by Paul Casey Gotham
It can be hard sorting through the sports news these days.
What with Hot Stove rumors becoming truth, and in some cases truth becoming rumors, NFL playoff action taking front stage, the now-endless college football bowl season – in case anyone forgot the National Championship game is this Thursday night. Oh yeah, the Fiesta Bowl is tonight, and the GMAC is tomorrow night.
Wait let me get my schedule set.
The NHL and NBA are now in full swing, and the Bruins have a revival going on.
Did you hear that Bill Simmons? Don’t act like you are not reading this.
You know you want to take a place on ‘The Bench.’
Yeah Mr. Simmons – Boston has a hockey team, and they are playing well! It is okay to write positive material about the NHL.
Amidst all this brouhaha college hoops has entered conference play the time to see if there are any counterfeit bills amongst the currency – to sort through the truth and the not so true – to distinguish the degrees of truth and decide if there are any lessons to be learned.
Conference play has a way of unveiling a team. It is one thing to knock off a team from another league. Many times the opponent only has video to work with for scouting. Watching a team play is one thing. Actually being on the floor and enduring a team is another thing.
Conference rivals have been on the floor against each other. Upper classmen can share wisdom with the freshman as to intricacies of their familiar opponents.
Ah, how familiarity breeds contempt.
For instance the lesson pertaining to how much can be learned about a team AFTER they win a big game.
Georgetown opened Big East play with a resounding win over then #2 ranked UConn. Many talked on and on about the Hoyas and in particular freshman, Greg Monroe.
Georgetown promptly fell at home to Pittsburgh, 70-54.
Pittsburgh is good – don’t get me wrong.
But the Hoyas are young. They’ll be back. Just don’t expect them to string together too many victories in the Big East.
Another lesson – Tennessee cannot defend the 3.
This to me is a head scratcher. When you look at the Vols lineup, you see tall, long athletic players – 6’9” Wayne Chism, 6’7” Tyler Smith, 6’6” Cameron Tatum. You would think these guys could get on the perimeter and distract opposing shooters.
Right?
UT has three losses this year – Gonzaga, Temple, and now Kansas this weekend.
What is the similarity between all three? Their opponents shot 40% or better as a team behind the arc.
Actually, the Zags shot 55% from long range.
Oh yeah my apologies to the Zags. Since my article expounding the virtues of Mark Few’s program, the Bulldogs have dropped three. Dare I say it? Mark don’t let your guys read my stuff until after the season.
Even in victory Bruce Pearl’s ‘tenacious’ defenders look susceptible from the arc. Belmont also shot 40% from the land of trifectas against the Vols.
Another lesson – don’t pay attention to the media.
Rick Pitino must have a bunch of media hogs in L’ville.
How else can you explain the Cardinals’ play?
9 and 3 is one thing, but Pitino’s thoroughbreds seem like they are still in the paddock.
When L’ville lost to Western Kentucky by 14, I expected the Cardinals to snap to.
They were ranked #3 at the time.
Any lesson learned was fleeting.
After beating Lamar, Austin Peay, Indiana State, and Ohio the Cardinals fell again – this time to Minnesota. Then last week L’ville lost to UNLV by 1 at home. By the way – the Rebels were without the services of leading scorer, Wink Adams.
You would think this would get the Cardinals fired up.
Yesterday they beat Kentucky on a buzzer-beater at home. Normally this would be a sign of things going the right way, but beating the 11 and 3 Wildcats this year is nothing to get excited about…unless you are VMI.
The Tar Heels of North Carolina might have also fallen victim to media hype.
The last Division 1 men’s basketball team to go undefeated was the ’75-’76 Indiana Hoosiers (Trivia – Can you name the other three final four participants that year?). What has changed since then? We no longer use regular gasoline. You can change the channel on your tv while remaining in your chair. There are about three nights a year where the major sports do not have a game on tv. This funny little thing called the internet which creates a friggin’ frenzy when it comes to anything remotely resembling news.
The chances of a major college basketball team going undefeated have decreased exponentially given the frequency with which these kids have to answer questions about any streak.
I did not get a chance to see BC’s upset, but I did take a gander at the box score and highlights. If I had to guess, BC slowed down the Heels. Hmmmmm….have we seen this happen before?
It’s no secret. From foul line to foul line there is no point guard in the country better than Ty Lawson. He is more than adept at making decisions on the move and creating advantage situations with his speed. Slow him down – make him play half court and Lawson is back in the pack with the rest of the pgs in the country.
That goes for Danny Green too. Green is a great athlete who needs to develop his basketball IQ. In the open floor he is tough to stop. Ask him to break down a half-court defense, and Green can be tamed.
Other lessons – Tejuan Porter is the best point guard that most people won’t even get to know. Porter’s Oregon Ducks squared off with the UCLA Bruins in a PAC-10 matchup that featured two of the best pgs in the conference.
At quick glance Darren Collison, of UCLA, has it all over Porter. But dig deeper. Yeah Collison is knocking down threes at a rate of 50%, but guess what – Collison is taking that shot as the third or fourth option in the offense. Which means after everyone else is defended and he is one-on-one or has an advantage, Collison is putting it up. Porter, on the hand, is the first or second option in Ernie Kent’s offense.
IF – and that is a Kenny Frease size if – the 5’6” Porter gets drafted, he will likely be a role player in the NBA. But don’t be misled. Porter is something special. He is a keen playmaker with who can attack the tin with a vengeance. I love his teardrop.
Speaking of Frease, he and his Xavier Musketeers appear to have learned their lesson. After taking a whipping from the Duke Blue Devils and falling to the Butler Bulldogs, the Muskies went to Charlottesville and put a hurtin’ on the Virginia Cavaliers. Circle January 24th on the calendar. That’s when XU plays at LSU.
One last lesson – Johnny Dawkins is a wise man. After amassing over 2,500 points in an All-American college career and playing nine years in the NBA, Dawkins returned to Durham where he served as an assistant to Coach K for 11 years. Dawkins finally has his own team, Stanford, and the Cardinal are off to an 11-1 start.
Dawkins is nobody’s fool. He took over a team with a full cupboard, and the Washington DC native, looking for some help with west coast recruiting, hired former Santa Clara head coach, Dick Davey to smooth the transition.
1st Team All Casey
PG Stephen Curry – Davidson
SG Kyle McAlarney – ND
SF Dionte Christmas – Temple
PF – Blake Griffin – Oklahoma
C – Arinze Onuaku – SU
2nd Team All Casey
PG – Tejuan Porter – Oregon
SG – AJ Abrams – Texas
SF – Sam Young – Pittsburgh
PF – Kyle Singler – Duke
C – Tyler Hansbrough – UNC
Wally says
Are you sure Luke Harongody shouldn’t be on the All Casey first team instead of K-Mac? He’s again playing like the BE Player of the Year. K-Mac too inconsistent thus far.
A nice win for the Irish over G-Town to keep the home winning streak alive (44), but ND is very suspect on the road … as the loss to StJohns can attest.
Doug Potter says
Answer to the trivia question: Rutgers, UCLA, and Michigan
and here’s a name that not everyone in America knows: Devan Downey
The Junior point guard for South Carolina is averaging nearly 21 PPG and 5 APG and is one of the best PG’s in the nation. He’s only 5’9″ and yet is a master at creating for himself. Please, do yourself a favor and watch him play. Also, no Jonny Flynn on your teams?! The kids a manchild!
Casey says
Wally and Doug,
Great feedback. I’m hoping to put together a ballot and distribute it to you guys and several others, so we can elect our site’s own first and second team – we can call it …’The Bench Marks.’
Wally – yes, that was a nice win by the Irish last night. Georgetown is a physical team that can disrupt an offensive flow. 44 in a row at home – the longest in the nation. I was surprised to hear that BYU had the longest streak until this past weekend.
While it may seem like I am allowing myself only one player per school, that is not the case. I can’t substitute Harangody for McAlarney because Gody is a power forward and Mac is a shooting guard.
While Harangody had an impressive outing last night, he is not replacing Griffin…yet. Harangody could replace Singler on the second team. The numbers would suggest that – 24pts. and 12 rpg to Singler’s 16 and 7. Although Singler has 3.7 assists to Gody’s 1.8. Singler also gets more steals and blocks.
For me what it comes down to is who affects the opponent more? Harangody is an impressive player, but I am trying to imagine him without McAlarney. Yeah – McAlarney can be inconsistent with his shooting, but that happens (and that is why defense wins championships). Thing is there are those that can make shots, and there are shooters. McAlarney is obviously a shooter. He distorts other teams’ defenses. He forces them to adjust to him therefore opening up the floor for Gody and actually Ayers too (if only that kid could defend more than his shadow and rebound to his size).
What I like about McAlarney is that he is very intuitive on the floor. If a defender gets a hand in his face, he can make an adjustment. That doesn’t mean he won’t turn the ball over. He can do that as we saw last night. Again, give credit to the Hoya defense. But Mac has a handle and rarely, if ever, picks up his dribble. He has a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. That is impressive for a guy who is canning 45% behind the arc.
As for Singler – he is the first priority for every other team’s defense.
Doug – I like Flynn. He is an impressive physical specimen with extraordinary physical talents. He has shown a penchant for making big shots like the buzzer beater against Kansas. He has made impressive strides since last year and could be great IF he stays for 4 years.
(By the way – please note that SU beat Virginia at the Dome by 3 and Xavier went into Charlottesville and WHACKED the Cavaliers.)
But I question whether he has a point guard mindset. Does he possess the patience to run an offense when the opposition comes up with a scheme to neutralize his athleticism. While Cleveland St. and South Florida can be labeled as flukes, they were definitely warning signs.
How is he going to do against Fields, Dyson, and Wright. Is he going to make it a personal battle? Or is he going to break the opponent down using his teammates? When his shooters (Rautins and Devendorf) go cold, does he know how to get them in the flow of the game?
That is why Flynn does not appear on my teams. Sure you can look at numbers and argue that Stephen Curry must force a lot of shots to score that much, but you need to watch Davidson. They run a very intricate offense that puts everyone in position to score.
Downey is on my list of players to watch. There are so many great players and point guards out there. I hate leaving Jeremy Pargo off the list. Another kid who is a point guard in the purest sense is Derek Glasser from Arizona State. He thinks pass first and shoot second. He has a great yo-yo dribble – a skill which is becoming a lost art. For that matter Tory Jackson from ND should be mentioned. He knows how to get the ball in the hands of scorers where they can score, and he does it at the rate of almost 6 assists per game.
Wally says
Did you see K-Mac pull up from about 40 and just shoot it in as if it were an 8 ft bank shot? It was soooo far a way, it should have been a “Four”.
Thanks for a great post!
Casey says
I loved Jay Bilas’s comment to that shot – “as soon as McAlarney crosses half-court, you have to defend him.”
How about Raftery? “A little rat a tat tat!”
crossword pete says
Homer Stonebreaker of Wingate, the Indiana HS state champions in 1913 and 1914, had a shooting range that started “somewhere in the vicinity of the opponent’s basket”. That would make McAlarney jealous and Bilas drool. I just throw that useless info out there because lately it seems to me I have a lot more information about what “was” than what “is”. Gotta use that info somewhere; Splinters is as good a place as any.
Casey says
Splinters is happy for that info, and it is NOT useless.
Stonebreaker? Any relation to a Notre Dame alum? Oh boy – Pete – I realize I just sent you on a researching odyssey. 🙂
crossword pete says
Are you thinking LB Michael Stonebreaker? Interesting possibility. I’ll let you know what the odyssey turns up. I think Michael was from Ohio, but that does not preclude him being a relative.
Casey says
Yes – Michael Stonebreaker is exactly who I was thinking.
crossword pete says
Michael actually from Louisiana, and no connection that I can find except (surprise) they were both called “Stoney”! There is so very little on Homer that it is hard to know for sure.
Jay Kay says
Are you sure Luke Harongody shouldn’t be on the All Casey first team instead of K-Mac? He’s again playing like the BE Player of the Year. K-Mac too inconsistent thus far.
A nice win for the Irish over G-Town to keep the home winning streak alive (44), but ND is very suspect on the road … as the loss to StJohns can attest.
Wally says
Are we in a time warp here??
JK must be living in a cave in Unabomber, Montana where there is no internet and newpapers arrive on quite a time lag via camel.
Chas says
I nominate JK for insight of the week. Way ahead of the curve.
Casey says
hahahaha – I think JK is a computer-generated spider that sites get from time to time. Actually, I think JK used Wally’s exact words from a previous comment. I thought about deleting the comment, but then saw it had something to do with ND. Figured Wally couldn’t help himself. I’m sorry. Better go to confession. Had a little fun. 🙂
Wally says
I’m taking away a helmet sticker from Casey.
I’m also waiting for Smitty’s prediction on the next two World Series games … surely he can get those right.