1) UNC/BC Game - "I fully expected us to go up there and lay an egg", was the quote via Byron after the game. Well, he was half right, the Heels' usually tight defense allowed the Eagles to shoot too well and visit the FT line too often but fighting fire with fire usually works, and the Heels own offense proved to be mightier bolstered by offensive rebounding (nearly half of UNC's misses fell back into their own hands, 26 FGM + 4 FTM, 13 ORs). The win coupled with a VT loss to insanely hot (67% hot) NC State put the Heels slightly in the drivers seat for the ACC reg season title and (in my opinion) the #1 seed that would surely follow. Observations. Other ACC action - Duke beat the hapless version of the GT team (the one that plays on the road) also the reminder of impending Coach K praise, if I hear you complaining about it I'm just going to yell at you the same way I yelled at you when you said things like "Duke sucks, they won't make the tournament" or "We should beat them by 20 points" consider yourselves warned, UVA beat FSU to stay in the 3-loss club (or should I say duo), Clemson continued to "play poorly with a target on its back", and Wake clawed their way out of the basement.
2) College review - the Overrateds lost again this weekend (yes OU and OSU), I'll, for clarity's sake, stop referring to Ohio St as Overrated-SU so we all know which two teams are Overrated U and Overrated SU. Vandy topped Florida, ruining their perfect SEC season but having little other real affect (besides punching their own dance ticket). SIU "upset" Butler, and the 2 Carolina BracketBusters toppled their Valley foes. Georgetown held off a quality Villanova side whose gameplan was excellent (Hibbert a non-factor, guarding the passing lanes well, switching defenses does anyone have tape of this for that big tournament in a month or so?). Florida is now #4 in KP-land, new order of business UNC, KU, A&M, FL, OSU, after the Jayhawks held the Huskers to 39 pts, they're the new #1 DE. The fall by Florida shows their weak SOS, comparable to Memphis. Ok, I know the last thing this site needs is another gimmick, but, I think that on Mondays and Fridays (after the majority of college games has been played Tue/Wed/Thu or Sat/Sun) I'm going to list the 2 or 3 teams that have "punched their ticket" to the dance. These will not repeat themselves (once your ticket is punched, thats it), nor will they be obvious teams that are current locks, but instead teams that have recently won a game/series of games that should get them in.
Tickets punched this weekend:
Vandy - beat Florida
Louisville - beat Pitt and Marquette, both on the road
Duke - won 2, essentially assured of a .500 ACC finish
(John, feel free to comment)
And-1) All-Star Weekend - John and I watched the Saturday activities via DVR and were pretty entertained, here's a recap. The Detroit team (Chauncey Billups, Bill Lambeer, and some chick) took the "Shooting Stars Challenge", Jason Kapono tied a final round record (24) to win the 3 pt shootout, D-Wade took the Skills Contest, and Gerald Green dunked his way over Nate Robinson (literally and metaphorically) Dee Brown style to win the dunk contest, though the best dunk was Dwight Howard's "12-6 Sticker Dunk" in which he dunked the ball and left a sticker up on the backboard at 12' 6". The West easily won the All-Star game 153-132. Observations.
News
Golden Boy Expecting
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
UNC 77 BC 72
NC State @ UNC 2/21
Ladies
UNC 93 Miami 70
State 72 UNC 65
Wake Forest @ UNC 2/20
Hornets @ Bobcats 2/20
Bobcats @ T'Wolves 2/21
76ers @ Bobcats 2/23
Raptors @ Bobcats 2/24
NOTABLES
Villanova @ Marquette
Monday, February 19
Sunday, February 18
UNC Honored Jerseys
Here is the actual answer to the question posed last night "what does it take to get your jersey number honored". The answer is from this Adam Lucas mailbag in 2005 about why Ed Cota's number isn't in the rafters. The short version is, to be retired you have to win national player of the year. Jordan, Worthy, Jamison, etc, all did that (no player can ever wear the number again). To be "honored" you have to meet one of the 4 following criteria:
1. the most valuable player (as voted by his teammates) of an NCAA championship team,
2. a first- or second-team All-American,
3. ACC Player of the Year, or
4. a member of a gold-medal winning Olympic team.
so, obviously McCants, May and Felton all have met those requirements. Apparently in 1994 these requirements were relaxed (they were previously tighter) and 25 additional jerseys were honored (7 already were), the number is now 43. Also, Byron was right, Tyler was a 1st Team All-American last year (voted by some outlets, you don't have to get AP or to sweep for it to count) so his jersey will be honored.
1. the most valuable player (as voted by his teammates) of an NCAA championship team,
2. a first- or second-team All-American,
3. ACC Player of the Year, or
4. a member of a gold-medal winning Olympic team.
so, obviously McCants, May and Felton all have met those requirements. Apparently in 1994 these requirements were relaxed (they were previously tighter) and 25 additional jerseys were honored (7 already were), the number is now 43. Also, Byron was right, Tyler was a 1st Team All-American last year (voted by some outlets, you don't have to get AP or to sweep for it to count) so his jersey will be honored.
Friday, February 16
2/16 "Daily" And-1
Sooooo, since my computer decided not to inform me that the battery was about to die, you all get a shortened version of my previous post. Ok, back from work, this post has officially been elaborated upon.
1) College BBall Update - duke beat bc: looks like missing sean williams finally caught up with them i guess all it takes is a post presence and the eagles look a lot weaker that and Nelson's assumingly crushing defense on Jar-red Dud-ley, purdue upset indiana (big help to their tourney cv, the rest of their schedule is easy so this may have paved the way), 'zona flashed-back to 2 weeks ago losing to USC: the pac-10 is obviously giving itself handouts again, making sure they all get in, and a couple of Overrated U's (OSU and OU) got scared/beaten (by penn st/cal respectively) you know, I wouldn't mind UNC being a 2 seed to OSU's #1.
2) Other news - roy is up for the hall of fame (isn't it weird how coaches get in before they retire? i guess its only fair b/c if you waited until after they retired it might be too late), the bengals franchise tagged DE justin smith, along with Bears - LB Lance Briggs and Pats CB Asante Samuel (smart moves). Keith Foulke retired, Jason Whitlock wants LJ traded, great KenPom blog about Coach K, and FO got around to reviewing the Panthers
From Saturday's Observer & Herald-Sun:
Ty Lawson
Inside ACC
Carolinas BBall
Winthrop
NBA Rookie/Soph Game
And-1) see the weekend preview below:
SCHEDULE
UNC @ State (ladies) 2/16
UNC @ BC 2/17 (uh-oh?)
College Weekend Preview
BracketBusters
Saturday
FSU @ UVA (go 'Noles)
UNC @ BC
Indiana @ UMich (indiana needs to bounce back strong)
T A&M @ OU (i think i can hear the choking from here)
UConn @ 'Cuse (back end of the bubble-icious)
G'Town @ 'Nova (nova's quickness/technique on defense seems to be neutralizing G'Town's O)
L'Ville @ Marquette (louisville looks to move into the "should be in" category after the pitt win)
Memphis @ Gonzaga (poor memphis, can't schedule a winner to save their life)
UCLA @ 'Zona
Florida @ Vandy (if the gators win, look for a 16-0 SEC run)
UK @ 'Bama
GT @ Duke (the jackets don't have a prayer)
Maryland @ Clemson (as the 5-6 ACC teams continue to beat up on each other)
comments added
BBusters round 1: Winthrop shocks Mizzou St., go BIG SOUTH, show the valley where its at
1) College BBall Update - duke beat bc: looks like missing sean williams finally caught up with them i guess all it takes is a post presence and the eagles look a lot weaker that and Nelson's assumingly crushing defense on Jar-red Dud-ley, purdue upset indiana (big help to their tourney cv, the rest of their schedule is easy so this may have paved the way), 'zona flashed-back to 2 weeks ago losing to USC: the pac-10 is obviously giving itself handouts again, making sure they all get in, and a couple of Overrated U's (OSU and OU) got scared/beaten (by penn st/cal respectively) you know, I wouldn't mind UNC being a 2 seed to OSU's #1.
2) Other news - roy is up for the hall of fame (isn't it weird how coaches get in before they retire? i guess its only fair b/c if you waited until after they retired it might be too late), the bengals franchise tagged DE justin smith, along with Bears - LB Lance Briggs and Pats CB Asante Samuel (smart moves). Keith Foulke retired, Jason Whitlock wants LJ traded, great KenPom blog about Coach K, and FO got around to reviewing the Panthers
From Saturday's Observer & Herald-Sun:
Ty Lawson
Inside ACC
Carolinas BBall
Winthrop
NBA Rookie/Soph Game
And-1) see the weekend preview below:
SCHEDULE
UNC @ State (ladies) 2/16
UNC @ BC 2/17 (uh-oh?)
College Weekend Preview
BracketBusters
Saturday
FSU @ UVA (go 'Noles)
UNC @ BC
Indiana @ UMich (indiana needs to bounce back strong)
T A&M @ OU (i think i can hear the choking from here)
UConn @ 'Cuse (back end of the bubble-icious)
G'Town @ 'Nova (nova's quickness/technique on defense seems to be neutralizing G'Town's O)
L'Ville @ Marquette (louisville looks to move into the "should be in" category after the pitt win)
Memphis @ Gonzaga (poor memphis, can't schedule a winner to save their life)
UCLA @ 'Zona
Florida @ Vandy (if the gators win, look for a 16-0 SEC run)
UK @ 'Bama
GT @ Duke (the jackets don't have a prayer)
Maryland @ Clemson (as the 5-6 ACC teams continue to beat up on each other)
comments added
BBusters round 1: Winthrop shocks Mizzou St., go BIG SOUTH, show the valley where its at
Thursday, February 15
Byron loves these posts
Top ACC players, according to ORtg (using 20% poss):
1. Ja-red Dud-ley (clap clap cl-cl-clap), Boston College (It's not even close. He has to be considered for POY at this point, and will almost certainly get ACC POY.)
2. K.C. Rivers, Clemson (still coming off the bench? Ryan?)
3. Zabian Dowdell, Virginia Tech
4. Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
5. Ben McCauley, North Carolina State
Any qualms with this as a first-team All-ACC list? Rivers probably won't make it because he (I think) still comes off the bench, which would get Brandan Wright a look at #6.
Edit: Oh wait, Sean Singletary has to be on first team All-ACC. He probably takes Dowdell's or Wright's spot. Also, Al Thornton is the only other player worth mentioning in this team too. So it seems there are eight players vying for five spots: Dudley, Rivers, Dowdell, Hansbrough, McCauley, Wright, Singletary, and Thornton. The final list will probably consist of Dudley, Hansbrough, Singletary, and Thornton, with either Dowdell or McCauley picking up the #5 spot.
1. Ja-red Dud-ley (clap clap cl-cl-clap), Boston College (It's not even close. He has to be considered for POY at this point, and will almost certainly get ACC POY.)
2. K.C. Rivers, Clemson (still coming off the bench? Ryan?)
3. Zabian Dowdell, Virginia Tech
4. Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
5. Ben McCauley, North Carolina State
Any qualms with this as a first-team All-ACC list? Rivers probably won't make it because he (I think) still comes off the bench, which would get Brandan Wright a look at #6.
Edit: Oh wait, Sean Singletary has to be on first team All-ACC. He probably takes Dowdell's or Wright's spot. Also, Al Thornton is the only other player worth mentioning in this team too. So it seems there are eight players vying for five spots: Dudley, Rivers, Dowdell, Hansbrough, McCauley, Wright, Singletary, and Thornton. The final list will probably consist of Dudley, Hansbrough, Singletary, and Thornton, with either Dowdell or McCauley picking up the #5 spot.
The Buffaloes are who we thought they were
IT'S DIVISION I FOOTBALL
IT'S THE BIG XII
IT AIN'T INTRAMURALS
IT'S THE BIG XII
IT AIN'T INTRAMURALS
Prospect Juiciness
Just a couple of quick refresher links for all your prospect needs.
Baseball America Top 10 Prospect Lists
Baseball Prospectus Organizational Rankings
Baseball America Top 10 Prospect Lists
Baseball Prospectus Organizational Rankings
Surely you jest
Might be stepping on some Daily And-1 toes, but since today's edition hasn't hit my doorstep yet, I'm posting this. Apparently, Pop Durant says his boy might not go to the NBA after this season. Please, spare me your posturing. Nothing you could say will convince me that Kevin will not hit the NBA after his POY season, coming in his freshman year.
Happy Pitcher-Catcher Day
Pitchers and catchers report today! Baseball posts will be coming soon (maybe).
2-15 Power 16
#1 Seeds
1. Florida
2. North Carolina
3. Ohio State
4. UCLA
#2 Seeds
5. Wisconsin
6. Texas A&M
7. Kansas
8. Memphis
#3 Seeds
9. Pittsburgh
10. Georgetown
11. Washington State
12. Butler
#4 Seeds
13. Air Force
14. Arizona
15. Southern Illinois
16. Marquette
Now we're starting to get a little less nonsensical with this exercise. I think I'd be pretty happy if these were the seedings given if Selection Sunday were today. Thoughts? Anyone too high/too low? The only really notable omissions are Kentucky and Oregon (no, I don't think Duke would get a top-4 seed at this point). Do you realize Kenpom gives Kansas a #1 seed at this point? Routing Colorado helps, it seems. Losing to Colorado (AHEMOVERRATEDSTATEUNIVERSITYAHEM) doesn't. Damn Pokes.
1. Florida
2. North Carolina
3. Ohio State
4. UCLA
#2 Seeds
5. Wisconsin
6. Texas A&M
7. Kansas
8. Memphis
#3 Seeds
9. Pittsburgh
10. Georgetown
11. Washington State
12. Butler
#4 Seeds
13. Air Force
14. Arizona
15. Southern Illinois
16. Marquette
Now we're starting to get a little less nonsensical with this exercise. I think I'd be pretty happy if these were the seedings given if Selection Sunday were today. Thoughts? Anyone too high/too low? The only really notable omissions are Kentucky and Oregon (no, I don't think Duke would get a top-4 seed at this point). Do you realize Kenpom gives Kansas a #1 seed at this point? Routing Colorado helps, it seems. Losing to Colorado (AHEMOVERRATEDSTATEUNIVERSITYAHEM) doesn't. Damn Pokes.
Wednesday, February 14
<3-day And-1
Ok, I'm going to apologize in advance for the next few weeks of blogging, because it is going to be amazingly one-sport tinted. The main sport on the docket now is college basketball, which is what I'll be writing up, the And-1 will be an attempt to honor some other sport. As soon as the NFL Draft rolls around or free agency I'll try and include some of that, but otherwise the well is pretty dry. On to the posting.
1) Hokies sweep Heels - Ouch, that one hurt. Experience > Talent? As I rationalized to John, you can't make only 1 FG in the last 7:30 of Reg/OT and expect to win a close game. The Heels are showing a disturbing trend (1-3 in games of 6pts or less) of either blowing a team out, or not winning. The reason UNC handled Duke is that none of their players could contain Ty Lawson, so down the stretch he put up several huge FGs. Well, the Hokies ain't no slow white boys, and thus defended Lawson better and more physically down the stretch. Doesn't it suck to know that if you swap the performances of the Wake and VT games, the Heels probably come out 2-0? Anyways, to keep dibs on their #1 seed the Heels need to: 1) win the ACC Reg Season OR 2) show up in the ACC Semis/Final (not sure which), doing either of these things makes UNC a lock for a 1 seed. Also, hoping that Ohio St takes care of Wisconsin in the Big 10 would help, since head-to-head we actually beat OSU. Heels fans, just keep one thing in mind: one game a team does not make. (PS: still #1 in KP-land, and a luck driven down to 286)
2) Other College News - GT wins on the road snapping a 17 game streak, I knew it was bad, John and I tease them all the time, but 17 games? Wow, and at FSU none-the-less. Big win for the bubbly Jackets. Tennessee capitalized on UK's letdown and beat them in Knoxville, Texas Tech must have printed out this blog and used it as BB material b/c they responded by upsetting A&M on the road (thank god, maybe this will allow UNC to stay as a 1-seed). SIU creates some separation within the Valley by beating Missouri St.
And-1) Well, And-2 in honor of that BS play in the UNC-VT game - 1) Carlos Zambrano wants to be paid, and NOW. Otherwise he will leave via free agency after the year. 2) Bobcats send Melvin Ely to the Spurs for Eric Williams (no, not that Eric Williams) and a 2nd round pick. Good move, the Bobcats got back what they initially gave up for Ely and a player to fill in.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
VT 81 UNC 80, OT
Bulls @ Bobcats 2/14
NOTABLES
Duke @ BC (watch as Byron cheers for the Dookies)
MD @ NCSU
Indiana @ Purdue
Marquette @ DePaul
Wazzu @ UW (bubblicious)
'Bama @ Florida
Arkansas @ Miss St.
1) Hokies sweep Heels - Ouch, that one hurt. Experience > Talent? As I rationalized to John, you can't make only 1 FG in the last 7:30 of Reg/OT and expect to win a close game. The Heels are showing a disturbing trend (1-3 in games of 6pts or less) of either blowing a team out, or not winning. The reason UNC handled Duke is that none of their players could contain Ty Lawson, so down the stretch he put up several huge FGs. Well, the Hokies ain't no slow white boys, and thus defended Lawson better and more physically down the stretch. Doesn't it suck to know that if you swap the performances of the Wake and VT games, the Heels probably come out 2-0? Anyways, to keep dibs on their #1 seed the Heels need to: 1) win the ACC Reg Season OR 2) show up in the ACC Semis/Final (not sure which), doing either of these things makes UNC a lock for a 1 seed. Also, hoping that Ohio St takes care of Wisconsin in the Big 10 would help, since head-to-head we actually beat OSU. Heels fans, just keep one thing in mind: one game a team does not make. (PS: still #1 in KP-land, and a luck driven down to 286)
2) Other College News - GT wins on the road snapping a 17 game streak, I knew it was bad, John and I tease them all the time, but 17 games? Wow, and at FSU none-the-less. Big win for the bubbly Jackets. Tennessee capitalized on UK's letdown and beat them in Knoxville, Texas Tech must have printed out this blog and used it as BB material b/c they responded by upsetting A&M on the road (thank god, maybe this will allow UNC to stay as a 1-seed). SIU creates some separation within the Valley by beating Missouri St.
And-1) Well, And-2 in honor of that BS play in the UNC-VT game - 1) Carlos Zambrano wants to be paid, and NOW. Otherwise he will leave via free agency after the year. 2) Bobcats send Melvin Ely to the Spurs for Eric Williams (no, not that Eric Williams) and a 2nd round pick. Good move, the Bobcats got back what they initially gave up for Ely and a player to fill in.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
VT 81 UNC 80, OT
Bulls @ Bobcats 2/14
NOTABLES
Duke @ BC (watch as Byron cheers for the Dookies)
MD @ NCSU
Indiana @ Purdue
Marquette @ DePaul
Wazzu @ UW (bubblicious)
'Bama @ Florida
Arkansas @ Miss St.
Tuesday, February 13
2/13 Daily And-1
1) NFL House Cleaning - Two franchises did a bit of business yesterday. The Chargers fired their previously not fired coach, I guess losing coordinators made them figure why not. (Dan Shanoff has Pete Carroll pegged for the job, bad idea Pete). Also, the Giants released LB Arrington, LB Emmons, and OT Petitgout. The first two make sense, but Petitgout just had a little injury trouble, maybe the Panthers will take a look? Line depth is an annual issue.
2) College Wrap-Up - Things went precisely as I planned yesterday within the college bball scene. OverratedSU lost to Texas, I mean, Kevin Durant. Sigh, HOW ARE THEY STILL RANKED, THEY'RE A FREAKING 55 ON KP, AND HAVEN'T BEATEN ANYONE (3 Home OT wins and beating OU does NOT count). Not to mention they're 11th in luck. Let's scan the other top-40 luck teams, Alabama, UNLV, Stanford, hmmmmm, is there a THEME HERE. (Wisconsin is 48th, interesting). My GOD people, LUCK JUST DOESN'T CUT THE MUSTARD. Sorry, back to normal now. The Hoyas continued their dominance over the Big East 71 pts on ~57 possessions = OE ~130. Pitt was shocked at home against L'ville. In other news: Bama A&M won the battle of the bottom-5 and Bethune-Cookman beat SC State 46-44, in OT. Yes folks, that game happened this century, and yes that's one point per minute per team (can't wait for the GamePlan link to that one). Lastly, at press time Santa Clara seemed to be cruising to a victory over a Heytvelt-less Gonzaga (42-29), I'll update that in the morning. Final 84-73 Santa Clara
And-1) The loose ends of the day - Braves finally sold to Liberty Media Corp and there's a fun article from the Observer about the Bobcats' future with Bickerstaff and Jordan. More Duke fallout, and a set of midseason ACC grades (UNC a B my ass).
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
Lady Heels 80 Lady 'Noles 59
VT @ UNC 2/13 Preview
Bulls @ Bobcats 2/14
NOTABLES
GT @ FSU
Mich @ MSU
TTech @ T A&M (Raiders, want me and John off your back? Try winning a game once in a while)
SIU @ Missouri St. (Valley lovefest, John drools)
UNLV @ SDSU (use above comment, insert Rebels for Raiders)
UK @ Tenn
2) College Wrap-Up - Things went precisely as I planned yesterday within the college bball scene. OverratedSU lost to Texas, I mean, Kevin Durant. Sigh, HOW ARE THEY STILL RANKED, THEY'RE A FREAKING 55 ON KP, AND HAVEN'T BEATEN ANYONE (3 Home OT wins and beating OU does NOT count). Not to mention they're 11th in luck. Let's scan the other top-40 luck teams, Alabama, UNLV, Stanford, hmmmmm, is there a THEME HERE. (Wisconsin is 48th, interesting). My GOD people, LUCK JUST DOESN'T CUT THE MUSTARD. Sorry, back to normal now. The Hoyas continued their dominance over the Big East 71 pts on ~57 possessions = OE ~130. Pitt was shocked at home against L'ville. In other news: Bama A&M won the battle of the bottom-5 and Bethune-Cookman beat SC State 46-44, in OT. Yes folks, that game happened this century, and yes that's one point per minute per team (can't wait for the GamePlan link to that one). Lastly, at press time Santa Clara seemed to be cruising to a victory over a Heytvelt-less Gonzaga (42-29), I'll update that in the morning. Final 84-73 Santa Clara
And-1) The loose ends of the day - Braves finally sold to Liberty Media Corp and there's a fun article from the Observer about the Bobcats' future with Bickerstaff and Jordan. More Duke fallout, and a set of midseason ACC grades (UNC a B my ass).
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
Lady Heels 80 Lady 'Noles 59
VT @ UNC 2/13 Preview
Bulls @ Bobcats 2/14
NOTABLES
GT @ FSU
Mich @ MSU
TTech @ T A&M (Raiders, want me and John off your back? Try winning a game once in a while)
SIU @ Missouri St. (Valley lovefest, John drools)
UNLV @ SDSU (use above comment, insert Rebels for Raiders)
UK @ Tenn
Monday, February 12
2/12 Daily And-1
We start the week with a bit of sad news, my co-author's computer has to be in the shop for the week. So, John will likely be contributing solely via the comments section while simultaneously getting more work done than usual. On to the weekend wrap-up.
1) Duke's slip and slide - Problem #1, Greg Paulus 5-12, 12 pts, 7 TOs 14 wasted possessions (out of 69 total, ouch). Problem #2, remaining schedule, Maryland was a gimme 3 more away games in conference (only away W's Miami, NCSU), and home against MD & GT. Hopefully for their sake St. John's will keel over for them and Gerald Henderson will develop his point guard play. (Observer Article)
2) Other College Wrap-up - I guess BC is for real real, since they won @ FSU looks like Saturday's show down with UNC will put the winner in the driver's seat for ACC Regular Season crown though BC does play @ VT, host Clemson, and @ GT. On another coast, the Pac-10 finally started beating up on its self like the other major conference. VT reigned in UVA, Purdue almost beat OverratedSU (haha, that works for 2 teams), G'Town showed they're 'bout it 'bout it by handling Big East 3rd placer Marquette, West Virginia suprised UCLA, 'Zona showed some teeth beating OverratedU in Niketown, Florida flexed a little bit, and GT confirmed the ACC's superiority (when they're playing at home). (21 of the top 25 played Saturday)
And-1) The NFL has a Pro-Bowl? - Yeah, AFC won on a last second FG, but honestly who really cares.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
UNC 104 Wake 67
Blazers 108 Bobcats 100 OT
Rockets 104 Bobcats 83
UNC @ FSU (ladies) 2/12
VT @ UNC 2/13
Bulls @ Bobcats 2/14
COLLEGE NOTABLES
OkSt getting blown out at Texas (5 bucks says its on ESPN)
L'ville @ Pitt
WVU @ G'town (can the 'neers stay hot?)
(331) Winston-Salem St. @ (335) Alabama A&M
Santa Clara @ Gonzaga (GOY in the WCC)
1) Duke's slip and slide - Problem #1, Greg Paulus 5-12, 12 pts, 7 TOs 14 wasted possessions (out of 69 total, ouch). Problem #2, remaining schedule, Maryland was a gimme 3 more away games in conference (only away W's Miami, NCSU), and home against MD & GT. Hopefully for their sake St. John's will keel over for them and Gerald Henderson will develop his point guard play. (Observer Article)
2) Other College Wrap-up - I guess BC is for real real, since they won @ FSU looks like Saturday's show down with UNC will put the winner in the driver's seat for ACC Regular Season crown though BC does play @ VT, host Clemson, and @ GT. On another coast, the Pac-10 finally started beating up on its self like the other major conference. VT reigned in UVA, Purdue almost beat OverratedSU (haha, that works for 2 teams), G'Town showed they're 'bout it 'bout it by handling Big East 3rd placer Marquette, West Virginia suprised UCLA, 'Zona showed some teeth beating OverratedU in Niketown, Florida flexed a little bit, and GT confirmed the ACC's superiority (when they're playing at home). (21 of the top 25 played Saturday)
And-1) The NFL has a Pro-Bowl? - Yeah, AFC won on a last second FG, but honestly who really cares.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
UNC 104 Wake 67
Blazers 108 Bobcats 100 OT
Rockets 104 Bobcats 83
UNC @ FSU (ladies) 2/12
VT @ UNC 2/13
Bulls @ Bobcats 2/14
COLLEGE NOTABLES
OkSt getting blown out at Texas (5 bucks says its on ESPN)
L'ville @ Pitt
WVU @ G'town (can the 'neers stay hot?)
(331) Winston-Salem St. @ (335) Alabama A&M
Santa Clara @ Gonzaga (GOY in the WCC)
Friday, February 9
2/9 And-1 Weekend Style
This is going to be a quick And-1, and I apologize for the late post but I had a Linear Algebra test today. Anyways, I'm dropping the usual style and posting several interesting commentary pieces since yesterday was slow game-wise. Also, I'll line up the weekend's action so you know "What 2 Watch 4".
Top Stories:
1) Duke avenges men's loss at Cameron, taking battle of unbeatens.
2) Wazzu for real? - takes revenge for OT loss (too bad no FSN)
3) Depaul holds off ND - Bubblicious
Edit: Showing off the Duke education: "As long as you don't bring your gayness on me, I'm fine" Shavlick Randolph
Selection Committee - Pat Forde, Andy Katz, and others go inside the process to pick the field of 65 for the Tournament.
Cavs for real?
Wade Phillips - several commentaries on the hire, most signs apparently point to wanting a head coach that wouldn't cramp Garrett's style (the previously hired OC) in developing as a play caller.
Dr. Z rates the NFL commentary teams - high praise for the low sample size of ESPN's B Team, the bashing of the usual suspect (ESPN's A Team)
The many faces of John Scheyer, as further evidence by his pics in the UNC-Duke game slideshow. Some are also concerned about Duke's NCAA chances (ha), speaking of here is the CBS Sportsline Bubble Watch, and the ACC tourney will be in HD (do they have HD in Puerto Rico?)
Bush at it again? More sketchy behavior from the former Trojan, apparently allegedly interfering with Joe McKnight's decision.
John Clayton peeks at the 2007 NFL, yeah, yeah, I know I said no more, but THATS IT.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
Wake @ UNC 2/10
UNC @ FSU (ladies) 2/12
Blazers @ Bobcats 2/9
Bobcats @ Rockets 2/10
COLLEGE
Saturday
UVA @ VT
Illinois @ Indiana
Purdue @ OSU (coming off MSU win, can they upset the kings of the overrated?)
Kansas @ Mizzou (will the rivalry matter?)
TTech @ OkState (interesting matchup, both HIGHLY overrated)
Marquette @ G'Town (can the Hoyas keep it rolling and step into the top 10?)
UCLA @ WVU (good late year out of conference matchup)
Creighton @ SIU
Ariz @ Oregon (Biscuits for both teams?)
Florida @ UK (easily game of the week, a very underrated Wildcat team could tag the Gators with their only SEC loss)
Arkansas @ LSU
Vandy @ UT
Sunday
Duke @ Maryland
UConn @ GT (Jackets can get revenge for '04)
BC @ FSU (are the Eagles for real real?, we'll see FSU's lone home L is Clemson 66-68)
and just for John
Stanford @ UW
Top Stories:
1) Duke avenges men's loss at Cameron, taking battle of unbeatens.
2) Wazzu for real? - takes revenge for OT loss (too bad no FSN)
3) Depaul holds off ND - Bubblicious
Edit: Showing off the Duke education: "As long as you don't bring your gayness on me, I'm fine" Shavlick Randolph
Selection Committee - Pat Forde, Andy Katz, and others go inside the process to pick the field of 65 for the Tournament.
Cavs for real?
Wade Phillips - several commentaries on the hire, most signs apparently point to wanting a head coach that wouldn't cramp Garrett's style (the previously hired OC) in developing as a play caller.
Dr. Z rates the NFL commentary teams - high praise for the low sample size of ESPN's B Team, the bashing of the usual suspect (ESPN's A Team)
The many faces of John Scheyer, as further evidence by his pics in the UNC-Duke game slideshow. Some are also concerned about Duke's NCAA chances (ha), speaking of here is the CBS Sportsline Bubble Watch, and the ACC tourney will be in HD (do they have HD in Puerto Rico?)
Bush at it again? More sketchy behavior from the former Trojan, apparently allegedly interfering with Joe McKnight's decision.
John Clayton peeks at the 2007 NFL, yeah, yeah, I know I said no more, but THATS IT.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL
Wake @ UNC 2/10
UNC @ FSU (ladies) 2/12
Blazers @ Bobcats 2/9
Bobcats @ Rockets 2/10
COLLEGE
Saturday
UVA @ VT
Illinois @ Indiana
Purdue @ OSU (coming off MSU win, can they upset the kings of the overrated?)
Kansas @ Mizzou (will the rivalry matter?)
TTech @ OkState (interesting matchup, both HIGHLY overrated)
Marquette @ G'Town (can the Hoyas keep it rolling and step into the top 10?)
UCLA @ WVU (good late year out of conference matchup)
Creighton @ SIU
Ariz @ Oregon (Biscuits for both teams?)
Florida @ UK (easily game of the week, a very underrated Wildcat team could tag the Gators with their only SEC loss)
Arkansas @ LSU
Vandy @ UT
Sunday
Duke @ Maryland
UConn @ GT (Jackets can get revenge for '04)
BC @ FSU (are the Eagles for real real?, we'll see FSU's lone home L is Clemson 66-68)
and just for John
Stanford @ UW
A bit late this week
2-8's Power 16
1 Seeds
1. Florida
2. UCLA
3. North Carolina
4. Ohio State
2 Seeds
5. Texas A&M
6. Wisconsin
7. Kansas
8. Pittsburgh
3 Seeds
9. Memphis
10. Duke
11. Butler
12. Marquette
4 Seeds
13. Georgetown
14. Kentucky
15. Air Force
16. Washington State
1 Seeds
1. Florida
2. UCLA
3. North Carolina
4. Ohio State
2 Seeds
5. Texas A&M
6. Wisconsin
7. Kansas
8. Pittsburgh
3 Seeds
9. Memphis
10. Duke
11. Butler
12. Marquette
4 Seeds
13. Georgetown
14. Kentucky
15. Air Force
16. Washington State
Thursday, February 8
2/8 Daily And-1
1) Rivalry Week Con't - KU put upstart KState to sleep, OU SHOCKED Ok State by playing the way we all (read KP-heads), know they could, and UNC's bench finally outlasted the 6-man Blue Devils. Also, UCLA held serve over local rival USC (19th? How'd that happen?)
2) Signing Day Suprises - Several teams benefitted from signing day suprises, USC, Alabama, Miami, and UNC. Butch Davis landed a couple of suprises, Marvin Austin #1 DT, Dwight Jones #4 WR pulled away from the likes of FSU and Tennessee. Here is the whole class list.
And-1) Cowboys Coach - WOW, dodged a bullet there, the Cowgirls are naming Wade Phillips their new head coach. As I said when the Norv Turner rumors were floating around, the Cowboys defense that fell apart as the season went along (Wk 1-12 4th, 13-16 32nd). Thank GOD they hired a defensive coach, now maybe they'll sign/draft some linemen and be in business (but I hope not).
Edit: USA 2, Mexico 0, Brilliant!
Schedule
Local
UNC 79 Duke 73
Philly 92 Charlotte 83
Duke @ UNC (Ladies this time)
College
Clemson 71 FSU 58
Purdue 62 MSU 38
KU 97 KState 70
OU 67 OKState 60 (shocker)
G'town 73 L'ville 65
Pitt 60 WVU 47
UCLA 70 USC 65
Florida 71 331 Cons UGA 61
ND @ Depaul (don't you just love this time of year, bubble teams EVERYwhere)
Stanford @ Wazzu
2) Signing Day Suprises - Several teams benefitted from signing day suprises, USC, Alabama, Miami, and UNC. Butch Davis landed a couple of suprises, Marvin Austin #1 DT, Dwight Jones #4 WR pulled away from the likes of FSU and Tennessee. Here is the whole class list.
And-1) Cowboys Coach - WOW, dodged a bullet there, the Cowgirls are naming Wade Phillips their new head coach. As I said when the Norv Turner rumors were floating around, the Cowboys defense that fell apart as the season went along (Wk 1-12 4th, 13-16 32nd). Thank GOD they hired a defensive coach, now maybe they'll sign/draft some linemen and be in business (but I hope not).
Edit: USA 2, Mexico 0, Brilliant!
Schedule
Local
UNC 79 Duke 73
Philly 92 Charlotte 83
Duke @ UNC (Ladies this time)
College
Clemson 71 FSU 58
Purdue 62 MSU 38
KU 97 KState 70
OU 67 OKState 60 (shocker)
G'town 73 L'ville 65
Pitt 60 WVU 47
UCLA 70 USC 65
Florida 71 331 Cons UGA 61
ND @ Depaul (don't you just love this time of year, bubble teams EVERYwhere)
Stanford @ Wazzu
Wednesday, February 7
2/7 Daily And-1
1) AF Looses - must have been the negative karma from Forde saying they'd run the table. Extra Credit: Who coaches SDSU? Other results, State blew a huge lead @ GT, UVA strengthens grip on ACC #1
2) Pregame reading material - need I say more?
And-1) USA/Mexico - starting up the Bradley era in US Soccer, we all wish the era had a better name, say the "Klinsman Era". Here is a small sampling of articles about the game: NY Times, USA Today, AZ Republic
Links
KP Blog
UNC Signing Day / National Signing Day
Schedule
Local
UNC @ Duke
Charlotte @ Philly
College
FSU @ Clemson
MSU @ Purdue
KState @ KU
OKState @ OU
G'town @ L'ville
Pitt @ WVU
USC @ UCLA
Florida @ 331 Cons UGA (HA)
2) Pregame reading material - need I say more?
And-1) USA/Mexico - starting up the Bradley era in US Soccer, we all wish the era had a better name, say the "Klinsman Era". Here is a small sampling of articles about the game: NY Times, USA Today, AZ Republic
Links
KP Blog
UNC Signing Day / National Signing Day
Schedule
Local
UNC @ Duke
Charlotte @ Philly
College
FSU @ Clemson
MSU @ Purdue
KState @ KU
OKState @ OU
G'town @ L'ville
Pitt @ WVU
USC @ UCLA
Florida @ 331 Cons UGA (HA)
Tuesday, February 6
2/6 "Daily" And-1
So, I'm back after the weekend (and yesterday) off. I'll just sum up some recent events, sorry for being light on the links.
1) Colts win Super Bowl - The Bears offense didn't do enough against the "weak" Colts defense and within the main matchup Colts O nickel and dimed Bears D. Congrats to Peyton for never having to answer "the question" again.
2) ACC Upsets - When was the last time both Duke and UNC came into the big game off losses? Does anyone know? Well, I guess we'll find out during the broadcast. (first time since 1989 that Duke comes in with 2 straight losses).
And-1) Aggies on a tear - Looks like I was wrong about the Aggie/Jayhawk matchup and then A&M rubbed it in my face, earning biscuts last night against the 'Horns. I guess we should have all seen that one coming though, with Texas' ~100th ranked defense. I guess they're kind of like an inverse Duke, well, thats Arizona, but a poor man's inverse Duke.
Texas 8/103
Duke 48/1
Arizona 2/64
For compairison/prediction sake, lets look deeper at a couple of recent matchups, 2 balanced teams (UNC/A&M) playing an offensive focused team: A&M 100 Texas 82 and UNC 92 Arizona 64, arguably similar results. Both teams again playing a defensive focused team: A&M 69 Kansas 66, UNC ?? Duke ??, I'd predict a similar result (under 5 pt game) and restate what I've said in the past, defense is much much much more hard to coach, a team concept, and important to winning than offense.
A couple of random links to finish off the day:
Super Bowl 42 odds
John's a big liar, Stanford is his fave Pac-10 team
Schedule
Tonight's College B-Ball
UVA @ MD
State @ GT (is someone going to "lose their legs" or "not play well with a target on their back"?)
LSU @ Tenn (LSU has lost 5 in a row, the last 3 by a total of 14 pts)
Local
State 83 UNC 79
UNC @ Duke 2/7
Lady Heels 82 BC 60
Duke @ Lady Heels 2/8
Cleveland 101 Charlotte 81
Charlotte 98 Golden St. 90
Miami 113 Charlotte 93
Charlotte @ Philly 2/7
Edit: Forde Minutes added today, and Iona jumped up to 313KP and dropped to 2nd Cons (bumped by 11-11 Manhattan). On the other end of the spectrum, OU is still the least consistent team, despite beating TTech.
1) Colts win Super Bowl - The Bears offense didn't do enough against the "weak" Colts defense and within the main matchup Colts O nickel and dimed Bears D. Congrats to Peyton for never having to answer "the question" again.
2) ACC Upsets - When was the last time both Duke and UNC came into the big game off losses? Does anyone know? Well, I guess we'll find out during the broadcast. (first time since 1989 that Duke comes in with 2 straight losses).
And-1) Aggies on a tear - Looks like I was wrong about the Aggie/Jayhawk matchup and then A&M rubbed it in my face, earning biscuts last night against the 'Horns. I guess we should have all seen that one coming though, with Texas' ~100th ranked defense. I guess they're kind of like an inverse Duke, well, thats Arizona, but a poor man's inverse Duke.
Texas 8/103
Duke 48/1
Arizona 2/64
For compairison/prediction sake, lets look deeper at a couple of recent matchups, 2 balanced teams (UNC/A&M) playing an offensive focused team: A&M 100 Texas 82 and UNC 92 Arizona 64, arguably similar results. Both teams again playing a defensive focused team: A&M 69 Kansas 66, UNC ?? Duke ??, I'd predict a similar result (under 5 pt game) and restate what I've said in the past, defense is much much much more hard to coach, a team concept, and important to winning than offense.
A couple of random links to finish off the day:
Super Bowl 42 odds
John's a big liar, Stanford is his fave Pac-10 team
Schedule
Tonight's College B-Ball
UVA @ MD
State @ GT (is someone going to "lose their legs" or "not play well with a target on their back"?)
LSU @ Tenn (LSU has lost 5 in a row, the last 3 by a total of 14 pts)
Local
State 83 UNC 79
UNC @ Duke 2/7
Lady Heels 82 BC 60
Duke @ Lady Heels 2/8
Cleveland 101 Charlotte 81
Charlotte 98 Golden St. 90
Miami 113 Charlotte 93
Charlotte @ Philly 2/7
Edit: Forde Minutes added today, and Iona jumped up to 313KP and dropped to 2nd Cons (bumped by 11-11 Manhattan). On the other end of the spectrum, OU is still the least consistent team, despite beating TTech.
Monday, February 5
Big Nick
While wasting time, I looked through the ORtgs of several big men, and found that actually, there are only two players I'd rather have on my team than Greg Oden - Nick Fazekas and Aaron Gray. Based solely on a combination of ORtg, rebounding ability, and shot-blocking ability, those are the only two that I'd rather have on my team than Oden. I still say Nick Fazekas is the best player in college basketball right now.
I <3 Prospects
Good post on two prospects of note right now; one is in the minors in the Braves organization, one is in the majors and will be battling none other than our own Javy Lopez during Spring Training for a starting job come April. The best part is, Ryan might know both of them! Take a look at this post if you're at all interested in how these rankings are compiled.
Note: something must be wrong with Baseball Prospectus! Free PECOTA cards for everyone!
Note: something must be wrong with Baseball Prospectus! Free PECOTA cards for everyone!
NFL Playoff Pick'em Final Results
I'll get to a "weekend And-1" some time later this afternoon, as of now I just want to finish out the NFL Pick'em season.
Ryan +32 (10-1) (37-43)
John 0 (7-4) (44-36)
key: pts (playoff record) (season record)
Not sure what motivated John to pick the Bears, his post wasn't very clear, then again neither was mine. This is somewhat the opposite of our regular season results with John cleaning house and myself holding my head above the .500 mark, well, above the .400 mark. However, much like his beloved Chargers, John suffered a minor letdown in the playoffs. Anyways, it was a good year for pick 'em, this is the last you'll hear about the NFL until, say, late March when the pre-draft camps roll around.
Ryan +32 (10-1) (37-43)
John 0 (7-4) (44-36)
key: pts (playoff record) (season record)
Not sure what motivated John to pick the Bears, his post wasn't very clear, then again neither was mine. This is somewhat the opposite of our regular season results with John cleaning house and myself holding my head above the .500 mark, well, above the .400 mark. However, much like his beloved Chargers, John suffered a minor letdown in the playoffs. Anyways, it was a good year for pick 'em, this is the last you'll hear about the NFL until, say, late March when the pre-draft camps roll around.
Sunday, February 4
Friday, February 2
Selection Committee Ruling
According to this Charlotte Observer blog, Craig Littlepage and the rest of the selection committee will consider the Duke-Clemson timing error when weghing their case for the NCAA tourney, well, their seeding, b/c I think Clemson is in like Flynn. Anyways, good for Littlepage.
Selection Committee Ruling
According to this Charlotte Observer blog, Craig Littlepage and the rest of the selection committee will consider the Duke-Clemson timing error when weghing their case for the NCAA tourney, well, their seeding, b/c I think Clemson is in like Flynn. Anyways, good for Littlepage.
2/2 Daily And-1
Warning: What Follows is a very weak post, I am heading to bed and going on a weekend field trip tomorrow, so John can And-1 over the weekend if he feels the need.
1) DUKE LOST - called it, well, I call all Duke road games as losses
2) UCLA whipped Oregon - called it, though I was off by 7 pts. (and Wazzu held up at Arizona, weak legs anyone?)
And-1) Ryan picks the Colts in the Super Bowl (10) - If only to keep things interesting, I mean, the whole defense wins championships thing is just a saying right? And my fantasy team can't afford for Indy to be the Super Bowl Losers.
There's a funny story over on Deadspin ripping Bill Simmons and other ESPN personas.
Lady Heels 82 BC 60
Weekend
UNC @ NC State
Bobcats @ Cleveland
Warriors @ Bobcats
Edit: #1 DEFENSE #1 DEFENSE, after Duke allowed 104 DE last night, UNC BLEW by them, (well Duke was the one who moved, but its a technicality)
1) DUKE LOST - called it, well, I call all Duke road games as losses
2) UCLA whipped Oregon - called it, though I was off by 7 pts. (and Wazzu held up at Arizona, weak legs anyone?)
And-1) Ryan picks the Colts in the Super Bowl (10) - If only to keep things interesting, I mean, the whole defense wins championships thing is just a saying right? And my fantasy team can't afford for Indy to be the Super Bowl Losers.
There's a funny story over on Deadspin ripping Bill Simmons and other ESPN personas.
Lady Heels 82 BC 60
Weekend
UNC @ NC State
Bobcats @ Cleveland
Warriors @ Bobcats
Edit: #1 DEFENSE #1 DEFENSE, after Duke allowed 104 DE last night, UNC BLEW by them, (well Duke was the one who moved, but its a technicality)
Thursday, February 1
Power 16 for 2/1
I got tired of seeing my tables crash and burn, so you just get 1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds this week.
#1 Seeds
1. Florida
2. North Carolina
3. Wisconsin
4. Ohio State
#2 Seeds
5. UCLA
6. Kansas
7. Texas A&M
8. Duke
#3 Seeds
9. Pittsburgh
10. Memphis
11. Butler
12. Oregon
#4 Seeds
13. Air Force
14. Marquette
15. Indiana
16. Oklahoma State
#1 Seeds
1. Florida
2. North Carolina
3. Wisconsin
4. Ohio State
#2 Seeds
5. UCLA
6. Kansas
7. Texas A&M
8. Duke
#3 Seeds
9. Pittsburgh
10. Memphis
11. Butler
12. Oregon
#4 Seeds
13. Air Force
14. Marquette
15. Indiana
16. Oklahoma State
Go Bears
10 points - Chicago Bears.
Don't ask me why, because I won't have an answer for you. Gut-check time tells me Chicago will win Sunday.
Don't ask me why, because I won't have an answer for you. Gut-check time tells me Chicago will win Sunday.
2/1 Daily And-1
1) State upsets VT - Or should I call this entry ACC Parity part 2? State nails down its second win of the season (2-5) and hands VT only their second loss (other was @FSU). Seems like the GT/Wake game, except it should have been GT's 2nd loss but they're busy sucking it up. Anyways, I've scoured the box score, and NOTHING. VT took care of the ball (5-14 TOs), FTs were equal (13-21 to 14-21). The only discrepancy was FG% (18% diff) and eFG% (21%). That's it, pretty stunning. Its well put by McFarling of the Roanoke Times.
Edit: to John and all of you out there swooning over the PAC-10, KP and I agree ACC>PAC-10 and props to KP for upping the posting.
2) College B-Ball results (see below) - A) a fraud was uncovered, B) a slippery slope steepened, C, D & E) a championship case asserted (x3), F) rising star discovered (a: x1 team, b: x1 player). Feel free to play along at home, answers in tomorrow's And-1. Oh, and um G) none of the above?
(ok, this is proving to be too difficult for some of you: A) fraud team, B) slippery slope team, C) Champ case team 1, D) Champ case team 2, E) Champ case team 3, Fa)Rising star team, Fb) Rising/risen star player, G) Game below that meets none of above) I can't believe I just typed that all out.
And-1) Panthers Sucked - In 3 different ranking (Page 2, FO, PFR) systems the 2003 Panthers were the 2nd worst Super Bowl team of all time. I guess this reflects how well they had to play in the playoffs.
Schedule
UNC 105 Miami 64 - Did anyone outside of Dade county expect anything different? Also, Frank Haith is a true gentleman "I really don't want to talk about the officiating because I really don't want to take anything away from Roy's club. He's got a great team and they really took it to us tonight." (Lucas Article) Also, UNC is within .1 AdjDE of the previously unreachable Duke, thanks to the performance last night coupled with Miami's prior OE improved our defense.
Bobcats 104 Knickerbockers 87 - Gerald Wallace 42 points, he's turning into quite an expansion draft find adding scoring to all the other things he does well. In other Bobcat news Felton and Morrison will be playing in the Rookie-Soph game. The Bobcats are also 4.5 games out of a playoff spot.
Lady Heels @ BC
Other Results
Indiana 71 Wisconsin 66 - noise made
Ohio St 78 Purdue 60
KState 80 Mizzou 73
Texas 76 TTech 64 - Durant 37/23 WOW, ok, maybe I'm sliding towards the "the Bobcats would be happy with both" category, but in 5 years everyone will look back on Durant talk and LAUGH
Florida 74 Vandy 64 - The 'doors kept it close, and lead by 12, but Florida was just toying with them, I guess they wanted the SEC to look better, quite altruistic of them, no?
Depaul 66 UConn 58 - bleeding worsened, as I predicted to John last night, UConn will go on a run, get the 11th spot in the Big East Tournament, wax the weak field while someone else takes care of Pitt for them, and promptly lose in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney
Gonzaga 90 Stanford 86 - (see John's post for commentary)
Duke @ UVA
Oregon @ UCLA - 25 points, EASY, UCLA is pissed and Oregon is OVER-RATED
Wazzu @ Arizona
Edit: to John and all of you out there swooning over the PAC-10, KP and I agree ACC>PAC-10 and props to KP for upping the posting.
2) College B-Ball results (see below) - A) a fraud was uncovered, B) a slippery slope steepened, C, D & E) a championship case asserted (x3), F) rising star discovered (a: x1 team, b: x1 player). Feel free to play along at home, answers in tomorrow's And-1. Oh, and um G) none of the above?
(ok, this is proving to be too difficult for some of you: A) fraud team, B) slippery slope team, C) Champ case team 1, D) Champ case team 2, E) Champ case team 3, Fa)Rising star team, Fb) Rising/risen star player, G) Game below that meets none of above) I can't believe I just typed that all out.
And-1) Panthers Sucked - In 3 different ranking (Page 2, FO, PFR) systems the 2003 Panthers were the 2nd worst Super Bowl team of all time. I guess this reflects how well they had to play in the playoffs.
Schedule
UNC 105 Miami 64 - Did anyone outside of Dade county expect anything different? Also, Frank Haith is a true gentleman "I really don't want to talk about the officiating because I really don't want to take anything away from Roy's club. He's got a great team and they really took it to us tonight." (Lucas Article) Also, UNC is within .1 AdjDE of the previously unreachable Duke, thanks to the performance last night coupled with Miami's prior OE improved our defense.
Bobcats 104 Knickerbockers 87 - Gerald Wallace 42 points, he's turning into quite an expansion draft find adding scoring to all the other things he does well. In other Bobcat news Felton and Morrison will be playing in the Rookie-Soph game. The Bobcats are also 4.5 games out of a playoff spot.
Lady Heels @ BC
Other Results
Indiana 71 Wisconsin 66 - noise made
Ohio St 78 Purdue 60
KState 80 Mizzou 73
Texas 76 TTech 64 - Durant 37/23 WOW, ok, maybe I'm sliding towards the "the Bobcats would be happy with both" category, but in 5 years everyone will look back on Durant talk and LAUGH
Florida 74 Vandy 64 - The 'doors kept it close, and lead by 12, but Florida was just toying with them, I guess they wanted the SEC to look better, quite altruistic of them, no?
Depaul 66 UConn 58 - bleeding worsened, as I predicted to John last night, UConn will go on a run, get the 11th spot in the Big East Tournament, wax the weak field while someone else takes care of Pitt for them, and promptly lose in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney
Gonzaga 90 Stanford 86 - (see John's post for commentary)
Duke @ UVA
Oregon @ UCLA - 25 points, EASY, UCLA is pissed and Oregon is OVER-RATED
Wazzu @ Arizona
Apparently he's not thinking of his grandchildren's children like Andruw
Good article from mlb.com about Gabe Kapler, who retired as an active player with the opportunity to win a role with the Red Sox during Spring Training (likely only as a bench player) to manage at Class A Greenville. Thought it was really interesting.
I just finished my Stats homework at 3:30, having delayed due to two overtimes tonight. Go Stanford.
I just finished my Stats homework at 3:30, having delayed due to two overtimes tonight. Go Stanford.
Well played, Bulldogs
Props to Gonzaga, played very well tonight, especially in the second overtime, even though the refs were trying their hardest to give it to my boys. I thought they made four very questionable calls late in favor of the Cardinal, but in the end poor free-throw shooting and low-percentage shots doomed Stanford. Especially good play came from Pargo and Raivio. We all knew how good Raivio was (although I didn't know he was such a good free-throw shooter), but Pargo really impressed me tonight. I don't remember much of his play from the UNC game, but apparently he dropped 16 on us as well. Oh well, Stanford's got Cal, Washington, and Oregon State in their next four games to regain some confidence.
Wednesday, January 31
1/31 Daily And-1
1) Harangody Breakout!!! - As I was scanning the scoreboard of last night's action, one thing jumped out at me "Players of the Game ND - L. Harangody". Miracle of miracles, looks like someone finally emailed Mike Brey a www.kenpom.com link. "Cool Hand Luke" got 30 minutes and rewarded the coach with 21 pts 13 rbs (though it took him 19 shots to get there, i'll give him a break in his first outing). Harangody helped the Irish hang 61 pts on Cuse in the first half in an NBA style 103 91 win.
2) ACC Parity - FSU upended Maryland at home 96-79, this wasn't a huge upset, but this Maryland team has fallen a long way from their early season form. Also, Wake Forest beat GT at home in a much larger upset. This gives Wake its 2nd in conference win and slides GT closer to the "work left to do" category of bubble watch.
And-1) Aggie Report - OK, here it is, the end-all be-all analysis of the Texas A&M Aggies with a Kansas game prediction. Their schedule is somewhat vague in terms of telling you how they're actually doing. They've lost three acceptable games LSU, UCLA, TTech, (two by 3 pts or less), but outside of these games their wins are fairly weak, @Auburn, OK St, OU, and Winthrop all at home. Its hard to judge a team with close games against big teams and little else, therefore much will likely be made of their Kansas game this weekend, this is also the reason their Cons is weak (311). Also, they have a strong defensive rating (4th) but against offensively bad offensive competition (209th). However, on offense they pass the ball as well as anyone (3rd A/FGM) and get most of their points inside the arch (54.8%). They don't go very deep, with their minutes being fairly top heavy (rotation looks to go 6.5 deep with man #7 getting 26% PT). However, 4 of their 5 starters contribute offensively and they have Josh Carter at 133 ORtg. Now here's the prediction. I'll give the edge to Kansas, which I'd even predict at a neutral site, but the Phog Allen crowd will only help matters. The Jayhawks are deeper and play solid enough defense to win the game and get a leg up in the Big 12, though don't judge this Aggie team by a sole loss. They may not have the heart to pull this one out, but they'll be a dangerous team come tournament time if their defense meshes just a little more. Since they don't get a true home and home series, they'll have to hunt for revenge in the Big 12 Tourney.
Results
Illinois 57 Mich St. 50 - Old fashioned Big 10 barn-burner. Why is it that on the CBS website its "Big Ten" but "Big 12"?
Schedule
Miami @ UNC
Knicks @ Bobcats
OSU @ Purdue
Wisconsin @ Indiana - interesting road test, chance for Hoosiers to make some noise
Mizzou @ KState
Texas @ TTech - both teams with "work left to do", could be interesting
UConn @ Depaul - can the Huskies stop the bleeding or is it too late?
Gonzaga @ Stanford - hmmm, tastier than a chinese buffet
2) ACC Parity - FSU upended Maryland at home 96-79, this wasn't a huge upset, but this Maryland team has fallen a long way from their early season form. Also, Wake Forest beat GT at home in a much larger upset. This gives Wake its 2nd in conference win and slides GT closer to the "work left to do" category of bubble watch.
And-1) Aggie Report - OK, here it is, the end-all be-all analysis of the Texas A&M Aggies with a Kansas game prediction. Their schedule is somewhat vague in terms of telling you how they're actually doing. They've lost three acceptable games LSU, UCLA, TTech, (two by 3 pts or less), but outside of these games their wins are fairly weak, @Auburn, OK St, OU, and Winthrop all at home. Its hard to judge a team with close games against big teams and little else, therefore much will likely be made of their Kansas game this weekend, this is also the reason their Cons is weak (311). Also, they have a strong defensive rating (4th) but against offensively bad offensive competition (209th). However, on offense they pass the ball as well as anyone (3rd A/FGM) and get most of their points inside the arch (54.8%). They don't go very deep, with their minutes being fairly top heavy (rotation looks to go 6.5 deep with man #7 getting 26% PT). However, 4 of their 5 starters contribute offensively and they have Josh Carter at 133 ORtg. Now here's the prediction. I'll give the edge to Kansas, which I'd even predict at a neutral site, but the Phog Allen crowd will only help matters. The Jayhawks are deeper and play solid enough defense to win the game and get a leg up in the Big 12, though don't judge this Aggie team by a sole loss. They may not have the heart to pull this one out, but they'll be a dangerous team come tournament time if their defense meshes just a little more. Since they don't get a true home and home series, they'll have to hunt for revenge in the Big 12 Tourney.
Results
Illinois 57 Mich St. 50 - Old fashioned Big 10 barn-burner. Why is it that on the CBS website its "Big Ten" but "Big 12"?
Schedule
Miami @ UNC
Knicks @ Bobcats
OSU @ Purdue
Wisconsin @ Indiana - interesting road test, chance for Hoosiers to make some noise
Mizzou @ KState
Texas @ TTech - both teams with "work left to do", could be interesting
UConn @ Depaul - can the Huskies stop the bleeding or is it too late?
Gonzaga @ Stanford - hmmm, tastier than a chinese buffet
Tuesday, January 30
The Secret Conference, Revisited
Okay Byron, Ryan and I want to see how many MVC teams you can name right now. Right now!
"I can't name any of them! Damn it! I don't care!"
"I can't name any of them! Damn it! I don't care!"
1/30 Daily And-1
1) Barbaro to the Glue Factory - Yeah, yeah, lame lead off for a lame sports day. In a tragedy of tragedies, the great horse will not soon be matched. Oh wait, whats that? No Triple Crown? You mean, Barbaro didn't do something no other horse has done since Secretariat? Oh, I'm sorry, because based on the media coverage you'd have thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. Anyways, I'm sad a horse died, but happy we'll never have to hear about him again.
2) Hoops Action - Pittsburgh went to underrated 'Nova and won last night, could they be lining up for a #2 if they win the Big East? I think they might slip into one, with either a #1 finish or a Big East Tourney win. Its close, but i don't think Texas A&M will get the props for a #2 but we'll see (I promise, the analysis is coming, sometime before Saturday's showdown with Kansas). Also, what happened to the Big East since 2003 their RPI has been 4, 3, 2, 2, but this year they're 7th (same trend in KP ratings but not as drastic 4, 3, 2, 2, but they're 4th now). Their best team is Pitt at 8-1, after that there is a logjam at 2 losses with G-town, Marquette, L'ville. Imagine if they hadn't become a super-mega conference no Marquette or L'ville. It just seems like an odd down year for a conference with 16 teams.
And-1) Baseball Hot Stove - (Why the hell is it called that? John? Anyone?) Bonds passed a physical (probably sans drug test) and will complete his deal with the Giants. Speaking of 'roiders Sosa completed his deal with the Rangers, and the Rockies have broken off trade talks with the Red Sox who want Todd Helton, damn right Rockies you better clean 'em out if they want Helton.
Schedule
Bobcats 105 George Karl's Nuggets 101
Tonight
Mich St. @ Illinois
Maryland @ FSU
ND @ 'Cuse
NEW KENPOM!!! NEW KENPOM!!!
2) Hoops Action - Pittsburgh went to underrated 'Nova and won last night, could they be lining up for a #2 if they win the Big East? I think they might slip into one, with either a #1 finish or a Big East Tourney win. Its close, but i don't think Texas A&M will get the props for a #2 but we'll see (I promise, the analysis is coming, sometime before Saturday's showdown with Kansas). Also, what happened to the Big East since 2003 their RPI has been 4, 3, 2, 2, but this year they're 7th (same trend in KP ratings but not as drastic 4, 3, 2, 2, but they're 4th now). Their best team is Pitt at 8-1, after that there is a logjam at 2 losses with G-town, Marquette, L'ville. Imagine if they hadn't become a super-mega conference no Marquette or L'ville. It just seems like an odd down year for a conference with 16 teams.
And-1) Baseball Hot Stove - (Why the hell is it called that? John? Anyone?) Bonds passed a physical (probably sans drug test) and will complete his deal with the Giants. Speaking of 'roiders Sosa completed his deal with the Rangers, and the Rockies have broken off trade talks with the Red Sox who want Todd Helton, damn right Rockies you better clean 'em out if they want Helton.
Schedule
Bobcats 105 George Karl's Nuggets 101
Tonight
Mich St. @ Illinois
Maryland @ FSU
ND @ 'Cuse
NEW KENPOM!!! NEW KENPOM!!!
Monday, January 29
The Secret Conference
Bracketbusters matchups have been announced!
(The Missouri Valley Conference is "The Secret Conference" because Byron doesn't know anything about it. Ask him to name five Valley teams! It's fun! Ask him to name three! Even more fun!)
(The Missouri Valley Conference is "The Secret Conference" because Byron doesn't know anything about it. Ask him to name five Valley teams! It's fun! Ask him to name three! Even more fun!)
Sunday, January 28
1/29 Daily And-1
1) College Basketball Upsets - There were several upsets (as usual) this week in the world of college hoops, here's a brief overview. UVA scored the last 15 points to edge Clemson by 1 at Littlejohn. Clemson 0-4 FG, 0-3 FT, 2 TOs in last 5:00, UVA 3-4 3FG, 3-4 2FG, 2 ORB, 0 possesions w/o points. Stanford shocked visiting UCLA with a strong outing from John's new favorite set of non-female twins the Lopez Brothers. Also, Baylor gave Texas a scare, OU fell flat on its face as usual (336th Cons). and Providence beat UConn to put their tournament hopes in even more jeopardy (Big East Tournament that is).
2) On Top of Their Game(s) - Federer and Woods both won this weekend, 10th Grand Slam and 7th consecutive win respectively, each writing yet another chapter in their all out dominance of an individual sport. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm copping the worldwide leader's style. But it is a solid comparison, both are in their primes and looking like they could wear the "best ever" crown.
And-1) NFL Update - Just relaying a couple of stories. The NFL fined Reggie Bush ($5,000) for taunting the Bears in the NFC Champ Game. The Cowboys look to be leaning towards hiring Norv Turner (WTF, are you KIDDING ME, can you say MISTAKE!?!?!). Oh, yeah, and there is this whole Super Bowl thing or something, Peyton Manning, blah blah blah. And finally, my man at the Rock Hill Herald gets on the ball and writes about Jeff Davidson.
Results:
Warriors Too Much, Bobcats Too Little - looks like that new chemistry is working in GS, well, at least against the league's worst.
UNC 92, Arizona 64 - in case you were under a rock this weekend, Brandan Wright and Marcus Ginyard took the weekend off, Marcus Williams got hurt, and the Heels Team A v 2.0 walloped the Wildcats. Several good articles: Observer, Andy Katz. John and I disagree, but with UCLA's loss I feel that we will slip up to #2 in at least one poll.
(if you don't like the random newspaper articles, check out bugmenot.com)
Lady Heels 84, Lady Terps 71 - up big early, the Lady Heels made a case for #1 in the nation by beating Maryland at home, building up to the coming Duke game 2/8 (both are still undefeated and have played nearly identical schedules, Tenn, UConn, Maryland, half of the ACC)
Schedule:
Bobcats @ Nuggets
From the comedy section, Shaq is at it again, putting his Miami Dade reserve policemen status to work. Maybe he should show up on an episode of CSI: Miami.
2) On Top of Their Game(s) - Federer and Woods both won this weekend, 10th Grand Slam and 7th consecutive win respectively, each writing yet another chapter in their all out dominance of an individual sport. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm copping the worldwide leader's style. But it is a solid comparison, both are in their primes and looking like they could wear the "best ever" crown.
And-1) NFL Update - Just relaying a couple of stories. The NFL fined Reggie Bush ($5,000) for taunting the Bears in the NFC Champ Game. The Cowboys look to be leaning towards hiring Norv Turner (WTF, are you KIDDING ME, can you say MISTAKE!?!?!). Oh, yeah, and there is this whole Super Bowl thing or something, Peyton Manning, blah blah blah. And finally, my man at the Rock Hill Herald gets on the ball and writes about Jeff Davidson.
Results:
Warriors Too Much, Bobcats Too Little - looks like that new chemistry is working in GS, well, at least against the league's worst.
UNC 92, Arizona 64 - in case you were under a rock this weekend, Brandan Wright and Marcus Ginyard took the weekend off, Marcus Williams got hurt, and the Heels Team A v 2.0 walloped the Wildcats. Several good articles: Observer, Andy Katz. John and I disagree, but with UCLA's loss I feel that we will slip up to #2 in at least one poll.
(if you don't like the random newspaper articles, check out bugmenot.com)
Lady Heels 84, Lady Terps 71 - up big early, the Lady Heels made a case for #1 in the nation by beating Maryland at home, building up to the coming Duke game 2/8 (both are still undefeated and have played nearly identical schedules, Tenn, UConn, Maryland, half of the ACC)
Schedule:
Bobcats @ Nuggets
From the comedy section, Shaq is at it again, putting his Miami Dade reserve policemen status to work. Maybe he should show up on an episode of CSI: Miami.
Go Cardinal
I retract my earlier statement; Stanford beats UCLA tonight in a thrilling upset! Have I told you how much I love Pac-10 hoops on FSN? Have I told you how much I love the Stanford Cardinal? Have I told you how much I love Brook Lopez?
Those Other Rankings:
1. Florida
2. Wisconsin
3. North Carolina
Those Other Rankings:
1. Florida
2. Wisconsin
3. North Carolina
Those other rankings
Byron: "Think we'll improve our spot in the polls after our drubbing of Arizona?"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Go Braves
Just relaying a post I gave to the numb-nuts members of a Braves facebook group I belong to.
"We had one of the best offenses in the Major Leagues last season, good for sixth. SIXTH. The Yankees, Indians, Phillies, Mets, and Blue Jays were the only teams with better offenses (three AL teams, and two NL East teams). In my mind, trading away a part of that offense with someone (Thorman) waiting in the wings to have a decent chance at replacing it is fine with me, given our bullpen situation. I'm quite glad to have Gonzalez coming over (he would have easily been the most valuable of our relievers were he with our organization last year, so too would Soriano), and receiving Lillibridge only sweetens the deal.
From Baseball America:
"Gonzalez, a 28-year-old lefthander, helps shore up an Atlanta bullpen that was a weakness last year but already was bolstered this offseason by the acquistion of Rafael Soriano. Gonzalez has better stuff that most southpaws, starting with a plus fastball and slider. He went 3-4, 2.17 with 24 saves in 54 games last year. He had a 64-31 K-BB ratio in 54 innings while limiting opponents to a .213 average and one homer. Gonzalez avoided arbitration by signing a one-year, $2.35 million contract in January."
"Lillibridge, 23, was one of Pittsburgh's top prospects. A fourth-round pick out of Washington in 2005, he hit a combined .305/.419/.480 with 13 homers, 71 RBIs and 53 steals in 128 games between two Class A stops last year. Lillibridge has the tools to bat at the top of a lineup with a solid bat, gap power, improving plate discipline and plus speed. He has good range and a solid arm at shortstop, and could surface quickly in Atlanta."
Also, McCann was our most valuable hitter this year. Chipper was a close second, even with the missed playing time; in fact, he only had 15 fewer plate appearances than McCann. Renteria was fourth, LaRoche was fifth, and Francoeur wasn't even close. Among all players with 200+ plate appearances, he was easily the worst. I'm still willing to give him a chance, though; hopefully he'll have learned patience by the 2007 season."
"We had one of the best offenses in the Major Leagues last season, good for sixth. SIXTH. The Yankees, Indians, Phillies, Mets, and Blue Jays were the only teams with better offenses (three AL teams, and two NL East teams). In my mind, trading away a part of that offense with someone (Thorman) waiting in the wings to have a decent chance at replacing it is fine with me, given our bullpen situation. I'm quite glad to have Gonzalez coming over (he would have easily been the most valuable of our relievers were he with our organization last year, so too would Soriano), and receiving Lillibridge only sweetens the deal.
From Baseball America:
"Gonzalez, a 28-year-old lefthander, helps shore up an Atlanta bullpen that was a weakness last year but already was bolstered this offseason by the acquistion of Rafael Soriano. Gonzalez has better stuff that most southpaws, starting with a plus fastball and slider. He went 3-4, 2.17 with 24 saves in 54 games last year. He had a 64-31 K-BB ratio in 54 innings while limiting opponents to a .213 average and one homer. Gonzalez avoided arbitration by signing a one-year, $2.35 million contract in January."
"Lillibridge, 23, was one of Pittsburgh's top prospects. A fourth-round pick out of Washington in 2005, he hit a combined .305/.419/.480 with 13 homers, 71 RBIs and 53 steals in 128 games between two Class A stops last year. Lillibridge has the tools to bat at the top of a lineup with a solid bat, gap power, improving plate discipline and plus speed. He has good range and a solid arm at shortstop, and could surface quickly in Atlanta."
Also, McCann was our most valuable hitter this year. Chipper was a close second, even with the missed playing time; in fact, he only had 15 fewer plate appearances than McCann. Renteria was fourth, LaRoche was fifth, and Francoeur wasn't even close. Among all players with 200+ plate appearances, he was easily the worst. I'm still willing to give him a chance, though; hopefully he'll have learned patience by the 2007 season."
Saturday, January 27
1/27 Daily And-1
1) "Timing Error" - I guess this means Clemson is really for real real. In case you haven't heard, someone "slipped up" and didn't start the clock as Clemson tied the game, but started it after that. Then a home court ruling added about twice the number of seconds to the clock as should have been allowing Duke to tie the game.
2) Aussie Results - Serena ran over Maria last night, 6-1, 6-2 to take the Australian Open. Yeah, yeah, she's unseeded, but that just means she hasn't played in a while. But based on the results they might as well have Greco-Roman wrestled for the title.
And-1) Shootout in the Desert - The Heels take on the 'Cats today in Tuscon, lets see if I can hit the cliche nail on the head "first team to 100 wins". Ok, yeah, that was fun, now some real analysis: Arizona doesn't force enough TO's (17.7 OppTO%, 328th) or defend shots well enough (50.4% effFGA 183rd) to slow down the Heel's offense. The 'Cats offense, despite being high powered doesn't respond well to pace (r=-.29) and their defense suffers when their opposistion rebound offensively (r=+.46). On the flip side, the Heels defense thrives off TOs (r=-.62*) while Arizona takes care of the ball (19.1 TO%, 44th). And lets not forget about home court advantage, the Heels have only lost at away or neutral sites. Edit: Arizona has a 29 game non-conference home winning streak.
Results:
Bobcats 106, Lakers 97 (OT) - wins are nice, sweeping the Lakers is nice, but are we getting a little too far away from Oden/Durant? I mean, I'd swap wins for that 3rd or 4th lottery spot, besides, we're due for a lottery W, we've never won it. Getting Greg Oden in Charlotte would do so much for ticket sales, etc.
Schedule(local):
Heels @ 'Cats
Bobcats @ GS Warriors
Lady Heels @ Terps (Sunday)
(the following at all top 50 matchups)
Illinois @ Purdue
Michigan @ Indiana
Mich St @ Ohio St
OU @ T A&M
'Cuse @ L'Ville
'Nova @ ND
Bradley @ Mizz St (52, its close enough)
Oregon @ Wazzu
Arkansas @ 'Bama
Florida @ Auburn (yeah, yeah, they're only 80th)
Sunday
BC @ Duke
VT @ GT
Depaul @ WVU
LSU @ UGA
Tenn @ UK
Wow, what a slate of games, enjoy 'em folks. The Daily And-1 will be off tomorrow as I'm mucking around Falls Lake looking for birds.
2) Aussie Results - Serena ran over Maria last night, 6-1, 6-2 to take the Australian Open. Yeah, yeah, she's unseeded, but that just means she hasn't played in a while. But based on the results they might as well have Greco-Roman wrestled for the title.
And-1) Shootout in the Desert - The Heels take on the 'Cats today in Tuscon, lets see if I can hit the cliche nail on the head "first team to 100 wins". Ok, yeah, that was fun, now some real analysis: Arizona doesn't force enough TO's (17.7 OppTO%, 328th) or defend shots well enough (50.4% effFGA 183rd) to slow down the Heel's offense. The 'Cats offense, despite being high powered doesn't respond well to pace (r=-.29) and their defense suffers when their opposistion rebound offensively (r=+.46). On the flip side, the Heels defense thrives off TOs (r=-.62*) while Arizona takes care of the ball (19.1 TO%, 44th). And lets not forget about home court advantage, the Heels have only lost at away or neutral sites. Edit: Arizona has a 29 game non-conference home winning streak.
Results:
Bobcats 106, Lakers 97 (OT) - wins are nice, sweeping the Lakers is nice, but are we getting a little too far away from Oden/Durant? I mean, I'd swap wins for that 3rd or 4th lottery spot, besides, we're due for a lottery W, we've never won it. Getting Greg Oden in Charlotte would do so much for ticket sales, etc.
Schedule(local):
Heels @ 'Cats
Bobcats @ GS Warriors
Lady Heels @ Terps (Sunday)
(the following at all top 50 matchups)
Illinois @ Purdue
Michigan @ Indiana
Mich St @ Ohio St
OU @ T A&M
'Cuse @ L'Ville
'Nova @ ND
Bradley @ Mizz St (52, its close enough)
Oregon @ Wazzu
Arkansas @ 'Bama
Florida @ Auburn (yeah, yeah, they're only 80th)
Sunday
BC @ Duke
VT @ GT
Depaul @ WVU
LSU @ UGA
Tenn @ UK
Wow, what a slate of games, enjoy 'em folks. The Daily And-1 will be off tomorrow as I'm mucking around Falls Lake looking for birds.
Friday, January 26
1/26 Daily And-1
1) For Real Real - I'm not sure if this means Clemson is as good as advertised, Duke is worse than advertised, or my theory (Clemson's ball pressure gets at Duke's weak spot) is correct.
Its most likely a combination of all three, but the Tigers played the Devils close in Cameron, something that's easier said than done. Also, props to getting it done when it counts 10-11 at the FT line, WOW, thats 30% above their season average. Though I hope the whistle blows a bit more in 2 weeks when the Heels visit Cameron, team fouls 15 to 10, yes for the entire game.
2) NFL bans EPOs - I'm not a PED expert, so most of the wisdom is in the article, but basically this equates to MLB banning andro a while back, and as the article says, if a league cares enough to ban something, it must be being used by players.
And-1) "84 or 85" - Today from the comedy section, we have Gilbert Arenas' attempt to predict his point total were he to play Duke and Coach K. This is likely an extrapolation of his 50+ point game against the other Team USA coach (Mike D'Antoni, Pheonix Suns). Lets just put it this way, I would pay a large sum of money to see John Scheyer and/or Greg Paulus attempting to guard Gilbert Arenas.
Last Night's Wrap-Up:
Clemson = for real real
UW rolls back towards the happy side of the bubble, "knocking off" overrated Oregon
via John: props to Brook Lopez, a triple double the hard way (16 pts 11 rbs 12 BLOCKS), though its his (twin?) brother Robin Lopez who is 38th in the nation with a 9.4 Blk%.
Schedule:
no top-100 RPI/KP games
edit: Bobcats @ Lakers, 10:30 (and free NBA League Pass!)
Ok, ok, I had this all written, and then a rant came up, in this article Clark Kellogg in his infinite wisdom has deemed Billy Donovan worthy of Coach of the Year, but has left Roy Williams off the list. I'm not saying either deserve it, I'm of the mind that the coach that does the most with the least should win. That said, on a list of ~15 candidates, how can Donovon's name come before Roy Williams. Team record: practically equal, Team schedule: UNC's much harder, plus Roy has had to coach and play freshmen mixed in with an established group, not the exact same team that WON A TITLE LAST YEAR. It seems silly to mention one and not the other. Also, not that I follow these teams, but Oregon? Cal? WTF? Someone obviously loves the Pac-10 more than John.
Its most likely a combination of all three, but the Tigers played the Devils close in Cameron, something that's easier said than done. Also, props to getting it done when it counts 10-11 at the FT line, WOW, thats 30% above their season average. Though I hope the whistle blows a bit more in 2 weeks when the Heels visit Cameron, team fouls 15 to 10, yes for the entire game.
2) NFL bans EPOs - I'm not a PED expert, so most of the wisdom is in the article, but basically this equates to MLB banning andro a while back, and as the article says, if a league cares enough to ban something, it must be being used by players.
And-1) "84 or 85" - Today from the comedy section, we have Gilbert Arenas' attempt to predict his point total were he to play Duke and Coach K. This is likely an extrapolation of his 50+ point game against the other Team USA coach (Mike D'Antoni, Pheonix Suns). Lets just put it this way, I would pay a large sum of money to see John Scheyer and/or Greg Paulus attempting to guard Gilbert Arenas.
Last Night's Wrap-Up:
Clemson = for real real
UW rolls back towards the happy side of the bubble, "knocking off" overrated Oregon
via John: props to Brook Lopez, a triple double the hard way (16 pts 11 rbs 12 BLOCKS), though its his (twin?) brother Robin Lopez who is 38th in the nation with a 9.4 Blk%.
Schedule:
no top-100 RPI/KP games
edit: Bobcats @ Lakers, 10:30 (and free NBA League Pass!)
Ok, ok, I had this all written, and then a rant came up, in this article Clark Kellogg in his infinite wisdom has deemed Billy Donovan worthy of Coach of the Year, but has left Roy Williams off the list. I'm not saying either deserve it, I'm of the mind that the coach that does the most with the least should win. That said, on a list of ~15 candidates, how can Donovon's name come before Roy Williams. Team record: practically equal, Team schedule: UNC's much harder, plus Roy has had to coach and play freshmen mixed in with an established group, not the exact same team that WON A TITLE LAST YEAR. It seems silly to mention one and not the other. Also, not that I follow these teams, but Oregon? Cal? WTF? Someone obviously loves the Pac-10 more than John.
Thursday, January 25
Go Pack
Were he in the minor leagues, North Carolina State righty Andrew Brackman would rank as the 26th-best pitching prospect, according to Baseball America editor Jim Callis.
1/25 Power 16
My table will be a bit different this time; hopefully the formatting won't screw up.
| Team Name | Kenpom | AP | ESPN Power 16 | Average |
| 1. Florida | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.3 |
| 2. North Carolina | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 3. UCLA | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3.3 |
| 4. Wisconsin | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5. Ohio State | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5.3 |
| 6. Texas A&M | 3 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| 7. Kansas | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7.7 |
| 8. Duke | 4 | 10 | 13 | 9 |
| 9. Pittsburgh | 12 | 9 | 8 | 9.7 |
| 10. Memphis | 9 | 11 | 10 | 10 |
| 11. Oregon | 24 | 7 | 6 | 12.3 |
| 12. Butler | 18 | 14 | 11 | 14.3 |
| 13. Arizona | 13 | 17 | 18 | 16 |
| 13. Air Force | 17 | 16 | 15 | 16 |
| 15. Marquette | 29 | 15 | 12 | 18.7 |
| 16. Washington State | 31 | 20 | 14 | 21.7 |
A Love Affair Finally Ends
I've found FJM to have fallen off the wagon recently, but I enjoyed this gem re: The Man Who Caused Johnny Estrada to Appear in Just 56 Games in 2005 After June 6.
Wednesday, January 24
1/25 Daily And-1
Ok, so this is the last header paragraph for a Daily And-1, you should all know the drill by now, and I'm going to start dating them.
1) College Parity - Upsets galore last night as Vandy, Texas Tech, and Georgia took down higher ranked opponents. The Aggies and Wildcats are something of paper tigers, and Kentucky had been streaky of late and lost to a solid Bulldog squad, so this wasn't an unheard of night, just more conference games where anything can happen. Worth noting that Florida must have some heart after gutting out a 3 point win on the road.
2) Lovie's getting the love - The Bears are doing the right thing and stepping to the plate to extend and increase Lovie Smith's lowest in the NFL contract. This will give him the raise he's earned and make the Cowboys opening a non-story over the next two weeks.
And-1) Aussie Tennis Update - Unseeded Serena is on to the finals where she awaits Clijsters/Sharaova (ha, that might average out to a moderatley attractive person). And on the men's side, tomorrow is the Roddick/Federer matchup in the semi-finals. Edit: Federer swept Roddick today in straight sets (still hasn't dropped one this tourney) and the women's final is Serena/Maria
In the future I may lean towards "missing the free throw" here, and skipping out if its as slow as the news has been lately. That or saving one of the college games for some more in depth analysis down here (Texas A&M: Contender/Pretender, perhaps). That way the 2 stories are key, and then the extra And-1 is more of my spin on things, just a thought. I do think rambling out the several smaller stories is not the way to go, sorta makes it silly to call it the "And-1"
Results:
Pistons 103 Bobcats 92
Heels 88 Deacs 60
Tonight:
Clemson @ Duke - are the Tigers for real real?
Oregon @ UW - can the Huskies get back on track?
1) College Parity - Upsets galore last night as Vandy, Texas Tech, and Georgia took down higher ranked opponents. The Aggies and Wildcats are something of paper tigers, and Kentucky had been streaky of late and lost to a solid Bulldog squad, so this wasn't an unheard of night, just more conference games where anything can happen. Worth noting that Florida must have some heart after gutting out a 3 point win on the road.
2) Lovie's getting the love - The Bears are doing the right thing and stepping to the plate to extend and increase Lovie Smith's lowest in the NFL contract. This will give him the raise he's earned and make the Cowboys opening a non-story over the next two weeks.
And-1) Aussie Tennis Update - Unseeded Serena is on to the finals where she awaits Clijsters/Sharaova (ha, that might average out to a moderatley attractive person). And on the men's side, tomorrow is the Roddick/Federer matchup in the semi-finals. Edit: Federer swept Roddick today in straight sets (still hasn't dropped one this tourney) and the women's final is Serena/Maria
In the future I may lean towards "missing the free throw" here, and skipping out if its as slow as the news has been lately. That or saving one of the college games for some more in depth analysis down here (Texas A&M: Contender/Pretender, perhaps). That way the 2 stories are key, and then the extra And-1 is more of my spin on things, just a thought. I do think rambling out the several smaller stories is not the way to go, sorta makes it silly to call it the "And-1"
Results:
Pistons 103 Bobcats 92
Heels 88 Deacs 60
Tonight:
Clemson @ Duke - are the Tigers for real real?
Oregon @ UW - can the Huskies get back on track?
1/24 Daily And-1
So, an overwhelming majority of you (~83%) voted to stick with the And-1 for now, so this being a democratically run outfit, we'll try the name out. Onto today's news:
1) Panther's Hire Coordinator - Jeff Davidson out of the Belicheck coaching tree via the Cleveland Browns, he was their OC for the last 10 games of the season, and was a part of New England's Super Bowl wins, hopefully we'll get to see more effective use of TE's and better lanes for RB's
2) Upset Specials - Two fairly large upsets last night in college ball, Auburn over Alabama (that's sort of like Duke beating UNC at football), and St. John's over Notre Dame. Both of these were home games, so no huge shock, and both of the upset teams had losses to other crappy teams, ok, not ND, but 'Bama was shaky (check out John's jubilations below for more Auburn praise)
And-1) Ok, it was a pretty weak sports day, Parcells is still quitting, the Deacs are probably going to be overmatched tonight hosting the Heels, and Tank Johnson can go to the Super Bowl (says the judge with the Bears jersey under his robe). But my official And-1 is going to be mentioning BC's possible second to last ACC win, they held off FSU at home and their only other definite winnable game is Miami, sure gonna miss that Sean Williams, maybe he can go to OK St., they need a big man, right?
Schedule:
Pistons @ Bobcats
Heels @ Deacs
1) Panther's Hire Coordinator - Jeff Davidson out of the Belicheck coaching tree via the Cleveland Browns, he was their OC for the last 10 games of the season, and was a part of New England's Super Bowl wins, hopefully we'll get to see more effective use of TE's and better lanes for RB's
2) Upset Specials - Two fairly large upsets last night in college ball, Auburn over Alabama (that's sort of like Duke beating UNC at football), and St. John's over Notre Dame. Both of these were home games, so no huge shock, and both of the upset teams had losses to other crappy teams, ok, not ND, but 'Bama was shaky (check out John's jubilations below for more Auburn praise)
And-1) Ok, it was a pretty weak sports day, Parcells is still quitting, the Deacs are probably going to be overmatched tonight hosting the Heels, and Tank Johnson can go to the Super Bowl (says the judge with the Bears jersey under his robe). But my official And-1 is going to be mentioning BC's possible second to last ACC win, they held off FSU at home and their only other definite winnable game is Miami, sure gonna miss that Sean Williams, maybe he can go to OK St., they need a big man, right?
Schedule:
Pistons @ Bobcats
Heels @ Deacs
Go Pack
Top Five ACC Scorers, by Offensive Rating (as of January 21):
1. Jared Dudley (Byron's faaaaavorite player, and really, person in general)
2. K.C. Rivers
3. Sean Singletary
4. Tyler Hansbrough
5. Ben McCauley (Go Pack)
Now, tell me, how many of you (yes, all 2.5 of you) would have picked McCauley to have a higher ORtg than Brandan Wright (he's sixth)? Byron, were we aware that McCauley was NCSU's best player? An NCSU player? An ACC player? A basketball player? Just say when.
Oh, by the way, Nick Fazekas would rank second on this list, behind the all-powerful Jared Dudley. For those of you who know who Nick Fazekas is. (Byron does now.)
1. Jared Dudley (Byron's faaaaavorite player, and really, person in general)
2. K.C. Rivers
3. Sean Singletary
4. Tyler Hansbrough
5. Ben McCauley (Go Pack)
Now, tell me, how many of you (yes, all 2.5 of you) would have picked McCauley to have a higher ORtg than Brandan Wright (he's sixth)? Byron, were we aware that McCauley was NCSU's best player? An NCSU player? An ACC player? A basketball player? Just say when.
Oh, by the way, Nick Fazekas would rank second on this list, behind the all-powerful Jared Dudley. For those of you who know who Nick Fazekas is. (Byron does now.)
Yes, Virginia, There is an NCAA Tournament
Who wants to venture a guess as to whether Virginia will earn an at-large bid in the tournament this year? I can't figure them out. They've beaten Arizona, Maryland, and Gonzaga (did you see the Gonzaga game?), but they've also lost to Utah (111) and Happy Appy (119). Blech. Right now, they stand at 11-6, 3-2 in ACC play. Not bad for the 61st-ranked team. Their schedule from here on out, however, seems to be double-or-nothing. Highlights: NCSU, Miami 2x, Wake, and...Longwood. Lowlights: Clemson, Duke, Maryland again, VaTech 2x, Florida State, and Georgia Tech. One could very easily give them just five more wins with that schedule. But then again...did you see the Gonzaga game? (By the way, Kenpom gives them six more wins, throwing them a bone against Florida State at home.) I think they'll get seven more wins (I'll take them over VaTech at home), finishing at 18-11, and earning a low seed in the tournament.
WAR EAGLE
Wow, and I said Alabama was for real. What a crappy game for them. They dropped from 31st to 53rd on the loss, while Auburn jumped from 95th to 79th. 'Atta way to give the home crowd a show, War Eagle. While Free Throw Rate is not a big part of Alabama's game plan, 15.0 will not get you anywhere when your offense doesn't show up (23-60 from the field) and Auburn hits everything they throw up (34-59).
Tuesday, January 23
Daily ?????
Ok, so I've got some name ideas, how about the "And-1" or more colloquially the "Tyler" or "Hansbrough". Anyways, I'm also going to defacto include any results of the teams this blog affiliates itself with a list including UNC Basketball (M & W), Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Bobcats, and Atlanta Braves. If you have any additions (and no hockey so don't ask) just leave them in the comments.
1) OK St v. OU - OK St holds off a fiesty OU team for a KP upset (though it was in Stillwater) the Cowboys haven't beaten anyone spectacular (Losses to KU & Tex A&M) but the do beat the even competition.
2) Melo & AI - combined for 51 point in a route of the Grizzlies, though it was the Grizzlies.
And 1) Top DT Commits - the fresh UNC coaching staff has reigned in the top non-committed player (94th overall, 3rd DT), pulling the 6'3" 290 lb. Tydreke Powell away from VT and Penn St.
Scores: Raptors 105 Bobcats 84 pretty ugly
oh yeah, and another Bengal got arrested (9 in 9 months)
1) OK St v. OU - OK St holds off a fiesty OU team for a KP upset (though it was in Stillwater) the Cowboys haven't beaten anyone spectacular (Losses to KU & Tex A&M) but the do beat the even competition.
2) Melo & AI - combined for 51 point in a route of the Grizzlies, though it was the Grizzlies.
And 1) Top DT Commits - the fresh UNC coaching staff has reigned in the top non-committed player (94th overall, 3rd DT), pulling the 6'3" 290 lb. Tydreke Powell away from VT and Penn St.
Scores: Raptors 105 Bobcats 84 pretty ugly
oh yeah, and another Bengal got arrested (9 in 9 months)
Monday, January 22
The First Ever Daily Dish
Now introducing, Ryan's Daily Dish. In an attempt to gain a larger readership (we're at 2.5 and counting) I've decided to use consistent and appropriate capitalization and to deliver to you the top 3 sports stories from the past 24 hours. The number of 24 hour periods missed will be reflected by the number of stories, though there may be "a & b". Today's entry starts with yesterday's and a bit about today. Also, I promise that there will be at least one entry related to college basketball (well, until April).
1) Championship Results
a) Colts over Patriots - Peyton finally gets the demons off his back, or whatever, Golden Boy Brady throws a pick on the seal the game for the Colts, oops, at least the Vinatieri signing didn't backfire.
b) Bears over Saints - The dream ride comes to an end for the Gulf Coast, but the Saints still had an amazing season, they should be able to keep it up with some defensive minded drafting.
2) Parcells Steps Down - Bill Parcells retires as coach of the Cowboys, hopefully the best candidates haven't already been picked over by Cardinals (Wisenhunt) and Steelers (Tomlin), at least he left the franchise in better shape than the Giants or Jets.
3) Marquette v. Pitt - The Golden Eagles pulled off the upset at Pitt last night in OT, this adds to their inconsistency (losses to Providence & ND State wins against Duke, UConn & Pitt.
1) Championship Results
a) Colts over Patriots - Peyton finally gets the demons off his back, or whatever, Golden Boy Brady throws a pick on the seal the game for the Colts, oops, at least the Vinatieri signing didn't backfire.
b) Bears over Saints - The dream ride comes to an end for the Gulf Coast, but the Saints still had an amazing season, they should be able to keep it up with some defensive minded drafting.
2) Parcells Steps Down - Bill Parcells retires as coach of the Cowboys, hopefully the best candidates haven't already been picked over by Cardinals (Wisenhunt) and Steelers (Tomlin), at least he left the franchise in better shape than the Giants or Jets.
3) Marquette v. Pitt - The Golden Eagles pulled off the upset at Pitt last night in OT, this adds to their inconsistency (losses to Providence & ND State wins against Duke, UConn & Pitt.
Sunday, January 21
TITLES!!
ok, here's a new look, i think its an improvement, a little cleaner. John and i will collaborate on the links to the right, and to try and find common ground on the set up. Anyways, any further posts will have titles for easy reference to the right side of the page
Championship Weekend Results
to quote John's entry from last week "Wow, what a game", and even though my mom IMed me the touchdown before it happened its still a happy ending. in summary, on the week Ryan +10 (2-0) and John -2 (1-1) bringing the cumulative playoff numbers to Ryan +22 (9-1) John +10 (7-3). i guess you could call John the Colts, always looking good regular season but lagging in the playoffs, and myself the Patriots, full of heart and coming through in the clutch, or maybe we need a better metaphor. luckily for John I talked him out of picking the Patriots, or else he'd be doomed, ok, maybe that's not the total case, but anyways, i suppose the Super Bowl will be worth 10 points.
in related news, the Heels are back on top of KenPom, with our defense (#2) passing our offense (#5) (probably thanks to the two most recent sloppy games, the DE against Clemson was 69.6). also the strength of schedule is looking sharp at 23rd, and just wait til game at 'Zona gets thrown in.
in related news, the Heels are back on top of KenPom, with our defense (#2) passing our offense (#5) (probably thanks to the two most recent sloppy games, the DE against Clemson was 69.6). also the strength of schedule is looking sharp at 23rd, and just wait til game at 'Zona gets thrown in.
Saturday, January 20
Championship Game Picks
ok, i hate to post in a hurry (almost as much as i hate to pick in a hurry). I'm giving 6 points to the Colts, b/c i have a man crush on Peyton (well, more like a loathing of Captian Perfect, but who's counting). And 4 points to the Bears, so that i can actually pull for the Saints, but I don't think its gonna happen folks, no Nawleans dream season. It would just be too perfect for both the Colts and Saints to be in the Super Bowl, so i'm balking on picking the Aints, though i think they have a good shot. Alright, now its off to Boone for more crashing through fences.
Well, I've made my picks after hearing that Rodney Harrison will not play in Sunday's game. (Plus, I just can't go against Football Outsiders AND Ron Jaworski.) Backpedaling ahoy, Ryan! I'm assigning four points to a Colts victory and six points to a Saints victory. Here's to the Super Bowl everyone wants.
Thursday, January 18
| Team | Kenpom | AP | Power 16 | Average | |
| 1. Florida | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.3 | |
| 2. North Carolina | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3.0 | |
| 2. UCLA | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3.0 | |
| 4. Wisconsin | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3.7 | |
| 5. Texas A&M | 3 | 8 | 7 | 6.0 | |
| 5. Kansas | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6.0 | |
| 7. Ohio State | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6.7 | |
| 8. Pittsburgh | 12 | 6 | 6 | 8.0 | |
| 9. Duke | 7 | 14 | 16 | 12.3 | |
| 10. Arizona | 17 | 11 | 10 | 12.7 | |
| 11. Memphis | 10 | 17 | 14 | 13.7 | |
| 12. Oregon | 26 | 9 | 9 | 14.7 | |
| 13. Butler | 18 | 18 | 12 | 16.0 | |
| 14. Air Force | 22 | 13 | 15 | 16.7 | |
| 15. Kentucky | 14 | 25 | 21 | 20.0 | |
| 16. Indiana | 9 | 32 | Not Rated | 20.5 | |
| 16. Georgia Tech | 11 | 30 | Not Rated | 20.5 |
So here's the deal; for the Power 16 from now on we're taking the average of Kenpom rating, AP rank, and ESPN's Power 16 rank. All teams in any of the top 16s were considered; those that were in one or more top 16 but did not make the list are (in order of average score):West Virginia, Connecticut, Louisiana State, Georgetown, Alabama, Oklahoma State, and Nevada.
Also, I can't figure out how to get it to show gridlines on Blogger; this format'll have to do.
Sunday, January 14
Saturday, January 13
Thursday, January 11
Ryan's Computer Rankings (Pyth, Def, Cons, Luck, Pyth)
1UCLA
2Duke (yeah, i said Def)
3North Carolina
4Indiana
5West Virginia
6Memphis
7Arizona
8Kansas
9Ohio St.
10Kentucky
11Texas A&M
12Florida
13Missouri St.
14Wisconsin
15Georgetown
16Virginia Tech
ok, i'll explain myself, defense wins championships and its harder to come by. if your team is defensively sound that will be there EVERY GAME offense can come and go, my word is final.
1UCLA
2Duke (yeah, i said Def)
3North Carolina
4Indiana
5West Virginia
6Memphis
7Arizona
8Kansas
9Ohio St.
10Kentucky
11Texas A&M
12Florida
13Missouri St.
14Wisconsin
15Georgetown
16Virginia Tech
ok, i'll explain myself, defense wins championships and its harder to come by. if your team is defensively sound that will be there EVERY GAME offense can come and go, my word is final.
Wednesday, January 10
Thanks to not having class on Wednesday, my post-video-game-marathon evening was freed to keep Byron awake while I researched this week's playoff games. I think I may actually watch everything I'm in town for, and maybe the ones that I'm not in town for, thanks to Ryan's DVR. I'm basing these picks mostly on rushing DVOA and Weighted Overall DVOA.
4 points: Chicago Bears over Seattle Seahawks. This one's not even close. Despite what ESPN may try to push on you, this is the least likely of the upsets to occur this weekend. Seattle's run defense sucks; the Bears' doesn't. Chicago is a good team; the Seahawks aren't. End of story.
3 points: Baltimore Ravens over Indianapolis Colts. I really struggled to assign point values for the other matchups; I'm really not that sure on any of them. Baltimore's defense is absolutely killer, though, and should be more than capable of stopping both Manning and Addai, or at least slowing them down enough to where the offense can keep up. I'm sensing a low-scoring, close game here, but I feel more confident in Baltimore than I do about the other two teams.
2 points: New England Patriots over San Diego Chargers. While this is my least confident pick, I gave this game two points because of the numbers. Philadelphia and New Orleans are much more evenly matched than the Patriots and the Chargers, both in terms of rushing defense and overall DVOA. I think this will definitely be THE game of the playoffs. The Patriots do a lot of things very well, with rushing defense being one of them. The Chargers, with a respectable defense overall, just do not defend against the rush very well. Both teams have the ability to attack over ground and over air, but I think the Patriots will come out on top. Sorry, Jeff.
1 point: Philadelphia Eagles over New Orleans Saints. These are two extremely evenly-matched teams. Their offenses, defenses, and overall DVOA are very similar, but Philadelphia does a bit better on defense. This may be offset by the extra week of rest New Orleans has received; I'm not sure. Whoever the winner is, they'll have trouble matching up against the Bears in the next round, though.
4 points: Chicago Bears over Seattle Seahawks. This one's not even close. Despite what ESPN may try to push on you, this is the least likely of the upsets to occur this weekend. Seattle's run defense sucks; the Bears' doesn't. Chicago is a good team; the Seahawks aren't. End of story.
3 points: Baltimore Ravens over Indianapolis Colts. I really struggled to assign point values for the other matchups; I'm really not that sure on any of them. Baltimore's defense is absolutely killer, though, and should be more than capable of stopping both Manning and Addai, or at least slowing them down enough to where the offense can keep up. I'm sensing a low-scoring, close game here, but I feel more confident in Baltimore than I do about the other two teams.
2 points: New England Patriots over San Diego Chargers. While this is my least confident pick, I gave this game two points because of the numbers. Philadelphia and New Orleans are much more evenly matched than the Patriots and the Chargers, both in terms of rushing defense and overall DVOA. I think this will definitely be THE game of the playoffs. The Patriots do a lot of things very well, with rushing defense being one of them. The Chargers, with a respectable defense overall, just do not defend against the rush very well. Both teams have the ability to attack over ground and over air, but I think the Patriots will come out on top. Sorry, Jeff.
1 point: Philadelphia Eagles over New Orleans Saints. These are two extremely evenly-matched teams. Their offenses, defenses, and overall DVOA are very similar, but Philadelphia does a bit better on defense. This may be offset by the extra week of rest New Orleans has received; I'm not sure. Whoever the winner is, they'll have trouble matching up against the Bears in the next round, though.
Monday, January 8
YESSSSSSSS
not only are we #1 in KP-land, but, he (as promised) has added the "Game Plan" section, with the specific game results for tempo and efficiency, boy i'm glad school doesn't start for another day.
not only are we #1 in KP-land, but, he (as promised) has added the "Game Plan" section, with the specific game results for tempo and efficiency, boy i'm glad school doesn't start for another day.
Those worthy of enshrinement into the Hall:
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Tony Gwynn
Bert Blyleven
Andre Dawson
Harold Baines
Tommy John
Andre Dawson and Harold Baines each had Hall Standard scores of 43, equivalent to those of Willie Stargell and Lou Brock. To me, those are quality Hall of Fame guys. Jim Rice's and Mark McGwire's Hall Standard scores were just below that at 42, equivalent to such enshrined names as Ryne Sandberg, Bill Terry, Ernie Lombardi, Jim Bottomley, and active player Luis Gonzalez. Now, I've never heard of Terry, Lombardi, or Bottomley, but as we get to the bottom of the Hall Standard scores, the only reason folks get voted in is because they're big names, not because of their stats (Hack Wilson, 39; Kirby Puckett, 38; Jackie Robinson, 37). Rice and McGwire are toeing the line in regards to both their stats and their name recognition, and I don't think that someone on the fence should be elected.
In regards to pitchers, I based my cutoff at 41, because that's what John Smoltz' Hall Standard score is, and I think he should definitely be voted in. Both Blyleven and John had Standard scores above that (50 and 44, respectively). For reference, the Hall Standard scores of Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter, and Don Drysdale are 46, 42, and 42, respectively.
It should be interesting to see what percentages Dawson and Baines get; their scores are identical, but I think far fewer voters will check Baines than Dawson. Also, relievers should not be elected into the Hall of Fame, for reasons I don't think I need to get into.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Tony Gwynn
Bert Blyleven
Andre Dawson
Harold Baines
Tommy John
Andre Dawson and Harold Baines each had Hall Standard scores of 43, equivalent to those of Willie Stargell and Lou Brock. To me, those are quality Hall of Fame guys. Jim Rice's and Mark McGwire's Hall Standard scores were just below that at 42, equivalent to such enshrined names as Ryne Sandberg, Bill Terry, Ernie Lombardi, Jim Bottomley, and active player Luis Gonzalez. Now, I've never heard of Terry, Lombardi, or Bottomley, but as we get to the bottom of the Hall Standard scores, the only reason folks get voted in is because they're big names, not because of their stats (Hack Wilson, 39; Kirby Puckett, 38; Jackie Robinson, 37). Rice and McGwire are toeing the line in regards to both their stats and their name recognition, and I don't think that someone on the fence should be elected.
In regards to pitchers, I based my cutoff at 41, because that's what John Smoltz' Hall Standard score is, and I think he should definitely be voted in. Both Blyleven and John had Standard scores above that (50 and 44, respectively). For reference, the Hall Standard scores of Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter, and Don Drysdale are 46, 42, and 42, respectively.
It should be interesting to see what percentages Dawson and Baines get; their scores are identical, but I think far fewer voters will check Baines than Dawson. Also, relievers should not be elected into the Hall of Fame, for reasons I don't think I need to get into.
alright, just a quick props to John and myself it was a 10 point perfect weekend for the both of us, all thanks to Tony Homo. UNC held serve at home tonight to defacto take the #1 spot with the UCLA loss. I'd personally give it to Florida combining the stats aspect to the quality win aspect (OSU) but we all know thats not how it really works. anyways, first appearance at #1 in the AP for the heels since 2000-01, suprising. (sorry, got a little link happy)
next weeks' NFL games, so put your thinking caps on...
Indy @ Baltimore
Philly @ N'awlins
Seattle @ Chicago
NE @ San Diego
and to leave everyone with a smile on their face (that's Greg Paulus on the bottom btw):
(yay! a PICTURE on the blog, and a good one at that)
next weeks' NFL games, so put your thinking caps on...
Indy @ Baltimore
Philly @ N'awlins
Seattle @ Chicago
NE @ San Diego
and to leave everyone with a smile on their face (that's Greg Paulus on the bottom btw):
(yay! a PICTURE on the blog, and a good one at that)
Saturday, January 6
Sorry, I was away from the free world for the past two days moving furniture in Collettsville and forgot they played NFL games on Saturdays now (who knew?). So you'll have to trust me on this one when I say I picked all these games before this weekend. Since the Colts game has already ended by this point, I'll list them as my 1 game. I have not seen any of the Seahawks/Cowboys game yet; after I post I plan to go watch it.
Basically, they're all the home teams for this round; just couldn't see picking against any of them, even though I told Ryan I was picking one away team (I was on the fence about the Cowboys). I'm going: 4 points to the Patriots, 3 points to the Eagles, 2 to the Seahawks, and 1 to the Colts. Yes, that's 1 point that's guaranteed, but I think I earned at least that much with my overall record this season. Hopefully Ryan and I will differ somewhat in our picks for next week.
Basically, they're all the home teams for this round; just couldn't see picking against any of them, even though I told Ryan I was picking one away team (I was on the fence about the Cowboys). I'm going: 4 points to the Patriots, 3 points to the Eagles, 2 to the Seahawks, and 1 to the Colts. Yes, that's 1 point that's guaranteed, but I think I earned at least that much with my overall record this season. Hopefully Ryan and I will differ somewhat in our picks for next week.
Friday, January 5
ok, its time for the games that count, PLAYOFF PICK'EM. i'm going to test out the new system of ranking games in order of confidence and see how it compares to the usual W-L method. i'm all for having a money game, but i dunno which it will be, so that will have to be added PS (or PP post post).
Games (in order of appearance)
Chiefs @ Colts: This goes against the recent article on FO, that defense correlates strongly to playoff success, specifically run defense, but i'll chalk the Colts up to being an anomaly. The Chiefs' pass defense is too leaky and the Colts should build up a healthy lead. Besides, LJ will blow out his ACL in the 2nd quarter, season carry number 436. I'll take the COLTS (3) in a shootout.
Cowboys @ Seahawks: I had my mind made up on this one a while ago, the cowboys couldn't beat several NCAA teams right now, Romo is hitting the rookie wall (ie, when the other team gets your game film) and their defense also can't contain the Seahawks offense. SEAHAWKS (2)
Jets @ Patriots: In an article I was reading there was a conspiracy theory presented saying the Pats threw the game against the Jets earlier so that the Broncos wouldn't make the playoffs, well it worked, and now the Pats get an easy win at home, much easier than against the Broncos. PATRIOTS (4)
Giants @ Eagles: This is the closest game, they split and know each other well. The Giants haven't shown the ability to win in the playoffs with this group of players (see 23-0 last season) and I have no reason to believe they'll turn it around now, other than the X Factor, Tiki busting out to stay on the field. Thats why this one is getting a "1" from me. EAGLES (1)
yeah, yeah, all home teams, but i figure if i guess wrong on the upset and there is one (likely) i'd be 2-2, if i don't guess i'm probably going to be 3-1. Besides, my intuition, stats, and FO predictions all line up, this seems like a solid week.
In other news, John?!?
JOOOOOOOOOOHN?!?!
yeah, a post before 4 would be ideal, i know that his picks are one different then mine, so i trust him if he posts tonight, i just don't know his point values. my guess is he didn't know the games were on saturday, oh well.
Games (in order of appearance)
Chiefs @ Colts: This goes against the recent article on FO, that defense correlates strongly to playoff success, specifically run defense, but i'll chalk the Colts up to being an anomaly. The Chiefs' pass defense is too leaky and the Colts should build up a healthy lead. Besides, LJ will blow out his ACL in the 2nd quarter, season carry number 436. I'll take the COLTS (3) in a shootout.
Cowboys @ Seahawks: I had my mind made up on this one a while ago, the cowboys couldn't beat several NCAA teams right now, Romo is hitting the rookie wall (ie, when the other team gets your game film) and their defense also can't contain the Seahawks offense. SEAHAWKS (2)
Jets @ Patriots: In an article I was reading there was a conspiracy theory presented saying the Pats threw the game against the Jets earlier so that the Broncos wouldn't make the playoffs, well it worked, and now the Pats get an easy win at home, much easier than against the Broncos. PATRIOTS (4)
Giants @ Eagles: This is the closest game, they split and know each other well. The Giants haven't shown the ability to win in the playoffs with this group of players (see 23-0 last season) and I have no reason to believe they'll turn it around now, other than the X Factor, Tiki busting out to stay on the field. Thats why this one is getting a "1" from me. EAGLES (1)
yeah, yeah, all home teams, but i figure if i guess wrong on the upset and there is one (likely) i'd be 2-2, if i don't guess i'm probably going to be 3-1. Besides, my intuition, stats, and FO predictions all line up, this seems like a solid week.
In other news, John?!?
JOOOOOOOOOOHN?!?!
yeah, a post before 4 would be ideal, i know that his picks are one different then mine, so i trust him if he posts tonight, i just don't know his point values. my guess is he didn't know the games were on saturday, oh well.
Thursday, January 4
Monday, January 1
OH HAPPY DAY
Ryan takes the cake in the last week of the season and proudly/promptly posts the season's results:
Week 17
Ryan: 6-2 (33-47)
John: 4-4 (44-36)
combo platter (mmm, general tso's AND lo mein): 2-1 (19-26)
good year, thanks to everyone involved, especially byron and his computer picks for giving us some excitement a few weeks ago. now: ONTO THE PLAYOFFS, that's right, all this was just a warmup for the serious picking. the matchups are set so get you thinking caps on:
NYJ @ NE
NYG @ PHI
KC @ IND
DAL @ SEA
edit: the Panther's 2007 opponents are out: NFC West (score!) and the AFC South (ouch), along with Green Bay on the road and Dallas at home.
Oh, and an impromptu bowl game pick'em if john reads this before 1 o'clock:
Outback: Penn St over Tenn
Cotton: Auburn over Nebraska
Capital One: Arkansas over Wisconsin
Gator: West Virginia over GT (by a LARGE margain)
Rose: Michigan over USC
Fiesta: Oklahoma over Boise St. (Peterson 245 yds 3 TDs, gets drafted #4 overall to Cleveland)
Orange: Louisville over Wake Forest
Sugar: LSU over ND (i mean, its a home game)
BCS: Ohio St over Florida (greg oden gets his revenge at tight end)
(sorry, no GMAC or Intl bowls)
KenPom watch:
UNC rose to #3 with a strong defensive outing against Dayton allowing 51 pts on 75 poss (67.42) and scoring 81 pts on 76 poss (105.81). this slid the Heels to 5th on offense but 9th on defense.
Ryan takes the cake in the last week of the season and proudly/promptly posts the season's results:
Week 17
Ryan: 6-2 (33-47)
John: 4-4 (44-36)
combo platter (mmm, general tso's AND lo mein): 2-1 (19-26)
good year, thanks to everyone involved, especially byron and his computer picks for giving us some excitement a few weeks ago. now: ONTO THE PLAYOFFS, that's right, all this was just a warmup for the serious picking. the matchups are set so get you thinking caps on:
NYJ @ NE
NYG @ PHI
KC @ IND
DAL @ SEA
edit: the Panther's 2007 opponents are out: NFC West (score!) and the AFC South (ouch), along with Green Bay on the road and Dallas at home.
Oh, and an impromptu bowl game pick'em if john reads this before 1 o'clock:
Outback: Penn St over Tenn
Cotton: Auburn over Nebraska
Capital One: Arkansas over Wisconsin
Gator: West Virginia over GT (by a LARGE margain)
Rose: Michigan over USC
Fiesta: Oklahoma over Boise St. (Peterson 245 yds 3 TDs, gets drafted #4 overall to Cleveland)
Orange: Louisville over Wake Forest
Sugar: LSU over ND (i mean, its a home game)
BCS: Ohio St over Florida (greg oden gets his revenge at tight end)
(sorry, no GMAC or Intl bowls)
KenPom watch:
UNC rose to #3 with a strong defensive outing against Dayton allowing 51 pts on 75 poss (67.42) and scoring 81 pts on 76 poss (105.81). this slid the Heels to 5th on offense but 9th on defense.
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