Adam Morrison

Funny page about Morrison's 5 stages of grief

Duke and Walkout

Much to your suprise, I didnt even watch the Duke-LSU game. I was busy watching the Shield season finale (still can't believe that ending). LSU was worst case opponent for the Devils - an athletic, defensive-minded team with a very good big man down low. I saw firsthand how LSU beat up Vandy but wasn't sure what to think of the Bayou Bengals since it was...well, Vandy.

Honestly, even though I dont really like JJ, I did feel bad for him. He'll forever carry around the reputation that he couldn't win the big games. When in fact, Duke wouldn't have won more than 15 games without him. Let's get something else straight, everyone (even Duke alums) agree that JJ wasn't even in a top 5 player in school history.

Despite my upmost respect for the basketball program and Coach K, my respect for the university as a whole is quickly waning. First, it was the Duke radio crew during the ACC tournament. I've never heard announcers so biased towards the home team. If I listened to them any longer, I might have believed that Duke invented the art of slapping the floor on defense and anyone else who slaps the floor is infringing on Duke's copyright.

Now, it's the lacrosse team. These kids deserve to be shot. Forget jailtime; shoot the bastards. Or maybe they should have broomsticks shoved up their asses. Then again, maybe they'd enjoy that...let's stick with gunshots. Honestly, though these kids probably aren't that much different from Wake kids. They believe they can get away with anything because mommy & daddy will save them. Sadly, mommy and daddy's lawyers may keep them from the 16-20 anyone else would be staring at. We'll see.

Cullen, great point about Walkout. Good movie but unfortunately it confirmed that I'm a dirty old man. The lead girl was pretty damn cute and I knew I had heard the name Alexa Vega before. Then I realized it was the girl from Spy Kids...and I don't mean the mother either. Although, she is 18 now....

For the second year in a row...

the South Carolina Gamecocks are the 66th best team in the country. Whooohooo!

West Coast Hatin On Duke. I HATE DUKE.

Tyler Hansborough announces he will return!!!! JJ Redick holds press conference saying he will return for a fifth year!!! But he can't!! Sweeeet!!!!! I had a bad feeling Psycho T would be gone, but another year at UNC will help him develop. He would get punished in the NBA. Deep down I know Kryzyeykyoywsyki will find a way to reload like Roy did, but I still think will pound Duke next year.

Anyone catch the McD all-American game. How the hell did Ohio State become a recruiting powerhouse??

Other News: Congratulations to the kids here skipping class and protesting immigration reforms (making illegal immigrants felons? which rocket surgeon came up with that one?). I don't think its any coincidence that HBO first aired the film "Walkout" two weeks ago, which is why I've pitched a new movie to HBO: "Hot Pissed-Off High School Latinas Join the Nursing Workforce." The possibilities....

I'm sure you guys have seen the footage. It's huge news out here, seeing as Southern California is now about 95% Hispanic. I think its particularly awesome that its been nonviolent (thus far). But seriously, do they have to take to the highway at rush hour??? LA traffic is jacked up enough as it is. Haven't they seen "Falling Down." Don't they know Los Angeles residents are soon going to start crossing into Mexico for a better life with no traffic?

Huggy Bear Strikes!

http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9343554

Man, Hugs doesn't mess around. Could KState finally be remotely a challenge to KU in the Sunflower State? That possible line-up is just sick.

This would be cool...

Movie Theaters To Feature Sports, Peanuts and Beer

Movie theaters are likely to begin screening live 3-D telecasts of sports events by 2007, according to Shari Redstone, president of the National Amusements theater chain, the controlling shareholder of Viacom and CBS, Inc. "We want to transition our theaters from being traditional movie theaters to being community entertainment destinations, and what better way to do this than sports?" Redstone told Reuters Thursday. She pointed to the success that her company has had presenting Boston Red Sox baseball games in its Showcase Cinemas in several New England cities on weekday nights, where vendors sell hot dogs, peanuts and beer in the aisles. "We are not just putting the game up on the big screen but making the experience like being in Fenway Park," Redstone told the wire service. "The experience is more important, really, than what you are showing."


It would be cool to go a theater to watch something like the Final Four, the World Series, NBA Finals, etc.

Texas

What a finish!!!!!

They better count the basket!!!!

Denard

Check out Chris Chase's blog regarding Duke's loss. It's pretty funny, and some Duke fan is trying to talk smack.

Random thoughts

Duke goes out early (yet again).

Duke sucks. They are 4-4 in the NCAA Tournament when playing outside of NC the last 4 years. They are 6-0 in NC. They fucking suck. There should be an asterisk next to 9 straight Sweet 16s whenever that is mentioned. Shit, Kansas could pull that off if they played in Kansas City every year for the first two rounds.

Duke goes out 2 rounds early, just like Kansas

ACC is now 6-3 vs. expected 8-4. BC better make the Final Four, or it will be a disappointment.

Big East is 9-4 (W. Virginia is still playing) vs. expected 13-8. GTown has made up for Syracuse and Marquette's 1st round exit.

MVC is now 4-3 vs. expected 1-4.

Big Ten is 3-5 vs. expected 7-5, by far the worst of the multiple entrants

SEC is 8-4 vs. expected 9-6, struggling to make up for UT's early exit

Big 12 is 3-3 vs. expected 6-4, thanks to Kansas

Huggins is the new K-State coach. I wonder if Mayo will make good on his promise. It'll be interesting to see if he can build that program back to respectability. They have sucked for a very long time.

Missouri is interviewing Alford. I hope they hire him. That would be great for Kansas, because Alford may be one of the more overrated coaches in the country. These two hires should at least make the Big 12 North more interesting.

Thank You, LSU!

Goodbye JJ! Goodbye!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Still in Pleasantly-Surprised-ville

Actually, I'm still stunned that the Heels did as well as they did and excited about next year. This ended up being a pretty fun, low stress year to follow NCAA basketball as the expectations on the Heels were so low and they started out so rough (barely winning over Gardner Webb to 2nd place ACC regular season.) Also, its still pretty great that we won the National Championship last year.

Further fire for the ACC-MVC challenge: Miami FL (NCAA noncontender, 8th in ACC) defeats Creighton head-to-head (3rd or 4th in MVC, considered overlooked by NCAA committee). Florida St and Miami still alive in NIT, Missouri St still alive in NIT. Maryland, Creighton eliminated.

Now, should Duke prevail I will be on a one way train to Loserville to join you Wake Forest fans. Besides Dickson, aren't u still celebrating the Steelers win?!?!?

Welcome to Loserville

It's my pleasure to welcome all of you bitches to a place I've been living in for since about January. It's a place where you feel indifferent and unemotional about everything going on. Sure, there's an exciting tournament going on, with good basketball games and nailbiting moments. But when your team isn't one of the horses in the race, you don't seem care as much about how it finishes. Welcome my world of college basketball. I call it Loserville, now home to Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Kansas and UNC fans. It's not such a bad place but maybe that's because I have something to fall back on. The below photo always makes me smile, maybe it'll brighten your days too.

-JD

West Coast Hatin Weekend: T.O. Oh no!

Traitorous bastard. I can't see this one ending well for the Cowboys (wasn't he dancing on their logo a few years back) but TO can be certain Philly fans will hate him for life.

LA Marathon 2006 (what did I learn?): When old people try to run marathons, they die of heart attacks.

World Baseball Classic 2006: I was back in SD this weekend and met up with some friends at the Hyatt downtown. The WBC teams are staying there (Byung Hyung Kim is apparently very nice and posed for photos, etc, per some of the hotel guests). In the middle of all this fanfare is the Cuban team, aimlessly wandering around the hotel lobby in circles because they aren't allowed to leave. Not allowed to talk to anyone bc they might speak ill of Cuba. It's just sad that some of these guys are so good at baseball and they can't come to the US to play pro ball, make millions, be famous, sell Nikes, hook up with Mariah Carey, etc.

Tourney scoop: News Flash: Illinois team spotted at Junior Seau's Restaurant by a fellow surgeon the night before they lost to Washington. Apparently they ate a lot of heavily fried fatty foods. This probably slowed them down.

Haaaahahahahaa! 

NW St

Doesn't their coach look like Bruce Davison (Senator Kelly in X-Men and Kirtsen Dunst's dad in Crazy/Beautiful)?

UNC and KU

It sucks to lose the first weekend of the tournament (I know, Roy used to coach at KU), but considering how no one had any expectations for either team in the preseason, they still had really good years. It's amazing that Self and Roy have both lost in the first round twice in their first three years at their new schools.

I hate UConn. Calhoun is dirty, and I hope Kentcuky is able to come back and win this damn game.

Arizona - Nova should be good later today.

-Jav

Roy is an ass!

He just tossed a chair on the sideline. Of course he didn't get a T. UNC fans will swear he did nothing wrong, but the replay should it another time. What a cock! I guess winning a national championship with a team built by one's former assistant coach will do that to one's attitude.

Let me guess...

Denard and Cullen are going to claim Pittsburgh is overrated also!

MVC = 4-2 (inc. 2-2 vs. the mighty Big East, the supposedly best conference in the country)

Bradley Braves

Once again, I am impressed by Bradley...their center is really good. What year is he? Dare I say it, but he sort of reminds me of Duncan the way that he is a big guy who has really good fundamentals. I am very impressed with this team. The possible matchup with Memphis should be a great, great game.

And Another Thing

While we're at it, let's talk about the single most unfair thing about the NCAA tournament and that's the ridiculous first round or as people who have brains call it, the play-in game.

Why on Earth (no matter the RPI) should Hampton have to play its way into the tourney? Would they have gotten beaten? Absolutely. Did they EARN the right to be there? They won their conference tourney so the answer is YES. The committee has their last four in or whatever. Pick two of those teams. This year, just throwing names out there, how about Air Force and Seton Hall. Both marginal (at best) picks. Make them play each other and the winner gets Duke or the number one overall seed. That's much more fair (neither one of these teams was a conference champ) and it also makes people care more about the play-in game since they at least have heard of the schools. I think everyone wins. Who's with me???

Denard, seriously??

"but can we please look at the teams that they have beaten?" Seriously? Big 12 champs? SEC champs? What they have to win the national title. In these 3 days they've beaten better teams than Maryland, FSU, and Cinci could have on neutral sites.

You can't bust the MVC saying the Majors deserve more bids (Cinci, Maryland (and you claim UT played bad the last month?!), FSU (only 1 good win...and at home?!), etc.) and then say the Majors are overrated (Tennessee, Seton Hall, etc.) when the MVC beats these power conference schools, including their regular season champs (Kansas, UT). Either the Majors are overrated or they deserve more bids. But to say that the 5th and 6th teams from Major conferences (FSU, Maryland, Cinci, etc.) deserve to go in over the mid-major at larges (Wichita State, Bradley, Northern Iowa, etc.) and then say that the Major's regular season champs are overrated makes you (not you specifically, D, but you as in people in general) sound like an ass.

To say that Seton Hall didn't deserve to be in the tourney exactly proves my point. These middle of the pack Majors don't deserve to be in the tournament (Seton Hall, Cinci, Michigan, FSU, Maryland, South Carolina, etc.). Yet the MVC showed its teams did.

And everyone, including myself, said Tennessee doesn't deserve a 2 seed. That doesn't mean they aren't a quality team. You make it sound like they should've been a 8 or 9 seed. They're a solid 3 or 4 seed. They won their regular season conference championship. And they lost to a MVC team when it mattered.

Who do you expect the MVC to beat before you give them some credit? Duke? UConn? Nova? Memphis? Texas? I never said these MVC teams were Top 5 teams. All I've been saying is that their Top 4 or 5 can compete with all but the Top 2 or 3 Majors from any conference. They've already done that. Again, they beat the champs of 2 of these conferences and a team from a 3rd Major conference.

Yes, I will crow about Seton Hall. Beacuse those are the types of teams people said should have gotten in over these MVC teams. So when they do beat them, I'll crow about it. Oh, but I didn't mean that specific middle of the road Big East team. Seriously? Come on. That's pure shit.

Anyway you want to look at it. The MVC has won 2 more games than expected in the tournament, knocking off 3 Majors already in the process. Claiming the Majors they beat are overrated further proves my point.

History of the Valley

All the talk of the MVC made me go look them up...Did anyone else know that Kansas was a charter member (sort of) of the Valley?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Valley_Conference

-D

Wichita State

The unfortunate thing about Wichita State's win is that this will be Turgeon's last year as a Shocker. I wonder if he'll take an offer from Kansas State, Missouri, or Iowa State given his affiliation to Kansas.

MVC = 3-2 vs. expected 1-4
ACC = 5-0 vs. expected 8-4

Roy vs. Turgeon may happen, if UNC can pull off the W tomorrow. Those doubting the MVC should realize they have already beaten the SEC regular season champs, the Big 12 regular season co-champs and Big 12 Tournament champs, and a Big East team. They get a 4th game against the Big East tomorrow and possibly an ACC matchup next week. Stay tuned.

West Coast Hatin Vol 10: NCAA day 2

UNC escapes! Phew. Psycho T looked like Terrified T for most of the game. Hopefully we'll put the nerves behind us. Ginyard was clutch at the line down the stretch. I officially hate CBS now, for making me watch Kentucky UAB (with ten minutes left) while the UNC - Murray St game was in its final seconds. Switch over, bitches...

Other notes:

UCONN: escapes! I guess the days of the 30 pt 1st round blowout are over.
NCSU: BMHS alum Elian Gonzalez Evtimov extends his college career
KENTUCKY: I didn't think they had a chance vs. a hot UAB squad. Well done, Tubby
OHIO STATE: escapes!
TEXAS: wins ugly!

ACC-MVC challenge continues...
ACC 4-0 (1 upset); MVC 2-2 (1 upset)

What's that about counting chickens?

Maybe Rush will stick to it, but let us stroll down memory lane, shall we?

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/040505abt.html

And this doesn't even count guys like Chris Paul, Antawn Jamison, Corey Maggette, and Mike Dunleavy among others - all guys who said they were coming back and didn't...emotion can get the best of these guys, especially after the disappointment of a big loss.

Just something to keep in mind...

-D

Rush is coming back...

Rush already said he's coming back.

Bittersweet

Like I said, the MVC is a good conference and deserved all 4 of its bids.
Damn Kansas. Why the fuck would you double down in the post on defense vs. Bradley for the first 35 minutes of the game? They're hitting half their threes (11), and I'll go out on a limb and say that our post players are a little better than theirs and can handle them one on one. What a fucking shitty game plan.

At least Rush will stay another year. Anybody that saw him play the last 10 games knows he's not ready for the NBA. He can't handle the ball at all (just see the last play where he dribbles off his leg as time expires).

UNC - lucky
UK - lucky
UConn - very fuckin' lucky

West Coast Hatin Volume 9:

It's been a slow day allowing me to watch NCAA all day. Sweeeet! Anyhow, I hope someone else caught the tail end of the NW State / Iowa game. That shot was clutch. Extra points for style. Davidson put in a good performance vs. Ohio St but fell short down the stretch. I love the TOURNEY.

West Coast Hatin Vol 8: NCAA day 1

My thoughts for day 1:

1. Syracuse: I feel bad for McNamara. 4 games/4 days; It would be hard to then start another tourney as a dreaded 5 seed against a team on a roll (Tex AM)

2. Duke: Wow, that was another underwhelming performance. Greg Paulus should not be allowed to give anymore interviews. Who is this "we" he keeps talking about. Duke is a two man team.

3. San Diego State: Had the upset in hand with two minutes left but too many turnovers and missed free throws.

4. Tennessee: I'm glad the TarHeels have Tenn as the two seed in the bracket. They looked terrible.

5. Gonzaga: If they continue to survive, UCLA is going to humiliate them.

6. BC: That was an escape.

7. MVC: Wow, Creighton beat Seton Hall (a team that Duke beat by 40+ points earlier this year.) The real test is today to see if that league can pull off some upsets.

MVC: 1-0; four teams alive ACC: 2-0; four teams alive

Tourney #2

MVC = 1-0 after day 1. And after the Big East's showing so far this tournament, the MVC may end up 3-1 (Kansas has to win, right?). For all the talk about the Big East getting 8 bids (it's still only 50%, not THAT impressive), they sure screwed the pooch today. I know it was their three worst teams, but one of them was the conference champion.

That UNC-W kid that fouled on the 3-point shot at the end of regulation must be feeling pretty stupid right now. It would've been awesome to see a UNC-W - Duke 2nd round game in Greensboro.

Tourney

I'm at home watching the games (gotta love vacation days) and will be doing the same tomorrow. Charter is showing all the games for free (beat that DirecTV). A few thoughts after the first half of the first set of games...


For all the talk of the MVC, I feel they got dicked by playing 3 Big East teams and Kansas. That being said, Turgeon hasn't dissapointed as Wichita State is up 40-24 on Seton Hall (make that 43-24 30 seconds into the 2nd)

BC looks like crap. They're tied. I hope they lose.

Oklahoma looks like crap too. A lot of people predicted this one, I didn't.

Jav

West Coast Hatin Vol. 7

1. I can't believe someone would insult Admiral Akbar like that...anyways, that was hilarious.

2. NCAA 65 : That CBS interview with the committee head was hilarious. For once I agree with Billy Packer and think the big conferences got screwed this year. I know the ACC (#2 ranked power conference) is down but 4 bids for us and 4 bids for the Missouri Valley??? Our top 4 = #1 Duke, #10 BC, #11 UNC, #21 NCSU; Their top four aren't ranked. The fact that the committee rep could go on and on about nonconference schedule strength and also give Air Force a bid is ludicrous. How does, "I saw them play on TV and they looked good," factor into Selection Sunday???

3. More Tourney : UNC got a pretty favorable draw. How Tenn held onto a two is beyond me, as is how we ended up with a 3 seed and BC got a 4. (They beat us twice).
Funny how at one point perennial powerhouses Kansas, Kentucky, Zona, UNC all looked bubbly but they all pulled it out.

4. I wonder if losing early in a conference tourney is a good thing. It's a long season with a lot of wear and tear that is probably compounded by having to play three-four games straight in a conference tourney. Maybe it explains why Duke wins so many ACC titles but falls in the NCAAs. I need to look back at this statistically. but did bowing out early last year help the Heels save some juice for a title run.

4. Syracuse: Better story than the autistic kid raining three pointers. The postgame Boeheim speech was awesome and McNamara's play over the next few games was inspiring. Take that student news!

5. Welcome to Arizona, Edge, where great running backs get put out to pasture. which one of you poor bastards has him as a keeper??

6. Cullen's return to NC: April 8-18th, 2006. Later.

You make the call

Twins separated at birth?

Gottlieb is an idiot

In his words, GW was good when he saw them in person on his TV. What a fuckin' moron! Does that even make sense to anybody?

Kentucky-UCONN, UNC-Mich St, and Kansas-Pitt are going to be huge 2nd round games.

Tennessee a 2 seed? Seriously? They finished 6-4 and are out of the Top 10 in Pomeroy, Sagarin, and ASM models. The committee looked too heavily at RPI on this one.

And why does ESPN introduce Bilas as "the always satisfying Jay Bilas?" They sound stupid when they say that shit.

Again, the Tournament Challenge on ESPN league is "Slam Dunks and Knee Highs" and the password is bmhs.

Tourneys

Syracuse-UConn: Great game. (One of the advantages of having a TV in your office; though I think I'm supposed be watching Shop At Home) McNamara saved the day again with a last second 3 then clinched it with his free throws. Who's the student that wrote McNamara was 'overrated'? Even better question: who's the idiot Syracuse assistant who agreed with the kid? UConn had their chances but they blew it in the end. Seems like the Cuse is in.

Hansborough's leaving? I can't imagine that happening unless UNC wins the title again (God help us). The kid could be a pretty good NBA prospect if for no other reason than he plays hard all the time. He could be a young McHale clone with all his post moves. But I don't see it yet.

Wake; I hate to see it, but they're gonna get blown out today. Tough to see Justin Gray and Williams go out like this. Maybe it'll be different when Tubby moves to Winston-Salem this summer.

I'm probably cancelling Showtime next week when Sleeper Cell and the L Word are done. Luckily, Sleeper Cell is already on DVD so I can catch up with the episodes I've already missed. Even worse, there are only two new episodes left for the Shield. Great season so far with Forest Whitaker in the cast. But no offense to any of those shows, the Sopranos is back on Sunday and that is mandatory viewing.

My DVD recommendation: the Wrestlemania Anthology. I know some of you weren't wrestling fans back in the day. But if you were, I recommend watching some of these. I really only cared about two, V (MegaPower meltdown) and VI (Ultimate Challenge - Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior). It's very funny to look back at this. The cheese factor was off the charts.

JD

Etc...

Congrats to Roy Williams, ACC Coach of the Year (no surprise there)

UNC-Duke II: highest rated ESPN basketball game ever. 4th highest rating for an NCAA game all time. Wow.

Hansbrough "rumors": Yeah, he'll be gone after this year. (no surprise there)

U-Dub-Mil looked great last night in the Horizon league final. Best abbreviated name for NCAA tourney team as well. North Carolina representing well again: Duke, UNC, NCSU, UNCW, almost Charlotte, and Wake Forest if they win four games in the ACC tourney. (It could happen!)

Sleeper Cell is getting even more intense. I hope they keep pushing the envelope with that show and don't start backing off and playing it safe. I don't know what I'm going to do next month when I'm back in SD and don't have Showtime.

Kellie Pickard (I know Jav watches American Idol if no one else). Is she really that dumb? or is she faking the dumb blonde thing. "I ate a new fish called sall-mon!" It made her unbelievably hotter.

Previews for "Inside Man," "X3": finally some good movies coming out

"She's the Man": If you are going to remake "Just One of the Guys" why change the title. I doubt the starlet they picked for that one will rip her shirt off at the end when she announces she's a woman as in the original. "All balls itch." Classic.

Anyone seen Chapelle's "Block Party" yet?

JC

ESPN NCAA Tournament Challenge

Hey guys,

I started a league on ESPN for the tournament. The name of the league is Slam Dunks and Knee Highs and the password is bmhs. Click on the link below and once you're signed on search for private league and start typing the name above. Invite anybody you guys want to play in this thing.

Jav

ESPN.com Tournament Challenge

MVC again

This tournament has been awesome so far, but some teams have seen their chances worsen due to Bradley's recent run.

Wichita State - definitely in
S. Illinois - definitely in
Missouri St - back on bubble after loss to N. Iowa
Creighton - back on bubble after failing to win 20
Bradley - 7 losses in MVC is a lot, but won't matter if they win championship
N. Iowa - strong bubble after win vs. Missouri St

I think all 6 would be difficult, but 4-5 still realistic, especially if Bradley wins championship. What's amazing is the discrepancy between these teams (all won 19+ games) and the rest of the conference. 7th place Evansville is 10-19. 8th place Drake is 12-19, and so on.

Duke...

sucks, yet again.

Congrats to UNC. How awesome would it be if Duke lost their 1st game in the ACC Tournament to finish 0-3 before the NCAA Tournament.

Redick just looks plain tired. That whole shit I wrote about Coach K running up scores and keeping Redick in for so long is coming back to bite him in the ass! He fucking sucks right now! 5-21 vs. Tech, 3-10 vs. Temple, 10-28 vs. FSU (28 shots, seriously?!!), and 5-21 vs. UNC for a total of 23-80 (29% - congrats Redick - you're either an overrated shooter, have bad shot selection, are worn-out, or some combination of the above - regardless, you're a fucking ballhog!).

Hansbrough's sister or girlfriend (whoever that was with his dad) is hot.

That last second GW putback vs. Charlotte was awesome.

With 16 teams, why doesn't the Big East just have all the teams in a 4 day tournament? Do they really need to leave 4 teams at the bottom at home? I know they want to give their top teams byes, but that should be their punishment for having such a ridicously large conference, having to play 4 games in 4 days just 5 days before the NCAA Tournament.

UNC-Duke

I hope UNC beats the shit out of Duke and Redick sprains his ankle.

Hansbrough is good, but I'm sick of people talking about how good he is for a freshman. He's 20 years old and older than most sophomores and many juniors (such as Kyle Visser). Everybody talked about how old Rush is for a freshman at the beginning of the year and talked about his talent/potential in that context, but Hansbrough is only 4 months younger than Rush.

Greg Paulus sucks. We'll see how much people kiss his ass next year when he doesn't have Redick and Shelden to pass to. And McRoberts is way overrated. I would take Hansbrough over him every single time.

I hope either Ellington or Henderson go pro after their freshman year next season, because if they're hyping this shit when they're still in high school, this is going to get very fucking old by the end of next season.

And could they hype this game up anymore? Every ESPN network is going to be involved in the game. Is anybody going to watch ESPNU and the Cameron Crazy cam (except for Dickson who'll be wetting the bed watching it)? I didn't think so.

MVC revisited

I've heard Clark Kellogg rave and seen some highlights. I think it will be interesting to see how they do, but I'm still no impressed with your arguments of "quality wins".

Creighton: George Mason ; unranked, leads CAA
Xavier???? unranked about .500 in A-10
Nebraska unranked 7-8 in conference

Wichita St: Providence unranked, 13th in Big East; may not make conference tourney
played ranked Illinois and lost

N. Iowa: two great wins against Iowa and LSU, but again has lost 5 of last 8

Mo. St: one out of conference quality opponent all year long & lost (Arkansas)

Indiana St: you must be joking! Indiana is in shambles, Ball St is 5-12 in their conference, Butler is okay.

Meanwhile Maryland has only 17 wins, but they've played Gonzaga, Geo Wash, Duke twice, UNC twice, BC and State. 8 of their 11 losses are against top 20 teams! 3 of 11 losses are against unranked opponents. MEANWHILE! All 10 of So. Illinois losses are to UNRANKED opponents. While the ACC is weaker this year, I hardly think it warrants the MVC getting the same number of bids. I don't believe any projections of where Maryland or whoever would finish if they were in that conference. That's like saying Vince Young will be a terrible QB bc he did bad on the pen and paper test at the combine. Did no one see that title game???

We'll see how it plays out in March. Maybe the MVC will make a believer out of me, but I wouldn't put any of those teams in the elite eight. JC

Also, hilarity last night! Interviewer asks Coach K: Why does everyone hate JJ Redick? Coach K was stunned: "I think everyone respects JJ Redick," he said. Ha!

Combine report

Here's a good one:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/45976

jc

Random College Basketball Thoughts

Jerry Wainwright - completely exposed the Syracuse zone. Welcome back to Winston-Salem Jerry! This game was ridiculous!

Duke - If I were one of those scrubs on the floor at the end of the FSU game, I would be pretty pissed about how Coach K considered my "life" insignificant enough not to send me to the locker room. That was complete horseshit. He cares more about his image than he does his players. If he truly feared for his players' lives he would have taken them all inside. Fuck that! He just wanted to steal FSU's thunder. What a sore fuckin' loser. Seriously, have some damn class and accept a loss with dignity (unlike the Elite 8 against UConn when he, of all coaches, bitched about the calls down the stretch and never once credited UConn and Calhoun for outplaying and outclassing Duke).

Duke - A friend at work showed me that cartoon yesterday. It's pretty good, but the NC State/Napoleon Dynamite one is better.

Missouri Valley - This conference is for real and deserves 3-5 bids. Based on adjusted scoring models, Miami would be 7th in this conference and Maryland 4th. FSU doesn't matter (they'd be 2nd) because they'll get in; they're good this year.
Creighton will soon have their 8th straight season with 20+ wins and beat George Mason, Xavier and in-state rival Nebraska.
Wichita State (my 3rd favorite college team with head coach Mark Turgeon from Kansas' 1988 championship team) has their 3rd straight 20+ win season and won 23 games and beat Providence and lost to Illinois by only 1.
N. Iowa beat LSU and in-state rival Iowa.
Missouri St hasn't really beaten anybody outside the conference, but they only lost 1, to a very underrated Arkansas team.
Indiana St beat Indiana, Ball St, and Butler.
Even S. Illinois is on the bubble.
Meanwhile Miami (a weak at best 15-13 and 7-8 in crappy ACC) has lost to teams such as Air Force (actually a pretty good team but bad for the ACC) and Louisville while Maryland (17-11 and 7-8) lost to Temple and Clemson.

These MVC teams are all good teams and could match up with anybody in the ACC other than the Top 3. Based on same ASM model, this conference ranks 6th in the country (ahead of Pac-10), and take away Texas from the Big 12 and they would be 5th. Cullen, have you even watched the Missouri Valley Conference play? Because I've seen them play a lot this year, and I've also seen the ACC. The ACC sucks this year. These teams could play well in the ACC, and they are ALL very tough at home. Those gyms are loud as hell and provide significant home court advantage (Creighton would be 3rd in attendance in the Big 12 and a very comfortable 4th in the ACC (behind State, UNC, and Wake) at over 14,000 per game). Their new arena is awesome and easily one of the 10 loudest college gyms in the country. Wichita St would also be 4th in attendance in ACC at around 10,000 per game. This is why these teams have trouble scheduling good teams at home. I predict they'll have 2 2nd round teams to the ACC's 3. Not much of a difference. Don't mistake lack of national television coverage and weak conference teams in the bottom half as implying that all MVC teams are bad. These 5 teams have deserved what little press has gone their way.

Autistic kid on ESPN - how awesome is this video?! What a great story! The autistic kid who is the team manager for 4 years plays at the end of their final home game and hits 6 three pointers for 20 points (would have been 7 but his foot was on the line). This video is awesome. My question is, why didn't they play him all season if he can shoot like that (I'm sure most his shots are like the first one he put up though).

More for the Duke Haters...

Great animation on Coach K.

NBA: Yawn...sleepy

1. Vince Carter probably got bored the other night becuase the games are too long and there are two many of them. Is this the best discussion topic are blog can come up with? Can't we go back to talking about how much Wake sucks?

2. Duke - UNC rematch: Florida State gets a little payback for that phantom technical foul and UNC spanks UVA by nearly fifty (bottle some of that up for Saturday guys!). What a great backstory for Saturday's showdown. We'd love that #2 seed in the ACC tourney and its senior night for the Dukies. I hope we continue to play as well as we have. I maintain that Duke is overrated. They could easily have four-five ACC losses (FSU x 2, BC, UNC, Va Tech buzzer beater) and be in the pack with the rest of us.

3. OSCARS coming up. I voted for Crash for best picture. Constant Gardener got screwed and say what you will about King Kong, Naomi Watts deserved a best actress award (Peter Jackson backlash cost her even a nomination).
Can't wait for Brokeback Mountain 2: The Wives Tale (I'm sure some porn company has this in mind already.)

4. Missouri Valley conference: Who is perpetuating this myth that this conference is coming around? Look through the top four team and the strength of schedule. Nothing! Northern Iowa has lost five out of the their last eight (all against unranked opponents). Yet analysts are saying they'll get four-five at-large bids. That's crazy! Cutting out midlevel power conference teams doesn't help the tourney. Teams like Miami, Maryland, FSU would be 1st place in that conference and they'll probably get shut out on selection Sunday along with their very large fan bases!!!.


JC

VC

Everybody hates VC because he cares more about looking good than winning. Just look at his new commercial where he blasts his old coach for not being able to dunk when he said 2 points is 2 points.

Also, VC has almost always had better players than P-squared in his career. And please don't bring up Walker; we all know he could care less about winning. VC has had McGrady, Bosh, Oakley, and Olujawan (and all in their prime) in Toronto and the Kidd and RJ in NJ. Granted Pierce has suited up with studs Rodney Rogers and Raef LaFrentz in Boston, but he has never played with a future Hall of Fame PG or C, or budding stars like McGrady and Bosh.

Yet while surrounding himself with aforementioned studs, VC makes players worse. Kidd is not as good this year as in the past. McGrady post-Toronto > McGrady in Toronto (not even close). Bosh post-VC > Bosh with VC (by a mile). Oakley pre-VC > Oakley with VC (a little closer, but still...), and Olajuwon pre-VC >>>>>>> Olajuwon with VC (6 pts [1/3 of career avg], 6 rebs [barely half of career avg] - entirely attributable to VC). All this CONCLUSIVELY PROVES one thing - playing with VC makes players worse. No one can disagree with my analysis above!!

Peace,

Jav

And Another Thing

Dickson, this obsession that you and Bill Simmons seem to have with hating on Vince Carter is bordering on the ridiculous. Am I disappointed that Vince didn't play as hard in Toronto as he obviously can? Yes. But have you put in 100% at your job every single day? Honestly? Regardless of how much he gets paid, he is still human. The Toronto organization sucks...they can't keep free agents (Stoudamire, McGrady) and they are mired in perpetual mediocrity.

And as for Bill Simmons...give me a break. The guy goes out and writes jokes for Jimmy Kimmel for God's sake and he's the next great sportswriter? I would hate on one of the most exciting players in years too if my team hadn't been any good since about 1986. In all of the years that Paul Pierce has been in the league, how many times have the C's made the playoffs? This isn't a knock on P-squared. I like him a lot. I mean, he got stabbed and came back good as new! I just get tired of everyone hating on VC all the time. Luckily, the fans don't see it that way (leading all-star vote-getter four times).