Lots and Lots and Lots of Games: Conference Quarterfinals Day One

Ahh! The laughing! It's burned into my head! Will it ever stop! Digger you are the bane of my existence!

Today and tomorrow are two of the more underrated days of the year in sports. Consider it a warmup for next week in terms of excitement, quality basketball and, most importantly, pirating illegal broadcasts of basketball on your computer and pushing thin excuses upon your boss to get out of working. There simply must be a study on the amount of national productivity lost on the first two days of the NCAA Tournament. I will not sleep until one is conducted.

Anyway, with the major conferences doing their quadruple-headers today and tomorrow and with a crowded Bubble and whole buttload of parity in college hoops this year, the basketball over the next two days should be both frantic, overwhelming and, of course, awesome. Here are some quick, mostly analysis-free looks at the quarterfinals today and what to watch for.

Pac-10
This is, in my opinion, the best ticket in college basketball not involving the NCAA Tournament. The top eight teams in America's best conference are all in action today in the Staples Center, with each game containing a team on the Bubble in varying degrees. When the Pac-10 was on TV on the East Coast, which generally coincided around most lunar eclipses, it was must-see TV, no matter who the hell was playing. That's how good the league was. If you are an NBA scout you can basically do an entire seasons worth of work in one day for a couple hundred bucks. That's a bargain even Donald Sterling couldn't pass up. Here are the future pros in action today at Staples:

Brook Lopez, OJ Mayo, Jerryd Bayless, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Davon Jefferson, Chase Budinger, Ryan Anderson, James Harden, Jordan Hill, Bryce Taylor, DeVon Hardin, Robin Lopez, Jeff Pendergraph, Kyle Weaver.

And those are just the guys that are basically sure things.

Fun Things To Watch For Because Fun is Fun: Jack Nicholson has been showing up at UCLA games this year so look out for the Bruins new fan. Well, he might be a Bruins' fan or his publicist might just tell him the colorful jerseys are those of the Lakers and he's too far off the deep end to realize what the hell is going on.

These games are on FSN, which actually provides a pretty solid broadcast, even though us on the East Coast probably have to do unspeakable things to watch it. Marques Johnson is a Pac-10 broadcaster and does a very good job, even if the legend from South LA is obviously not used to talking about basketball in wholesome, white person-friendly terms. You can audibly here him holding back some kind of awesome, indecipherable explanation when OJ Mayo embarrasses someone. It's kinda annoying, the guy knows so much about basketball and he has to pander to some corny old alumni. Just once I wish he could get let it all hang out, but then I suppose there is the danger of this (about 1:50 mark and then again 3:00):


For College Students, A Drinking Game For Each Contest:
USC-Arizona State: Drink every time you realize how awesome it is that's its the middle of a Thursday and you are drinking and watching basketball./bitter

California-UCLA: Drink every time Ryan Anderson or Kevin Love are praised for footwork, shooting stroke, passing, boxing out or heart. CBS Sportsline columnist Mike Freeman should not play this game.

Oregon-Washington State: Drink every time a Duck physically leaps over a Cougar or and you wonder how in the hell Oregon is still losing to Washington State.

Arizona-Stanford: Drink every time a Lopez twin talks shit to Jerryd Bayless but has absolutely nothing to say to Jordan Hill.

Big EastUsually the best ticket in college hoops, but still second only to the Pac-10 this year. Gets added points for being at Madison Square Garden, which is the best place to watch basketball in the country, as long as it's not the Knicks. The only quarterfinal that can boast seven nearly surefire NCAA Tournament teams (especially with West Virginia taking it to Connecticut as I write this). If this were the bottom half of an entire NCAA regional, I don't think anyone could complain. Even better than watching these games is attending them as this weekend turns the MSG area into an alcohol-induced warzone. Every bar around the arena is staved off by a certain fanbase and any intermingling results only in death. At least five percent of the paid attendance will be kicked out of the arena by the time the session is over.

Fun Things To Watch For Because Fun is Fun: The promo song for the Big East this year, and basically every year, is some completely retarded attempt at appealing to the "street-tough, New York hip-hop" persona. It is perpetrated by some white ESPN suit (likely this man) and is supposed to make you feel like the Big East is still some kind of tough league. Yes, because there is nothing that makes me think of hip-hop more than nine-dollar beers, school bands and Jamie Smalligan.

Speaking of Smalligan and the Mountaineers, the real question about their performance in this tournament is not whether it will get them into the NCAAs, but will it get them into Scores?

For College Students, A Drinking Game For Each Contest:
Villanova-Georgetown: Game already over, I think your livers could use a midday break anyway.

West Virginia-Connecticut: The game is almost over, so drink every time a Mountaineer completes a successful post-game handshake with a Huskie without getting poked in the eye.

Pittsburgh-Louisville: Drink every time the announcers mention a Pittsburgh player is from NYC or how well Jamie Dixon recruits there. Take a shot if Carl Krauser is mentioned and another one if his current whereabouts are known.

Marquette-Notre Dame: Drink every time Luke Harangody is called "Gody" and you refrain from smashing the TV with a sledgehammer. At that point, you've earned it.

Wildcard drinking procedure: Drink every time Digger Phelps and Bobby Knight go into that insufferable schtick where they resemble Grumpy Old Men in their comedic value, contemporary relevancy and general vitality. Drink every time one of them looks as though he soiled himself. Drink every time assumption is proved true. Call ambulance.

Bob Knight To Begin TV Career Today, Many Encouraged To Care

In case you aren't yet concussed from ESPN bludgeoning you over the head with it, Bob Knight will make his TV debut tonight on ESPN. I guess he did Mike and Mike this morning (video), which is why I'm surprised he hasn't quit already, but he'll show up on SportsCenter and then be in studio between the two Big East games tonight.

Apparently this is supposed to interest me.

What exactly is Bob Knight going to do on television that thousands of boring TV analysts have done before? The only people in the history of sports television that I have actually enjoyed watching sit in a chair and talk are Charles Barkley, Johnny Miller (for golf), Gus Johnson and Marv Albert. If I knew any of those people would be on the air speaking about an event, my interest in said event would rise. Minimally. And that's it. Here's what a segment with Bob Knight will sound like:

Rece Davis/Karl Ravech/Random Boring Guy X: So Bob, you coached in the Big 12, which teams still have work to do to get in the Tournament?

Bob Knight: Well, I think Kansas State, Oklahoma Texas A & M all can't afford to lose a game and still expect to get in.

Rece Davis/Karl Ravech/Random Boring Guy X: (stares)

Bob Knight: (stares)

Yeah, that seems about right (seriously, click on the Mike and Mike link; that's what it's gonna be). The only reason "analysts" exist is to entertain people that don't have to take a shit during halftime and to fill out the rest of a half hour highlight show when footage of games cannot. Bob Knight, just because he is a crazy psycho, is not going to change that. It's not like he's going to openly berate Tom Brennan (that's Gottlieb's job) and it's not like he's going to throw chairs. And he's certainly not going to be critical of ANY players or coaches, because, in 100 years of being in basketball, he's friends with everyone. There might be some poor man's Barkley-type ribbing with his co-hosts and he obviously knows his basketball, but that's about it. You're best bet for entertainment is if he's paired with Gottlieb and Gottlieb inevitably thinks he's smarter than Knight -- and he probably is actually in terms of this year's teams and players... but still a dick) -- challenges him on something and Knight gives him the Jeremy Schaap treatment.

And all the nonsense about "Knight becoming a journalist even though he hates them" is ridiculous. Being an on-screen basketball analyst for ESPN is the furthest thing from journalism in the world. It's sports journalism in the same way Entertainment Tonight is a news program.

And yes, I needed something to take the anger of Syracuse's bedshitting today out on.

Hooray For Links! February 21

I was never a big proponent of doing link dumps and the like on this site because, well, it didn't really make sense to me. Why would I simply reproduce things that are already out there? But as I did my own scouring of the Intertubes for college hoops content, I realized there was just too much quality (and, at times, utterly awful) stuff out there to simply leave untapped. So I give you Hooray For Links! which should appear at completely random intervals. Because without links, it's not really a blog, it's just a place to put thoughts I might not want to forget.

Them links be after the jump.
Continue...

- Before we get into anything of substance, great Louisville blog Card Chronicle shares this video of a rapping UL fan, makes world worse place. Reminds me of a young Ghostface. I really should've dedicated a single post to this.

- I really enjoyed Grant Wahl's article in Sports Illustrated a couple weeks ago on the Dribble-Drive Motion Offense that everyone seems so excited about. Now, if you aren't a hardcore basketball person, this whole piece is a waste of your time. It's an in-depth look at how the philosophy was originated, how it works, who is using it and what personnel suits it best. If you enjoy dunks, cheerleaders and screaming at the TV, you probably shouldn't read this. Anyway, the DDM offense has been made most popular by John Calipari and Memphis, which is odd because the Tigers don't really have the ideal players (i.e. jumpshooters) for the offense. But they do have Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts, who are both perfect for the penetration and kick offense. They also have Joey Dorsey, who is ideal for this offense because it requires no post scorer and puts a team's big man on the weak side of the ball for offensive rebounds and drive-and-dishes. Still, you wonder if the shooting will be Memphis' tragic flaw. The offense was created by Vance Walberg, who was a JuCo coach at the time, then got a job at Pepperdine and recently resigned/got fired (the one problem with the article is it makes little mention of Walberg's tenure and departure at Pepperdine). Over 300 teams across the country, at all levels of play, now use it and the article contains praise from Larry Brown and Bob Hurley. So if your retinas aren't singed from Bruce Pearl's suit (by the way, the Vols are perfect for DDM and they don't run it), look for that offense Saturday night.

- Kansas State Head Coach and Crazy Person, Frank Martin seems to be getting a lot of love for KSU's success this season and this feature by Chip Brown at the Dallas Morning News continues that trend. Martin, despite being a raging lunatic on the sidelines, actually does seem like he cares about his kids and knows the game. HOWEVA, he still has a very shady past and it seems like no one knows about it besides me and Robert Andrew Powell, the Miami New Times reporter who broke the 1998 story on Martin fabricating addresses for the state champion high school team he coached (which included Steve Blake and Udonis Haslem), an investigation that led to his resignation. Certainly people deserve second chances and performance speaks for itself, but read the 1998 story and then read Brown's feature and see if there aren't some serious contradictions in some of Martin's "do it the right way" quotes.

- I don't like pointing out when I'm right -- actually, who am I kidding, of course I do -- but back at the end of January I had post on the four teams I thought were capable of winning a championship. I picked Kansas, UNC, UCLA... and Louisville. The CHN message board destroyed me for this at the time and much time-wasting vitriol ensued. Well we all know what Louisville has done since and in a recent post at the fabulous Basketball Prospectus the fabulous Ken Pomeroy (I'm not gay) pegged the Cardinals as his "No. 6" team behind the obvious top five of Memphis, Duke, UNC, Kansas and UCLA (this was posted on Feb. 13, so I figure Tennessee is now in there, moving Louisville to No. 7... but I was still right! /stares into distance).

- I've been following the bizarre story of Tim Parmeter, Eastern Arizona JuCo coach who, as originally reported by Gary Parrish, was coaching through the murder-suicide of his ex-wife and child but was recently fired amid allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year old while he was married. I'm not going to elaborate any further on it, and I've gotten some comments here that were both interesting and abhorrent, but if you haven't seen this bizarre story, here is a good follow up from the Arizona Republic.

- I'm really sick of the Kelvin Sampson thing and, besides posting on The Big Lead's anonymous source that said he was going to be fired last Friday which obviously turned out to be wrong, I'm going to ignore it on here. But this piece from Andy Katz served as a great one-stop source for all the nonsense surround Sampson.

- Against all odds, ESPN.com's college basketball coverage has been outstanding lately. In the beginning of the year they just seemed to regurgitate the same played-out storylines but there have been a number of really good, deep pieces lately. I'd like to think a big part of that is the addition of Philly's own Dana O'Neill, former Philly Daily News writer, who turned in a GREAT feature on Alcorn State and the unglamorous life of basketball in the SWAC. It's long but a great read for those sick of the power conference slobbering.

- Keeping with the ESPN theme, Chris Low takes a good look at the long, hard journey of Tennessee-Martin's Lester Hudson, who is one of the most talented players in the country. Hudson has overcome a rough childhood and academic problems to make it to Division I, and he is probably is good enough to play in the major conferences.

- And one more to throw at you, Heather Dinich's feature on Towson junior Tony Durant, who just happens to be the older brother of Kevin Durant. It's a great look at the odd emotional predicament Kevin's success has caused for Tony, who I somehow didn't even know about until I read this piece.

- Two posts from fellow Ravenous Shark Fightin' Blue Hen Dan Steinberg at the outstanding DC Sports Bog. First a great reaction to the idiot court storming from Syracuse fans when the Orange beat Georgetown at home last week. Second, an ever greater post, a report from last night's Virginia Tech-Maryland game where Dorenzo Hudson puked on the floor. If you are a sick, twisted freak here is the video.

- This Deadspin post has all sorts of Bob Knight goodness. Apparently current Nets coach and former Indiana manager was a bit of a douche back in the day, and may have taped Bob Knight giving a terrifying, profanity-laced tirade at halftime of a game, which has made its way onto the Intertubes. Within the post is the story on Frank and audio of Knight's shitstorm. And here is Terry Hutchens original story on the tape.

- Awful Announcing notices something that I too have noticed recently. Brent Musberger (pictured above) is careening toward senility (during a college game he blurts out that the Wizards want to trade Caron Butler!). Between this, his insistence on calling every player only by his first name ("What a rebound by Jamarcus") and his bonechilling ogling of Erin Andrews (I know, pot/kettle/black), I am worried Brett might poop himself during a conference championships game this year. And if only for the comment section, here is Deadspin's approval rating on Musberger. (Yes, I've also found the Brent Musberger Drinking Game, here's to binge drinking Brent!).

- This story has been written about 12 million times but in case you just can't get enough Duke-hating, some fella at MSN tries his hand at explaining why nobody likes the Blue Devils.

- From Scott Van Pelt Style, apparently former Duke forward and obnoxious towel waver Reggie Love is a bodyguard for our next President Barack Obama.

- From the motherland CHN, a nice column on Gonzaga, specifically the dichotomy between Josh Heytvelt and Jeff Pendergraft. Kinda follows a previous sentiment I had on the Zags that with all these All-Americans they have lost the scrappiness and chemistry that made those old Gonzaga teams so great.

Bob Knight Resigns

This is old news by now but this being a college basketball blog, it would be prudent if I commented. Yes, Bob Knight has resigned, handing over the reigns of Texas Tech to his son Pat. I'm not going to speculate why he did this or anything like that; apparently he was "tired." Fair enough. But what I will say is that in the long pantheon of sports villains, Bob Knight is one of the most fascinating. He was an unbelievable coach, and while the numbers say he is the best ever, there is far more than numbers to his brilliance. For all of his flaws, Bob Knight never committed any violations in recruiting and it quickly became evident that he didn't need to. He always had great players but for many of them you could argue that it was Knight who made them great. He certainly didn't have a top five recruiting class every year and he still had incredible success.

And amidst all of that, there are probably people out there that will remember him solely for being a complete asshole. Between his treatment of the media and the tons of players he drove away from the Hoosiers, ultimately driving himself out of the program, Knight unfortunately did enough to overshadow his amazing coaching brilliance. I never read Season On the Brink, it's on my shortlist on books to read soon, but from what I've heard, what was the most in depth look anyone has gotten into the life of Bob Knight, appears to only cloud his legacy even further, chronicling the methods of a legendary coach and a legendary jerk. And now that his career has abruptly ended, I think most college basketball fans are still trying to figure out the right way to remember him.

Anyway, here are some of the good pieces I have come across on the Bob Knight deal. Enjoy.

- Will Leitch at world-conquering sports blog Deadspin wrote a great little obit on Knight's career. Leitch grew up an Illinois fan and went to school there, by the way.

- I believe Andy Katz was the first to get to Pat Knight for his reaction. It will be interesting to see if Pat can ever coach his way out of his father's legacy.

- Pretty good column from Gary Parrish at CBS on Knight's multi-faceted legacy. He takes Knight to task for doing this midseason and while I'm not sure I agree, it's a good read. Pat Forde at ESPN shares the same opinion.

- Inside the Hall is a great Hoosiers blog and they had some interesting discourse in the comments section of this post on the retirement.

- Big old look back on his career from the Indianapolis Star. I'm still waiting on Terry Hutchens, a great college hoops writer who covered Knight for years, to weigh in.

- The Indiana student paper gets some nice reaction from former Hoosiers. Nice work by them. Us kids aren't as dumb as we look.

- Nice piece by Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News.

- I can't find the exact link to that Sports Illustrated article on the Bob Knight/Neil Reed thing but I did find this, former players and acquaintances speaking out on his madness.

- And here is the (in)famous chair throwing incident.