Major Gripe with the NCAA

While I understand the NCAA Tourney Selection Committee has a very difficult job and schools will always be left out, there was one oversight by the Committee this year I can not reconcile... Mississippi State.

Purely from a numbers standpoint, they were prime bubble material at 23-11, finishing 9-7 in the conference and no major bubble-busting wins or losses to set them apart.  i think the only instances you can point to in their season to say they weren't worthy was the extremely strange season-opening loss to Rider and back-to-back losses in the last week of SEC Regular Season play.  However, they put together a run to the SEC Championship game in the SEC tournament which included wins against Florida (made the tournament) and Vanderbilt (made the tournament).  They lost in the SEC Final to Kentucky who is a number seed and needed overtime for the second time this year to fight off the Bulldogs.

The argument the Committee can come back with is Florida and Vanderbilt beat Miss St. in the regular season.  However, in both those losses Mississippi State was on the road and they bounced back to win on a neutral site.  So, I would say advantage Miss State.  I know Vandy was deserving of the tourney but Florida?  

Florida finished the year 21-12 (worse record than Miss State), 9-7 in the conference (same as Miss State), and 1-1 against Miss State.

Now here is where I have the biggest issue:  Florida opened the year 8-0 with lots of cupcakes and an impressive win against Michigan State.  Ok, great.  Since then, they have been 13-12 with only ONE win against a team in the tournament.  Really?  .500 ball and one decent win.  

Dickey V may be annoying at times but this is one point I whole-heartedly agree with him on.  The body of work is important but what is equally, if not more important, is how the team enters the tournament.  If I have worked through my issues all year and put together a very formidable tournament team (ie Notre Dame, Mississippi State), I should be awarded with a bid.  If my team was doing well but fell off towards the end (ie Purdue dropping to a 4 seed, Cincy and UConn playing in the NIT), I should be penalized. 

This is part of the logic missing in the selection process.  It NEEDS to get smarter.  You spend all of this time with "Bracketology" and Joe Linardi... its all an utter joke.  Just media-drunk garbage to please Sports Center viewers.  How about investing time and money into better analytics, which can capture the value of a win based on current conditions, can capture momentum swings in a team's season, and debunk some of the number anomalies (like in College Football where if I beat a team 70-7, I must be better than the team that won 35-0???). 

I get it.  This was probably political.  Florida has two Nat'l Championships and its fun to see them finally back.  You got freshman standouts like Kenny Boynton who can become "recurring themes" in the tournament for years to come.  You have Billy Donovan, the young and sexy Pitino disciple.  What you don't have is double-double machine Javaris Varnado who is a senior and will never have a chance to where the NCAA patch.  And that is a shame.  

Parity is great and teams get left out all the time but this one was hard to stomach. 

I am a Big East homer and even though the Big East is well represented in the NIT, I know who I will be pulling for... Mississippi State.

Posterized Contest

Who do you think is the best?  You can log on to NBA.com to vote.  

My vote is split between the Carter dunk and the Price dunk.  I give Carter a slight nod because Zo actually jumped.  Boozer didn't jump but the elevation of Price was super impressive.  

Price had the look back, though.  For that, I had to give him the final edge.  

Starbury Goes International

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4836023

Hit the Snooze on the Slam Dunk Contest

The list of participants for the Slam Dunk Contest in Dallas in 3 weeks and it was a pretty big let down.

Shannon Brown- Los Angeles Lakers

Gerald Wallace- Charlotte Bobcats

Nate Robinson- New York Knicks

DeMar DeRozan (NY Knicks)/ Eric Gordon (LA Clips)- Dunk off at half time of the Rookie Game.  Winner will make the contest.

No LeBron.  No Dwight.  This contest has really lost its luster.

I would love to see one of the stars of this league step up and join the contest to give it credibility again.  LeBron would have been perfect because 1. he is an incredible dunker 2. he promised he would do it last year!

But, King James did the cost-benefit and I guess the fear of not winning is greater than the extremely marginal gain in popularity he can get in winning.

Dominique should smack you!

 

LEast Among the League

Have you noticed recently?  The East is THIN.  Currently, there are only 5 teams above .500, one of them being a Miami team that is just 1 game over.  There are 11 teams above .500 in the West right now.

Orlando pretty much sealed it for me last night.  I don't like putting too much stock in just one game but they put up an utter stink bomb against Denver.  Dwight Howard again was a non-factor as he shot 1-7 from the field, good for 8 points, 13 boards, 1 assist, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers.  Rashard Lewis continues to be a shell of his former self, scoring 6 points on 3-9 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists.

Orlando is not going anywhere this year.  Here are the top 3 reasons why:

3. There is no defined leader.  It is easy to blame Vince Carter for this.  He upsets the balance of this team.  But at least he is willing to step up.  Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard have laxed into more subdued roles this year and role players have just proved too streaky.  This team does not have a true identity which always gets exposed in a big 7 game series.

2. The Magic are not sharing the ball-  They are in the bottom 5 in the league in assists.  There is no question there is a drop off from last year.  The reasons seem pretty simple.  Alston was by default the starting PG for the second half of the year and the playoffs and his role was clear; set guys up and distribute.  Hedo Trukoglu became the point forward as the year progressed and he was able to get a lot accomplished driving and either pulling up or dishing.  This opened up a lot of ball-swinging opportunities leading to open threes.  This year, the offense is built around Vince Carter which is never a good thing.  He clogs the flow and does most of his work with his back to the basket.  This plays counter to the strengths of Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard. Also Jameer is not the traditional past-first PG.

1. Dwight Howard is exposed.  Teams are bodying him up, forcing him away from the basket, and making him work for points.  George Karl intimated that much in the post game interviews, stating that being physical and throwing bodies at Howard was a priority and pivotal in the win.  They aren't the first to realize this and they won't be the last and this is the number one reason why Orlando is not going anywhere this year.  Facts are that Dwight is very durable (only missing 3 games in his career), and extremely physically gifted (which is why he can out-rebound everyone) but he is also shy to contact and limited on the offensive end.  I am all for giving him time, considering he is 24, did not play college ball and has never in his life had to rely on actual basketball moves to dominate.  But, as of right now, he is no Shaq, he is no Hakeem, and he is not capable to carrying this Magic team.

I am really pushing for Atlanta.  I would like to see them knock off one of the big three (Boston, Cleveland, Orlando) and make it to the finals.  Boston has great chemistry but has injury issues that will probably linger the rest of the season.  In Atlanta, you see a team that has clearly defined roles and big producers.  Josh Smith has been pivotal in my opinion, learning to accept a role as the second, and sometimes fourth scoring option (forget about points, be pulled down 11 board and had 8 assists in a win last night).  He is rebounding, playing tremendous defense, only taking shots he can make, and providing the intangible intimidator-factor that is so important.  Joe Johnson has been lighting it up and Jamal Crawford gives them the bench fire that is so important in playoff runs.  As I have said before, though, I would love to see them grab one more big to fill out the paint.   Hmm... Maybe this guy?  It doesn't hurt to dream.

Premiere Night of Big Monday Doesn't Disappoint

Big Monday premiered last night on ESPN.  For those of you who are not aware, this is a college basketball presentation that runs from January to early March and contains a 7pm game (Big East), a 9pm game (Big 12) and a 10pm game on ESPN2 (Mountain West or WAC).

Last night didn't disappoint.  The first game was a 90 foot battle between Louisville and Villanova which contained 67 (34 for Nova and 33 for L'ville) fouls and 42 (split 21 apiece) turnovers.  Louisville jumped all over Villanova early pressuring them into several turnovers in the backcourt.  Villanova showed incredible poise, however, hanging in, keeping it close, and then turning up their pressure to boiling levels as Louisville began to tire out.

It was classic Big East basketball.  67 fouls is more than a foul-and-half per minute.  There was pressure, banging, jawing, fired up coaches, important bench players and superstar stat lines.  Last year, Villanova took Louisivile to the wire in the Wachovia Center, losing by 1 point after missing a foul shot and then several put back attempts as time expired.  One of the game notes going into this game was Scottie Reynolds inability to play well against the Cardinals.  In three years, he was averaging 6 points which is well under average.  Then last night happened.

The reason 'Nova was able to keep it close and claw back in to take over this game is Scottie Reynolds.  He was able to get to the line 17 times but was by no means reckless.  In a game fought with turnovers, sloppy play, and intensity, Reynolds coolly shot perfect from the floor for the first 37 minutes before missing is one and only shot with under 3 to play.  He finished 9-10 from the floor, including 5-5 from three, highlighted by some daggers right in defenders faces.  It was classic Scottie Reynolds and one of those games that reminds me this kid has a great shot to be a solid NBA guard.  Surfer dude Taylor King was also huge off the bench with 12 points and some spirited defense.  It was no small feat 'Nova turned this game around.

At one point late in the first half, they were down by 17.  That is the fourth time a lead of +15 has been evaporated in the Big East already showing the intensity teams must bring every single night.  It won't get any easier as Louisville needs to travel to #20 Pitt who are currently looking like one of the hottest teams in the country, while Villanova will go home to face #12 Georgetown, a strong and athletic team.

The Big East is currently boasting 3 top 10 teams in the nation and 6 teams in the top 20 and quality teams like Louisville, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and (ahem) Seton Hall are not part of them.  More of the same, more of the same....

The second game of the night was an overtime affair between Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, adding another chapter to the storied Bedlam rivalry. Oklahoma edged out State to take their series lead to 125-88.  
 
Great start for Big Monday....

New York Delivers

Let me start by a little back-pat.... My prediction of Knicks-98, Bobcats-96 was close. Actual score Knicks- 97, Bobcats-93.

I am not going to lie, the National Championship stole my attention so I didn't get to watch the game but from what I saw in highlights and box scores, it was good basketball as expected.  The Knicks had to battle back from down 10 late in the 3rd quarter.  They took the lead early in the 4th and controlled the end game.

Nate Robinson is getting a lot of air time after throwing down a ridiculous slam but the question I have to ask is how good is he for the Knicks?  On one hand he is a high energy guy that gives the players and fans a healthy shot of life.  But he also coughed up the ball 6 times in 19 minutes, including 4 in the final period.  Thats some dangerous ball control if you ask me.  Nate has a place on any team but its only a few notches above mascot.  Basically, be positive, throw down sick dunks in warm ups, do elaborate hand shakes and chest bumps during introductions, wave a towel on the bench, do silly little dances behind the coach during time outs, and log about 10 minutes of tough defense, diving on the floor and taking it to the hole.  That's it!  If he can't accept that role, he is not good for any team he plays on.

That being said, Wilson Chandler is a beast.  Not only did he have to split his time guarding the 'Cats two best players who have very, very different offensive skills (StephJackson and GWallace) but he also poured in 27 points, 6 assists, and 7 rebounds while shooting 11-17 from the floor.  I was able to sneak an interview with Chandler after the game and this is what he had to say on his performance.

Seriously, though, he held Wallace to 13 points on 12 shots and while Jackson scored 26, he had to chuck up 26 shots to get there.  Translation: Wilson Chandler was the man for the Knicks once again.

Meanwhile, Galli shot 11 threes.  This guy is a black hole.

The Knicks are currently a half game behind Charlotte and Milwaukee who hold the 7 and 8 spots in the East, respectively.  So... if the Knicks can keep up .500 basketball, they are in a good place to take the 7 spot which at this point will afford them a first round match up against the Cavs and their future starting forward, LeBron James :)

This guy is only a memory....