missed a classic.

2. If BC lost today and they probably should have, their win over Clemson was the only thing saving them from being 18-13 and NIT bound. Instead, they are 20-11 and have a chance to get a big win tomorrow afternoon. At one point in the season, BC was 18-6 and ranked in the top 25, but the rest of their schedule was looking pretty treacherous. Finishing with 6 losses in a row would have proved disastrous and ended Jared Dudley's career prematurely, much in the same way Troy Bell's was a few years earlier. I'm happy to see Duds play another game tomorrow against the Tar Heels, but the outcome of that game is not looking pretty. I don't know how BC will be able to stop the Heels down low. The only way they stay in the game is with outside shooting like they did today.

3. So far today the upset teams of yesterday have all lost, and NC State is in rough shape at halftime. It’s got to be tough to play a mentally and physically draining game last night and then come back the next day to try for another upset. From an extreme high to getting back your focus in a matter of hours, any college kid would have trouble concentrating. My feeling is that it would be a different case if the favourites had won the OT games last night. It would have been more of a relief to get the win, and they’d have motivation to buckle down and get the win the next day. As an underdog, it’s hard to carry that emotion and momentum into the next game. That being said, I’d love to see another performance like Hale’s last night.

ACC Tournament Day 1

2007-03-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

I have many regrets in life, and after checking the result of the Clemson/FSU game at work today, I can add not calling in sick this morning to my long list. I didn't get a chance to see either of the afternoon games, so I was looking forward to the evening double-header. After enjoying the NC State upset of Duke, I took a break to microwave some popcorn and returned to the TV only to see a message that the Georgia Tech/Wake game was unavailable staring back at me. The cable company was nice enough to offer their apologies, however. Well I am not forgiving you Rogers cable. You have made many of my nights great these past two years, but you broke my heart tonight. I'm not up for any forgiveness tonight, but I'm going to take a deep breath and sleep on it. Maybe you'll find me a calmer man tomorrow morning.

The salt on my very tender wounds are the four people that had appointments to look at my apartment tonight BUT NEVER BOTHERED SHOWING UP. If fate somehow intervenes, and one of you happens to read this site, I’ll have you know the depths of my anger. Forget not eating dinner at my usual time, your inconsiderate, inhumane behaviour forced me to rush my reading of the latest SI while I was seated on my favourite chair. Karma will get you.

Some quick hits from the game I saw, and opinions on the ones I didn't:

1. Al Thornton had the huge game the FSU needed to get the win. Pundits are conflicted about the 'Noles' NCAA hopes. Seems like the print guys think they are in, while the TV guys aren't quite sure yet. Regardless, the potential for an epic performance tomorrow from Thornton against the Heels is off the charts. I may have to flip a coin tomorrow morning. Tails says I'm sick, heads says I'm healthy. With my luck, the feed for the game will get messed up, and I'll end up throwing my PVR off the balcony.

The college life is indeed the one to have during March. Thousands of young males are currently sucking down alcoholic beverages while watching the games - if you're a Clemson fan it's a Zima, a Duke fan probably a glass of red. Regardless of their choice of drink, colour me insane with jealousy. Tomorrow morning, they'll treat their hangovers with UNC and FSU at noon followed by BC and Miami at 2. If you're over the age of 24, the only thing you can do is remember what life was like when you truly lived. Hemingway had it all wrong. Forget the cavorting in bars in Paris. Feel the madness!

2. I don’t want to say the Maryland loss doesn’t surprise me, but I got the feeling last week that their play against Duke was as good as it gets. They played a near-perfect game, getting contributions from each of their perimeter players, and benefited from some bad Duke turnovers. You can’t expect Greivis Vasquez to put up triple-double numbers every game and Mike Jones to hit almost all of his threes. The Terps shot a terrible percentage from 3 today and barely managed to sink 50% of their foul shots. Miami’s Dwayne Collins is a dangerous big man and he’s the kind of tall athletic type that can battle the boards with the Terps’ equally as athletic big men, James Gist and Ekene Ibekwe. I’m sorry to see Maryland go because I was hoping Boston College would get a tough game tomorrow in preparation for the NCAAs.

3. The NC State/Duke game was phenomenal to watch. The last four minutes of regulation and the better part of overtime saw both teams play a high-level of basketball and it was especially fun to watch. Duke got a great contribution by Martynas Pocius in the absence of Gerald Henderson. In just 17 minutes of play, he shot a perfect 5-5 from the field and scored 14 points, many of them big baskets down the stretch. My guess is Duke fans hope he didn’t waste his big contribution of the month in an ACC tournament loss. His performance was the kind you’d need in a close 2nd round NCAA game.

4. It’s funny, watching NC State tonight, they looked like a top 20 team. Well-balanced, with a senior point guard running the show and hitting big shots, the Wolfpack has a great set of big men in Ben McCauley and Brandon Costner. Perhaps it was another case of the perfect game. I counted 3 offensive boards that McCauley grabbed over Josh McRoberts in the last couple minutes of regulation. Both he and Costner absolutely faked McRoberts out of his shoes on up-and-under moves. And the play of the game had to have been McCauley’s beautiful bounce pass to Engin Atsur, with Atsur finishing the play with an against the grain finger roll. I rewound the TIVO at least three times to watch the play. That type of behaviour is usually reserved for more risqué TV.

Costner scored 30 points. Just a great game. He too can pass well, and has nice footwork on his post-moves. Not only did Sidney Lowe’s sartorial choices impress, but so did his play-calling towards the end of regulation. State was able to get McCauley and Costner the ball in open space to operate.

I was sorry to see DeMarcus Nelson foul out. Nelson, Paulus, and Jon Scheyer all atched baskets with State throughout the game and you always like to see both teams at full strength with the outcome still to be decided.

5. In the 1st half, Brad Nessler mentioned the great time he and the other announcers had at Dick Vitale’s house the night before. Apparently, ACC coaches, media members, and other degenerate types were treated to a night of entertainment and food chez Vitale. Personally, I can’t think of a more frightening way to spend an evening.

Learning that Dickie V resides in Tampa is just about all you need to know about him as a man. You might say that Tampa, or the gulf coast of Florida as a whole is where culture goes to die, but that would be giving it too much credit. We’d be assuming that culture once lived in the land of golf courses and Hooter’s restaurants. There’s a reason why Major League Baseball players all reside in Florida in the off-season. Their interests span the wide spectrum of motor boats to drunkenly hitting each other on the ass with golf clubs. And now we learn that Dickie feels right at home among them.

ACC Tournament Preview

2007-03-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

Today I sold my car for $250. A 1996 Jetta. Black interior, black exterior. CD player. Had the Kenwood deck installed, and I would blast MC Breed's "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'" out the windows and into the warm summer breeze. 6 years ago, almost. Now, I keep the volume low on a Bob Dylan album with the AC pumped. Times do change. The car was a complete albatross, reaching and grabbing money out my pocket with no resistance. It was silly to hang out to, but it was my first car, the one with the sentimental memories. I didn't treat it too well, though, and that's why it sold for $250. It's going to be public transportation for me for the next couple years.

With that out of the way, I give you my ACC tournament preview:

Who Is Likely to Go All Gerry Mcnamara and Take Over for Four Days?

There's a couple candidates. Keep in mind this player has to be limited to a team that might be on the bubble or at best is looking at a low seed in the NCAAs. He also has to have a busload of people coming in from Scranton to watch his games.

Al Thornton
An obvious choice. FSU is sitting firmly on the bubble, with a 7-9 record in the conference and 19-11 overall. Al's coming off a 45 point game against Miami on the weekend so he could be looking at a legendary week. Starting with Clemson at noon two days from now, he's got a chance to boost his already high draft stock and to get FSU in the tournament in his last year. I don't want to imagine what this would mean for si.com and the Jenn Sterger quotient, but if any player in the league can carry his team on his back, it's Thornton. He put up over 20 a game for the season, and has a nice stroke from the line, shooting over 80%. It might also mean he'll have the honour of having his jersey retired right next to Bobby Sura's. It's what every player dreams about when they step foot on campus in Tallahassee.

The Seminoles lost both their games to Clemson this year, so they've got a revenge factor. How often does a team beat another 3 times in the same year? In their first meeting, Thornton put up 19 while shooting 50% and in the second game he scored 21 with a little help from the foul line where he was 12-15. He also managed to foul out. Clemson has some big, wiry, athletic types that will be able to match up with Thornton, so he might have a little trouble matching his 45 from earlier this week. I'd love to watch the game, as it pits the two teams in most desperate need of a win, but I'll be at work staring into space while daydreaming about lottery winnings and frosted mugs full of beer.

Zabian Dowdell
Virginia Tech certainly doesn't need a win to get in the NCAAs, but they'd like to bounce back from last weekend's loss to Clemson. Dowdell is an equally talented scorer as Thornton, and also shoots a high percentage from the field and the foul line. He's got the stones to take and make big shots down the stretch, a luxury for any college team to have come tournament time. I'd also like to see a few more shots of his family members in the stands holding up PTI-esque cut-outs of Dowdell's head. Nothing says tournament time than numerous shots of a player's family in the stands. You feel like you know them by the time they lose in the Sweet Sixteen. Tech doesn't get much off the bench, so they're going to need consistent scoring punch from Dowdell.

The Most Intriguing Match-Ups

Duke vs. UNC
Apparently some player from North Carolina got hit in the face on the weekend. Happened to be a guy from Duke that hit him. As I look at the ACC bracket, I get far too much pleasure out of seeing Duke as the 7th seed, and the only way they'll meet the Tar Heels is if both make it to the championship game on Sunday. Duke's going to need to win 3 games in 3 days just to get there, but it's definitely possible. Greg Paulus has been playing really well as of late, and is slowly but surely securing a spot on Duke's bench next to Coach K for years to come. One of the current Duke assistants may need to try and fail at being a head coach somewhere else for that to happen, and we all know that Johnny Dawkins is staying put. Here's hoping Wojo becomes the next Dukie to add a branch to the wilting coaching tree of Mike K (too lazy to look up the correct spelling).

Virginia Tech vs. Georgia Tech
Both teams feature athletic guard play so it should be an exciting game to watch. Fortunately, it's a 9pm start, so I get a chance to watch it. I haven't seen much of Georgia Tech this year, but I've enjoyed Virginia Tech this year, even when destroying BC last week.

What I'm Hoping For

From the quarterfinals onwards the games have the potential to be classics. With seniors like Al Thornton, Jared Dudley, Dowdell, and D.J. Strawberry all playing in their final tournaments, I'd like to see some back and forth games with quality play from the big-name players. If the past weekend is any indication, we should see competitiveness from every team.

Not one ACC team has a 1 or a 2 seeding locked up in the NCAA so everyone is playing for a little extra something. Storylines to watch:

1) Tyler Hansbrough playing after getting his nose broken on Sunday. He's going to be a monster on the boards and terrify little children all over Tampa with his mask.

2) Jared Dudley looking to prove that his being named Conference Player of the Year is no joke. The Eagles came to a crashing halt at the end of they year, and they'll need a quality win to get some confidence back heading into the tournament.

3) Maryland finished the season strong. If they can continue their success with a string of wins in the ACC tournament, they will be that scary team that no one wants to play come the 15 of March.

4) JJ Redick is languishing on the bench in Orlando. There's no Dukie this year for Dick Vitale to get all ga-ga over. If you choose to watch the games with the volume not on mute, it will be a little more tolerable this year.

Today in the ACC

2007-03-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

It's my favourite time of the year. The cold winter months are ending, and the tournament season is just beginning. The gift from work to help me celebrate? Going to work on a Sunday for a training seminar. Jesus, the entire reason why I suffer through the corporate life is so that I have at least two days off per week. It gives me time to drink Jack Daniels, think about what I should be doing with my life, and then have trouble sleeping on Sunday night as I realize the vicious cycle is starting back up again. I suppose I should look at the glass half-full, and thank my lucky stars that I don't have to go in to work the following Sunday when the real games are being played. But I don't want to look at the glass half-full. I want the damn thing overflowing.

Another thing about this year - the complete and utter inundation of the same commercials over and over again. This past weekend, I was introduced to Buffalo Wild Wings, which in some bizarro fashion seems to be a restaurant chain in the South named after Buffalo. Any commercial involving a slow clap garners its own slow clap from myself, but after seeing the appreciative patrons put their hands together for the buxom barmaid 1,000 times, I realized that I never want to be reminded of Buffalo, Buffalo Wild Wings, or the Buffalo Billls ever again. I'll eventually muster the strength to order some wings again, but I'll just call them wings, or chicken wings. Not Buffalo wings. See there I go, I said it again.

Last year's worst commercial was the two Appleby's guys singing about the new crazy! and fresh! ideas to the menu, and we've already got a front-runner for this year.

Today in the ACC:

Atleagle has a great couple posts that sparked a fierce debate in his comments section. Like I did with fights at high school parties, I chose to be the innocent spectator.

One of the keys to Georgia Tech's success this season was the solid play of Mario West. Guys named Mario are usually pretty good guys. Especially the ones that aren't Italian.

There's all sorts of optimism in South Carolina after Clemson beat Virginia Tech yesterday. I'm sure South Carolina has a lot to offer, but after a girlfriend-forced viewing of A&E's Flip this House, Greenville edition, on Saturday night, I've had my fill.

Tyler Hansbrough has a small fracture in his nose. Man, that guy is tough. I didn't really see him get hit in the game. Kudos to him for playing through the pain. He's going to have to wear a Rip Hamilton mask, and hopefully will wear it for the rest of his career, just like Rip.

Interview with Grant Wahl

2007-03-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

Grant Wahl writes about college hoops and soccer for Sports Illustrated. He was kind enough to take the time to answer my questions. Thanks go out to Grant and Al Gore for making this opportunity happen through the internet.

1. In the last year or two, you bemoaned the fact that Caffrey's was being removed from the shelves. Do you have any current favourites that are in your fridge when you sit down to watch a game? And on the same note, are there any specific cities/college towns that you prefer to travel to when you're covering basketball based on the beer selection or a particular microbrewery that you would make a point of visiting?

I'm still heartbroken that Caffrey's has disappeared, and I take every opportunity to look for it whenever I'm over in England. As for my current beer tastes, I'm a big fan of the Avery Brewing Co. in Colorado. They make some great stuff, most notably "Salvation" and "Hog Heaven." It's funny, but I don't actually drink much when I'm on the road. It's usually a high-pressure situation on deadline without much time to hang out. The most fun I've had this season was a postgame dinner at Ken Stabler's restaurant in Tuscaloosa after the Alabama-LSU game with a group that included Steve Lavin, Mark Gottfried and the Snake himself. Lav's a big wine guy, and he picked up some terrific California reds.

2. Covering college basketball, I would assume that it's difficult to develop a rapport with players given the short-term nature of their careers. Are there any players over the years that you've kept in touch with or got to know better after doing a story on them?

Even though I have good relationships with a lot of guys, most of them are pretty busy with their NBA careers, and I'm busy with my wife and what I do. There are a few exceptions. My wife and I used to hang out quite a bit in Seattle with Nick Collison and his girlfriend after he joined the Sonics. (We lived out there from 2000 to '04.) And we still exchange Christmas cards with the Walton family after I did a story on Bill and his three college hoops-playing sons in 2002.

3. Another writer at SI, Michael Silver, has mentioned the franchises in the NFL that limit the access of the media to the players and coaches. How accommodating are the big-time programs to writers like yourself? Does it take a couple years in the business to develop the trust of coaches and athletic directors?

This job's a lot easier when you've been on it for 10 years and have built relationships with the people you're covering. Example: The reason my 2004 story on Rashad McCants turned out so well was because McCants was willing to be so candid with me in a way that he wasn't with other journalists. Why did that happen? I'd like to think I made him feel at ease, but it also helped that Roy Williams told him I was a reporter who could be trusted. That only happened because I've written about Williams a lot over the years. Most programs are pretty accommodating to SI, which is nice. You'll get varying levels of access. In a perfect world I'd always like to interview my profile subjects where they live, and without any media handlers around. But I've also been able to do good one-on-one interviews in quiet rooms of athletic facilities.

4. I've read that you spent some time in Buenos Aires doing research for a thesis in college. Have you thought about taking time away from your current responsibilities at SI to work on a book? If so, what would be a topic of interest?

I've thought about it, and I'd like to take some time off to write a book soon. Not sure yet exactly what it would be about, but the chances are greater that it would actually be about soccer. I'm glad that I get to cover the two sports that I love (college hoops and soccer), but if there would ever be enough demand someday at SI for a 100% soccer reporter, I'd jump at it. Don't ask me why. My mom must have dropped me on my head as a child.

5. Seth Davis must have some incriminating pictures of a top executive at CBS. He can't be stopped! He seems to be taking over hosting duties now in addition to giving his opinion during the halftime shows. Have you considered doing any TV work and giving Seth a run for his money?

Seth is amazing on the tube and gives all of us print guys a good name. I've done a lot of TV appearances over the years and would definitely be interested in doing more, but I don't think I'd ever want to give up print.

6. You take every opportunity to take a jab at Crash, one of those terrible movies that people seem to think was a great movie. We'll call it film's answer to Tuesdays with Morrie. For the most part your movie recommendations are pretty solid and are for lack of better words 'sophisticated'. Are there any favourites of yours that you might be ashamed or embarrassed to recommend publicly? I know I've got a VHS copy of White Men Can't Jump collecting dust under my TV that I still watch every now and then.

This will get me in trouble, but thanks to my wife's DVD collection I've probably seen every episode of Sex and the City at least fives times, and the second and third seasons are actually quite good. (I can't believe I just wrote that. Let's act like this paragraph never happened.)

7. Your recent article about UNC's secondary break is the type of piece that makes SI a quality read. However, the recent additions of the 'pop culture grid' and SI Players have deteriorated the quality of the magazine, in my opinion. What are your thoughts on the direction of the content, and have you ever been less than excited to do an assigned story?

There's still a lot of quality in SI, and I just hope the guys who run the magazine continue to want to do good old-fashioned storytelling in the future. That sort of quality requires the necessary space in the magazine to do it. I'm all for quick-hitter stuff in the front of the mag as long as we never forget what we do best. As for assigned stories, I try to avoid them by being proactive and pitching my own story ideas first. That way I'm more invested in them and excited about pursuing them. These days I'd say about 95% of my stories are my ideas, whereas seven years ago maybe 20% of my stories were my ideas.

8. As a reader, I know that I appreciate when a writer tells a story that only he or she was privileged to due to access. Do you have any favourite stories or anecdotes from the past couple years that didn't get published in the magazine or in your online column?

In 2005 Roy Williams won his first NCAA title after several attempts, and I ran into him on the floor a few seconds after the final buzzer. What was odd was this: I wasn't writing the story about his team. Every year at the Final Four two SI writers both have to prepare a story for either scenario on championship night, since SI always closes hard on Monday nights. As a result, 70% of the championship story is written before the Monday night final, with room left at the top, middle and bottom for stuff off the game. One writer takes each finalist, and in 2005 I took Illinois and let Alexander Wolff take UNC because I knew both teams well and he only knew the UNC folks. Bad move. I've probably written more about Roy Williams than I have about any other college coach. So when I saw him on the floor that night and congratulated him, this was his reply: "Grant, they took you off the beat!" Sad but true. My "Illinois national championship" story got flushed and never saw the light of day.

9. Let's say you don't have to cover this year's NCAA tournament. What's your ideal way to spend the first Thursday of the tournament watching the games - at home with the remote and access to every game being played, or at a venue and experiencing the games live?

If I was with some buddies and had a sweet venue for game-viewing I'd probably take that option, but I do love the energy of being in the arena, especially as an upset unfolds. There's really nothing quite like it.

10. Lastly, you, Seth Davis, Luke Winn, and Stewart Mandel have a dunk contest. Who wins?

Certainly nobody who has to endure watching it.

Weekend Wrap-Up: March 4, 2007

2007-03-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

If today's Duke/Carolina game had been the only ACC game you watched all season, you'd come away thinking Carolina was clearly the class of the conference. Going 10-deep, the Heels ran the Blue Devils up and down the court, and didn't stop even with a 12 point lead and 3:30 to go in the game. Point guard and speed-demon extraordinaire Ty Lawson in foul trouble? Not a problem for Roy Williams. Merely insert Bobby Frasor and watch Frasor push the ball up the court at warp speed, making great passes for easy buckets, and finishing some fast breaks himself. As for the half-court game, Tyler Hansbrough dominated the 2nd half, after finishing the first half with a mere 8 points and 8 rebounds. Duke had no answer for Hansbrough's power game down low as he finished the game with 26 points, 17 rebounds, and a bloodied nose courtesy of Gerald Henderson. Despite making the game close in the 2nd half due to the strong play of Greg Paulus, the game never really seemed in doubt.

After the victory today, Carolina ends up with a share of the regular season title with Virginia, and the number 1 seed in the conference tournament, beginning later this week. A number of teams will be limping into the tournament after losses this weekend. Among them - Boston College, Virginia, and Virginia Tech - all with 10 wins or more in conference play this year. A Clemson win over V-Tech may be too little too late for them to get in the NCAA tournament, despite a 21-9 overall record.

Georgia Tech's win over BC may have further cemented their NCAA berth, as they finished the regular season with a 20-10 record, and 8-8 in the conference. The Eagles meanwhile, have lost 4 of 5 games to finish the year, and have been blown out twice in their last 3 games. From an entirely pessimistic perspective, I think they have to win 2 games in the ACC tournament to make sure they've got smiles on their faces come Selection Sunday. Judging solely by the CBS highlights of their game this afternoon, the Eagles looked slow, and frankly, not an NCAA tournament team. You watch them sometimes and wonder how they can keep close with the likes of UNC, which they did two weeks ago. Sloppy turnovers are BC's achilles heel, especially when making careless passes in their tight flex offense. For some reason, Duke seems to be the only team to take full advantage of the Eagle's lackadaisical ways. Maybe the other ACC coaches should start using American Express like Coach K.

As for Duke, I think they'd be happy with a Sweet Sixteen appearance. Give Greg Paulus credit - in the games I've watched the last couple weeks, he has played point guard in a manner to please even Larry Brown. This afternoon, Paulus gave Duke the scoring punch when they needed it, shooting at a high percentage, and despite four turnovers, managed the offense well, getting other players involved, especially Gerald Henderson, who contributed 16 points. Josh McRoberts' continued passive play has to be making Duke fans tear out their hair and spilling food all over their Lacoste polos as they watch him play. McRoberts played 36 minutes today, managing only 7 field goal attempts and 9 points for the game. Duke needs better production out of him to have a chance to keep up with the higher scoring teams in the country. Maryland showed earlier this week that if you can score against Duke, they are beatable. (Mark that as my first self-acknowledged obvious statement.)

A Look Ahead:

The first games of the ACC tournament are set, and Thursday really shouldn't have any surprises. Florida State and Clemson tip-off at noon, with both of the ACC's bubble teams needing a run in the tournament to have any hope of an NCAA berth. Florida State and BC need one win to give them 20 for the season. That would give the ACC 9 20-win teams, and probably two very sad 20-win teams at 7pm next Sunday.

Checking In

2007-03-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

There's about 11 minutes to go in the Virginia Tech/Clemson game and Tech just tied it with a three. After Virginia's loss yesterday, today's games become even more important with the ACC regular season crown still up for grabs. The Cavaliers have to be disappointed to lose to Wake Forest in the final game of the season.

I'll be back tonight with the weekend wrap-up and a quick interview with SI's Grant Wahl. The next couple hours should have some great hoops. BC, UNC, and Virginia Tech all could use a win to gain a share of the ACC title. Meanwhile, a Georgia Tech win should wrap-up a bid in the NCAAs and Duke would obviously like a win against the Heels. All things said, many thanks to Virginia for losing and raising the stakes for this afternoon's games.

Virginia vs. Virginia Tech - Liveblog

2007-03-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

It's Culture vs. Agriculture, or so says one UVA coed's sign. While she gleefully displays her cardboard, AC/DC is pumped through the sound system of John Paul Jones Arena. Cultured? Maybe. But I think Tech's students would feel right at home. And speaking of the new Arena, it truly is magnificent. I was warned about it, but the hardwood has a glow that cannot be seen anywhere else. Deron Washington is wearing shades while he warms up. He knows what I'm talking about.

20:00 In the 1st half:
Deron Washington may have huge hops, but he makes Nigerian Tunji Soroye look like Dwight Howard as they stand next to each other awaiting the tip-off.

18:40
According to Dave Pasch, Mamadi Diane just scored the first 5 points of the game for Virginia. Yet even after a replay shows that it was Soroye that scored the first bucket, he refuses to acknowledge it. Come on Len Elmore! Help him out. You'd think Mamadi might also be from Africa. Nope, Potomac, Maryland.

17:10
Another sign int he student section says that Tech's fastbreak is so good because they're running from the cops. I though UVA was a good school? Shouldn't these students have something more creative?

16:31
After Virginia's Sean Singletary drills a three, they've jumped out to a 13-3 lead. Please makes this game close, Tech. I'm begging you.

15:15
The high-flying Washington gets swatted by Soroye.

14:46
I just picked some lint out of my belly-button. It's like a vacuum some days.

13:39
Virginia's Ryan Pettinella grabs an offensive board and gets fouled. We learn that he's 9-35 from the line. 9-35.

11:43
The camera shows that the 'VT' logo was carved into the hardwood at the Arena. How dare they deface this architectural masterpiece!

11:12
Jamon Gordon applies his elbow to Sean Singletary's face. Singletary hits the floor. From the magic of TIVO, I see that the 'bow wasn't so bad. I do wonder if Gordon has seen the movie jamon, jamon. Probably not.

10:00
It's 19-12 UVA halfway through the 1st.

8:33
It's Zabian time. Dowdell cuts the lead to two, 19-17. He's from one of my favourite towns in America, Pahokee, Florida. I've never been there, just sounds like a great place.

7:27
First Washington throwdown of the game ties it at 19-19.

5:15
Virginia's Adrian Joseph starts going off, hitting two long jumpers. He bears a resemblance to Method Man.

3:20
Virginia has absolutely zero inside play. Everything is jumpers from the outside. Luckily, they've hit a few threes to keep them in the game.

0:48
Great tip by Joseph to put Virginia up 8. Neither Deron Washington nor Coleman Collins bothered to jump for the board. Seth Greenberg is feeling a little tightness in his chest right now. Len says Greenberg just asked Collins 'What is wrong with you?'. Yes, that's it, what is wrong with you. That's what I say to the guy that just caused me a heart attack as well.

18:50 In the 2nd half:
Tech comes out lazier than Stu Scott's eye. Diane, the guy that scored the first 5 of the game, steals the ball from Tech's Vassallo.

14:15
Washington has the dreaded airball/silly foul combo, but it works out ok as UVA probably would have had a layup. Pasch mentions Lenny's law degree from Harvard, only the 7865th time I've heard that Lenny went there. It must be in his contract that Harvard is mentioned every time he is on the air.

12:22
Diane's two threes sandwich a block/dunk combo from Virginia Tech. it's back to a 9 point game. You know, William H. Macy has had a nice career, but he's never really warmed up to the critics. Now that he's starring in Wild Hogs with Travolta and Martin Lawrence, I think he'll finally get his due.

11:37
Singletary hits another three. It's 54-42 UVA. Tech just doesn't seem to have it tonight, although it helps that UVA actually plays defense, as opposed to BC's matador impression last week.

10:45
We learn Mike Patrick's injury has put him on the IR! Hallelujah. Lenny says that Pasch has filled in admirably for Patrick. I'm not sure that's a compliment, is it? If the guy you're filling in for wasn't admirable, and is generally annoying, can you fill in admirably for him?

8:40
Jason Cain celebrates senior night with with a nice spin move and power lay-up to push the lead back to 10, 58-48.

7:22
The camera pans the numbers that have been retired at UVA. One banner lists players whose numbers have been retired - Ralph Sampson, Bryant Stith. Another banner lists the jerseys that have been retired - Curtis Staples. Is there a difference? UVA might want to think about un-retiring Sampson's 50 given his legal troubles as of late. Sampson to Virginia is like OJ to USC. Eh, not so much.

3:17
Cain seals the win with a putback to make it 65-52. Tech didn't look too good tonight. Their seasons over! They've lost all their momentum! They can't win the big one against their biggest rival! That knee-jerk reaction was brought to you by your favourite NFL talking-head.

Today in the ACC

2007-03-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

A great slate of games, tonight. The Virginians have already begun their battle, and UNC/Georgia Tech should be competitive.

Today in the ACC:

The Crazies tried to get creative with their insults to mess with Greivis Vasquez, but it obviously didn't work.

An explanation for the interruption in the ESPN broadcast last night, and news that Mike Patrick injured himself in the booth before the game. Please tell me his injury prevents him from working more games the rest of the season.

The AJC has Tech's players recall their biggest games from the past in preparation for their showdown tonight with the Heels. Let's hope it works for them, because they're fighting for their NCAA lives tonight.

The weather calls for freezing rain tonight, and I'm hoping for a snowday. The chance of that happening is the same as this blog becoming a property of si.com tomorrow, but if I have only one thing in life, it's my faith. For snow days.

I'm Impressed with Maryland

2007-03-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

After last week's adventures with two terrible games to liveblog, Duke and Maryland graciously offered a high-level of basketball to the ESPN viewers last night. If only ESPN had cooperated, and not messed up their feed in the final 3 minutes of the game, or extended the coverage of the UConn/'Nova game 5 minutes into the first half of the Terps and the Dukies. I had planned on doing a play-by-play wrap-up of last night's game, but I decided there a couple important points that needed to be discussed, and not lost in the sea of another liveblog.

First off - D.J. Strawberry. What a player. If you discount the time Mike Patrick carelessly called D.J., Darryl, he had a wonderful night. From the portion of the game that I saw alone, I counted four times that Strawberry took a charge on Demarcus Nelson in the half-court. That's unbelievable on the ball defense. And I've got to hand it to the ESPN sideline reporter for the evening (Holly Rowe?), who showed clips of Straw bodying up to LeBron James back in high school and even drawing a charge. A nice, relevant, piece of information that added to the game. In addition to his defense, the way Strawberry gets out in the open court off of turnovers or defensive rebounds reminds me of Leandro Barbosa. His foot speed is obvious, but he also showed a nice ability to finish under duress after travelling down the court at 100mph.

I've harped on this before, but if any GM drafts Josh McRoberts with a lottery pick, he's going to be sorely disappointed. I just don't see McRoberts as even a solid 10-year contributor in the league. Two plays in last night's game, illustrate this point. With about 8 minutes to go in the second half, McRoberts got the ball in the wing in the half-court. Instead of using his renowned 'versatility', McRoberts calmly dumped the ball into the latest Duke stiff, Brain Zoubek. The story doesn't need to be told, but Zoubek immediately turned the ball over. Here's what bothers me about this play - it's at a crucial point in a close game, and McRoberts shows no desire to make a play himself. We've all heard about his ability to shoot the outside shot, drive, and his ability to pass. But he didn't even put the ball on the floor. Later in the game, again with the outcome still in doubt and at a crucial juncture, McRoberts had his shot blocked by one of Maryland's big men, then at the opposite end, Strawberyy sunk a short jumper in the pain over McRoberts' flailing arms. Two crucial points in the game, and McRoberts failed to make a play.

Maryland has a nice set of big men that crashed the boards. I don't know if this is a consistent pert of their game, but Ibewke and Gist can both get up and grab the ball, and Bambale Osby comes off the bench to fill the same role. All three missed a bunch of gimmes throughout the game, and that cost the Terps a more comfortable lead down the stretch.

As for their post-season hopes, if the Terps were clicking the way they were last night, they'll be in good shape. They got incredible production out of their point, Vasquez, who gets after loose balls, and can drain a crucial dagger three (his two threes at the end of the 1st half gave Maryland a six point cushion at intermission). I can't fail to mention the huge output of Mike Jones, who was a killer from the outside. Obviously, having a near triple-double out of Vasquez and 20+ points from Jones is not going to happen every game, but last night was a nice display of the Terps potential. And, thankfully, it was a nice game to watch.

Today in the ACC

2007-02-28T16:15:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday, and that means we've finally got a set of games to watch tonight. I'm going to be doing a liveblog for tonight's Maryland/Duke game. It's an important one, with Duke still battling to win the regular season ACC crown, and Maryland fighting for a better seed in the NCAA. In other news, the shoes I wear to work have stunk for the last few months, and I've been trying to hold off on buying new ones. First I tried buying new socks, then I tried putting baby powder my shoes. I'm running out of options. I'm not sure what this all says about me as a human being, but I've got a sinking suspicion that it can't be good. Let's forget I ever mentioned all of this.

One other thing - is it just me or has Jay Bilas become exceedingly more tolerable after his Bilastrator alter ego essays over at si.com in Grant Wahl's mailbag? My guess is I found Bilas to be smarmy based solely on being a Duke alumnus, but he has eased those feelings of hatred with surprisingly humorous writing.

Today in the ACC:

Marcus Ginyard may have recently hired Terrel Owens as his mentor. He says he's been disappointed with the Heels' motivation and drive this season. Tyler Hansbrough responded with his disappointment in Ginyard's 4.o ppg.

In an extremely well-written, and lengthy blog post, we learn that DeMarcus Nelson will look to lock up D.J. Strawberry tonight. It must have taken Luciana Chavez hours to bang out that post.

The Washington Post says that the Terps' Mike Jones is finally living up to expectations. Jeez, give the guy a break. He sold a million records, yet only NOW he's living up to expectations? Gary Williams sets the bar high over in College Park.

Following in the footsteps of his relative's status as a pillar of the community, Miami's Denis Clemente was suspended for the season. Clemente joins Sean Williams and Akida McClain of BC to form three-fifths of a starting five for the All-Suspended team. Who will fill the final two spots? That's a story line to keep your eye for the rest of the year.

Clemente's absence should help Clemson finally get the win they're looking for. It's senior night for the Tigers, and Vernon Hamilton is looking to go out on a high note.

NC State and Wake play tonight to get out of the cellar. You'd think there would be an interesting piece of news to link to regarding the game, but there's not. Strange.

Today in the ACC

2007-02-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

This will be the first installment of my trendy new feature 'Today in the ACC'. It's been all the rage in Milan, so if you haven't heard of it, don't feel too bad. It just made its way overseas, so now that you do know about it, don't act so cool.

Given that I'm only in the second month of a new job, I'm a little hesitant to start blogging and searching myriad east coast newspapers for linkable news. And don't you dare ask me why I don't wake up before work and put together the links. Baby steps, people. It takes me enough energy just to do laundry to have clean clothes for work.

Before I got home today, I stopped by at a barbershop to get my haircut. (I feel like your friends should tell you that you need a haircut in the same way they should tell you if a piece of spinach is in your teeth. I won't be embarrassed. I'd really like to know.) My vulnerability aside, I, like any real man should, like to get my haircut at a shop where the barbers have accents, and where the cut takes 10 minutes and ends with a straight razor trimming my unwanted neck hairs. Before taking my seat in the chair, I was sifting through the various newspapers and magazines. I see the bottom of the pile - just peeking out teasing me, I see the familiar 'BOY' of the Playboy masthead. I decided not to take a look - that may have had something to do with Mariah Carey being on the cover - but I did think about it. I just didn't want to be that guy that 'reads' the Playboy on the barbershop.

Another thing I need to bring up - I don't want to condone or promote smoking to our young readers, but if Lindsay Lohan's raspy voice has been caused by a pack a day habit, well then kudos to you Lindsay. Buy a carton of Marlboro Reds on me. I may just TIVO your proactive commercial the next time I see it so that I can listen to your voice whenever I have the urge.

Withour further preamble, Today in the ACC:

The new ACC Now blog over at the News and Observer has soe qualms with the uneven ACC scheduling. Virginia, for example, doubled up on the bottom feeders of the league. Hey, now. Everyone thought Virginia was going to suck this year. Let's throw them a bone.

Over at the Tallahassee Democrat, there's Democrats in Tallahassee?, Leonard Hamilton says that point guard Toney Douglas will return for the ACC tournament. Why's that important, you ask? FSU is 1-4 without him. Also, a little late with this one, but Bobby Sura's jersey was retired, joining Dave Cowens as one of only three players to see their sweaty garnet and gold in the rafters. Dave Cowens must be very proud to finally have a fellow Hall of Famer join him.

In an attempt to provide optimism to the U, Manny Navarro says that the Canes have the lead for a top recruit. But watch out, Indiana is pursuing him as well. Perhaps Kelvin Sampson wants another fan base to take out a contract on his head. Lucky for him, there aren't enough Cane fans to care.

Money well spent at UVA where the Cavaliers are 15-1 at home. The one loss was to Appalachian State. Those Appalachians aren't intimidated by no fancy, tea-drinking, new arena. No, sir.

Again, a little late with this one, but here's a Q&A with Virginia Tech's Markus Sailes. To his credit, when asked who he has become the closest with at Tech, he didn't say Marcus Vick. That makes Sailes a fine fellow in my book.

That's it for today. I'm going to watch Florida-Tennessee.

A Look Back at the Predictions for 2007

2007-02-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

With two more weeks left in their regular season, I thought I'd take a look back at the previews before the start of the year. What I want to know - which teams and players should be happy with where they are? Who should be disappointed with their seasons? Who's had their car keys taken away by the local boosters and who is getting first pour from the keg at the frat party?

The first coaches poll of the season had four ACC teams ranked in the top 25 - UNC at 2, Duke at 11, BC at 15, and Georgia Tech at 21. At this point in the season, it looks like every team except Tech has an NCAA bid locked up. UNC should fight for a #2 seed in the NCAAs and Duke is finishing the season strong, looking at a #3 seed in the tournament as their ceiling. BC has got to be happy with their season after their depth was depleted and their bench became thinner than a Hollywood 'actress'.

The Virginia schools have done their state proud. Tech's play has slightly decreased the odds that Seth Greenberg will have a heart attack during one of their games, and Virginia has (somewhat) justified their multi-million dollar gleaming new facilities (that seems to be the only word that is used when describing a new athletic center - gleaming. I guess you could use sparkling as well.)

Throughout this year's ACC season, you really can't point to one team that has dominated play. The balance has been nice for fans, as any ESPN-labeled weeknight can produce an upset, and underdogs have pulled them off on their homecourts and on the road. Taking a look at the current league standings, four teams sit at the top with 10 wins. In a typical year, the seeding for the ACC tournament would be very important to a team's draw, with Duke and the Heels having had dominant years recently. This year, however, the conference bears a stronger resemblance to the NBA's Western Conference than the Eastern Conference. No matter where your seeding is, you're going to have a tough matchup in Tampa.

In the non-conference portion of the schedule, the ACC acquitted themselves well in the annual challenge with the Big 10. This year, that may not matter too much, but I'll take the stance that the Big 10 didn't have a down year so that we can gloat. Hey MSU! Have some of BC and Maryland. Ohio State the number 1 team in the country? UNC chewed you up and spit you back out. Although I'll give you this - it is hard to play in the Dean Dome when the court is filled with puddles around the UNC bench from Roy's saliva. A pre-hallucinogenic Gonzaga did beat the Heels in Manhattan, but that's just because there was a lack of shrooms in the Big Apple.

Elsewhere, Clemson killed their mighty in-state rival Charleston-Southern by 24 on November 11, one of the many tough games on the Tigers' schedule. That’s right, our ACC teams take their bragging rights seriously. Boston College defeated Massachusetts in a game that was relevant about 10 years ago when John Calipari’s hair oil was lighting New England evenings instead of the home of Three 6 Mafia. Something tells me John has completed a number of multi-step handshakes with the Mafia.

Florida State sent Stetson home with a defeat, the school now know for as producing the racist gay cast member on this season’s Real World. FSU’s assistant coaches actually spliced together a highlight tape featuring Davis and showed it to Al Thornton before the game. FSU followed up their signature win over Florida with a 6-game win streak over such national powers as the aforementioned Stetson, Georgia State, Southeast Louisiana, High Point, Coastal Carolina, and St. Peter’s. Something tells me the AD thought the Gator game would be a loss and arrange the schedule accordingly. One thing to be thankful for regarding FSU – they didn’t have a buzzer beating win this year on their homecourt, saving us from a headline on si.com’s homepage about what a great time it was for Jenn Sterger.

After the departure of JJ Redick, there was no player in the league this year that we could all universally despise. Greg Paulus just isn’t good enough yet to take the torch at Duke, and no player on UNC gets enough minutes to outshine his teammates and become The Hated One. Which reminds me, one thing I miss about Roy’s Kansas days was getting to see Danny Manning sitting on the bench next to him pretending to be an assistant coach. Last week on Big Monday, it was a pleasure to see Eddy Pinckney and Manning in back-to-back games staring into space for 2 hours as they collected a nice paycheck. Joining their ranks last year was the renowned coaching talent Corie Blount on the Cincy Bearcat staff. I’m not sure if he’s still there, but I’d love to see Huggy Bear hire another former Bearcat, Art Long, to sit next to him at Kansas State. Given the state of today’s internets and camera phones, the likelihood of a moment worthy of deadspin would be through the roof. Imagine Art Long working and living in Manhattan, Kansas? I’m getting carried away here.

The one question I’d like to have answered is this: Who pays for all the fans (I’m assuming they are player’s family members) that sit behind a team’s bench when their team is on the road? We’re talking 15-20 people that have sometimes made a flight to accompany their team. Are Southwest’s fares really that cheap? If I’m lucky enough to have a single reader, maybe you can answer that question for me.

Weekend Wrap-Up: February 25, 2007

2007-02-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

With Maryland's win over UNC, the Terps are one of six ACC teams to have a record above .500 in league play. Of the top six teams, four have 20+ wins, and 19-win Boston College and Virginia both have the chance to join the 20-win club before season's end. You've got to believe that the top 6 teams have clinched NCAA tourney bids and three teams - Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia Tech are fighting to get in.

The winners and losers of the weekend:

Who's hosting an Oscar party Sunday night (not that I believe any of these guys would actually host an Oscar party, but it makes for a good analogy):

Jared Dudley, Sean Marshall, Tyrelle Blair, BC:
In their last game at Conte Forum, the two seniors helped to solidify BC's bid after three straight losses down the stretch. Another loss on Saturday to Clemson would have been disastrous and likely would have required BC to go on a run in the ACC tournament to catch the eyes of the NCAA evaluators for the final 65. Both Dudley and Marshall shot over 50% from the floor and Dudley contributed a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. As a BC fan, I'm happy to see two seniors who had contributed so much over their four years get a chance to play in the NCAAs one more time. Blair has made the most out of his playing time since Sean Williams was kicked off the team, and had 6 blocks on Saturday.

Virginia Tech’s Starting 5:
All five of the Hokie starters scored in double figures in Saturday’s win over the Hurricanes. In the past 2 weeks, Tech has beaten North Carolina and blown out BC at home. I don’t want to speak too soon, but they may be clicking at the right time of the year. By now, everyone knows about Deron Washington’s dunks, but Tech has a nice balance of strong guard play with Zabian Dowdell and post players that do the little things in Coleman Collins. Two more games remain on the Hokie schedule – at Virginia, and home against Clemson.

D.J. Strawberry, Maryland:
Strawberry pumped in 27 against the Heels to give Maryland a much-needed win over a highly ranked opponent. The Terps have won 5 ACC games in a row and look to be the conference’s 6th NCAA tournament team. They’ll look to continue their streak and sweep their season’s series with Duke at Cameron Wednesday night. Does Duke have anyone to guard Strawberry? His combination of size and speed might be able to give Paulus, Nelson, and co. some trouble, as Clemson did in the 2nd half against Duke this past week.

Who’s in the gym shooting jumpers until 3am tonight?

Clemson:
Their woes don’t need to be documented here as most ACC followers will be aware of the Tigers’ losing ways since their 17-0 start. Now 2-9 since January 13th, Clemson desperately needs to win their final two games. They’ll get a chance with Miami coming to town on Wednesday night. If the Tigers lose that game, they might as well pack it in for the year so I don’t have to see their trucker hat/Oxford shirt wearing fans on TV anymore.

Georgia Tech:
I don’t want to write Tech’s eulogy just yet, but with their final two games being played against North Carolina and BC, they would have liked to have had a win against Virginia. Now at 6-8 in the ACC, they’ll need to win both games to get to .500 and 20 wins before the ACC tournament starts. It’s a shame, as Paul Hewitt had his young team playing well since a four game losing streak in late January.

Clemson vs. Duke - Liveblog

2007-02-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

Nice intro to this game, showing the clock mishap at Cameron and David McClure layup to win the game. I'm sure all the Clemson fans are getting goose bumps right now. Unfortunately, it's back-to-back nights of Mike Patrick. Maybe Len Elmore can balance it out.

19:24 in the 1st half
K.C. Rivers hits a lefty three to start the game well for the Tigers. Len and Patrick talk about how they saw K.C. Rivers diligently practicing his outside shot 15 minutes earlier. Yeah, it's called warm-ups, but thanks for the inside information guys.

18: 55
Duke completes a whitewash alley-oop, with Greg Paulus setting up Josh McRoberts. Has McRoberts ever seen a weight room? His parents should buy him a set of Hulkamania dumb bells for Christmas. How can you play at Duke and not have muscle definition in your arms? People talk about McRoberts as a potential lottery pick. I don't see it at all. Well I guess I see it, but he should follow in the same lottery pick footsteps as Mike Dunleavy.

18:34
The first iffy call goes to Duke. The student section is getting antsy.

18:19
Trevor Booker throws down huge on McClure. You might remember him from such posters as...

16:41
McRoberts somehow manages to muster up the strength to knock the ball out of bounds with his rubber arms, but the call goes to Duke. Second iffy call of the game. Does Littlejohn Coliseum sell beer? The students with the giant foam fingers need another one.

16:05
James Mays on cue blocks the hell out of McRoberts, but Jon Scheyer ends up with the ball and drains a three from the corner. Let's anoint Scheyer as the real Jewish Jordan right now.

14:17
What the hell does Duke talk about when they huddle up every time the whistle blows? Clemson could use a bucket at some point.

12:27
Demarcus Nelson gets bailed out by a silly reach in when he goes 1 on 3 on a fastbreak. Cue the Duke fans telling each other jokes about how dumb Clemson students are. Also, since the whitewash alley-oop, the only thing McRoberts tends to do an offense is stand around and point at people. That's right, future lottery pick, Josh McRoberts.

12:02
Len Elmore calls David McClure a glue guy after he picks up a foul at halfcourt on a moving screen. Len, I've got Seth Davis on the phone. He says he just named his All-Glue team and McClure was nowhere to be found. Get your shit straight. I'm Seth Davis, bitch!

8:50
Nice tribute to Ray Ray McELrathbey from the Clemson football team. Ray took care of his younger brother with help from an NCAA fund. Tonight, unlike last night, Patrick refrains from making a tasteless comparison.

8:00
Nice tribute to Dennis Johnson. Patrick follows it up by saying that Duke player Gerald Henderson Jr.'s father David played on the Celtics championship team with DJ. That's right, according to Mike Patrick, Gerald Henderson JR.'S father is named David.

7:15
I'm going to have to go with a nice um-hmm to the purple pants on the Clemson cheerleaders. Their team is down 14, but they will dance in purple pants. Who says cheerleading isn't a sport? (I'm ashamed to admit, but I read those cheerleader interviews on SI.com. To a T, every single one has explained that cheerleading is perceived as easy, but is very hard.)

6:13
Paulus threads a beautiful bounce pass to Nelson for the stuff. I like how Marv Albert says stuff when referring to dunks. I'm going to carry that torch. Wait a second, Paulus averages 1.9 assists?

3:28
Clemson's Potter puts up a brick. This is quickly turning into a BC/V Tech redux. I picked the wrong week to start a blog.

1:01
Yet another Clemson brick. I can't wait until halftime.

Half
Only in the South can you see a guy wearing an orange trucker hat on backwards with a blue Oxford shirt sitting at a table with beautiful women. It's a different world down there, I tell ya. I'm not sure if it's better or worse than my world.

19:24
Nice start for Clemson, turning it over on the 1st possession. I'm so bored that I just got excited that I had to pee because it gave me something else to do.

18:40
Clemson sinks an acrobatic layup and Patrick says it should count for more. Indeed.

15:58
Willie Mays Hays with the comeback. The Clemson guards finally realize there is a huge mismatch between their big men and Duke's.

15:05
Clemson cuts the lead to 12. Cue the Coach K rainstorm from his mouth as he laces into his team during a timeout. His card is American Express.

13:09
The lead is down to 10. I'm ambivalent. I'm pretty sure the Jewish Jordan is going to hit a three at some point to end all the momentum and the game will be over.

12:52
HUGE SWAT, but Booker can't buy a bucket on the other end on a layup that would have cut the lead to 8.

10:15
Vern Hamilton is going right at the Jewish Jordan. His fastbreak layup cuts the lead to 5 and there is absolute pandemonium in Clemson. The guy with the Orange trucker hat and blue Oxford just downed a Zima in 3 gulps and ordered a round of drinks with umbrellas in them. Tomorrow morning, I guarantee that he will count down the number of drinks he had to his frat buddies.

8:27
McClure returns the favour with a nice stuff over two Clemson defenders. If I didn't hate Duke, I might actually like this team. They've showed some toughness and no floor-slapping tonight. Always a likable combination.

6:04
Paulus hits a three to send the lead back to 11. McRoberts remains on the floor pointing at invisible teammates while the rest of Duke huddles around Coach K during the timeout.

4:31
Another Jewish Jordan 3, and Clemson is done like a fork in a latke. So am I. Let’s hope the weekend brings some competitive games and some Zimas.

Clemson is now 2-8 in their last 10 games and not looking good for the NCAA tournament. The good news for them is that they've got BC this weekend in a battle of the reeling teams. Duke, after losing 4 straight, is playing well and should battle for the ACC tournament crown.

BC vs. Virginia Tech - Liveblog

2007-02-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

Wow. Not much to say about this one after the 18:00 mark in the second half. I wasn't optimistic heading into this game, but I thought the Eagles had a chance after closing the lead to 4 at halftime. Anyway...stuff I scribbled into my old Greek 101 notebook from school:

15:44 in the 1st half:
I got home a little late and as I turn on the tube to the game, the dreaded Mike Patrick is yammering away. Sweaty flashbacks to ruined Sunday nights in the fall ensue. I wonder if he'll use the ole 'everyone in the game I'm announcing is an incredible player' routine that he used with the NFL. He's gotta be able to come up with something for Oates.

15:43
Within a minute, Patrick comes up with his first gem, talking about Dudley and Marshall act like the toughest guys on the court, even when they're not. To back Patrick up, Dudley is sporting the always-intimidating look of the cornrow ponytail tonight.

15:08
Patrick's partner, Jimmy Dykes, returns the favour. Dykes: "Tyrese Rice needs about 5 feet between himself and the defender to get his shot off". Sure, Jimmy.

14:19
Dudley joins Bill and Ted on an incredible adventure getting the ball across halfcourt. Fortunately, a kicked ball saves the BC possession. Dud's ball-handling display is sure to increase his draft stock.

12:45
Ladies and gentleman, your NBDL dunk contest winner for 2008! Deron Washington!

10:00
BC is in the game despite cold shooting, down 18-16.

8:30
BC desperately needs a bucket...

7:15
...still could use a bucket any time now...

5:45
...this game is officially slipping away.

5:36
Marquez Haynes! I love you and your headband. Marquez's headband is like Adibisi's toque from OZ. I have no idea how it stays on. Maybe he uses the same double-sided tape that female celebrities use. Anyway, Haynes ends the drought with a nice finish and converts on the foul shot.

4:07
Beautiful bounce pass by Duds as he leads the fastbreak and dishes to Marquez who gets fouled and flies into the basket support. We need a bit more of that energy. Meanwhile, Al gets Oates back in the game to close out the half. That's right, he's our Tom Brady. Comes in to close out the half strong.

3:19
Maybe I spoke too soon about Washington. He hits a three to prove me wrong. Let's upgrade him to a Euroleague dunk contest champion.

1:30
A fortuitous bounce! Marshall hits a three as the ball bounces high in the air off of the rim, then falls through the hoop. That's the kind of shot where the defenders all get pissed off and mutter bullshit as they inbound the ball. If you've ever been on the receiving end of one of those shots, you know what I'm talking about. Especially when it's the winning basket in a pick-up game and it's made by the guy who just spent the last 20 minutes auditioning for an And 1 video. But I'm not a bitter man!

1:00
Tyrese attempts to channel Steve Nash with a tight bounce pass on the break. Out of bounds to BC.

0:56
Deron Washington your bubble has burst! I know you better than you do. He airballs as a jumper as BC closes the lead heading into the half.

0:02
Tyrese makes a nice layup just before the half to calm my nerves and cut the lead to 4. Jimmy Dykes, notice how Tyrese didn't need 5 feet to get the shot off?

Halftime
I just downed an extra large black coffee, and it's a perfect time to sit on the toilet for a couple minutes. Kevin Durant is on the cover of SI, providing the perfect bathroom break/halftime reading material.

19:53 In the 2nd half.
Great start. Duds picks up his 3rd. Just the way Al drew it up at halftime.

19:45
And it gets a little worse. Tech hits a 3 to increase their lead to 7.

18:00
Tech hits another 3, following a Deron Washington dunk. This game went downhill in a hurry. So what’s the solution? Tyler Roche comes in for a non-existent Shamari Spears. Gotta love that BC bench strength. Maybe Steve Aponavicius is available.

16:57
Roche with an acrobatic defensive play to induce the Tech rebounder into a travel of a BC foul shot miss.

14:00
Washington blocks Oates. I have nothing to say.

13:36
Down goes Roche! Down goes Roche! Dudley vehemently argues for a foul. And dare I say, down go BC's tourney hopes? This is one of those games where BC just doesn't look like they belong on an ACC court. Tech is just too fast, getting to all of the loose balls and boards. But hey, our guys get to go back to Boston after the game while the Tech players live in Blacksburg. I'm searching for positives in this game.

13:00
22-2 run in the 1st seven minutes of the half for Tech. I'm in full-fledged fast-forward mode with the TIVO right now. Not much more I can take.

9:50
Washington throws down his biggest dunk in the game sending Patrick into a tizzy. The camera finds Washington's mom in the crowd, and Patrick mentions that she lost her home in Katrina. Patrick follows that up with an utterly tasteless metaphor, comparing Washington to a 'big storm' as he flies down the lane.

ESPN cuts to its 3rd shot of a Miami Heat player walking through the tunnel to their locker room. The Network is desperate to have this BC game over. For the first time, I am in complete agreement with the ESPN.

Why Read Me

2007-02-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

I'm not what you'd call a typical son of the ACC. I don't live within a stone's throw of Tobacco Road, or even within an affordable plain ride. I grew up in the hot bed of college hoops known as Hamilton, Ontario, the kind of city that when you tell people where your from, their face recoils into disgust and they say "HAMILTON?! I've driven by there, it looks pretty dirty." A great motto for our fair city.

Following a mostly undistinguished high school career of fumbling footballs, but mostly my words as I requested prom dates, I headed to yet another mecca of college hoops, the University of Waterloo. Little did I know that Waterloo, much like Hamilton, would make people's faces recoil in disgust when I told them where I spent the ‘best four years of my life’.

So what qualifies me to write about ACC hoops and football? Well, I’ve got an 8 year-old computer with an ‘m’ button that sticks to the keyboard, a TIVO, and a damn good-looking easy chair parked in front of the TV. But here’s the good part (or bad part, given the way Boston fans are perceived these days): My father and grandfather are both BC grads. Now this blog will tend to focus on the ACC in general, as Bill Maloney does a damn fine job covering BC over at atleagle.blogspot.com. So while I’m still I mourning over the loss of Sean Williams and Akida Mclain despite their Pacman Jones tendencies, I’ll turn my attention towards the greatest conference in the land, the fine viewers get a double dose of Billy Packer on a weekly basis. You can run from Billy, but you can’t hide.

So fine readers, all none of you, join me on a journey through the next 5 weeks of the college basketball season as I attempt to become the three millionth blogger to write about sports. I’ll do my best not to disappoint.