Outta the Basement: Purdue @ Michigan

It’s been a while since the last College Hoops blog. The Insanity Report Staff and Easycovers Crew have been hard at work with their work in the basement, and it starts with yesterday afternoon’s Big Ten opener for Purdue and Michigan. So here goes:

(11) PURDUE 80 @ MICHIGAN 57

MICHIGAN

Solid nucleus for the future, but right now, their focus is on the abilities of Sophomore PG Darius Morris who has had a great non-conference start to the season, but yesterday looked like he has started to believe his own news clippings. He penetrates too much and forces bad shots and bad highlight passes for TO’s. He suffers from the same dribblitis that Illinois’ Demetri McCamey suffered last year. He’ll dribble east-west too much allowing the defense time to recover and shut down any passing/driving lanes.

They have OK shooting from Junior PG, Stu Douglass and Freshman Forward, Evan Smotrycz, but that’s it from Smotrycz; He’s a horrible one-on-one defender on the wing and will fall asleep leaving his man open. When his check is E’Twaun Moore, it doesn’t bode well for the Wolverines. At 6-9 the dopy Smotrycz offers zero defensive rebounding presence as well. It’s no surprise that Smo-trash fouled out yesterday. Stu Douglass is smooth and is Michigan’s most leveling presence which is key for such a young team, and hopefully Morris.

Redshirt Freshman, Jordan Morgan at 6-8 is a hustling post, but he must gain some l.b.’s to be able to consistently compete in the Big Ten. One of the main returning players in terms of minutes played last year in Junior Forward, Zach Novak, gets tonnes of minutes this year again, but he is as useless as the kid on Two and a Half Men! Novak offers no offensive upside at all and he basically fills the 5th spot on the floor so Michigan doesn’t go Hickory Huskers like when Merle fouls out. (“My team’s on the floor!)

Again, Michigan has some prospects in their freshmen class, but every one of their starters show major defensive deficiencies. Such as in Freshman Guard, Tim Hardaway Jr, who shows signs that he can get on an offensive streak, but shows UNC-like basketball IQ on defense. Michigan will have great streaky moments this year and may steal a game or two, but their inexperience will show when they’re trying to get over the hump and take over a game from one of their mini-streaks.


(11) PURDUE

Tough on Purdue to replace the versatility and basketball IQ of Robbie Hummel, once they lost him for the season with his ACL injury in the preseason. Even with him the biggest weakness for Purdue was their depth. Now that the Big 3 is no more with the loss of Hummel, it’s up to the Big Two in Senior Center, JuJuan Johnson and Senior Guard, E’Twaun Moore. The Big Two delivered yesterday with 21 and 22 point performances respectively.

Starting the game vs. Michigan, they were successful keying off double teams on Johnson and Moore as well as mismatches off of switches to get open looks for Johnson and Moore. Inclusion of other starters like DJ Byrd and Ryne Smith were non existent as Byrd was exposed on defense as well; Smith woke up late in the 1st half, and all of 2nd half to hit some open treys off dribble penetrations for a career high 17 points..

JuJuan Johnson is a huge one-on-one threat in the post coming off of those switches for mismatches and cutting towards the ball, receiving those passes in stride. He is pretty much unstoppable once he receives a pass with both feet in the paint. But he gets John Starks-like hot-and-cold streaks on his touches outside of the paint.

Moore will get his looks on open treys and he’ll be able to create drives to the hoop, IF Purdue keeps their motion offense based around the heavy screening and mismatches attained from those screens. Purdue just doesn’t have the depth to rely on other players creating their own shots or taking the opposing defense’s attention away from Moore and Johnson. They’ll need a shooter to take pressure off the Big Two like they got out of Ryne Smith tonight.

Purdue’s half court defense is solid, especially with the big body of Johnson in the middle. He’s quick enough to drop down help side on baseline drives, and has the length to alter shots. But DJ Byrd is as slow on switching and recovering off of defensive rotations as Dave Adolph is at getting Martin Short jokes. He gave up way too many open 3’s today from Evan Smotrycz. It was the battle of the 2 worst defenders on the court today.

The key for Purdue is to hide their lack of depth by working the shot clock to develop the mismatches and open lanes/looks for Johnson and Moore. Both are great free throw shooters as well, so this half-court spread should get both of the Big 2 to the line for easy points (i.e. Johnson was 10-10 from the charity stripe last night). They need those throws to limit the beatings they’ll be taking from gauntlet that is the Big Ten schedule. On D, they just have to keep doing what they’re doing and bench DJ Byrd!!!

Don’t let the score fool you, Michigan was in this game for the first 40 minutes with their peskyness, but Purdue Head Coach, Matt Painter showed many looks on offense to free up The Big Two. Painter and Purdue should ruffle some feathers in the Big Ten this year, but for Dean Smith’s sake, stay healthy!!!!

Sunday Night Hoops: Texas @ USC

(20) TEXAS 56 @ USC 73

Not a bad game to watch after a whole day of getting rocked ATS in NFL action. I caught the 2nd half of the game, and overall, Texas made USC look good. USC did indeed surprise in how good their 2 main forwards, in SR. Alex Stepheson and JR. Nikola Vucevic are. USC held the lead for the whole game. They were up by 9 at half and went on a big run to start the 2nd half. At one point in the run, USC was up by 20 points. If you check out the ESPN recap, it says that USC came up big defensively, but Texas played with no heart on offence as they played softly hovering around the 3-point line unwilling to pass into the blocks or drive to the hole. USC took care of the ball with a surprising coming out party from FR. PG Maurice Jones (pictured above). Texas brought the game to within 10 points but it was too late. As soon as Texas had their little spurt, they turned the switch back to "coast".

USC

Their 2 big men in Alex Stepheson and Nicola Vucevic are two wide enough forwards who are versatile enough to grab rough boards and grab the athletic boards with their jumping ability. Both can take care of the ball on the blocks and face the hoop well. Stepheson can run the court well and Vucevic will shoot the 3. How well he can shoot the trey consistently remains to be seen. Vucevic had a career high 24 points to go with 9 boards.

Both forwards will have no problem outletting D-boards or getting the ball in the lane or on the blocks as, point guard Maurice Jones is lightning fast and hard to catch!! He'll deliver the ball 90% to the bigs. He is so fast with the ball, that he could rival Ty Lawson back in the UNC days. Texas tried their patented full court pressure for most of the 2nd half, and it was impossible to catch Mo-Jones. He'd avoid the pressure and set up the half-court O, while eating clock. He turned on the jets at the right time making easy dribble penetrations for easy lay-ups. Scouting reports say that when Fordham transfer, Jio Fontan becomes eligible in a week or two, he will turn heads in the Pac-10 at the point, but that is if he Mo-Jones will forego that starting job. Mo-Jones takes care of the ball and is a constant threat with his dimes and dribble penetrations. He'll keep defenders honest.

USC have been up and down all year, but as of late, the trio of Stepheson, Vucevic and Mo-Jones have led USC to some W's. If Head Coach Kevin O'Neil can avoid the drama he has found himself in his previous NCAA and NBA coaching jobs, USC will surprise many teams.

TEXAS

Texas looks like they revolve around Soph. Wingman, Jordan Hamilton. He is pretty good one-on-one from the top of the key, but as talented as he is, he goes a bit Harrison Barnes and forces many drives. He averages 21 ppg and was pretty cold today with a 12 point effort at 4-13 from the field. Most of those shots were indeed forced.

The problem with Texas is that they have no point guard whatsoever. They started turnover machine in Sr. Dogus Balbay, but he only played 6 minutes tonight. Toronto-born McDonald All-American PG Cory Joseph started along side Bogus Balbay tonight and he carried the ball up court on every possession and only managed 2 assists on 0 turnovers. He played an extremely safe game by dribbling the ball up and making a wing entry.....and nothing else. He was not a threat at all in penetrating the rock or in shooting the ball, let alone finding anywhere to spot up from a Jordan Hamilton forced drive. (Not like Hamilton would dish the ball anyways).

Texas has been a classic team in playing up and down to their competition since the Kevin Durant Elite Eight season. This is evident as they played up to Illinois by beating them in OT earlier in November and playing down to USC tonight. From seeing them play tonight, they will not play up to many more elite teams, as their question marks at guard should not allow it. This may bring along the same chemistry issues that plagued Texas last year.

GUS CALLS UNC/KENTUCKY!!!! UNC NOT AS CRAPPY AS WE ALL THINK!

(11) KENTUCKY 73 @ NORTH CAROLINA 75

CBS starts their College Hoops season off right with the Man, The Myth and the Heart Attack Legend, Gus Johnson!!! Early in the 1st half, UNC’s on the break…….Larry Drew stops and pops a trey. Gus says, ”Drew….RISE AND FIRE!!!!!” ….Adolph says, “Gus….CHILLS AND GOOSEBUMPS!!!”

This was a great game. One of various tempos. It started as an open court affair, not only exposing UNC’s chronic turnover epidemic, but exposing Kentucky’s erratic shot selection as they ended the 1st half on a pretty big shooting slump. The game changed in the 2nd half as Kentucky slowed the game down, forcing the half-court game and using the whole shot clock. This played into Carolina’s strength in their lanky big men who blocked shots and grabbed the boards off of Kentucky’s low field goal percentage.

The game ended with Carolina chipping away to hold off Kentucky hitting their free throws to keep their small lead. Due to the Law of Gus, there was a pretty exciting finish as Kentucky missed a half-court buzzer beater that would have led Gus Johnson to go crazy, and streak down Tobacco Road!!!

NORTH CAROLINA

Insanity Report North Correspondent, Marc Paulsen texted me saying that UNC’s defense may have changed. He sheepishly stated that Roy may have read the last blog calling him out. That’d be huge if Roy did read it, but even if he did, how can he UN-COACH the UNC turnovers? UNC’s guards turn the ball so many times that it seems like it’s ingrained into their DNA. Roy’s a coach not a geneticist!!!! Plus, he’s a coach, NOOOT A POOOOL-MAN!!!!!!

The bottom line with UNC is they are young and their guards are weak, and when those guards are running on all cylinders they still cannot command a game from distributing the ball to hitting open jumpers. They are rarely en fuego, and rather than distribute the ball, they turn the ball over with softer entry passes into the post than Homer Simpson’s ring entry vs. Drederick Tatum!

Carolina’s strength is most definitely in their forwards, Tyler Zeller, John Henson and soon-to-be Harrison Barnes. As stated, they are a bit weak deep in the blocks, but they are a threat once they hit their jumpers from the short corner and elbow. They’re reach, especially Henson’s will alter many shots in the trenches.

Tyler Zeller had his coming out game this afternoon. He had a career high 27 points off of 11-12 free throw shooting. His coming out party was due to his determination late in the game and will to win. Zeller started the game a bit soft in the blocks allowing defenders to deny entry passes, but he kept the Kentucky bigs honest with those needed 10-15 foot jumpers. When he lined up to hit his FT’s late in the 2nd half, those shots were already made before he shot the ball. You could see it in his eyes!

Henson is a work horse that sparks UNC. He’s a hard hard worker, but he’s not strong enough to command position in the blocks. He throws up bigger bricks from the free throw line than a Holmes on Holmes underpinned foundation!!!! His free throw shooting is so bad that over/under prop bets are posted betting “Henson FT Airballs” at over/under 2.5! He had a 1-on-1 fast break breakaway opportunity where the shear length of his go-go gadget arms should have drilled the ball into the hoop; But he awkwardly and softly went for reverse lay-up. HENSON IS RAW!!!!!! He continues to develop, but until he can strengthen those Olive Oil arms, he will continue to show flashes of brilliance rather than a more consistent solid 40 minutes of hoops.

Harrison Barnes (like UNC, in general) has been way over-hyped and over-rated by almost all media and pollsters . He is a definite talent and will be a threat. But in watching 2 games so far, Harrison Barnes tries to do too much all by himself. His drives/shots he takes are 1 on 3 drives or his shots are over of double/triple teams. He had an amazing put-back dunk in the first half that is a sign of things to come, but right now, Harrison Barnes’ game is playing into the press clippings headlined by an ill-advised pre-season All-American selection. Harrison, calm down and listen to Roy! Don’t believe your own press clippings, you’re not there yet!

Talking to Paulsen this afternoon, made me realize that UNC has been waaaay over-hyped in the past 2 years. They are in the midst of there 2nd rebuilding year post-Tyler Hansborough. They are still developing, and Top 10 ranking are unrealistic at this point.

Overall, this season’s freshmen in all of the NCAA are indeed talented, but most have a lot to develop. There is no one-and-done’ers in the nation except for Duke’s Kyrie Irving and maybe, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger (from what I’ve seen in box scores and recaps, but yet to see a game). This bodes well for fans of the Madness as we will have deep rosters for the next 2-3 years and Gus Johnson better take his blood pressure meds!!!

iNSanITy rEPort Post on Michigan State/Duke

My apolgies for the late post here from Wednesday. But some intel on the game and some intel on Duke and Michigan State.

(6) MICHIGAN STATE 79 @ (1) DUKE 84

Game Recap:

A close game on Wednesday judging by the score. But Duke held the lead for the whole 2nd half as they capitalized off MSU turnovers and had a wicked half-court defense that would make Hickory Husker Coach, Norman Dale celebrate with Assistant Coach, Shooter over a jug of Indiana moonshine!!!

Duke had amazing on-the-ball defense by stopping many MSU dribble penetrations with lightning quick first steps. On the rare occasion that an MSU player got by a Duke defender, the help-side was in perfect position to quickly cut off the lane. Plus, Duke’s positioning on the help-side and in the passing lanes called for many easy steals as Duke used their lanky reach to grab soft entry passes.

The Spartans 3 main players in JR. F. Draymond Green, SR. PG Kalin Lucas and SR. SG Durrell Summers got off to a super slow start in the 1st half, while Duke’s freshman PG, Kyrie Irving had a coming our party with 31 points, 18 in the 1st half. Duke had a pretty big run early in the 2nd half that woke up Michigan State guards Kalin Lucas and JR. G Korie Lucious. Those 2 eventually broke Duke ankles on dribble penetrations once Izzo set up a more spread out offense. But Duke, played typical smart hoops by eating up shot clocks, getting timely hoops from SR. Wing, Kyle Singler and hitting late free throws to weather the Michigan State comeback.

MICHIGAN STATE

This was a weird game for the Spartans. They have most likely the deepest team in the nation right now, but not the deepest bench just yet. That is, it seems like they haven’t found the right combination of bench minutes. They have low post presence, but their mojo is in the penetrating quickness of guards, Kalin Lucas and Korie Lucious. Draymond Green may be their best player and biggest threat as a 6-6 low post presence who can drain 3’s. He’s quite strong, but his combination of skills may get tangled in what the Spartans game plan must be on any given night. If anybody can untangle the Green web, it’s Tom to the Izzo!!!

Michigan State has all the tools for Tom Izzo’s lucky 7th Final 4 run. The aforementioned guard play and forward WMD, Draymond Green will hit all cylinders soon enough and should dominate another deep Big Ten Conference this year.

DUKE

Duke’s defense will set up all offensive opportunities this year. The defense that Duke demonstrated tonight shows that they will go through very few slumps throughout the season. Duke’s defense sets up easy open court hoops to make the difference and break the backs of many opponents.

There has been much fanfare about Freshman PG Kyrie Irving. Watching him on Wednesday solidified every scouting report out there. Kyrie is a game changer. The comparison’s to past Duke PG, Jason Williams (pre-Jay Williams that is) is quite warranted, but it seems like Coach Sha-chef-ramsey-ski is still trying to find Kyrie’s actual role on the team. Will he be unleashed as an open court scorer and disher? or will he control the game defensively and run the disciplined Duke playbook? Coach K, will most likely find a way to unleash both speeds out of Kyrie which will hide his weaknesses, which as of now, are few.

Right now THE BEST quality of Irving is that he takes all of the pressure off of SR. Wing, Kyle Singler. Singler has been a hot and cold performer his whole career at Duke. Now Duke doesn’t have to rely of the coin flip of whether they’ll get 25 points or 12 points out of Singler. Irving’s best quality is that he is a more consistent focal point for Duke than Singler had to be in his first 3 years at Duke. Now Singler can afford slumps like he had early on Wednesday vs. MSU, followed by the short streak of treys he had mid way through the 2nd half.

Duke’s main strength is in their consistency that Irving adds to the understated consistency that SR. G Nolan Smith adds. Nolan Smith plays the game with the blank assassin’s stare. He’s silky smooth and he finds a way to slither his way into the free throw circle for dribble jumpers. Plus add the big presence of under-rated Soph. F. Mason Plumlee.

Duke has it all right now. They are bar none the best team in the country right now. RIGHT NOW! It’s a long season, but Duke looks like they have the tools to remain consistent. DAMN!!!!

UNC Fan out!!!!

LeBron Decision 2010 - some thoughts.......

Bottom-line with “LeBron Decision 2010” is that LeBron signed a contract extension with Cleveland starting in the 2007-08 season for 3 years, which he fulfilled at the conclusion of this past season, making him an unrestricted free agent. Within the realms of the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, LeBron had every right to look at every NBA team, and he had every right to decide on whatever team he wanted to sign with for next season.

He had no obligation whatsoever to stay at home in Cleveland. Many columns, talk-shows, fans and especially one disgruntled Cleveland Cavaliers owner have expressed extreme sour grapes towards LeBron’s decision. LeBron didn’t owe it to any of those aforementioned people to stay in Cleveland, just as much as El Tigre Woods did not owe the fans an apology for his attempted impression of Wilt Chamberlain.

But a couple of takes on the LeBron James Decision 2010:

1.The true debacle of “LeBron Decision 2010” was the worst produced 1-hour announcement show ever. Well, it’s the first 1-hour announcement show, so it’s pretty much the worst by default. But the production value was so horrible and the levels contriteness so transparent.

There has come a time a long, long time ago in a Sportsdesk/Sportscentre galaxy not too far away where the sports cliché’s have run rampant within the sports universe. Cliché’s full of public relation coached answers that hit its peak with LeBron’s prepared answers in the "special". LeBron hit his cliché peak during his interview with Michael Wilbon after the botched ESPN 1-hour special when in talking about the 6 teams involved in his sweepstakes his answer was pretty much verbatim from answering the same question in his interview in the ESPN special.

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being prepared, but there was no need for the obvious self-promotion of that 1-hour special with the cliché’ filled, long winded answers being fed to him through the ear-piece that kept (almost) falling out of his ear.

The 1-hour special was a new spin (kinda fresh), but a tweet or press conference would have sufficed. Either way, I gotta admit that I watched the special, as did many other interested fans, but like a Dave Adolph lay-up, there was no finish LeBron.

Again, LeBron had every right to choose whichever team he wanted to sign with, but as many columists have alreay stated, the ESPN special was a slap in the face to Cleveland Cav's fan.

The 1 second awkward clap after LeBron first announced he was going to “South Beach” was a great moment though.

2. An even better moment was the open letter to the Cleveland Cav fans of the world by Cav’s owner, Dan Gilbert. Boooooom!!!!! Man, the passion by Gilbert!!! Pure emotion!!! He may or may not regret releasing the letter as time goes by, but that letter was (Hells Kitchen host) Gordon Ramsey gold, just without the bleeps and eff-bombs. Gold-Jerry-Gold!!!!!!!

3. On a hoop stand point, was this the right decision? Only time will tell, but for now, Miami has only 2 uber-stars in LeBron and D-Wade and an all-star in Chris Bosh, with no other roster players let alone role players signed to the Heat roster. There’s no point guard, no defensive stopper, no 3-pt specialist, no big post banger.

At this point, depending on how much all 3 actually sign for, and what cap space is available for the Heat to sign other players, nothing should change from a production value for LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh. Actually it should increase as all 3 are going to have to average 30 points per game just to keep the Heat in their 5 on 3 game!!!

Looking at the other 5 teams involved in the sweepstakes, basketball wise, this is a ballzy decision by LeBron. Some of those other teams have some good supporting casts for LeBron's game. Chicago has a killer combo of size in Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng and yes even Joakim Noah. Not to mention up and coming, if not already arrived point guard, Derrick Rose. Woulda been a good fit.

Heck, the Clippers would have a not-bad supporting cast in PG Baron Davis, SG Eric Gordan, 2nd year rookie, Blake Griffin and yes even Chris Kaman. But as ESPN uber-columnist Bill Simmon’s references many times, LeBron would probably have torn an ACL mid-way through training camp. Many people are talking about LeBron’s decision to go to Miami being part of the “Cleveland Curse”, but that pails in comparison to the “Clippers Curse”; pretty much their curse of existence.

Well there’s also the New Jersey (or Brooklyn) Nets. Devin Harris is a pretty good PG with serviceable big man, Brooke Lopez. Oh and one of his boyz, Jay-Z starting at part-owner, but they’re the Nets for pistol-pete sakes!!!

Basketball-wise, the Knicks were the worst choice for LeBron, with no one signed other then the ultimate 1-dimensional player in Amare Stoudamire. With no point guard to speak of as of yet for the NYK , that downgrades Amare to a 0.5-dimensional player without the gift passes of Steve Nash being spoon-fed to him.

But LeBron did lead an over-rated supporting cast in Cleveland last year to the best regular season record in the NBA. So any team he joined, even the new Uber-3 in South Beach will become an instant win machine.

But those questions of who will be the Heat supporting cast and can all 3 Uber’s (well 2 Uber’s and 1 All-Star) find enough touches is a juicy story line for the upcoming season. Can they play D? Are they even the best team in the Eastern Conference? Gotta admit, the Laker's signing Steve Blake is a killer role-signing for them. Damn!!!!! Lot's of juicy story lines.

4. Back to the debacle of the ESPN Special. Please, please, please!!!!! There has to be a Saturday Night Live parody in the making combining “Decision 2008” SNL-beauty, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and “LeBron Decision 2010” host, Jim Gray being played by a weasel.

5. Interactive time now. There is no way in hell that a “-gate” suffix gets stamped to LeBron’s decision. The “’-gate” suffix is as played as LeBron’s 1-hour ESPN announcement special, but some good ones so far are: The LeBacle, LeBronapalooza, Erin LeBrockalich. What else can there be? Discuss......

Kobe: The Douche 2.0 - The Rebuttal

Wow, a bit late on the “Kobe: The Douche of the NBA Douche Era” rebuttal. It’s more of a clarification than a rebuttal, as the main points of Kobe Douche 1.0 still ring true. Kobe, his legacy, most things to do with Kobe is a polarizing topic, and I’ll keep this short, as, of course, LeBron heading to “South Beach” is the lead polarizing topic at the moment.

Firstly, big huge blog ups has to go towards Terence Leung on some great points regarding the opposite end of the spectrum, i.e. the pro-Kobe side of things. Great smack, and as Kev “K-Smack” McCarrell said, get him in on the conference calls!!!

To Terence’s points: I agree with everything you said….

1. 99.9% of the NBA players are complete Douches!!!! Save for a select few such as Steve Nash, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Derek Fisher, and Deron Williams, the majority of NBA players are infected with the me-first, narcissistic attitudes that has plagued the NBA for the past 15 years. I also agree that MJ is to blame for the outcome of the Douche generation we have now, but it’s not completely on MJ’s shoulders though, but rather it can also be attested to the iso-offense playbooks of NBA coaches and it goes all the way to the top to Commissioner David Stern himself, but that’s another blog topic for another blog day.

2. Kobe is THE most talented player in the NBA. He is THE best player in the NBA, offensively and at times defensively. Clutch shots, buzzer beaters? Go to youtube and you’ll see many a video of Kobe buzzer beaters that ALMOST rival an MJ and Larry Bird buzzer beater highlight reel. As K-Smack says, Kobe is the only remaining “killer” left in the NBA. The definition of a killer is defined as (unfortunately with horrible rhetoric): Who are you going to give the ball to in the 4th quarter? Who do you trust to MAKE that last shot? Ever since Robert Horry has left the Association, the answer to that is Kobe. Well you could make an argument for Erica McGuiness also, but Kobe is clutch!!! Kobe’s a killer!!

3. Why is Kobe the Best Player in the NBA? His work ethic. He’s one of probably 10 guys in the whole league that are still gym rats. No one works harder than Kobe. No works AS hard as Kobe.

4. Kobe and Shaq would never last. That’s completely evident. They are 2 alpha-dog magnetic positives. They were meant to repel each other, and it was lucky that they lasted for 3 NBA championships.

Terence, all great points. Totally agree.

But again, Kobe never paid his dues, even within the realm of the NBA alpha-dog kennel.

Many things can be said about the key alpha-dogs of the past. Let’s stick with Larry, Magic and Mike however.

Check out the Boston Celtics roster in Larry’s rookie year. Actually it’s quite an interesting group. Larry had a roster full of future NBA Coaches in Don Chaney, ML Carr, Dave Cowans, and Chris Ford and 3 other Hall of Famers in Dave Cowans (again), Tiny Archibald, and (a very cool fact) Pistol Pete Marovich to learn the NBA ropes. Also, he had the leadership of Red Auerbach’s cigar-smoking silhouette up in the press box, like that of the mysterious banker on “Deal or No Deal”. And…and let’s not forget the cooooool KC Jones walking the sidelines!!! Larry had it good.

Magic had Kareem and Pat Riley. Mike had no one on the roster for his first couple of years to learn the ropes, except maybe for Dave Corzine? Well, there was Phil of course.

No matter who Kobe had to learn the ropes under he was completely resistant to playing any role other than being the “man”. As much as Shaq, Phil or even the friggin’ NBA logo himself, Jerry West tried to reel Kobe in to some sort of semblance of team, Kobe just wanted to jack shots at all times.

But Larry, Magic and Mike are not completely innocent from these crimes either.

Mike gave many FU’s to the Chicago Bulls brass in his early years. Magic gave his fair share of FU’s too. Damn, Larry was cocky enough to call his shot on Xavier McDaniel….the ultimate FU……

Check out this awesome Larry clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHFrgmy8SSU

I’ll concede, that there would be bitterness towards Kobe if he pulled anything like Larry’s Called Shot on the X-Man. And yes, I concede bitterness towards Kobe for his creepy man-crush on MJ. Well, not much bitterness as much as I’m creeped out about it I guess.

I’ll admit, and many people share the same feelings towards Kobe, I hate him. He’s a selfish prick, and he is the Douche of the NBA Douche Era.

But what is unforgiveable with Kobe, is how he opened the Pandora’s Box of selfishness in icing himself out of the whole 1st half in a game vs. the Sacramento Queens on April 11, 2004 in which they lost.

Here’s the recap:

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=240411023

Kobe completely iced himself out of the first half to prove a selfish point. I remember watching the highlights that night. Kobe had many looks from 3 point land, from the elbow, and had many open lanes to drive to the hole, and all he did was pass on every chance. He was icing himself out of the first half in response to criticism by Phil Jackson for being a ball-hog.

One part of the recap that stands out is:

“Bryant's reticence might have been a response to coach Phil Jackson's recent criticism of the superstar's game. Jackson said the Lakers frequently suffer when Bryant concentrates solely on driving and scoring. Jackson wasn't making any guesses, refusing to take reporters' questions after the game.”

In watching the highlights, it was clearly evident that Kobe was throwing the game by deliberately passing up on looks.

Larry never threw a game. Magic never threw a game. Mike never threw a game. Before April 11, 2004, I can’t recall anyone besides Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pete Rose or Tim Donaghy throwing a game like Kobe did. Well there was the famed Point-Shaving Controversy at Western University in Shaq’s epic 1994 saga, “Blue Chips”.

I’ve stated many times that it doesn’t matter what happens off the court. I could care less about Kobe’s rape trial, Magic’s hoochy-list rivaling that of Wilt Chamberlain or even Mike’s compulsive gambling. An amazing topic for another blog could be on the influence and exposure of the present media and explosion of mediums towards our “Sports Heroes” compared to that of the early print days of the 1930’s-50’s and t.v. news explosion of the 1960’s-70’s. Or how ‘bout the Industrial Revolution, and how it was neither industrial nor a revolution? Discuss!!!!

But back to the point at hand, Kobe took his selfishness and transcended it onto the court. Not with ball hogging, but rather throwing a game. He didn’t throw the game ala Shoeless Joe, but he transcended his own selfishness and ego to prove his own self-interests at the expense of the team. At the expense of a game’s outcome. A complete lack of professionalism and integrity.

At the very least, Kobe’s ball hogging (and every other Alpha-Dogs ball hogging) can be criticized and also praised. It’s a polarizing topic. But in the least, Kobe’s, MJ’s, and even George Costanza’s ball hogging and chuckerage can be construed under the realm of ultimate competitiveness and want/will to win.

BUT!!!!! Kobe did the friggin’ opposite and exposed his will to “lose”? Maybe not, but that complete lack of professionalism and integrity for the “game of basketball” (Copyright, Michael Jordan) shows how Kobe never paid his dues. It shows how he took no influence from his counterparts in LA or from his other influences in Mike and Magic. He never learned the ropes, and it’s shown in his throwing of the April 11, 2004 game vs. the Queens.

Kobe opened the Pandora’s Box of selfishness, and it may or may not have been spread to LeBron in his Game 5 Eastern Conference Finals no-show vs. the Celtics this year.

Kobe’s antic’s vs. Sacramento transcends any bitterness towards Kobe from myself or other Kobe-haters. It transcends his amazing work ethic and status as the only remaining Killer/Alpha-Dog in the NBA.

Heck, one could argue that Kobe is guilty on other counts of the crime of throwing games by icing himself to prove his selfish points. Check out Game 7 of their play-off series vs. Phoenix in 2006. He iced himself out of the 4th quarter, once it was evident that they were done. Here’s an excerpt from that game’s recap:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=260506021

“Kobe Bryant scored 24 points of 8-of-16 shooting, but the rest of the Lakers starters were 17-for-50. Bryant scored only one point and took just three shots in the second half.”

Many argue that this count of “icing” was an attempt to prove his point that the Lakers needed better players. How selfish and how blind of you Kobe!!! How could you question the talents of Smush Parker !?!?!

Regardless of the 2006 game, Kobe stamped his ultimate selfishness and ego on April 11, 2004. It’s a crime that he has yet to pay his debt to basketball society. To me, Kobe’s ultimate crime towards basketball and competitive integrity in that game vs. Sacramento will stamp his legacy, not his 5 rings. Not his status as the only remaining Alpha-dog/Killer. Not his work ethic.

Kobe Bryant: The Douche of the NBA Douche Era

Love him or hate him, Kobe Bryant is almost as polarizing as a compass used on the “island” on Lost!!!! Well, it’s almost as polarizing, cuz that compass went rampant on the Island, but Kobe Bryant being recognized as one of the greatest of all time being a polarizing topic is an indication of the horrible legacy this generation of players are leaving to “the game of basketball” (copyrighted by His Airness, Mr. Jordan). Kobe has 5 NBA titles, he should be a shoe-in as a Top 10 player, but that’s not the case…..his self-sacred legacy is too polarizing for many people.

Case in point: Kevin “K-Smack” McCarrell v. Dave Adolph. I wish we had transcripts from the thousands of arguments, errr discussions these Brothers in Smack have had over Kobe. It would be blog-gold, but all I can give you is my side of the argument, I mean discussion. K-Smack, I gladly hand you the mic, keyboard and podium for your side, after this rant is done. Much respect for the 2-time Insanity Pool Smack of the Year winner!!

But Kobe is a DOUCHE, and here’s why:

Kobe was drafted out of high school in 1996. That’s one year after Kevin Garnett was the first player to get drafted out of high school since Chocolate Thunder himself, Darryl Dawkins in 1975. I believe Chocolate Thunder was drafted out of Planet Lovetron Collegiate, but you’ll have to look that up.

Anyways, after these 1996 and 1997 drafts, cue up the most dysfunctional era of hoops this side of the now forgotten Cocaine Era of the 70’s when the NBA Finals were actually tape delayed to late night due to the rumors of rampant drug use. The fact that this era is forgotten is NBA Commissioner, David Stern’s greatest genius. He also has the timing of having the Larry and Magic era, closely followed by the MJ era to thank for much of that.

Ahhhhh the glory days, Larry and Magic….those were the days. Remember when Larry’s and Magic’s team could shoot over 40% in an NBA Finals Game 7? Remember when Kevin McHale could clothesline Kurt Rambis without a current NBA-type bench clearing brawl and 2-3 game suspensions being shot outta Stern’s holsters faster than Ray Allen’s post-Game 2 bricks? Back then, the McHale clothesline only brought some technical fouls and the game went on. As it says in the end of clip, it’s just part of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r6vXeOfyQ

Well if that clothesline happened tonight in Game 7, then Ron-Ron Artest would be seen headin back into the crowd decking Andy Garcia for the worst mustache this side of MJ’s Hitler-stache, and Jeff Van Gundy would be seen leaving his broadcast booth hugging the be-jesus out of Andrew Bynum’s bum knee, having an acid-type flash-back yelling, “Stop Alonzo, stop!!!!”

Why?

This generation, the past 15 years of hoops, has not been watchable, mainly due to the punks running the asylum that is the NBA. And who is the standard of this generation? Kobe Jellybean Jr. Bryant!!!!!

It’d be easy just to drop the names of this generation’s punk’s…err I mean supposed superstars, and compare them to the actual superstars of yesteryear, and demonstrate how the Larry’s, Magic’s, MJ’s and Barkley’s took the torch and led the NBA to a great 80’s and 90’s. Larry, Magic, MJ and Charles were no saints. They made the same mistakes, if not more mistakes than the punks of today. But what they did, was come to each game with their hard hat and lunch bucket in hand and play hoops the way it was supposed to be played: hard-nosed, diving for lose balls basketball!!!

The punks of the past 15 years have not only diluted the NBA product, but diluted millions of NBA fans’ love for the game. They brought all they’re non-professionalism and off-court antics and brought it onto the court. It made NBA games as dysfunctional as an episode of Jerry Springer and as choreographed and pathetic as an episode of Montel Williams or Maury. Those punks couldn’t handle McHale’s or Rambis’ jock-straps!!!!!

But Kobe’s polarizing career is at the least, a more interesting tail than Garnett’s chest-bumping curse-tirades or Iverson’s “practice?!?!” tirades (sidenote: he drops the “practice” bomb 26.5 times in his infamous press conference; please refer to one of the Best Damn Top 100 shows).

Kobe came into the league as a bald, cocky 18 year old playing for the Lakers in 1996. The first sign of his polarizing nature was his stalk-like, man-crush emulation of MJ. He shaved his head like Mike, dunked like Mike (every dunk had to be the poster dunk where MJ has his non-dunking hand in front, with the fingers spread out), he chewed his gum like Mike, he talked like Mike, and of course he wagged his tongue like Mike. Kobe’s most cherished record over Mike is not any points record, but rather the record for saying “the game of basketball” at an average of 12.0 times per interview. That surpassed MJ’s average of 11.7 times per interview. Big ups Kob’s!!!

As an MJ guy, I hated it. Back then, I wanted Kobe just to be himself, we already had a Mike!!! Besides the fact that I was a huge Jordan fan, at its purest form, Kobe’s obsession with Mike was just creepy. But Kobe had every right to be creepy and wear his Lower Merion shorts under his Laker shorts like Mike. The bottom line is that he didn’t pay his dues like Mike!!!

There is nothing wrong with coming into the league as a brash, cocky player like Kobe did. Every great player in the history of the league came in as a cocky kid, thinking he could carry the team on his shoulders. If you want to be a killer like Larry, Magic and MJ, you better be cocky. But what the players before Kobe did, and had done to them, was go through and be given a dose of reality by the vets. They learned how to pay their dues.

What dues did they pay? The vets on those teams knew that Larry, Magic and Mike had all the talent in the world. But Larry, Magic and Mike had to learn to trust their teammates. They had to learn to endure the rigors of an 82 game sked. And most of all they had to learn to play with the other 4 guys on the court. Don’t confuse this with liking each other and with flowery thoughts of everybody getting along like the Jimmy Chitwood-led Hickory Huskers. The main lesson any young guy in any pro sport has to learn is to be a pro. And that entails playing the game, WITH the other 4 guys on the court, executing some sort of game plan. Nobody has to like each other, they can in fact hate each other, but they better be PROFESSIONAL enough to play with each other and execute any game plan….like a pro!!!

Larry got it from day one, so he’s clear. Kareem settled Magic down (watch clips of Magic’s very first NBA game….Kareem had to settle Magic down from being the biggest spazz this side of Mike Myer’s Hypo-Hyper kid). Charles learned the ropes from Dr. J. And MJ learned the ropes from one Bill Cartwright. Other then having the best free-throw shooting form ever, Bill Cartwright put MJ to the straight-n-narrow back in the day with daily beatings during practice, and told Mike to get in line.

Phil Jackson, said in tonight’s Game 7 4th quarter interview that Kobe has to relax and trust his teammates. He’s in his 14th eff-ing season, and he still doesn’t get it. But back to Kobe’s early days; He never trusted his teammates. All he wanted to do was jack shots……he was the worst chucker this side of George Costanza. How did his rookie year end? By losing a close elimination game, with Kobe jacking the worst 3 point airball!! I doubt that’s how the play was drawn up.

All Kobe had to do is trust his teammates and learn how to be a pro and play within the game plan, whether he liked his teammates or not. And it’s a well known fact that Kobe and Shaq didn’t get along. They both have been quoted that they were both equally to blame to for their horrible relationship. But bottom line with that whole fiasco, is that Kobe was the rookie, and Shaw was the established, most dominant player in the league at the time. What better situation to come into the league in than that? Kobe didn’t think so, and it was evident in that season ending 3-point airball. Way to airball NOT like Mike, Kobe!!

Hey, despite their cancerous relationship, the Lakers won 3 NBA titles in a row in the early 2000’s. But imagine if Kobe (and yes, Shaq) were professional enough to not bring their bickering onto the court? They’d probably win 9 titles in a row, like Shaq said they probably would in his TSN interview this past Tuesday.

All Kobe had to do was endure being Robin to Shaq’s Batman for the first few years and first few titles, and once Shaq’s body was deteriorating as it did in the mid-2000’s, then Shaq could gladly give the reigns to Kobe and Shaq would play side-kick. Sounds almost too simple. But Kobe, he had to take aaalllll the shots and Kobe wasn’t professional enough to trust his teammates or Shaq to be the leader.

The Shaq-Kobe era is evident enough to display how Kobe is a disgrace as the greatest player of this generation. The Kobe-Shaq angle could be blogged for pages, but the point is well taken. I’ll leave that Kobe-Shaq point with this: the NBA was robbed of what could be the greatest dynasty ever due to Kobe being a cancer in the Laker locker room. Yes yes yes, I know that Shaq was to blame as much as Kobe was. But there is only one coach in the past 20 years that could/can handle Kobe, and that’s Phil Jackson. Well, Kobe was a cancer enough to drive Phil to retire after the 2004 season. CANCER as well as DOUCHE!!!!

What else makes Kobe a douche?

Douche Reason #2: No one ever has clearance to give themselves a nickname. NO ONE!!! Anyone who gives him/herself a nickname is a Level 1 LOSER!!!!! Kobe, you’re a loser and DOUCHE for giving yourself the “Black Mamba” nickname!!! Hey, it’s a great moniker, deadly in fact (only Paulsen will appreciate that pun), but it’s negated due to the fact that you gave it to yourself Kobe….DOUCHE!!!

Douche Reason #3: Back in the early post-Shaq years, Kobe was in all his glory due to no more Shaq, and he chucked up as many shots as a Paulsen-stag at the Lamplighter!!! Well, Phil Jackson, tries to reel Kobe in, saying that he can’t take so many shots, and what does Kobe do one game? I believe it was a game v. the Denver Nuggets, and Kobe ices himself!!! He only takes 10 shots to try and make a point to Phil. He basically throws a game away to make a selfish, empty point.

That one ice-game is unforgiveable, and it has to be one of the main points about Kobe being the ultra-Douche of the NBA Douche era. I don’t care about what goes on off the court. I could care less about the Kobe v. Shaq off-court shenanigans. Moreover, I could care less about Kobe’s off-court transgressions in Colorado back in ‘03. But when all of Kobe’s cancerous attitude bleeds onto the court and is as evident as icing himself out of a game, well I won’t watch that game. His cancerous attitude bled onto the court enough to drive Phil Jackson out of the game for one season!!!!

Larry Bird once said in an interview that one of his biggest regrets is that in his whole 12 year career, he can think of 2-3 games where he didn’t give it his all 100% effort and to this day he feels guilty about it. Well, Kobe willfully took himself out a game once vs the Nuggets and willfully took the Lakers out of 6-7 more titles because of his cancerous need to chuck and “be the man” without paying his dues.

Kobe’s attitude, as well as all of the other entitled NBA players of the past 15 years have dimmed the torch, if not extinguished the torch passed to them by Larry, Magic, Mike and Charles. Because of their flash over substance cancer, err I mean attitude, it made a player like Tim Duncan an afterthought of this generation. The guy has 4 NBA friggin titles!!! If he was playing in the 1980’s he’d be as revered as the classic big guys of yesteryear, but today he’s seen as just boring. He's seen as the Big Fundamental. At least he was given that nickname from Shaq, rather then giving it to himself!

It’s sad about Duncan's legacy. And it’s sad that Kobe Bryant being a polarizing topic. He’s pushing the compass needle off course just like the super electromagnetic properties of the “Island”.

He’s as polarizing as the compass being thrown off course by Kate Austin’s super electro-babe-netic properties!!!

That very last line is like Kobe……complete DOUCHE!!!!!!

INSANITY REPORT #5: FINAL ALL-ADOLPH TOP TEN & PRE-SELECTION SUNDAY TAKES

“Uhhhh mah gawd , Becky look at that upset!!!! It is so big!!
It looks like one of those mid-major conference upsets!!
Who understands these tourney brackets?

IIIIIII like big upsets and I cannot lie,
Those other Gus Johnson’s can’t deny”
- Sir Mixalot 1992

Sir Mixalot is an f-ing prophet yo!!!! He coined the above phrase 18 years ago, just one year before the Chris Webber timeout debacle, and it rings more true this year than ever before folks!!!! That’s right, it’s here, just hours away from Selection Sunday and 5 days away from Christmas, errrrrrr The 1st Round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament………MARCH MADNESS!!!!

There is a group of 4-5 teams that are upper enchalant teams, but no one teams has been dominant all year and every team has tasted defeat from an upset team once or twice this year. The rest of the Top 25 teams have been Jeckyl-n-Hyde this year that this years tourney may have a 5 seed as the highest remaining Final 4 Teams. No joke here folks…….do I look like I’m joking!?!?!?

There is plenty to break down, and we will most definitely break down each bracket to the n’th degree, but lets just prepare an appetizer here, with the Final All-Adolph Top 10 teams going into Selection Sunday.

ALL-ADOLPH TOP TEN TEAMS

1. KANSAS JAYHAWKS: Overall, the best team in the nation all year. They’ve had their hiccups vs. Cornell and Tennessee this year , but going 15-1 in the Big 12 and sweeping through the Big 12 Tourney like Paulsen through some bar-b-q ribs is quite impressive. As little respect the Insanity Report Staff gives big man, Cole Aldrich, in relation to his hype, he still has a game changing presence in the blocks. The kicker with the Rock Chalk Jayhawks is Sr. Point Guard, Sherron Collins who has many amazing attributes, with his best one being that it seems he won’t allow KU to lose, and he uses this power in clutch time.

2. KENTUCKY WILDCATS: Bar none the most talented team in the past 10 years!!! 4-5 Div II draft picks in the bunch, lead by one-and-done player of the year, John “Ball” Wall. He’s the goods, but his kryptonite right now is that he may be believing his own hype a bit too much right now. Fr. Post, DeMarcus Cousins is the best post in the country and another one-and-doner. As deep as Kentucky is, their weakness is in Coach John Calipari. It’s not in his future academic/recruiting violation that will strip Kentucky of this years wins, but it’s in his playbook. Its’ a completely Div II playbook full of clear outs and 1 on 1’s. There is absolutely no off the ball cuts with the occasional pick-n-roll. All this entails is that Calipari’s game plan is to “out-talent” their opponents. He must realize that he still has to actually COACH this team!!! Coach Calimari, trying to out-talent teams in the tourney will not get you 6 straight wins in the Madness!!

3. SYRACUSE ORANGMEN: The deepest top 7 in the country in terms of their cohesiveness and how they compliment each other. There’s one question in forwards Arinze Onuaku’s injury he sustained in the Big East tourney. We’ll see if he can make it back by Madness time. 15-3 in regular season play? In the Big (B)East Conference? Legit.

4. WEST VIRGINIA: Probably won’t get a #1 seed, but they are a super talented team that is peaking at the right time. They aren’t the best team in the Big East, but to win the gauntlet that is the Big East Tourney is too legit to quit. Devan Ebanks and Da-Sean Butler are as good a one-two punch this side of Hall and Oates. Keep an eye on 6-6 Forward Wellington Smith. Although, he’s undersized, he worked Greg Monroe of GTown tonight; That’s x-factor material folks.

5. DUKE BLUE DEVILS: Probably will get a #1 seed due to their dominance of the weakest ACC Conference since the 2010 Pac-10. The Doo-Doo Devils are the Over-Under Team of the Year. PG Jon Scheyer has OVER-achieved all year. F Kyle Singler is OVER-rated. F Miles Plumlee is UNDER-utilized.

6. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES: Wait till you see 1st Team All-Adolph player, Evan Turner play!!!! He’s been a bit under the radar all year, but he can shoot, slash to the hole and dominate the last 10 minutes of a game in huge spurts. But it’s in huge Scottie Pippen-like x-factor, David Lighty that takes tonnes of pressure off Turner on the defensive end and by making it so teams can’t double team Turner.

7. GONZAGA BULLDOGS: The whole Insanity Report Staff has glossed Can-zaga all year, especially in Gonzaga Correspondent, Marc Paulsen. Senior, Matt Bouldin is Collins-like in his will to clutch. Elias Harris is the biggest diamond-in-the-rough find since Santa Clara’s Steve Nash, and the 4 Canadians on the Zag’s would spank the present starting line-up of the Canadian National Team in a game of 4 on 5!!! It must be noted in Paulsen’s excellent point in a recent Staff Meeting, in that Gonzaga got rid of the big stage butterflies when the Bulldogs got worked by Duke in Madison Square Gardens in a nationally televised game at Christmas time. Now when they hit the big stage come real-Christmas time, this Thursday they won’t be so star-struck. Big Final 4 threat here folks.

8. PURDUE BOILERMAKERS: These guys are on relative life-support compared to where they were pre-Robbie Hummel Torn ACL 3 weeks ago. They put up a good fight with some key wins but flat-lined today in their loss to Minnesota with an 11 point first half. They still have the other Big Two in E-Twaun Moore and JuJuan Johnson, but no proven point guard. Ouch. Upset material here?

9. VILLANOVA WILDCATS: They should be off the Top 10 due to their recent slide (4-6 in last 10 games), but their experience from last years Final 4 run, especially at all guard-wing spots, make it enough to have some belief in these philly cheesesteaks.

10. BUTLER BULLDOGS: A 20 game win streak is nothing to turn your head from, and remember the name Gordon Hayward. Game changer!!!

That’s it for now, but here’s a taste of the future takes to come in preparation for the Madness:

Some tips to look at when making picks:
- Look at a teams non-conference schedule. Did they have enough stones to have a challenging sked. Did they get any W’s in said challenging sked?

- Look at a teams road record? There’s something to be said for a team that wins the games they’re supposed to win on bum teams’ home courts. You gotta have big Dub’s on the road!!! That is the kryptonite for West Virginia right now if you look at their road record.

- Wanna make a mid-major upset pick? It’s all in the coach. If the coach is an up and comer where he’ll probably be snagged in a year or two by a bigger school, then he’ll get an upset or 2 outta his guys. Hint: check out Siena. Conversely, if a mid-major with past upsets has lost their coach to a bigger program, then so is that mid-majors upset mojo.

That’s it. Happy Selection Sunday, and bring on the Madness!!!!

Commissioner Adolph

Insanity Report #4 - Lamplighter Game of the Week and UNC/Gonzaga....We Hardly knew Ye'!!!

LAMPLIGHTER GAME OF THE WEEK

Tuesday February 9th, 2010
#6 Purdue 76
#10 Michigan State 64

Not much to say here. Purdue’s Big 3 in E’Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson had a disappointing effort in that they lost to the Spartans 64-59…….but the rest of Purdue chipped in their 17 points to squeak by Michigan State 76-64 this past Tuesday. Bottom line and yes folks, cliché-time, Purdue’s best players were their best players tonight. Michigan State’s best player, Kalin Lucas, showed a pair by playing one week post-ankle injury, but it was apparent that he wasn’t 100% and it hurt the Spartans at various points of the game.

Purdue has some funky looks on their half-court offense with a spazzy screen and curl to the weak side look and then they go old-school with some Eddie Fogler weave-offense. Either way it got Purdue’s Big 3 some open jumpers and/or good looks to create.

Michigan State, again, as in previous reports, do not have the traditional Tom “to the” Izzo tenacious rebounding he’s had in years past. They’re leading rebounder comes off of the friggin bench. Yo, Raymar Mogan and Delvin Roe, crash the boards!!! The Spartans are a good team, and right now, it’s tough to say if they can get to “great team status” as they’re in the dog days of conference play, now with a 3 game losing streak.

NORTH CAROLINA and GONZAGA: A TALE OF TWO TEAMS

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times……and if Charles Dickens was writing his novel based on this year’s North Carolina Tar Heels Freshmen Class, he’d open his novel with, “Yo Roy, where’d you get these morons!?!?!?”

Wednesday’s game of Duke @ UNC solidified a lot of takes I didn’t want to face all season. And that is that North Carolina has the worst transition D this side of a pick-up game at the SRC!!!! But bad transition D these days in college basketball is almost as rampant as a bad pun from Marc Paulsen, so this horrible transition D is not the reason for UNC being in dead friggin last in the ACC!!!!

This is all on North Carolina’s Top 3 rated recruiting class of 4 McDonald’s High School All-Americans who have a collective Basketball IQ of Forest Gump!!!!! This recruiting class was like the acclaimed hype of “Joey”. Both had talent going into their first seasons with an apparent one-and-done player, that was to rival Kentucky’s John Wall in John Henson and “Joey” had Adriana La Cerva from The Soprano’s. Very nice!! But it was found out very quickly that neither could deliver.

What they got from UNC was a bunch of lazy, dumb, deer-in-the-headlights froshies!!! One can’t question their heart, as they gave a great effort vs. Duke yesterday, but I can give a great effort trying to get Tina Fey’s phone number, but neither those digits nor UNC’s rotations on the defensive help side are going to happen. Carolina’s lack of IQ might as well have them playing handball ala Coach’s (Even Pellerud) comments on previous Insanity Reports. They’d have more success at handball then they’re horrible decisions on both sides of the ball such as brutal shots early in the shot clock leading to more turnovers than Dave Adolph in his KBL game. Henson seems to be rivaling John Wall with his inspiring 8 minutes of playing time each game!! His minutes per game to weight ratio is at a staggering 1.00. Eat some Big Macs John!!!

Gonzaga, on the other hand, also lost 4 great players from last year to Div II. They were seen as having to start from scratch just like Carolina. But none of their 9 recruits was in the Top 100 high school player rankings, let alone Top 200. Unlike UNC, they have had an immediate impact from 5 of those players with one of them, Elias Harris getting into the starting line up and tearing s^^^ up tonight vs. St. Mary’s. Not only are they great recruits, a lot of them are from Canada. Two of those Canuck recruits are fan favorite Bol “Ball” Kong and Basketball IQ Grandmaster, Kelly Olynyk. Olynyk has forgotten more about the game of basketball then all 5 UNC Freshmen have learned in they’re short time on this earth.

Gonzaga is an immediate Final 4 threat right now, where UNC have 5 freshmen that won’t get them to the NIT, let alone are they able to spell NIT!!! Gonzaga showed some versatile looks tonight vs. WCC rival St. Mary’s. Those versatile looks fit the versatile talents of Can-zaga’s deep bench. One player in particular was Vancouver product, Robert Sacre who was down right dyslexic tonight, as he was Robert SCAREY in the paint. He had great moves on the blocks and a jumper from the short corner and elbow reminiscent of a young Letah Beck. The inside/outside combo of Sacre and point wing, Matt Bouldin will get the Zag’s deep into the Madness come March.

UNC will improve next year, if all this years froshie class wake the F up, and they recruit a point guard, anybody that shoot a consistent jump shot and John Henson gains 80 pounds!!!

QUICK TAKE ON DUKE:
Good team. As was said before, Coach Krew-za-toupee-ski gets the absolute most out of his players. They’re Top 3 players in Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith have the highest combined scoring average of any 3 players in the nation. Even higher than Purdue’s big 3. But, Duke’s lack of depth on the bench and their reliance on these 3 players spell upset in the 1st round ala they’re buzzer beater loss to VCU in ’07.

Scheyer is down-right overachieving, and hence peaking too soon, and Kyle Singler gets his 17 ppg off of 30 shots per game it seems like. Too streaky. The thing about Duke is they under-use the brothers Plumlee, with Miles being a huge x-factor. But when he plays only 17 minutes a game, Coach Sha-watched-too-much-Star-Trek-ski will be seen in the Final 4 on another American Express commercial rather than on the sidelines at Indianapolis. If Miles and Mason Plumlee get more minutes, then Duke has a chance for a deep run. But Coach K is a guy who is set in his ways and changing the minute rotations this late in the season is highly unlikely.

That’s it for the Lamplighter games for the next 2 weeks, due to some local conference going on in Vancouver….the Olympics or something like that. After the 2 weeks festivities, we’ll be in the final run towards Spring Christmas on March 18th with the First Round of the NCAA Tourney. March Madness baby!!!!!

See you at the Lamp!!!

Insanity Report #3 - Lamplighter Game of the Week and KU v. Colorado tonight

(Originally written on Thurs. Feb. 4, 2010)

LAMPLIGHTER GAME OF THE WEEK REVIEW

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
#5 Michigan State Spartans 49
#16 Wisconsin Badgers 67

First off, big ups to the Lamplighter Pub’s Craig Robinson for keeping the $10 burgar and a beer promo for the College Basketball Nights only, as it’s cancelled for everybody else for the Olympic break in February and early March. Lotsa bang for the buck!!!

Anyways, #5 Michigan State at #16 Wisconsin was a tough act to follow, with the previous Lamplighter Tuesday game being the upset of the year so far when unranked South Carolina beat, then #1, Kentucky.

Goin into the game either the Spartans were due for their first Big Ten loss of year or Wisconsin was due for their first home loss in 18 games. Something had to give!!! Although a well played game, Wisconsin had the game in hand from the get go having a 10-15 point the whole game. It was typical Big Ten basketball with tough rebounding and half-court possessions taking the whole 35 second shot clock.

Wisconsin had all pistons firing with solid games from everybody, especially with solid performances from guards Jason Bohannon, Trevon Hughes and Jordan Taylor. Big guy, Keaton Nankivil made the Spartans reach for the Advil with timely hoops from the blocks. Overall, Wisconsin played typical Badger non-flashy, low turnover basketball on Tuesday, and showed how they are destined for a deep run in the Madness come March, perhaps even a darkhorse Final 4 threat.

Michigan State tried to get back into the game many times, but Wisconsin’s half court D made it difficult, and the Spartans couldn’t find the rim with a 37% FG%. They had no 3-point mojo by only jacking 9 shots from down town, and only making 2 for that matter! They lost 2009 Big Ten Player of the Year, Kalin Lucas late in the 2nd half with an ankle sprain, and after Lucas left the game, the Spartans wilted under the Badger pressure.

All in all with Michigan State, I like their individual players, but they seem to not have any typical Head Coach, Tom “to the” Izzo identity. They have no 6-11/7 foot oaf who’s a menace on the boards, and they just seemed out of wack in the half court and especially the transition game. On D, they had no answer for Wisconsin, and played the same weak 2-3 zone for most of the game. Michigan State is still a Final 4 contender, but they gots to find an Izzo Identitiy quick!!!

COLE ALDRICH
Now to tonight’s action with #1 KU squeaking by Colorado in OT on the road. The Insanity Report Staff took a good look at Kansas bigman, Cole Aldrich, and got a good take on him.

K first off, he’s good. There’s no one like him in the nation. He controls the whole key on the defensive side and will get 5-7 easy lay-ins per game on the blocks. He boards on both ends like a trucker, but he still has a lack of delivering in the clutch. He may still show up in clutch time later on, but he hasn’t yet in games scouted by the Insanity Report Staff.

Even though the Jayhawks got by Colorado in overtime, they did show a way to play vs. Aldrich’s defensive presence by spreading the floor with 3 or 4 players outside the 3 pt line, but still 2 feet behind the 3 point line to spread the floor even more. Aldrich’s check started at the high post and even received the ball on the wing to bring Aldrich off the blocks. With Cole off the blocks and more space to work with, Aldrich’s slow feet was no match for the guards/wings slashing to the hole.

For this to benefit other future teams, they’ll have to be hot from down town, which Colorado was early in the 2nd half, but fizzled late in regulation as well as in OT. They need the 3 pointer to fall for the drive and dish threat, or else KU with Drop Chalk and Jayhawk back to guard the drive.

Great game tonight, but Colorado didn’t have the gas to finish off KU.

AP POLL #1 TEAMS
As in the Kansas game tonight, it’s apparent that the #1 team in the AP Poll partakes a lot of pressure onto itself. Since January, each team that has been voted #1 has a record of 3-2 in games right after the poll came out for that week. In total, the #1 Team has a record of 5-4 in January as the #1 ranked team. (For those gambling degenerates out there, the #1 team has a record of 0-5 ATS in games after right after the poll and an overall record of 1-8 ATS as the #1 ranked team in January).

This is apparent, in that the January games are conference games, and for the opponents of the #1 teams in the AP Poll, this is their March Madness!!! The # 1 Teams (this month, those teams have been Kansas, Texas and Kentucky) have had tight victories (and ATS losses) vs. lowly teams such as Cornell, Iowa State, South Carolina and Colorado. Again, those games are the games of the years for ye foes of the #1 Teams; These teams won’t even taste post-season play (save for Cornell who snuck into the Top 25 this week!).

The point being, is that there is no bonafide, overwhelming favorite to win it all in March this year. There are some elite teams that are great Final 4 threats such as Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, Syracuse, Villanova with outside darkhorses in Michigan State, Wisconsin and Gonzaga (errrrr I mean CANzaga!!!) But any Final 4 runs are more dependant on each teams’ draw in the tourney then ever. Every team has something that can be exploited, and none of those teams has that one factor that can overcome anything ala the ’09 UNC squad or ’96 Kentucky squad. It’s a wide open race this year folks!!!

That’s it for now, stay tuned for further announcements for the Lamplighter College Basketball Game of the Week, as the Olympics are nearby and will pre-empt the hoops.

Yours in Madness,
Commissioner Adolph

Insanity Report #2 - Contenders and Pretenders

(originally written on Tues. Feb. 2, 2010)

Alright ervv-body, it’s February now, so that’s only one more month until the Madness, here’s some thoughts from last weeks Lamplighter College Hoops Game of the Week of #1 Kentucky @ South Carolina, as well as some thoughts on some bracket busters and over-rated teams. Today’s Lamplighter game of the Week is #5 Michigan State @ Wisconsin, hope to see you there…….here’s this weeks Insanity Report:

Welcome to the road to the Final THREE!!!! Four teams will enter Indianapolis, but one of those teams, Kentucky will have their final 4 berth stripped by an inevitable recruiting/academic violation by Head Coach, John Calipari. His resume reaks of ineligible Final 4 teams.

Last week his team reaked of stale bread. They lost their game to South Carolina by offering no movement on offense. They spread the floor with absolutely no movement away from the ball. Kentucky thought they could out-talent the Gamecocks, and the Gamecocks answered by punching Kentucky in the face!!!! South Carolina have some good players, especially in Devan Downey, but they’ll need to verify their status as a bracket buster with more wins.

South Carolina limited Kentucky’s transition game and their bigs actually matched up against Kentucky’s bigs in Cousins and Patterson. Again, give them credit for getting the W last week, but they didn’t win that game, Kentucky lost it.

They lost the game even with All-Adolph Player of the Year candidate, Devan Downey. I came into last week’s game thinking he was a Kobe-ish type player. That being, he achieved his 30 points per game average in SEC conference games by jacking 35-40 shots per game, but he only took 29 shots vs. Kentucky for his 30 points….heh heh. But he manufactured shots with his crazy fast first step or assassin-like shot from down town. It’ll be interesting if he and South Carolina can parlay this into a tourney run as they still haven’t received a singe vote in the AP Top 25 poll this past Monday.

But here are some other Bracket Busters in the nation:

NORTHWESTERN
They have all the ingredients for a team that will get a heavy bandwagon of fans come March. They’ve never made it to the tourney, so when they do, their first win celebration will rival the congo line around the arena concourse when Gonzaga made it to the Elite 8 back in ’99. These are Northwestern fans…..so they’re “crazy” celebrations may be a slew of 3000 word soliliquoys of their happiness. Anyways, they have all the ingredients in their players: A so-so deep team and rebounding from the loss of their best player for the rest of the season. Rookie Drew Crawford has come out of nowhere to be a solid froshie, even though he looks like he’s 30-35. Nash is a solid point guard, non-flashy and doesn’t make mistakes. And the kicker for the upcoming Northwester band wagoners is Jon Shurna. He’s their lanky wing who looks he just finished his 30 hour sess of online Call of Duty, with pizzaface pimples and a shot that rivals that of the bench player from McBride way back in the day (Paulsen knows, he does the best impression of McBride shooter….ask him to show you next time you see him). A guy that geeky AND with game, you gotta jump on board with the Wildcats!!!!

ANYTEAM IN THE WEST NOT IN THE PAC 10
Utah State? Louisiana Tech? BYU?

Catch WAC games online folks. They’re entertaining and always packed with madness.

Here are some teams that are like Wendy’s new Boneless Chicken Wings, OH-VER RATE-EDD ,

UCONN
Typical bigs that block shots and can get dirty in the trenches, but their guards can’t shoot. If they gotta match up against a good shooting team, then they’re done. Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker are great talents, and they bring it every game, but they have very inconsistent jump shots. And in every game that UConn has lost, Dyson has been in early 2nd half foul trouble. Bad trend Jerome!!!

LOUISVILLE
In the 2 games I’ve seen, their leading scored Samardo Samuel, relies on his talent. This kid has no heart. He doesn’t get after in on the boards, and he’s no where to be found in crunch time. He’s a garbage time stats guy, he never scores his points or collect his rebounds during crunch time. Their point guard Sosa is an erratic turnover machine.

ILLINOIS
A soft 6-3 Big Ten conference record. They rely on Jr. Guard, Demetri McCamey to take all shots as well to uselessly dribble the ball for 30 seconds of the shot clock everytime. He is a certifiable chucker. Plus Illinois still plays boring half-court hoops with no identity on O or D

Insanity Report #1 - All Adolph NCAA Top Ten

(Originally written on Tues. Jan. 19, 2010)

Well well well!!! Another year of Madness!!! What started out as an email to cover for Insanity Report creator, Kevin “The Original POC” Outhet when he went on an overseas trip has evolved into the 11th Year of the Insanity Report!!!! A single email has turned into an Insanity Report Staff and Official Asylum in the Lamplighter Pub. The Report will continue to grow…..it’s January 18th right now and come Thursday March 18th, exactly 2 months from now, the Insanity Report will be in full tilt for this year’s March Madness leading to the road to Indianapolis!!!!!

Lets get into it, the All-Adolph Top 10 Teams:

#1 VILLANOVA WILDCATS
The Good: The deepest team in the nation, bar none. They rotate 6 super-talented guards and 5 solid, yet young forwards. Sr. G, Scottie Reynolds touches the ball in every possession of the game it seems like, in a complete non-Kobe way. They have the necessary size to get through the Big East trenches in the Post.

The Bad: Not much to say here. The Insanity Report Staff agree that Villanova are the current odds on favorite to win it all in March. If anything, their big men are young, but they aren’t needed to carry games like the UConn’s or Georgetown’s big men of the Big East.

The Wildcat Verdict: Stay hot Reynolds, and keep developing Wildcat Forwards! So far so good with a 5-0 start in Big East play, bar none the toughest conference in D-1. Last year’s Final 4 run may have been a surprise, but this year’s Final 4 run will be disappointing if it doesn’t end with a National Championship.

#2 KENTUCKY WILDCATS
The Good: Fr. G John Wall!!! ‘Nuff said. Hands down the best player in College Basketball this year. The odds on favorite for 2010 All-Adolph Player of the Year. Also, Fr. F DeMarcus Cousins will join his one-and-done brethren, Wall into Divison II Basketball next year, the NBA. The glue for Kentucky are players, Fr. PG Eric Bledsoe and Jr. F Patrick Patterson. Take a look at their solid statistics, and then watch a Kentucky game; Those 2 players get the job done in a very under-stated but effective way. Kentucky is so scary with 2 amazing point guards at the helm in Wall and Bledsoe.

The Bad: Like all teams this year in Div I, Kentucky can struggle with consistency for a half. As good as Kentucky is this year, they are a brand new team with no Madness experience. They will get great tests in a deep but non-dominant SEC Conference schedule. Their youth will show cold nights from down town and bouts of bad decisions and turnovers.

The Wildcat Verdict: They have the talent to win the Madness, but must attain the experience and know-how quickly to get through the tourney.

#3 TEXAS LONGHORNS
The Good: The Hook ‘Em Horns have experience from their ’08 Elite 8 run when Kevin Durant had his cup of coffee in Austin. Sr. F Damion James has taken the lead from that young class with career rebounding records, and he’s the go-to guy for Head Coach, Rick Barnes. #1 Nationally Ranked Freshman, SG Avery Bradley has fulfilled all expectations by entering his Texas career displaying defensive poise to go with his electric offensive talent. His D contributes to one of the most suffocating half-court defenses in years and one of the deepest benches in the nation ala Villanova which will negate a lot of off-nights by any one of the main Longhorn players, such as…..see below.

The Bad: Jr. PG, Dogus Balbay is bogus (Bah-dum bum-chuh!!). He’s a solid PG; He spreads the ball well and runs a great half-court O. But, he’s a turnover liability if he decides he wants to drive to the hoop regularly,which is often. Sr. C, Dexter Pittman needs all the capable help from Jr. C, Clint Chapman this year, as his 300lb frame may be huffing-n-puffing late in games. Right now, it’s tough to see either Balbay or Pittman offer 40 quality minutes in a meaningful game. Also, Texas can’t hit Free Throws.

The Longhorn Verdict: They’re riding the momentum of attaining their first #1 AP Poll ranking in school history, but that was slowed down tonight at K-State. K-State found a way to out-big Texas’ big men. Get ready for Monday February 8th when Kansas comes to Austin to play Texas in the Pre-March Madness Game of the Year!!! Tip-off is at 6:00 PM which, with enough takers, could be seen at the Lamplighter for a Monday night special. Yeah?

#4 KANSAS JAYHAWKS
The Good: The best point guard in D-1 in Sr. Sherron Collins. Kentucky’s John Wall is a more supreme talent, but Collins has a National Title under his belt and runs the offense and defense with the leadership reminiscent of a young Alex Betts. Speaking of John Walls, if it wasn’t for Walls, then Fr. G Xavier Henry would get more national attention as froshie of the year.

The Bad: Jr. C Cole Aldrich. OH-VER RATE-EDD , !!!!! His size alone gets him the nice stats he gets. You need a clutch hoop from the blocks? You better believe, Collins will not be making any post entries towards Aldrich

The Jayhawk Verdict: 2 outta their last 3 games have been questionable, where they squeak by a friggin’ Ivy League Cornell and lose to Tennessee when the Vols have only 6 scholarship players dressed. They got back on track with a shalacking of Texas Tech last game, so let’s see if the Jayhawks will get back on the Final 4 track. If they do, their run will be due to All-X-Factor player, Soph. F Marcus Morris. Morris is a 5-tool baller. He can slash-n-dash, shoot, pass, defend and do what needs to be done in the clutch. He’s big time.

#5 SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN
The Good: Typical Jim Boeheim size in his patented 2-3 zone. Jr. F Wesley Johnson has come out of nowhere from the year he sat out transferring from Iowa State to become an early favorite for Big East Player of the Year. Jr. F Rick Jackson, Soph. F Kris Joseph and Sr. F/C Arinze Onuaku complete the nasty reach and lbs. at the bottom half of the 2-3. The Orangemen also have a trio of spark plug guards in Sr. G Andy Rautins, and freshmen Brandon Triche and Scoop Jardine.

The Bad: Like Villanova, there isn’t much to say here, but the ‘Cuse have yet to face the bulk of their Big East sked with home-n-home’s vs. Georgetown and Louisville and home games vs. Villanova and UConn.

The Verdict: Is still out, as stated above.

#6 DUKE BLUE DEVILS
The Good: The only good is Coach K. It hurts to put Duke so high, but what seemed like Coach Sha-had-no-more-guards-left-skee in the pre-season, is now a great trio in Sr. PG Jon Scheyer, Jr. SG Nolan Smith and Fr. G Andre Dawkins. Bottom line is Coach K gets the absolute most out of his players. Talent wise, all 3 guards would be role players in the above teams at best, but not under Coach K. Soph. F Miles Plumlee is a super talent, and he is developing into a game changing player, one that may have to carry Duke if they can make it to the Final 4, because it might not be from Kyle Singler (see below).

The Bad: Sr. C Brian Zoubek, can hardly walk and chew gum at the same time. Jr. F Kyle Singler is another great talent, but even as a junior he still struggles with consistency. Many slow starts in many games will be negated with strong finishes for Singler, but come tourney games, how can he get on a 4-6 game roll for a deep run?

The Blue Devil Verdict: Early games show Duke as the favorite to come out of the ACC. Right now, Duke is on fire, but they still ride that fine line between a great Final 4 team and a solid Sweet 16 team. Time will tell. Their lack of depth will have to pull heavy minutes.

#7 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
The Good: Every returning player from last year’s National Runner-up Team. To tell you the truth, the Insanity Report Staff has not watched many Spartan games this year, but they are still led by Big Ten Player of the Year, Jr. G Kalin Lucas

The Bad: As much as the Insanity Staff respects this year’s Spartan team, they don’t have the typical monster rebounding forwards that Head Coach, Tom Izzo loves to recruit. So far, they still rebound well, and have replaced more athletic forwards for the slower rebound-first forwards of year’s past.

The Spartan Verdict: The final verdict will be seen in March, as they have ALL the necessary ingredients to make another National Championship run, but will face light tests in Big Ten play this season as opposed to the gauntlets of the Big East, Big 12, SEC and ACC. Their non-conference schedule bodes a 1-3 record vs. big schools with a W vs. Gonzaga and losses to Texas, UNC, and Florida. The Spartans have improved since those 4 games, so the verdict is still out.

#8 PITTSBURGH PANTHERS
The Good: Again, baahhh, I haven’t watched many Pitt games (my bad), but they seem to be overachieving with their 5-0 start in Big East play. But W’s in 3 straight road games at Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn is nothing to fret over. Looking at their stats, they are getting big minutes from players that received little minutes last year. This is a testament to Head Coach, Jamie Dixon’s coaching.

The Bad: Lack of experience. They did still lose a lot from the graduation of key players in last year’s Elite 8 run.

The Panther’s Verdict: Still out. Need to watch more Pitt games.

#9 GONZAGA BULLDOGS
The Good: A deep, versatile and young team. Mark Few has built a doozy here, and with 4 Canadians on the roster has made this year’s Bulldog’s, The Can-zaga Bulldogs!!! The Zag’s are led by Jr. SG Matt Bouldin who is a willing leader and he willingly takes the big shots late in games. The surprise of the year is in Can-zaga’s 6th man, Fr. G, 6 foot 11 inch Kelly Olynyk from Kamloops, BC. He’s listed as a guard/forward, but he is mainly a guard, and at 6-11 this has and will pose a huge match-up problem for all teams. Olynyk, has slowed down a tiny bit from his non-conference run, but he shows incredible basketball IQ on both sides of the court, especially on the help-side defense.

The Bad: Soph. F Robert Sacre has developed in a solid post, but he is foul-proned and appears soft later in games. Canzaga are young, and their weakness this year will only become their strength when they gain the needed experience from this year’s March Madness, just as they gained valuable big stage experience from their ass-whoopin’ from Duke at Madison Square Gardens in December. That’ll only help them when they hit the neutral courts of the WCC Tourney Games and the Madness.

The Verdict: If they keep going the way they do, and by that, meaning Soph. PG Demitri Goodson, works the ball around in the half court and stops turning the ball over in full court breaks, then the Zags are poised to head deep into the Madness. With the demise of the Pac-10 (not one in either Top 25 Pool), Canzaga may very well be the best team on the whole West Coast, let alone the the West Coast Conference.

#10 PURDUE BOILERMAKERS
The Good: Super Trio in Jr’s F Robbie Hummel, F JaJuan Johnson and G E’Twaun Moore.

The Bad: Their current 3 game losing streak in the Big Ten. Hopefully they end it tonight @ Illinois in the Lamplighter Game of the Week at 6 PM.

The Boilermaker Verdict: They better make their big run for these next couple of seasons. With the current downfall of the Indiana Hoosiers the past 2 years, this has made Purdue a recruiting powerhouse in the Mecca of basketball, Indiana. Once Indiana Head Coach, Tom Crean gets the Hoosier’s back on track ala a young Norman Dale, then Purdue will again be in tough for the Indiana high school talent. So Purdue, drop the losing streak and get to work!!