Hooray For Links! March 10

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...

First off, I was gonna do one of these last week but didn't get around to it so if any of these are old news or have already been determined as uninteresting, I apologize.

- The new Deadspin Media Approval Ratings have been very interesting, especially the results surrounding some college hoops folk. Here they are:

Doug Gottlieb: 44.3%
Billy Packer: 9.5%
Gus Johnson: 90.4%
Erin Andrews: 95.2%
Mike Patrick: 47.8%

It's worth mentioning that ESPN is known for infiltrating these polls when they involve one of their people, which could be why the derisive Gottlieb is near 50 percent (despite being a bully) and the brain-dead Patrick is above 3 percent. Obviously the 5 percent that disapproves of Andrews are women and the 10 percent that disapproves Gus are deaf (my feelings on him are well-documented). Billy Packer's 9.5% was provided solely by the Nantz family.

- Speaking of Gottlieb, USA Today did a feature on him for no apparent reason whatsoever, except to give an already hefty ego and even greater boost. I think Gottlieb is a pretty smart guy and definitely is one of the smarter ESPN hoops analysts. But the way he presents his opinions in that pompous, I'm-the-voice-of-reason-in-college-hoops, I-think-Tom Brennan-is-a-huge-douche type of way, not to mention a completely boring way with no sense of humor (like Brennan), is just unnecessary. I've said this before but he's like one of those guys on the message boards that happens to know more than everyone else and wants them all to know it. Anyway, the feature was an absolute puff piece, barely mentions the credit card thing at Notre Dame or many of his controversial statements. It also contains no sources from Gottlieb detractors, only speaking with his family and co-workers. But read it if you want a reason to dislike Doug Gottlieb some more.

- Dana O'Neill at ESPN.com continues to crank out outstanding pieces in her first few months on the job. This one on Michael Beasley, perhaps the 20th I've read on him, is probably the best look into Beasley's life and mind that has been written. Beasley comes off as a pretty intelligent, thoughtful guy, especially when speaking about the true impact of being a really freaking good 19-year-old basketball player.

"I'm still a kid; I'm still irresponsible and I want to still be irresponsible sometimes," Beasley said as the fans circled behind him. "When I go to the NBA, that's over. My life is America's life. LeBron James gets a speeding ticket, the cop goes on with his day and LeBron is all over 'SportsCenter.' Britney Spears shaves her head, it's everywhere. You shave your hair, who cares? That's why I'm not sure I'm ready for the NBA.

"I mean, what's being famous anyway? It's a popularity contest. Don't get me wrong. I'm lucky. I love my life, but I just don't understand it. I brush my teeth with the same Crest. I use the same bar of soap. My house gets junky just like yours. I'm just a regular guy who can play basketball. I'm normal."

Nah dude, I use Colgate. And unlike the Gottlieb piece, O'Neill confronts Beasley on Dalonte Hill, Bob Huggins and all the weirdness around his recruitment. He acknowledged that he's only at KSU because of Hill but said Frank Martin's head coach position is legitimate. I disagree, but whatever, I can't drop 44 in a Big 12 game.

- Speaking of Kansas State, Big Sexy Jason Whitlock weighs in on the squad and its recent struggles. And wouldn't you know it, Mr. Whitlock has something critical to say. He calls out the fans, Crazy Person Frank Martin's sideline antics and the sulking so often seen from the young guys (not sure I agree on this). Whitlock's a great writer so it's worth a read but don't expect to be smiling when you're done reading.

- I've written a bit on Philadelphia hoops phenom, the as yet unsigned Tyreke Evans. The New York Times decided to do the same and turns in a good feature on the completely ridiculous amount of hoopla surrounding his senior season.

- Kevin Love. John Wooden. Outlet passes. And Brent Musberger gets his first erection in years.
/shudders


- I Loooovveeeee The Drake around here and given the Bulldogs complete destruction of the Missouri Valley, I link this column from ESPN.com's Pat Forde from a couple weeks ago on just how much he too, loves the Drake.

- Patrick Patterson may be coming back to school next year... according to his Facebook page.

- The blinding brilliance of Kissing Suzy Kolber and Big Daddy Drew applies itself to college hoops and Coach K (via Deadspin). And all is right with the world.

- What dreams of made of.


- You've probably heard by now that Lil Romeo is going to USC on a basketball scholarship. You've probably considered how ridiculous this is. The Wall Street Journal would like to confirm how ridiculous this is... as would Tim Floyd. Apparently this is just a package deal with DeMar DeRozan, who is apparently really freaking good and tight with Romeo. Obviously everyone at USC denies that.

- This post at FreeDarko on Mike Dunleavy and his days at Duke, where he recorded a video with a campus comedy group, might be completely useless or awe-inspiringly awesome. Decide for yourself. A teaser: Dunleavy plays Death in Stratego.

- Your obligatory Erin Andrews item.

- Never have I been more excited after a college basketball play than I was after Kristof Ongenaet's steal/crossover/posterizing of Marquette Saturday. I'm assuming that is what people felt like after Jason McElwain made all of those threes.

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.

If A Season Ends And You Aren't Around To See It, Does It Piss You Off?

So an odd thing happened last night. My favorite college basketball team, Syracuse, lost to South Florida, effectively ending its hopes at an NCAA bid. Before I discuss what that means to me, a brief background of my fandom.

It's very intense. I shouldn't really have to mention this because the mere fact that I'm writing a damn sports blog is probably enough proof, but I have a pretty ardent passion for sports. When it comes to my favorite teams, there is no way to just casually watch a game. No matter who they play, when they play or who is playing, I will inevitably yell at the TV, pleading with Arinze Onuaku to box out or Jim Boeheim to switch to man-to-man for once or for someone, anyone, to make a damn foul shot. There are times when I try to detach myself from the outcome, curtailing my expectations and looking at the quality of a particular Syracuse team with as much practicality as possible. "OK, they aren't going to win at Georgetown. They cannot. If they just don't get embarassed I'll be happy." Two hours later, as Jonny Flynn's game-winning heave rattles in-and-out I fall to me knees pull the hood on my sweatshirt over my face and ponder all the fortunes that would've come along with Flynn's shot going in. I go back to all the missed lay-ups, missed foul shots, bail-out fouls and foolish turnovers and now say to myself, "We should've won that game! We outplayed them!" And this happens multiple times per year. It's an emotion ingrained in the hardcore sports fan that is as instinctual as grief or love. It's unavoidable.

That being said, I'm not feeling any different today, with my squad's season essentially over, than I did yesterday. In fact, since I knew the game wasn't on TV and it was against the worst team in the conference, I forgot Syracuse was even playing last night, until I checked ESPN's scoreboard around 8 p.m. and saw the Orange down 15 or so. And when I saw it, I barely reacted. I knew the ramifications of that score holding up and I knew how likely that was, and yet there was nothing. And this concerned me as a fan. If this game had been on TV, I would've locked myself in the bathroom with a box of Girl Scout cookies screaming profanities periodically until it was empty. But when it showed up in text in front of me, I just quietly said, "Fuck" and clicked somewhere else. And today when a friend of mine reminded me what happened I had a similarly understated reaction. It seemed that my intensity wasn't the result of any special connection with my team, but just with wanting to witness a specific outcome and experience the joy/sorrow that accompanies that outcome. My fandom had nothing to do with Syracuse, just with winning. So by this logic, I should be able to turn on any game, convince myself I really care about one of the two teams and experience the same excitement I would with a game featuring my favorite team. Chances are the next time Syracuse is on, even though its season will be ostensibly over, I will still root for it with the same amount of aforementioned ardor.

And I suppose this is why gambling is so popular and I suppose there is some broader thesis on the essence of being a sports fan that would take 10,000 words to delve into and probably wouldn't serve anyone anyway. We are sports fans just because. To explain it in totality wouldn't make that next game any different. But what is kinda interesting about this little quandary, is how it relates to the debate over college basketball's regular season.

The general assumption in collegiate sports is that the college football season matters and the college basketball season does not. The reasoning being that if you lose one game in football, the whole season is over and you can lose several in basketball and still have a shot at a title. By this reasoning, singular college football games are exciting and singular college basketball games, by and large, are not as exciting (rivalries excluded). I'm not going to comment on football, I'm just using it as a counter-argument. I want to focus on the "regular season college basketball games aren't as exciting" argument and say that, after what I experienced with the South Florida loss, that is incorrect.

If the "excitement" part of any witnessed sporting event including your favorite team is based on win and loss -- and that emotional association with the outcome is unavoidable -- then isn't the context of that regular season game irrelevant? For instance, let's say your team, a top 20 team but not a title contender, is playing two games in February. One is against an in-conference team with a similar record and could be vital for conference title purposes, tournament-seeding and all that stuff. The other is against a team outside of the NCAA picture and your team is heavily favored. The former game is not on TV, the second game is. It turns out both games are extremely close and decided in the last minute. You try your best to follow the first one on Gamecast or something, keeping abreast of the score. You watch the second game from start to finish. Your team wins both games. Which experience is more exciting?

It's the TV game, even if it means significantly less in the grand scheme of things (the "grand scheme of things" being something completely undefinable in sports and yet half-heartedly assumed to be "winning"). And that's why I didn't feel that much remorse or grief when Syracuse lost to South Florida. Because it doesn't take anything away from the reason we watch sports in the first place. To be genuinely excited about something that is essentially trivial (and as an "escape" and all that other shit, you get the idea). The playoffs are a different story because the excitement of winning a title is far different than any singular game and generally rates on a separate, far-more-transcendent level of sports enjoyment but for the regular season, every game is exactly the same. If the Orange win Saturday's game against Georgetown on ESPN I will be ecstatic; it will make the rest of my day significantly better. But they still won't be a tournament team and I will know, just like the fans of 340 other Division I basketball teams, this won't be the year I reach that transcendent level of sports excitement. But just because that one moment isn't going to happen, doesn't mean all those other moments become irrelevant. It's an incredibly optimistic way to look at a singular sports season. Just like the robotic drones that play our sport say without fail in every press conference: "Just take it one game at a time."

So thanks Syracuse, for losing to an incredibly shitty South Florida team. I have a new, positive outlook on the season even if you will be achieving absolutely nothing.

All Hail the Siena Saints

As a Syracuse fan, let me be the first to congratulate the Siena Saints on their 79-67 upset victory over No. 20 Stanford today, a nice first step in their quest to sport a solid RPI that doesn't make the Orange's non-conference schedule look like frosted baked goods (with sprinkles) this season. Some kudos to Stanford for traveling across the country to Albany in November, which is not unlike traveling from Hawaii to Baghdad. Something tells me the Cardinal, seen above going through an "experimental" phase, won't be too anxious to leave Cali for a MAAC school next year. As for the Saints, march on friends, may the spirit of Ken Pomeroy lift you to unexpected mathematical success.