Friday, January 26, 2007

Fun for Friday


My sincere apologies for the lack of a post this past Monday, however the timing of the NFL playoff’s and the fact that I didn’t move from my couch between the hours of 1pm – 11pm on Sunday was a recipe for disaster. With that said, there were some great individual and team performances this week, including the performance by our President during the State of the Union who continuously made himself sound like the voice of the teacher in The Peanuts, “Wah, wah, wah wah…wah wah wah.” Thanks for clearing up absolutely nothing and offering proposals with complete disregard for suggestions made by your top political advisors. On the other hand, he did pronounce Dikembe Mutombo a “citizen of the United States;” Thanks Dubya, I feel much safer now.

Onto the blogging!

Big Wins, Bad Losses

Sean Marshall hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to lead Boston College to an 85-82 victory over Florida State. The Eagles were playing their second game since shot-blocker Sean Williams and reserve Akida McLain were kicked off the team last Wednesday for repeated rules violations. Marshall finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Tyrese Rice added 26 points and 6 assists.

Kelvin Sampson's first trip to Champaign since a fall recruiting controversy over Indianapolis high schooler Eric Gordon was not welcoming as Indiana lost to Illinois, 51-53 in what was a very entertaining environment to say the least. It was the Illini's first win against a ranked opponent in five tries this season. The loss for Indiana came just two days after making their first Top 25 appearance of the season.

Mike Nardi, recently voted most likely to not have showered after the past 5 games, had a game-high 19 points and Scottie Reynolds added 20 and 6 assists to lead Villanova to an 82-73 win over Providence on Tuesday night. It was the third straight victory for the visiting Wildcats (14-5, 3-3). Reynolds, just a freshman, has averaged approximately 20 points including 4, 20+ point performances in Big East play.

In what appeared to be a layup drill for Auburn, the Tigers generally had no problems scoring against No. 12 Alabama, ending a seven-game losing streak against the Tide, winning 81-57 on Tuesday night. The Tide's road struggles continued as Alabama has lost its first three SEC road games by an average of 24 points to unranked teams.

Vanderbilt achieved their second consecutive impressive road victory in the Southeastern Conference and third win in a row over a ranked opponent (over Alabama and Kentucky) as the Commodores' triumphed 64-53 over No. 21 LSU. A swarming Vandy defense held Big Baby Davis to just 12 points.

Texas Tech upsets its second consecutive Top 10 oppenent with a 70-68 win over No. 6 Texas A&M (Tech beat then-No. 5 Kansas 69-64 Saturday). The Red Raiders hit only seven field goals in the second half, but five of them were from beyond the arc. The Red Raiders are now 4-1 in the conference (15-5) overall and should be considered a serious contender to compete for the Big 12 title.

Behind Justin Dentmon’s 24 points and seven assists the Huskies defeated a short-handed Oregon squad, 89-77 handing the Ducks their first road loss of the season. Oregon was playing without the conference's scoring leader (18.4 points per game) Aaron Brooks who sat out as his final penalty for elbowing Husky guard Ryan Appleby in the face during a Pac-10 tournament game last March.

Players of the Week

Reggie Williams scored 34 points to lead six VMI players in double digits Monday as the Keydets defeated UNC Asheville 102-97. He also added 9 rebounds and 6 assists. A few nights later Williams had 28 points and 6 boards in a 103-94 win over Radford. Williams is surging on the year averaging 28.1 points/4.2 assists/8.4 boards.

Zabian Dowdell scored a career-high 30 points to help the castrated Turkey’s (Hokies) beat Miami 92-85 on Tuesday night. Dowdell, whose previous career high was a 25-point-performance against North Carolina A&T on December 7, 2005, finished 15 of 18 from the free throw line. The senior, Dowdell considered the heart of this team is averaging 18.1 points/3.5 assists/3.3 boards.

University of New Orleans junior guard, Bo McCalebb scored 27 points to help give the Privateers a 77-67 win over Florida International. To date, McCalebb has scored below 23 points just 3 times this year and posts averages of 26.1 points/3.2 assists/6.5 boards.

Brook Lopez blocked a school-record 12 shots to go along with 18 points and 11 rebounds, helping Stanford beat USC 65-50 on Thursday night. The triple-double was the first since at least 1985 for the Cardinal. For the year, Lopez’s numbers aren’t that staggering 9.4 points/4.8 rebounds however this former McDonalds All-American missed the first five games do to injury and needed some time to adjust to game speed. He’s averaging 11 points and 9 rebounds over the past four games.

Shout-outs

Jason Richards scored a career-high 32 points (to go along with 9 assists) as Davidson rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit and pulled away to defeat Georgia Southern 101-92. It was the 13th win in the last 14 games for the Wildcats, who improved to 17-4 overall and 8-1 in the Southern Conference. Richards has scored in double figures in his last 10 games. They’ve also been paced by freshman sensation Stephen Curry’s 18.8 points/3.4 assists/4.6 rebounds.

Wichita State has only won 4 out of their past 12 games and with a conference record of 4-6 (13-8 overall), the Shockers remain 3.5 gamins back (8th in league standings) and will need to win majority of their 9 remaining conference games in order to be considering for an at-large bid. Hopefully their recent 82-77 win over Drake behind Sean Ogirri’s career-high 29 points will wake the sleeping giant.

Another obscure streak continues in the world of college basketball. With a 68-66 victory over Clemson, the Duke Blue Devils defeat the Tigers for the 20th straight time – a span of 10 years – and 24 of 26 at Cameron Indoor. After several miscues down the stretch, it took a David McClure basket with time expired for the Devils to seal the win.

To my excitement, the Winless Watch continues as Fairfield took down the lone winless team in Division I, Iona, 70-67 in overtime Tuesday night. The loss was the Gaels' 20th straight dating to last season, extending the school record for consecutive defeats. The Gaels appeared to be in control of the game as they led 35-27 at the half. Up next is a home game against Loyola (MD) who they already suffered a 9 point loss to.

Weekend Predictions

Michigan at Indiana: Two teams meeting after disappointing losses, well it’s safe to say that one of them has to win. I like the Hoosiers to bounce back at home

UNC at Arizona: A track meet like no other. It will be UNC’s depth versus Zona’s starting five. The safe pick is the Wildcat’s at home but I like the Tar Heels to steal one in Tuscon

Arkansas at Alabama: The Tide lost 3 of their past 5 in which one of them was a blowout to none other than the Razorbacks. Since that game, Arkansas has lost 4 of 5 and I’m guessing it’ll be 5 of 6 after this one’s over

Michigan State at Ohio State: The Buckeye’s are winners of their last four after a heartbreaking 3 point loss to the Badgers. With Oden starting to play at 100%, I think the Spartans will have too much to overcome on the road

Oregon at Washington State: Tony Bennett’s suit with no tie attire, enough said

LSU at Georgia: LSU hasn’t had a quality win since December and Georgia at home is becoming a tough out. I like the Bulldogs to pull it out

BC at Duke: Doesn’t it seem like the Dukies have played every game at home this year? If you think the crowd as loud for Clemson, it should be twice that vs. BC. However, I’ll always take experience over talent – BC upends the Devils at Cameron

UCLA at Stanford: Not much else to say about the Bruins, they’re Final Four bound along with Flordia and UNC. Stanford is beginning to realize their potential, but UCLA has too many weapons

Quips, Quarrels, Querulous Inquiries

How about the half-nude Bruce Pearl sighting at the Lady Vols game this week versus Duke (see above picture)! This guy has the balls of Paul Bunyon, I mean they must be gigantic for someone of his stature, not to mention age, to paint half his body and hang with the student section as one of their own. When you look at the picture closely, it appears as if he may be going commando as well (see the waist line). However, when you think about it, could any other coach have pulled this off? Let’s think of some:

Jim Boeheim: No way, he looks like Dr. Bunson Honeydoo from the Muppet Babies – please keep the shirt on!
Bobby Knight: Don’t think so, he’d surely be fighting someone in the stands…
Larry Eustache: YES, YES and YES! He’d be breaking out the funnel by halftime!
Coach K: LOL! What, and ruin his impeccable image!
Billy Donovan: Hmmm, maybe – he’s got that baby faced Eddie Munster look going so he might be able to pull it off.
Al Skinner: Nuh uh, plus he has more teeth than the average human being – although that has nothing to do with painting your body
Tony Bennett: Probably, but definitely while wearing Gucci shades

The list can go on and on, however of all coaches, Larry Eustache certainly fits the bill. Feel free to send in any additional coaches who you’d like to stand next to with their shirt off.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Personally I don't want to see men with their shirts off but that's just me.....

Anyway, how about the Pitt Panthers? Nice win at Nova, cruised against the Johnnies, tough loss in OT to Marquette. They're going to be a tough team to beat in the tourney this year.

12:41 PM  
Blogger Greg Prosmushkin said...

Thanks for taking the time to share the wonderful news from your post. I enjoy the full details that you provide with your article. Have a great rest of your day and keep up the fantastic posts.
Greg Prosmushkin

1:29 PM  

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