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!!!
Friday, February 12, 2010
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
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
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!!
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
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!!
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