So now it comes down to the Terps. After a whale of a season last year that included winning the ACC regular season and seeing Greivis win the ACC Player of the Year thanks to a late season surge. Jordan Williams became dominant, Eric Hayes finished out his career as a long distance assassin, and Sean Mosley continued to establish himself as a team leader.
But this season is different. Gone are Vasquez and Hayes, as well as Landon Milbourne. The team will now belong to Mosley and Williams which is at least a little odd considering that the other three starting spots will all likely be filled (at least at first) by seniors with prior starting experience in Dino Gregory, Adrian Bowie, and Cliff Tucker. While their performance and leadership will be crucial to the season's outcome, it seems clear that if the Terps are to make any noise whatsoever in the ACC, it will likely be because Williams and Mosley play at an all-conference level. But without further adieu, a preview!
STARTING FIVE:
PG - Adrian Bowie (aka Big Sexy, Anthony Bowie): Bowie is not the prototypical point guard by any stretch, so although I've been a big fan of his since his arrival in College Park, I'll be more than a little bit hesitant to have him running the show. He's a solid ballhandler and penetrator, as well as a great finisher around the basket, but he hasn't shown nearly the court awareness necessary to run the show the way a Vasquez or Hayes did. His three point shot has been wildly inconsistent - sometimes Bowie hits a bunch in a row while other times he seemingly launches for games at a time without having a prayer of hitting one. With the team's top shooters moving on, it would be nice for him to be at least a bit more consistent in that area.
SG - Sean Mosley (aka Sugar Sean, Bonecrusher): Mosley was perhaps the team's most touted signing since at least the now-infamous Mike Jones recruiting class, and represented a landmark recruiting win for a team that has had so little success in recruiting Baltimore stars since the end of the Bob Wade era. Mosley is making good on all the potential that folks saw in him during his time at Saint Frances Academy and has shown himself to be a prototypical "Gary Williams player". Best described as "heady", at least in basketball cliches, Mosley was one of the most efficient shooters from the field in the country while doing all the dirty work on defense and the glass. Despite being the second leading scorer in Maryland HS history, he still needs to show that he can be a go-to scorer, but there's no doubt that his contributions in every area of the game will make him one of the top dozen or so players in the conference this season.
SF - Cliff Tucker (): Tucker has had an odd career, ranging from hero (game winning three against GT) to Carolina killer to Gary's doghouse. Tucker mixes equal measures of frustrating WTF moments with moments of sick athleticism and tantalizing skill. There is no doubt that he's capable of scoring in bunches, but can he do it consistently (there's that word again)? He'll also have to put forth maximum effort on defense to avoid finding himself with reduced minutes again. To his credit, strength coach Paul Ricci singled him out as being perhaps THE hardest worker on the team in the offseason. And if you've seen the way the Terps are looking swole, that's a pretty good compliment. Tucker is the X-Factor this season.
PF - Dino Gregory: Dino is an outstanding defender, good at both position defense and shot-blocking. He can hit a mid-range jumper and became a lights out FT shooter last season. On the other hand, he averaged about 4 and 3 in 20 minutes a game last season, so his production left quite a bit to be desired. The team has had trouble rebounding for years, and even with Jordan Williams dominating the glass, the Gregory/Milbourne combo at the 4 was not strong in that area at all. Dino is a pretty huge guy physically now, even if he doesn't have a height adavantage over many of his competitors. He's going to have to do better on the boards this year for the team to reach its potential. If he could average 6 or 7 boards while continuing to be very good defensively, he's going to be a valuable piece even with a lack of scoring.
C - Jordan Williams (JWOWW, Wooden Award Candidate Jordan Williams): When did you know? Was it when he had 19 and 12 against a top 5 Villanova team in December? Was it when he came close to 20/20 against Houston in the NCAA Tournament? Was it when he and Greivis were the only players to show up in a crucial come-from-behind win at North Carolina State? Whenever it was, we were all witnesses to the birth of the animal that is Jordan Fucking Williams. He's already the best inside player the team has had since Lonny Baxter, and for most folks, not at least matching Baxter's career will be a disappointment. He's already a Wooden Award candidate, and for most people, not making an All-America team as an upperclassmen will be a bit of a disappointment. Pretty heady stuff for a guy who was not a consensus top 100 player coming out of high school. Bottom line - We all know Jordan is a motherfucking monster, now let's have some fun and see how high the ceiling is for him.
BENCH:
G - Pe'shon Howard (Black Greivis): Pe'shon took Greivis' number. Some people (Bob) may see that as something that shouldn't have happened, but Howard has swag. He showed it off in the first scrimmage at Maryland Madness, and I'm confident we'll see more of that. He's also completely cut for a freshman and has big-game experience from play against and with so many stars at Oak Hill Academy so I have a lot of confidence that he's going to contribute right from the jump. (As a side note, it's interesting how so many of our PGs played big-time hoops before coming to MD - Duane Simpkins went to Dematha, Pe'shon and Blake went to Oak Hill, Greivis played for Montrose, and Terrell Stokes played for Simon Gratz, a nationall ranked Philly team that also featured Rasheed Wallace around the same time. Only John Gilchrist broke the mold, really.)
F- James Padgett (Inspector Padgett) - Apparently the reason that Padgett's minutes were so infrequent during the latter part of last season was not because Gary didn't trust him, but rather because he had some stomach ailment which was apparently never mentioned last season so far as I can recall. This year Padgett will play, and almost certainly will play 20+ minutes. He showed a lot of positives last year - post moves and rebounding especially - so it's not a stretch to see him becoming a very valuable bench contributor, if not more. Who knows how good he can be, but with a frontcourt that is thin on depth and experience after Jordan and Dino, Padgett is going to play a crucial role this season.
G - Terrell Stoglin: So in my mind, not only have I made Pe'shon the heir apparent to Greivis, but Stoglin is the new Hayes. He committed first before being passed on the depth chart (my assumption) before getting here. He's supposed to be a better shooter and has more of a rep of a scorer. He's also probably though of more as a combo guard, which does kind of reverse the roles in that Hayes was the pure PG coming while Greivis was the man of many positions (and to some extent that held true even through their four years). My gut says that Stoglin will find himself riding the bench behind all of the guards on the team, but all he has to do to play big minutes is to beat out Howard for the starting PG spot. If he is the better shooter, that could help him see minutes as the team will be weak in that area.
G/F - Mike Parker (Get Money): Is that nickname gonna stick? Who knows, but I do know that he is the Terps most highly touted recruit, and really, after losing Terrence Ross, he's the only touted recruit remaining from another once-promising class that ended up pretty weak on paper. Parker is a really long athlete, and for whatever reason, since I'm pre-assigning career paths to incoming players, I have him marked down as the next Laron Profit. If he can score a few points, he'll be a valuable addition to the rotation.
F - Berend Weijs (Flying Dutchman) - More comparisons - Boom. Ok, that may be heresy, but hear me out. Both were lightly regarded JuCo prospects and...uh, I've seen Boom and Weijs post on each others' facebooks. So there's that. Weijs averaged over four blocks per game so I'm expecting him to come in as the second big off the bench and just fly around, block shots, and do some dirty work. He's gained 15 pounds since coming to campus, but he's still only at 205 so he needs to get taller. But if he can off the bench and just block shots and play some D, that works. It's not like our most recent successful teams have gotten much production out of their fourth big man (WillBo, anyone?)
F - Haukur Pallson (Hawk, Gunnar Stahl): This seemed like an odd signing at the time. The Terps picked up Pallson late in the recruiting year even though they were well stocked in the backcourt. On the surface, Hawk doesn't seem like a world beater, putting up moderate numbers for a loaded high school team. Still, it would seem that if Gary offered him, he saw something in his play. Not that Gary hasn't been wrong in recent years with recruiting. I don't expect much from the Hawk this season, let's just say that.
F - Ashton Pankey: It's never good when a big man injures their foot before even coming to college. There was talk of a redshirt, but that doesn't seem to be a concern at this point as Pankey is healthy enough to play already. Still, I'd be moderately surprised if he sees significant minutes once we get to conference play.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
ACC PREVIEW PART THE SECOND
6. YOUR MARYLAND TERRAPINS! - See separate blog post.
5. Clemson Tigers - You know things are bleak for the long-term outlook of your basketball program when you lose your head coach to Depaul, but that's what happened to Clemson this spring. Oliver Purnell brought them back to respectability, and now the Tigers have to hope they aren't as hopeless as they were for...well, most of their history aside from when Purnell and Rick Barnes coached them. The Tigers also loss the often dominating Trevor Booker from their lineup, so there are some on-court losses too. On the other hand the Tigers return most of their other contributors. Demontez Stitt and Andre Young is a good pair of quick guards, and Jerai Grant and Trevor's brother Devin will be a good combo. If former top recruit Milton Jennings improves on a very mediocre freshman year, this team could do a lot better than I'm predicting them. Clemson has just one new recruit coming in, a lightly regard spring signee, so it looks like the team will have to make do with last year's lineup sans Trevor Booker and David Potter.
4. Florida State Seminoles - I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with what Leonard Hamilton has done recently with this program. Plus he reminds me a lot of Bunny Colvin. I'm not sure if i thought that up or if Andrew mentioned it previously, but we'll share credit since we pretty much share a brain anyway. The 'Noles lost Solomon "Fawaz" Alabi as well as another big man in Ryan Reid, who inexplicably got drafted after putting up 7/4 as a senior. I mean, he was a nice little ballplayer in college, but come on. I just really have no particularly strong feelings about any of these guys. They're just kind of there. Maybe Chris Singleton will be really good. I honestly have no clue.
3. Virginia Tech Hokies - Now we start getting to the teams I loathe. There's not really a more loathesome trio than Dorenzo Hudson, Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen. I mean between the three players, if you combined their IQ, they MIGHT crack triple digits. But I can't promise. The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing noobish sportswriters that Delaney is a star rather than a turd. The Hokies got real bad news in the offseason when JT Thompson went down for the season with a knee. Tech had already had injuries thin their frontline previously. Transfer Allan Chaney has a heart condition that will likely preclude him from playing, and sophomore Cadarian Raines got Jerome Burney'd. It seems like a few times in recent years VT has had three or four players good enough for them to compete for the ACC title, but not enough depth to be more than a bubble team. That could be the case once again, at least unless Raines comes back strong, or Victor Davila continues improving enough to be a solid frontcourt contributor. Virginia Tech could finish a spot higher, but I have to think that it's actually more likely they drop a few spots down to their usual bubble spot.
2. North Carolina Tar Heels - Is this a tribute to North Carolina or a testament to my stupidity or the weakness of the ACC? It could be any of the three. UNC went 6-10 in the league last year, got dealt several really embarassing losses, and barely made the NIT. Then this offseason they lost their three leading scorers in Deon Thompson (graduated), Ed Davis (drafted), and Will Graves (kicked off the team). They also saw the departure of the David and Travis Wear to transfer. The Heels will really only go eight deep, but it could be an elite eight. The keys are the newcomers. Harrison Barnes was the nation's top recruit (and picked UNC over Duke) while Kendall Marshall will have to play big minutes at the point given how weak Larry Drew II's play was last season. The other player to watch is John Henson who got hyped as the next Kevin Durant/freak of nature but who played, for the most part, just like a freshman especially in the beginning and latter part of the season. If those three meet the lofty expectations folks have for them UNC could go right back to being elite. Those seem like big ifs, but for a program like North Carolina and a coach like Roy Williams, it's best to assume that a bad season is just a blip on the radar and that the good times will just keep rolling.
1. Duke Blue Devils - Could it be anyone else? Duke loses quite a bit in almost-but-not-quite ACC Player of the Year Jon Scheyerface as well as the suddenly surgent Brian Zoubek. But they also have a sick recruiting class coming in, led by point guard Kyrie Irving who everyone is slobbering over and who Dickie V will call a diaper dandy at least 234907 times in his orgasmic, dook slobbering tone. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith will both be all-ACC, and one of the two is likely to win POY unless Virginia Tech wins enough games for Malcolm Delaney to win it. The Plumlees will be counted on to hold down the inside, and Seth Curry transfers in from Liberty to possibly be the latest Curry to take the basketball world by storm. But all bias aside, this is the team to beat in not only the ACC, but the country as well, particularly now that Purdue's Robbie Hummell tore his ACL again. And don't think for a minute that I won't root for Coach K over Michigan State. I'll fucking do it.
5. Clemson Tigers - You know things are bleak for the long-term outlook of your basketball program when you lose your head coach to Depaul, but that's what happened to Clemson this spring. Oliver Purnell brought them back to respectability, and now the Tigers have to hope they aren't as hopeless as they were for...well, most of their history aside from when Purnell and Rick Barnes coached them. The Tigers also loss the often dominating Trevor Booker from their lineup, so there are some on-court losses too. On the other hand the Tigers return most of their other contributors. Demontez Stitt and Andre Young is a good pair of quick guards, and Jerai Grant and Trevor's brother Devin will be a good combo. If former top recruit Milton Jennings improves on a very mediocre freshman year, this team could do a lot better than I'm predicting them. Clemson has just one new recruit coming in, a lightly regard spring signee, so it looks like the team will have to make do with last year's lineup sans Trevor Booker and David Potter.
4. Florida State Seminoles - I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with what Leonard Hamilton has done recently with this program. Plus he reminds me a lot of Bunny Colvin. I'm not sure if i thought that up or if Andrew mentioned it previously, but we'll share credit since we pretty much share a brain anyway. The 'Noles lost Solomon "Fawaz" Alabi as well as another big man in Ryan Reid, who inexplicably got drafted after putting up 7/4 as a senior. I mean, he was a nice little ballplayer in college, but come on. I just really have no particularly strong feelings about any of these guys. They're just kind of there. Maybe Chris Singleton will be really good. I honestly have no clue.
3. Virginia Tech Hokies - Now we start getting to the teams I loathe. There's not really a more loathesome trio than Dorenzo Hudson, Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen. I mean between the three players, if you combined their IQ, they MIGHT crack triple digits. But I can't promise. The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing noobish sportswriters that Delaney is a star rather than a turd. The Hokies got real bad news in the offseason when JT Thompson went down for the season with a knee. Tech had already had injuries thin their frontline previously. Transfer Allan Chaney has a heart condition that will likely preclude him from playing, and sophomore Cadarian Raines got Jerome Burney'd. It seems like a few times in recent years VT has had three or four players good enough for them to compete for the ACC title, but not enough depth to be more than a bubble team. That could be the case once again, at least unless Raines comes back strong, or Victor Davila continues improving enough to be a solid frontcourt contributor. Virginia Tech could finish a spot higher, but I have to think that it's actually more likely they drop a few spots down to their usual bubble spot.
2. North Carolina Tar Heels - Is this a tribute to North Carolina or a testament to my stupidity or the weakness of the ACC? It could be any of the three. UNC went 6-10 in the league last year, got dealt several really embarassing losses, and barely made the NIT. Then this offseason they lost their three leading scorers in Deon Thompson (graduated), Ed Davis (drafted), and Will Graves (kicked off the team). They also saw the departure of the David and Travis Wear to transfer. The Heels will really only go eight deep, but it could be an elite eight. The keys are the newcomers. Harrison Barnes was the nation's top recruit (and picked UNC over Duke) while Kendall Marshall will have to play big minutes at the point given how weak Larry Drew II's play was last season. The other player to watch is John Henson who got hyped as the next Kevin Durant/freak of nature but who played, for the most part, just like a freshman especially in the beginning and latter part of the season. If those three meet the lofty expectations folks have for them UNC could go right back to being elite. Those seem like big ifs, but for a program like North Carolina and a coach like Roy Williams, it's best to assume that a bad season is just a blip on the radar and that the good times will just keep rolling.
1. Duke Blue Devils - Could it be anyone else? Duke loses quite a bit in almost-but-not-quite ACC Player of the Year Jon Scheyerface as well as the suddenly surgent Brian Zoubek. But they also have a sick recruiting class coming in, led by point guard Kyrie Irving who everyone is slobbering over and who Dickie V will call a diaper dandy at least 234907 times in his orgasmic, dook slobbering tone. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith will both be all-ACC, and one of the two is likely to win POY unless Virginia Tech wins enough games for Malcolm Delaney to win it. The Plumlees will be counted on to hold down the inside, and Seth Curry transfers in from Liberty to possibly be the latest Curry to take the basketball world by storm. But all bias aside, this is the team to beat in not only the ACC, but the country as well, particularly now that Purdue's Robbie Hummell tore his ACL again. And don't think for a minute that I won't root for Coach K over Michigan State. I'll fucking do it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
BASKETBALL SEASON STARTS IN 2 DAYS aka ACC preview
HOLY GOD ITS BASKETBALL SEASON!!
This is the most exciting time of the year for me. At least until Thanksgiving when we have Feast Week, and later on in March when the Madness begins (even though they came perilously close to ruining with their greed). It's college basketball season, and nothing brings the scrillas together like some good, all-american college hoops. This post will not examine the end of Greivis' career, either in general or speficially how it ended. That's still far too touchy a subject, and I will need some time to reclaim my soul before ever discussing that at length.
What this blog post will be is a preview of the upcoming ACC season, with my exclusive, 100% correct picks for things. So let's get to it, in reverse order this time!
12. Virginia Cavaliers - The Cavs started strong last year at 5-2 in the conference despite a bunch of early season non-conference losses, and it looked like Tony Bennett was going to perform a miracle and get his team into NCAA tournament, and possibly even league title contention. But the team started losing, and then kept on losing, a stretch of nine straight to close out the season before beating Boston College in the ACC Tournament. The big story in the late season fallout saw Sylven Landesberg miss most of the stretch before eventually declaring for the NBA Draft. The Cavs also lost fourth leading scorer Jeff Jones, who trasnsferred to Rider. If those two had stayed, Virginia could have used its solid recruiting class to make at least a little noise in the conference, but now they're destined for the cellar. Mike Scott is a pretty solid big man, good enough to make an All-ACC team if he played for a better team, but after that it's pretty bleak. Sammy Zeglinski is the second leading returning scorer, and the other contributors back include Jerome Meyinsse and Mustapha Farrakhan, none of whom are good enough to start for a tournament caliber team. Tony Bennett's first recruiting class is...disproportionately white, to say the least, although it does feature two solid big men (James Johnson and Will Regan) that the Terps recruited. I guess the good part is that if last year's season finale is any indication, the fine* folks in Charlottesville have a good chance at some shitty but free Raising Cain's chicken after the games.
11. Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Dino Guadio made a good sauce, but alas his olive oil skin and guinea charm weren't enough to keep him employed. Instead, Wake Forest elected to go with Jeff Bzdelik of Colorado who had been a pretty spectacular failure (10-38 in conference games) at that school. But even though he's almost 60, he's an old pal of the Wake AD so he got the job. To make matters worse, the team lost a lottery pick in Al-Farouq Aminu as well as the reliable Ish Smith, plus defensive stalwart LD Williams, HOF neanderthal Chas MacFarland, and Tony Woods (to legal trouble). As freshmen, CJ Harris and Ari Stewart were reliable (albeit inefficient) scorers at the guard spots, and Wake does bring in a decent class, headed by forward Travis McKie. But while there may be some promise for the future, the future is not now.
10. Georgia Tech - It speaks to the weakness of the ACC at the bottom that Georgia Tech would be ranked even this high. There was plenty of drama in the offseason when, despite making the NCAA tournament last season, most Tech fans seemingly hoped that Paul Hewitt would leave to go home and coach Saint John's. It was not to be, but it's probably hard to blame fans for being restless. Hewitt has been the coach for ten seasons and despite plenty of talent (Jack, Bosh, Young, Favors, Crittendon, Lawal, Morrow), he's only had one season better than 8-8 in the ACC. At 67-93 overall in the ACC, it's amazing that he's been able to keep his job at a program with as much tradition as GT, even despite making 5 NCAA tournaments and a National Championship Game. As for this year's team, well, it doesn't get easier to win without Derrick Favors, not to mention Gani Lawal. Even with Favors gone, there is plenty of potential in the current sophomore class (led by Brian Oliver and Glen Rice, Jr.) to assist the enigmatic Iman Shumpert. That said, Yellow Jacket teams with more talent and experience than this one have failed to do much under Hewitt, so it while the team certainly has the capability of getting at or close to the .500 mark in the ACC, I'd bet that they fall short of that.
9. Boston College Eagles - Al Skinner was very successful during his time in Boston, going to 7 NCAA Tournaments, winning three Big East regular season titles, and coaching guys like Jared Dudley, Craig Smith, Troy Bell, and Tyrese Rice. Apparently the powers that be at the school thought the program had stagnated, leading them to replace Skinner and his turtle neck with up and comer Steve Donahue from Cornell. The good news for the team is that everyone returns, including Joe Trapani and the emerging Reggie Jackson. The bad news, of course, is that those everyones were rather mediocre last season. The recruiting class doesn't hold much promise for immediate help, although most of Skinner's didn't either and he had his share of success. Jackson was borderline all-conference quality last year (averaging 12.9/5.7/4.5) so he could be the team's next star if he continues improving in his final two seasons. Al Skinner is like a bloodhound finding these diamonds in the rough like Jackson, much as his jowls are like those of a bloodhound.
8. Miami Hurricanes - A year after finishing last in the conference despite a 15-1 overall start, this team seems to be getting more respect than you'd anticipate. They lost their top two scorers, Dwayne Collins and James Dews, so it isn't even a case of a bad team returning everyone. Still, some key guys like JR SF Dequan Jones and SO guard Durand Scott, both of whom were good recruits, have enough experience to drag the team up a few spots. Scott in particular looks like an emerging star after averaging in double figures last season. On a related note, the Fighting Frank Haiths have now dropped two straight to the Terps after dealing us a series of horrific defeats over the past few seasons (see e.g. 2007 at Miami where the Terps shot below 0%, 2007 in the ACC Tournament first round 5/12 game, and 2009 in Miami with a great comeback). Good times!
7. North Carolina State - C'mon! It's Sid Lowe! You didn't really expect that I was going to go with the crowd and pick the friggin Sid Lowe-led Wolfpack to finish in the top half of the division, did you? Sid is great at wearing a garish red jacket to the games, but I'm not sure that anything more complicated than that is within his scope of competence. Tracy Smith is great, but what will the team do without the incomparable Dennis Horner (Kevin Pittsnoggle Memorial White Trash Award winner, 2010) and Farnold Degand (Olu Babalola Memorial Name of the Year Award, 2010)? Plus Sid doesn't know how to use Smith, and I've got the feeling that former-Terp target CJ Leslie is going to be less Shawn Kemp-in-training and more Terrence Jennings (former Maryland commit now at Louisville). I'd say nice things about Javy Gonzalez, but I remember about two years ago when Greivis absolutely abused him for the duration of the game. I think it may possibly have been the epic post-600 win game where he came a rebound short of getting a triple double. (Remember that time Greivis DID get a triple double against UNC and we had an insane OT comeback win!? HOLY COW ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I miss Greivis.)
I'm tired of writing. Top half...later. SPOILER: The Terps figure prominently.
This is the most exciting time of the year for me. At least until Thanksgiving when we have Feast Week, and later on in March when the Madness begins (even though they came perilously close to ruining with their greed). It's college basketball season, and nothing brings the scrillas together like some good, all-american college hoops. This post will not examine the end of Greivis' career, either in general or speficially how it ended. That's still far too touchy a subject, and I will need some time to reclaim my soul before ever discussing that at length.
What this blog post will be is a preview of the upcoming ACC season, with my exclusive, 100% correct picks for things. So let's get to it, in reverse order this time!
12. Virginia Cavaliers - The Cavs started strong last year at 5-2 in the conference despite a bunch of early season non-conference losses, and it looked like Tony Bennett was going to perform a miracle and get his team into NCAA tournament, and possibly even league title contention. But the team started losing, and then kept on losing, a stretch of nine straight to close out the season before beating Boston College in the ACC Tournament. The big story in the late season fallout saw Sylven Landesberg miss most of the stretch before eventually declaring for the NBA Draft. The Cavs also lost fourth leading scorer Jeff Jones, who trasnsferred to Rider. If those two had stayed, Virginia could have used its solid recruiting class to make at least a little noise in the conference, but now they're destined for the cellar. Mike Scott is a pretty solid big man, good enough to make an All-ACC team if he played for a better team, but after that it's pretty bleak. Sammy Zeglinski is the second leading returning scorer, and the other contributors back include Jerome Meyinsse and Mustapha Farrakhan, none of whom are good enough to start for a tournament caliber team. Tony Bennett's first recruiting class is...disproportionately white, to say the least, although it does feature two solid big men (James Johnson and Will Regan) that the Terps recruited. I guess the good part is that if last year's season finale is any indication, the fine* folks in Charlottesville have a good chance at some shitty but free Raising Cain's chicken after the games.
11. Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Dino Guadio made a good sauce, but alas his olive oil skin and guinea charm weren't enough to keep him employed. Instead, Wake Forest elected to go with Jeff Bzdelik of Colorado who had been a pretty spectacular failure (10-38 in conference games) at that school. But even though he's almost 60, he's an old pal of the Wake AD so he got the job. To make matters worse, the team lost a lottery pick in Al-Farouq Aminu as well as the reliable Ish Smith, plus defensive stalwart LD Williams, HOF neanderthal Chas MacFarland, and Tony Woods (to legal trouble). As freshmen, CJ Harris and Ari Stewart were reliable (albeit inefficient) scorers at the guard spots, and Wake does bring in a decent class, headed by forward Travis McKie. But while there may be some promise for the future, the future is not now.
10. Georgia Tech - It speaks to the weakness of the ACC at the bottom that Georgia Tech would be ranked even this high. There was plenty of drama in the offseason when, despite making the NCAA tournament last season, most Tech fans seemingly hoped that Paul Hewitt would leave to go home and coach Saint John's. It was not to be, but it's probably hard to blame fans for being restless. Hewitt has been the coach for ten seasons and despite plenty of talent (Jack, Bosh, Young, Favors, Crittendon, Lawal, Morrow), he's only had one season better than 8-8 in the ACC. At 67-93 overall in the ACC, it's amazing that he's been able to keep his job at a program with as much tradition as GT, even despite making 5 NCAA tournaments and a National Championship Game. As for this year's team, well, it doesn't get easier to win without Derrick Favors, not to mention Gani Lawal. Even with Favors gone, there is plenty of potential in the current sophomore class (led by Brian Oliver and Glen Rice, Jr.) to assist the enigmatic Iman Shumpert. That said, Yellow Jacket teams with more talent and experience than this one have failed to do much under Hewitt, so it while the team certainly has the capability of getting at or close to the .500 mark in the ACC, I'd bet that they fall short of that.
9. Boston College Eagles - Al Skinner was very successful during his time in Boston, going to 7 NCAA Tournaments, winning three Big East regular season titles, and coaching guys like Jared Dudley, Craig Smith, Troy Bell, and Tyrese Rice. Apparently the powers that be at the school thought the program had stagnated, leading them to replace Skinner and his turtle neck with up and comer Steve Donahue from Cornell. The good news for the team is that everyone returns, including Joe Trapani and the emerging Reggie Jackson. The bad news, of course, is that those everyones were rather mediocre last season. The recruiting class doesn't hold much promise for immediate help, although most of Skinner's didn't either and he had his share of success. Jackson was borderline all-conference quality last year (averaging 12.9/5.7/4.5) so he could be the team's next star if he continues improving in his final two seasons. Al Skinner is like a bloodhound finding these diamonds in the rough like Jackson, much as his jowls are like those of a bloodhound.
8. Miami Hurricanes - A year after finishing last in the conference despite a 15-1 overall start, this team seems to be getting more respect than you'd anticipate. They lost their top two scorers, Dwayne Collins and James Dews, so it isn't even a case of a bad team returning everyone. Still, some key guys like JR SF Dequan Jones and SO guard Durand Scott, both of whom were good recruits, have enough experience to drag the team up a few spots. Scott in particular looks like an emerging star after averaging in double figures last season. On a related note, the Fighting Frank Haiths have now dropped two straight to the Terps after dealing us a series of horrific defeats over the past few seasons (see e.g. 2007 at Miami where the Terps shot below 0%, 2007 in the ACC Tournament first round 5/12 game, and 2009 in Miami with a great comeback). Good times!
7. North Carolina State - C'mon! It's Sid Lowe! You didn't really expect that I was going to go with the crowd and pick the friggin Sid Lowe-led Wolfpack to finish in the top half of the division, did you? Sid is great at wearing a garish red jacket to the games, but I'm not sure that anything more complicated than that is within his scope of competence. Tracy Smith is great, but what will the team do without the incomparable Dennis Horner (Kevin Pittsnoggle Memorial White Trash Award winner, 2010) and Farnold Degand (Olu Babalola Memorial Name of the Year Award, 2010)? Plus Sid doesn't know how to use Smith, and I've got the feeling that former-Terp target CJ Leslie is going to be less Shawn Kemp-in-training and more Terrence Jennings (former Maryland commit now at Louisville). I'd say nice things about Javy Gonzalez, but I remember about two years ago when Greivis absolutely abused him for the duration of the game. I think it may possibly have been the epic post-600 win game where he came a rebound short of getting a triple double. (Remember that time Greivis DID get a triple double against UNC and we had an insane OT comeback win!? HOLY COW ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I miss Greivis.)
I'm tired of writing. Top half...later. SPOILER: The Terps figure prominently.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Things Said Ten Years Ago
From Sports Illustrated, March 29, 1999:
Fifth starter Sidney Ponson is big - 6'1", 220- and slightly roly-poly. He was born in Aruba, where he learned to throw a killer sinker and a curveball that falls off a shelf. The 22-year-old has a veteran's confidence, which is odd, because as a rookie last year he was less than stellar. He did, however, win seven of his last 10 decisions. In the off-season he got in better shape, and got stronger, and he goes into the '99 season with the expectations of a realist: to win 12 to 15 games, pitch 180 to 200 innings and keep his ERA under 4.00. "The thing about Sidney is that he's smart," says manager Ray Miller. "A smart pitcher with a 97-mile-an-hour sinker is gonna get a lot of people out."
It certainly is comforting to note that Sidney was a smart guy who got in shape and had a biting, near 100 mph sinker. The future is bright.
Fifth starter Sidney Ponson is big - 6'1", 220- and slightly roly-poly. He was born in Aruba, where he learned to throw a killer sinker and a curveball that falls off a shelf. The 22-year-old has a veteran's confidence, which is odd, because as a rookie last year he was less than stellar. He did, however, win seven of his last 10 decisions. In the off-season he got in better shape, and got stronger, and he goes into the '99 season with the expectations of a realist: to win 12 to 15 games, pitch 180 to 200 innings and keep his ERA under 4.00. "The thing about Sidney is that he's smart," says manager Ray Miller. "A smart pitcher with a 97-mile-an-hour sinker is gonna get a lot of people out."
It certainly is comforting to note that Sidney was a smart guy who got in shape and had a biting, near 100 mph sinker. The future is bright.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
My Favorite Non-Ravens
Let me preface this by saying that in general, these players all suck and I hate them.
That being said, I must admit, some of my favorite players in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (Copyright 2008 Ron Jaworski) are not Ravens. Mind you, none of them are in the AFC North, but that's more of a result that the Browns and Bengals suck and I hate the Foremans with so much passion that his smug face pisses me off at all times. At all times!
So without further Maurice Edu, and in no particular order, my favorite non-Ravens are:
AFC EAST
Bart Scott - Ok, so this is borderline cheating because he was a former Raven and Ray Lewis junior, but I don't care. After he threw a ref's flag into the stands during the primetime game against the undefeated Patriots, I was forever enamored with him. Sure, he's a pretty good player and all, so it makes it easy, and but he's also a good reminder of how the Jets are now the kid brother of the Ravens, and that makes me smile. So do run-on sentences. (BTW, Rex Ryan lost this game for us due to his untimely time-out call right before a 4th down stop. Now he's a head coach. Good luck New York!)
Randy Moss - Straight Cash Homie
Pat White - He's such a great scrambling quarterba... wait a minute. He signed a MLB contract in August just before the season begins? Right when baseball is winding down? Seriously? I thought West Virginia didn't let in idiots. Guess I've learned a valuable lesson today.
AFC SOUTH
Commerical Pitchman Peyton Manning - Fantastic
4th Quarter Winning Drive Peyton Manning not playing my team - Amazing
4th Quarter Winning Drive Peyton Manning playing my team - SHEEEEEE-IT
AFC WEST
Champ Bailey - First, his name is Champ. Second, his brother's name is Boss. Upon further review, it's only a nickname. I don't like him quite as much now
NFC EAST
Clinton Portis - This
Chris Cooley - He once showed hit dick on his website, just because he could.
Dez Bryant - His mom's a hooker. True story.
Sexy Rexy - I completely forgot that he was with the 'Skins. He makes the list entire only the Rex Grossman Principle
NFC NORTH
Brett Favre - He's just a gunslinger. Such a kid out there, he loves playing the game. I want to have his babies and make love to his stubble, preferably in a pick-up, doing some American things. Good feelings, old people, pie!, bluejeans, David Eckstein, the way things used to be, good little ballplayer, heart, man of the people, love, wrangler, football.
NFC SOUTH/WEST
The Saints are the new Red Sox. Mark it now.
Vernon Davis - THE DUKE. He owns every Maryland weight lifting-type record ever invented. He's also seen Mike Singletary's boxers (we think that's all he saw). If he was a ref, he'd be Ed Hochuli (all praise be upon him)
Everyone else in these divisions is WOEFUL
Well there you have it, I've blogged
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